What do you do when one of your favorite yoga teachers is leading a retreat to the Amalfi Coast in July?!?! I LOVED Sorrento when I went there 6 years ago. It's heaven on earth. To stay at a yoga retreat there, and travel down to Positano and over to Capri...oh I'm getting so excited just thinking about it.
Must.Find.Money.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Excitement
Maverick's is tomorrow. Which is a SATURDAY! For once. I'm sure there are thousands and thousands of other people who've wanted to go in the past, but aren't naughty enough to call in sick for work too. We're going! Ryan's a little hesitant, but I'm all gung-ho! and EXCITED!!!!!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
I feel dumb
I am a Disneyland freak. It's magical, it reminds me of being a kid again, it's beautiful, and for us - it's a relatively cheap getaway (think in terms of Vegas). As a FYI, Ryan's tolerance for Disneyland is pretty high, but his yearning for going there is < > big. Nonetheless, I periodically will break out in a very juvenile "I want to go to Disneyland!" burst to Ryan, just to be funny. At random times and in random places - at the grocery store, at my parent's house, while watching a TV show.
One of my "buggings" happened in the car on the way down to San Luis Obispo on New Year's Eve. At the time, Ryan said, "well, it would be fun to go to Disneyland on a New Year's Eve. Let's go for your 30th birthday." And I thought well, that would be fun! But I'll get him to go before then as well. A couple weeks later, Ryan replied to one of my bursts - "Didn't we agree we'd go on New Years Eve in two years?" Well, yes, but I wanted to go before then too. Which elicited his reply "What, you don't want to go for your birthday?!" Well, yes, but I can't wait that long. I'll get him to crack before then.
Fast-forward to this weekend. It took me a full month to remember / realize that my birthday ISN'T on New Year's Eve. Not even close...almost 4 months earlier. WTF Nikki?! Goodness. I like to think of myself as a fairly intelligent individual. I got a great GPA in high school. I'm an avid reader. I'm cautious about putting myself in stupid situations. But really? I think I got so involved bugging Ryan that I didn't realize the flaw in his proposal.
I feel dumb.
Between Ryan's laughing fit last night when I told him I FINALLY realized how he tricked me, I told him he now had to take me to Disneyland 3 times this year. AND on my real birthday. Who wants to come? I promise I normally have half a brain.
One of my "buggings" happened in the car on the way down to San Luis Obispo on New Year's Eve. At the time, Ryan said, "well, it would be fun to go to Disneyland on a New Year's Eve. Let's go for your 30th birthday." And I thought well, that would be fun! But I'll get him to go before then as well. A couple weeks later, Ryan replied to one of my bursts - "Didn't we agree we'd go on New Years Eve in two years?" Well, yes, but I wanted to go before then too. Which elicited his reply "What, you don't want to go for your birthday?!" Well, yes, but I can't wait that long. I'll get him to crack before then.
Fast-forward to this weekend. It took me a full month to remember / realize that my birthday ISN'T on New Year's Eve. Not even close...almost 4 months earlier. WTF Nikki?! Goodness. I like to think of myself as a fairly intelligent individual. I got a great GPA in high school. I'm an avid reader. I'm cautious about putting myself in stupid situations. But really? I think I got so involved bugging Ryan that I didn't realize the flaw in his proposal.
I feel dumb.
Between Ryan's laughing fit last night when I told him I FINALLY realized how he tricked me, I told him he now had to take me to Disneyland 3 times this year. AND on my real birthday. Who wants to come? I promise I normally have half a brain.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Anniversary
Ryan's been telling me for years that no matter what day we get married, we'd have to keep our anniversary on January 30th. There was no capacity in his brain to remember another date. I didn't particularly love that idea, until it took us 10 years to get married. And after that, there was no way in hell I was going to take those 10 years away and start counting over. So, even though we married on November 7, 2008, we actually celebrate our anniversary on January 30th.
Our anniversaries are always good - most of the time simple, but good. Which, for many who know me, beats the crap out of Valentine's Day two weeks later (yeah, I'm a hater). Yesterday was not exception - it was a great day!
First things first - the sun was out in full force! Sun, I missed you. I can see you're out again today, and I know you're hibernating again come tomorrow. Japantown sells chi chi dango, a type of mochi, at the Shuei-Do Manju Shop. Ryan introduced me to mochi a couple weeks into dating - America was introduced a few years ago in the form of Mochi Ice Cream, which is now found at Trader Joe's. The chi chi dango is the mochi part of mochi ice cream. It comes in different flavors, formed in a square, and (needless to say) I've been obsessed with it for about 10 years and 9 months. They only sell it on Friday and Saturday, so we thought it would be a perfect thing to go get on our anniversary. We went kind of late - almost 1 pm - and typically they are sold out by then. Lucky us - they had a good amount left. Score!
