What I'm Doing Right

When it comes to living a healthful life, there are plenty of things that I do wrong (+1 glass of wine, too many bagels, not stretching, etc.) - but rather on focus on the negative I'm trying to reward and reinforce what I'm doing right.

1. Healthy breakfast everyday: This girl doesn't ever miss a meal - and especically never breakfast. It's by far my most healthy meal of the day. I try to keep it void of any and all carbs, since I pack plenty of those at lunch and dinner. Right now I'm on a green smoothie kick.

If I'm out of enough fruit for a smoothie, I'll typically have oatmeal with berries or yogurt - with one cup of coffee.

2. H20: I drink far more than the recommended 8 cups a day. I like to drink out of a straw so I keep these two bottles ready for action! I also try to keep a pitcher of water infused with lime and I'm borderline obsessed with La Croix.

3. Exercise: If I'm having a good week, I will break a sweat about 4 times a week. Since I don't have a gym in California yet, I've had to get creative. Runs, hikes, power walks, free yoga classes, and bike rides have helped keep me busy and active. I've been working out pretty regularly since I was a junior in high school, and I feel so much better at the end of the day if I can sneak it in.

4. Sleep: I'm an early bird. Early to bed (10pm) and early to rise (6am). I love having a slow morning.

 5. Relaxing: You gotta keep yourself relaxed and calm to live a healthy life and I've never slacked on this one! I know if I need a mental health day, or need some pampering, a glass bottle of wine, or just a bath and a book.

 

6. Dinner's at home: We try to eat dinner at home (on a good week) 4 times. I pretty much figure that no matter what I make it's healthier and lower calorie than anything you could order from a restaurant. I like having control of what I cook my fish in, and how much dressing goes on my salad.

7. Reading: They say if you do crossword puzzles or mind games and keep actively reading at a young age you can prevent Alzheimer's in your life.

My current read

 8. Blogs/Magazines: I love learning about the latest in health and fitness so everyday I keep up with the following sites that give me new reciepes, different workouts, and other tips to try in order to stay healthy.

• Fitsugar.com
• Hungrymeetshealthy.com
• Skinnytaste.com
• Tinybuddha.com

9. Walking: Mr. Roscoe is sure helping me get my 2,000 steps in a day, even though he absolutely hates going for walks.

10. Fish Oil: I freeze my fish oil which really helps keep the after taste at bay - but I try and take 2 frozen pills with breakfast.

There are plenty of areas that I can make some improvements on (this list is long, really), but I enjoy focusing on good health, and I've learned this past year that if you don't have your health you really, really don't have anything.

House Needs

We've got the house basically in working order, but there's a few more purchases & projects that I would really like to complete before I go back to work.

I'm going to pick up the World Market desk in the next day, and that will make it's home in our second bedroom/my office. I love the look of the white lacquer, and I think it's equal parts girly and classic. I'll need a pretty silver lamp for it and a glass jar of pretty flowers. For the time being I'm going to keep my gross black office chair but once I find a comfortable and more stylish option, I'll swap it out.

The other project that I'm insisting I finish is the kitchen chalkboard. There is a long, narrow space in my kitchen that is screaming for a chalkboard and I know if I keep waiting, I'll never get that project done.

For the skyline picture, it's a matter of ordering a print to be framed behind our dining table - which I think will be a nice homage to home. And the headboard table is going to take a little more convincing on my part, since Joel doesn't see the need for a headboard. But, what do boys know?

Life with a Puppy

Almost instantly little Roscoe had both Joel and I wrapped around his puffy paws. And while he warms up to his new house and surrondings, Joel and I are trying to understand how to be parents to a puppy. We're trying to get him on a schedule, and so far it has been too bad.

We're trying to push for him to sleep at least 7 hours straight without having to get up or howl, and last night was almost an A+. Joel took him outside one last time at 10:45, and then  put him in his crate. After 5 minutes of howling, he fell asleep until 5:45am when he woke us up with some of his whining. His second night home he peed in his crate. The vet recommended we put up a puppy wall and pull away his water bowl at 6, so that may have helped him as well.

