Lynn'm

10 years ago, I met Lynn. Just typing the words "10 years" and I am flooded with memories, all of which put a smile on my face. From what I am told not everyone exits college living with their same roomie from Freshmen year, but when you've got a roomie like Lynn you're bound to never let her go!

Today is Lynn's bday and after looking through my "extensive" library of posts I realized I've never given her (or a few others) a bday blog shout out....so here we go.

I tried finding a picture from our dorm at Ward Hall and realized that was before Facebook, so I had to scan in a copy.

The caption in my photo album read "Lynn and I bonding after bowling"....who knew! I look like a hot mess, but not Lynn she always looks great! Speaking of a hot mess, check out our bedroom :)

Lynn has been the most wonderful friend over the years, putting up with my control freak ways and always being there to support me. Never placing judgment on me, just always there to listen. Happy Birthday Lynn'm! 

Dublin

5 1/2 years ago, Tyler and I drove up to NorCal. Getting ready to make the move from down south, I was very hesitant. I had just gotten settled in Aliso Viejo and was looking forward to spending the summer at Laguna Beach. The Ford "Gods" had other plans for me and as we were driving up the 580, passing 100s of windmills I began wondering if we had made a mistake. The "golden" hills were very green that spring and I felt like we were in Ireland. Which is ironic as we ended up calling Dublin home.

I have come to learn to trust the Ford Gods, as everything happens for a reason and it seems as though everything falls into place.

We began our journey by quickly making some amazing friends amazing friends.....

                                        

We went to concerts in Golden Gate Park

We even tried out a country concert

Went skiing in Tahoe

Started the best Thanksgiving tradition with the Miyalopers

Where food was never an issue....

Celebrated Christmas in our first house

Enjoyed the Andersen Holiday Party!

Were convince to run a 5K (I don't look so enthused)

Camped at Pinecrest Lake multiple times

Enjoyed a little wine tasting

Made it to either a Raider/49er game each season

Cheered for the SF Giants as they won the World Series

And.....

Celebrated our engagement and wedding!

                           
                                 

Needless to say if there were a t-shirt that said, "I heart Dublin" I would buy it!

Happy August

Well, I fell off the blog-wagon pretty easily! Life got quite hectic after my NorCal vacation. It was a great vacation filled with some amazing family time, picture perfect weather, tasty food, wine tasting, and we even squeezed in a couple of dinners with Nick and Bryn!

Then life took an exciting turn when we found out in early July that Tyler was accepted in Grad School! That is when we decided that we would make SoCal our official residency. Yup that's right no longer will we have a vacation property in SoCal but rather a home! It's exciting and nerve wrecking all at the same time. But that being said, we are both excited for the changes!

We decided to take a different housing route this time. We are going to wait before we buy again. This way we can get an idea of the area. Since Tyler will be going to school in Pomona and I will be working in Irvine, we have decided to move to Anaheim, as it's the most central location we could find. I mean it's right down the street from one of the "happiest places on Earth", what's not to love! We found a new construction that was renting 12 units. We're pretty lucky to be living in a brand new place.

Check out our new "Loft Livin'":

https://plus.google.com/photos/111734868586125141617/albums/5765542156121819025?authkey=CJPlqPO3nr6CvwE

Day 1 of 15

Woo Hoo, I'm finally taking my first vacation day of the year! It's probably a couple of month's late, but I'm really looking forward to having a few days off. Plus, I get to spend 10 days at home! Better yet, we get to spend some time with family. The whole Sprague family is making the trip and we've got lot planned. Which means hopefully I will have something a bit more exciting to blog about. Although who's to say expired milk isn't exciting :)

May?

I'm sorry did I miss the month of May? Where on Earth did it go? We've been so busy, I love lots to blog about, but haven't seem to find the time to do so! Sure it sounds like excuses to most, but here is an example of how hectic life has been. It will justify my lack of blogging and hopefully make you laugh (although it could gross you out too :)

Tyler flew down for Memorial Day Weekend. I did some meager grocery shopping before he got here, thinking just get the basics (since we would probably go out to eat for dinner). Saturday morning, I made some coffee and informed Tyler we could either have cereal or waffles for breakfast. Tyler selected cereal. I grab the Cheerios out of the pantry and the milk out of the fridge. Immediately I notice that the milk had some chunks floating at the top. I thought, cripes I just bought this how could it have spoiled already? Of course I'm talking out loud and Tyler can hear me, so he suggests I check the expiration date. I answer a loud, "April 26th".....Tyler then informs me that June is only a couple of days away! Again I ask, where did the month of May go to?