We then went to a crepe place across the street, which has awesome crepes. I had a turkey, cucumber, lettuce and artichoke spread crepe. I'm 99.5% convinced the artichoke spread was the artichoke-jalepeno spread sold at Costco. Which I LOVE. If you haven't had it yet - go buy some. It made the crepe perfect. The crepe shop also sells Hawaiian style shaved ice. Shaved ice is on every corner in Hawaii, and I have absolutely no idea why it is not insanely popular here. Because I LOVE it. It topped off a great lunch. Ryan started laughing because he said it never ceases to amaze him how much pleasure I get out of eating shaved ice.
I'm still nursing a cold, so a two hour nap was in order. Afterward, we went over the hill to Santa Cruz to look at the surf and have dinner. I looked up a place called Lillian's Italian Kitchen, which had great reviews. Had to be good - my nonni's name is Lillian. Must've been great, because at 6:30 there had to be no less than 20 people waiting for a seat outside it's tiny quarters. On the way to Santa Cruz, there was an accident northbound (opposite direction) that resulted in a parking lot on 17 N that spanned 10 miles. We knew we couldn't go back over the hill anytime soon.
We went to the Capitola village, which houses my favorite candy of all time - salt water taffy. Not just any salt water taffy. This taffy is gooooooood and in every possible flavor. I honestly haven't met a flavor I don't like. As you can tell, I have a sweet tooth and we were acting like it was my birthday, getting all my favorite things. In my defense, Ryan really likes seeing me happy. Well, you'd think it was my freaking birthday, because the store was having taffy "rotation" problems, meaning that some of the taffy were rotated incorrectly and possibly a bit sticky or hard. So, the owner asked us to try every flavor before buying it. Ummm, yes please?!?! I get to try all this taffy for free?! Pinch me.
The rest of night was moderately uneventful. We ate at Margaritaville, because Mexican food sounded good and there was no wait. Margaritaville is okay. Not amazing. We shared fajitas, which were good. Upon getting home, Ryan wanted to go take pictures of the moon & sky. I tried but it was so dang cold outside and he sent my whiny butt home. I fell asleep on the couch at 9:30 for four hours. We know how to party.
A lot of great things yesterday, and an awesome way to celebrate 11 years together!
Our anniversaries are always good - most of the time simple, but good. Which, for many who know me, beats the crap out of Valentine's Day two weeks later (yeah, I'm a hater). Yesterday was not exception - it was a great day!
First things first - the sun was out in full force! Sun, I missed you. I can see you're out again today, and I know you're hibernating again come tomorrow. Japantown sells chi chi dango, a type of mochi, at the Shuei-Do Manju Shop. Ryan introduced me to mochi a couple weeks into dating - America was introduced a few years ago in the form of Mochi Ice Cream, which is now found at Trader Joe's. The chi chi dango is the mochi part of mochi ice cream. It comes in different flavors, formed in a square, and (needless to say) I've been obsessed with it for about 10 years and 9 months. They only sell it on Friday and Saturday, so we thought it would be a perfect thing to go get on our anniversary. We went kind of late - almost 1 pm - and typically they are sold out by then. Lucky us - they had a good amount left. Score!
We then went to a crepe place across the street, which has awesome crepes. I had a turkey, cucumber, lettuce and artichoke spread crepe. I'm 99.5% convinced the artichoke spread was the artichoke-jalepeno spread sold at Costco. Which I LOVE. If you haven't had it yet - go buy some. It made the crepe perfect. The crepe shop also sells Hawaiian style shaved ice. Shaved ice is on every corner in Hawaii, and I have absolutely no idea why it is not insanely popular here. Because I LOVE it. It topped off a great lunch. Ryan started laughing because he said it never ceases to amaze him how much pleasure I get out of eating shaved ice.
I'm still nursing a cold, so a two hour nap was in order. Afterward, we went over the hill to Santa Cruz to look at the surf and have dinner. I looked up a place called Lillian's Italian Kitchen, which had great reviews. Had to be good - my nonni's name is Lillian. Must've been great, because at 6:30 there had to be no less than 20 people waiting for a seat outside it's tiny quarters. On the way to Santa Cruz, there was an accident northbound (opposite direction) that resulted in a parking lot on 17 N that spanned 10 miles. We knew we couldn't go back over the hill anytime soon.
We went to the Capitola village, which houses my favorite candy of all time - salt water taffy. Not just any salt water taffy. This taffy is gooooooood and in every possible flavor. I honestly haven't met a flavor I don't like. As you can tell, I have a sweet tooth and we were acting like it was my birthday, getting all my favorite things. In my defense, Ryan really likes seeing me happy. Well, you'd think it was my freaking birthday, because the store was having taffy "rotation" problems, meaning that some of the taffy were rotated incorrectly and possibly a bit sticky or hard. So, the owner asked us to try every flavor before buying it. Ummm, yes please?!?! I get to try all this taffy for free?! Pinch me.
