Bocce Shower

On Saturday, Brian and I got to experience our FIRST couples wedding shower. Now, this was a couples shower done right. No games, no gift opening - food, wine, and BOCCE BALL! If you know me, you know I can get a little competitive. Well, I wasn't even going to play because it looked boring and I didn't want to deal with Brian being my own personal coach. It turns out that I rock the bocce court. That's right - I was a bocce baller (ha!).

Cheers to Josh & Kristen and their upcoming wedding and to my new found bocce skills!

SATC 2

I am going to a special screening of SATC2 tomorrow - so excited! Stefania managed to get tickets - wooohooo!

New Bed for Chicken

Since we have hard wood floors in our new digs, Riley's been struggling to find the comfiest place to lay (besides the couch of course). I finally bit the bullet and bought him a nice bed (even splurged to have his name embroidered). It's probably a little bigger than we needed, but so far he's loving it. In fact, he's sleeping next to me on it as I type.

This new bed, which came recommended by the Ellis/Blitzer household, is from L.L. Bean and comes with a free lifetime guarantee. That rocks. If Riley decides to rip it up? I get a new one. If he decides to break the zipper? I get a new one. If the color fades or the stitching comes apart in the wash? I get a new one.
One word: Holler!

2 Years Ago Today....

Two years ago, today....I was dancing the night away with my family, friends and most importantly the love of my life celebrating our marriage.

Today, I got a beautiful bouquet of roses delivered to work - so pretty! Love getting flowers at work. Definitely a benefit of having a week day anniversary.

Looking forward to what year three brings us - love you and happy anniversary, Brian!

Monterey or Bust!

Yesterday, Brian and I shipped off the dog to my parents' house and packed our bags to head down to Monterey for the night to celebrate our 2nd anniversary.

We drove along highway 1 and I got to gaze at the beautiful coastline. We stopped for a couple of hours in Castroville for the Artichoke Festival. We ate some fried artichoke hearts, fresh giant strawberries, and bought some jumbo artichokes to eat this week.

There was an artichoke art exhibit that was pretty cool - we snapped some photos, one right here of this artichoke pelican.
Here we are. It was quite cold. I wish I'd brought a fleece or a sweatshirt or something.

Then it was onto Monterey where we walked along Cannery Row for a while. Brian snapped this photo along our walk. We stopped at Ghiradelli for a yummy Seasalt Caramel Hot Cocoa - mmmmmmmm. We had dinner at The Monterey Fish House which was FABULOUS.

I usually feel bad buying myself little gifts on trips like this, but I couldn't resist this treasure. Found it at a wine store on Cannery Row. The top is open and you can collect your wine bottle corks in it - I love it and I'm tempted to drink multiple bottles of wine tonight by myself just to fill it up with its first few corks.....

Catch Up: Mother's Day

I know this is delayed, but it's never too late to blog about good stuff. Since we're now back "home" in California, we were able to host a Mother's Day brunch for our moms, Brian's grandma, and the other lucky men folk who got off easy by having us host. I kid, I kid. There were 10 of us in all - luckily my new (as of a few weeks ago) tablecloth and napkins still fit the bill for a Mother's Day motif.

We made....

Baked French Toast Casserole

Spinach and Cheddar Frittata

Artichoke and Fontina Frittata

Fruit Salad

Grilled Italian Sausages

Here's the only other photo I took that day - Brian, his grandma, his brother. She was quite pleased with her See's candy Mother's Day gift.
We gave my mom some new flip flops, some See's Candy and a cookbook for her new slow cooker. For Brian's mom, we got her a few kitchen gadgets from William Sonoma and a new recipe box.
On top of all that, I got two gifts for hosting! A pretty PINK scarf from Debbie and a pretty PINK flowering cactus from my mom. Brian took some photos that I found on the camera. This little guy opens and closes its flowers depending on how sunny it is.

Now, what will we do for Father's Day? Maybe I'll leave that one up to Brian ;)

I'm on a Boat

HELP!

Brian and I have an opportunity to buy a 19ft 2005 Bayliner Runabout and we can't decide what to do! It looks like the one above, but that's not a photo of it, just a random one I found on the internet of the same one.

Pros:

Summer weekends spent outside, in the sunshine

Stronger upper body strength from all the skiing, wakeboarding, and kneeboarding

Fun with friends

A good tan

Cons:

More responsibility (and insurance!)

Potential long term storage challenges

Challenging timing with the move, jobs, other priorities

UGH. I want it.

Made or Not?

MARRIAGE REF

I've seen on TV that there is now a show called "The Marriage Ref" where celebrities (as if they have the most exemplary marriages ever???) "referee" arguments or disagreements that married couples are having. THIS is something I would take to that show if I was asked this second.

Today, Brian called me at work to tell me he was heading out to the East Bay to help his friend build a fence and then drive to the A's stadium early for good parking before the game. Out of guilt (since I was slaving away at work, perhaps?) or some other feeling of obligation, he then starting rattling off all the things he'd done today around the house....one of which was "I even made the bed!".

My dear blog readers, please assess the photo below and help me understand why my loving husband thinks this bed is made?:

Now, just for the purpose of this blog, when I came home to the above bed, I actually DID make the bed. Here is that photo:
Is this one of those "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" things or am I just a crazy wife?

P.S. Please place your bets on how long it will take Brian to see this blog and comment on it...

Fabulous Find

I was perusing one of my new favorite blogs, http://www.younghouselove.com/, today and found an advertisement for Lisa Leonard Designs - custom jewelry. Such pretty necklaces and other treats! Love the designs, the look, the colors, the style. Check out the site and see for yourself: http://www.lisaleonardonline.com/

To buy or not to buy? One of my particular faves - the vintage frame necklaces in this photo above.