Best Weekend Ever: IV

I really like camping. Actually....I don't really know if I like camping....but I DO know that I like to roast marshmallows.

We didn't do a ton of camping as kids, so I never really experienced the whole marshmallow roasting thing. I tried to roast them in the fireplace, but we used those fire-starter logs and I think my parents were concerned about ingesting the chemicals in the log.

I have this theory. Anything you were "deprived" of as a child, causes major addictions as an adult. I'm the same way with Disneyland (I wasn't deprived....I just went a bit later than most of my non-addicted friends).

When we go camping, I typically roast everyone's marshmallows for them. I don't understand why they don't want to roast their own....but I'm not going to challenge them. After all, it's the best part of camping.

So you can imagine my excitement when I learned that we could have a bonfire on the beach in Cabo. And we could roast marshmallows!

Did you know that you can buy ginormous marshmallows in Mexico. They were about as big as my fist. In hindsight....not such a good idea. They never really get soft in the center....I'm sure I could go back and calculate the proper temperature for roasting such a behemoth....but that would have been lame at the time.

And did you know that "graham crackers" in Mexico taste more like Ritz crackers. While surprising, it was actually kind of nice to have something break up all the sweetness (not sweetness as in cool, but sweetness as in too much sugar....nothing was going to break up the coolness of this party).

Here...an example of my awesome modeling skills....you can see just how big those marshmallows really were.

And out bonfire. It started out kinda slow...then they started flicking all this fire starter stuff on it and it really grew.

And here I am. Roasting to my hearts content.

My buddy, Adam. Enjoying the fire.

And then everyone joined in. Get a load of Chris. He's got the double-roaster going on. Nice one! Thanks, Dad. Twas a fun little party.

Sleigh Ride

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs.

We played it in band during high school.

The best part is when they start doing the syncopated rhythm, and the horse whinny at the end.

Winning and losing

Ever notice an interesting thing about winning and losing?

If you spend your day at a game - say football. Let's say your team wins. It was all worth it.

If your team loses. It was a waste of time.

At least, that's usually how I feel.

Good thing the Huskies won yesterday.

Victory!

Sporting our new Locker jerseys, Nick and I were headed to the UW vs. Cal game.

The first half was quick but BORING! Nothing happened. Seriously. Then Cal got an extra second on the board and miraculously scored a 53 yd field goal. WTF?!

Then it rained and hailed. And it sucked. And we were cold.

But then, Locker started running the ball and we all learned that Sarkisian has some massive cajones! Best ending ever. And our seats were prime for the win! Then the team came over and celebrated with the fans. Awesome. Awesome. GO DAWGS!

The win makes the whole thing worth it. I'd sit in the rain and hail again, in a bikini - just to watch that play again.

Thanksgiving 2010

The 4th anniversary of the best Thanksgiving ever occurred this past Thursday.

Spatchcocked the turkey again.....cooked in about 2 hrs.

The table - all set with the new dishes and glasses!

The feast. Truly a feast.

Letting the food settle before round 3.

Black Friday

My friend, Caresse, is the best bargain shopper I've ever met. Her favorite thing to ask is, "guess how much I paid for this." She will undoubtedly blow you away by how little she spent in it.

As a result, black friday is one of her favorite days of the year. And her incredible enthusiasm has pulled me in. I find myself getting up at an ungodly hour to join her.

By the time you read this, I'll probably be back. Taking a nap.

Give Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm a pretty lucky girl and I've had a pretty good year.

I'm thankful all of my wonderful friends and family - especially those that were able to make the trip out to Cabo earlier this month. Having a wedding and having people show up is a pretty humbling experience. You realize just how loved you really are. So...thanks!

And because I can't end this post on a mushy note....I'm also incredibly thankful for the turkey brining away in the garage, the cream cheese potatoes chilling in the fridge and my frozen pumpkin ice cream sitting in the freezer. Leftovers are the best!

Pumpkin Ice Cream

We got a kitchen aid ice cream maker as a gift. So naturally, I needed to test it out. And since it's not snowing here in California, it seemed like a perfect addition to our Thanksgiving feast.

