Our weekend in San Diego

October 3, 2019October 2, 20193 Comments

San Diego is definitely one of our favorite places to visit. It’s just such a beautiful city with incredible weather and delicious food! There’s been a lot of craziness and mis-matched schedule situations for B and I so we decided we were in need of a mini-getaway. This past weekend we drove ourselves to SD for an overnight trip.

We normally pick AirBnB for our stays because it’s cheaper and we are rarely ever there other than to sleep, but sweet hubs booked us a lovely little hotel close to Little Italy (our favorite little nook in SD).

We arrived around lunch time and went straight to Herb & Eatery after drooling over the Yelp pics. The restaurant is also a little mini store that sells drinks and kitchen goods. We both loved the fun decor and all the light that came in from the windows despite the grayish day.

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We ordered the curry chicken salad and the SD turkey. The curry chicken salad had just a hint of curry-enough to flavor, but nothing strong. The SD turkey was a solid turkey sandwich with the sprouts and the hearty bread! If we lived here I have a feeling we’d be coming here more often then not…

Afterwards we walked around a bit and then headed to our hotel. Hubby had also booked us massages so we dropped off our things, explored the hotel a bit, and headed out. I look so tired here!

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Post massage we were both so relaxed and exhausted so we tried taking a nap. I was on and off mostly because the same weekend we were here there was an EDM concert AND twitchcon. It was a bit noisy from outside the hotel, but lots of excitement and lots of people!

Post nap we left on HGTV and got ready to head out to dinner. We had decided ahead of time to just walk there. It was a 40 minute walk, but it was a lovely day and figured it would fuel our appetite. The walk was a little sketch for a few minutes, but we made it to Cucina Urbana with some time to kill.

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Our reservations were for 6:45pm, but we got seated probably closer to 7pm so we had some time to sit and look at the menu. It was restaurant week in SD too so the larger crowd may have been due to that. We were fine with it because it gave us time to ooo and ahh over the inside of the restaurant and people watch.

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By the time we got our table we knew exactly what we wanted and ordered the chicken liver pate, roasted cauliflower, and for our main got the pappardelle with short rib.

The chicken liver pate had barolo soaked fig on it and came with different kinds of bread. I am super happy about the fig situation because I am not much of a liver person and this pate definitely had an iron-y flavor. Even though this was not my favorite dish of the night it was one of those things you could tell was done really well and was good quality.

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Then they brought out the cauliflower which was dressed with fennel, pine nuts, golden raisins, mint and yogurt. My first bite was a bit sweet, but after that I got some salty goodness from the pine nuts possibly? It was a really incredible dish that gave you all the mouth feels.

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When the pappardelle came out with the short rib, mushroom, carrots, and topped with parm it looked like comfort in a bowl. It tasted like a Sunday roast but made better with the house made pasta.

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We both left full and happy and walked back 40 minutes to let the food settle and ponder our dessert options.

After perusing through some spots we went back to a classic and a favorite-Salt & Straw. I got the child’s scoop of cookie dough in a cup and B got a split scoop with the cookie dough and another flavor in a cone.

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We walked around with our ice-cream and then headed back to the hotel so I could change into comfier walking shoes. We were going to walk to Gaslamp, but after getting into the coziness of our hotel we both decided we’d rather just stay in and relax so instead we went and checked out the firepit/bar/outside balcony area of our hotel and sat around talking until we were both a little chilly and ready for some tele and bed!

On Sunday we woke up to sunnier skies and decided to do a quick workout and enjoy the free breakfast before heading back home. We literally had the quickest workout ever and headed to breakfast which was conveniently right next to the gym.

I had some eggs, spinach, and this biscuit which made the whole meal! I also have this thing for hotel waffles so I had to try this one. I will say it wasn’t the best, but it was okay. I think I may just enjoy the waffles where they give you the batter and you make it in the waffle maker yourself?

