So behind

I've been terrible at updating (and seriously working) on this blog lately. For the past month or so Logan's sleep has been even worse than normal. He used to wake up every 2-3 hours to eat, but he's had many days recently of waking up every 1-2 hours. Which obviously makes for one tired mommy!

I do have a couple of things to update, but for now here is July's "us" photo. I know it's not an actual photo of Rick and I, but it's from Logan's first trip to the beach (where we actually went on the sand, not just the boardwalk) and it's just so cute I can't resist sharing :)

Ramona Cafe

It's been a while since we've been able to go and try a new restaurant for my blog. In reality it's been pretty hard in general to find the time to work on anything for my blog. Being a Stay at Home mommy is definitely a Full time job. And it's probably one of the hardest, yet most rewarding things I've ever done. Logan is now to the point where we're able to take him out on adventures and know that we can confidently handle him should he start to get fussy. Which is really nice because I'm no longer terrified to take him out to eat. hehe.

So we packed up the diaper bag and made the trek to Ramona to try this little diner we saw on the food networks Triple D. Although I've lived out here my whole life, I've never ventured to Ramona. You almost don't even feel like you're in CA anymore, it feels like a sleepy little country town.

My menu options were pretty limited as I'm still dairy free, so I decided to go with a french dip sandwich and fries, while Rick went with a baja steak salad. Our food was yummy and satisfying (although I would have REALLY liked to try the cinnamon roll--next time) and the service was incredibly friendly. Rick actually forgot his hat inside and the waitress ran after us when we were already outside to give it to us. Very impressive. Although it was a bit of a drive we both felt it was well worth it (glad we didn't listen to the negative yelp reviews). I can definitely see us going back sometime soon so that we can try the fried chicken and cinnamon rolls which is what were featured on Triple D.

June's Us Photo

May's Us Photo

From our 2nd wedding anniversary on May 1st...looking forward to many, many more years with my love <3

#31 Go to a Book Signing

I've heard so much about Jen Lancaster from the girls at the NBC so I decided I had to check her out. Two books later I was hooked (especially after My Fair Lazy--loved that book!). Although I enjoy comedy and humor it actually takes some real effort for me to literally laugh out loud. It's not something that I do easily for some reason (not that I'm an unhappy person, I'm always smiling, I just don't know what it is about me though). But there were actually quiet a few moments in this book that had me LOLing. So when I found out that Jen Lancaster was going to be at a Barnes and Noble in the San Diego area for a book signing and to promote her first novel I knew I had to attend.

I have to admit I was a little nervous. Now that we have a baby it's just not as simple to plan things like this and for it to work out successfully. Just last week we were supposed to attend a concert for my absolute favorite band and it didn't work out. I'm not complaining by any means, this is life as a parent. Your child's needs always come before your own. Anyways though, Rick knew how much I wanted this book signing to work out and was very encouraging that he'd do everything he could to see that it would. We packed Logan up for our adventure and headed on our way. I had to wait in line to get a wrist band for the event but it wasn't too bad. The wait consisted of just waiting for the time that they were handing them out. Once they started I received it in minutes and we were on our way for a bite to eat with my friend Alie.

Once the actual event started Rick took Logan for some man time and Alie and I were able to enjoy the reading and the Q&A. Jen was just hilarious in person! So much so that my friend who had never heard of her decided then and there that she was going to read some of her books. Finally it was time for the actual signing, again the line moved quickly as B&N was very efficient in setting everything up and handled everything extremely well. Rick made his way back with Logan just in time and they were able to get in on the excitement. Jen was so amazingly sweet and we had a quick minute to discus our mutual love for reality tv and the shame rattle. Logan did fantastic the entire time and overall it was just a great family outing. It couldn't have gone any better and I'm so glad we were able to attend. In a way it brought books to life for me, as I've never met an author before. It was just the coolest thing and I'll be on the look out for future book signings to attend :)

Carlsbad Flower Fields

It's been an awfully long time since dh and I have gone on a date that would count towards this blog. A lot of my pregnancy consisted of dates that involved food, and not necessarily trying any new restaurants. Most were cravings for old favorites. And of course having a newborn baby makes for a lot more effort when trying to go out and do anything, including a "quick" trip to Target (no longer does it take 5 minutes to grab our phones and keys and go, now it requires careful planning and packing, well worth it of course).

