C'est la Vie

c'est

la

vie

that's life

what

a great philosophy!

when

we

are

filled with joy

c'est la vie.

when

we are

sorrowful

c'est la vie.

when

you share

a

lovely

glass of wine

with

an

old friend

c'est la vie.

or when you

watch

your

parent

take

his

or her

last breath

c'est la vie.

Melissa,

of

THE JUNK GIRLS

made

these

silver spoon

charms

just

for

Petit Soleil

we

LOVE

"c'est la vie"

it

is

our

mantra,

our

motto,

our philosophy

...

only at Petit Soleil

Silver Spoon

C'est la Vie

necklaces

$22.00 - $25.00

The Day before the Dog Whisperer cometh

Oh. boy!

the excitement

begins

with

"wanna go to the doggie park?"

Nottie

and the boys

can't jump

into

Mademoiselle

fast enough

there's

lots of

room

in

Mademoiselle Petit Soleil

for them

to

run

in

circles of excitement

or just sit and

anticipate

the

fun

ahead

.....

When one first arrives at the dog park

it

can

be

a

little

bit

scary

big dogs,

little dogs,

hairy dogs,

bald dogs

athletic dogs

and

lazy dogs

all

together

Huckleberry finds some little friends

and

then

this big guy comes to check out the sitch

Goldens are always safe friends -

They are

ALWAYS

nice

If you didn't notice,

you don't see

Nottie

making

friends.

She

had

some

"friend"

issues,

we think,

from her days

at

the Animal Shelter

so Nottie

decided to go explore

and where Nottie goes

so

follow

her

boys

John and I

had to

run after

Nottie

Huck and Phinn

as they

found

High School

cross country

teams

running

and

they decided to run with them

.....

So,

sadly

out come

the leashes

and

back to

Mademoiselle

to go home.

We did

show

Nottie

and her boys

the

"good"

dogs

good

dogs

listen

and sit

and fetch

and

STAY

We have

high hopes

for our

gang,

though

Tressie,

the dog whisperer,

comes

tomorrow

to

train

me

and John

how to

be good

dog

parents!

Watch for future updates

Oh my Gosh! How easy is Tortilla Soup?

I

do

believe

that everyone

that reads my blog

loves to

cook

and

bake

as much as I do

...

I figure

what the heck!

Maybe

all you foodies

have

forgotten

that

Tortilla Soup

has to

one

of the easiest

dinners

when

you have

no time

but do have

torts

and leftover

pork

or

chicken

or

beef

or

turkey

or veggies!

Fry up

some tortilla strips

I cut up a red onion and a few jalapenos from our garden

and after I took out the

crispy fried torts

I added the onions and chiles

to the pan

and sauteed them

until soft

I cut up a few tomatoes

from our garden

and added

them to the onion mixture

I added

leftover

veggie broth

and chicken broth

to the

onion mixture

(maybe 5 cups

or so)

We had leftover

grilled port tenderloin

(yum)

so I cut it up

and threw it in the soup

I tossed in chipotle,

garlic,

chile powder

salt and pepper

and a zucchini from our garden

and the

soup

simmered

for

oh,

hmm

about an hour

to serve

toss some of the fried torts

in your bowl

pour the soup

on the

torts

add some cheese

lime

more jalapeno

(if you dare)

So

yummy!

I wish I had had

an avocado

and sour cream

to toss and swirl

on top

It was still gooood.

Nine months old!

IMG_0244, originally uploaded by TTT with Toulouse.

Can you tell that these two scruff bags hate the doggie brush? I mean, Huckleberry screams like a baby before I even begin to brush - Phinn just takes off running and dives under our bed.
We are thinking maybe a dog whisperer might be helpful......
or maybe dreads!

Oreos, owls and Oktoberfest

Owls....

they

are

wise,

kinda spooky

whooooooooooooooooot,

they

are

in

a movie,

and they

are

Annie's

current collection

I love to indulge

in

a

good

collection

and owls

are

really

happening

To

celebrate

Annie's

completion

of the L.S.A.T.

last

weekend,

I made

some

Pumpkin Owl Muffins

I

found then

in

another fun

blog

by

Taylor Thomas

and

I

copied

them!

First,

you detach the oreo cookie halves

and stick a

Reese's piece

in the middle

I made pumpkin muffins

Frosted them with cream cheese frosting

Stuck the eyes on

and

stuck in a

candy corn

for the nose


So goofy

silly

and easy!

Yesterday

I found

these

oh so

happy

Autumn

napkins

at

Picking Daisies

and

napkin rings

at

World Market

owl napkin is Annie's

and

this

will welcome her home

As for

Oktoberfest,

it was

an

"O"

word

and

there is

an

Oktoberfest celebration

tomorrow

at Avila Beach

and

we

will celebrate

Oktoberfest

at

home

for

John's birthday

Ein Prosit

und

Happy October!

Sunset's Victory Garden

Last

April

John and I

(and Toulouse)

attended

the

"ground breaking ceremony"

for the

Sunset

Victory Garden

at Santa Margarita Ranch.

The

garden

was to

be

organic,

using

compost

and

sustainable

gardening

techniques.

I was intrigued

to see

the outcome

of

this

one

acre

garden

fast forward

October 2, 2010

The

entrance

to the Victory Garden

Hi John!

I

am

in AWE!

The

garden

is

absolutely

magnificent!

There is a scheme,

well, duh!

I guess every

good

garden has a SCHEME

There

are small plots of herbs

here and there

Gorgeous

olive trees

surround the garden

And

exquisite

veggies,

integrated with

flowers

are everywhere!

Thai Chiles

Bok Choy

amazingly beautiful

Swiss Chard

hundreds of

tomatoes,

peppers,

cucumbers

melons and pumpkins

beans,

eggplants

peas

onions

garlic and leeks

recycled wine corks

used

kinda like

bark

for weed maintenance

and to

keep the ground moist

(great idea, I am saving our corks!)

I wanted

to

do a "Peter Rabbit"

in

all the

lettuces

and kale

parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, basil, savory, oregano

so fragrant

The gardeners

were

on duty

seven days a week

to insure

that this

would be

the garden

among all

gardens.

IT

WAS!