Scrapbooking Life

Venice: Hotel on the pesce!

2009-10-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

In order to break up the several food posts ahead, I thought I'd introduce our Venice hotel to you! I showed pictures of all of the other hotels we had booked, but due to last minute trip stuff, I never got around to showing pictures of the Venice hotel. So now you get the actual pictures that I took!

We stayed at Al Doge Beato, which is located on the actual island of Venice. After watching the Rick Steves Venice episode, we quickly decided that there was no way we'd be staying on the mainland. With that in mind, we started searching for hotels that fit our budget.

This was actually the first hotel we booked. I don't remember how we found it, or how we decided on it so quickly. Ok, that's kind of a lie....I know we found it on trip advisor. The ratings were good, the rooms looked spacious (which seemed uncommon for Europe), and there was a small canal near by.

Besides a little trouble we had checking in and some issues with something left behind (more about these in a later post), we had a great stay here! I think I'd give it 4/5 stars (4 out of 5, not to be confused with 4/5 of a star) for a European hotel! We went not expecting much, but we were pleasantly surprised =)

So now some pictures of our Venetian hotel:

The hairdryer! I just thought it was weird-looking...

View from our balcony, to the left (at night there are tables set out for the restaurant below). Oh, and our canal view

View from our balcony, to the right

Another view of our room....taken from the bathroom

And that is it! Our Venice hotel!! I think we got a pretty good idea of what to expect after looking at Trip Advisor. Oh, and I definitely plan on writing a review for every place we stayed, and everywhere we ate. The reviews we read and pictures we saw while we were booking were extremely helpful! So I urge you to do the same =)

Ok, get ready for a few more food posts!

Venice: The Food! (Part 1)

2009-10-05T08:53:00.000-07:00

We had AMAZING food while in Europe, so of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity to share every meal we ate!!! Before we got there, I was planning on eating tons of seafood and pasta, and drinking lots of wine, and that's exactly what we did! Be prepared...this is kind of a long post, so feel free to just look at the pictures! (Oh, and I've decided to split the Venice food up into two posts....too much for one!)

Day 1: We arrived in Venice around 8pm. We wandered around, checked into our hotel, changed clothes, and went out to find something to eat! We found ourselves at the Grand Canal, by the Scalzi Bridge. There were several restaurants in the area, and they all looked really good! We decided to pay a little more and eat at one of the restaurants on the Grand Canal. We ended up choosing Trattoria Povoledo. I was in the mood for pasta, so I ordered the spahgetti ai frutti di mare....and it was sooooo good. It tasted super fresh, and was just amazing. Ryan ordered the proscuitto pizza, which was also super yummy! Of course we ordered a bottle of wine, as well!

Ryan's proscuitto pizza =)

My super fresh, super yummy seafood pasta!

Our first bottle of Italian wine, just chillin'

The gorgeous Canal view from our table!

Day 2: I woke up early (6am) because I was so excited to be in Europe and couldn't wait to see Venice in the daytime! Our hotel serves breakfast in the room, but we left just as the hotel staff was getting there, so we didn't get to take advantage. We found a random little cafe and had a croissant and peach juice...over priced and not that good (definitely the worst "meal" in Venice, but whatever!). We had plans to go to Burano that day, but we were getting kind of hungry around 11am, and decided to stop and get out first lunch. Ryan got a sandwich with meat and cheese (not sure exactly what) and I got a flat sandwichy thing that they heated up! Mine was really good! It had cheese, veggies and olives, yum!

Our 1st lunch! I didn't take a picture of breakfast...but I'm sure you can imagine a croissant =)

After getting to Burano and exploring a bit, we found a place that served pizza (I was really craving pizza). Since we had already eaten our first lunch, we decided to split mussels with lemon and a pizza ai frutti di mare. The mussels were really really good! The pizza was also really good, but a little different than I expected, but it tasted really yummy! I think if I had to choose, I like Ryan's pizza from the night before better, but honestly, they were both so good! Oh, and we washed down our lunch with a mezzo litro (500 mL) of prosecco =)

Mussels with lemon...so good! And if you look closely, you can see the Prosecco in the upper right-hand corner

Seafood pizza!

We had big plans that night. We had planned to go to the Skyline Bar, go on a gondola ride, and eat at a restaurant that had awesome reviews on Trip Advisor. Well...nothing worked out as planned. The Skyline Bar and gondola ride were a no-go, but we still went on a mission to find the restaurant. It was very hidden, and when we finally found it is was around 10pm. Well, I looked at the menu, which was pretty limited, and decided that nothing looked that good. So, we were super lucky and ended up finding a great place to eat. THE FOOD WAS AMAZING! The place was called Osteria Alle Testiere, and they usually only have one sitting, but they were super nice and let us eat, even though it was an hour after they had seated people. (side note: I just looked it up on Trip Advisor so I could link you all, and realized that's it's the #3 ranked restaurant in Venice! We win!)

Ok, so I was really craving pasta, but unfortunately, they had already dumped out the pasta water (since they were not expecting anymore dinner guests). They did, however, have a lot of other dishes that looked delish! So, we started off with a mixed seafood appetizer from the Adriatic Sea, which was seriously, sooooo good. Probably the best seafood we had the whole trip. For dinner, I ordered prawns with corriander, ginger, and lime sauce and Ryan ordered sea bream fillets with fine herbs and citrus sauce. And of course we ordered a white wine =)

Our bread sticks, cracker thing and roll! Oh, and we got refills!

Amazing appetizer! Octopus in the middle, and then starting at 6 o'clock and going clockwise: lobster, cuttlefish, shrimp, spider crab, anchovies, baby calamari, and a little crostini (?) with a mousse-like substance made from cod, milk, vegetable oil, garlic, and herbs. My mouth is watering....

Ryan and his dish!

My wonderful prawns that came with polenta! It was delicious!

So, there you have it! The food we ate the first two days in Venice (well most of it....). Yum! I can't wait to post about the rest =) I hope none of you are sick of hearing about slash looking at good food!

I'm Back!!!!

2009-10-02T08:50:00.000-07:00

We got back from our wonderful European vacation about two and a half weeks ago. I had tons of fun at each place, and can't wait to start blogging about some of the details! I honestly don't even know where to begin because everything was so amazing! Oh, and if you're hoping for a proposal story, it won't happen here! I've started a wedding blog!!!! Ok, so here are a couple of pictures from each place we visited. Enjoy!

Venice:

We had so much fun just walking around and getting lost in Venice. We found tons of beautiful little canals and squares! And of course, we had AMAZING food, but I'll get to that in a later post! The first picture below is of me above one of the many small canals that run through the city. The second picture is me on the Rialto Bridge, over the Grand Canal.

Cinque Terre:

We first saw the beautiful view of Cinque Terre from the train! One second we were in a dark tunnel, and then all of a sudden we had a view of the gorgeous Mediterranean Sea! The views, food, and atmosphere of Cinque Terre were all seriously awesome! The first picure is me with a view of Manarola (the second of the five towns). The second picture is at sunset at a bar we went to a few times....

Nice:

Like Cinque Terre, the water was sooo clear and so pretty! The fist picture shows the gorgeous water, and you can see Ryan in the background! I also loved walking around the pedestrian areas. And it all seemed so very French! The second picture shows an area right by our hotel.

Paris:

It was very exciting when we came out of the metro stop and got our first glimpse of Paris! The first picture shows me right inside the entrance of the Louvre! My favorite thing about Paris was...the Eiffel Tower!! I loved it! I loved it during the day and at night! We could almost see it from our apartment, but not quite. The second picture is us right in front of it!

Cinque Terre!

2009-08-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

Yay! I'm super excited to stay in Cinque Terre...it should be a lot different than the other places we're staying....less modern. It will be nice to get away and relax, so I can't wait!

Anyway, there weren't too many different "hotels" in Cinque Terre, especially when we were able to narrow it down to one town in particular: Vernazza. It's the one Rick Steves recommends, so obvi we're staying there! After looking through the reviews on trip advisor, we ended up choosing one hotel, and requested a sea view room (you had to email or fax them to make reservations....). We were super disappointed to find out that it was no longer available, but they did have a non sea view room, with a private bathroom, for 20 euros less. So, this became our back up plan.

I kind of want to show pictures of the other hotels we looked at, and put in a request for, but that might have to wait for another post. To make a long story short, none of the other hotels we liked had rooms available, so we ended up back at the first place! At first I was kind of sad, but we did like it best in the first place, so there must be something good about it. And there is!

I'll show you pictures, all from trip advisor.

This will probably end up being our view....

This is what our view could have been!

Here's a picture of one of the nicer-looking rooms

And here's a picture of the connected restaurant!

I am definitely very excited to try out the restaurant that is part of the hotel: Gianni Franzi. The pesto and seafood and wine are all going to be so good (I'll be sure to take pictures, and post them when I get back.....to make you all jealous!). Anyway, while the nearby restaurant is exciting, my favorite part about the hotel has got to be the terrace, that everyone staying there has access to:

See the little part sticking out from the rock?

And here's a close-up view! The water is beautiful!

Recipe #11: Pesto Pasta (Part I)

2009-08-21T08:53:00.000-07:00

So, I actually made this dish a while ago...probably sometime in April or May. I had been craving pesto for a while, and had just read an article about how it originated in Cinque Terre! Perf! I looked online and found a recipe for pesto by Lisa's favorite, Ina Garten (aka Barefoot Contessa). And honestly, it was the best pesto ever!

I had only made pesto once before, and while it was yummy, I found it to be a bit bitter. So, here's the recipe we used. The recipe is actually for a pesto pasta salad (more on this later), so the pesto recipe below is going to include a few other ingredients that were added (and made it really really yummy!).

Pesto ingredients:
-1/4 cup walnuts
-1/4 cup pine nuts
-9 garlic cloves, chopped
-5 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
-1 tsp kosher salt
-1 tsp black pepper
-1 1/2 cups good olive oil (she always says good olive oil in her show)
-1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
-1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
-3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
-1 1/4 cup good mayonnaise

In food processor, blend walnuts, pine nuts and garlic for 15 seconds. Add basil leaves, salt,
and pepper. With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil into the mixture. Add the Parmesan and puree for a minute.

Here it is before adding the "extra" ingredients

(using 1 1/2 cups of pesto) Puree the pesto, spinach, and lemon juice. Add the mayo and puree. And that's it!

YUM! Nice and creamy and not at all bitter!

I actually found this recipe because I was looking for a pasta dish with pesto and peas, and came across this, and it had awesome reviews. So, using her recipe as a guideline, we made a hot pasta (hers was for room temperature/cold), and it turned out super yummy!

I don't remember exactly what we did with this recipe, but I do know two things for sure: I definitely used extra Parmesan, and I did not use as much mayonnaise as the recipe calls for. Oh, and I used extra garlic, because I always do. Anyway, it turned out really well, and I can't wait to make the pesto again!

Europe Hotels part deux: Nice!

2009-08-20T12:54:00.000-07:00

We actually had kind of a tough time with this hotel, at first. I knew that I wanted to be near the water, but most of the hotels near the water were far too expensive. Ryan wanted to be by a certain street that looked cool....haha, I don't remember what it was called, but it was not super close to the water.

We used trip advisor to look through the hotels in the area. Pretty much, we started at the top rated hotel, and went through all of the ones that were under $200 a night (our flexible budget). From there, we read some of the reviews, looked through all of the pictures, and of course, "mapped it" to see how close it was to the water!

After searching for a whlie, we were able to come up with a list of hotels that were within our price range, and were in an OK location. Then, and I really don't remember how, Ryan found a deal through Orbitz for the Mercure Nice Promenade des Anglais. The deal was perfectly in our price range, and we were even able to splurge for a sea view!!

I'm super excited for this hotel (as you'll see, the "hotels" we're staying at in Italy are not exactly....well, this nice - but don't get me wrong, I also can't wait for those!)! Check out some of these pictures (all taken from Trip Advisor - you can read the reviews here).

The hotel recently had a decor upgrade, which is shown in this picture!

Here's one of the streets right by the hotel

And below you see a map of the area we're staying in. On trip advisor, they have a little marker to show where the hotel is, but for some reason that didn't save on here! So, if you take a look at the words "Promenade des Anglais," our hotel is right where the "e" in "des" is. Sweet!

