Today's Project

I've been looking at a lot of home design blogs like this one here, called Sixth Street Design School.  With my new inspiration, today I decided to move this book shelf from our living room into our dining room and lay it on it's side.

Here's the before picture of our space:

And here's the after:

Voila! I have a brand new sideboard.  I have all of my serving dishes and lots of other things from around the house displayed on my new sideboard.

 That little rabbit on the left is a gift from our dear friend's The Hendricks.  Isn't he cute?

Also, a few weeks back I acquired this little vanity off craigslist, sanded it and set it up in my dining room as makeshift sideboard as well.

So now I just needed to buy some drapes, and I can call my dining room "finished."  Any suggestions on drapes would also be much appreciated.

Spring, You Make Me Happy

Today I was on my way to the gym, couldn't find a spot, so I thought: "Why am I going to workout inside when the weather outside is gorgeous?"  So I drove back home, plugged in my headphones and went for a walk on the hill by my house.  I couldn't believe how beautiful the flowers were.  The rain these past few weeks treated them well.  So I got some sun and caught up on some Sufjan and Joshua James and enjoyed the gorgeous weather outside.  I unfortunately forgot my camera, but I found some good pics of the wild flowers I saw on my walk today.  And hopefully Ryan and I can go on this hike through Laguna canyon this weekend to see more of orange county's beautiful wildflowers.

Pongo and Perdie

We ran into these guys in a store parking lot.  We couldn't pass up a picture.  How often do you see a Dalmatian, let alone four (I just noticed one hiding on the floor in the fourth photo)?

Fit For a Queen

Sunday my sisters threw a party for my Mom's birthday that was fit for a queen.  They did a great job decorating with lots of her favorite photos and memories.  We had a great Italian dinner with delicious lasagna and homemade rosemary bread, which I was told all tasted amazing.

 And...they made my madre's favorite dessert: German chocolate cake.

 They can hardly wait for the cake

 And the night ended with free adjustments from my brother Justin.  So nice having so many chiropractors in the family.  He's laughing and enjoying it I promise!

Killer Boots

Over the weekend Ryan and I headed out with the Chipper's (Oliver and Emily) and headed for lunch at Rutabegorz in old Orange.  Then we hit the Vans outlet to scope out some new shoes.  Why has it taken me 3 years to go to the outlet that is just 5 minutes from my house?  Probably because I'd be coming back with loads of shoes.  I found these awesome shoes and now I'm in love.  Why did it take me 23 years to buy a pair of high tops?  They're awesome.

Thank you Vans for having an outlet store, and for letting me buy two pairs of shoes without making me go broke.
I realize that within the last week I've posted twice about new shoes, I swear it's a fluke.

Confession

I was asked to teach a kick boxing workshop class for the Stake Activity Girl's night (last night).  The theme was about being a super hero, so I taught about exercising and eating like a super hero.  I then taught a 20 minute intro to kick boxing class.  They loved it, laughing, giggling, dancing and flying around the room with their little capes on.  But after I got done teaching them to treat our bodies like the amazing things they are by exercising and eating well, I headed with Ryan straight over to In-n-out for a burger shake and fries. Is that awful?

I eat really healthy, it's ok to splurge once in a while right?

Pho and the BYU game

While anxiously watching the BYU vs. Florida game, Ryan made us some delicious Pho.  We've been trying to make new and different foods with my new diet.  It's been exciting.  Too bad our delicious soup didn't help our Cougars.  We had a good run, and you made us all look so good and even did a little missionary work while you were at it.  Great season Cougars.

The G Free Diet

Since being on a G free diet, I've been trying to do lots of research into Celiac Disease.  It's a very serious disease because of the untreated conditions it causes, and a very serious lifestyle change.  I've been cleaning out my pantry, my fridge and my kitchen, trying to rid our house of any stray gluten particles that could be transferred to my food.  And I've been filling up my house will my own gluten free foods and treats that are delicious and full of fiber.

Like I said before, I haven't been diagnosed with CD, but if I'm going to try living gluten free I'm going all out.  The most helpful tool I've discovered in this diet transformation has been Elisabeth Hasselbeck's book,  The G Free Diet.  She goes into detail about the disease, it's symptoms and conditions associated with it, how to recognize all forms of gluten, how to live a normal life G free (and stick to it) without feeling overwhelmed, and more importantly, how to help your child with CD.

If you know anyone that thinks they might have CD, or is interested in removing gluten from their diet, I'd highly recommend this book to help them get familiar with it and how to start a G free lifestyle.  And it's so easy to read!

Also, have you had a Larabar?  How delicious and healthy are they?  They are one of my new favorite G free foods.  Yum!

Oh Happy Day

Today my beautiful Madre came to visit me so we could go home store shopping.  One of my favorite kinds.  It was so nice to have some one on one time with her, it's not easy to coordinate that kind of time. We hit Tai Pan Trading, Home Goods and Pier 1.  I made out with some good finds and a couple steals.  What fun we had.  We also stopped at the Market Place for lunch and were viciously stalked by birds the whole time.  And we ended the day with our favorite, Yogurtland.  What a splendid day.

 My Indian lunch.  It tasted better than it looks.

 These birds were fearless and bossy.

 And everywhere.

 I normally don't like seasonal decorating, but these were just too cute to pass up.  Thanks Madre!

My other deals and steals.

Isn't she cute?  Fun fun day.

It's here hooray!

My beautiful madre bought me a cute kindle cover for Christmas, and unfortunately it's been on back order for months, and months.  Felt like forever, but it's finally here!  I found it on etsy, and passed it on to Ryan who passed it on to my madre :)  The fabric is from Amy Butler's Wallflower collection, so cute!

So cute!

A "Cool" Weekend in San Diego

We went for a visit to see the fam this weekend.  And we were able to spend time watching the NCAA tournament games, comparing brackets (I'm a close second), watching my nephew play t-ball, furniture shopping, eating chipotle, then eating thai, making lentil soup, baking bread, and eating Reese's eggs :)

Check out the cutest little 6 year old baseball star.

 Can't beat that smile, as he runs across home plate.

 Snack bar food always tastes better when watching a game.

 Braeden's adoring fans.

 Thai taste.  True story:  this restaurant had a tv on to the right of us, and it started out playing ET, and after we ordered it quickly switched to open surgery!  Blood and guts everywhere.  We had to ask them to change it. 

 Sunday night entertainment.  Songs and funny faces.

 Then it just got wild.  As seen here.

 And here.

And here.

And the weekend ended with strong winds, a down pour of rain, and a long drive home in crazy weather and multiple accidents along the way.  But we made it home safe.  Awesome weekend.