Wednesday, January 31, 2018

What's Up Wednesday

It is time for a What's Up Wednesday.


What we're eating this week:  Last year I decided to try a whole bunch of different meal prep delivery services for a few weeks each since they all have intro offers.  After I tired 4 or 5 of them I decided that while it would be too expensive and didn't work with out life to have them delivered every week but that it would be a nice change of pace to have them delivered once or twice a month.  I had a box delivered this week so we are eating that for a few nights this week but Monday night I decided to try out that 5 ingredient bagel recipe that has been all over the internet. We made them into breakfast sandwiches with a side of asparagus and they turned out really well.
What I'm reminiscing about: I am reminiscing about the fabulous trip to Disneyland I took with my sister in the middle of January. It rained 2 of the 3 days we were there but it didn't rain hard for the most part and I think it actually kept people away from the park. 



What I'm loving:
 I am loving that after being sick for a solid 2 weeks in January my husband is finally well.  He had the flu and while he still has a bit of a lingering cough he is so much better and back to regular life. I missed hugging him!




What we've been up to:
Since my husband was sick half the month much of my energy was spent taking care of him and trying to not get sick but as I said earlier I did go to Disneyland for 3 days with my sister.  We were there the last day of the holiday season so we got to see all the decorations and eat at the Cove Bar one more time before it closed for a change of theming.



What I'm dreading: I have had a bunch of doctor's appointments recently and been on some medication recently so I am hoping all of this comes to an end soon. Sorry to be vague but more on this topic at a later time. Nothing life threatening but still no fun.

What I'm working on: I am working on eating healthy and continuing to go to the gym consistently. I am in a weight loss challenge at work. I probably won't win but it would be great if I did.



What I'm excited about:
 I may sound like a broken record but I am working on planning myself a little trip to Disneyland in March.  I have an annual pass and I probably won't renew it when it expires so I am taking advantage of it while I have it. During March there is a food and wine festival at California Adventure that is really fun so I am planning to go during the festival. Last year the cheddar ale soup was one of my favorites so I can't wait to see what food they have this year.



What I'm watching/reading: My husband and I are catching up on the current season of Walking Dead and have also started to watch Peaky Blinders. A few weeks ago all 15 seasons of ER showed up on Hulu so I am slowly working my way thorough that. I have seen some whole seasons and others episodes as reruns but have never watched the whole thing in chronological order.

What I'm listening to: Mostly whatever comes on my Pandora which is usually a mix of country and a random mix of 90s-00s pop music.  Everyone needs some Britney in their life every once in a while.

What I'm wearing: 



I got these fabulous shoes for Christmas and have been enjoying adding a little glitter to my outfits this month. Mine are rose gold but they come in all kinds of other glittery colors too.

What I'm doing this weekend: My grand plans for this weekend include sleeping in, going to the gym, cleaning around the house and maybe getting a massage. Doesn't get more exciting than that does it!





Happy Wednesday!

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

A Camping Bachelorette Party

This fall I combined two things that I have done multiple times separately but have never done together. Camping and a bachelorette party! One of my best friends from college got married in October so in September we threw her a party.  We went camping a few hours away up in the Sonoma area.

A few years ago (ok close to 10 years) one of my other best friends found these cow print boots and decided I needed them since I had cow print pajamas at the time.  They were cheap and she basically bought them as a gag gift but I have actually gotten a ton of wear out of them.  They are super tacky but they are perfect for taking on a camping trip.  Camping is the only time I wear them but they have gone on many camping trips!




We drove up Friday afternoon and got everything all set up before the sun set. We were on a campground right on a river so you could hear the water which is my favorite thing to listen to while camping. The area was just gorgeous!



The water was super cold (hello melted snow) but that didn't stop a couple of us from getting in the water one afternoon because why not.




Since we were camping in wine country it only makes sense that we went wine tasting.  We started our day at the Korbel tasting room. There was a free tour so we took advantage of that of course. The tour had some interesting information but it also kind of felt like a big corporate commercial for Korbel.








During the tour we saw lots and lots of champaign and we even saw the world's largest bottle of champaign. The tour ended with a tasting of a couple of different types of their champaign.  Our DDs obviously not drinking but we had them get the tastings anyway and those portions just ended up in other people's glasses.



After a quick group photo op with the big pink bottle of champaign we decided it was definitely time for some lunch. I didn't actually take any pictures of my lunch but I did manage to take a picture of the sign showing the name of the restaurant since I liked it. 


After lunch we headed to a winey that was pretty much the exact opposite of our morning champaign tasting.  We took a dirt road to a small family owned winery. We tasted our wine outside at a table set up in the middle of their vineyard. We sat in the shade of big old trees enjoying our wine and it was lovely.




