Easter.

As I looked through my picture folders on the computer, I realized that I hadn't blogged about our Easter dinner! So it's a little over due but this is what our Easter looked like this year...

Joseph and I put together the "Easter Table" with random things we had around the house. Joseph hung the lights from the ceiling and we used his desk as a table. He hand-picked some wild flowers and placed his colored eggs around too.

Caitlin and Theresa brought this BIG cupcake thing. They told me that they had made it. I was super impressed, only to find out later that they had lied. They took it from a party that they had been to earlier... but I guess it was the thought that counted!

Shannon brought this home-made Strawberry Champagne cake. It was awesome, so moist.

A side from making Creme Brulee for dessert, I roasted (2) ducks and seasoned them with salt, pepper, and fresh thyme. I was a little worried that two ducks would be too much in addition to our appetizer, garlic mashed potatoes, and veggies, but it was perfect. We ate everything!

After a few bottles of wine, dinner, and plenty of dessert, we ended the night on a great note. Everyone was full, happy, and grateful to have enjoyed each other's company :)

Save The Date.

After months of planning, designing, and approving various proofs for Erica's Save The Dates, we finally had all the pieces that we needed to assemble them...

The STD's (yes, that's my abbreviation and every time I see it typed out or say it out loud, I have to giggle) were designed and printed by Katie.

The envelope liners were also designed by K.

The envelopes were ordered and printed by Action Envelope.

After hours of cutting, pasting, and adjusting the liners, our work table looked like this:

But after everything was set and sealed, the end product came out like this:

I love them. Great job everyone!

Orfila.

After spending most of the day at the Wild Animal Park, we decided to make a little pit stop before we drove back down to the city and since we had passed a cute little winery on the way up...

We said, "Why not? We are in California after all!"

The little boutique winery was called Orfila. The logo looked familiar to us but knew that we had never bought it before. We didn't take a tour or anything, we were just interested in drinking it!

We bought the Cabernet which was about $20 and walked over to their garden area where you could setup a picnic or barbecue on their grounds. We just sat in the grass and enjoyed the view.


They even let us "borrow" their wine glasses. If you did the $10 tasting you got them for free... so we figured we had spent just as much and took them home :)

It was really fun and now we have more of a motivation to make a trip up to Napa Valley... hopefully soon than later!

San Diego Wild Animal Park.

Last weekend, I had Saturday off so Joseph and I decided to make a trip up to the SD Wild Animal Park. It's a division of the SD Zoo and since we are members, it would be free admission. The 30-minute drive up was beautiful. The scenery was mountainous and all the plants were blossoming (not good for my allergies but luckily I had some Zyrtec in my bag!)

As soon as we entered, we decided it was pretty much the same thing as the zoo, but then quickly realized that the difference was that a lot of the animals get to roam free all around you. Joseph wasted no time being silly!

The picture doesn't do it justice but the scenery that this HUGE bird was in, was really pretty and serene. Wouldn't you love to have this view in your backyard?!


I don't remember the name of this animal but it had the funniest body. It was eating/licking a salt rock thing and almost didn't seem real.

We stumbled upon a rooftop cafe and enjoyed lunch with the view of the back of the park. It was the perfect day. You can see all the people down below and the mountains in the way back.

The elephant exhibit was my favorite. The baby elephant was just recently featured all over the news for it's birth and another had just been born a couple days before.

While walking around I found a little nest of baby duckies, so cute!

With your admission you get to take a free trolley ride within the grounds of certain exhibits that gets you even closer to the animals. Can you see the lion on top of that Range Rover?! There was one laying inside of it too!

They took our picture before we got onto the trolley... maybe as a souvenir for your family in case the animals killed you during the ride... just kidding :)

It's definitely worth a visit for anyone who hasn't been!

Cucina Urbana.

