A Penny For Our Thoughts

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

the in-laws come to california

Top of Mount Diablo

Katy's Place, Carmel, CA

Bixby Bridge, Highway 1, Big Sur

Molera State Park, Big Sur

McWay Falls, Big Sur

17-Mile Drive, Carmel, CA

Carmel River Inn . . the love bungalows

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Oakland California Temple

And besides all of those pretty places, we ate A LOT of food. :)

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

dollar store return

I bought 22 plastic table cloths at the Dollar Tree last month for our ward's Pioneer Day celebration. Turns out, it was way to windy to put them on so we just scratched it, and I didn't submit a reimbursement request for them. I went today to return them and it turns out that at Dollar Tree, you can't return things straight up. Neither can you return things for a gift card or any sort of money to spend at a later date. You have to make a complete exchange for new items right then. So . . I grabbed a shopping cart and off I went! Eager to get on with my day and needing to pick out 22 items at the Dollar Tree. What did I come away with? Well let me tell you!

3 new loufas

2 bottles of shampoo/conditioner for Ben

2 bottles of body wash for Ben

3 manicure kits (why? I dunno)

2 bottles of nail polish remover

1 set of 10 medium sized binder clips

1 pair of yellow gloves for cleaning

1 set of 10 latex gloves (You never know when you might need to be sanitary)

1 box of toothpicks

1 set of 2 tupperware bowls

1 package of 48 plastic spoons

3 cooling racks for my freshly baked cookies

And then, when I went to ~~pay~~ make my exchange, I was one item short and they were going to have to owe me a dollar (Heaven forbid!), so I also grabbed 1 bottle of Palmolive dish soap.

Are you joking me? What I should have gotten was a storage bin for all of this crap!

the anti-climactic 24

Soo . . if you know me even just a little bit, you know that my birthday is my favorite day of the year! All July-long at work, when I would call BINGO numbers, I would say "I-24 . . I am going to be 24 in such-and-such days. I-24 . . I am going to be 24!" It's a good thing those folks have dementia or else they'd be sick of me. I really do love my birthday. It's the gosh darn best day all year.

So . . it kind of stunk this year when I was sick! I think I had a virus of some sort because of how my blood work panned out, and I'm feeling much better now, but on my actual birthday - boo! So we just tried to make the best out of it!

I went to the doctor (that was funny when they confirmed my birth date at check-in) and got my blood drawn first in the day - that was not so fun! But then, Ben and I enjoyed a delightful, yet easy on my stomach, lunch downtown at Tender Greens. I also treated myself to a mani/pedi and watched a couple episodes of my current favorite show, Prison Break. Have you watched it? Watch it. And then, after making dinner myself, we devoured a delicious cake from The Olde San Francisco Creamery!

I was sad that I didn't get to get the flowers delivered to me at work from Ben and that we didn't get to go bowling as we had planned, but I got to spend the day with my best friend, who worked from home for the day! And really, what is better than that? Aww. Anywho, thanks for reading my journal-y blog post. And happy 24th to me!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Sprint Triathlon & Pioneer Day

Saturday was a busy day - holy cow! It started at 4:45 AM when Ben and I woke up to go to his first Sprint Triathlon. He did fantastic! I was so sad I couldn't stay to watch because I had to be at work on time, but it was fun to get up with him and be there before the race. He is such a stud.

All these guys are in our ward.

Then, I drove back to Walnut Creek and was at work by 9:00, and then, it was time for our ward's Pioneer Day Celebration. About a month ago Ben and I were called to be in charge of Pioneer Day and our committee was to be all the young couples with no kids in our ward. Let me tell you, I learned a lot . . about how my ideas don't have to be the best . . about how to be humble . . about how to work with a committee . . about how to plan a party for 200 people! It turned out great and we got a lot of good feedback. Happy to have to over with, though! Now it's just smooth sailing and my birthday next week. :)

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

three year anniversary

We *splurged* for our three year anniversary yesterday and went out to dinner at Massimo Ristorante where we had the family dinner the night before our wedding! Who knew at the time that we'd end up living in Walnut Creek.

We had a delightful four course (so fancy!) meal. Massimo's Caeser salad to begin - you might remember that from our wedding dinner! Then Cannolini - a housemade pasta stuffed with veal, chicken, spinach, ricotta, marinara, and alfredo - YUM! Next a tasty filet mignon with scalloped potatoes. And to finish . . to finish, we had the most heavenly dessert - a milk chocolate creme brulee with caramelized bananas on top. Seriously. So. Good. I could eat that for the rest of my life.

I love Ben so much and am looking forward to a fabulous forth year of marriage! :)

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

washington

I love family vacation! Who doesn't, right? My parents took us to Washington last week. They spent a few days in Seattle before Ben & I got there, and then Ben & I had one day in Seattle.

Dad went to the University of Washington for dental school so we used to live in Seattle when I was a wee one. On our day in Seattle we went to church at our old ward building and then walked around the University of Washington campus . . which was incredibly gorgeous. Maybe Ben & I should go back to school and go there . .

We also visited our old apartment. In my memory, there was a park right by the apartment with this awesome maze I used to run around and ride my tricycle in. Well, the park was there all right, but the maze was a little less than awesome. Funny memories.