After a great day of wine tasting we headed back to our campsite for one more night of campfires and fun. We packed up the next morning and headed home from a very fun weekend in wine country.


We were in the Sonoma area about 2 weeks before this whole area was on fire and I am so thankful we got to spend time there and wish this area all the best in recovering from the fires.

Monday, January 15, 2018

Valentine's Day Decorations

I took my Christmas decorations a couple of weeks ago. Even though we have been living here almost 6 months I haven't fully decorated my walls in any room so without the Christmas decorations my living room was looking mighty boring.

Since it is only about a month until Valentine's Day I decided this weekend that it was ok to put up some decorations. I didn't put too many decorations up this year but my house is definitely looking more festive.


I had a red table runner on our bar during Christmas so I just left it there and added a few Valentine's things.  Since this is where we store all our wine it seemed fitting to decorate using my collection of wine corks.



Our side table got a table runner and this fun little owl. It didn't look festive enough so I randomly scattered a few hearts around and liked it much better.





I have a couple more things in my kitchen but I didn't tidy up in there so no pictures of those.

Monday, January 8, 2018

Stitch Fix #29

Only one month behind in my Stitch Fix box reviews!

This blue shirt was a great color but the top was lace so you could see my bra straps. I didn't feel like always having to wear a sweater with it so this one got sent back.


I was really excited about this long grey cardigan when I saw it. The color was great but the weight of it was a little bit heavier than i was expecting.  Between the heavier weight and the longer length it ended up looking a lot like a bathrobe on me. That is not the quite the look I was going for so I sent this one back.


This dress was cute out of the box and I do love striped dresses (and stripes in general) but it was too tight in the chest so it was an immediate no.


This dress was cute enough when I took it out the the box but I wasn't super enthusiastic about it. After I put it on I still wasn't enthusiastic about it. It was just barely long enough to be work appropriate but it was nothing special so sent it back.


I do like striped clothes (as I mentioned above :) ) so I was happy to see this sweater in the box.  I put it on and the good feelings continued.  I really like the fun detail of the patches on the sleeve in addition to the stripes.  This one I kept and have worn many times.


There have been a few months recently where I ended up not keeping anything in my box but I was happy to find something to I wanted to keep this month.

You can get your own Stitch Fix box here

Thursday, January 4, 2018

Happy New Year

Even though 2017 has come to an end and we are a week into 2018 I wanted to reminisce about our holiday season one more time before moving on to fully embrace 2018.

I spent the few days before Christmas finishing up sewing presents and wrapping presents.  All my shopping was done at least a week before Christmas but I somehow always manage to leave the wrapping to the last minute.  All the wrapping got done!
We spent Christmas Eve with my husbands siblings and their families.  His sister wasn't able to make it but we face-timed her in anyway.  When we hang out with them there is almost always end up playing some sort of game and this year was no exception.


Our niece and sister in law are in the hand bell choir at their church so we took a break from the festivities to go to church and watch them perform. It was nice to go to church on Christmas Eve with them because we don't make it down in time to make it to church with my family.


There is no photo proof of this fact but after church we had a delicious home made meal of Filipino foods and then opened presents.  We all buy presents for our niece and then do a secret Santa among the adults.  My husband and I drew his sister and our sister in law so I decided to make each of them a pair of comfy flannel pajama pants (hence the sewing mentioned earlier).

After we opened presents with my husband's family we hopped in the car and drove the hour down to my parent's house to head to bed.  I bought my sisters, my mom and me matching pajamas so I couldn't resist taking a picture of all of use in our matching glory on Christmas morning. After opening presents and having breakfast we all kind of lounged around for a good chunk of the day.  Played some games, watch some Hallmark movies and some of us (not me) even napped.


At some point during the afternoon we all showered and got dressed to head to my uncle's house with my mom's whole family for Christmas dinner. In my family Christmas dinner always entails prime rib and Yorkshire pudding with a trifle for dessert. Oh yeah and some sort of ice cream pie/cake for my birthday.  Since my birthday is Christmas day there is always singing too.  This year my birthday kind of just came and passed without too much fanfare so that was kind of meh but kind of happens when your birthday is Christmas.


We slept at my parents house on Christmas night and slept in a bit the next morning before heading into town to meet up with some of my high school girlfriends and their kids/husbands for brunch. After brunch we made our way back home and luckily there was very little traffic so it only took us just over an hour.

By the time we got to New Year's my husband and I decided we wanted to just have a nice quiet night in to welcome the new year.  I went out and bought a bunch of fun cheese, meats and crackers/bread to eat and we opened a bottle of red wine.  It was a quiet night but was super relaxing and exactly what we needed.
I am looking forward to all the 2018 has to bring!