We showered and headed out to the Donut Bar before leaving SD. We had visited Donut Bar a few years ago and I remember loving it. We got the pumpkin with cream cheese icing, birthday cake, Boston cream (it was the favorite of the girl who was helping us), a nutella, and the creme brulee.

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Instead of just grabbing and going like we normally would we decided to try out a couple…we went for the pumpkin which was SO good. It was pumpkin spice flavored and the icing mellowed it all out with a good dose of sweetness. The creme brulee that we tried afterwards seemed underwhelming in comparison.

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The donuts here remind me a lot of the brioche type donuts we had in Maui when we went. They aren’t light, but dense and chewy for a yeasty donut.

We kept the rest for later that night and drove home. We had some errands to run in the form of grocery shopping so we did that, some laundry, and then prepped for our week ahead.

When we were ready to grab dinner we decided on Burger IM and ordered what ended up being a lot of food. We got their duo burgers, chili garlic wings, and their half and half side option of sweet potato fries and their special Burger IM fries which we had seasoned with Cajun seasoning.

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We got basic cheese burgers for our duos and they were like mini burgers (bigger than sliders, but smaller than a regular burger). These were just tasty cheeseburgers. We had no complaints!

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The wings were saucy, garlicky, and kinda sweet. They had great flavor! The fries were my biggest surprise. I didn’t think I would like the disc shaped potatoes as much as I did, bu they did a great job at keeping the outside crispy and inside fluffy. They were also a good thickness.

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We went for a really long 2 hour walk after dinner and when we came back we were ready for something sweet. Lucky for us we had some donuts left! The Boston cream had the same vanilla cream as the creme brulee and was again a bit underwhelming. The birthday cake was sweet and pretty close up there with the pumpkin for me. The nutella was also delicious, but I do wish there was more nutella on the donut.

We spend the rest of the night watching football and HGTV on Hulu until we got too tired and headed to bed!

We had a really great weekend of hanging out and eats! Have you been to SD? What’s your favorite place to go when you’re there? Let me know in the comments!

San Diego Round 2

June 20, 2019June 19, 20193 Comments

I don’t know if you guys remember/know, but I had made a trip to sunny SD in April for a leadership conference. It’s a 3 part conference and part 2 was in June.

My view from the conference

Hubs and I drove up there Tuesday and had some delicious eats and treats when I wasn’t at the conference.

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For lunch before the conference we went to Big Thyme and ordered a reuben sandwich and salad to share. The hubs loved this salad so much that he ended up going back the next day and getting one for lunch!

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Yes, that is watermelon in our salad and it was actually pretty wonderful! I’m not a big fan of fruit in my salads, but maybe I am??

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Night one, some friends, the hubs, and I went to Barbusa. I was hungry and luckily were able to get seated immediately. We ordered some apps to share: arancini, cheese bread, and burrata.

The hubs and I shared a salad and this salmon dish!

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Afterwards we walked around Little Italy and fell in love with the delicious smells of pizza and pasta and the sweet stores that lined the streets.

I’m guessing we must have been on an Italian food kick because for dinner the next night we went to Isola Pizza Bar. Obviously we had to get the margherita pizza, but for our apps we got the shrimp and polenta along with a roasted veggie dish that was listed under the salads.

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I was intrigued by the dessert menu and while hubs got gelato I got a tiramisu…it was pretty delicious!

After a morning of conferencing the next day we drove home. It was a fun trip and even though I didn’t get too many pictures of everything seeing the ones I did take gives me the warm fuzzies 🙂

I hope you all have such a great weekend! We have family coming in today for some fun celebrations this weekend and I am so looking forward to it!

What’s your favorite Italian food? Have you been to Little Italy in SD?

Back to SF

January 24, 2019January 14, 20195 Comments

We woke up Sunday morning to a really gorgeous view of the sun rising outside of our AirBnB. We showered, packed up our things, and headed out for the second leg of our adventure to SF.