So, take a look at a couple of view shots from guests who have stayed at the hotel:

Beautiful! Unfortunately we're only staying in Nice for two nights, and will really only be there for one day (getting there late afternoon one day and leaving SUPER early the day we leave). But, we're hoping to make the most of it! And, if we get around to planning some of our activities before we actually get there, I'll be sure to write about them!

Cabbage Soup Diet: Day Zero

2009-08-18T22:30:00.000-07:00

I've been planning on losing some weight before my Europe trip, and well, I leave in 15 days and haven't exactly been losing weight. So I've decided it's time for the Cabbage Soup Diet (CSD) - love up to 10 pounds in 7 days! Read about it here.

I've done the CSD twice-ish before....once was successful, and once I stopped after 2 days (but I blame Ryan for that....somehow he convinced me that tator tots were an okay substitute for the baked potato. It went downhill from there).

The successful attempt was the first time I went on the CDS. I actually lost 10 pounds in the week I was on it, but it definitely wasn't easy. I will give a brief overview of what the plan looks like (from memory, check the link above for a more accurate schedule).

Day 1- eat the soup and any fruit except for bananas. Drink water and unsweetened tea
Day 2- eat the soup and any vegetables you want, but try to stay away from corn, peas, and beans. Same drinks. Oh, and you can eat a baked potato for dinner, but I didn't do this before, and probably won't this time either.
Day 3- eat the soup and fruits (no bananas) and veggies (avoid peas, corn, beans). Same drinks.
Day 4- eat the soup, bananas and skim milk. THIS IS THE WORST DAY
Day 5- eat the soup, beef (real food!), and tomatoes. Drink lots of water this day
Day 6- eat the soup and beef (as much as you can eat!! They say you can eat 2 or 3 steaks if you want)
Day 7- eat the soup, vegetables, and brown rice. Same drinks as before.

And that's it! It sounds pretty easy...and it's only 7 days. But it is definitely a HARD 7 days, trust me. The soup is okay at first. But you start to get sick of it pretty quickly, and you start to notice that you're not really eating anything that's going to give you energy. I remember being super worn out and grumpy when I did this diet in the past. Oh, and quick confession...on the 6th day I actually ate some bread. I bought a mini loaf thing from safeway, and ate it, and felt MUCH better.

Anyway, Day Zero was all about getting prepared for the next 7 days. First of all, I had to make the soup. Below is the recipe I used, which is actually from Weight Watchers. And I should mention that I don't actually have the recipe in front of me, so this is from memory. If there are any major problems, I'll probably come back and edit it. The CSD site has a recipe, but I didn't think it was as good as this one.

Cabbage Soup (4 - 1 cup servings)
-1 1/2 cups shredded cabbage
-2 garlic cloves
-1/2 cup yellow onion
-1/2 cup carrots
-1/2 cup zucchini
-1 tsp oregano (dried)
-1 tsp basil (dried)
-1/4 tsp salt
-3 cups broth (beef, chicken, or vegetable)
-1 tsp tomato paste

First you heat up the onions, garlic, and carrots in cooking spray on low heat for about 5 minutes. I did it for much longer (and waited to put the garlic in) because I wanted to make sure the onions were not too raw. Then add in the cabbage, oregano, basil, salt, tomato paste and broth. Bring to boil and then cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. Then, throw in the zucchini and heat for another 3-4 minutes.

Not too bad! I ended up tripling-ish the recipe, but used more or less of certain ingredients. Anyway, I'll keep you all updated with short recaps of each day (mostly to remind myself how it was, should I ever attempt this again!).

I Got the Key...

2009-08-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

Doesn't the key look awsome?!

To my Parisian apartment! Okay, it's not my Parisian apartment, but it is where me and Ryan are going to stay for 3 nights in Paris! We found a US based company, Vacation in Paris, that offers many different apartments all around the city. We decided we wanted to stay in the Rue Cler area, so we began our search there! (district 7).

And we were hoping to have tons of options to choose from. BUT, most of them were actually booked! We went through all of the studio apartments and one bedroom apartments in district 7, and made a list of places we wanted to stay. A few factors went into this. First of all, it had to be semi-reasonably priced. There were a few luxury properties that were just WAY out of our price range. Secondly, it had to be one that had a minimum stay of 3 nights. Of course, because we are only staying 3 nights, we had to pay an extra cleaning fee. Also, we wanted to like the look of the apartment (at least a little!).

So, with my list of maybe about 10 apartments, I called Vacation in Paris. I was disappointed to find that there were so few apartments available for the days we wanted, but there was one available that matched one of the apartments on our list. So we booked it!! Here are the pictures straight from the Vacation in Paris website. I'll be sure to post real pictures when we get back!

Living room/dining room

Taken from the couch (seen in the picture above this one). You can see the kitchen in the background...

Close up of the kitchen

bathroom!

bedroom

I am glad that we ended up with a one bedroom place instead of a studio, although either would have been fine. I'm just really glad that this is almost our view:

It's not taken from our hotel, but it is taken just down the street (or so they say). I'm so excited!

Cooking at Whole Foods

2009-08-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday (false) a few days ago (false) a few weeks ago (false) 4 months ago (ding ding ding, yep, it's been a looong time since I started this post!), my work team went to Whole Foods to participate in a cooking class! I had no idea Whole Foods even offered this....but they do! Before we got there, it was decided that we would do the "Pacific Rim Fusion" menu, which consists of:

Waterfall Salad

Firecracker Shrimp

Thai Chicken Green Curry

Five Spice Beef Sate

Sesame Rice

Grilled Plantains with Coconut Milk over Ice Cream

Believe it or not, I actually worked on the Five Spice Beef Sate. Obvi not my first choice, but honestly, I didn't really care too much. Anyway, unfortunately I don't have too many pictures of the "during" phase....I thought I would look like a freak in front of my co-workers if I pulled out my camera and started snapping away at the food. Well, by the time everything was almost done, I ended up doing it anyway, because I had to have some pictures!

The recipe I'm going to share with you is the Firecracker Shrimp. It was by far the best thing we had! The beef sate that I made, with the help of others, was tough and not well flavored. I mean, how could it have been? The marinade soaked in for all of 5 minutes, when it should have been AT LEAST over night! And the chicken curry....not much flavor, unfortunately. Oh, and I should mention that I did not try the dessert for two reasons: 1) Lent and 2) plantains (vom). Ok, so here's the recipe for the shrimp:

Firecracker Shrimp
-1/3 cup sliced or whole almonds
-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and halved
-1 bunch cilantro
-6 scallions, cut into 2-inch lengths
-3 garlic cloves
-2 tsp cumin
-1/8 cup olive oil
-1/4 cup water
-2 lb medium to large shrimp, peeled and deveined
-1 tbsp olive oil (for the pan)
-1/8 cup lemon juice
-sea salt to taste

Place almonds, jalapenos, cilantro, scallions, garlic, cumin, olive oil, and water in a food processor and blend for 1 minute, until a smooth paste is formed. Marinate the shrimp in the refrigerator in a covered container for at least 1 hour in the paste (this definitely did not happen when we were cooking, and they still tasted super yummy!).

Heat olive oil over moderate heat in a large saute pan. Saute shrimp, stirring continuously for 4 minutes, until pink and opaque. Deglaze plan with the lemon juice, and season with salt.

The recipe is taken straight from the pamphlet we got from Whole Foods. Since I didn't actually make this dish myself, I can't offer any insightful hints. But the shrimp was definitely the favorite!

Ok, so clearly I haven't been blogging much in the past few months, but I'm going to try to pick it back up because I have a few more yummy recipes to share, a few scrapbooking projects, and, of course, plenty of info on my upcoming Europe trip (21 days until I leave)!!

Finally!

2009-05-03T16:35:00.000-07:00

I feel like I've been waiting forever...but my passport finally came about a week ago! I've been meaning to get it for a while, just in case an opportunity came up to travel outside of the US. Anyway, Ryan and I have been thinking about going to Europe for a while, and since airfare has been dropping, we booked our flights (yesterday!) for this September!!!! I'm soooo excited, you don't even know!

Where are we going? Well, I'll just give you an overview for now. I'll go into more detail about some of the places and what we plan on doing in later posts.

1. Venice, Italy

[source]

So we knew for sure that we wanted to go somewhere in Italy. But where? We have a limited amount of time for our trip (thanks to Ryan's super limited pto...), so we knew that there was no way we could see everything! So, for me at least, I didn't really care whether we spent the time in Rome, Florence, Venice, Sicily, because I definitely plan on going back and exploring the rest of Italy. Well, after watching Rick Steves's Venice episode, we both thought it looked so romantic. Oh, and what if it's not there in 10 years (apparently it might "drown" at some point...hmm)?

2. Cinque Terre, Italy

[source]

Originally we wanted to go to Portofino. We wanted to go somewhere on the "Italian Riviera" (not sure if it's actually called that...), found Portofino on the map, recognized that name, and decided to try that out. Well, turns out there are only a couple of hotels, and they were both pretty pricey, so we looked around that area and stumbled upon Cinque Terre. About a week later, Rick Steves had an article on cnn.com about Cinque Terre, and it sounded awesome! We've since done more research since then (including reading about Lisa's adventures here) and decided that Cinque Terre will definitely be on the list of stops!

3. Nice, France

[source]

Our next stop will be the French Riviera! Specifically, we are looking into staying at Nice. Looking at the pictures, I just realized that all of these places are on the coast. But, whatever, why not? I've always heard great things about southern France, so I was excited to add Nice to the itinerary. Also, I am very excited to stop by Monaco, and maybe check out the Monte Carlo!

[source]

I guess only the REALLY rich people gamble here, but it sounds like there's another casino nearby, so I'd love to check that out as well!

4. Paris, France

[source]

This is the last place we'll visit on our trip. I've wanted to go here for a while, so I'm excited that it's finally happening! I don't even know what we'll be doing while we're here. There's way too much to do in the small amount of time that we'll be there, but we do have some ideas (to be shared soon!). In the meantime, for those of you that have been to Paris, or have done some research, let me know if you have any suggestions! Or, let me know if there is anything I should not "waste" my time doing. Oh, and I really hope the Eiffel Tower sparkles when I'm there (like it does in the picture below!).

[source]

2009 Calendar Wrap-Up Part I: Every Page

2009-04-06T07:14:00.000-07:00

As promised in my previous post, I will be sharing all of the pages in my 2009 calendar, and will go into detail about some of them. For this first post, I would simply like to post the front cover and each of the 12 months for you to see. As I mentioned before, many of the pages were incomplete when I first posted them, so I want to make sure I get them all on here! Enjoy!

Front Cover

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Long Time, No Scrap!

2009-04-05T18:53:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I've posted about my progress on Ryan's calendar (see here & here for the first 9 pages). I have finally, 3+ months late, "finished" the calendar. I would like to work on it a teeny bit more, but honestly, I may never get to it, because Ryan now has it! Finally!

10. April, Trip to San Francisco

I went cricut-happy with this one. Dannelle has the wonderful cricut machine, so I was able to make the tags, the swirly thing, and the city skyline with the machine. I definitely did not have a plan in mind when I started this one. I kind of just started organizing things, and it kind of worked out. This is actually his favorite page... (so maybe he'll be in favor of me getting my very own cricut)

11. February, Formals etc

This one started with a really pretty piece of paper I had. It had blue, purple, green, yellow-ish slash beige, etc. I started putting the pictures together, and realized that almost the entire background paper would be covered up. Oops. I didn't want to completely cover it, so I ended up changing the background to a plain black piece of cardstock.

12. September, Stanford Football

I can't wait to go into detail about this page. It took me FOREVER to do, because of the background, because I made it by hand. I really like it, probably because I know how much time went into this page (overall, probably 12 hours? Something ridiculous, maybe even more). I also love the colors (!) and the pictures. And I really like how it isn't super "Stanford-y" which I wanted to stay away from, because I had another Stanford football page in the 2007 calendar I made for him. And it just so happens that the page from 2007 was super cute, and I didn't want to try to compete with it!

Thanks everyone for your patience (as if you really cared, haha)! I had such a great time making the calendar, but I am definitely ready to start working on my own scrapbook.

Next up: I'll provide pictures of every single page from the calendar. The reason for this is that many of the pages were unfinished when I first showed you. Especially the lyrics. And by the way, the lyrics on each page were the most difficult part. It is very tough to find small letters in all different colors that can be used for this!

I will then end this calendar series by posting 3 or 4 additional posts, and I'll focus on some of the details of the calendar. I'm going to try to post some other non-scrapbooking posts too, so I won't bore you all too much!

