Heather & Jed Eastman

Don't wait by the mailbox...Eastmans are going green this year

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 02:59:00 +0000

Trip to the South - New Orleans, LA

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 03:20:00 +0000

Beignets, Beignets, Beignets. Prior to our trip, everytime we mentioned that we were going to New Orleans, beignets and Cafe Dumonde always came up.

Beignets are deep-fried dough covered in powdered sugar. They come piping hot in your own little bag. We were silly to only order one our first stop, so we went again. Twice.

Ate:
Cafe Dumonde - Beignets.
Short Stop - PoBoy's - turkey for me, BBQ beef for Jed
Deanies Seasfood - Most disappointing meal of the trip. I tried their gumbo, but the rice was rock hard. Jed got a crab dish that was good at first, and then got real gross real quick.

Saw:
Bourbon street, Voodoo shops, French Quarter, trolley car down St. Charles street, ate a snow-cone called a "Sno-ball" (Sorry folks, no different that your run of the mill snow-cone), and got the all too familiar feeling of being sticky and hot in a muggy city. We were looking forward to a steamboat ride down the Mississippi, but after a morning SPRINT to get on the boat by 11, they informed us that the 11am boat ride had been cancelled. We continued to sweat the better part of the day.

We met up with Jed's brother Luke and made our way back to Atlanta. We made a stop in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and had our final lunch on the road. It was a rib joint called DreamLand. Plopped in the middle of nowhere, we enjoyed ribs, coleslaw, and banana pudding that knocked my socks off!

The last 4 hours of our drive was a downpour like I have never seen. White knuckles for 4 hours and as we pulled into the driveway, blue skies up ahead. Of course.

What a great trip we had. We are so lucky that we are able to visit new places, see new things, taste new food.

Trip to the South - Memphis and Driving

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 03:14:00 +0000

Once we left Nashville, it only made sense to go through Memphis, have some Memphis BBQ, visit Elvis "The King" Presley's homeland, before settling in for our long drive to New Orleans.

Ate:
Corky's BBQ - Ribs, mac and cheese, and spaghetti. After recalling what I ordered, I realize I don't make the best choices in food. But, luckily Jed does and we enjoyed a slab together.

Saw:
We approached Graceland and saw a line that could have circled the block. Who knew there were so many Elvis fans!!! We saw the "Lisa Marie"airplane, and thought that was good enough to pay our respects to a musician that we don't really even like. Hope you aren't all shook up. Ugh, that was bad. But, I am keeping it in there.

Onward to New Orleans. This was the longest leg of our trip, but with beignets in our future, we were excited to get to NoLa.

Trip to the South - Nashville, TN

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 03:03:00 +0000

We've been looking forward to visiting Nashville for a while now. It is such a cool city with such a fun vibe. Anyone musically inclined, you should make your way to Tennessee!!!

Ate:
Hog Heaven - pulled turkey sandwich with white BBQ sauce (one of my top 3 things we had) and a BBQ pulled pork sandwich. Jed knew I loved his turkey more than my pork, so he traded me. What a guy.
We may or may not have had sushi in Nashville. We thought it was a good idea at the time. Mostly we were looking for something a little lighter. Don't judge.

Saw:
Tour of Vanderbilt college. We LOVE college campuses, and VB did not disappoint. It was a cool campus, but felt a bit out of place in Nashville. Belonged in Hogwartz or something.
Walked around 2nd street. Saw a lot of Honky-Tonk, stopped in a boot store, bought us a Christmas ornament in the shape of a guitar. Listened to a lot of live music.

Nashville, thanks for being so good to us, but seriously, kick those sushi restaurants out of your town!!!

Trip to the South - Charleston, SC

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 02:36:00 +0000

Charleston was stop #2 on this little tour of ours. It is such a great city! Sits on the water, cute shops, LOTS of horse-drawn carriages.

Ate:
Jestine's Kitchen - gumbo for me, turkey sandwich for Jed (he was already feeling the sting of too much southern food)
Jack's Cosmic Dogs - blue cheese coleslaw hot dogs

Saw:
Toured the Boon Hall Plantation - this was such a neat experience. At one point, this was a full functioning brick, indigo, and cotton plantation. Today they have a large fruit and veggie garden, with a corresponding farmers market. And if there is anything that warms my heart, it's a farmers market and fresh fruit and veggies. Unfortunately, we were on the off season, so we didn't purchase any fresh fruits. At this point, I am not sure how our bodies would react to fresh fruit and veggies anyways.
Charleston Candy Kitchen - homemade taffy always wins a spot on my list.

