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!!!

Slacker

Yup, it happened I didn't post a blog entry last week. I almost made it 4 months w/o breaking my #1 resolution. I wish I had a really good excuse, but I don't. I simply ran out of time. I pondered on what took up so much of my time last week and besides work, not much.

Although I do have to let you in on a new weekly event, I've been par-taking in yoga! My apartment complex offers free yoga every Wednesday night and I get to bring a guest. My friend Christie and I have been going the past three weeks and I love it. I never realized how much deep breathing relaxes me, plus all of the stretching is great. We finish our Wednesday evenings with dinner and girl talk. Needless to say Wednesdays are my favorite day of the week :)

Sadly no yoga for me this week as I will be flying North! I'm looking forward to the long weekend at home. It will be so nice to be home for more than 2 days!

P.S. On a side note I finally named my new car. I received the suggestion of "Katniss", because let's face it anything on 20" wheels is pretty bad ass (just like the Hunger Games character), but it just didn't fit. I kept thinking about how the car was pretty sassy, a bit fiesta and sparkly white. "White" in Spanish is "blanco", but this car is all female, so........(drum roll) I named her "Blanca".

Hunger Games!

Yes, I finally  and read the Hunger Games Trilogy! I kept putting it off because I wasn't sure I could get past the theme of the book, kids fighting to their death. About two weeks ago Bryn mentioned that they were all planning on seeing the movie opening day and since Tyler read the books, she wanted to know if we wanted to come along. Tyler was game and I thought that I should at least give the books a chance before I right them off all together. After a couple of chapters, I was addicted! I was able to get past the actual rules of the "Hunger Games" (just like Bryn and Tyler said I would) and it turns out there was a love story!

I read all three books in a week, I would finish one and immediately want to start the next book. With the help of my kindle I could do just that, even though it was 2 AM on Saturday morning I was still able to buy the second book and begin reading it by 2:03.

We are headed to the the 8:20 showing tonight and I can't wait!