Recipe #10: Fusilli with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Artichokes and Sausage

2009-04-04T23:36:00.000-07:00

And goat cheese toast! I didn't think all of that would fit in the title.

This meal is probably one of my favorites! Both recipes can be found on foodnetwork.com (compliments of Giada de Laurentiis). We've probably made this 7 or 8 times.

First the goat cheese toasts. These are super easy to make. In fact, you don't really need to "make" much! Start out with one of those skinny french baguettes. Cut them up into pieces, maybe about 1/2 inch wide or so. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil on each piece, and put them in the oven for about 15 mins at 375 degrees.

Meanwhile, make the goat cheese mixture to go on top! You need 8 oz of goat cheese and 4 oz of cream cheese (or whatever you have, but approximately 2:1, goat cheese to cream cheese). We buy the goat cheese with herbs in it already, but feel free to buy anything. Mix together the cream cheese and goat cheese, and really, add any herbs that you like. I forget what the recipe calls for, but we always add thyme, chives, lemon zest, garlic, salt and pepper. Yum!

Once the bread is done in the oven, simply spread the goat cheese mixture on top of each one.

So easy! And you're done.

Now the main course: Fusilli pasta with artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, and sausage. For those of you who, for some reason, hate fusilli pasta (Alex....), you can substitute whatever pasta you like! I actually first found this recipe online, but she has the exact same one in one of her cookbooks, except she uses penne instead. But lucky me: fusilli is my absolute favorite!

Ok, so the ingredients:
3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in the oil (you need the oil for the sausage)
2 (8oz) packs of frozen artichoke hearts
1 lb hot italian sausage
1 3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
2+ cloves of garlic
1/3 cup fresh basil
1 lb fusilli pasta
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
8 oz mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper

Take 2 tablespoons of the "sun-dried tomato oil" and heat it up in a large pan. Place the sausage into the pan, and cook until it's completely done (about 8 minutes). Transfer the sausage to a plate, but leave the oil in the pan.

So, I didn't take the best pictures, which can be seen by the one above. Haha, you probably didn't really want to see that plate of meat, but too bad =)

In the same pan (with the oil), put in the 2 cloves of chopped-up garlic (or more) and the frozen artichoke hearts. Mix them around in the oil, and leave them in there for a few minutes. Next, pour in the chicken broth, wine, and sun-dried tomatoes. Stir occasionally and let simmer for about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, grate the parmesan cheese and cut the mozzarella cheese into little cubes. Oh also, start cooking the pasta! I accidentally started it too late last night, so the above mixture was simmering for twice as long as it should have. I'm not sure it did anything, except maybe make it so that there was less sauce available for all that pasta!

Once the pasta is done, drain the water, but do not rinse. Put the pasta, sausage, parmesan cheese and basil into the same pan as the rest of the stuff. Let it all heat up, and then throw in the mozzarella cheese.

Keep it on the heat until everything is melted and heated through. Enjoy!

Picture from the first time I made this dish. It looks like I forgot about the basil, oops!

April Fools FAIL

2009-04-02T09:47:00.000-07:00

Just want to say, that I officially FAIL at april fools! My post below was, in fact, my attempt at a joke! Well, kind of! Ryan did NOT buy a house (and if he did, I really hope it wouldn't be that condo thing that I posted pictures of...) and I am NOT moving down there this June. But who knows what the future will hold?

I think I should have posted pictures like this, to make it more "jokey":

[source - actually in Bako]

[source - not in Bako]

So I failed...but I tried! Sorry for being too believable! hopefully you can all forgive!!

I knew this was coming...

2009-04-01T06:43:00.000-07:00

I just didn't think it would be so soon! Well, you may recall the first time Ryan and I went house hunting. A couple of weeks ago, Ryan's friend, who will be starting full time at Chevron at the end of May, came to visit Bako to look at houses. The weekend before he came, Ryan and I decided to check out some of the places he was looking at. He really did his research, and if we thought the first houses we looked at were a good deal, these ones were even better!! Seriously...I can't even describe how insanely "cheap" these places were.

Well, the one we completely LOVED is 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. I took a few pictures. It's hard to get a really good idea of what it looks like, because unlike the houses we looked at the first time around, this one was not set-up and furnished.

This is probably my favorite part...the master "suite" with a fireplace!

So, as you can see, when we went to visit the house, they were working on it. Fixing it up a bit, to make it look much nicer! One of the reasons I loooved this place is because it has 2 fireplaces!

You can see the kitchen area in the picture above. It really is quite large! Why I didn't take a picture of it, I have no idea. Sometimes I do dumb things (or don't do smart things).

So there you have it, the house Ryan and I looked at about a month ago. And why am I showing you this? Well, because we're buying it!!!

Or should I say, Ryan's buying it. The cost is SOOO great, that it just doesn't make sense for me to contribute to the down payment (for various reasons). AND, the mortgage payment is actually LOWER than what he's paying now for his apartment (well, when you take into account the tax incentives). He's been approved for the loan!! As long as the home passes the inspection (and there really shouldn't be any problems...it was built in 2005), it's ours (his)!

So now what? Well, I'm still in school, so it doesn't make sense for me to move down there right now. Plus, it will take a little while for Ryan to get settled in (he has until the beginning of June to get out of his apartment, so the timing actually works out pretty well). So my plan.....is to move down there in the beginning of July. Yep. I didn't think it would happen so soon, but the opportunity came up, and it just makes sense for me to go down there.

I have been thinking about this for the past couple of weeks, and have just recently decided that it is worth it for me to go down. My main concern was school. After June, I'll only have 1 more quarter, so I definitely want to finish. Well, it just so happens that by taking a class (my project class) this quarter instead of in the fall, I can get away with taking my last two classes online. I already know one of the classes I'm taking in the fall, and I've already talked to the professor about it (I took a class from him last quarter, and he's really understanding about it all).

The other thing is...my job. I haven't quite figured that one out yet. I know that at least a couple of you who read this have done a bit in the job searching arena, so any advice is greatly appreciated!

I'm seriously really excited to be able to do this! I've been wanting a change, and so it's my chance to do something I wouldn't normally do, and see how it all works out. I feel like I've been "playing it safe" and I want to see what else is out there. So for once, I really don't know how this is all going to turn out, but it's something I feel like I have to do for myself, and I really hope it works out for the better =)

Win-Win-Wynn!

2009-03-31T19:03:00.000-07:00

Yep, it's a win-win-Wynn situation (I heart the office, ps)!

First of all, there really is nothing wrong with the other places I've stayed...they're just different!

1. First time in Vegas, I was a mere 6 weeks shy of my 21st birthday. I stayed at Harrah's with my cheer team. I mean, whatevs, I didn't even get the "Vegas Experience," but really, I still fell in love!

2. First REAL time in Vegas, we all stayed at the Excalibur ('cali). Good times.

3. Went for Ryan's 21st in June 2007 and we stayed in the oh-so-classy...Tropicana!!! Hahaha, at least the pool was pretty cool...it had a waterfall and everything.

4. Yep, 'cali! Gotta love it! And really, I do...I swear. I would not mind staying there again and again! It's just way down the strip, which makes it difficult to get to the other side...

5. This is probably the best one on the list...with the cheer team, representing Stanford, we stayed at.....hOOters! ha! At least I got to gamble and drink that trip...it made it a lot more bearable!

6. .....'cali! Again! We can't stay away, can we? But the pool was done this time, so at least we got to chill!

7. And finally, last weekend, Ryan and I stayed at the fabulous Wynn hotel! Really, it was gorgeous. And it was crazy to think that we were actually staying there. Like, legally...we didn't lie and say 2 people, when we meant 7. I know, I know, what a concept. (oh, but I still brought a half empty bottle of vodka...but we didn't end up drinking any of it, haha)

Anyway, the Wynn was awesome! It was really nice to be able to relax in such an upscale hotel. But it was definitely a different Vegas than I'm used to.

Pros: the window in our room. Really, it was great...I can't believe what a big difference a HUGE window makes!

The bathroom was great and huge! And it had a little seat and a make up mirror. Yay! Oh, and I loved the bathtub and the TV that was in the bathroom! I got to lay in the tub while watching Without a Trace...how great is that?

Closer (than 'cali, hooters, and tropicana) to the hotels we wanted to go to (which were the hotels that are on the north (?) side of the strip...). The room was just super updated and nice, including the nice big TV. And the bed was really comfy! I didn't feel guilty hanging out in the room, because it was really nice!

The pool area was also nice, but it was really crowded when we went down in the middle of the afternoon. However, it was okay because the waitress still found us and the service was great - I got my strawberry daiquiri delivered to me in no time at all =)

And best of all, we got a really good deal on the room! We booked it through hotwire, using a little research to make sure we wouldn't end up with a hotel we didn't want (they tell you the price and the amenities, but don't actually tell you which hotel it is...).

Cons: expensive. The table limits were more than I was willing to pay (there was at least one $10 craps table during the day...but most of them were more than that). Also, the food and drinks were way more than other places. Oh, and I couldn't really shop at the stores they have at the Wynn. Umm, yeah, I'm not in the market for a Ferrari or a diamond encrusted Rolex, but maybe next time?

Also, the players card reward levels went up. I heard it used to be 40 points to get 2 free buffets (I don't really know how the points translate...but I have about 60 points - all from slots - and I didn't spend that much money), but apparently they just raised it to 400 points. Seriously...why? Whatever, we went to the buffet at the Mirage instead!

So I think that's about it! Oh, and I loved the decorations in the Wynn! It was all just a lot less "Vegas-y" than the other places I've stayed. Which isn't bad or good, just different. I'll leave you with the few pictures I took of the lobby area...

Recipe #9: Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

2009-03-30T19:26:00.000-07:00

Last week I used my beautiful kitchen aid mixer for the first time. I was thinking about making some sort of bread (so that I could eat it....thanks Lent), but decided that it would take too long. So, I found a cookie recipe that looked good, and went for it!

The actual mixing was great. It worked really well and it wasn't a huge mess! The part I had a problem with was actually baking the cookies. Our oven is known to produce flat cookies, so I guess I should have been prepared.

Here's the dough about a minute after I put it in the mixer.

And here it is after mixing in the dry ingredients! So smooth!

Yum! Now it's starting to look really good with the oatmeal and chocolate chips

In case you are interested, the recipe is below. I found it on this site, and edited the recipe based on the comments that were left by people who have made the cookies.

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugat
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour*
1 teaspoon baking soda*
1/2 teaspoon salt*
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup (plus some extra) semisweet chocolate chips

*in the original recipe, these values were 1 1/4 cup, 1/2 teaspoon, and 1 teaspoon, respectively. But almost everyone who left a comment changed the amounts to the ones I have listed above, so I followed suit, since I don't know any better!

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees

2. Cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs, and then stir in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into creamed mixture until just blended. Mix oats and chocolate chips in! (Oh, the recipe also called for walnuts...but my family doesn't do nuts, so I left those out).

3. Bake for 12 minutes. I actually ended up baking each batch for at least 25 minutes, just because our oven doesn't quite work right.

The look good here...too bad they didn't stay that way!

As I mentioned above, our oven always flattens cookies, and I'm not quite sure why. I think these cookies might just be flat in general, because I made a batch in Ryan's oven, and those were also flat. But not nearly as flat as the ones from my house! I don't know if you can tell from the pictures below, but seriously, some of the cookies flattened out so much that there were holes....wow. Please see below for examples!

But on the bright side, I was told that they tasted super yummy! I can't wait until Easter so I can try out some more recipes, and actually enjoy the outcome! Any ideas for the next thing I should try?

For your viewing pleasure, here is a quick sample of the Kitchen Aid mixer at work! Don't mind the background noise...Mary Anne called me, so yeah.

First Step

2009-03-24T18:13:00.000-07:00

I have not been good with my new years resolutions. Definitely not. But, I did take a first step for one of them....I applied for my passport last night! The San Mateo library has a passport office that is open Mondays and Tuesdays 5pm-8pm, so I decided that once I wasn't so busy with school, I would head on over. And that happened to be yesterday.

It took kind of a long time....beware! There were 3 "people" in front of me (ok, there were two 4-person families and one woman). One of the families was being helped when I got there, and it took them 20 minutes to finish. I was listening in, and they were sitting there filling out forms. And then it turns out that they didn't even bring the birth certificates for the kids (the parents already had passports), so they couldn't even apply! What a waste! The next family was also having some difficulty....not sure why though. Luckily, the woman just needed a picture. So then it was my turn!! I took all of 4 minutes to get my paperwork in, and my signature on the sheet after taking the oath. Woo hoo! She said 3-4 weeks, so after that, I'll be able to explore the world!! Ok, even though I probably won't. But at least it's an option, right?