We stopped by a Safeway to grab some snacks for our drive to SF and I need a cup of coffee in the morning so we stopped by a local coffee shop to grab some and plan out our day.

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We started our drive and munched on some bluebs. We ended up driving to downtown SF to check out a mall and walk around. It was raining so we were wanting to stay warm and cozy…this thought didn’t last long 🙂

Soon enough our hunger creeped in and we decided to hit up Limoncello for some sandwiches. If you’ve been to SF you know how hard it is to find parking so once you aren’t leaving. This sandwich spot was a 30 minute walk, but feeling adventurous we decided we were up for it.

You guys it was pouring down rain so hard that we had to stop in at a CVS to buy an umbrella. We finally made it completely soaked, but super excited for our sandwiches.

We got a turkey pesto and a pastrami sandwich. We added their spicy sauce for both and they were both fantastic. I can’t tell you which one to get because the hubby liked the pastrami better and I liked the turkey.

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By the way, they were massive sandwiches and totally shareable. We actually ate the turkey first and then had the pastrami later on. After the sandwich we decided to go and check out the Painted Ladies. I just love these houses and how cute they are!

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We headed to our next AirBnB so we can get freshened up and get our stuff unloaded. The house was so cute!

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The bedroom was done in a cheerful yellow and super cozy and clean! We rested for a little bit and listened to the rain spatter on the windows and roof.

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We headed out to the comedy show at Neck of the Woods. It was a pretty good lineup. There were definitely some that were funnier than others. After the show we discovered we were close to Burma Superstar.

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It’s a super highly rated restaurant on Yelp and our friends had recommended the spot to us as well.

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We started with a couple of apps-their well known Tea Leaf Salad. It’s seriously the most interesting salad I have ever had. It’s got all these different flavors and textures…SO MUCH crunch! I loved that they mix it up for you table side.

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We also ordered Platha Dip. It was this super flaky, layered “bread”-similar to an Indian version of paratha-that was served with a warm coconut curry. The curry was savory and perfectly spiced.

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Even though we had every intention of ordering an entree, after having the Platha Dip we had seriously no room. We were full and done! I hope we eventually get the chance to go back and check out an entree or two 🙂

We headed back to the AirBnB for a goodnights rest! We woke up Monday morning to a little bit of sunshine. We stopped by a Panera for a couple of yogurt parfait’s before heading home.

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Have you guys been to Burma Superstar? What did you think?

Carmel Valley

January 21, 2019January 14, 201910 Comments

The hubs and I had a staycation recently, but he planned a surprise getaway for us during the start of our week.

We drove up the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) to head to Carmel Valley and do a couple of hikes along the way. Sadly for us, due to the rain, we didn’t get to do one of the hikes. The other one was short and sweet, but absolutely breathtaking.

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That picture definitely does not do it any justice, but the rain definitely added to the beauty and our sense of adventure.

After getting lost along a dirt path and finally finding our way out and back on a nice paved road we arrived at our AirBnB. This place was like a woodsy cabin and all around us was this gorgeous greenery.

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It was all windows so we had some beautiful views. There was a television and we were super grateful for the heater inside because it was chilly!

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After unloading our things we decided to head out and explore the town a bit. We explored the shops a little and ran into some local places. We found a little shop that had some of the best spreads, dips, and caramel sauces. The great thing was we were able to sample everything 🙂

After a long drive and munching on very few snacks we were ready for an early dinner. We found out that a pizza place we bookmarked was within walking distance of where we already were. Dontchya just love it when things work out like that?

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We moseyed on over to Little Napoli where they were pretty full with people. We decided we didn’t want to wait and grabbed a couple of seats by the bar. They had the best pictures on Yelp of this delicious garlic bread-we had to have it.

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We also ordered the burrata which came with some roasted red peppers. I won’t lie I thought the burrata would come with crostini or something to eat it with, but it didn’t so we just used our garlic bread. Is it a thing to just eat burrata by the forkful??