We'd come back for more of that southern hospitality any day of the week!

One pit stop was seeing this tree, called the Angel Tree. This tree is 1500 years old, and said to be one of the oldest living things east of the Mississippi River. It's longest limb is 105 feet!!! Pretty cool thing to see in real life.

Trip to the South - Savannah, GA

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:52:00 +0000

Jed and I celebrated Thanksgiving in Atlanta this year (shout out to Sarah and Alex for being such generous hosts/hostesses) we had some time off at work, and neither of us have spent much time in the south, so we put together a plan to extend our vacation and tour the south. Of course, it was based on food. (whoever reads this (hmmm, not sure anyone reads this) knows that our lives sadly/gladly revolve around food)

Stop 1 - Savannah, Georgia

Stayed:
Adorable Bed and Breakfast just a block from Forsyth Park. PLEASE make sure you stay here when you go to Savannah. Jed had to hold me back from asking the homeowner to join us for the remainder of our trip.

Ate:
The Old Pink House - Fried Green Tomato salad, she-crab soup, red snapper
Lady and Sons (Paula Dean Y'all) - fried chicken, mac and cheese, black eyed peas, gooey butter cake
Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House - If this was my last supper, I would die a happy woman. This was our introduction to Southern Food at it's finest. Collard greens, rutabaga, fried chicken, biscuits, banana pudding, etc. etc. etc. We didn't get to order, but rather sat with eight other diners and the food comes to you family style. We sat with a group of North Carolinians that I also wanted to take with us the remainder of our trip. This will be a common theme.

Saw:
Toured Savannah with a hop on, hop off tour. Mark my words, if there is a hop on/hop off tour, take it. We never regret them and you get to see a lot of history from someone who usually knows what they're talking about (and if not, you don't know the difference)

Overall - Savannah was an amazing way to start our trip. The town is so old, so quaint, a little eerie, and everyone was SO polite!

M-I-C - see ya real soon...

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:29:00 +0000

We found the inner kids in us (and a lot of prompting from Hillary and the Dragon crew) and made our way to the Happiest Place on Earth.

I haven't been to Disneyland since I was around, hmmm, 7 or so (ie. I don't remember a THING) and I have to say, it was a pretty great time.

We were the chaperone for our nieces: Ellie, Reese, and Taytum. There were 4 adults and 3 kids and they pretty much ran us to the ground.

The kids were on a hunt for one thing, and one thing only. Princesses. We found all but Tiana. Hillary personally wanted a full refund from Disney himself, but I told her those were the chances we just had to take. Jed and I were on the hunt for one thing and one thing only...the corn dog cart. Best $7.00 we ever spent!

In addition to Dland, we went to the beach, mini golfing, bowling, and to Pink's famous (infamous in my opinion) hotdogs.

Thanks So Cal, you treated us well!

Paris in Black and White

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 21:54:00 +0000

Turning 30 is a big deal. So, we decided to do it BIG...in Paris!!!

What an amazing city. City of Love? City of Lights? City of Carbs? All of the above should apply.

Jed eat's the SF 1/2 marathon for breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:10:00 +0000

Today was race day for Jed. He's been training hard and getting ready for the big dog - Chicago marathon - this October. The SF 1/2 marathon is just part of the training. That last sentence makes me want to barf. Why can't I enjoy running? I did feel the running adrenaline and thought maybe, just maybe I caught the bug and could do a big race...but, I think it was just the free banana and flavored water the runners get afterward. I'm a sucker for swag.

I'm proud that he is working so hard, that the weather was calm, and that I was able to find him at 3 locations WITHOUT using a phone or GPS. Just husband and wife wifi. Guess I could've been a pioneer afterall.

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 02:29:00 +0000

Someone forgot to wish you a Happy 4th.
(She is going to be so embarrassed when we show this picture to her friends)

Monterey OK

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 30 May 2011 20:41:00 +0000

Ocean, golf clubs, a nice drive from SF = Monterey California.

We love exploring and haven't done near enough in this city. We wanted to "get out of town" and figured a quick day trip to Monterey would do the trick.

We enjoyed 17 mile drive, a quick peek at Pebble Beach (Jed was in heaven!!!), ate an awesome sandwich, spent some time walking around Carmel By the Sea (adorbs) and finished with a pit stop in Santa Cruz for a mind-blowing milkshake. Icing on the cake of a great day.

Easter. Easter bunny. Easter rabbit. Easter parade

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 14:20:00 +0000

If anyone else understands that title, we need to talk. That line came from a "Thompson movie classic" called Midnight Madness (think a live video game...and Michael J Fox as a tween) If you choose to rent it (most likely on VHS) don't judge. You know you all have "those shows" you grew up on.