So, since I was at the library already, I decided to check out the latest book club book, Body Surfing. I haven't started it yet, but I plan to tomorrow on my lunch break! There was one other thing I wanted to look for...books on CD! I make the 4+ hour drive down to Bako about once a month, and since the radio is a little spotty between here and there, and it's a pain for me to go through my iPod like crazy, trying to find a song I want to listen to (ok, I know, I should just make a playlist...silly me), I thought "why not listen to books?!" So, I found the section, but really, there were not very many to choose from.

But then, I saw it! The PERFECT thing for me to listen to! And get this, it's another first step for one of my new years resolutions. Yep, I got a Spanish learning CD! There were different levels to choose from, and I settled on Beginner Part B, since I didn't want to start at the VERY beginning, but at the same time, I didn't want to overestimate my Spanish-speaking/listening ability.

So far I've listen to the first hour of lessons (two lessons...each lesson is 30 mins). I think the level I'm at may be a little too easy for me, but I'd rather start here and review than start too far out. Anyway, I'll be sure to keep you all updated as I attempt to relearn the forgotten Spanish! I hope that Alex was wrong when she said that Rosetta Stone was the ONLY way to learn another language! haha!

With Love, From Ryan

2009-03-24T07:19:00.000-07:00

So, I always complain about not getting flowers. Ryan has gotten them for me 3 times. The first time was on our one year anniversary. How sweet! The second was even better...he sent them to work! And they were so pretty....everyone stopped and looked at them all the time! The last time he got me flowers, was maybe for my 21st birthday? Well, he got them from trader joe's, and they died within 2 days. What a disaster!

Since then, I've been bugging him about getting me flowers, telling him how happy they make me! But with each anniversary and Valentine's Day, it's a Flower Fail! This past Valentine's Day was the worst, because his brother kept bringing up the fact that he got his girlfriend flowers. So I was sad.

Well, of course, I was NOT expecting them for my birthday! But when Ryan showed up at my door on Friday, he was holding these beautiful flowers!

Ok, so my camera is not the greatest at taking flower pictures, but they are so pretty, I swear! I just wish I could have them at work so I could show them off to more people (hint hint -- although he doesn't read this, so I guess the hint is pointless!).

So really, flowers make me ridiculously happy...like I forgot that I also got my "real" present from him! Of course, my mom made me wait until the next day to open it. But, I can say for the very first time, that I was truly, 100% surprised!

My very own pink Kitchen Aid mixer!!! Oh, I am sooo excited to use this thing! Definitely expect many posts about my baking adventures, which are sure to come! Can't wait =)

"Happy Birthday" Board

2009-03-15T17:44:00.001-07:00

It's been way too long since my last post! I think it's mostly because of all of the school work I've had (finals are next week!). Also, I've been slowly working on Ryan's calendar, which has yet to be finished. But I will definitely post pictures when I have something to show!

And now to the newest inspiration board. The name of the board, Happy Birthday Board, comes from the fact that I was going to post it on or right before her birthday. Well, I missed her birthday by a bit (and am now closer to my own). But I swear I started this board back in February!

Anyway, when thinking of colors for Carlee's board, I kept thinking of different combinations, but always ended up with something similar to the following:

[1][2][3]

[4][5][6]

[7][8]

Let me know if anyone has any ideas for new boards! I definitely have more color combinations I plan on trying, but I know that some of you (Carlee!) mentioned that there is a certain board you'd like to see!

Spoiler Alert

2009-02-25T23:41:00.000-08:00

So, I don't know if you could tell from the pictures in my Valentine's Day post, but you can draw on the tables at Jax. Of course we drew all over them....we couldn't help it!

I was thinking that maybe he would see this and come out and introduce himself.

When he did come out and talk to us, I asked him "So did you win top chef?!" but he just laughed. I mean, obvi he couldn't tell me, but he wasn't giving me any hints either!!! Ah, well in case we was wondering, I was rooting for him!

By the way, that "cow sitting" is supposed to be the United States...

I was a little disappointed with the finale of Top Chef, but mostly because of how Carla performed. While I am definitely happy with the outcome, I wish she would have been "true to herself" instead of listening to Casey. It would have been more interesting if there were actually three contenders for the title of Top Chef. Ahhh, but I will leave any additional commentary for Alex, since she is much better at it (of course, if she even chooses to comment. You might not be so lucky).

Oh, and in case you missed it....we have a picture with the TOP CHEF =) eee! yayay Hosea!

Recipes #6, #7: Chicken Parmesan & Zucchini with Parmesan

2009-02-22T22:23:00.000-08:00

Earlier today, I decided that I wanted to make dinner, since I rarely have time during the week. Ryan's mom bought me two cookbooks for Christmas: Giada's Kitchen: New Italian Favorites and Barefoot Contessa Family Style. Those of you reading this probably know about my obsession with Giada (and Lisa's obsession with Barefoot Contessa, haha). Well, I decided to try something semi-new, and go with Ina Garten for tonight's dinner.

The zucchini with parmesan was taken directly from the Barefoot Contessa cookbook. Here's what you need:

8 medium zucchini

Good olive oil

2 large yellow onions

Salt and pepper

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

First, cut the onions and zucchini. For the zucchini, cut them lengthwise, and then cut smaller pieces, like this:

Next, heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan and add the onions. I'm going to confess....I cut up the first onion and saw how much there was, and decided to only use one. I'm slowly learning to like (cooked) onions, so I didn't want to overdo it. And after I was all done, I was quite glad I didn't add that second onion. Anyway, you want to cook these for at least 10 minutes on medium-low heat, until they start to brown. Another confession: I cooked them for about 20 minutes. I wanted to make sure they were completely cooked. But if you aren't like me and don't need your onions to be 100% tender, then 10 minutes should be just fine!

After the 10 (or 20) minutes are up, add half of the zucchini, 1 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of pepper. Toss occasionally for 10-15 minutes. I ended up adding all of the zucchini, since I didn't want to deal with the two batches. The reasoning behind two separate batches is because they end up more "steamed" then "sauteed"....oh well, whatevs!

After the veggies have been cooking for the 10-15 minutes, add in the parmesan cheese and cook for an additional 30 seconds. Now, ideally, I think the cheese is kind of supposed to brown the veggies, but this didn't exactly happen. Oops. Maybe because I added too much olive oil (I'm convinced I did, because I didn't use two onions....the whole time it just kind of seemed like there was too much) or maybe because I ignored the recommendation to cook the zucchini in two separate batches. Oh well! The parmesan cheese (oh, and of course I added more than 1/2 cup, since I'm cheese-obsessed) ended up melting, instead of browning anything. But it was okay because they tasted yummy! Here's the end result:

So now onto the main dish! I've made this chicken parmesan a few times before. It's a recipe that oringated from Ina Garten, but Ryan's mom taught me how to finish the dish a little differently, which is the way I did it tonight. Here's what you're going to need:

6 skinless boneless chicken breasts (I always just buy the 4 pack from Foster Farms)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups seasoned dry bread crumbs
1/2 freshly grated parmesan cheese (ok...I just use the kraft stuff for this)
unsalted butter
good olive oil
mozzarella cheese
Prego traditional tomato sauce

You start out the same as my last recipe, where you take the chicken breasts and cut off the fat and pound them until they are about 1/4 inch thick.

In case you're curious, here's the tool I use for pounding.

I swear that's the toughest part of this recipe. Next, you take out two plates and a bowl. On the first plate, mix the flour, salt and pepper. In the bowl, beat the eggs with a tablespoon of water. On the second plate, mix the breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese. Then, you take each chicken breast, coat it in the flour, dunk it in the egg mixture (make sure it gets everywhere) and then cover it all over with the bread crumb-cheese mixture.

After coating the chicken breasts.

After that's done, heat up 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a large pan. Cook each chicken breat for a few minutes on medium-low heat. I probably let them cook for about 4 minutes on each side, but of course it depends how thick they are.

When I first put them into the pan.

After flipping them over. Yum, nice and brown!

I cut the chicken breasts in half, so I ended up with 8 altogether. Therefore, I did them in two batches when I first cooked them. Once all of them are cooked and transferred to a plate, pour some of the Prego sauce into the same pan. But be careful! It may spray up at you...

Anyway, when I normally make this, there is always pasta. But for some reason, I chose not to make pasta tonight. So usually the extra sauce left over in the pan is mixed in with the pasta. You can just pour as much sauce into the pan as you think you need to coat the chicken and mix in with the pasta. I let the sauce heat up for a few minutes, and then placed the 8 chicken breasts into the sauce.

For this part, don't worry too much if the chicken breasts are kind of on top of each other. It's not as important for them to have their own space since they are already fully cooked. Unfortunately I don't have any more pictures to show, but the next step is to add the grated mozzarella cheese on top of each breast, and leave them in the pan (covered) until the cheese melts. And then it's ready to serve! Enjoy =)

Blue and Green and Teal =)

2009-02-21T23:12:00.000-08:00

So it took a while, but here's Alex's board! Yay! My original idea was to do an all teal board, but I looked around for teal pictures and was pretty unsuccessful. So, I ended up with a mix of blue, green, and teal. How pretty =)

[1][2]

[3][4][5]

[6][7]

Oops...so I've been trying to be good about getting my sources up there, but I can't seem to find two of the pictures anymore! Ahhh! If you are randomly on google images, let me know if you see pictures #3 and #4.

Ok, sweet, enjoy! I'm going to try to be better about posting, so hopefully there will be more inspiration boards and yummy food and pretty scrapbooking pages to come!

Valentine's Day <3

2009-02-19T13:55:00.000-08:00

When Ryan and I figured out we'd be in Colorado on Valentine's Day, our first choice for dinner was Jax Fish House in Boulder. I had been there 3 times before because they have an amazing happy hour deal with their oysters! YUM!

My interpretation of the Jax logo

The real logo (but I think mine's better!)

We were really looking forward to eating tons and tons of oysters, but when we went online to make reservations, we noticed that they actually had a fixed menu for Valentine's Day. Well, the menu looked really good, and it is Hosea's restaurant...so we decided that we should go anyway!

Yum! Everything sounded so good. It was hard to decide...

Lucky for us, the first dish was already chosen: Oysters and Pearls! (Lucky because it was going to be so hard to choose everything else!) This amuse was amazing! The "pearls" were different types of caviar, and it was seriously so good. I wish I had paid more attention to what they actually put on top...

The second course was an easy choice for me and Ryan. It was between the sashimi platter for 2 or the tempura platter for 2. Well, of course I love anything fried, but raw food is definitely my favorite! When this course came out, I was so glad we made this choice.

The platter was much larger than I expected it to be!

Ah, the third course. We had two choices, and we ended up choosing the same one. The salad with the goat cheese, asparagus, and almond sounded great, but it came with an orange vinaigrette, and I am not the biggest fan of sweet dressings. But looking back, I'm sure it would have been amazing. Another factor for me was the fact that I was starting to feel a little sick (sore throat), so the crab, porcini, and cauliflower bisque won me over (and I guess it won Ryan over, as well)! I'm so glad I chose the bisque...the flavor was wonderful!

Can you see the crab? Soooo good! This definitely hit the spot.

The fourth course is where I really had a hard time choosing. Everything sounded so good! I'm not surprised that Ryan ended up picking the filet mignon. I had a rather difficult time choosing between the other three options, but ended up ordering the crab and lobster raviolis, because I'm a pasta person. I tried Ryan's dish, and was surprised by how much I liked it! It's something I would probably never order, but it was VERY good, and it's the first time I thought that maybe I could order something like that AND be satisfied. But, I am really glad I chose the raviolis.

Oh, and did I mention that we both decided to do the wine pairing? We didn't realize that we were going to get a full glass of wine with each course! What a pleasant surprise =) Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of each course with the wine, but Ryan's glass snuck into the above picture.

The red pepper sauce was delicious. And the lobster....yummm.

The three dessert choices were chocolate bliss, strawberries and champagne, and fruit and cheese. This was actually a difficult choice, and we kept going back and forth. The strawberries and champagne was such an appealing choice to me because it screamed "Valentine's Day!" But then again, I am a sucker for cheese, and thought it would be the perfect ending to our wonderful meal. However, in the end, we chose the chocolate bliss. This was mainly because they described what was included, and we decided that we don't eat chocolate too often, so we should treat ourselves. Oh, and it was a treat!