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We nibbled (who am I kidding, we scarfed down) on our apps and perused the menu to figure out which pizza to order. We settled on their version of a margh (surprise, surprise!).

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The pizza was Neapolitan style and it had a crispy crust and gooey cheese. The billowy edges of the pizza and bubbly cheese are always my favorite parts. We weren’t able to finish all of it and took the rest back to the AirBnB for later.

We ended up spending the rest of the night watching The Innocent Man on Netflix until we fell asleep. It was a pretty fantastic first day! I’ll see you Thursday for our SF adventures 🙂

Have you been to Carmel Valley or Carmel by the Sea?

Lubbock and Houston

December 6, 2018November 15, 20183 Comments

During this whole trip we didn’t stay at a single place for more than a night. Even if we spend a couple of days in the same city we were hopping houses, hotels, and air bNb’s. It was crazy!

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Because of that I didn’t get too much from Lubbock. We made it there around evening time from Austin and had enough time to shower and get ready for a dinner.

We went to a Cajun restaurant called Razoos, I think. I got a po’ boy with tilapia and the hubby got a salad. I didn’t take any pics since it was a part of B’s interview process.

You guys by the time we left the restaurant it was SO cold! We stopped by Target to grab a few things and rushed home. The next day we could see snow flurries! We were not prepared for the cold!

The hubs dropped me off at Starbucks and he went to his interview. I ordered a tea and a little while later got their egg sous vide and an everything bagel.

It was my first time trying the “egg bites” and it was pretty good! They were soft and fluffy on the inside (almost souflee like?) and the outside was a little crispy which I loved. Besides eating I was able to schedule some blog posts and catch up on reading some of your posts…it was quite productive!

Once the hubby got done we had a very long drive ahead of us to Houston. We drove and drove and ended up stopping for some Taco Bell. We finally made it to our air bNb and it was so cute!

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The couple that greeted us were so friendly and I loved our room! It was beach themed and cozy. We knocked out as soon as our head hit the pillow 🙂

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The next morning we packed up and headed out to meet up with some family. I was starving so we stopped to grab a Banh Mi for me. I know it’s a weird thing to have for breakfast, but nothing else sounded good. Honestly I would have had the pho, but it is not great car food.

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We met up with fam at a place they suggested called, Snooze! Can you believe it? I didn’t realize Snooze was a chain, but it’s also in Houston! I was still full from my sandwich so I ordered the OMG french toast, fruit, and coffee. I only had a piece of the french toast and shared it with everyone else!

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The hubby got a protein packed bowl which looked and tasted amaze! I tried a couple of bites 🙂

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We visited some more family before heading out again to check into our hotel. We got stuck in some traffic, but made it safe and sound.

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I went and worked out a bit and then we got Chipotle for dinner. How pretty is that tree that was around Chipotle! They had a bunch decorated and it looked so beautiful and festive!

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We both got bowls and it was warm and delicious and totally filling. Noms! We packed up as much as we could since we needed to head out after hubby’s interview the next morning.

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While hubs headed to his interview I decided to workout again in the hotel gym. Afterwards I headed to breakfast at the hotel lobby/restaurant area. I didn’t get a pic before I started eating, but I had a piece of veggie frittata, lots of servings of fruit, and some potatoes.

I decided to check out the waffle maker and made my own waffle. It was so fluffy and crispy and absolute perfection. I also have some fruit hidden under there 😀

Once the interview was over we drove over to the airport to return our car and head back to LA.

I hadn’t had lunch and hubby needed a snack so I got a sandwich from Which Wich and he got a spinach feta egg white wrap from Starbucks. The sammy was wheat with turkey, cheddar, ‘cado, onion, lettuce, and tomato.

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It was YUM! We had some time before our flight so we wandered around the airport looking at the stores and our options for dinner. When it was almost time to head on we grabbed some dinner from Panda Express for our flight.

