For the Love of San Diego

I just felt like reminiscing on a happy a time in my life and adding a few photos to remember being with my best friend in San Diego and dreaming of when I'll be able to go back. 
 
September 12 to 26, 2012 Trip to San Diego to visit my best friend.

My best friend and I getting ready for an evening out.

Her quaint apartment complex

Week 1:

Breakfast, egg scramble with sundried tomatoes, crushed red peppers, and cumin.

* 13th Beach Day + 4 mile run along the beach
* 13th Walk to Sprouts
* 14-16 SFLX - San Francisco Lindy Exchange

pre-dance primping

* 15th Castro Coffee Company {delicious coffee & good humored service}
* 16th Shopping day in San Francisco

We saw this shirt at a consignment shop and both tried it on as you can see I ended up with up and am so thankful, I LOVE this shirt!  Its become my most favorite shirt and I wish I had a few more like it for dancing.

A art print that I was interested in at a local shop.  

A Ferris Wheel at a shopping mall in LA.

* 16th Dinner with Angela at a Thai Restaurant
* 17th Brunch and Coffee with Michelle's Uncle
* 17th Danced at the Madonna Inn in S.L.O.
* 18th Alma Rosa Vineyard - Winery

These were my two of my preferred wines at Alma Rosa.

* 18th Solvang town & Brewing Company

The whole town looked just like these buildings.  Very quaint and very touristy.

I very much wanted to take this purse home, but even at 50% off it was still a $60 purse in a touristy town, which meant I knew it was overpriced anyways.  Though i still think about this purse and the beautiful Kelly green.

Their sampling mat.  We each chose 3 samples; my first choice, Seasonal Fruit Harvest, was a favorite among the group.

Week 2:

Old Fashioned Organic Oatmeal w strawberries, cinnamon, brown sugar, & apples.

* 19th Danced at the Firehouse, San Diego
* 19th Walked to Sprouts
* 20th Carl took me out dancing at 2 venues
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* 21 - 23rd Ultimate Blues Dance Weekend - Festival
* 21st 4 mile run downtown Hillcrest
* 21st dinner at Fig Tree Cafe
* 21st dinner after the dance {Japanese Restaurant}
* 22nd PB Farmers market & Blue's Festival

Really delicious avocado honey at Pacific Beach Farmers Market

* 23rd Yoga on the Beach + movie night
* 24th 4 mile run downtown Hillcrest
* 24th Movie {Lucky One} & Dinner with Telly & Turquoise
* 24th CD release party
* 25th Lunch with Michelle & Telly. Walk to Balboa park with Telly

Dinner at Philly Cheese Steak restaurant.
* Danced at Henry's Pub to the Stilettos

2013-01-13 Paleo Delights

2 Eggs Over Easy & Bacon with fresh pineapple

Very yummy and easy to make a few nights before. I love eggs for that reason. I got out my large griddle and filled it with bacon and then got out my Whiskie Egg Ring and cracked one egg, then once it was settled enough I removed the ring  and continued the process until I had 6 eggs cooking. I really need to buy another Egg Ring mo I can cook a couple of eggs at once.

Gingered Carrots with Mahi Mahi by Everyday Paleo

The Mahi Mahi was about $8.99 a pound and was glad This recipe was pretty easy and pretty tasty.  Though I waited to long to cook the fish and then I didn't take the skin off after I cooked it, so I had to remember to remove the skin before eating otherwise the taste of the skin overpowered the yummy taste of the fish.  The carrots were very tasty.  

2013-01-09 Christmas turned makeover

We've been wanting to move the Sectional in the Living Room for a few days now, because it sits right over one of our main vents and it's been super chilly in their lately and thought it we moved it the warm air would be able to circulate in the room better

I had thought it would be a quick process, however, it took several hours and turned into a Makeover for my Living and Dining Room.  It looks totally different and even with more furniture in the room I had room to set up a dining table again. I also didn't take any before photos, because I wasn't expecting to do a complete makeover.

The Living Room

I took some new photos Wednesday morning so I could use natural lighting, but wished I would have left the curtains closed, for a better look.  Though not sure how much light would have flooded in with the curtains closed either.

Previously, the sectional was an "L" shape against the wall along my dining table you see there perched up against the wall. I'm trying to sell the Dining Room table only becasue it's to small for my space so hopefully it wont be propped up against the wall to much longer.  next to the orange vacuum.  The TV was in between the windows and Bain's doggy bed is still in the same location {it's the shiny white puff you see at the end of the sectional.}  The Yellow circle bin is for Bain's toys and the box to the left  is my new pile to donate.

I'm very thrilled {minus the glare on the art} at how well this photo came out.  You can see my favorite piece, the sewing chair, and my rattan star-burst mirror that I scored at a Salvation Army a month or so back for $15.   The clock is from ModCloth.com, however, it's no longer available.

I loved how simple and clutter free my entry way is again.  I found a matching pair of round mcm end tables at our local thrift store at a 50% off day so they were only $2.50, along with the mcm style table lamp for $4.  The chicken I found at TJ MAXX, I'm not really a fan, but I thought it was really cute.  And I especially love my milk glass vase that I use to put stash my keys.    You can only see Bain's toy bin clear and bed. 