However dh had spring break a couple weeks ago and we decided to take advantage of his time off from school (crazy how that works, it'll be so nice when his semester is over and the only thing we have to worry about is his work schedule!). We packed up Logan and the diaper bag and headed to the carlsbad flower fields. It was a bit of a drive, much longer than I realized it'd be. Thankfully Logan decided to sleep the whole way.


We arrived at the flower fields and were greeted by a rainbow of bright and happy colors. It was absolutely gorgeous and a fun way to welcome the upcoming Easter weekend. Logan slept almost the entire time, until it was time to go then he woke up for a little snack. Rick and I had a blast looking at all the pretty flowers and posing Logan (in his carseat) to take tons of pictures. I'd love to take Logan back there when he's bigger as they have a lot of fun kid friendly activites, including a flower maze, a little gold rush area, and a playground.

April's Us Photo

From our very first Easter at Grandma and Grandpa's with our little love bunny :)

Slacking

I'm behind on updating this, but I guess having a baby will do that to ya right? :) So here are February and March's "us" photos!



February's Us Photo- Welcome to the world baby Logan!!! How incredible it is to have a piece of our hearts on the outside <3


March's Us Photo

#47 Have professional photos taken of us

I can't think of a better reason to have professional photos taken...

January's Us Photo

#27 Read the Sookie Stackhouse Series

I actually "finished" this series a couple weeks ago but I've been a major slacker when it comes to updating this blog. I'm so glad to be done with it, at least until the next book comes out. Honestly I really enjoyed it at first, but it really is a long series in the sense that there are sooo many books. Yes, they are all short, quick reads. But I honestly found myself getting bored with them after a while. They all follow the exact same pattern and after a while I started to feel more like I was reading them to be able to finish them, then reading them and really enjoying them.

So yes, they were decent and I will probably read the next book in the series...but they are definitely not the type of book that I'd recommend to a friend and say that she just HAS to read them. I'm glad that I'm at least to a point now where I have to wait to read any future books in the series. Maybe these books are best when spaced out over a longer period of time???

#26 Beat my NBC challenge score

In the summer of 2009 I participated in an online seasonal reading challenge. Basically there are a variety of categories all broken up into different point values (5, 10, 15, and 25) with a possible total of like 400 something points (I don't remember the exact number). The whole point being to expand your to be read list and to maybe try reading some books outside of your normal reading genera and possibly discovering new books/authors you love. The SuBC was my first ever challenge and I managed a grand total of 235points over a 3 month period.

I'd been itching to do another challenge, but it just never seemed to work out time wise for me. However with me no longer working I've found that I definitely have a bit more time on my hands to read (even with the addition of pregnancy related reading being included in the mix). I figured now was the perfect time to participate because life is about to get a whole lot more hectic for me in just a few short months.

I didn't "win" the challenge (the first 5 finishers get to pick the 25pts tasks for the next challenge). However I did manage to beat my previous score and finished in 10th place with a grand total of 255 pts--and I managed to meet my goal of reading 50 books (52 to be exact!) books in 2010!

December's Us Photo

Taken on my 27th birthday at lunch with our family. It was so nice having Rick's parents in town to spend the weekend with us :)

November's Us Photo

Us taking a little break from our black Friday shopping extravaganza. Poor Rick, he'd been up since midnight when I dropped him off at Target to wait in line (he really wanted a new tv and we knew he'd have to get there early to snag it).

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

I've heard such great things about the pioneer woman's recipes, especially her cinnamon rolls, so I thought I'd give it a try. I've been craving them for a while and just haven't made my way to cinnabon yet. I was really hoping that these would do the trick and I'm happy to report that they did. I know it seems like an awful lot of steps and a lot of work just to make these...and yes, I was pretty exhausted by the time I was done but I think that has more to do with my big ol' baby bump and not so much the recipe (honestly it doesn't take much to make me tired these days). If you've never made cinnamon rolls from scratch before I'd highly recommend this recipe. It was my first time too and I was totally pleased with the final product. It made a ton and although I couldn't justify eating more than one (since I saw the amount of sugar and butter that go into these things) it was great to send Rick off to work with the rest-- they were a hit!