Truffles, ice cream, cookies, brownies, pudding, etc. Pure chocolate bliss!

I was very satisfied with our meal! The food was seriously so good! I can't wait to go back to Jax next time I'm in town. If you are ever in the area, definitely stop by for happy hour! Other than the Valentine's Day dinner, I had only really had drinks and oysters from Jax, so I'm not really sure what the "everyday" entrees are like, but if they are ANYTHING like the meal we had, it will be amazing!

Oh...and our second dessert course? Meeting and taking a picture with Hosea, of course =)

Jealous? I would be too!

Michka's Board

2009-02-17T23:07:00.000-08:00

I had a few ideas for Michka's board, but ultimately decided on the one I chose because of an outfit I wore to work last Friday! We've often discussed our favorite outfits, including color combos that we found appealing. So on Friday, I wore a pale yellow button up shirt and my long gray coat from Banana. Oh, and of course I wore my gray Steve Madden peep toes! Whenever I wear a combination of yellow and gray, it reminds me of a conversation Mich and I had when I first started working. It was the day we went to the driving range (and Steve, obvi, brought a friend!) and I was wearing my dark gray pants with the same pale yellow shirt I wore last Friday. And we discussed how well yellow and gray worked together!

So, in case you haven't picked up on it, Mich's board has yellow and gray! I think it turned out well...what do you think?

[1][2][3]

[4][5][6]

[7][8]

Well, I've always kind of thought about another color that I wanted to throw into this particular mix. It originated, once again, from my closet. I have these red shoes that I love, and I actually almost wore them on Friday. So, here is Mich's USC themed board, with a splash of red thrown into it!

[1][2][3]

[4][5]

[6][7]

I don't think the second board turned out the way I wanted to, so don't be surprised if I try it out again sometime in the future. In the meantime, enjoy! I definitely have more color combos that I will be trying, but if there is anything in particular you would like to see, lemme know =)

Recipes #4, #5: Blue Cheese Brussels Sprouts & Chicken Piccata

2009-02-11T13:23:00.000-08:00

So the other night, Carlee and I decided to make dinner for my mom and sister. My mom LOVES brussels sprouts, as well as blue cheese (and so do I). I was super excited to learn how to make these wonderful vegetables! I have another brussels sprout recipe, which I'm sure I will be sharing soon enough....

Before I go into the brussels sprouts, I'll start with the chicken piccata. The recipe is from, surprise surprise, Giada de Laurentiis. It's very simple to make! I bought the Foster Farms skinless, boneless chicken breasts (comes with 4 in a pack), and de-fatted them. I'm not sure what the technical word for that is....but essentially, I told the knife, and cut off any white areas or red bloody areas. Luckily, these breasts didn't have much. Then, I pounded them out, and cut them all in half. I took a picture of the ready-to-be-coated cutlets, but it looked too gross, so I've decided to keep it to myself!

Next, put salt and pepper on them, and lightly coat them with flour. In a pan, put 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp olive oil. Once it starts to get hot, place the chicken in the pan, and cook for about 3 or 4 minutes on each side. The thinner you pound them, the quicker they cook!

Once they're done, put them on a plate, but don't dump out the extra butter and oil. In the pan, put about 1/3-1/2 cup of lemon juice (for me it was the juice from 2 lemons), 1/2-3/4 cup chicken broth, and 1/4 cup of capers (but I put in the entire jar). Let that come to a boil, and throw the chicken back in, and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. YUM.

There they are, ready to be served! If you make pasta, the extra sauce can be used for that =)

For the Blue Cheese Brussels Sprouts*, all you need is:

4-5 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp olive oil
brussels sprouts (we used maybe 1 pound?)
salt and pepper to taste
blue cheese
*recipe is stolen from Carlee...thanks!

Start off by cutting the brussels sprouts in half, and place them in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes. Once they've had a chance to cook, drain them, and put them in an "ice bath" or you can just place them in the freezer (to stop them from cooking anymore!). In the meantime, heat up 1 Tbsp of olive oil, and place the sliced shallots in the pan. We cooked these for a long time...until they were nice 'n brown!! Oh, and don't forget to add in the red pepper flakes! yummm

Look at those yummy sprouts!

The shallots stayed in the pan for probably 15-20 minutes.
They got super tender and were sooo good!

After the shallots have been browned to perfection, toss in the brussels sprouts and the garlic. We cooked these for another 15 minutes, at least. Make sure the brussels sprouts get tender, but not too mushy! They should have a nice golden brown color to them when they are finished.

Here's a picture before they were completely done, but you get the idea!

Unfortunately I failed to get a picture of the final product. I think I was just too excited to dig in! The brussels sprouts were amazing, and I will definitely be making these again. Oh, so at the very end, we ended up serving ourselves a portion of the sprouts, and then added as much blue cheese as we wanted. It melted and was wonderful with the brussels sprouts!

Winter!

2009-02-04T23:00:00.000-08:00

So, it's been a while since my last post, and it's definitely been a LONG while since my last inspiration board. Why? Well, the program I was using, found here, was fast and easy. But, the last few boards I tried to make came out as blank spaces. I guess that certain pictures don't show up because they are protected, and well, mine weren't showing up! Therefore, I knew what I had to do: turn to Photoshop! But I was (am) scared, because I'm not too Photoshop-savvy, AND I know what a timesink it can be!

But, I decided to give it a try. I've been thinking of these colors lately....I've always loved them! They remind me a bit of snow and winter, so this is my first winter inspiration!

[1][2][3]

[4][5][6]

[7][8]

Now that I've done my first inspiration board on my own, using PS....expect a lot more!

Recipe #3: Halibut and Sauteed Spinach

2009-01-27T15:21:00.000-08:00

Since Ryan and I are both trying out this weight watchers thing, we decided to test out a recipe that comes from the weight watchers book! There aren't very many recipes, but the halibut caught our attention! It seemed super easy to make (and it was!) and it was only 4 points per 4 oz. piece of halibut. I had been craving sauteed spinach (don't ask....I don't even know), so we found a recipe here, from foodnetwork.

Working on the spinach! Beware...it is really scary when you first put it in because the oil sprays on you!! Oh, but it was so worth it!

Sittin' in the oven, almost ready to come out! How pretty do those look?!

And yes, of course we had a bottle of Charles Shaw (aka 2 Buck Chuck) with our dinner! I don't mind if I do!

For the halibut: Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a baking pan with cooking spray, and place the halibut on it. Then drizzle lemon juice (maybe 2 tsp per fillet) and brush on the olive oil (1 tsp per fillet). Put a thin layer of bread crumbs (1/2 tablespoon on each one) and put on the capers, salt and pepper. And that's it! Put it in the oven, and wait for 15-20 minutes!

And there you have it! It was such a quick meal to make, we were almost upset by how little effort and time it took (if that's possible)! And it definitely filled us up! So what was the total damage? Well, since our halibut pieces were 5 oz each, that part was 5 points. For the spinach, all of the points actually come from the olive oil, which is (gulp) 1 point per teaspoon. Geez. But it's okay, because I managed to make the spinach with 4 teaspoons, making it 2 points for each of us. Lastly, we had wine. Now, for the most part, wine is 2 pts per 4 oz. A bottle is about 25 oz, so that means there are 12 (ok, maybe like 12.5, but whatever) points per bottle. That give us 6 points each. So, the total comes to a mere 13 points!! Not bad for a filling meal, complete with a bottle of wine!

Scrapbook, Part II

2009-01-21T23:12:00.000-08:00

So my original plan for Ryan's calendar was to be done by last weekend, but that didn't exactly happen. I tried my hardest to get the pages done, but there was just no way (I already had a ton of schoolwork, and I had been staying at work a little later than normal). However, I was able to finish 4 more pages over the last two weeks! Ok, well I didn't exactly finish them, but I definitely did most of the work! In case you forgot what I've already done, take a look here, at the first 5 pages. And now, here are the next 4 pages:

6. October, Wine Tasting in Russian River Valley

This was our anniversary trip in 2007. We went to the RRV and did some wine tasting!! Yum! Anyway, I chose the song "Whatever You Like" by T.I. because I wanted some variety on this CD I'm going to give him! And trust me, this song is soooo much different than all of the other songs! Luckily, he has recently taken a liking to this song, haha. Anyway, this page is a little plain, but I do like it, and I think the quote works out quite nicely (although I'm talking about bottles of wine, NOT patron!).

7. September, Kern County Fair

As you can probably tell, I'm not quite finished with this one. BUT, I know he'll love it, because he is obsessed with this song. It's an old one by Buck Owens and Dwight Yoakam. He was so happy to hear a song about his beloved Bakersfield. Haha, and this page worked out, because we were in Bakersfield, enjoying the county fair!! I'm not quite sure how I am going to lay out the rest of the page, but I will be sure to include the final product in my calendar review! Oh and I just want to make a comment about how much I like the background paper! So, I am going to try to keep as much of it uncovered as possible....

8. May, Baseball Games!

So, Dannelle totally got me into sewing! I have used this technique before, but kind of forgot how doable it is....although it does take a long time! I only used it a little bit on this page (see the two large circles?). Anyway, I like this page, even though the pink may be a little girly. Oh well, he'll live! I like how the whole thing is circles!!

9. November, Tahoe

This was our latest anniversary trip, to Tahoe! We saw a gorgeous sunset on the beach, and I kind of wanted to think of those pinks and oranges, but I decided not to make those the main colors of the page. I used them in the title, which I love! I also decided to use buttons (Buttons Chung!) on this one, because I found some that worked well with the color scheme. What do you think? Oh, and the buttons took FOREVER to put on, because I had to sew each and every one onto that paper! ahh!

So there you are, the second installment of Ryan's 2009 calendar. My new goal is to have it finished by January 29, which is the next time I'll see him. I have to start and finish the last 3 pages, as well as put all of the final touches on each of the other 9 pages. Also, I have to make a (simple) front and back cover! Wish me luck! I'll definitely keep you all updated!

Recipe #2: Red Velvet Cupcakes

2009-01-20T06:53:00.001-08:00

Gluten-free, no less! So first of all, sorry about being horrible at updating! I've been super busy! I'm hoping to update a few times this week, to make up for last week!

Anyway, Carlee and I went to Sur La Table last Wednesday and took a baking class! There were 4 recipes available: waffles, blueberry muffins, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, and red velvet cupcakes. Well, there were 6 of us in the class, and we were each supposed to pick a recipe (and some had to share), so me and Carlee darted for the red velvet cupcakes, since they were the things we were most excited about!!!

Now, for the actual recipe:

The Cake:

1 3/4 cup canola oil

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten (room temp)

1 cup brown rice flour

3/4 cup sorghum flour*

3/4 cup tapioca starch

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp xanthan gum

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

1 oz red food coloring**

1 Tbsp cocoa

So first of all, preheat the oven to 350! Then mix the oil and sugar....or rather, cream it. This kind of took a while, and me and Carlee were convinced we ruined it. But trust, it will get creamed! Anyway, you then add one egg at a time, with the mixer still on.

Next (or beforehand) mix the dry ingredients (minus the cocoa). While the mixer is still going, you should pour 1/4 of the flour mixture, followed by 1/3 of the buttermilk, and so on (ending with the flour mixture!).

Then, you mix together the cocoa, red food coloring, and vanilla. TRUST, this is where the "red" part comes from....omg, it was all soooo red. Ok, so you mix that in with the rest.

For cake, you bake it for 25 mins, but apparently cupcakes take less time...but we aren't really sure how long, since the oven got turned off somehow. Oh well

The frosting:

1 box confectioner's sugar

8 oz. cream cheese

1 stick butter

1 cup chopped nuts (OPTIONAL!!)

1 tsp vanilla

Cream the first three ingredients, and then mix in the vanilla and chopped nuts (if you dare...we didn't).

Here is Carlee chopping the "optional" nuts...we chose not to include them on our cupcakes, because neither of us are too fond of walnuts or pecans, or whatever they were!

"Are they done yet?" Nope....because someone accidentally turned off the oven part way through! Haha, don't worry, they turned out OK!

YUM! Me putting frosting on...I'm trying to look serious, but I kept laughing.

Semi-finished products! They were soooo good!

