Halloween.

Of course we dressed up for Hall-o-ween!

Can you guess who I dressed up as based on this picture...

Did you have enough time?! (Yes, I literally made that burger myself)

Well, that's me.... Bob's BIG BOY


And Joseph dressed up as an Avatar! (I helped him paint his body blue)


We both spent a pretty good amount of time creating our "looks".

We went to our friends Ro's House Party. She looked so gross, in a Halloween kind of way :)

There were people everywhere, most of the people that showed up Ro didn't even know!

This guy was the craziest scariest costume ever. He never said a word or made any kind of facial expression.....creepy!

The party got a little out of hand and we went home.

It was a fun night overall... obviously, I had fun!

Pumpkin Carving.

What's your favorite part about Halloween?

One of mine is Pumpkin Carving. Joseph and I have carved pumpkins every year together since we met. It usually consists of picking out a pumpkin (usually from a pumpkin patch, but this year we opted to go to the grocery store) and then getting together all the supplies we need!

How pretty is my pumpkin? Almost perfect, I thought!

Yucky! Although its fun taking out all the stingy, ooey, gooey insides, they make such a mess!

Joseph loves roasting the pumpkin seeds.

This year we invited Lourdes and her son Mariano over since he has only carved pumpkin once or twice in his life. I guess living in a big city with not many other kids around is the reason.



....And Jessica has NEVER carved a pumpkin before. Can you believe it? I couldn't.

Then there's Joseph who I am pretty sure poses like this with his pumpkin EVERY year :)

Mariano was really getting into it!

As was Jessica. She was really focusing on hers.

Cute, huh?!

We had a really fun time. Lourdes didn't think that Mariano would be that into it, but he had a lot of fun. It was really nice to have special people carving pumpkins with us this year. Happy Halloween :)

Le Pain Quotidien.

So the week that Carolyn and Sophie were here, we went out to eat a lot.... which I love, don't you?!

Anyway, while in Santa Monica, Sophie and I had to find a bathroom. You wouldn't believe how many places did't have a bathroom for customers! So, I saw this little cafe, walked in with Sophie, and said "Let's find mom, I know she's in here", loud enough for the employees to think we were actual customers and ran to the restrooms. Afterwards, I walked around the place and pretty much fell in love.

It's called Le Pain Quotidien, translation: Daily Bread.

Their diplays were just gorgeous. I love bread. I seriously could eat bread all day long. Even when we were in Paris a couple of years ago, if I was hungry I would buy a bagguette and eat it straight from the packaging... no butter, jam... nothing! But of course you can only do that with yummy,crusty french breads.

Look how cute their little pastries are!

I really wanted to eat that cookie, but realized that I should probably eat some real food first!

Cute, right?!

So after shopping, I talked Carolyn into having lunch here.

Their setup is pretty cool with a very long communal table where you sit with other patrons. There are also some small tables surrounding the communal table but the main idea is to sit at the big table and share "your daily bread" with other people.

Carolyn and I split an Open-Faced Salmon Sandwich. The salmon was perfectly smoked and salty. The fresh dill & cucumbers balanced it out so well. I would highly reccomend this place to anyone who comes by it. I LOVE'd it :)

More visitors.

A few weeks after my mom came, Joseph's mom and sister came out to visit too!

In honor of Caitlin's mom, we all got together and did the the Breast Cancer walk.

Despite the rain and chilliness that day (and week) we jogged all the way through!

The only thing keeping me going was the fact that we got to Cafe Chloe afterwards! :)

Joseph took his mom and sister to a bar themed to IOWA to watch the football game.

Somehow, Sophie got in. She was pretty lucky that week. She even got into the Chelsea Lately show. We had to pretend she was eighteen ;)

The same day that we planned to go to see the Chelsea Lately show, we shopped and walked around Santa Monica's Promenade and walked down close enough to the Pier to take a picture too. It was much too cold to actually walk all the way down to the roller coasters though.

Some other things that we did weren't documented so now I forget... But we did go to Searsucker, a new restaurant with a (2) week reservation list downtown San Diego. The Chef, Brian Malarkey was a contestant on Top Chef, which explains all the hype.

We went to celebrate Carolyn's birthday! Although everything was good, I don't think that it would be my first choice in dining, there are better places like Cucina Urbana or Bankers Hill Restaurant (which we went to both that week as well)

We even got a little cake from Extraordinary Desserts! The Viking, which has a layer of chocolate creme brulee and chocolate whipped cream in between dark chocolate cake layers. My favorite!