The rest of night was moderately uneventful. We ate at Margaritaville, because Mexican food sounded good and there was no wait. Margaritaville is okay. Not amazing. We shared fajitas, which were good. Upon getting home, Ryan wanted to go take pictures of the moon & sky. I tried but it was so dang cold outside and he sent my whiny butt home. I fell asleep on the couch at 9:30 for four hours. We know how to party.
A lot of great things yesterday, and an awesome way to celebrate 11 years together!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Dear Cat
Dear Cat,
Thank you so much for jumping on my bladder at 5 am. I secretly wanted to get up 2 hours early and honestly hate my warm down comforter and soft sheets.
Love,
Nikki
Thank you so much for jumping on my bladder at 5 am. I secretly wanted to get up 2 hours early and honestly hate my warm down comforter and soft sheets.
Love,
Nikki
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Good Deal
I was on a hunt for a navy blue cardigan yesterday. I didn't find the cardigan, but I did stumble upon an AWESOME Old Navy sale. All clearance items at 50% off. I got 5 shirts for $10.30 total!! Love it.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Belated December 09
Christmas Day in Monterey
These two pics remind me of Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix
Our nutty kitty decided to go between the screen and sliding glass doors.
Portland & Washington
I took a quick weekend up to the Pacific NorthWest to see my cousin Erin, her hubby and their new little baby. Christy was up there for a snowy plover conference, so I met her on Friday morning in Portland. We were supposed to go to downtown Portland and have lunch with our godmother. However, she was an hour and forty minutes late picking us up at the hotel, so that killed our time in Portland. We made it for a quick lunch and then Erin & co were there to pick us up. They drove us back to their house near Castle Rock, WA. They live in this cute little farmhouse (well, not so little - 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, big dining room, huge kitchen). It's located about 1/4 mile from Mt. St. Helens National Park, where Brayden (the hubby) works. I want that commute!
We'll get to the best part - their baby, Sierra, is almost 3 months old. OMG, is she a cutie! Such a good baby. And she sleeps well too! Such a little joy to be around. Definitely not one of those babies that I affectionally nickname "Birth Control" when I see them stomping their feet and screaming bloody murder at the grocery store. Just cute and sweet as a little button.
I heard that it was cold up there, so most of the clothes I packed were in anticipation of freezing in bed at night. They had a space heater, so not so necessary. I was actually sweating at first and had to shred my extra sweatshirt and scarf and socks. What do you know? They know how to heat their house. Such a dork.
It was definitely a low key weekend, spent with lots of QT. There was no cell service and they had dial-up internet - so as Christy put it, we went back to 1998. It's amazing how crippled you can feel when you don't have those two things. Did I need them? No! Did I miss them? Yes! When I came home, did I have anything catastrophic that I missed? Nope! It was definitely a lesson in relaxing.
All in all, I've been super spoiled. I got to hang with my cousin Amy two weekends ago, and then with her sister Erin last weekend. If only all we could all make it in one place together. Tracy - when you coming out again?!?! :) The 5 of us need to make it to the same city at the same time.
Thankfully, I came home on Sunday - a day before the sky stopped its wimpy raining and started dumping buckets in preparation of Noah's next arc. We really needed the rain, and I'm thankful for it. But it's been insane!
We'll get to the best part - their baby, Sierra, is almost 3 months old. OMG, is she a cutie! Such a good baby. And she sleeps well too! Such a little joy to be around. Definitely not one of those babies that I affectionally nickname "Birth Control" when I see them stomping their feet and screaming bloody murder at the grocery store. Just cute and sweet as a little button.
I heard that it was cold up there, so most of the clothes I packed were in anticipation of freezing in bed at night. They had a space heater, so not so necessary. I was actually sweating at first and had to shred my extra sweatshirt and scarf and socks. What do you know? They know how to heat their house. Such a dork.
It was definitely a low key weekend, spent with lots of QT. There was no cell service and they had dial-up internet - so as Christy put it, we went back to 1998. It's amazing how crippled you can feel when you don't have those two things. Did I need them? No! Did I miss them? Yes! When I came home, did I have anything catastrophic that I missed? Nope! It was definitely a lesson in relaxing.
All in all, I've been super spoiled. I got to hang with my cousin Amy two weekends ago, and then with her sister Erin last weekend. If only all we could all make it in one place together. Tracy - when you coming out again?!?! :) The 5 of us need to make it to the same city at the same time.
Thankfully, I came home on Sunday - a day before the sky stopped its wimpy raining and started dumping buckets in preparation of Noah's next arc. We really needed the rain, and I'm thankful for it. But it's been insane!
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