Date Night

We've all seen The Office, right? Completely ridiculous, but all together hilarious! So when I saw Steve Carell and Tina Fey (the ever famous Sarah Palin mocker) paired in Date Night, my first impression was, "Decent comic relief, but not really interested." And so, I made no attempt to rush off to the theatres or even grab it at RedBox for that matter. But my opinion has changed since catching the flick this past weekend with my in-laws.

I must say, for two very goofy, comedic actors, they did an exceptional job with this movie. And I should add, it was not at all what I expected. It's a tale of a boring New Jersey couple stuck in the routine of life. But after discovering their friends are getting a divorce, not because of marital woes, but rather because they are nothing more than "great roomates" the couple decides to spice things up with a spontaneous date night in the city. But a mistaken case of identity leads them on a crazy chase throughout New York city. All the while they realize how much they appreciate their not so exciting life and in the end Carell says to his wife, "I would do it all again (meaning their life). I would choose you everytime." Super sweet ending!

Overall, a good amount of funny without being overdone.

image/thedirectorscut

Weekend in Photos

{the glasses are because we saw Toy Story 3 in 3D}

An awesome date night that included taking cheesy pics in a photo booth, seeing newborn livestock at the state fair, lots of sunshine and dress shopping where I purchased this dress plus two others and shoes to go with makes for a perfectly wonderful kind of weekend!

Happy Monday!

Summer Weekend

Happy Friday, lovelies! Any fun happenings this weekend?

Our plans include:

Date night at our favorite sushi place and Toy Story 3 (that boy sure does know the way to my heart!).

Having a garage sale, which is so not as fun as going through other peoples junk. But the extra cash and de-cluttered home are always a bonus! Plus, Mom and I might try to sneak away for a bit to hit the farmer’s market.

Then, the State fair! We are indeed braving the brutal triple digits and the crazy crowds on opening weekend since it's our only free weekend for a while.

Not that I'm complaining because the next few weeks include a trip to San Francisco and Napa for Mom's birthday, camping with the extended family and a visit to the Midwest for my cousin's wedding. I love this time of year!

Have a lovely, summer weekend!

image via

{Delightfully} Unexpected Date Night!

We aren't the type to go out much during the week, especially with our hectic schedules as of late. But last night we made an exception and had a lovely date night at The Melting Pot!

Seeing as a gift certificate we purchased at a youth auction several months back was about to expire and every attempt we had made to go during the weekend had failed, we decided to do the unusual and go on a mid-week date.

And even though I had been up since 4am, worked all day, exercised and trained clients, I managed to make myself look decent and had a wonderful time with my sweet husband having all kinds of yummy fondue. We were even seated in a cute little private booth!

Totally unplanned and completely perfect!

We enjoyed artichoke cheese fondue, a dark and white chocolate dessert fondue and even a few glasses of champagne! It was quite the splurge!

{The best part about fondue!}

Weekend in Pictures

Merry Monday! How was your weekend?

Ours went a little something like this:
Friday: date night at the park
Saturday: breakfast with the fam, farmer's market and Chris went into the office:(
Sunday: lots of deep cleaning, laundry, organizing and a beautiful Hawaiian themed wedding (and I so uncharacteristically didn't get any pictures).

Delish Whole Foods desserts + our favorite park + a movie on the laptop = one happy night!




Our farmers market blooms for the week: snapdragons!

{Sigh} have a good one!

A Good Good Night!

Happy Friday! Phew, are you as tired as me or am I the only one running on a pitiful four hours of sleep?! Not that I'm complaining because my lack of sleep is due to being at the Carrie Underwood concert last night! And Oh MY GOODNESS was she incredible! All I can say is that the girl has got some pipes! A true test of someones musical talent is hearing them perform live and she did not dissappoint.

I really need to give a huge thank you to Claudia for giving us the tickets! I am so sorry you weren't able to go and also so grateful for your generousity! I hope you are feeling better today!

The hubs and I had a wonderful date night! He won't admit to it, but I even caught him singing along to a few familiar songs:)






Have a lovely weekend!

Hello Sunshine!

I must admit to you, my blog neglect the past few days has been due to the glorious weather we have been having in sunny California! Admittedly, I would much rather be outside, soaking up the sunshine than inside on a computer. This, by the way, is why we adore living here, it's been 70 degrees and sunny in mid-February! It definitely explains my super cheery mood today. Well, that and a delightful sushi date I had with some sweet friends last night!

I hope your weekend treated you well! If you were lucky like me, you had Monday off in honor of Presidents day, which was a wonderful way to end a lovely weekend!

A little peek at our Valentine's day~

Like I mentioned, we opted for a low-key date, which included: homemade paninis for lunch, a little shopping, an afternoon nap and dinner, followed by watching Fireproof on the living room pallet we set up to feel like a "slumber party" (my idea, because I always want to stay up late watching movies, but have to go to bed early for work!). Of course, this was all topped off with delicious chocolate covered strawberries we picked up at Whole Foods! I'm not gonna lie, it was a pretty fantastic day!