I decided that pumpkin ice cream would be fitting.

I became slightly concerned after reading a few recipes. Lots of heavy cream and eggs. I already know what makes thanksgiving delicious. Butter. So I wanted to see if I could lighten it, just a bit. I followed a William Sonoma recipe but changed a few things to make it a little less bad for you.

You make the "batter" the day before and keep it chilled. When you're ready, you pour it into the ice cream maker and let it go!

After 20ish minutes, you get ice cream! Pumpkin ice cream!

Nick liked it. It literally tasted like frozen pumpkin pie filling.

Whoever said blogging doesn't pay?

Ever heard of shutterfly? It's a site that lets you turn photos into cards, calendars, invitations, mugs and even mouse pads. Because everyone needs a mouse pad with their favorite pet on it!

We (and by we, I mean me....Nick just happens to appear in the photo) started sending out Christmas cards once we got Moch. Seemed like a good time to start. And who doesn't LOVE getting a little REAL mail during the holidays.

I'd been getting my cards at costco until last year. I decided I didn't like the designs and they were getting kinda big. So I designed my own. They looked cool but it was a HUGE pain in the rear.

I was still debating what to do this year, when I stumbled upon this shutterfly promo. Blog about shutterfly Christmas photo cards and get 50 free cards. What?! I've been blogging everyday since January 1st and it's about time this blogging thing paid off! :-)

I went to the shutterfly site and was actually pretty impressed with their designs. I picked out a few of my favorite Christmas photo cards.

I like cards where you can put multiple photos. I can never pick just one photo.

This one reminds me of Cabo :-)

This card allows you to put 3 different sized/oriented photos. I think it breaks up the space nicely.

This card is just too adorable. And it works if you want to actually write a note to the people you are sending it to.

And here is one that allows you to put a "letter" to your friends. Let them know what happened during the past year. I learned quite a bit about Annie and Justin in the card below.

This one is super cute.....but I don't think I have a picture where we are offset on the right.

This is my absolute favorite. If I can find a good picture, we're using this.

This started out as a way to get free photos. But in the end, I learned that shutterfly has some pretty nice designs and I'll definitely return in the future!

Pumpkin Bars

I love the holidays because the food is soooooo good!

This is a recipe for Pumpkin Bars with Brown Butter Frosting from my friend Lisa.

Bar Ingredients:

1 1/2		cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4		cups sugar
2		teaspoons baking powder
2		teaspoons ground cinnamon
1		teaspoon baking soda
1/2		teaspoon ground ginger
3/4		cup Butter, melted
1		(15-ounce) can pumpkin
3		eggs

Frosting Ingredients:

1/2		cup Butter
4		cups powdered sugar
1		teaspoon vanilla
1/4		to 1/3 cup milk
		Ground cinnamon, if desired

Heat oven to 350°F. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, baking soda and ginger in large bowl. Stir in 3/4 cup butter, pumpkin and eggs; mix well.

Spread batter into ungreased 15x10x1-inch jelly-roll pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.

Meanwhile, melt 1/2 cup butter in 1-quart saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly and watching closely, until butter just starts to turn golden brown (3 to 5 minutes). Immediately remove from heat. Pour into medium bowl; cool 5 minutes.

Add powdered sugar and vanilla to butter mixture; mix well. Stir in enough milk for desired frosting consistency. Spread frosting over cooled bars. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon, if desired. Cut into bars.

Genius my A$$

Update.

So I go to the Apple Store. Grudgingly. But at this point, there's no turning back.

The apple store was CROWDED. And of course, the software is in the back. So I push my way to the back and am greeted by one of Apple's so-called geniuses. Here's the conversation that ensued:

"Genius": Can I help you?

B: Yes, I need to upgrade to snow leopard so I can install the iLife I bought yesterday.

"Genius": What OS do you have right now?

B: I have Leopard, I think.

"Genius": Then you should be able to run the new iLife.

B: When I installed iLife, it said I needed 10.6.3

"Genius": What do you have now?

B: 10.5.something

"Genius": Hmmm....let me see, I'm not sure what that is.