As soon as we get outside, he will always pee - and if he is going to go #2....it'll be within the first 10 minutes of being outside. He's only had a handful of accidents in the house, but he needs to be let out every 2 hours if possible.

He's very happy with bones and squeaky toys, and really doesn't like to be out of my sight for too long. For this week, I'll be home with him all day everyday, but next week when I start work, things are going to get a bit more interesting. We are interviewing dog walkers today (....which is weird), but we are hoping to only need their services twice a week at most, since their going rate out here is $25....for a half hour!

We're pretty clueless, so if you have any tricks of the trade, or good ideas for a new puppy we would really appreciate it!

Big!

Long weekends always have a way of making me long for a detoxing and relaxing Monday - and this one especially has gotten the best of me!

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Since Joel was off for Good Friday, we drove down to San Diego to visit with his brother Andrew and fiance Corie. They gave us such a great tour of their city - and I really liked the mini downtown's that San Diego has to offer. After Good Friday mass we had happy hour in old town, walked in mission city, and had dinner in little Italy. It was so nice to spend a full day with family.

Then...on our way home from San Diego...things got a little crazy.

To fill you in - when Joel got the job out here in California, I told him that if I moved across the country, I really wanted to get a puppy. You can read a little bit about it here as well. We only looked at apartments that allowed dogs, and the apartment we finally settled in allowed dogs with "management approval". So, about 4 weeks ago, we submitted a request to bring home a cockapoo. We had to agree on a breed, and since they are a good size, non-shedding, friendly dog, we figured we couldn't go wrong. On Friday, we spoke to our management company and they told us that we could go ahead with a cockapoo - music to my ears!

I had been in touch with a family in Long Beach (1/2 way between San Diego and Los Angeles) and I asked them if we could meet their puppy Saturday afternoon. When we got there, we instantly fell in love with their dog "popcorn", and scooped him and took him to our house within ten minutes.

We made a pitstop at Petco and our lives have been forever changed.

 

We feel like 1st time parents, and are still trying to figure out how the heck we're going to do this - but look at his face! It's hard not to be in love with our new puppy Roscoe (which was the street we lived on in Chicago).

Plus, even though we got this new puppy, we still had to host Easter! We had 12 people over, and it took quite a bit of prep work but it was such a success.

I was pretty bad about having my camera out, but here are a few of the shots I was able to take.

The casserole and loaves of bread were absolutely delicious. Both recipes are found here.

 

It was quite the weekend, and needless to say, I'm exhausted.....but Roscoe sure is not!

Hosting Easter

Since I'm not able to travel back home to spend Easter with family, I decided that I wanted to host an Easter brunch for some of our new friends.

We're going to have about 8 people on Easter morning, and not only is it the 1st holiday I've ever hosted, but it's the first brunch I've ever hosted as well!

We don't have seating for everyone, so I'm going to keep it super casual and go buffet style.

We're also going to use paper plates from Target, which I got in two different designs, similar to the picture. It'll make life so much easier, and hopefully encourage the laid back vibe.

For drinks, I'm going to set up a little bar station with bottomless mimosa's, beer, and pink lemon-aid.

 

After scouring pintrest, I've decided on the following for our menu.

Fruit Skewers 

 

Mini bagels & lox

  

Egg Casserole

Blueberry Banana bread

Cookies & Candy

I'm also planing to get a few fresh flower bouqets, and make a similar sign to hang behind our dining room table.

Hopefully the weather will be beautiful and our friends will all have a wonderful time. 

I'll be back on Monday with a full report!

shopping haul

I've been on a clothes shopping hiatus since the new year and now that I'm in a new state and have a new job, it's time for a closet refresher.

I went to Westfield Century City mall today and picked up a few goodies.

Most notably, I snagged another pair of the Julianne wedge from Tory Burch. I have the black pair (with a silver medallion) and I find them to be a lot more comfortable than the flats. Plus, the wedge is pretty low so they work well with jeans and trousers. 

H&M for me is always very hot or very cold. Their selection didn't blow me away today but I fall in love with their paisley summer dress, The fabric is a light, jersey knit cotton and I love the way the bottom of the dress pleats. Kind of like the wedges, I plan on wearing this with a cardigan for work or over a bathing suit for play. It's available online for $17.95 here. 