Joseph's parents bought a table and chairs for our place from West Elm. Totally sweet :)

Oktober.

Do you remember the post where Joseph's mom shipped us these?? Well, if you can't tell what they are or are simply too lazy to click on the link, they are our bikes from home. She sent them about five months ago and I personally just got around to using mine.

I have a fair excuse though!

I didn't know how to use my bike lock or what you are supposed tie it to without having someone steal it. There is seriously something wrong with San Diego when it comes to people stealing bikes. Everyone at my job and Joseph's job have had their bikes stolen while they were at work or at the bar! Crazy....

Anyway. Last month, Joseph, Shannon, and I decided to attend Fat Tire's Second Annual Tour de Fat. We attended last year if you remember this. BUT, this year I actually did the bike ride!

Look at me go!

It was actually a really nice ride through Hillcrest. The weather was perfect, the company was good, and it was nice to have a day off of work!



The same 'ol crazies came out to drink beer, watch funny shows, and relax in Balboa Park. We got kind of sick of sitting around, so we went on a walk around the park and ran into this....



A car had crashed into this other poor car and there was police everywhere!

Yes, the hippie lady was too blame. She had driven over a mile on 6th Avenue after getting off the freeway and hit SEVERAL cars. And even though she wasn't drunk, she was under the influence of narcotics.... she denied it. Maybe she shouldn't be wearing a tie-dye dress..??? Just saying.

Shannon missed all the mess because she wanted to lay and in the sun and look like a rag-a-muffin. Yes, I am pretty sure she made that word up and did look like one :)

September.

Uggggggghhhhhhhh!

I can't believe I have been neglecting you! I have been so insanely busy that I feel like I haven't had a day off or all to myself in months. I was so used to working nights at work and having my mornings free to blog, catch up on my favorite TV shows, and just be.

But now, I work mostly mornings, and after work... I come home... cook... eat... and then sleep :)

So, here is a little update on what I remember from September:

My mom finally came out to visit us! I don't really remember what we did chronologically now since it has been so long, but I do remember all the fun we had.

One cloudy day, we drove up to La Jolla and had lunch at George's. The view was pretty, of course, but it was chilly and cloudy, but still nice all the same. We walked through the cove and just enjoyed the day.

I guess it's a San Diego must, so we ending up going to Hash House for breakfast one morning. It isn't my favorite place in the world, but everyone raves about it and as you can see, the portions are enormous and what makes it so famous.

Another very sunny day, we went to Coronado, walked through the town and through the Del. We were tired so we all laid out on the sand and just closed our eyes. I ended up taking a small nap... I had to work that night so it was kind of a bummer but a nice nap on the beach is most awesome :)

That night, Joseph took my mom to his work, Sushi Deli for dinner. Afterwards, they stopped by my work to have a little dessert. Every time someone is in town, they get used to being spoiled by our amazing desserts at Extraordinary Desserts. My mom lives in Chicago and had heard about us through a co-worker who had been in San Diego. She soon realized how cool my job really is ;)

I took a day off work to go to Universal Studios. My mom used to take my sisters and I a lot when we were younger because we would visit our Grandma in California in the summers. So, Universal Studios has a special place in my heart.

Something I don't remember however, is the cool restaurant/bar next to Universal Studios. I can't remember the name but they have these huge Mai-Tai's and Cotton Candy towers! The manager gave us one for free! I was ecstatic, but I guess not nearly as much as my mom was.... Notice her empty Mai-Tai carafe...

Two of our really good friends Caitlin & Jessica came along with us. We couldn't have asked for two better fitted people for the occasion! We had a blast, obviously.

Aside from taking our daily morning walk, getting our morning coffee, and being on the go, most days we would hang out by the pool and just relax. One night, Lourdes made us an amazing Lobster dinner. We ate it by the fire pit and drank wine all night.

The last night before my mom left, we went to The Ivy Rooftop and enjoyed drinks by taking in the awesome view of the city. My mom really liked it up there. It is a lot of people's favorite place.

The group, atop of the Andaz Hotel. The drinks are so good and cheap for Happy Hour!

We took my mom to Suite & Tender in the Se Hotel for dinner. All of San Diego was running their annual Restaurant Week and we had a Prix Fixe with an appetizer, entree, and dessert included. It was the perfect end to a great week. But a sad night too, because that meant the trip was over.

At least we can look forward to the next time!