Hello, my name's Caresse

I feel as though I need to reintroduce myself to this blog of mine! How on earth has 6 weeks gone by since my last post???? I find it funny that when I have plenty of time on my hands, I usually have nothing to blog about. Yet, when I'm busy and can't seem to find the time to blog, I have lots to talk about!

So where to begin? Since we've last chatted a lot of excitement has taken place in our lives. Tyler completed another quarter, we finally made our North West Road Trip, Arielle visited for the weekend, and lots more.

Let's start with the North West Road Trip. It was a wonderful week away from reality. In fact reflecting on the trip, I don't think there is a thing we would have changed (well besides not being able to have more time with our NorCal family), the drive was seamless and quite scenic, Tyler and I enjoyed over 18 hours of Podcasts, took in the new sites, and enjoyed each other's company. Cripes, that makes us sound like an old married couple....I love it!

Here is a quick recap of the first adventure from our trip.

After stopping in Livermore and our 5th Pretzel Party, we headed 6 hours north to the Lava Beds National Monument Park. It was once an active volcanic site, that basically had a continuos flow of lava, which over the years formed over 1700 caves. You are free to explore all of these caves, but the park highlights about 30 caves. This pitstop is probably the one activity Tyler was anticipating the most. Me not being the biggest fan of nature, decided to go with it after seeing how excited Tyler was. Here is what I was envisioning when Tyler asked me if I wanted to go exploring caves:

A nicely lit cave, with hand rails, and probably a tour guide.

I was rudely awakened when I realized this is what we were about to explore: 

You'll notice that the only lighting in this cave are the flashlights that we borrowed from the Park's office. And no handles, but rather a rocky, slick floor. 

Also let me tell you about how this cave continued to get smaller and smaller and smaller, all while getting darker and darker. The silence in the cave was deafening!

And to prove to you how small this hole actually was, here is a pic of me after I squeezed through it! It's right about now that I started feeling very claustrophobic and that at any moment Hannibal Lector was about to jump out and kill me. 

Tyler on the other hand loved it and I'm pretty sure the Indiana Jones theme song was playing in his head

Finally after what seemed to be a life time, there is no more cave left to explore and we start making our way back to the light. I am carefully walking through the cave, trying to protecting my head, because we didn't think to bring helmets and there was quite a bit of jagged rock protruding from the cave. I stop to take a quick break and start to feel around the cave when I realize I have found a bat! This is when I begin to freak out! 

Bats are just like birds to me, my shoulder immediately begin to clench and my hands start to fidget. I tell Tyler what I see, big mistake, because he wants to take a picture! A picture of a sleeping bat inside a cave, where I'm sure many other bats are hiding, all of which are going to be awakened when the flash goes off. Trying to be the cool and relaxed person everyone knows I am, I get in fetal position, put my hoodie over my head, close my eyes and begin to rock back and forth. When Tyler tells me he is going to changes lens, I decide I've had enough and run out of the cave! 

What did I get myself into???

Tyler realizes that caves might not be the thing for me and he decides that our next cave will be a bit more spacious. We end up exploring two more caves. After that we called it a day. While the caves were pretty, I don't think I need to relive that experience anytime soon!

Favorite Kitchen Aid Attachment

We were lucky enough to receive a Kitchen Aid Mixer for our wedding. Life got even more exciting when we received the Ice Cream Maker attachment, making it my favorite Kitchen Aid attachment! Now to be fair it is our only Kitchen Aid attachment, but it would probably still be my favorite even if we had all of the attachments!

Oh yeah I should also point out that we haven't used this attachment until the past weekend. It's been haunting me sitting in our cupboards and then I finally realized I had the perfect occasion to whip out the Ice Cream maker and give it a try....Tyler's bday!

So I promised Tyler I would make him home made ice cream to go along with the Nothing Bundt Cake he requested. It wasn't exactly going to be "home made" as I had purchased a started kit at Sur La Table (Salted Caramel), but for my first time around I wanted to make it as easy as possible, and easy it was!