We have already had a great Easter weekend...and it's only Sunday morning. We met some friends (and family. Hey Jare. Hey Ry) down at Crissy Fields where we talked about how cute Frankie is, ate some bagels, and snapped a few pics. I may or may not have requested that Jed dresses "as Easterly as possible" so we could get a few Spring pictures. He obliged. Which is #7815 reason why I love him.

He is now in the kitchen slaving over a pancake breakfast. #3588 reason why I love him.

We spent some good quality time this morning watching movies that are Christ centered and encourage you to watch this short message. The real reason we celebrate Easter.

Hope everyone enjoys their Easter Sunday, and ham and cheesy potato dinner tonight.

An Exception for Sam

noreply@blogger.com (Jed Eastman) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:52:00 +0000

Fair warning: this post is probably more for me than it is for you. Please forgive indulgences.

I don't really blog anymore. Heather's just so darn good at it that I leave it in her capable hands. :)

But I decided today might be worth an exception.

A year ago today my oldest sister Sam passed away. A couple days ago I finished a book called Making Toast, a true story about another family who also lost someone suddenly (I highly recommend it by the way).

I related to a lot of it, but particularly to this passage:

"Odd that I seem to know Amy more completely in death than I did when she was alive . . . there was so much to her life that I was unaware of until now, when I speak with her friends and colleagues and learn of this sound decision or of that small gesture of thoughtfulness."

That's exactly how I feel about Sam. I'm amazed by the impact she had on others' lives and extremely honored to call her my sister. My only regret is that I didn't take the time to know more of her goodness while I still had the chance to tell her how much I look up to her.

Over the past year I've tried my best to make sure the same thing doesn't happen with any of my other siblings. There's still so much to learn, but the deeper relationships I already have with each of them make me happy.

So, in tribute to Sam, here's one (of many) reason why I look up to each of them:

Matt: he talks openly to me about his feelings and emotions and lets me talk to him about mine.
Rach: she's one of the best mothers i know. she cares deeply about her family and makes the tough sacrifices to care for their well-being in the most meaningful of ways.
Alex: he proactively provides me with regular opportunities to develop relationships with his kids.
Luke: he values my opinions and is always content to listen to them before he shares his own.
Heber: he's willing to take risks and forge his own path through life.

I hope I have many more years to learn even more reasons.

It's been a while

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 05:11:00 +0000

Since the Fab 4 hung out. A long while. I spent some time in Utah (sans the husb) for some much enjoyable family time, a baptism for my niece Marlee, some shopping, lots of laughing, too much eating, and a lot of play time with the nieces and nephews.

The "VaughnThomDragonman" family.

70 degrees...somone pinch me

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 01:33:00 +0000

Our East Coast friends are snowed in, our Utah friends are frozen until May, and the weather is wreaking havoc on the rest of you...so, we are considering ourselves pretty dang lucky. 70 degrees in February. But, don't wish us a slow, miserable death just yet; come June we will be sporting rain gear and heavy jackets.

To take advantage (along with 30,000 other people) of the sun, we took Frankie for a walk at Baker Beach.

Great views of...

the bridge
public nudity while hula hooping (he was in his briefs)
fishing
crab catching
sunning
frolicking
etc
etc
etc

Hang in there peeps. The sun'll come out tomorrow.

Sorry East Coast friends.

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:27:00 +0000

Found these two guys just laying around.

This is a silly city we live in.

Did I mention it's January?

I think Tyler Florence is getting a restraining order against us.

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 01:56:00 +0000

Driving out of the city yesterday made me realize why people love San Francisco. Because they don't love San Francisco...but rather the surrounding area (lovingly called The Bay Area) and if I can throw my two cents in...Mill Valley. It is SUCH an adorable little town.

If you remember, just a few shorts month ago we visited Tyler Florence's restaurant, Wayfare Tavern, for Jed's birthday. Our DVR is full of "Tyler's Ultimate", we've made his recipes. So, it only made sense to visit his kitchen supply store. And, when we get a home to call our own, I will be making a visit to this store to get one of everything. Including the cashier.

The store was AMAZING! Everything was so pretty. The ladies room was my dream bathroom. A sweet little lady even passed out due to the beauty that was before us. (Not really...apparently she had a bad reaction to her new meds...rest assured, she's fine. I helped by waiving Himalayan Pink Kosher Sea Salt to help her come to her senses. Not really.)