Anyway, overall I really enjoyed the class!! They gave us wine, and cheese and crackers! How sweet! And, we got to try everything that was made, and take home leftovers if we wanted. In fact, I would love to take another class at Sur La Table. I think what I might do is buy a gift certificate for Ryan for Valentine's Day, so that we can take a class together at some point! How fun!!

So now for the big question....are these weight watcher friendly? umm, no not really, haha. I looked up info online about Sprinkles red velvet cupcakes, and based on that, they are 12 points. WELL, our cupcakes were definitely smaller, and had probably about 1/3 of the amount of frosting, so I went with 6 points (maybe it should have been 8, just to be safe). Whatever, I had my extra 35 points to start using, so no big deal!! I didn't even cheat =)

Lastly, I would like to apologize for the annoying spacing issues with this post. Maybe it's jus tthe browser I'm using, but I can't seem to get the "single space" function to work. Any thoughts on how this can be fixed? Ugh, it's super annoying!!

*you can also use something called "Jowar" which is found in Indian stores. Or, if you really can't find either of these, you can substitute it for rice or potato flour.

**by the way, in case you are like me and Carlee, and you look at the bottle of food coloring and say "Um, how do we measure 1 oz??" Well, it's the whole bottle. Yikes!

Weight Watchers!

2009-01-12T12:30:00.000-08:00

So, this is part 2 (part 1) of my weight watching adventures! And, just as the title suggests, I am trying something new: Weight Watchers! This probably sounds a little crazy, and I was definitely overwhelmed at first. I spent last weekend (the one after new year's) learning all about the point system. I haven't officially joined, but am thinking about it, especially if one of you will do it with me! I'm not planning on going to the meetings. One, it's more expensive than the online version, and two, I just don't know if I can devote an hour each week to doing this, especially if I need to go the same day every week (is this the case? I don't even know).

Anyway, if you don't want to hear about weight watchers, I suggest you stop reading now, because I am going to enlighten you all with a bit about the system. Please keep in mind that this is all in my own words -- please look at the website or whatever for more info! So pretty much, based on your age, gender, your weight, your job (how active you are at work), and something else, but I forget, you get assigned a daily point value. Mine is 21. Then, you eat accordingly! I get 21 points per day, and trust me, it's not a lot! Oh, I should also let you know that I did a trial run this past week....and yes, I ate at Melting Pot, and still I did not cheat! I will explain this phenomenon later on! Ok, so you can find TONS of info online that has point values for different foods. The good news is that there do exist zero-point foods....a lot of veggies are zero-points, for example.

One thing I really like about this program is the fact that you can eat whatever you want! I mean, it might be the case that you can only have one bite of it, but that's your decision. It teaches you to eat your veggies, so you can have other, yummier things! It's also very helpful if you plan around your schedule. For example, if you know you are going out to eat one night, you should conserve points by eating low-point foods for breakfast and lunch. Another BONUS is that you get 35 extra points each week. This is how I managed to eat at Melting Pot, plus I conserved some of my daily 21 points for the occasion. I feel like it's doable, because, I mean, can I really afford to be eating out more than twice a week anyway (money wise and food intake wise)? Probably not.

Still not convinced? Ok, well this doesn't really apply to me, but you can also get extra points by exercising!! So for those of you who like to run, you can earn a couple of extra points each day. That may not seem like a lot, but every point counts! I find that I have zero time for the treadmill during the week, but on the weekends, I am going to try to get a 30-40 minute walk in (uphill walk). Even with that, it's only 1-2 points per day, but it's a nice little added bonus!

So, does anyone want to do it with me? We can trade yummy low-point recipes! And even though I am considering joining online (I think there is a special that's $65 for the first two months -- including the one time sign up fee -- and then $17 each month after that), you don't have to! I am more than willing to help you scoure the internet for resources (and as I said before, there are TONS!). There are also plenty of point calculators online, such as this one, so you can find the point value of foods you have at home. There is a formula...I forget what it is at this second (it's a little complicated, so I prefer using the tool). It uses calories, fat, and dietary fiber to come up with the point value. So if you have that information, you can very easily convert your food into the points.

In conclusion (haha, as if I'm writing an essay or something...), I think WW will help me a ton with portion control. This is one thing I had never practiced before. I do not consider myself to be a large person, but there are times I consume as much food as those "too fat to move" people on the TLC specials. I eat too fast, and therefore I eat too much, and don't realize how completely stuffed I am until it's too late. So, with the WW plan, I have to watch my portions, and although I was kind of craving snacks the first few days last week, I really do feel a lot better now. Cleansed, if you will. Even though I splurged a bit on certain days! So, who's with me? Please think about it, and let me know! It will definitely help if I have a close support group (Ryan is my support group right now, but we're only together ~every other weekend). I promise we can make it fun. Oh, and just for you all...here's a site that gives point values for alcohol.

Sorry for the seriousness of this post!! Do you think I'm crazy? Are you crazy enough to join me?

Merry Belated Christmas!!

2009-01-09T22:38:00.000-08:00

Okay seriously...Christmas was 2 weeks ago, and I'm not really close to finishing Ryan's calendar. I do have a few pages to show, but most of them aren't completely done yet. And honestly, if I have time (although I doubt I will) I want to redo a couple of them. I just wasn't very inspired for some of these, and I don't know why!! I think Michael's just didn't have as many cool things as I wanted. Hmmm, oh well! Ok, so without further ado, I present to you the 5 pages that I've worked on:

1. December...I think? This one is the first one I did, and it's kind of plain, but I like it more and more each time I see it. Whatever, I can live with it! I just need to find a good title for this one...
Oh, and in case you can't really tell, the thing in the middle (and the one on the bottom) is a ribbon with "pearls" on it. It's inspired by the beautiful necklace I'm wearing in the pictures!

2. June! Graduation! I like this one....I think the ribbon looks pretty (oh, I love ribbon, by the way! It look a lot of self-control to keep myself from using ribbon on every page).

3. April or May. I do not like this one, and I'm definitely going to redo it if I have time! It's unfortunate that I chopped up the pictures so much, because I'm going to have to print more!

4. July...even though this was in Vegas for Ryan's 21st, which was in June. Oh well, graduation wins and got to be June instead!

5. March - snowboarding in Reno! Yay, it's the black and white one! Anyway, this is the one that's the closest to being done. I already have the title picked out, AND (this is a little something extra that I decided to do) it has a short line from the lyrics! The only thing that is missing is something a little extra by the title. I have these really cute stamps I want to use, and I bought a silver stamp pad, but when I tested it out, it was not turning out at all. I'm going to have to keep trying....any ideas?

Ok, so I still have to add the lyrics to the rest of the pages, so if it looked like each one kind of had a blank space, that's why! I'm trying to figure out the best way to do it...some will be printed, some will be handwritten and some will be "sizzixed" (like the one above).

I still have a long way to go, but I'm hoping to get a few more pages done this weekend, so I'll keep you all posted!

Public Speaking 103

2009-01-07T12:48:00.000-08:00

Ugh....I HATE public speaking! Ok, let me back up a bit. As you all know, I'm in school right now, trying to get my Masters in MS&E (don't ask....just think 'business'). Well, this was also my ungrad major, which means I've taken all of the prereqs for the courses I'm taking now. That is NOT the case for everyone. A lot of people have to take certain math, science, probability, computer science, etc classes in order to finish the degree. But not me! That means I "get" to take electives, since we have to graduate with a certain number of units. I can't take just anything though. There are certain requirements that have to do with the subject and the course number and such, but I won't bore you with those details.

Anyway, let's fast forward to this quarter (which just started yesterday). I thought I had found 3 great classes to take, but it turns out that one of them can't really be taken online, which is a problem, since I'm working full time. Sorry....but why would you have your lectures taped if you were going to penalize people for not coming?? So pretty much, my grade would suffer, and I need all the help I can get! So the search began....

After scouring through the online courses, I decided my best option was to take a night class. This is not something I want to do, and it's something I very very rarely did as an undergrad (the only class that comes to mind is French Porn, and even then it was only a Monday night movie). I kept searching until I found this gem: Engr103: Public Speaking. Ok, only once a week (or so I thought), 7:30-10pm, 3 units....bring it on! But I should mention how very terrified I am of speaking publicly. BUT, it is something I told myself I would try to get better at, and the class fit my schedule, and there are no tests or problem sets to worry about. So yes, I'm taking it.

I had my first class last night, and there are about 25-30 people in the class. Luckily, quite a few of them don't exactly speak English (ESL, if you will), so at least I have an advantage there! WE did have to make a mini speech last night, and I was kind of freaking out, but whatever...there were so many people before and after me, and I wasn't being funny, so I am pretty sure no one remembered my 30 second explanation about why I would be a bear, if I had to be an animal.

Now I need you all's help (ok...that sounds more hickish than "y'all" but whatevs): next week we have to give a 2-3 minute narrative speech. So, I need a story. It should be one I know well, so I can cut parts out if necessary, and so I don't need to worry about forgetting anything. Anyone have any ideas? Nothing too funny (for I might laugh in the middle) and nothing too boring and dry (because a lot of people are funny and I don't want to look like a dud!). Let me know if you have any ideas! Hey....if you help me out, maybe I'll even practice in front of you (ok, not! that actually won't happen). Sweet! See you all tonight =)

Watching Weight?

2009-01-06T22:36:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I really like food, so for me to lose weight, I've always decided that I would rather work out more, and then be able to eat the same amount. Well that doesn't quite work out...for a couple of reasons. One, I don't work out very often. I'm always so tired after work, and I never feel like it, and I just don't have time! Two, I eat more even though I'm not working out, because I am planning on working out. So anyway, I have bought into SEVERAL gimmicks...that may or may not work. I don't really know, because the truth is, I just can't get myself to do
anything! Here are a couple of my most recent ventures...

Slim in Six.
I don't even remember what the title means...but I know it doesn't mean 6 minutes...maybe 6 weeks? months? years? who knows. Anyway, the only thing I really used from this was the 11 minute ab routine, which I would often do in lieu of going to the gym. Probably not the best idea, and I never did it regularly enough to see results. Oh, and do you want another fun fact? This thing wasn't cheap, and I accidentally purchased two. I don't know, my browser was slow or something, and I guess I clicked the "buy" button twice. All I know is that I was charged double, received double, and then somehow managed to miss the "return by" deadline. Anyone interested in buying my extra copy?

10 minute training.
This one is hysterical. The guy is a doof, and really, it's NOT easy!! It's 10 minutes...I guess. They have a 10 minute program for legs, abs, total body, maybe arms? I don't really know. I've tried the legs and abs one, but it really is hard. I have never finished the abs one because one of the moves requires you to prop yourself up using only one hand, and I have horrible wrists. It killed my wrists to do this, and so the two times I tried, I stopped at that point. The leg one....very hard! And I thought my legs were strong! I guess if I did it more than a few times, it would have been okay. The problem is, my legs were so sore for the next few days, I couldn't even try again. Another bust!

Making the Cut.

Okay, actually, I didn't mean to buy this one. I got it off of amazon, and I meant to buy the workout DVD (below), but accidentally got this book. I mean, they look so similar! Anyway, instead of returning it, I thought it would be good to use the recipes in the book. Nope, never did. In fact, I didn't even really look at the recipes yet. I'll have to take a look at these during my weekly cook-offs!

30-Day Shred.

I saw this on weddingbee, and everyone said it was like the best thing ever! It's the trainer from The Biggest Loser, so I thought....if fat people can do it, so can I!! It's about 20ish minutes long, and I've done the easiest one a few times. It isn't too hard, but it's not all that easy. I think part of the reason is because I was using 5 pound weights....but I now have my 3 pound weights back, so I'll have to try it with those. I just kind of feel like I'm not getting a great workout, but I don't know! Maybe I should stick with it!!

Has anyone else tried one of these? Has anything worked? Lemme know!

Recipe #1: Steamed Mussels

2009-01-04T22:43:00.000-08:00

First post of the new year! And it's my first official cooking post!

This past weekend, my boyfriend Ryan and I decided to make steamed mussels! There is a recipe I found about two years ago on foodnetwork.com, compliments of Tyler Florence. Here's a picture of the final product:

These are pretty easy to make! All you need is: 3 pounds of mussels, 4 garlic cloves, olive oil, butter, white wine, 2 leeks, fresh thyme, and parsley. Oh, and salt and pepper to taste.

