Friday Five

:::1:::

I'm not sure I'll ever have long hair again. Short hair has been so much easier to style and keep, and I've been having a lot of fun playing around with different ways to wear it. 

:::2:::

Take this with a grain of salt but it's been a little cold here in LA. We are finally starting to see our first little glimpse of "winter", and I for one couldn't be more thrilled. I straight up refuse to wear sundresses, shorts, and flip flops in January.

:::3::::

 

My in-laws are in town to watch Joel run his 2nd ultra-marathon on Saturday morning. I love hosting people at my house and they're the easiest guests in the world. After Joel's race, we are driving down to San Diego to spend the night with Joel's brother and sister-in-law. And, believe it or not, instead of the Super Bowl we are actually going to The David Cup, a tennis tournament that's being held at Petco Park.

:::4:::

I'm sorry. I hate them. And Justin Bieber.

:::5:::
 Ok - so we've all seen the Budweiser dog/horse love story commercial, right?
But have you seen this New Castle gem?

Perfection.

Have a great weekend.

My thoughts on caring too much.

 

I was scrolling through pintrest and this quote stopped me dead in my tracks.

I've been struggling with this exact.... feeling...for a while now. Maybe even months. 

Probably since I lost my Aunt Peggy.

I feel like I've grown up a lot in the last few years, I've started to understand true love and started to learn how to really love people.

 I'll get off the phone with my sister, and my heart will ache because of how much I love her. I get voicemails from my Grandma that make me cry. I found myself sitting at the Thanksgiving day table with gratitude that hurt.

And my friends....don't even get me started. Moving away has taught me a lot about friends. My best friends in Chicago are cherished gold to me. I wouldn't be able to live without them. And my friends here in California, they became my family. 

But, with all of this, comes such burden. I carry the worries, pitfalls, and issues of about fifty people. And it's exhausting.

My sister called me this week with school problems. She just needed to vent. But, I carry her pain with me for days - long after she stopped caring about them. I want so desperatley to take it away from her that I start to tell myself I wish I didn't care, because I'm powerless.

My mom carries such deep grief after losing her sister and best friend, and I'll never be able to fill that void for her. I'll never be able to fix it.

So, sometimes, I wish I just didn't care.

Not caring means that I don't get hurt. 

Not loving means I'll never feel loss.

And, well, I guess my point is that, true love is really, really scary. 

Dinner Time: Tomato Soup

This is might actually be my most favorite soup recipe I've ever had. It's the perfect amount of sweet, spicy, and creamy - and it's really, really easy to whip up.

The original recipe I used is from here, but I've made some of my own adjustments each time I've made it and I think I've finally perfected it.

The Goods

2 cans of tomato sauce
2 cans of fire roasted tomatoes
1/2 of a yellow onion, chopped (I only had red this time around and it worked just fine!)
1 cup chicken broth
3-4 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 cup chopped carrots
5oz reduced fat cream cheese

2  teaspoons sugar

Salt to taste
6-7 dashed of red pepper flakes
Parmesan cheese to top

Directions

1. Chop veggies. Saute onions, carrots, salt and garlic in olive oil for 5 minutes

2. Add everything else and simmer for 30 minutes. Add salt

3. Ladle the hot soup into a blender and process until smooth. **cover your blender with a towel** 

 

4. Top with Parmesan cheese or pesto - and enjoy!

Weekend Report

My weekend actually started on Thursday with a really fun girls night. Our local benefit (in Santa Monica) hosted an opening party for their blow-dry bar and held a party through Gilt City. We all met up for dinner and wine, and then made our way to the party.

 

The event was sixty dollars a person, and was well worth it. Once we checked in, we were outfitted with cold champagne and a ticket to get our eyebrows and makeup done. There were tons of little snacks throughout the store and since it was an all girls event, the energy was a blast.

We got a $35 credit, so we all walked away with a few new goodies and a packed swag bag. 

For the rest of the weekend, Joel and I laid low. Friday night we grabbed sushi again at The Room and watched a bunch of old episodes of Modern Family. 

On Saturday I had my best run to date this year. I felt great the entire time, and I'm really hoping I can keep the momentum going and keep increasing my distance. I think SoulCycle and my weekly hikes have been helping quicken my pace.

Saturday night we played a few rounds of Scattegories and made one of my favorite dinners - scallops, risotto, and spinach.

Sunday I grabbed a hike with a friend (Hi Kristin!), took an afternoon nap, made a yum - and healthy lasagna and obviously tuned into to the Bachelor wedding. I really liked Sean and Catherine and fingers crossed they make it the long haul.

Have a great week!

Pillow Refresh

When we move to Los Angeles, I kept most of my living room "look" the same. We carried over the same art, pillows, couch, etc.

When we added the dining room table, and funky ikat chairs, I felt like I needed to update some of our couch pillows and bring the two rooms together a little better.

On a whim I went to Marshalls and found four perfect pillows to make the switch.

The gold in the pillows work really well with ikat chairs and make the room feel a little more polished and fresh.

I'd like to add just a few extra gold touches here and there but the $75 dollars in pillows has been the perfect short term fix. 

Dinner Time: Spaghetti Squash Primavera

SkinnyTaste.com is my go-to for easy and healthy recipes and Gina's latest concoction is no different. 