To top the store off, they had a cookbook library. With a fireplace. Be still my heart.

After drooling and oohing at all of the goods, we purchased a salt dish (really, just to say we bought something from TF's kitchen supply store) and walked over to Pearl's Burger. I almost don't dare to write this, but it was Tyler Florence's "Best Burger I ever Ate." I gave it a 7. But, the PB/Oreo milkshake a solid 9. Mostly because of the straw.

So, if you see Jed and I being hauled off to the pokey, there is a good chance it's because we saw TF in person and let him read this post.

O'er the hills we go

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 01:23:00 +0000

As everyone else on blogs, facebook, work, texts, and e-mails have noted, we too had a great Christmas.

We found ourselves in Utah. As always.
We spent time with family. As always.
We ate too much food. As always.

We went sledding as a family...screeeeeeech. Wait a minute. Hold up. Don't get me wrong, we have a lot of fun with my family, but it usually consists of me and Hillary begging the family to play scatergories, stuffing our face with food, and hiding from the kids as they gang up on us (there are 7 now!)

Going sledding was a bit out of the norm, but we had SUCH a good time. I would dare say it was the highlight of the trip.
That and Ole St. Nick finding us in Utah. How does he do that???

Even woofs got in on the fun...but, her type of fun was making "lemon sno-cones" she has no manners.

Beck was waiting for us in the Yert. With snacks and cupcakes for Asher's birthday. He was quite the host.

I love Asher's rosy cheeks. This kid knows how to play hard. And by hard, I meant that I wanted to borrow his helmet so I could protect my skull from his muay tai karate moves.

Picking the color of the tube was the hardest part of the day.

Taytum was brave until half-way down the kiddie slide. Then things went sour. And she cried. But, she sure looked cute in the tube.

We clearly had too much fun, because this is where the picture taking ended for the rest of the trip.

We hope all of your Christmas dreams came true.

Only you can prevent yuletide fires

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 06:19:00 +0000

At our park (yes, Jed and I now own a park. Frankie has marked every square inch of it to prove it)there isn't a lot of Christmas going on. Maybe it's because it's raining...and has been for days. Maybe people think outdoor Christmas lights + rain = electrical storm. It makes sense. And to be honest, I too have had those thoughts.

I've also had thoughts of Christmas trees lights + not enough water = tree on fire, which is why we chose to decorate our dresser.

Good thing twinkling lights + cheap furniture that you had to put together yourself and it's most likely not even real wood will NOT = dresser fire.

As Jed and I are still newer in our married life, we only have one Christmas tradition. We buy an ornament that has significance to an event that has happened in our lives. This is one of my favorites (of the 3) It's the Empire State Building and will remind me of the magic of living in NYC.

Now, who can find us an ornament of a wiener dog with a pacifier in her mouth??? She is our little baby, that's for sure! Ugh. I hate that I just made a dog = fur baby comment. Forget it. But seriously, email me if you do.

Frankenwooferton

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 01:57:00 +0000

I was about 30 minutes too late for the "good light" so, I will leave you with the Sunday in SF picture of our dog. Smelling something. Probably something nasty.

Here's to a "not so long, so I can take some decent shots when it's light" nap next week.

Sunday...on Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 23:37:00 +0000

It's rainy and dreary in SF. I won't complain: no snow and decent temps...I'll take it. But, it puts a bit of a snag on my Sunday's in SF picture taking.

So, your "Sunday's in SF" just so happened to be taken on Saturday when it wasn't raining, but a rather beautiful day. And what a day we had.

I'd rank it to one of the top 5 best days in SF. Since we've lived here 395 days or more, that's saying something.

Day goes as follows:
5:50: wake up (it's a sickness, I know)
5:50-7:50: do crossword puzzles on the iPad (which Jed still makes me call his magical revolutionary device. Another sickness)
7:50: husband wakes up
8:00: husband makes crepes
8:15: wife exclaims "these are the best crepes ever"
8:30-10:00: nothing of importance
10:00: head to Oakland (shhhh, don't tell my mom, I promised her I wouldn't ever step foot in that devil city)
11:30ish: Share a fried chicken sandwich and choc chip cook at Bake Sale Betty's
12:00: Go to the temple
3:00-6:30: Didn't really matter
6:30: our lives changed as we stepped foot into Morimoto Napa
6:32: walk past Masaharu Morimoto...we both squealed like little girls
6:35-7:30: consume the best meal of our lives consisting of Ramen noodles (aka Mormimoto's version of chicken noodle soup), sushi rice risotto, sushi, donuts, and the itty bittiest banana milkshake you will ever see!
7:30: Attempt to take picture with "the chef"
7:30.5: Realize the idiot we asked to take the picture didn't, in fact, take the picture and that another attempt was useless since Jed had already peed his pants due to a severe case of "Iron Chef intimidation." Can't blame him--that man's "useless Americans, bothering a master with a picture while he's working" stare cuts like a freakin' sushi knife.
7:31: Wait out back by the bushes, ready to jump the kid who ruined our lives...uh, picture
7:31--bedtime: Talk about how we were practically judges on Iron Chef America. And, how MM was the most intimidating man we have ever stood next to, and he didn't even say a word.
Bedtime-am: dream of having more days like that.

