Emma Wood

     The other day I surfed this spot in Ventura called Emma Wood. Mostly, I surfed like crap and all these groms kept taking waves from me. Then I got this good one Scott took pictures of. Then I fell on a closeout left that wedged up in front of me and knocked me head first off my board. I was eating sand. It tasted like fish and salt and dirt. The next morning I woke up with a sore neck and couldn't get out of bed. 

I'm mostly feeling better now. 

the end.

Sweet Potato "Bar"

     Scott and I had a dinner party to go to the other night. So, naturally, I began to freak out about what I was going to make. There were guests at this dinner party (me!) with special eating needs (vegetarians and people with gluten and dairy allergies), so at first I was unsure about what to bring. While talking to my mom on the phone (she knows everything) she told me my sister Danielle had made this delicious sweet potato bar one evening with some really creative toppings such as pesto and almonds. This sounded like the perfect thing for the party because giving people the option to choose their own toppings would make it easy for me to accommodate each person's needs. Plus, duh, sweet potatoes are healthy and delicious. They're packed with vitamins B6, C and D and they're a good source of iron too. Everyone seemed stoked about 'em so I thought I'd pass the idea along. Scott and I have even eaten this weekly ever since. And guys, it's easy. Real easy. So, without further adieu, I give you the ingredients we used in our sweet potato bar. 

Ingredients

1 sweet potato per person

Topping Suggestions:

Pesto

Toasted almonds (baked in oven on 300º for 10-15)

Scallions

Blue Cheese

Parmesan Cheese
Dried Cranberries 

Honey (or agave)

Sour Cream

Hot Sauce/Salsa

*You wouldn't necessarily put all of these toppings on one potato, but it's nice to give people options.

*Get creative, add whatever toppings sound good to you!

*I love mine with blue cheese, pesto, scallions, toasted almonds and a dash of hot sauce

Instructions

Poke each potato with a fork three times to allow steam to escape. Brush each potato with olive oil and place on a baking sheet in the oven. Bake on 400º for 45 minutes to one hour (depending on the size of the potatoes). Cut the potatoes open and place them each in a bowl. Allow each person to choose the toppings of their choice. Enjoy!

My Holiday Gift Guide

1. Surf Cafe Cookbook-pretty pictures, yummy food // 2. Surf Fur-a super warm coat and your own personal changing room all in one //3. Roxy Twinkle Mittens -red! mittens! what could be cuter? // 4. Captain Fin Co. Summer Teeth Fins-unique, colorful and great for water girls and guys; *future fin setup only // 5. Pom Pom Neck Gaiter-stay warm, look good! // 6. Ocean Gypsy Kindle Fire Case // 7.Wet Hair Brush-My sister Maddie has this and I want it. Tangles be gone, but not your hair! (a more expensive version can be found here if you're interested. Thanks Kate!)  // 8. Magazine Subscriptions -Surf Girl and Women's Surf Style (then you can check out some of my articles in the next issues ;) 9. Burnt Sunset Roxy Jeans-I have these. I love them. They're really comfy and make me feel festive. // 10. This Time Tomorrow surf DVD-I love Taylor Steele films and I really want to see this. I've only heard good things.

other notes: 
*this image took me 4 hours to make in photoshop. wow. but! I drew a menorah... and a tree (like a 5 year old)!
*I really do love and want all of the gifts listed (hint, hint family), but some items are linked to my Amazon Associates account which means I may get a small commission on something you order from this site. I hope that's ok. Honestly, I really believe in all these items and would be recommending them even without a promotional perk. I just want to be fully honest with you. 

Happy shopping and happy holidays! Here we go...

