Last weekend we went to the Houston Symphony Final Fantasy Concert. Fernando had been looking forward to this event for a while and considers the Final Fantasy series (there’s 14 games!) one of the best video games of all time.  The soundtrack has also won numerous awards, so we decided to check it out. The attendees were quite the sight.  Hundreds of pasty white gamers put down their controllers or brought their Sony PSP’s to the event.  I don’t think the symphony has ever seen such a young crowd, or under dressed crowd for that matter.  Come on people, shorts, flip flops, jeans and baggy t-shirts to the symphony?!

It was great fun though. The music was amazing (hard to believe it was for a video game), and they projected video from the games on a huge screen above the orchestra.  While I fell in love with the Chocobo, why don’t they have cute Chocobo’s in Super Mario Bro.?, the best part of the night was when composer Nobuo Uematsu joined the choir.

…Make pesto!

My lovely sister in law told me about this super cool gift giving blog called Givers Log which is where I stole the idea from.  She even has printable labels! And a recipe for deelish walnut pesto.

Me? Oh just sixteen.

peach pie in a jar

I got the idea from Our Best Bites.

I found these cute little 4 ounce jars at H-E-B. Cook them fresh at 375 for 35-40 minutes and serve with vanilla ice cream.

or

Freeze them for a quick dessert

No need to thaw. Throw them into a preheated oven at 375 for 45-50 minutes

The little garden GROWS!

TOO MUCH BASIL! Please help!

As you can see, I have more than I can eat in a lifetime.  That’s saying something because I eat a lot of basil. Please, all of you locals, I can pick it for you or you can hop my fence and take some (basil, that is :). I’m even considering setting up a free basil table outside of the Relief Society room on Sundays (is that allowed?)

The tomato however has seen better days…something has killed it :’(

Which reminds me…

Last night we took a bowl of cherries and little red wagon to the Miller Outdoor Theatre to see…

“Little Shop of Horrors tells the story of Seymour, a timid and nerdy sales clerk at the seedy Mushnik’s Skid Row Florists, barely in business in lower Manhattan. He achieves fame and fortune after he discovers an exotic plant named Audrey II, a giant man-eating plant who demands to be fed. A Greek chorus of hip soul singers narrates the thriller with a score in the 1960s style of rock and roll, doo-wop, and Motown. Audrey’s appetite grows to gigantic proportions as the cast rapidly diminishes. This show promises to be an audience favorite!”

Produced by Theatre Under The Stars

Half of Houston was there

Eating cherries

The show was entertaining. The cast was great.  However, the storyline?? A plant that eats people? CHEESY!

For the 4th, we spent the week at my family’s place at Lake Chelan along with my entire family.

Here’s how our trip went:

Warning: picture overload

Lake Chelan, WA

Plenty of boat rides

Texas BBQ Chelan style

Playin' in the sand

Finally met my bro's GF, Sara

Hot tubbing

Making s'mores

Roasting giant mallows

The kids digging a giant hole on the beach

The adults playing in it

What a big helper

Our favorite shaved ice

Good till the last drop

Lots of happy campers

Playin' in the water

Some evening wakeboarding

Some hard falls

The big kids table

All bundled up and ready to watch the fireworks

Pizza at the park

The hill in the park

Everybody had the Doodle Jump addiction...high score is Fernando at 74,325!

Oh, beautiful Lake Chelan! See you next year.

Fernando and I got a Radio Flyer several weeks ago to carry our blanket and food when we walk to Miller Outdoor Theatre.  Its been so hot that we haven’t really had a chance to use it until this weekend.  But when our good friends asked us to watch little Clark, we didn’t hesitate. Plus it gave me an excuse to use Fernando’s new lens and attempt using the manual mode for the first time.

He loved our stairs even after falling down them twice (while Fernando was watching).

Ok, so it was only the last step.

He sat like a big kid at our table with a napkin stuffed in his shirt

(guess I need to make more bibs)

You’re welcome back anytime, little man

Made ya smile.