Velvety Pumpkin Soup with blue cheese and bacon

It's finally starting to feel like fall in San Diego, and I couldn't be happier as it only encourages my slight obsession with all things pumpkin (especially pumpkin spice lattes, yum!). I found this recipe online and was a little unsure. I've never had a pumpkin soup before but after reading the reviews I thought "why not?!". I followed the recipe almost exactly, except I subbed green onions for shallots and I used brown sugar instead of molasses. Overall we enjoyed the soup very much. I will say it was a little different at first and it took me a couple of spoonfuls before deciding just how much I liked it. We ate it with flaky pillsbury layers biscuits which I'd say is a must! Soo tasty and we ate it again the next night for dinner as well which I'd say makes it safe to say it was good :)

Ingredients

• 2 (15 ounce) cans pumpkin
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 6 slices bacon
• 1 cup crumbled blue cheese

Directions

1. Stir together the pumpkin, chicken stock, half-and-half, shallot, molasses, butter, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and cayenne pepper in a large stockpot over low heat; simmer 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, place bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat, and cook until crispy; remove to paper towels to drain, then cool and crumble.
3. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with bacon and blue cheese.

Amount Per Serving Calories: 420 | Total Fat: 31.9g | Cholesterol: 61mg

49. Bake cookies for dh to take to work 3x

I love baking. There is just something about being in the kitchen that I find so relaxing. And honestly nothing means more to me than making something with love and having people enjoy it and say how yummy it is. I took advantage of Halloween and used it as an excuse to get in the kitchen and make all sorts of yummy treats for my hubby to take to work to share with his co-workers. I admit I cheated a little bit by using two packages of Pillsbury holiday cookies, but the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and candy corn bark I made myself completely from scratch. It was a fun, yet exhausting time in the kitchen as I baked for about 4.5 hours. Not an easy task when you barely have the energy for two hour outings :)

October's Us Photo

From this past weekend at Oktoberfest. It's a tradition of ours to go every year, eat a brat with all the fixings and walk and check out all the vendors. Such fun!

September's Us Photo

From our date at Birch aquarium :) And looking at this I've realized just how dirty dh's hat is. I think I need to find that guy and stick him in the wash...lol

Birch Aquarium and Squire's Cafe

So earlier this week Rick and I had a much needed date. Lately our dates have consisted on lounging at home, going out to eat at our favorite restaurants or doing a little shopping. Truthfully I haven't had a whole lot of energy or desire for much else. But we finally decided to get our lazy butts out of the house and go on a date that would count for my blog. I honestly hadn't even realized just how long it'd been since we did one of these!

So we decided to head out to the Birch Aquarium and to lunch. Typically when we have tried a new restaurant for this blog I've gone online and done a little research before hand. I just can't help it, it's in my nature. Well this time we decided to just go with the flow. We headed to La Jolla for the aquarium and decided to just find some random little place along the way. Rick noticed Squire's Cafe and we thought we'd give it a try. It was overcast and slightly cool so we decided to skip the little patio and eat inside. The menu consisted of lots of yummy sandwiches, most of them named after local cities in San Diego (I love when places do that!). I ordered up the Del Mar, which was a crabcake sandwich on sourdough (LOVE sourdough), while Rick ordered a turkey veggie wrap. The food was pretty tasty and hit the spot, and the sample of the oatmeal cookie that we snuck was so yummy! All in all it was a nice little lunch. Not necessarily something I'd drive to just to eat because it is a good drive from home, but if I lived in the area I could see myself eating their regularly.


Then we were off to the aquarium. I've been before as a kid, growing up here it's just one of those things you do-- usually on a school field trip. But Rick hadn't been yet. I'd say it's a pretty popular little tourist spot too considering it's in La Jolla and has amazing views of the ocean. And as far as tourist attractions goes the price is more than reasonable. We looked at all of the different tanks, my favorites being the seahorses (so cute) and the jellyfish (the way they look is just amazing). We even took some time to rest our feet and watch everything in the big tank. I don't have much to compare it to, as the only other aquarium type thing I've been to are at Sea World, but we had a fun time and enjoyed it and definitely plan to go back in the future.