So, Chad came home and we made our way down Hastings street. We drove by Save On Meats and there were people pressed up against the door. Not a good sign. We parked the car and walked down the block. Yea, we couldn’t even get in the door, and given the timing of our day, there was no way we were waiting around for a meat filled sammich. Not this time anyways.

Luckily both our eyes caught a cute little place along the way called Acme Cafe. We poped in, waiting a couple of minutes and found ourselves a lovely booth.

Chad had the Italian Panini – salami, proscuitto, provolone, banana peppers and basil mayo on a ciabatta panini grilled – with a side of chips and slaw.

I had the Veggie – goat cheese, portobello mushroom, peppers, zucchini, sprouts, sun-dried tomato basil mayo on a ciabatta panini grilled – with a cup of creme of Tomato soup.

The sandwich was so unbelievably good that I purposely only ate half so that I could enjoy it again at home. The soup also hit the spot.

It was the cutest little place. What I loved most was that 95% of the clientel all had DSLRs with them and they were taking pictures of each other, the food, and the decor. Talk about fitting right in!

 I am so glad we stumbled upon this place. It had the most wonderful atmosphere and the food was delicious. I want to spend every Saturday finding cute new places to eat.

 I guess it all worked out in the end!

While browsing their website I got the idea to use a quote for my t-shirt, since I don’t really have any sort of logo and didn’t particularly want to go with a photo. I also love football jerseys and since they had the option to add numbers and a name to the back of the t-shirt I was sold on the idea.

“All I got is a diamond ring and a Fendi purse, otherwise I look like trash”

This has literally described my everyday appearance for as long as I can remember. There is no other quote that is more me, or more this blog!

I also figured that if I was really going to go old school I was going to have to do an old school photo shoot. Only, this time it was much harder to do with a DSLR.

This photo shoot is so old school smelly and I friggin love it haha! You think I can single handily bring back 2006!?

The ooShirt website was so easy to use that it took me forever to figure out just how I wanted my T-shirt to look. With so many options and such great quality shirts I played around with colours and layouts for hours. They even give you the option to figure out how much your custom shirt would cost before sending off the final design. Genius!

The whole process of creating and ordering my shirt was effortless, and even at the very last minute when I realized I had made a mistake on something, I called them up and someone was able to help me and fix my shirt on the spot. Talk about great customer service!

Now I can’t wait to go out and wear my T-shirt! It is so awesome I can’t even tell you!

Thank You ooShirts!

I need to rant for a minute because this whole Buying a House business is getting on my nerves.

Chad and I have a list of things we are looking for in our next home. We check the listings every day to see what is new and to see what meets our needs and wants. If something peaks our interest then we email our Realtor and book a viewing. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. When things work out we go and see said potential house.

With in a minute, Chad and I know whether or not we could see ourselves living there. It may have everything on our checklist, but if it doesn’t feel right, then it doesn’t feel right. Feelings aren’t tangible. We can’t say “Oh, the bedrooms are too small”, or “We prefer having a 2 car garage”. All you can say is it doesn’t have chemistry. This is something people can’t seem to wrap their heads around.

I understand the difficulty in this for a Realtor who works with tangible items, but the fact of the matter is, if it doesn’t feel right we are not going to buy it, that is the bottom line. I am not about to spend $700,000 on a house that “meets our needs” but doesn’t make me happy. Do you want to come home to a house that you don’t really like for the next 20 years of your life?

I have lived my entire life based on fate, letting things work out according to what is meant to be, following the path God has planned for me. If I try something out and it fails, then it’s not meant to be. If I try something out and it works, then its meant to be. School, work, love I have all left up to fate, and honestly it has all worked out pretty darn well, because I can’t imagine myself doing anything else or loving anyone else. So why then wouldn’t I leave this huge next phase of life up to fate?

Yes, we are picky, but wouldn’t you be if you were spending your life savings on something that is supposed to house you and your family for a large portion of your life?

Nothing is perfect, I get that. I am not living in a delusional world where I am waiting for that perfect little heritage house in the perfect colour, with the perfect vintage fixtures, with the perfect landscaped front yard. I am looking for a house with some character that will probably need fixing up, that is big enough to fit a family, in a quiet neighborhood close to family and friends. And if it takes us a year to find this house, then so be it. We are not in a rush and we know that when we find the house that is meant to be ours, we will feel it in our core, and no matter how beautiful or dilapidated it is, it will be fate

They say you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your Prince, so we are prepared to look at a lot of ugly houses before we find one that makes us happy.