I'm tempted to go back tomorrow and get the pink one!

 I love Gap pants for work so I had to restock on a slim cropped pair for $50. Then, lastly, I found an Eight Sixty blouse on sale. The print is super fun and I love that the back of the shirt is just a weensy bit longer than the front - semi mullet! I'm planning to wear it with white pants for Easter brunch.

Found here in a different print

I still need a few more light blouses and a new pair of trouser jeans so I'll be spending my last week unemployed popping in and out of shops - which isn't too tough for me!

WILW

• I'm loving California. There are negatives (like the excessive amount of time I spend in a car)....but, what I love is: 
• the days feel longer
• the sun is always shining
• the birds are always chriping
• the vibe is less stressful
• a free week of yoga
• my picturesque neighborhood
• new friends
• traveling the state
• seeing the ocean 

• I am loving that my day includes hot yoga and shopping

• I am loving that we have family in California. Even though we don't have a lot, it's nice to have a few - makes me less homesick.

• I am loving adding spinach to my morning smoothies. It's completely unnoticeable, and gives me a serving of veggies that I typically wouldn't get at breakfast.  

• I am loving that I've been getting my fill of morning TV shows. 

• I am loving that we are heading down to San Diego on Friday to visit Joel's brother and future SIL.

Book Talk

Aside from the Hunger Games, I really only like to watch and/or read things that make me happy. Quite frankly, I try to live by this mantra:

Maybe some people think that's a wee bit naive and even ignorant - but that's okay with me. There is absolutely no point for me to add additional fear, anxiety, or sadness to my life. Especially when I'm doing things like reading and watching movies or tv, because that time for me is all about relaxation!

If you are in the same kind of boat and like to read beach reads all year round, I just finished up a really easy and funny book that I wanted to share.

It's a few years dated, but it aims to please! *Plus, I love the main character's name...Frede ("freddy") Isn't that fabu.

Enjoy!

Santa Barbara

Saturday morning was my 5 year anniversary with Joel and in lieu of gifts, we decided to drive up to Santa Barbara, have a private wine tasting, and stay at a B&B.

The drive up is about 2 hours, but our tasting was an additional 30 miles north of Santa Barbara. You end up losing track of time on the drive because the views off the highway are like nothing in this world. You've got waves crashing to your left and gorgeous mountain ranges everywhere else. The weather was a little gray and misty, but it didn't interfere with any part of the day.

 

We had a private tasting reserved at noon at Fess Parker Winery. It's on a beautiful plot of land, and when you walk into their main room, your greeted with lots of wood, burning fire places, crackers and wine! When we checked in the receptionist was giving us all kinds of weird looks. She got us a glass of wine and told us to wait for a few minutes. The manager came to meet us after a while, and explained that there had been some kind of mix up. Fess Parker's son, Eli, opened a private label called Epihany, and today was their opening event - the tasting room was being used for the private party.

They felt so bad, didn't know what to do, and then got the brilliant idea to just invite us into the private event. We met Eli, the head wine maker, and a bunch of locals at the wine party of the year! We were served all of the new Epiphany wines, dined on yummy appetizers and cupcakes, and had an all around amazing time.

We were so impressed with the way Fess Parker handled the mix-up and we can't wait to visit our new friends again in May.


 After the fabulous party, we drove into downtown Santa Barbara and checked into our little tree house B&B.

 

We walked to the harbor and indulged in a cup of the clam chowder soup at the famous Brophy's.

Then, after a much needed nap we headed downtown and strolled along State Street. We had an amazing dinner at Arigato. Our waitress recommended the best Pinot Noir I've ever tasted and the sushi was so fresh. Bonus points for a gelato shop that was right across the street!

 

 

 

We slept in Sunday morning and slowly made our way back to State Street. I could have hung out in downtown Santa Barbara for a full week - It's one of the greatest cities I've ever been too and I could've easily moved right in.

Have you ever seen a more quaint Macy's?!

It was a fantastic weekend getaway and a city we'll be visiting again soon.