Love.

Tasty panini fixings!

A simple favorite of ours, because who doesn't love Trader Joe's Vodka pasta sauce?

How cute is the little tuxedo strawberry?!

Have a perfectly delightful day!

Weekend Bliss

Good morning lovely friends! I hope your weekend treated you wonderfully!

I am so very thankful for a long weekend followed by a two day week! The past few days were very full, but with delightful things!

It began with Harvest Festival fun with my mom, mother-in-law, and Chris' step-grandma, Lupe. I found several Christmas gifts and even a few things for myself. An afternoon of shopping followed by Cheesecake Factory for lunch is my idea of a great day off!

If I have not already indulged the fact that my husband spoils me, you will know once I tell you how our date night began. Around 6pm I heard a knock on the door and found Chris holding a bunch of flowers, a skinny latte and Norah Jones' new CD!! Never underestimate the joy that comes from sweet surprises for no reason at all!



Saturday evening we attended a wedding. Chris works with both the bride and groom and he's been saying how he thinks I will really like them. Finally getting to meet them I would have to agree they are a very sweet couple! I am such a sap for weddings, and this was only enhanced as they played the song I walked down the isle to at our wedding (Somewhere Over The Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo Ole'). I may have shed a few happy tears!

There was a slight change of plans Sunday. Originally, Chris and I were going to the Raiders game with his Dad and Uncle, but realizing that I need to take my certification exam before the holidays hit, I decided to stay home and make sure I'm well prepared. I really would have enjoyed being at the game, but time is slipping away from me and I want to get this test out of the way! I am trying to schedule the exam for this Wednesday so it won't be a distraction during Thanksgiving. You should be proud, despite the temptation from our mothers to join them at the Mandarin Festival yesterday, I opted to get my workout out of the way and study, study, study. Although I still ended up with a 5lb bag of mandarines:) They take such good care of us!

And on a VERY exciting note, after a year of researching, planning for and finding the very best deal, Chris and I purchased this...


Our new Samsung 50in plasma will be at our door next Monday! I have to admit, I am more excited than I expected to be! Of course, Chris' excitement was no surprise at all!

And finally, last night I purchased Silk Nog! I buy one carton every season and savor it all month! Not being a fan of regular egg nog, I was delighted to find this lighter, less sweet substitute and now find myself looking forward to it every year!



Hope you have a very merry Monday!

Since I've Been Gone

Hi friends! I'm back from a much needed and well, necessary blogging break. The truth is, I've missed it!

The last several days have been packed, mostly with work, and it doesn't feel like anything will be slowing down soon! This week I will be working some overtime, which is good and bad. But enough with the boring stuff!

I do have some very exciting news to share! I just paid for my ACSM personal training certification exam!! My current certification is not one I'm really impressed with and I finally decided to just get the one I really want! I am feeling so inspired to start training again:) It will definitely be a nice distraction from my current full time job! This will hopefully be the beginning of a very nice transition to doing something I am passionate about again:) Yay!

Last week was pretty much a blur of work, workouts, errands and just trying to get to the weekend. Not a feeling I am very fond of! Chris knew I had been feeling tired and just plain worn out so he surprised me with a really fun date Friday night to dinner at Bella Bru Cafe, where they had live music on the patio! It was exactly what the doctor ordered! We listened to Blues while we enjoyed a delicious meal:)

So here we are, it's Sunday night and I'm trying to prepare myself for another hectic week. Although, I am a little more ahead of the game than I was last week. Because my Aunt was here last week and we spent a lot of time with my family, I wasn't really home to catch up on laundry, grocery shopping, and cleaning, which made this week feel a bit more chaotic. Not that I'm complaining, as we has such a great time with my Aunt!! But now that I've had a whole weekend to catch up, I say "Bring it on Monday!".

Okay, my hubby just brought in my hot tea and reminded me of the time, which means we should probably decide on the movie we're going to watch before I turn into a pumpkin:)

I'll leave you with some photos of the week...

Our delicious wild mushroom bruschetta appetizer at Bella Bru!


Relaxed as can be with his 'Down Town Brown' :)


Look at that Goodness of Tiramisu!


It deserves it's own picture:)


I was out shopping this afternoon and snagged these cute plum colored flats for only $4.90!! Oh how I love good sales:)


I also made a trip to Trader Joe's and picked up some favorite goodies of ours:) This Pesto Torta is oh so good!


And so are these scrumptious treats...dark chocolate covered espresso beans and almond coconut chocolates:)


And finally, their Vodka past sauce...mmm, mmm good!



Stay tuned, I've got some good posts for the week!

Off to a Great Month!

Merry Monday to you, Lovelies!I hope you had an extraordinary weekend!