It has taken me one year, but I finally decided to tackle my first handyman project around the house: the built-in home theater system. For a few months, I have been thinking about doing this. I even called a local A/V company to come over and give me a quote on how much it would cost. While it was not astronomical by any means, I wondered if it was really worth $600 to pay somebody to do what I considered a relatively easy job. After doing some research online, I finally decided to tackle the project. Did I mention that I started this a few days before leaving for Nigeria? Anyway, I learned a few things along the way.

Look out for studs. Otherwise, you end up cutting a second hole.

Learned that wall plates are nailed to studs. I initially thought that they were *magically* suspended, so I drew a circle around the wall plate rather than on one side of the wall plate.

A Little Giant ladder is the way to go

Pre-mess photo

Diane never complained about my mess

My pathetic attempt to keep dust off the furniture

Lived like this for a one or two nights

In the end, I installed 4 speakers in the ceiling, bought a new amp, a new subwoofer, and am still currently borrowing my friend’s center channel speaker. Once I save a little money, I’ll buy a center channel speaker and install additional speakers in the office and master bedroom. This past weekend, we watched LOTR and The Blind Side–both excellent movies.

[This was written while in Nigeria, but I'm finally getting around to posting it.]

If you have been following Diane’s posts recently, you’ll know that I have been away on a business trip for the past week. I’m currently sitting here in my hotel in Lagos trying to keep myself entertained. My company has a very strict policy on employee safety here, so I haven’t had much opportunity to venture anywhere. In fact, I have to travel with security escorts–something which is not exclusive to my company. The security trucks have a unique horn. My co-worker, Greg, and I call it the “get out of my way or I’m gonna shoot you” horn. They don’t stop for anything.

Lagos is huge city and is not somewhere I’d like to drive around, especially during rush hour. That said, its road infrastructure is fairly good according to others who have lived in various parts of West Africa. Like many developing nations, motorcycles are everywhere. I’m not talking a few dozen or even a couple of hundred. I’m talking about thousands of bikes.

My opinion of Lagos is based upon my few drives from the airport to the hotel, so I can’t really say that I’ve truly seen the city. Flying in from Eket, I’ve seen huge groups of home w/ tin roofs and lots of poverty. Victoria Island and nearby areas have larger concentrations of wealth. This will not be my last trip to Nigeria, so I’ll be interested to see how my opinion changes over time. Some of the ex-pats who live here really enjoy the city and their spouses do as well.

One thing that I experience more in Eket than is Lagos is power outages. It’s a way of life. My workshop was held at a “hotel” neighboring the housing compound and it wasn’t uncommon to have the power go out once per hour or so. The housing compound was better–the power only went out a couple of times per day (in the morning/evening) when I was around. Even in this 5-star hotel in Lagos, I’ve experienced a few power outages. Fortunately, these power outages never last more than 30 seconds.

One perk of business class is ice cream sundaes

2nd perk: Chairs that recline much further

Although, I still didn’t get to try a bed-style seat

Life on the compound

Getting parts into Nigeria take months

A welcome respite in Lagos

A nice bathroom to go along with the room

The most amazing coconut rice that I’ve ever had

Salmon. Maybe I just really enjoyed the meal since I hadn’t had a good meal in a week.

Creme Brulee. Looked better than it tasted.

In the distance, you can see a line of shacks along the beach.

Pre-Hip Hop World Awards

Not quite the red carpet…

Hanging around the HHWA by the pool

More prep work. A British friend paid security $10 to get into the actual awards show.

What are they? Bags that you can put wet things in to keep your unwet things dry. I originally stumbled upon wet bags on some cloth diapering blog and thought they could have multiple uses, and they wouldn’t be too hard to make. Actually, once I figured out how to do a zipper that actually zipped, it only took 30 minutes! A personal best.

I found a great free tutorial here at Little Birdie Secrets. I’m pretty proud of doing my first zipper. It really wasn’t too hard.  The key was to use a walking foot instead of the zipper foot, so the vinyl didn’t get caught.

The vinyl on the inside of these bags has a little bit of insulation to help keep cold things cool and warm things warm.  They are perfect for holding snacks and drinks, or wet swimsuits. I’m sure anyone with a kid would not have a hard time thinking of things to put inside. They might even be good for holding your liquids when traveling. The best part is that they are washable and reusable.  Go green.