Domestic Chicky’s Quick & Dirty Salsa

• 2 Cans Ro-tel Tomatoes, original (you can vary the heat by combining mild or hot), drained
• 1/2 onion (I used purple in the picture above), cut into chunks
• 1 handful Cilantro (mostly leaves, but a bit of stems too)
• 1t salt
• 1-2t minced garlic
• few grinds fresh black pepper

Put the onion, cilantro, salt, pepper and garlic in a food processor or blender. Pulse til finely chopped. Add tomatoes. Pulse again til desired texture is acheived (we like ours on the not-so-chunky side). Serve with tacos, fresh tortillas & butter, mix into avocados for guacamole, chips, nachos, or my personal favorite, Wheat Thins (I know, but it’s SOO good!). You can use other brands of tomatoes with chiles, but nothing beats ro-tel!

*If you have ever been to Chevy’s Restaurant (or Anchos in Riverside CA), and you love their Salsa, try this, and add a drop of mesquite liquid smoke - it will be a dead ringer!

80’s Chick Music - nothing like it…

Ok, maybe not fishing, but I am going to take a summer break. With scads of projects on my to-do list, a good half-dozen design jobs to complete, and a sweet boy who starts kindergarten in less than 7 weeks(ack!), I figured it was a good time to take a little bloggy vacay. I will still be checking email, and poking around my google reader, but otherwise I will be back in a couple of weeks - by the first at the latest…stay cool and have an amazing summer!

I will be posting Friday Flashback in a bit - I love that other people are posting their favorite “vintage” songs as well…next week I have to show you some of the projects I have been up to, and hopefully I will have finished ALL of my swap projects to share too!!

Ok, maybe it’s not QUITE this bad, but poor hubby had a bout of tummy flu/food poisoning, and you know how it is when men get sick - NOTHING gets done. I told him next time I get an upset tummy I wanted him to stay home from work so I could lay in bed all day. Good thing they don’t get cramps every month, huh? ;-)In lieu of another earth-shatteringly interesting post , I will send you over to The Apronista to check out this weeks Giveaway…Can you guess what it is??EDITED TO ADD: the boys have the bug now…lovely (sigh)

…Tracy Porter. I can never hope to afford any of the pretties from her catalog, but I LOVE her blog, especially her inspiring once-a-month or so “Do you ever” posts.

…this INSPIRED Idea Rolodex from the fabulous Carrie B of Blah Blah Blog. I got so excited I imediately snagged a rolodex on ebay! Now if I only knew how to scrapbook

…speaking of inspired, I can spend many hours browsing the eyecandy atInspire Co. - and the best part? You can SHOP there too!

…my lovely lovely Sony camera. With all of the great pictures I have been taking, I was able to make an amazing photo-book that was hardbound and leather-covered as a gift for my family. We also have some new artwork on our walls with some of my pictures blown up and framed.

…all the thoughtful coverage of the passing of Tim Russert. He was an extrordinary man, father and son. The elections this year just won’t be the same. I think my favorite post of all the tributes I have read over the weekend has to be this one from Liz - get your tissues, cuz you’ll need em! (ps-Liz also makes the MOST amazing aprons and sells them in her ETSY shop.)

…campers. Specifically one of these beauties ~
 

Ever since my first Barbie Country Camper, I have always wanted an RV - the funkier the better. My DREAM would be to pack up the family and travel the country for a whole year.  Of course my husband thinks I’m nuts, but that is nothing new. There is that pesky money thing though…I guess I have to wait til I am an in-demand picture-taking chick, then I can travel AND work!
~as a side note, the boys are equally obsessed, and I am determined to find them a cool toy rv. I found some vintage Fisher-Price campers on ebay!!

…my new look over at the Apronista!
You can even get your own button!

…Simple Mom ~ she has a great style and effective home-organizing skills. I have made TONS of copies of her Daily Docket, and her tips for organizing and streamlining (and simplifying!) my routines are helping me immensely!
(another thank you to tipnut!)

 …Erin Condren Stationery - I am a paper-loving Junkie and the idea of Family-personalized Stationery gets me all verklempt. The designs just put it over the top. How can you NOT write letters then??

…my sweet Alli (aka Mrs Fussypants) ~ she just had a baby, is moving, and running Blissfully Domestic. She is my hero. Go give her some Chicky Love, please!!

Yesterday my little guy turned 3. All day was deemed “his day”. He chose breakfast (waffles), lunch (waffles), and dinner (tacos). He played kitchen all day, wore his snappy new clothes (plaid shorts, racecar shirt), and helped Mommy bake his cake (confetti cake, confetti frosting). It was a very good day for this newly minted pre-schooler.

The part that sucks is I don’t have babies anymore. They are little boys. Independent, strong-headed, loving, creative (yes, they still fight over imaginary things - *sigh*), crazy boys. No longer babies.  But they will always be MY babies…

My little guy is turning 3 on Wednesday, and I can’t figure out what to get him. He LOVES being in the kitchen and pretending to cook, but we don’t relaly have the room for a kiddy kitchen, so I was thinking about getting him a bunch of the baking and cooking sets I have seen, and some play food, and putting it in one of these shopping baskets from Target:

Yes? No? He has trucks and trains up the wazoo, and the grandparents usually take care of clothes, so I thought this might be a fun option.

On the WW front, I lost 2 more pounds, but Aunt Flo brought them back with her - ugh. But I have to admit that the PMS that usually rages just before her visit was almost non-existent this month…I have been moving and exercising more - our cable has exercise TV on demand and it has a TON of different videos. Dance, ballet, tae bo, and even Jillian from the “Biggest Loser”. So much better than trying to get up at 5:30 in the morning to sneak in a walk before everyone wakes up.

I am taking TONS of pictures - I am getting braver about showing them, and learning a lot more about my camera - I can’t rave enough about Me Ra Koh’s “Beyond the Green Box” videos for making sense out of all the technical parts of a camera without making it seem intimidating. Her blog is also a great place to find fun tips and other inspiring women photographers…

Well, back to the grindstone laundry. I have a couple of fun giveaways to tell you about later. Have a great Monday!!