Thanksgiving

     Thanksgiving was funny. Really freakin' hilarious, even. Sometimes I love to dig deep and divulge sentimental thoughts, reveal emotions, all that good mushy stuff. I like to do that because it makes me feel like I am really processing and taking in life and the things that happen to me. But no deep reflections today (I will spare you ;). Here are some funny and memorable pictures from our Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoyed yours too!

 my baby sister maddie broke the head off this poor pilgrim... so we decided the pilgrim should look like she was serving her head instead

dirty feet after playing in the street with my sister maddie (just like old times) 

 [l] scott and i [r] my middle sister danielle and i.
on thanksgiving I was, naturally, disgusted by the preparation of the turkey so danielle decided to take pictures of the neck and gizzard and save them as the background on my i-phone...

dad and mom

 we had some friends over the night before thanksgiving so I thought I should rap empire state of mind and stand on our kitchen counter... you only live once?

 rosemary pear cocktails 

 my cousin ryan is the funniest person i know; he's basically a legend.

 cousins watching home movies

Cheers!

Life Lately Linkup

The Endless Sea

     I've given you hundreds of reasons for why I love the ocean; It teaches me who I am, accepts everything about me, it's something I'll never figure out and on and on. But I realized another reason I love it the other day. I love thinking about the ocean as this thing in life that knows so much more than I do. I get the sense that the ocean knows, no matter what happens, that we'll all be alright. I can feel it telling me don't fret, someday everything will make sense as I sit there pondering what my purpose is and how my life will work out. When I was first learning about it, the ocean seemed so intimidating, but these days it comforts me. 

Do You Like Caramel?

How about apples and cream cheese and pecans? Well, if you do, head over to Hollie Takes Notes today and check out a Thanksgiving appetizer recipe containing all of the above. I promise, you won't regret making this. It's a hit!

p.s. comments are off. send love over to hollie's blog :)

Meet My Family: Scott

What's the first thing you notice about people? Smile.
What's your favorite color? Blue, I guess. I like a lot of colors.
What word describes you best? Happy.
What's your least favorite chore? I don't really mind chores, honestly, but I guess putting away laundry. 
What's your favorite time of day? Coming home to my wife.
Do you like your handwriting? Usually.
What is something you like to do everyday? Go in the ocean, but I don't always get to. 
What is the worst movie you've ever seen? After re-watching Reservoir Dogs, I wasn't a big fan. I don't think I'd say it's the worst movie I've ever seen, but the most recent one I didn't like. 
What is your favorite music right now? Beastie Boys station on Pandora.
When was the last time you cried? The last time I cried was probably seeing your Poppy's face as he watched your Nonny play the piano in your home movies.
Would you go sky diving? Depends on the situation. 

What is the best book you've ever read? Endurance. 
What was the last thing you ate? Chipotle.
Do you think you're strong? Sometimes.
What is the farthest your've ever been from home? Thailand or New Zealand. But I guess Thailand because it was so different.
What's your favorite holiday? Thanksgiving or Christmas because I like being around family and the traditions. 
Indoors or outdoors? Outdoors.
What are your favorite foods? Peanut butter and jelly, pizza and quesadillas. 
What is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you? I could say a million things, people are cool... my parents raising me, supporting me my whole life, putting me through college; your parents allowing me to marry their daughter; you making me lunch everyday. There's a lot of things. 
How do you want to be remembered? As the best husband, son, brother, friend, father, grandfather, uncle, teacher, surfer that I possibly could be. 

Meet My Family Series

Meet Danielle

Meet Maddie

~Email me if you'd like a copy of these questions to answer with your family~

Changes

I changed somethings around on this blog. And on purpose, no less. As many of you know, I'm not a huge fan of change. But, on occasion, I crave change and have been lately for this blog. Over the past few weeks, I have tweaked and added certain elements. I got photoshop last year for Christmas and have slowly been learning how to use it. Do I know what I'm doing? Absolutely not. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm developing bad habits as I try to teach myself how to use it. Needless to say, classes may be on my Christmas list. 

What's new? Should we play a guessing game or should I just tell you?....

 Ok, I'll tell you.