Last week, my friend Caitlin and I were looking for somewhere new to try for our weekly lunch get together. We sat and thought about it for a while and then I remembered that I had been dying to try Cucina Urbana, which is down the street from us in Banker's Hill. We hopped in her car and drove down (we probably should have walked BUT Caitlin doesn't do that).

The decor was so cute. It was kind of a mix of modern meets Anthropologie (the clothing store). It was kind of rustic but warehouse feeling too. I really liked it, and the seating in the window booths were way chic.

We ordered the lunch special that came with a pizza and salad for about $20, which is not bad at all. I ordered a Mango Iced Tea, which was really good and Caitlin had a Pinot Grigio. Everything was amazing.

Since opening Cucina Urbana has been featured in so many magazines across California and it definitely lived up to the hype. I'll be going back very soon :)

Herb-Baked Eggs.

As I raid the refrigerator and try to find ways to use all of our food up (really so we have less to move), I decided to make a French recipe by the Barefoot Contessa that you can find here.... I'm sorry but she's my go-to chef first! Usually if there is something that I can think up, she usually has a recipe for it.

So, with luck I had (4) eggs and most of the fresh ingredients that I needed. I substituted cilantro for parsley and left out the rosemary because mine was dead. But simply put, it certainly hit the spot. Take a look...

I toasted some bread and pretty much just dipped, scooped, and enjoyed. I would recommend this recipe to anyone who loves poached eggs or eggs over easy. I can't wait to make them again for a group of people (Joseph and I shared this larger dish, but you can make it in individual ramekins too!)

Zoo-Ma-Lew.

If you remember this post about the my first San Diego Zoo experience, then you will remember that we didn't wait in the hour line to see the Panda bears and didn't have the chance to see the Polar Bear exhibit because it was still a work in progress...

So, last week Jospeh and I decided to go back since we both had time off (for once) at the same time! We drove the Vespa over to the zoo and had a nice late afternoon stroll.

Since we had the time and it was a weekday, we decided to wait in the shorter line to see the Panda Bear exhibit...

All in all it really wasn't worth the wait. They were cute, don't get me wrong but you had to be super quiet and they had their backs turned the entire time. I don't get why people were crazy about this exhibit. You can barely see the little baby Panda laying in the tree.

Afterwards, we walk to the other end of the park to see the new Polar Bear Plunge exhibit. It wasn't that exciting either... It was cool seeing them right in front of us but like before they just had their backs turned to us. So, we called it a day!

J.Crew: Special Occasions.

Erica is probably going to kill me for posting these pictures of her because she wasn't in the mood to try the dress on but I made her...

We have been working on picking out bridesmaids dresses for her wedding this fall and decided to try J.Crew's Special Occasions dresses. The particular one that she picked out was the Silk Taffeta Bow Monde dress found here.

However, she isn't sold on it.

What do you think?!

Let Me Upgrade.

This week, I can't help but be nervous, anxious, and excited all at the same time. After months of debating our next move (staying within San Diego or moving back to Des Moines) we reached an agreement to stay... on one condition.... that we move to a new apartment, and the only way I was moving was if it was going to be an upgrade from what we have now.

Well, the time has come... we're moving!

The timing just seems right. We're moving into the aloft building further into downtown. The location is much quieter and the amenities make the higher rent so worth it. If you remember our current apartment in this post... then you'll see that we don't currently have a dishwasher, washer/dryer, air conditioning, a work-out room, or a pool/hot tub.... but.... we will this weekend!

I am just hoping that everything goes smoothly. Wish us luck!

The Perfect Roast.

I recently realized that I hadn't been posting anything in regards to cooking! (Probably because I haven't really been cooking... but don't tell anyone!) But, a few weeks back, I cooked one of the simplest and most delicious meals.... Perfect Roast Chicken by one of my favorite chefs ever, Ina Garten a.k.a The Barefoot Contessa.

Isn't your mouth watering right now? Mine is just thinking about it again. It is seriously one of the easiest recipes and the flavors are amazing. To get the recipe, click here. I added the potatoes, celery, carrots, and onion to the bottom of the roasting pan, but feel free to add whatever it is you like. The hardest part about this recipe is waiting for it to finish baking. Your house will small amazing! Bon Appetit!