Ours was quite event-filled, but absolutely full of wonderful people and fun! As I told you Friday, we had Jeff and Becky over for homemade pizza and Gran Torino. Great night, despite my minor fisaco with the pizza dough:) It is so refreshing to have people over who love our pup as much as we do:) I think she bonded with them while they dogsat her the week we were in Hawaii for our wedding. This picture makes me laugh! All night she was attacking Jeff with kisses! I'm so glad you two are dog people!! We had so much fun!


These Dahlias are like a kiss from summer:)


We spent Saturday morning with my in-laws:) We went to Awful Annie's for breakfast (YUM!) and then did some garage saleing (no surprise there!). And that evening Chris and I had the best date! We had dinner at Sarritella's, one of our favorite restaurants (with much history for us) and enjoyed some delicious pasta, wine and the best bread sticks that come with peanut butter on the side! And for part two of our date night we packed up dessert, champagne and some blankets and headed to "our park" to watch Charade on our portable DVD player:) Talk about a great, romatic night with my husband! We were up on a hill that offers a spectacular view of the sunset as well as the lovely Saramento evening breeze:)

My hubby at Sarritella's:)



Our yummy dinner!


Excited about our dessert and movie in the park!


The lovely hilltop sunset:)


Strawberries, mini cheesecakes and champagne!



And finally, Sunday was spent in San Francisco with my darling friend, Lael. While we hung out, Chris went to the Giants game with some guys:) Basically it was a great day for all parties involved:)!

We started the morning at a wonderfully delightful bakery called Tartine, where Lael and I both ordered the Almond crossaint and a latte! I must say the 30 minute wait in line was so worth the delectible sensation our taste buds received when we took our first bite of this pastry in the park! No lie, the best almond crossaint I've ever had! So worth the "splurge" calories!! With all the walking we did though, I'm sure at least half of it was burned off;)

We spent a good amount of time at Anthropologie, where I FINALLY bought this dress I've been wanting for several months now and it finally went on sale! I'm still giddy about it:)

We ended our day at Golden Gate park with more walking:) Our intention was to rent bikes, but by the time we got there, the Giants game was over and Chris was headed to pick us up...bummer, but I cant say we didn't have a lovely time together.

Oh, but I can't forget the other treat we had! There is an ice cream shop called Humphry Slocombe that serves some really unique flavors like Breakfast surprise (Bourbon and Corn Flakes) and Salt n' Peppa. After trying several, I ended up getting Pineapple 5-spice and Coconut. I know, compared to some other flavors, mine were so boring, but absolutely delicious!

I don't know what's wrong with me, but again, I didn't take ANY pics of my time with Lael. She is sending me some from her camera, so those to come soon:)

I am so lucky to have spent time with two of my closest friends the last few weeks!

And on a semi-random note, my Mom is finally coming home tonight after visiting our family in the Midwest the last 2 weeks!

I hope August has started out wonderfully for you!

Surprises and Routines

I cannot tell you how many times Chris has sincerely surprised me with his thoughtfulness! He is unlike any man I have ever met and he has always been like this! Every time he buys a gift or plans something, you can bet there has been much consideration to the recipient. I truly strive to make others feel as special as he makes me feel on a daily basis:)

I had mentioned a few days ago that he had planned a date for us this Saturday. I had no idea what it was, especially since he had guys over to our place to watch the NFL draft, which ended up going until a little after 7pm. I love being surprised, so I was more than happy to be in the dark about it. It turns out Chris had been seeking out a good Blues Club in Sacramento for us to go to! (I also mentioned that we have been really into blues lately) We ended up at the Torch Club in downtown Sac where we grooved to Jim Sprankle. (Don't you love that name?) We had an awesome time! Seriously, what a fabulous date!! I told you he was thoughtful:) The best part is, there was no special reason or occasion for going, just because he wanted to take me out:)

We are getting to that point where we have routines and "traditions", if you will. I love the way we are settling into our life! For instance, Saturdays are always date night, Mondays are usually dinner at his parents and Sundays are a big yummy dinner at home (with dessert and all)! I love Sundays! I love having the time to grocery shop, clean out the fridge, relax and really take time to make a delicious meal:) I think it prepares us for the busy week ahead.

Tonight's dinner consisted of an herb rubbed pork tenderloin topped with a strawberry avocado salsa and a spinach salad. For dessert I made a lovely herb garden angel food cake from Simply Organic! Everything was so light, refreshing and full of seasonal flavor. My favorite part was the sweet ending:) It was very different and delicious. The angel food cake called for fresh basil and edible rose petals:) I know it sounds strange, but man was it good and so pretty!

Here are some pics of our relaxing Sunday meal:







BTW, I am very giddy because I just turned on the TV and Bewitched is playing, followed by I Dream of Jeannie!! I grew up watching these two fabulous shows! Yay for flash backs:)