     Besides the most obvious change (removing the starfish background), the main differences can be found within the linky menu at the top. For example, I added some new trip tales and pictures to the Travel page. There were a few surf trips Scott and I did before I had this blog that I wanted to include. 
     Apart from the change in weather, that's about all the change I'm interested in on this cool Thursday morning. Although, I'm working on a new "series" for this little blog called "Meet My Family" that will start tomorrow. Scott's up first. Get excited. 

Memories in Motion: Learning to Swim

     I mentioned a few weeks ago that my parents transferred a bunch of our old home movies onto DVDs. It's strange how so much of your personality is already apparent at such a small age. 
    One time when my parents were overdue for a date night during my infant days, they left me with close family friends (people I refer to now as aunt and uncle) while they went to dinner. I wasn't comfortable with strangers then (which is explained by my introverted nature now) and would frequently cry when I was away from my mom and dad. Knowing this, before they left my parents advised my babysitters to give me a bath if they couldn't get me to stop crying. Water has always made me happy.

     Here is a video of me learning to swim. 

My mom and late grandpa Poppy are in the first part and my dad is in the second part.

I'm curious, what was apparent about your personality early on?

Swell Window

Swell Window- the angle of swell that the beach is open to receive; a period of time from when a swell from a particular storm starts to when it ends. 

Fiji

     In January of 2008 my dad, sister Danielle and I went to Namotu Island in Fiji. I haven't ever posted the photos on this blog, so I thought a dreary day like today was a good time. Consider this a bit of a flashback friday type of thing, if you will. 

     There aren't typically the best waves in January in Fiji, but right in the middle of our trip a really fun swell hit Namotu Lefts and this other wave I can't remember the name of (although I'm thinking it was called Wilks).

     My favorite memory from the trip was hiding behind a corner in the common room and scaring my sister so good that she fell off the wooden plank pathway she was walking on, on the way to our room. Sucka! Ok, ok, in all honestly, watching her surf was the real highlight for me. She doesn't do it very often anymore (she went to school in Arizona and now lives in NYC), but when she does, she rips.  Oh, and let's not forget my dad. He doesn't love having his picture on the internet, but he's such a big part of my life and my surfing that I do what I want and post them anyway can't leave him off this blog.  

Polaroids of What We've Been Eating

eggplant and chickpea stew over quinoa//tofu stir fry with some spice

bowl of life breakfast with quinoa//chocolate-chip pumpkin bread

raw homemade plum jam from Roberta//Daphne's classic Greek salad

(I shouldn't have made this when I was so hungry!)

Roxy Laundry, my favorite kind

Dear Roxy, 

     thank you for the continued support and encouragement through the years. I feel happy every time I look at that heart logo. I still remember the first time I saw it on a pair of socks I got for Christmas in fourth grade. Ever since that day I was on a mission to make it a bigger part of my life. Being on the Roxy team has been a dream come true. Mean it. 

,

Devonp.s. you guys gotta check out all the new Roxy arrivals! That's basically my Christmas list right there.   >>This just in>> enter to win $500 in Roxy product of your choice

Quiet Time

     It was a quiet weekend and I love those. I like having time to go through all my thoughts a few times, you know? To devote time in the daylight to the thoughts that usually only get attention when my head hits my pillow.

     Things on my mind this weekend

1. Everything that has happened since I quit my job...a stricter budget for Scott and I, great opportunities to write and try new jobs, self-doubt (what was I thinking?), new sponsors, new-found confidence and, most recently, an opportunity that arrived Friday morning (more on this later). 

2. Scott and I having a cold and me trying to treat it naturally with some success.

3. Breaking Bad. That show is intense. I was convinced I would stop watching it because it stresses me out, but I can't, we can't. Anyone else? 

4. Surfing. My top turns in particular. I need to focus on strengthening my core (sit ups, Devon! Do them!) so I can really crank those turns around and throw water (especially on dudes paddling out that assume I can't!)

5. Scott and his thoughtful ways. How he always wants to help me get everything I need (and how I'm so glad he's not a meth cooker like Walter from Breaking Bad).

I hope you had a good weekend, too!