B: ***tapping foot****waiting for genius to figure it out

"Genius": Did you have Tiger or Snow Leopard?

B: I think I just had Leopard.

"Genius": Snow Leopard?

B: I don't know, I think just Leopard.

"Genius": ***starts typing into iPad****because everything can be solved with an iPad (rolls eyes)

"Genius": If you have Tiger, you'll need to buy "this" and it costs $179. But if you just need to upgrade, it'll only be "this" and it only costs $29.

B: Great, which one do I need.

"Genius": Ahhh, it looks like you have snow leopard and need to upgrade. So it looks like you'll be saving a little money.

B: Not really.

"Genius": ***Ignores snarky remark*** Will that be all for you?

B: Yes

"Genius": I can ring you up right here.

B: Great

"Genius": ***Fumble Fumble***

"Genius": Hmm....it's not working (that's what she said? anyone? anyone?)

"Genius": ***The genius then goes off to try 3 other people's swipe-y things. Eventually it works. But let's be real....not really a pillar of technology.

Let's recap. The Apple Genius was also confused about the OS. If the "upgrade" is going to cost me, just rename it. BTW - the Apple website says I have Leopard - sans snow. So Mr. Genius needs to brush up on his software.

And now the new OS is installed and I have iLife. Grrr. I'm happy about it. Damnit!

Eff you, Apple!

So I decided that I wanted to upgrade my Apple iLife software. I wanted to be able to make better movies and websites.

Seems reasonable.

So I go to the Apple website and try to download the upgrade. Then I learn, you have to actually buy a physical CD. WTF?! You can't just download an executable and install?! Microsoft figured it out. We can download all of Office from the internet. No need for a stupid CD.

Fine.

So I go and buy the stupid CD.

I get home.

Download all the upgrades to all the other stupid apple programs (btw....how many iTunes upgrades do we really need?)

Then. It tells me. I don't have the right operating system. It said I needed Mac OS X. I have Mac OS X. Oh. Wait. The fine print 10.6.3. I have 10.5.8. Apparently the difference between the 5 and 6 is HUGE. In fact, it's like the difference between XP and Vista. Except that Microsoft thought it would be useful to give them different names, alleviate confusion. Ironic.

So....know what you have to do to upgrade to 10.6? Go buy an effing DVD from the Apple store! UGH! I'm very upset with Apple right now.

Tissue Paper Puffs

I was determined NOT to spend a lot of money on table decorations. Because, let's be real, no one really cares. They'll enjoy themselves equally, regardless of how awesome or not-awesome the centerpiece. NEVERTHLESS....I still compelled to have something.

I saw these lovely puffs in the Martha Stewart Wedding magazine....so I thought I'd give it a try.

I think Martha lied. I actually think they give you bad instructions so that you always feel a little inferior to Martha, herself.

The directions say to stack 8 pieces of 20x30" tissue and fold it like an accordion (See steps below). Then you puff it out. When I did this, they were INCREDIBLY droopy and sparse. I think you need more than 8 sheets. But they were WAY too big for what I wanted anyways. So naturally, I came up with my own scheme.

For 10" diam poms:

6 sheets, 10x25, 0.5" folds

For 8" diam poms:

6 sheets, 8x20, 0.5" folds

For 6" diam poms:

6 sheets, 6x18, 0.5" folds

6 sheets is ok when they are small. The bigger they get, the more sheets you need.

Start out with your sheets of tissue, all stacked up. Then fold them like an accordion.

Tie it off in the middle and snip the ends. I found points to look better than the rounded edges. But that's a personal preference.

Then, this is the slightly tricky part, start separating the sheets. Alternate as much as you can to help make it even.

With the help of some friends, we pre-folded all the poms before heading to Cabo. They all fit inside a 1 gallon ziplock bag. Not too shabby! We tied satin ribbon around the middle and puffed them when we got to Cabo. Nick was thrilled :-)

Here's the finished product. We used them as centerpieces and on the chairs.

Kinda festive. And SUPER cheap.

Wedding dress!

The neighbor girls didn't make it to Cabo, so I figured it was only fitting to let them play dress-up in my wedding dress.