The Dining Room

I did take a few photos of the dining room, but most of them didn't come out, so I'll have to try taking some new shots. Maybe this weekend when I can have some natural light and add them to the post.

Here are a few shots that came out nicely.  The other's were just to dark and grainy. 

Here are a few  accessories I have ontop of my table and some cookbooks and recipe box that I have on one of my bookshelves.

I also moved Bain's doggy bowl and food to the dining since the kitchen is a bit cramped.  Now I can have all of his food and treats on one shelf.  This makes it very convenient.

I have a few modifications that I want to make to the room and maybe even swap out our tall IKEA Wardrobe for this IKEA Hack Project.

Here are some before photos of a previous layout change I did a month or so prior.

Living Room Before

The bookshelf was moved into the dining room on the right of the mirror, however, I wished I would have put it on the left side.  We use that shelf more often and it's a bit tight between the table and elliptical now.   Though I do hope to eliminate the bookshelves at some point for some open shelving

Green Chevron Love & Christmas Wrap Up

I've been needing to take down our Christmas Tree and what few decorations we had up and I'm finally glad to have it clear out, especially since it sparked a makeover in my Living and Dining Room. 

Here is what I started with to take down.

I started out taking down the ornaments from the tree, then the beads/garland and then tucked the faux tree back in it's neat little box and it's now put away in our still needs to be organized  basement and then I began to vacuum the living space before making a move for the sectional.  The original thought was just to move it away from the wall a few more inches, but then decided to make a whole new layout for the living room, which I'm quite delighted with.

Merry Christmas to Me
Also, here is the beautiful Chevron Wool Jacket my best friend ordered for me from Poshmark.  I love it!  Though the hip area is a bit snug, but still very much wearable.  

2013-01-06 Paleo Delights & My New Planner

This month hasn’t been very purposeless in my planning out for the blog, so I apologize for not getting this post out on time. I took some time this Monday {7th} to write out a little schedule now that I have this pretty 2013 8x10 planner {image below} that I purchased from Target Sunday {01/6/13}. It was a bit more then I wanted to spend, but it’s really pretty and large enough to use it for cleaning, blog posts, budget and my personal schedule.

How pretty is my new planner.

I love how pretty the interior is as well, but it's still functional.  I'm going to use the monthly for noting my blog post and when my bills are due and I like that I can plan my personal & cleaning schedule on the weekly pages.  

Scrumptious Pineapple Scramble by Whole Family Strong

I was pretty surprised at how much I loved this breakfast, because I'll tell you I was a bit leery about the combined ingredients.  Plus, it was super easy and convenient since I can make a few days in advance.  It didn't take long to cook, maybe 10 minutes and while the egg scrambled cooked I chopped up fresh pineapple.  This was my first attempt at cutting a fresh pineapple, needless to say I was a bit intimidated by it, but it wasn't as difficult as I was expecting and it really made a difference in taste having fresh over canned.  I'm pretty sure I'll pass on the canned stuff now that I've tasted fresh.  Once I had about 2 days of breakfast ready I added them to my breakfast Tupperware, which has that has a small section divided off perfect for the pineapple so I didn't have eggs soggy.   I will definitely be making this again for breakfast. 

The Kitchen Sink Salad  by Everyday Paleo

There's no photo, because I actually forgot to take one, but you can check out what it looks like from Everyday Paleo.  I chose this recipe to use up some of the vegetables I had leftover from the previous week and then purchased some red cabbage.  The only thing I didn't use was the mustard, since I couldn't find mine and ended up using my lemon poppy salad dressing.  I very much enjoyed this salad and would make it again for a quick and easy lunch. 

Salmon Patties by my mom and steamed sliced carrots + mandarin orange

This was just a basic salmon patty recipe my mom put together, which didn't really include anything crazy, since my mom is pretty bland in her cooking and sliced carrots that I used a Ziplock Steamer Bag for microwave steaming and a mandarin orange.  It was tasty and I actually really loved how tasty plain steamed sliced carrots are.

2013-01-02 Replace the faucet Sprayer

We've been living with a defective sprayer for the last month, maybe two months now, but have been a bit hesitant to purchase another one. The push bottom was stuck on the sprayer and wouldn't swap over to the sink and it's been a huge pain to do anything at the sink. During these last few months we had our contractor friend look at it while he was working on a few other items and after a few wackes on the side of the sink the button released, however, within a day or two it was stuck again.

I found this video on How to install a kitchen sprayer very helpful and less intimidating then some other ones I watched.  Although, it was still wasn't as easy as they made it since I had so many obstructions to work around under my sink. We have a garbage disposal and our hot water comes out the back of the cabinet and then connects to another tube to our hot water so it was a bit of a hassle to get around them since the blue tube wasn't budging.

After about 30 minutes I successful installed my Christmas sprayer and it looks much nicer then our generic sprayer and we're looking forward to using our faucet and water filter again.