Friday 

I went with the parentals to Visions Electronics (so they could buy a new TV for their bedroom) and listened to them argue over 50 dollars. Mom wouldn’t give in and buy the TV Dad and I wanted her too. I became fixated on an 80″ TV, but I think that will be a little too big for the next place.

On the way home we stopped by my Zia Marias to show her pictures of the parentals trip to Mexico. It is always enjoyable visiting with Zia.

I caught an episode of Triple D (thanks to Marisa for the phone call) where they featured Vancouver restaurant The Red Wagon. Holy Mother it looked awesome. Claudia caught the episode too so now we have a date for some Pulled Pork Pancakes, Short Rib & Brie Sammiches and Pork Belly Confit.

Saturday

I went with the parentals to pick up my Moms sewing machine which had been serviced. Yes, I tend to get bored and tag along with the parentals a lot like I am 6 years old. I drooled over the Phaff industrial machine they had on sale. I totally miss sewing on industrial machines.

I then went through all of my 2008 photo albums (that I have saved on my computer) and put them in date order, which was painful because the dates on all the photos are screwed up and nothing say the real date on them. Thankfully I anally fill out my google calendar and was able to figure out the majority of them. Next I have to figure out what I want to print.

For dinner we participated in Dine Out Vancouver and went to the Poor Italian with Dario and Gina. The food and service were excellent. We even got a free lesson in cork smelling (our first bottle of wine was no good according to the manager). Gina is a foodie like me, so it’s great going out with someone who loves talking and eating food! Our dinner (and company) were so good I didn’t want the evening to end.

Sunday

We went and viewed 2 housed. The first we knew was too small, but it kind of looked adorable so we went to the open house. It was definitely too small and needed a lot of work. At the 2nd house there was a bit of a misunderstanding and we never actually got to go in it, we just got to walk around the outside. The whole situation put a bad taste in my mouth (along with the fact that street the house is on is way busier then I expect) so I don’t think we will be going back actually view it.

I still have a gift certificate to Pier 1 from our wedding. I only ever bought a couple of things with it and have had a balance sitting on it for 3 years. We stopped in on the way to the In-Laws thinking I only had $20 left or something. Turned out I had $65. I had no idea what to buy so I bought this because I have always wanted one. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what else to buy so I just left it at that. Save a little for the new house, when we buy one.

Dinner at the In-Laws was excellent as always. I need to get my hands on Mama Ciavarros recipe for Yorkshire Pudding. So.Damn.Good. We also took a stroll down memory lane. They are putting their house on the market so Papa Ciavarro has been working away in the basement organizing and getting rid of things. They put together a box of all of Chads childhood keepsakes and such. I will have to post some pictures of mister adorable.

Today

I thought I was going to lose my mind over all these inventory issues but I managed to actually solve them all on my own, which makes me feel so much better about the situation. I am going to meet with the big boss man tomorrow to try and find an easier way to manage the samples that I am in charge of and I think I actually have a pretty good solution that will make inventory a breeze from now on. This makes me so much happier then I was this morning!

I got there just after lunch. They had finished making all the sopresse and salami, and were working on the musetti (or Cotechino).

Chad was in charge of stuffing the meat cannon with musetto goodness (if you like boiled pig parts).

Darios Dad & Godfather are in charge of tying up the musetti. That is a very senior position in the hierarchy of Pig Processing.

On the table next to the musetto station the men were grinding up some pork that had been seasoned in preparation for sausage stuffing.

I don’t know if these boys are really working very hard.

This is why you never throw anything out, because long after the kids are grown you can still use their baby bath tub to bathe pork products.

Vintage Love

Gina got the exciting task of soaking and reconstituting the dried intestines for the sausages!

Sausage Delight!

I’ve missed the last couple of Pig Processing Days, but I’m glad I made it out to this one. Next year I need to go even earlier so I can catch the butchering of it all. Darios Mom posted a picture of the pigs hanging in their garage waiting to be sliced an diced and it got me so excited! I definitely want to venture into butchering next, learning all the different cuts of meat and how to carve them.

Such a great tradition that is slowly being pass on through the generations!