Hope you all (that is all 3 of my readers) have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Cost Savings

While we have both our condo in NorCal and what I like to refer to as our "vacation property" in SoCal, I have been findings ways to keep the cost of the vacation property to a bare minimum. I always cringe when it comes time to pay our cable/internet bill and when setting up these services down south it became a challenge to see what kind of deal I could get. I was determined that I would not pay more than $50 for both services. Because I was a new customer I was able to stay under $50, but that will expire in the next month or so. Planning ahead I started pondering about cable alternatives. Right now for 28.99/month I get the basic networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, and WB), every foreign language news station in the LA area (Korean, Chinese, Hispanic, etc...), QVC and TBS. Sure there are a few more, but nothing worth watching. I realized that essentially I am paying 28.99 for TBS. I'll be honest QVC is always fun to watch, but really defeats the purpose of 'cost savings', especially if they are having a special on Bare Escentuals.

Not having a DVR I began utilizing Hulu to catch up on my favorite shows. Most shows are free, but I was getting sick of staring at my computer all day and then again at night. I had heard about the Roku system which allows you to stream applications such as Hulu Plus, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and Pandora on any TV. Their #1 selling model was $89 ($10 off) at Costco and included a 2-month subscription to Hulu Plus (a $16 value) so I decided to pick it up. I thought after 3 moths I would have saved enough money to pay for itself.  Best choice I've made in long time. I love it! It was simple to install, quite compact, E-A-S-Y to use and is all around AWESOME! I would highly recommend it anyone. Pair it with an antenna so you can get your basic cable (remember the Summer Olympics are only 79 days away) and let the savings begin!



                             

6 Months Until the iPhone!

For years I've been putting off getting an iPhone. Was I too cool? Eh, probably not. I love Sprint and wasn't willing to change cell phone providers.

Anyways, since the iPhone 4S was released on the Sprint network I have been counting down the days until I join the rest of the world and get on the iPhone bandwagon.

Here are the Top 3 reasons why I'm looking forward to the iPhone:

1. Face Time! It seems so much easier than Skype. Plus if I'm ever wondering if "these shoes make me look fat?", I can call a fellow iPhone user (Arielle, Bryn, Kellie, Lindsey, Lisa, or Lynn...pretty much most everyone in my life) and get their opinion before I have buyer's remorse.
Note: iPhone users were listed in alphabetical order J

2. Siri. Enough said.

3. The camera on the iPhone is great! It puts my LG phone to shame. I can' wait to start posting Instagrams on the Book.

Had I had one this week you all could have seen the man sitting next to meet at the stop light, who had 2 parakeets sitting on his steering wheel!!!!! Ahhh, it was soo weird, they were walking around the steering wheel and up his arm! I was shocked!

Since I am still 6 months away from the iPhone, I googled an image of "parakeet in car" and actually found a photo that was similar to the crazy situation I witnessed. Weird, right?

85

Ever since Tyler and I started this new life of travelling back and for from NorCal to SoCal we keeping missing the good weekends in SoCal.  Last weekend was beautiful in NorCal, sunny skies and a pleasant 75 degrees. But I decided to see what the weather was in Laguna Beach and sure enough the “Rule of 10” applied. Rule of 10? During the winter months SoCal is usually 10 degrees warmer than NorCal. Easter Weekend was no different, as it was 85 degrees in LB. While I wouldn’t have traded spending the weekend in NorCal (see last week’s post), I was still bummed I was missing good beach weather.

The curse has finally broken, check out the forecast below, 85 degrees! Woo Hoo! The beach is calling my name!

In preparation I picked up some new beach towels. Thank you Macy's Registry Rewards card, they were FREE! Pretty cute, right?

Sunscreen? Check!

A beautiful beach to enjoy? Check!

Hubby? Check :)

Hope everyone enjoys the weekend!!!!

Easter Weekend

The past week was filled with lots of fun events and since I don't feel much like typing, I decided to blog via photos this week.

Wednesday: Landed at the Oakland Airport

Thursday: Home Office Day!

Friday: Aubrey and I headed to Santa Rosa to visit Harriet. The photo below is a throwback to when my mom used to take our Easter Photos in Harriet's backyard.

(oh yeah and Aubrey and I may have stopped at the Banana Republic Factory Store)

Friday Evening: Lisa's Surprise 30th Bday Dinner at Wente Winery!

Saturday: Farmers Market in Pleasanton

The weather was great, so we grilled out. 

Aubrey had never seen The Departed, so kicked back and watch one of my favorite movies!

Sunday: We had Easter Brunch at Nick & Bryn's. I made......

Purple Mashed Potatoes (JeRue Classic)

And then I tried a new dish from Bon Appetit magazine, "Spring Vegetable and Goat Cheese Dip" 

It was a great weekend in NorCal!!!