It was delicious and the only pic I have is terrible since it was so dark! We made it back home pretty late and ended up sleeping within an hour of arriving. We were both beat!

It was a really great trip! Till next time!

Austin

December 3, 2018November 15, 201812 Comments

Our drive from OKC to San Antonio was a long one, but lucky for us Austin is pretty close to San Antonio so it was a quick trip!

We made it to our adorable airBnB and settled in while waiting for B’s brother to arrive from OKC.

We had made plans to hang out with him while we were in Austin. Once he got there we (I) decided tacos were much needed.

We headed to Juan in a Million. We were all starving, but once seated we were greeted with tortilla chips and salsa. The hubs ordered some guac too! We annihilated one basket and she came back with another.

I had to stop eating the chips because our tacos started coming out. I was expecting smaller sizes of tacos, but these were pretty big. Eyes>stomach 😅

I don’t remember which ones we got, but they were all pretty good!

We ended up walking around the area for a bit. They had a lot of little art galleries set up so it was really cool!

We were pretty ready for dessert by this point. I wanted to check out Shipley’s so we went. It was really late in the day so they didn’t have much. I ended up grabbing a glazed to try and it was simply okay.

We were told that they do hot glazed in the morning and I imagine that is way better!

We dropped into Amy’s for some ice-cream. Their Mexican vanilla is very popular and I can see why. It’s so flavorful!

I ended up getting the Oreo which is their Mexican Vanilla with crushed up Oreo. It was fantastic!

We left and walked around a mall until our improv show. We also checked out downtown and some other popular areas.

Austin is so beautiful! I love the neon signs and string lights that are at every restaurant and bar!

After the improv show we grabbed pizza at Homeslice! This place was so cute, but dimly lit.

Each of the menus had a different meme on the front. I thought they were fun!

You guys, it was a cold night and hot pizza definitely hit the spot.

I don’t think any of us could imagine walking out again to find dessert so we had chocolate chip cookies and milk at Homeslice too 😋

These cookies were fat and chewy, but would have been over the top if they had been just a little warm.

I fell asleep in the car on our way back to the airBnB. We crashed so hard once our head hit the pillows.

Our next stop was Lubbock so we got up and grabbed some gas, coffee, and Torchy’s for me before heading out.

I got the breakfast one with brisket in it…the Wrangler I think. I promise this tasted better than it looked!

I will see you guys Thursday with the next leg of our trip!

Have you been to Austin? What did you think?

Roadtrip: OKC and San Antonio

November 29, 2018November 15, 20185 Comments

Good morning lovely people!

We recently did a little roadtrip around Texas for some interviews for hubby.

I thought it would be fun to share our memories here and bring you guys along.

Both hubby and I had to be at work the morning of our trip. I had a class to attend and he had actual work.

I grabbed a quick breakfast from our cafeteria and it really hit the spot! Simple scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, and hot sauce all over errythang…

Once we got to the airport that afternoon we grabbed a sandwich to eat.

Later on we grabbed a hummus chicken wrap for dinner since we wouldn’t arrive in OKC until midnight.

We were in Oklahoma for a couple of days. B did his interview in OKC and then we hung out with our families for a couple of days!

November is a very busy month for our family since it’s filled with birthdays and other celebrations. I’m not kidding! We literally have 1 to 2 birthdays a week in November. Since we happened to be in town we just celebrated everything for everyone at one time 😁

I didn’t record much of our time in OKC, but I did get some pics of our cupcakes.

We left OKC for San Antonio very early on a Friday morning. The hubby had rented a Jeep and I can honestly say that it was a great vehicle for this trip. It had navigation, heated seats, heated steering wheel, bluetooth, and so many more things to make many hours of driving bearable!

It’s been pretty gray everywhere since it’s fall. This was our view from our hotel room:

I worked out while hubs did his interview dinner the first night. He brought me home some chick-fil-a #besthusbandever.