First you put a tablespoon each of olive oil and butter into a big pot and throw in the garlic, leeks (white parts only), and thyme (I think it said 1/4 of a bunch...I just guessed). I cooked them for about 4 or 5 minutes, and then threw in the mussels and a cup of white wine. Then you cover the mixture, and let it sit for about 10 minutes, or until all of the mussels open up. Once that's done, throw in 2 tablespoons of butter, and drizzle some olive oil....and voila!! You've got yourself some yummy steamed mussels. Of course, I put in about twice as much garlic, because I'm a garlic finatic!

Lastly, don't forget the bread for dipping and the wine for drinking! YUM! Enjoy! Hopefully there will be more recipes to come...

Why #2 is Necessary

2008-12-30T20:30:00.000-08:00

#2 on my resolutions list, of course (#2. Clean my room and keep it clean!). I think that everyone who actually reads this is aware of the condition of my room. But in case someone happens to find this, I'll post some evidence!

Lisa kindly helped me go through most of my drawers last week, but there is so much more in my room than clothes. The pictures below were taken the day after christmas, I think. Some of the things on the floor were in my brother's room (I sometimes use it as a"holding cell" for my junk) and some were taken from the floor of my closet. Anyway, here you go!

"the scrapbooking corner" (note: I actually organized this a teeny bit
before I took the picture....usually it looks so much worse!)

On the side of my bed....by the TV

aerial view from my bed, towards the front of my room

Eeek...here it is! I'm standing in the doorway right now. Yikes!

Now, I have spent the last few days going through my stuff, and getting rid of a lot of things. I'm hoping to create room in my closet for all of my shoes!! They are currently in a door-hanging shoe holder, but this is not the best solution since I can't close my door while it is on there. Ugh. Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, my bed always looks like that. Yes, even when I'm sleeping. Usually it's piled a bit higher, but I think some of the stuff slid off, haha.

Stay tuned for updated pictures of my room....I think you will all be pleasantly surprised (okay, I'm not quite done yet....give me another week!).

My Resolutions for the New Year!

2008-12-28T22:50:00.000-08:00

I know it's a couple of days early, but just in case I don't have time to do it before Tahoe!

I don't think I've made an official list of New Year's Resolutions in a LONG time. And really, I think that's why the stuff on my unofficial list never happens. To make it real, it's got to be written down. So here goes...my official list, in no particular order:

1. stop biting my nails
2. clean my room, and keep it clean!
3. blog more often (avg every other day)
4. travel outside of the country
5. learn (or start to learn) another language
6. finish grad school
7. take another oil painting class
8. get fit!
9. and get back down to my pre college weight (minus 20 lbs)
10. scrapbook more
11. hike half dome
12. cook more often (aim for once a week)
13. find a good credit card and close some of my accounts

So my first two resolutions always make the list, but I never keep them. Hopefully next year I can do a little better!

Anyway, does anyone else share some of my resolutions? What are some of yours, and are there any biggies that I completely forgot about??

Are you engaged?

2008-12-26T14:02:00.000-08:00

Nope, are you?

So I meant to write about this a couple of weeks ago, but just like Alex, I've been horrible at updating!! I am also going to "blame" Lisa's arrival in America.

Anyway, for my anniversary present this year, Ryan got me a really pretty ring that I picked out! I had been wanting an aquamarine (my birthstone) ring for a while, and so I got one! The only problem is that for our anniversary two years ago, he also got me a ring! And it's also really pretty. Here's a picture:

So, I don't really want to replace my other ring, with my new ring. My first solution was to trade off each day, and wear a different ring. Oh, I should point out that both are "sized" to fit my ring finger, on my right hand (ok, so the ring I just got was supposed to be sized, but I kind of think they didn't do it, because it's pretty big on my finger still. Even still, I can barely slide it on my middle finger, and if I do, it looks bad because my "finger fat" squeezes out, haha). My mom suggested that I just wear one of them on my left hand...hmm, ok, I guess I could do that! So I now wear my new ring on my right hand, and my other ring on my left hand, on the ring finger. Since I have misplaced my camera, I don't have a picture of my actual ring, but I found one on the internet that looks very similar. Except for some reason, the stone looks a little greenish, but they say it's an aquamarine...

The aquamarine is large, and to me, it kind of looks like an engagement ring. Even though the aquamarine is light, it still doesn't look like a diamond (it's no where near as sparkly), but not everyone wants or has an engagement ring with a diamond as the center stone! I was kind of expecting people (at work, at school, etc) to ask if I was engaged! I mean, at first glance, it kind of looks like I am (I think)! I was actually complaining how no one has asked me -- while we were having our first weekly "girls night out" (when's the next one??) -- and the bartender became the first person to ask, but only because I prompted her!

Anyway, I had someone at work ask me today, and I had to explain that I wasn't, and how I wanted to wear both rings. I'm pretty sure she thought I was being silly, and that I shouldn't be wearing both...at least not if one is going to be on my left hand. What do you all think? Have you ever worn a ring on your left ring finger when you weren't engaged or married? Am I crazy to want to wear both of these beautiful rings? I sure hope not...

Malia's Board and a question!

2008-12-15T22:50:00.000-08:00

I was just thinking to myself today at work, and thought of some colors that Malia used to (and probably still does!) love!!! These colors are so much fun together!

I believe she had black music notes on her wall, in her pepto bismol-pink room. Oooo, and this could totally double as Tam's board as well!

So now to my question. One of the ideas I have about my new calendar is regarding the titles of each page/month. The titles on the old one aren't all that creative, but they're okay. I thought it would be cute to make each title the title of a song! What do you think? But now I need help thinking of good song titles to use! I have about 7 or 8 that I think will be good, but I'm wondering if any of you have any ideas? Oh, and they have to be songs that both Ryan and I know!! This means rap slash r&b is probably out....think country and "oldies" like Billy Joel. Haha, thanks =)

Let's scrapbook...on the computer!

2008-12-14T22:46:00.000-08:00

What?? That's what I said, when my good friend Michka introduced the world of digital scrapbooking (digi-scrap) to me! She's made some wonderful creations! Using pictures, digital paper and embellishments, and photoshop, you can make your 12" x 12" pages on the computer! What a concept. I'm still not completely sold on this, but I think it's mainly because I haven't had the time to really explore all of its wonderfulness. I did make one page, which I will share in a bit. Just note that I downloaded a bunch of junk from random sites, and I made this while on the 6-hour Amtrak train ride from Oakland to Bakersfield. So, I did not have the ability to download anything extra, and had to work with what I had!

As I see it, there are some pros and cons. The pros include the ability to change things very easily and there's no mess. But there is something I love about getting out all of my paper and tools and turning my room (or Michelle's living room slash family room) into scrapbooking heaven! Also, there's just something about the 3-D quality of the embellishments that gets lost when you use a computer. Oh yeah, and one of my favorite colors, sparkle (haha), doesn't exactly shine as brightly as it should when it's on the computer.

So, right now I prefer the old school way of scrapbooking, but I will definitely keep trying out digi-scrapping! Ok, so here's my first try:

Ok, so I guess it was kind of fun to make. But photoshop can be pretty frustrating, and it's really really time consuming!! I think once I re-teach myself how to use all of the cool tools on photoshop, digi-scraping will take less time, and I'll be able to make beautiful pages!

I think it reminds me of your room

2008-12-09T07:21:00.000-08:00

But I'm not really sure. Anyway, here is Dannelle's board!! Didn't you have yellow and blue in your old room? Maybe I'm dreaming. Either way, it works out because it's UCLA colors!

I think it looks super pretty! Possibly the best picture in there is the blue rose. It reminds me of the time that boy (who shall remain nameless) gave you a blue rose after graduation practice. Haha, and it made you cry! Hope you like it! And as always, there will be more to come =)

House Hunters: First Time

2008-12-06T23:44:00.000-08:00

So, today Ryan and I looked at houses in Bakersfield! We're not exactly in the market right now, but we decided to see what's out there. We started at Village Green, which is a neighborhood with brand new houses. In fact, they're still not done with construction, meaning that if one were to buy a house, one could pick the floor plan and add upgrades! The picture above is of one of the houses on the street, but not one of the ones we went inside.

All of the houses we looked at were at least 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, and they were so pretty! Also, the most expensive house available was $320k. Yep, $320,000. And that one had 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms and was huge. Let me show you some of the pictures of the first two houses we went into (they were the model houses....so they were all set up and stuff. The other ones we went into looked very nice, but I didn't take any pictures, oops).

The room was so nice and open! And the backyard was nice too! Oh, and the best part about all of the houses were the HUGE walk-in closets! They were absolutely amazing!

Here are a few pictures from the second house we looked at. Once again, it was a model home. We liked this one better than the first one.

The front of the second house....the fence is only
around it because it was a model home!

Here's Ryan in the pretty kitchen!

Just another pretty picture =)

eeeeeee! The two-sided fireplace!! This was just too cool!

And here's Ryan in the closet. I think he's crossing his arms
because he doesn't understand why a closet would be so big.
He actually said he would rather them make another room a
little bigger and make the closet smaller...ummmm no!

Anyway, there you have it, the second house! The master was nice and big, and the bathroom was also huge (all of the houses in the neighborhood had huge bathrooms and huge walk-in closets!). Another huge perk about the neighborhood is that it has a pool and hot tub and water park for little kids! And the whole area was very well landscaped.

Oh and did I mention that it's a gated community? Crazy, right? So what do you think....would you come visit me if I had a house like this in Bako??

Pretty please?

The rest of the calendar

2008-12-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

I've already showed you the first 6 months of the calendar, so here is the rest! Oh, and I forgot to mention in my previous post that I did not take these pictures...so I'm sorry for the not-so-great quality.

7. July

Yet another themed page. I believe Mich and I were shopping, when we decided that I should go "all out" for this page. And that's exactly what I did! Haha, ok actually, I think I was considering buying a piece of paper with a huge flag on it. So I guess I didn't go ALL out, but it was still pretty out there! I was just thinking about it, and me and Ryan have never been together on the 4th of July. But even still, I felt the need to decorate the page as if we were watching fireworks. Very festive!

8. August

I think this one is super cool. I'm not sure how easy it is to tell, but I ripped up a bunch of pieces of paper, and then glued them to make the design. Cool, huh? And I like the black and white photos. I'll probably do one of the new pages with black and white photos, but I haven't even thought about which one.

9. September

I also love this one!! It's simple, but that makes it look so clean. I think my favorite part about it is the title. The font fits this page so perfectly!! And these are pretty much the only cheerleading pictures I have of myself.

10. October

I really like this one!! I love the pictures, especially the sunset one! I love the ribbons, and the leaves, and the colors. But it's so autumn-y. Which I love! But it's another themed page. So I'll have to stay away from these colors in my Oct/Nov pages, even though I'll be so tempted!

11. November

I'm not too crazy about November. It's from our trip to Carmel, so I think the background paper is pretty cool because Carmel is actually on the map! I guess it's okay. The main thing is that these are really the only 3 pictures we took during the trip. I'm not really sure why. So, I just wasn't able to come up with anything super creative.

12. December

This one is...eh, it's okay. I don't hate it, but I don't particularly like it. It's kind of festive, so I'm thinking that for the new calendar, I won't have December be a Christmas-themed page. In fact, I'm going to stay away from all of the holidays this year.

So overall, I'm pretty satisfied with my work. Not the best ever, and it doesn't look super professional, but it was really fun to make! Now, stay tuned, because I am going to need some recommendations for the next calendar!

An Idea for All Those Leftovers!

2008-12-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

This one is from Giada de Laurentiis. It's something I saw on her show a while ago, and I've been meaning to try it ever since. The day after Thanksgiving seemed like the perfect time, since it's Turkey and Cranberry raviolis!! I'm not really a huge fan of the Thanksgiving turkey, but figured I'd give this one a shot. If you're interested, you can find the recipe here.

Depending on how much you like cranberry sauce, I suggest putting more. I put in a little extra, but wish there had been a bit more. We used wonton wrappers, so they weren't as heavy as normal raviolis. A word of caution: be carful not to poke holes in them while boiling!! A couple of them split open, causing the water to become infested with turkey....kinda gross.

I didn't actually make the gravy in Giada's recipe, because my dad is pretty much the Gravy King. I went the easy route and used his leftovers from the day before (another way to save some time!!).

Overall, I did enjoy these. Definitely a unique way to enjoy all of those leftovers, instead of making sandwiches for the next few weeks. The only downside is that they take a while to make. It's a lot of hard work putting the turkey/cranberry mixture into each of the wonton wrappers!! However, it is something that can be done ahead of time. You can just put them in the fridge, and boil them whenever!! The last part is very fast...only takes about 3-5 minutes.