I think the most frustrating part about making this batch of ice cream was not realizing that the bowl had to freeze for at least 15 hours before I could use it. Of course I didn't learn this until the night before Tyler's birthday, so sadly he had to wait a couple of days.

Once the bowl was frozen everything else was a breeze. Of course the mix really helped, all I had to do was add cream, half and half and stir it a bit!

You whisk until the dry mixture and liquid combine (about 2 minutes)

Let it chill for 30 minutes in the fridge. Then you add it the mixture the the ice cream maker, like so.

It mixes for 15-20 minutes. The best part, you can multi-task while it is mixing! Below is a picture of what it looks like after 20 minutes. 

Technically you could eat the ice cream now, but if you prefer a thicker consistency, place the ice cream in an airtight container and freeze for another 4-6 hours. 

By the end of the night we were enjoying some delicious Salted Caramel ice cream! Because I used half and half and heavy cream it was really rich. Especially considering that when we buy ice cream it's always slow churned. I decided to cut the sweetness with a bit of salt and added some pretzel thins. It turned out to be  a great idea!  

Now that I know how easy it is to use the ice cream maker, I can't wait to use it again! I'm thinking of trying a sorbet next time. 

Favorite Thing To Do

I'm sure this won't come as a surprise to many, but I LOVE to plan. Nothing makes me happier (and strangely calmer) than getting out pen and paper and making a "to-do" list. It's when I start to plan in Excel that things really start to get crazy.

Right now I am in the middle of planning our upcoming North West Road Trip! Tyler and I have never been to Seattle before (well technically I have, but I was 7 or 8 and don't remember much) and it's been on our "travel to-do" list ever since we moved to NorCal. When looking at our calendars we realized that Tyler has a week off in between semesters, so we decided to make the most of that week and drive up the North West coast.

The trip will be about 20 hours each way, but we're making the most of the trip and stopping in NorCal to see Aubrey and our Livermore Crew on the drive up (and down). We're also making a couple of pit stops in Portland, which we're both really excited about. I hear great things about downtown Portland. Lots of micro breweries for Tyler and tax free shopping for me! Then we will mosey on up to Seattle (it's about a 3 hour drive from Portland) for a couple of days.

We still have a bit of planning to do. So far we've got our travel times and hotels figured out. Now comes the fun part... planning our activities and trying to decide where to eat. The majority of our West Coast friends are from or have lived in Seattle, so we have a lot of restaurant suggestions. Bryn even dedicated an entire post about it. If we're not careful all of our Insanity work is going to go down the drain :)

Here are a couple of activities we are looking at....

1. A picnic in Gas Works Park

2. Chihuly Park & Space Needle 

3. Pike Place 

 4. The first Stakbucks & Nordstrom

 

We've got three weeks to go until the trip begins!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful hubby! He finally has caught up to me and will be turning 29 today. We don't have any big plans for Tyler's actual bday, I mean come on we have to make sure we get in our daily Insanity work out! Although I should point out we will be splurging and by having Nothing Bundt Cake bundletts (White, White, Chocolate and Cinnamon Swirl) and for dessert tonight, so it's not a total bust for Tyler.

We will continue the birthday celebration throughout the weekend. We are headed to our first LA Clippers game on Sunday! They are playing Oklahoma City, so it should be a fun game to watch.

Below is a picture of the birthday boy. I'm not sure if Tyler is 1 or 2 here, but either way it was a couple of years ago. My favorite thing about his outfit are the saddle shoes....so cute!

Favorite New Recipes

We've been trying to branch out and try some new recipes. Thanks to Pinterest I've been able to find quite a few. We made Mini Corn Dogs for a Super Bowl Party, that were very tasty and easy to make!

The recipe can be found here. We changed it up by using a spicy sausage and a "kickin' ketchup" for a dipping sauce.