I watched a lot of HGTV and Say Yes to the Dress during our 1 night 2 day stay.

The next morning B went back for more interview stuff and I worked out and grabbed some free breakfast from the hotel. I showered and started packing us up for our next leg of the trip!

Once he got back he worked out, ate breakfast, showered and we headed out to Austin.

I’m going to leave it at that! See you guys in Austin 😉

Do you like to roadtrip? Tell me about your favorite roadtrip in the comments!

Things I Do Before Traveling

November 15, 2018November 3, 20187 Comments

We are going to be heading out for a week long trip and that had me thinking about all the things I do to prep. I like to do things to help me get ready for the trip (obvi!) and have me thanking myself when arriving home so let’s jump in!

If we’re planning on flying I make sure that we have all our travel size necessities (toothpaste, lotion, etc). If we use something up by the end of the trip I will add it to my shopping list to pick up so I’m not running around before our next trip.

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We usually do a weekly grocery trip since most things we buy are fresh fruits and veggies and they are perishable. For the week leading up to any trip I try to use up what we have in the fridge and avoid buying or opening anything I can’t use up. I don’t think anyone likes coming home to rotting produce 😖

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As close as I can to our departure date I will do a nice deep clean of the house. Coming home after vacations can be sad and I don’t like to make it worse by coming home to a dirty house!

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This goes along with the cleaning but I wash all our last minute laundry, blankets, sheets and such. I like fresh sheets and we will probably be coming home with a load of laundry anyways so this minimizes the loads we have to do.

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I check the weather and overpack. I’ve come to realize over the years and after a few trips that 72 degrees in California is not the same as 72 in Hawaii. I tend to pack layers since I get cold very easily and I like choices so I do overpack…I know I need to work on this, but it’s so hard. Lucky for me I have a wonderful husband who has no problem packing whatever I decide to bring 😀

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That last one wasn’t helpful so much as it was me being super honest! It helps me in the sense that it gives me peace of mind, but I can’t help but feel jealous of those that can pack 1 pair of pants and 3 tops for a 3 weeks. Meanwhile I’m over here packing my whole house for a week long trip…send help!

Thanks for stopping by friends and I hope you enjoyed the post! Leave me a comment letting me know what kind of packer/traveler you are. Do you clean the house? Are you a professional light packer?

Favorite moments in October

November 5, 2018October 29, 20184 Comments

You guys, this post is more for me than anything else. This past month has been so crazy and filled with ups and downs and I just wanted to take a minute to talk about all my favorite moments before diving into another busy month!

Hubby had to be in Fontana for 2 weeks plus traveling for interviews so any time he came home was a highlight moment! The 2 week stent we were only apart for one of those weeks, but that’s the longest we had been apart since getting married. It was rough, but it made him being home all the sweeter!

Having a super quick trip to Vegas is 2nd only to hubby coming home. This was super fast, super delicious, and super fun! I also loved being able to have that experience with B and enjoy that time together!

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We had the annual retreat with B’s work this month! It was amazing being able to relax and hang out with some good friends especially since this will be our last retreat. We did ice-breakers, danced, and ate lots of snacks!

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Being at home with hubby and doing absolutely nothing! I think being away from home so much in October has made me really appreciate being at home with nothing to do. Sometimes routines can get boring, but right now I am craving some regularity to my weeks. I am still trying to enjoy and appreciate every moment!

The adventure continues this month with a flight and road trip and possibly some home renovations! I am planning on bringing you guys along and trying to keep posting as regularly as possible. Thanks for coming on this journey with me!

Vegas

November 1, 2018October 23, 20189 Comments

A few weeks ago we went to Vegas for a quick little trip. I have very little to say other than Vegas is gorgeous and we definitely need to go back for longer than 24 hours next time so we can take it all in!

Since I have such few words here’s a little photo recap 😄