Sorry that I didn't take any pictures!! But honestly, they aren't the prettiest things ever....I was a little lazy when I was making them, because it was taking so long. OH! And she recommends using dark meat. My family only eats dark meat, so we had about 3/4 of a pound left, but had probably 5 or so pounds of white meat. I ended up mixing the two, which helped get rid of some of the unwanted white meat! Depending on your preferences, I'm sure either would taste great! Enjoy =)

I want to eat your board!

2008-12-02T19:20:00.000-08:00

And here it is!! Finally!! So, Lisa requested that I make her a board with dark red, brown, and cream. It was surprisingly difficult to find pretty pictures with these colors! But, I managed. If I could use one word to describe her board, it would be "yummy"....

The chocolates and cakes and chocolate covered strawberries look so good!! I can't wait to make more of these boards....I already have another one started. I wish I had more time slash was a bit better with photoshop, because those boards look much better. I'm just not that creative yet....

Hope you like it, Leese!!

Christmas!!

2008-12-01T10:16:00.000-08:00

My favorite time of the year!! It's officially December, and I can't wait until all of the Christmas decorations start going up! I walked into work this morning, and they have a huge tree set up down in the lobby =)

Anyway, I got to my desk, and there was an envelope waiting for me. I opened it up, and found that one of my coworkers had given me a Christmas card!! My very first one, EVER! But now I'm wondering....am I supposed to hand out Christmas/holiday cards? And if so, who gets one? My family hasn't exactly been the best example, since we've probably only sent Christmas cards 5 times, out of the 22 Christmases I've had.

So now I'm stuck. What's the etiquette here? And when should I hand them out? I just realized that some people probably don't celebrate Christmas, so should I make sure the cards are out before Hanukkah starts? I'm pretty sure it starts only a few days before Christmas this year, but what if it starts in the beginning of Decemeber? Oh, and what I would really love to do is make the cards! But I just don't think I'll have time for that. What is everyone else doing?

The First One About Scrapbooking....

2008-11-30T19:08:00.000-08:00

So I realized that the title of my blog is a little misleading, because I haven't written anything about scrapbooking!! One of the main reasons is because I just haven't had time to spend on scrapbooking. I'm thinking that once this quarter is over, I'll have some more time (I hope!). Anyway, the last big project I worked on was for my boyfriend, Ryan. I made him a calendar for Christmas....in 2006. Yikes, that was almost 2 years ago. I've done a teeny bit since then....I am currently making a small (10 pages) scrapbook for my mom as a gift for someone, but it's a lot more simple than the stuff I usually do, because I don't really know what she likes. So I'm not really going to count that, since I haven't really been using my full scrapbooking potential!

Ok, so, I made him a calendar, and it took FOREVER! It was so much work because I had to think so hard about what each page would look like, and make sure the colors weren't the same throughout the whole thing, and all that stuff. I was really proud of my work, and he really liked (likes) it, so I promised to make him another one this Christmas, but I haven't actually started. I'm starting to get worried because I have to think of completely new ideas for this calendar. When I made the calendar two years ago, I played a lot with the "theme" of certain months. Therefore, this year, I probably won't want to do much of that, because they'll look the same!! For this post, I'll show the first 6 months of the 2007 calendar:

1. January

Ok, so we will always have some sort of snow pictures. It's inevitable. I will definitely be using snow pictures again, but I'll have to be more creative with the colors and design. This is doubly important because unlike most events, all of our skiing/snowboarding pictures feature us in the exact same outfits!!! So I need to make sure this year's snow month (not necessarily January) does not have the typical snow colors and snow accessories. But, I do love this one...you can't really tell, but the vellum makes it soooo pretty =)

2. February

Guess the theme. Yep, Valentine's Day. The pictures weren't actually from Valentine's Day, but I decided to play up the theme anyway. I figured it was the best way to sneak a lot of pink into the calendar, without it seeming too girly.

3. March

Hmmm....what holiday falls in March (besides my birthday)? St. Patrick's Day!!! I totally played up this theme. One of the reasons I was so theme-heavy is because we had a lot of random pictures...I liked them, but there was no good way to tie them all together.

4. April

Probably my least favorite page. I thought it would turn out a lot better. I like the colors, I like the stars with the little gems, but the page layout just isn't doing it for me. Oh, I also think the title is pretty cute =) I don't really remember the order I did these in, but I'm guessing this was one of the last ones and I was trying to think of something cute and different. Oh well, you can't win 'em all!

5. May

I love this one!! Ok, I do remember that this is the first one I did. I got inspiration by looking at some layouts online, and just loved how the pictures worked with this one. The pictures are from a trip to Yosemite and a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. So pretty!!!

6. June

Summer-themed!!! Another way to sneak in those girly colors. I really like this one, just because it's so colorful! Again, kind of random pictures, but they all were taken during the summer!! I promise!

So there you have it: the first 6 months. Stay tuned for the rest of the 2007 calendar!!

Top 5 Drinks to Order*

2008-11-26T11:18:00.000-08:00

*Note: this is MY list...most people probably won't agree!!

And now for the list, in no particular order:

1. Dirty Vodka Martini with extra olives

2. Bud Light Lime

3. Sex on the Beach

4. Glass of wine

5. A shot with friends!

1. Dirty Vodka Martini with extra olives

Alex introduced me to this one (thanks!). Why do I love it? Well, for one thing, when made with the correct proportions, it is delicious! I love the green olives with pimentos (sp?), and I love the way the olive juice tastes with the vodka, yum! Another thing, I feel very cool when I'm sipping on the martini. Kind of like I've been doing this for years, even though it's only been about a year and a half. Hehe, fooled ya, didn't I?

2. Bud Light Lime

Amazing. And I thought Coronas with lime were good! I have never been a beer-drinker (although recently I have acquired a taste for some of BJ's beers), but I had to try this one! Oh, and I'm so glad I did. Plus, when I drink one of these, I don't feel like a little girl (see number 3), but I also don't quite feel like "one of the guys." A little in between!!

3. Sex on the Beach

Because it's my first true love!!! This drink pretty much summarizes my early desire for drinks. Anything with alcohol, and anything that's fruity!! This quickly became my favorite, and was pretty much the only thing I ordered for a while. I don't really order them too often anymore, but if I'm looking for something super sweet, this is my drink! Yummm....sugar =)

4. Glass of wine

I love both reds and whites, but I'm more of a "white" person when it comes to ordering a glass of wine at a bar or lounge. I feel classy, it's relaxing, and I love the taste (notice how this has been the case with all of my choices thus far...prepare yourself for number 5!). And it's just so smoooooth. Mmm, and so good with cheese (or broccoli cheese soup from Fridays)!

5. A Shot with Friends!

Anything, really. I mean, there are some I won't do unless I've had quite a few drinks, but these are always fun! Remember Alex's birthday at the Harbor....

See you there =)

Does My....?

2008-11-18T22:41:00.000-08:00

First of all, I would like to apologize to Lisa, because I told her that I would make her inspiration board next. Don't worry, it's coming!! There was a pressing issue...the board you see below HAD to be made! This one is for Alex, who is on Team Jacob, and has been trying to find the perfect Twilight shirt. I think she would have been successful, if this was printed on one:

Ahh, but it's not! Oh, special mention: the picture above the "M"...it shows his half being naked AND his long hair!! Yum =)

No Offense Mary

2008-11-14T21:56:00.000-08:00

When thinking about the board for Mary, one obvious color came to mind: lime green!! Well, I ended up using a green that isn't quite "lime," but it's pretty close and it still reminds me of Mary. Now what color to go with it? After hearing about Mary's forest themed living room, I decided to follow that wonderful color scheme. Oh, and I added pink, for a "punch of color." This is for Mary to see that punches of color (such as Mich's headband), do serve a purpose. Here you go:

Please take note of the cake in the top row middle...obvious forest theme (see the branches??). There was one item that I just couldn't put in the inspiration board, but I'm sure Mary would have appreciated it. Therefore, it is an honorary member:

=) Look familiar?? Hehehehe. I just couldn't ruin the board by putting it in there (hint: you ruined the living room!!). Just kidding, I love you Mary!! Anyway, while browsing for green and brown items to place in the board, I did come across something you might find interesting. You know the non-forest themed chair? Yeah, the native american print one? Well, I think I just found it's replacement:

FYZ?? Seriously?!?!

2008-11-13T08:12:00.000-08:00

Ick. So yesterday I got my license plates in the mail, and it made me a little sad for a couple of reasons. First, my new car isn't new anymore!! I mean, of course it's still new, but people won't notice it as a new car. I loved knowing that I was driving around in a car so new that it didn't even have license plates yet! And second, FYZ?? When I think of myself, those are NOT the letters I would choose. What a horrible combo. And, to top it off, there are no 7's in the license plate at all. I was secretly hoping that it would take so long to get them, that my plates would actually start with a 7!! But no, I am stuck with a 6 =(

On the brighter side, I will be putting a new frame around my license plate this weekend! I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but Ryan was able to get an extra Stanford Alumni '08 frame (for free!!). This was one of the main perks of joining the Stanford Alumni club or whatever it is, but now I'm glad I didn't have to pay all that money!

Anyway, I might be a little sad now, because of the plates, but I can't even imagine what I'll feel like when the new car smell goes away (no offense, Alex), or worse, when I get my first *gasp* scratch! Until then, I'll just have to keep my car super clean (thanks ducky's), so it still looks new!

Jen's Board

2008-11-08T08:38:00.001-08:00

So, I'm obsessed with making inspiration boards! Since I discovered them on Wedding Bee, I've been trying to figure out color combos that would look good together. (Oh, and this is just for fun...since I'm not planning a wedding or anything!) Anyway, instead of being creative and trying new color combinations (since I haven't been in a very creative mood lately and because I just don't have time to think that hard), I've decided to start out by trying colors I already know look good together. This is the most recent one I've made (ok, I've only made 3, so this is my third). Anyway, I used this site to make the board. It's super easy to pull pictures from the internet (which is what I did) and arrange them into any size board you want! So, without further delay, here is Jen's board:

It is inspired by her bedroom, once upon a time. These colors will always remind me of her, so here you go Henny Penny!!! Enjoy =) (PS, there will be more to come!!)

Pictures Finally!

2008-10-25T10:15:00.001-07:00

Finally!! Here are a few pics of my new car =)

I know the middle one is super blurry, but I LOVE the color combo, so I had to include it!!

It's Here!!!!

2008-10-14T12:26:00.000-07:00

What's here? My car!!! Ok, so I suck at posting, but decided to give a quick update because I am so excited! I ordered my 2009 Jetta in May, and it just got here today =) The only problem is that all of my money is in an online savings account, and it takes 2 days to transfer. So, I currently have no money, but the guy at the dealership said it shouldn't be a problem! I will definitely be back to post pictures of my beautiful car!

Champagne Brunch & Buzzed Shopping

2008-09-03T18:45:00.000-07:00

Since I couldn't decide on a decent "about me and my blog" topic for my first post, I've decided to just jump right in and talk about things I like!! Today's topic: champagne brunches and buzzed shopping!

While I have participated in both, I've never done one right after the other. However, this weekend I will be in SF with the girls (and steve) to celebrate Alex and Michelle's 22 birthdays, and we will be doing both!! The only champagne brunch I've ever been to was in Las Vegas, and that was a buffet. That was good and bad. Good because I LOVE to eat, but bad because I ate so much I couldn't move for the next few hours!

Here's a cute picture of all of us in Vegas!

Since our champagne (slash bloody mary) brunch this Sunday will not be a buffet, I won't have to worry about being too stuffed to shop!

Buzzed shopping....I've only done this once, and it was in SF with Michelle. We went shopping after dinner, where we shared a bottle of wine =) For me, it was perfect. We went to Forever 21 instead of the shopping center, so everything we bought was cheap! Also, it helped me buy things I wouldn't normally buy (and it all turned out to be super cute!). I am definitely hoping the same will happen to me this weekend. Although I've been working full time for over 2 months, I haven't spent much time shopping for new work clothes. So hopefully after drinking a little champagne I'll be more willing to buy some new clothes!

There aren't too many things that beat putting on your Sunday best, getting pleasantly buzzed in the AM, and celebrating two of your best friends' birthdays all at once! Oh, and then finishing off the morning with a quick shopping trip =) I can't wait for this weekend!