Oh, I almost forgot that I also made this Lavender Lemonade, inspired by Cafe Chloe. I made simple syrup and while it cooled, I added fresh lavender, then added the Lavender Simple Syrup to water with fresh squeezed lemon juice. So refreshing!

Spring Break: Yacht Style.

Well. it's officially been about a month since our return from this vacation and back to normal life... but... I still wanted to share it because it was so amazing. As most of you know, Joseph's family takes an annual Spring Break trip to the Carribean. I have been lucky enough to have been on six different trips! This year did not disappoint as Joseph's dad rented a private yacht for all of us for a week.

We started our journey on a Thursday morning. Joseph and I flew from California to Chicago (where we met us with his family) and finally down to Puerto Rico. This was the view from the rooftop pool at our hotel, El Convento.

We spent Thursday and Friday night at the hotel. We had amazing dinners at one of the hotels restaurants called El Picoteo. They offered the most amazing tapas from ceviche to lobster empanadas to stuffed mushrooms. Amazing, amazing eats.

On Friday we spent the day at our hotel's sister resort, La Concha. It was a very modern hotel with beautiful architecture and gorgeous views of the sea. We laid by the water, enjoyed cocktails, munched on snacks (duck quesadillas...yummm!), and had an overall relaxing day. The next morning we left for St. Maarten, where we were picking up our yacht.

It was kind of surreal. The crew picked us up from the airport in Escalades and drove us to the harbor where, El Jefe was quietly waiting for us. After exploring the entire boat, learning the rules and guidelines (while sipping bubbly.... and through out the whole trip we went through 6 cases!) we were ready to go!

We all went straight to the top of the boat and enjoyed ourselves as the people on the island and on smaller boats watched us sail by. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't an enjoyable experience... because it was. We felt so cool!

First stop: St. Barth's

I love St.Barth's.... I can't think of a place that I love more. Nothing compares. We spent most of the trip here. It was totally relaxing. We would go to the beach, go into Gustavia to shop, and go out at night as we pleased, all the while the crew waited on us hand and foot.

We even went out on St. Patrick's day and were "seen" by a local newspaper. It was pretty cool.

I guess we were the only one's celebrating an Irish holiday on a French island.


Our boat ride back to the yacht was rainy but the night sky was beautiful.

Later in the trip, we made it over to Saba. It is said to be the best scuba diving in all of the Caribbean. I wouldn't know because I don't scuba! But Joseph and everyone else had a great time. Meanwhile, Joseph's mom and myself toured the island with Richard Gere. It was kind of crazy.

That night we made our way to St. Kitt's. We anchored there for the night... or so we thought.... the sea was so rough that our Captain couldn't sleep and drove us back to St. Barth's, so we woke up there!

We went to La Banane to visit our good friend and hotel owner, Benjamin Fabbri. He is always delighted to see us :) After a few more days of shopping, eating, and enjoying St.Barth's and El Jefe, we made our way back to St.Maarten to end our voyage.

That concludes our 10-Day extravaganza through the Caribbean. We spent Saturday night in St. Maarten and flew our separate ways the next morning!

Promotion.

I'm so sorry it has been SO long. My world has been just busy, busy, busy. So many new things going and both exciting and stressful. However, before Spring Break I got a little bit of good news. Actually, it completely changed my perspective on living in San Diego and my job in general.

I got promoted to Assistant Manager at Extraordinary Desserts with a nice pay increase! I was so excited. I'm still learning a lot and have another month before I'm off of the "probationary period". But, I know I'll do a great job.

Stay tuned, more new and exciting news to come!

Back in Business.

Sorry for the kind of long hiatus, but my computer and Joseph's computers were not working. I am pretty sure mine is fried...literally.

But Joseph's is back and I have plenty of amazing things going on.

Soon to come!