I cook with Spaghetti squash almost once a week. Some of my friends are intimatted by it - or not interested in it - but it's super easy to work with and is the closest pasta-like option you can get for a fraction of the calories.

I used this recipe and made some of my own adjustments

The goods (that I used)

1 small spaghetti squash
1 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup carrots, diced
1 cup broccoli florets
1/2 cup diced zucchini
2 cups tomato basil/marinara sauce
grated Romano

shredded fresh mozzarella

Directions:

1. Pre-heat over to 400 degrees

2. Poke 15 holes in the squash and place in microwave for 6-8 minutes

3. Over medium heat, mix onions, garlic, red onion, celery and carrots - cook for 5 minutes, stirring

 

 4. Add broccoli and zucchini and season with salt and pepper

5. Add the marinara sauce and simmer for 5 minutes

 6. Fork the spagetti squash to create noodles

 7. Add "noodles" to stove top and mix with vegtables

8. Add romano cheese and add salt and pepper

 9. Place in a casserole dish, cover with shredded mozzarella and bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is golden

Enjoy

                       

Weekend Recap

To start off, I have to start with the most exciting news of our weekend.

We booked a trip to Paris, France!

We decided on our honeymoon that we wanted to save up and travel to Europe for our 1 year anniversary. Well, somehow, that date has been quickly approaching. 

We figured it would work perfectly to be in Paris at the end of June/early July, and spend "our day", June 22nd, drinking champagne at the Eiffel Tower. 

Well, Paris in late June was going to cost us $2,200 a person - just to get there - so we scratched that dream and now we are going to celebrate our 11 month anniversary looking at the Eiffel Tower! 

I couldn't care less about what date I'm there, but now that we are going in May, it just means it's that much closer!

We will be spending 7 full days in France (2 days of travel); 4 in Paris, and 3 in Bordeaux. Our time overlaps with the French Open so we are going to spend one full day there. Beyond that - we are open and desperate for recommendations, so if you have them - please share!

Obviously, that was the high point of the weekend! 

On Friday, we met up with friends for sushi in our neighborhood at The Room. It's a new spot, and it is SO good. On Friday we had to wait like 40 minutes, but it's worth every bit of it. After our bomb dinner, we came home and played like sixty rounds of Heads Up. 

It's seriously the best game ever. 

On Saturday, I took a SoulCycle class, Joel ran, and we decided to pick up dinner to grill out. The weather was beautiful and it was way too hot to drink red wine. My bright idea was to make mojitos to pair with our brats and corn salad. 

Yea, well, 4 mojitos each (and a beer), proved to be WAY too much for us. We were so drunk on Saturday night and spent all day Sunday hungover. Whoops!

Friday 5

With the weather being so unseasonably hot, it's hard not to feel like summer has arrived here in LA. The birds are chirping, the summer smells have arrived, and it's way too hot to wear jeans. It's throwing my mind for a major loop, but I'm trying to live like I would if I were vacationing here, and what better way than dining al fresco?

If you're local to LA, Napa Valley Grille in Westwood has the best kale salad ever.

I'm also really trying to #lovewhereyoulive. I had started trying to convince Joel that we should move, and when he asked why, I really couldn't think of a reason. We live ten minutes from the cutest town, I just sometimes forget that it's there and that I can walk to it! I've walked down twice this week and once to visit the farmers market (see? It's adorable!) and I'm looking at it with such fresh perspective.

With all of the hot weather in LA we had a pretty scary forest fire. We live far from the mountains, but on my run yesterday the sky was milky brown and I could actually taste the soot and debris.

Today is Roscoe's 2nd birthday! Roscoe brings so much joy to our lives, I honestly don't know what we would do without him - or what the hell we talked about before him! He is such a loving member of our family and our lives are much richer with him in it. We got very, very lucky just two years ago.



The weekend is starting a little early today with some girlfriends and margs at my favorite Mexican restaurant in Santa Monica, El Cholo. The rest of the weekend is slated to be pretty low-key. I've got SoulCycle and a hike planned, and that's pretty much it. See ya Monday!

And holy shit, this quote really hits home.

These are a few of my LEAST favorite things

I'm going to be honest, life is really really peachy right now. Things seem to be in working order, my head is fresh and clear, and it's been like 80 and sunny every day in January. I'd be an idiot to complain.

But, I'm going to.

I took Roscoe to the dog park and wore flip flops yesterday (and shorts, it was 86) and I almost had to leave in the first 5 minutes. My feet were instantly dirty from the dry mud on the ground and it drove me crazy.  It always has. As a kid, after the beach and in the car home, I would spit in my hands to try and "wash" my feet. It's just one of those things I can't stand.

And so, on the drive home from the park, I started to think of other things I really can't stand. 

waiting for news

 

being late

velvet

 

sitting in the backseat of a car

cucumbers

 

sunburn

the subscription card in magazines

 

milk

mopping floors

when people use their cell phone in your company

dressing room lighting

calories

read, but unresponded texts 

anxiety

 

airplane take-off

 

slow drivers

 

unnecessary facebook status updates

 

slurping

 

jet-lag

itchy clothing

 

alarm clocks

What are yours? Come on - vent.