Bake Sale Betty's

Morimoto Napa (and, obviously, an outfit change)

It looks like "Hand" from Addams Family is feeding me. Which would have been nice if I had 3 hands to shove the food in, rather than 2.

Itty Bittiest, I say.

Because when donuts are on a dessert menu, you get em. That's why.

Because it's been over a month

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 01:33:00 +0000

Man, sometimes blogging is so hard!

The pressure of feeling like I need to post something when there is, in fact, nothing to really post about. I could post how Jed and I wake up, take Frankie for a walk (more Jed than me...he's a good sport), get ready, and head out into the world on a scooter.

Or I could talk about coming home, making dinner, taking Frankie for another walk (she is such a diva) watching some tube, reading some books, and crawling into bed.

But, that's pretty boring.

On another note: we have a fancy schmancy camera that's not being used. Nothing to blog about. A camera not being used. Do you see what I see? (tis the season) So we decided to dust it off and take some pics today. When I say we, I mean ME! That's right folks, I'm a budding photog. Not really, I just want to learn something new. So, it's actually pretty selfish.

Jed and I like to set goals. Some we meet, some we will continue working on for the rest of our lives. One of them consists of taking more pictures of San Fran. On Sunday. And, calling it Sunday's in SF.

I will try to post the cool things that we see while we are out taking Frankie to see the world. Most of which will be portraits of her, because she is so dang cute. Everyone in SF agrees. Except for the dogs she runs up behind and barks so loud that I even cringe. Just keeping everyone on their toes, I'm sure.

So, without further ado, I present Sunday's in SF. Photo shoot numero uno.

Jed and woofie (another bonus, you will most likely get to know Frankie and all of her pet names. Pun intended)

Frankie doing what she loves best...and what I love best...doting on our main man!

Someone please tell the family who lives in the brown shingled house, that we will move in as soon as they are out.

Who loves Jed's new glasses? Who loves Jed?

Stay tuned for next week. We might even get Frankie into wardrobe.

Celebrating Jed's birthday with Tyler Florence

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:35:00 +0000

Well, not really...but, we did eat at his restaurant, WAYFARE Tavern.

I want this mantle in my future house

Jed's birthday was one week ago. I'm still full.

Menu:
starter - popovers. buttery, warm, fluffy popovers.
appetizer (yes, there is a difference) - poutine (fries, short ribs, cheese sauce and gravy...why yes, it was very light!)
entree - birthday boy: fried chicken. birthday boy's wife: hamburger
side dish - mac and cheese
dessert - carrot cake

I think he wished for elastic waisted pants.

Front row seats to the kitchen

Proof that we really did start with popovers.

We ended the night snuggling at home, watching a movie on the new AppleTV. (Side note: do not, I repeat DO NOT rent "When in Rome" it was painful. )

Here's to the best husb out there. Happy 31!

One year closer to THIRTY!

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 03:32:00 +0000

I love birthdays. Maybe it's because I am kinda a TINY bit excited to be 30, and now I am one year closer to it. Maybe it's because I get to share it with the best friend a gal can ask for. Maybe it's because my husband rented the same hotel suite we stayed on our honeymoon night so everyone could celebrate together, in return, making him the best husband a gal can ask for.

Either way, I am so glad I was able to celebrate in Utah, with some of my favorite people in the world, and I got a magic bullet and Le Cruset to boot! It's going to be a good year.

I wasn't the only one excited to open my gift! I had 6 little helpers who loved my houndstooth wrapping paper (nice touch ma! )

My Husband Ran a Marathon this Weekend...what about yours?

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 01:31:00 +0000

26.2 miles of blood (not really), sweat (really) and tears (maybe from one very happy/sappy wife)

Jed ran the Top of Utah marathon with his brother, Matt. It was so exciting to be a part of it. Even if I was just the "gu" girl.

Thanks to those who supported him.

Here's to having our Saturday's back!!!