A good time was had by all.

Flashback

Just got back from UCLA. A little recruiting to round out the week.

We headed to the SUB (student union building) for lunch. We're just sitting there, eating lunch....when all of a sudden I recognize this old guy. I can't place him at first. Then I realize. It's Rick Neuheisel! I forgot that he coached the Bruins. Bummer for them.

His hair's a little longer and kinda skeezy looking....but otherwise has the same face. If I had been quicker, I would have snapped a photo. Oh well.

I sent bad thoughts his way. Hoping to help the huskies tonight!

GO DAWGS!

Here are some pics from the hotel. Not too shabby.

Moving sidewalks

I've been in a few airports the past few weeks.

And I've got a bone to pick.

Moving sidewalks.

I like to move fast, and moving sidewalks help me move faster. They help you speed past the slowies at the airport.

But here's my issue. People who stand - and stand in the middle no less! - of the moving sidewalks. Completely able bodied people should walk. It's good for you. If you really have issues walking, stand to the right so I can pass. Europeans are excellent at this concept....not sure why Americans have such issues with it.

Best Weekend Ever: III

The best weekend ever kicked off with a welcome dinner.

But not just any welcome dinner, a welcome dinner that would rival the wedding itself.

Let's go back to August....I'm trying to find a location for a welcome dinner and everything seemed lame. A restaurant that wanted to setup a dinner...blah, blah, blah. I wanted something fun, cool, and different.

After a TON of internet searching, I happened upon Villa Valentina. A super chic interior design store in San Jose. It's family owned and operated and during the fall/winter, they host paella and sangria on the weekends. The space looked awesome from the website and who doesn't love paella and sangria? I hesitantly emailed the contact info on the website.

I heard back from Daniel within a day or 2. Incredibly prompt and professional through all the correspondences. I was sold!

When Nick and I went to Cabo for our "tasting" - we stopped by Villa Valentina. Don't be fooled. It might be next to an abandoned lot, but once inside, the place transforms into its own little oasis.

Here is the view as you enter the villa - back in September.

Here's the area where they were going to serve the paella.

The terrace area, where everyone would eat.

We were sold! We loved the space, we loved the food - and Daniel was stinking adorable!

We went back to CA and continued planning the wedding. And then November came and it was time to head back to Cabo.

Daniel suggested we stop by to make sure everything was up to snuff. I wasn't concerned, but definitely wanted to see what he had in store.

Little did I know. The Villa had literally been transformed. It was beautiful when we saw it in September, but it was gorgeous in November. They fixed everything up! They added a beautiful mural and a cross made from wine bottles. They re-did the serving area upstairs and added a bar and extra lighting and even added a sound system. This was incredible. I was now concerned that the welcome dinner would upstage the wedding. In fact, I was beginning to wish I had just booked the Villa for the wedding.

The mural on the stairs leading up to the terrace and the wine bottle cross.

The newly finished terrace, complete with bar, tables, chairs and a chandelier.

The terrace and courtyard at night.

This is what we were greeted with when we (all 47 of us) got to the villa. This gorgeous courtyard filled with candles. Daniel and his team did an incredible job.

The staff kept everyone's drinks filled! Margaritas, beer and water and some delicious appetizers.

Then we headed upstairs for the main event - the paella and sangria. Outstanding!

Another lovely view of the terrace and the view.

Did I mention the tequila tasting? Daniel suggested 4 good tequilas for us to buy and we had the bartender host a little tasting for all our guests. Towards the end it turned into people taking shots, but hey....when in Cabo.

There were lots of hangovers the next morning - the mark of a good party. One friend said it best, "too much fiesta!"

People raved about the awesome space and the delicious food! They loved that we had the place (almost) to ourselves. We couldn't imagine a better welcome dinner. Daniel was incredible - running around all evening making sure everything was perfect. His adorable parents were also there and taught everyone a little about tequila! It was so much fun and I'm so glad we were able to host our event here. It honestly felt like a little family and I hope that when Nick and I return to Cabo, we have a chance to stop by the Villa for their weekly paella and sangria event!