Then I made lasagna roll ups. I'm a big fan of of lasagna, but it makes a lot of food for two people. We are usually sick of it by the third meal. These were perfect because we have enough for two meals! 

I wasn't a huge fan of the original recipe I found, it was a bit bland. I'm going to try this recipe next time. 

I was telling a co-worker about our new recipe adventures and they sent me a great recipe for ice cubes, check out the reviews! You'll have a good laugh :)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

"Favorite" Workout

One of our resolutions this year was was to get back into a workout routine. Between all of the travelling back and forth last year, the move, and Tyler starting school we had really gotten out of our gym routine. We decided that January was going to be hectic and thought we would start our new routine in February. 

Tyler originally wanted to do P90X, but I was hoping for a bit more cardio, so we decided to go with Insanity. I was introduced to Insanity from Nick T and really liked it. It's a great workout and isn't too time consuming. 

Well the DVDs arrived this week and I'm happy to say that I can barely walk! It's amazing how much better we both already feel. Granted we have a LONG way to go, but it just feels good to get back into the routine. I think the true test will come when we do our next fit test and we can track our improvement. I will keep you all posted ;)

P.S. I think starting a couple of resolutions every month is a great way to go. I started two in January (blog and budget), which helped ease me into the new year. Now I'm adding two more resolutions to my routine this month (skin care regiment and working out). I think I will stop adding in June.

Favorite Perk Part Two

This will be a lame post, but it's been a busy week and since I don't want to give up on my New Year's resolution this earlier in the year, this will be short, sweet and to the point!

I found out this week that I will be ordering a Fusion Hybrid as my new sales car! With gas now at an average of $4.08/gallon 47 MPG will be nice! I haven't made my final color decision, but I think I am going to go with Deep Impact Blue as pictured below. 

Happy Friday!

Favorite New Magazine

So you may have recall from my last post that I mentioned both of my posts this week would be things that I forgot to tell Lindsey. About a week ago I had instgrammed a pic of my new HGTV magazine (a wonderful Christmas present Tyler gave me) and she wanted to know what I thought of the new magazine. Well I think it's GREAT!!!

I'm probably an easy sell though, because most of the shows that I watch on television are on HGTV. I know House Hunters is fake, yet I still watch episode after episode. Then there's Property Brothers, Income Property, Design Star.....I could go on, but this is about my favorite new magazine and not my favorite tv shows.

The magazine is filled with great decorating tips, project ideas, highlights a variety of "home goods" and has a lot paint colors to browse. Below are two of my favorite pieces.

The High/Low List- This is based on one of my favorite shows with Sabrina Soto. It's great because she provides low price alternatives to some high priced items. And I'm always looking for a good deal!

Expense Comparison- Not 100% sure that is what the title is, but it's close. This section of the magazine compares two families who live in two different areas of the U.S. and compare expenses. It's pretty interesting to see how the two places differ. 

P.S. HGTV is a great member to follow on pinterest!

Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Today I was finally able to have a phone date with my dear friend Lindsey! It was great being able to catch up, but I hung up the phone and realized I had more things to tell her. One would think that 43 minutes would have been plenty of time to catch up, but apparently not. As I finished my drive home I realized that the two items I wanted to tell her about would make perfect blog posts! So, here we go....

You may be wondering what today's post title is all about? Really it should have been titled great phone date with Lindsey :) But, this post is about Christmas trees and the fact that our tree is still up!

Yes, you read that correctly, I haven't had the heart to take it down. Granted all of the ornaments have been removed, so it doesn't appear as quite as festive. I took down all of the Christmas decorations the Saturday we got back from Michigan. But it was a bit chilly out that day and I thought the Christmas tree made it feel cozier inside and decided keeping the tree up another week would be socially acceptable.

Then another week went by and Tyler started classes, work was crazy and we didn't get around to it. I had planned on taking it down during our 3-day weekend, but I thought at that point I should really leave it up all January.....it only makes sense.

I realized it's not the actual tree that I'm in love with, but the lights on the tree. They add a nice glow to the living room. Then I began to think about how restaurants keep lights up all year round, so I must not the only person who thinks this.

Check out the lights on our street. Granted Palm trees don't scream Christmas, but how much more inviting does the street look?

Here is what our tree looks like today....not as bad as you thought?

Ok, I admit this one gives the allusion that it's December!

Our solution? Tyler and I have a wine barrel in our living room and are thinking of adding lights around the barrel. This is probably a much better idea and will keep us from being on one of those TV shows that feature crazy Christmas tree addicts :)

Favorite Perk

It's that time of year, ordering my new sales car! I'm sure it's not surprising that this is my favorite perk! Sometimes I have lots of options and other times I don't. But I'm smart enough not to complain about choosing between and Edge or a Flex, both are great vehicles! All I'm saying is that it's extra special when I have lots of choices and this year I have choices! So I thought I would take a quick poll and see what everyone's top choice would be?

Option One: Taurus SHO

Option Two: Fusion Hybrid

Option Three: Explorer Limited

Option 4: Fiesta

41.4%

Intriguing title? What does 41.4% refer to? The amount of body fat I lost in 2012...um no. The percentage of my closet that I donated to Good Will this weekend...wrong again. I'm still working on getting myself motivated to start a purging spree in my closet! It refers to the fact that I have spent 41.4% of my life with Tyler! Another words, Happy 12th Anniversary to my hubby! That's right it was 12 years ago that Tyler took me off the market after a wonderful date at Olive Garden.

We decided to spend the morning at Disneyland, heading back in time to watch the 49ers game. Nothing too exciting, but surf 'n turf is on the dinner menu tonight and it's 80 degrees outside. So pretty much a perfect day!

These past 12 years have been quite the adventure together and I don't think we would change a thing. Looking back I still think one of my favorite days was November 9th, 2010. The day Tyler truly surprised me and proposed. Definitely in our Top 5 moments!

P.S. Tyler and I realized that when our 18th anniversary comes around we will hit the 50% mark! 

Favorite House Project

Since moving to our loft in SoCal, I've s-l-o-w-l-y been putting personal touches in place. My favorite project so far is our photo wall! I had been browsing Pinterest for quite some time as there are so many options when it comes to a photo wall and finally found my inspiration on Frame Wall. I really like how the designer also incorporated other items with the frames.

I began collecting frames, the clearance at Target was a great place to start. I purchased 3 frames for $2.48 a piece! Of course Ikea was next on my list and we were fortunate enough to receive a couple of frames from Crate & Barrel as wedding gifts. All in all this has been one of my most cost effective house projects.


After all of the frames/items were purchased I created the shape of the photo wall on the floor. The one change I did make was to keep the shape of the photo wall structured. Typically I prefer to off-set photos/wall hangings, but this time around I felt as though a rectangular shape gave it a more modern look.

After I had the shape ready to go I realized that getting the frames on the blank wall was not going to be an easy task.....

Therefore this photo wall continued to look like this for a couple of days!

Finally I got tired of the wall laying on the ground and enlisted the help of my very handy hubby, who started the measuring process.

Tyler decided to begin with the corner pieces and work his way in, which saved us (well him) a lot of time. 

Getting closer......

And after about an hour, the wall was up!

It was just as Tyler was hanging the last piece that I realized I should have put the pictures inside the frames before we hung them up! So the photo wall looked like this for a bit. I mean it still looks nice and cozy to me :)

Choosing the pictures, turned out to be a bit difficult. Seeing that I hadn't made any prints from our wedding I had lots to choose from. Plus, I wanted it to be a bit "artsy"...we really didn't need 10+ photos of ourselves displayed. A good suggestion would be to print off more than what you need. It's nice to have options when you are making your final decisions. Below is the end result. It's great to think that all of our friends and family are close by!