We pack 'em full people :)

I'm a lover of packing weekends chock full (spelling correction made thanks to a grammar catch by my web editor aka my dad) of fun stuff and am so grateful to have people in my life who like to do the same thing and to be living in a place where there is no shortage of fun stuff to do.

I've been having a few specific recipe cravings lately! Do you get these? I've been craving to make honey, vanilla yogurt lately (another Barefoot Contessa recipe - ps - I am watching a DVR'd episode of the barefoot right now and she's making all sorts of different mac'n cheese recipes - I feel another recipe craving comin' on :)). Loverboy has a bag of vanilla straight from Madagascar and he put me in charge of the bag...I could hardly wait to put this yuminnes to work, and so....honey, vanilla yogurt with berries it was for a Saturday afternoon snack.

Ever since we visited Joe's good friends in Salt Lake who make their own bread every week, I've been craving to make my own. And so, loverboy and I went out and bought a super fun, red Dutch Oven this weekend and made our first loaf of bread together! Simple whole wheat and simply delicious! I can't wait to experiment with some more recipes!

We made the dough around 3pm and set it aside to rise and then made our way out the door for a date night...oooh and what a date night it was!

Caipirinhas and Anjo de Hibiscus at Pampas - a Fabulous Argentinian Steak House in PA.

The mixed grill platter - holy delicious! (I was completely vegetarian today after that meat overload :)).

And of course, no date night is complete without Dessert - we stopped at Fraiche - love this place and their practically good for you desserts! I had chocolate with ooo-la-lee berry puree! Loverboy had natural fro yo with raspberry puree! Double deelish!

When we woke up on Sunday morning the dough was lookin' pretty beautiful, we added a little flour and rolled it around a little and then spent a glorious Sunday morning reading and drinking...

Philz chai tea and of course a cuppa coffee for Loverboy.

When we got home the dough looked like this. Gorgeous!

After just 45 minutes in the oven - it came out a bronzed beauty (Isn't the red dutch oven adorable too!?!)

We sliced it up and ate it with jam and butter while it was all steamy! Kat, Laura and Linds - I'll bring a loaf to brunch this weekend! I was so excited about it, I have another batch of dough rising away on the counter as we speak. My sister gets to town tomorrow and I want to have some to share with her!

Look out world, this bread making thing could become an obsession!

Song of the day

This song positively makes my heart melt. I've been listening to it over and over for about an hour now...If I ever take the plunge and get married, you can bet your bottom, this song will be playing...

Road trips are for lovers...

Loverboy and I might be a little crazy to willingly put in three 11 + hour driving days over a span of 5 days, but I've gotta tell ya - the hours seemed like mere minutes to me - I could have spent another 100 hours sitting next to loverboy, readin' Anna K. out loud, holdin' his hand, listening to him harmonize (I think he's adorable when he does that!).

This road trip was pretty darn special to me because, well if you didn't already know it (prepare for sap) I'm just head over heels for loverboy and I have to say that getting to spend 5 straight days together was just blissful. AND, seeing him in his beloved desert homeland with his brothers and sister, mom and dad and good friends was positively heart warming and made me fall even deeper for him.

Despite our 35 hours on the road, we still managed to fit in lots of fun - **sleepover in Salt Lake with two of Joe's good college friends, who I must say are living the dream. They have a huge garden, their own vines of hops for homemade beer, chickens for fresh eggs and a cozy, quaint home that they have been fixin' up and pouring all their hearts into. **Hike to Delicate Arch in Arches, **witnessing a Desert rain storm, **driving through Monument Valley at sunset, **morning "challenge course" with the whole fam, **lime drinks, **homemade guac, carne asada, slow cooked jerk chicken, **hikes among aspens, **free photo lessons from Joe's brother, **Joe's mom's blueberry crumble cake **

Romantical Summer Road Trip

I pulled a muscle in my neck this week(serious OUCH!) and today was a SUPER stressful day at work - but, BUT - the stress is over, reports are finished and despite being in a bit of pain - I am soooooooooooooooo flippin' excited for a little road trip adventure with loverboy ( I think it's just what the doctor would order to get rid of a serious pain in the neck :))....

I think there will be a lot of this going on(except for the being a blond girl part)...

and this too...



oh and can't forget lots of lovely scenery and my favorite WIDE OPEN SPACES...

and, AND, of course some jump photos but maybe some cartwheelin' too...

Catch y'all next week with some road trip updates.

I'm a copyKat :)

Kat recently started an awesome blog tradition of making lists of things she loves on Thursdays- and you know what? I absolutely love her lists, so I am going to be a copyKat and make my own Thursday list of things I love this week...

1) Kat's things I love lists - I've gotta admit, there will be a couple of items (okay maybe ALL of them today) on this list inspired by Kat and her brilliant things I love lists. Through out my days, I try my darnedest to be on alert for any kind of inspiration I can find - sometimes I seek it out and sometimes they just hit me smack in the face and well a good example of getting smacked in the face (in a good way) with inspiration is just by visiting Kat's things I love lists. It's Wednesday night and I can hardly wait to read her list tomorrow.

2) copyKat item #1- Tom's Wedges - well, any cute wedges really!!! That's right, I've decided that wedges are not just a summer time desire, they are a summer time necessity. I'm scouting some cute ones out online, here are a couple fun finds so far...



3) copyKat item #2 - Anthropologie bowls - I don't know how it's possible for a set of bowls to melt my heart, but these bowls do it...

4) copyKat item #3 - Glee Radio Station on Pandora...not only do they play the glee version of pokerface (which I am obsessesed with obviously) but they play disney songs AND songs from Rent, which I always forget how much I love until I hear them again! Check this one out - it even has Rachel's mom from Glee in it!!

5) copyKat item #4 - Anything from Ann Taylor Loft - I first checked out their website when Kat mentioned a sale on tops recently and well, let's be honest, it was love at first click. They've got adorable summery tops and dresses - and Ann Taylor - who knew? I thought this place was more of a clothing store for my mom (maybe I'm just getting old :)).

Ann Taylor Loft - Tops and Blouses

I think that's all I've got for now! Kat - thanks for inspiring me and letting me steal some of the things you love!!! I promise to be original next time I make one of these lists :).

i heart where I live...

Where else can you be a Sunset Magazine groupie on Saturday and then on Sunday trek to an antique flea market with the skyscape of the bay bridge and the transamerica building in the background?!

I'm late, I'm late for my weekly, weekend wrap up! I have good excuses though- the weekend was just so chalk full of fun stuff that there just wasn't adequate time to dedicate to blogging it up....so yes, it's a few days late but here is a little sneak peak into last weekend.

Here's Kat and I waving hello from the Sunset celebration cooking stage where we camped out all Saturday afternoon watching 4 different chefs do their thing. I am now inspired to make some summer smoothies and grilling sauces and also to refer to cayenne pepper as "red love" as Aaron from Food Network's "Big Daddy" does and also to use my thumb fat to determine what a rare, medium-rare, medium and well done steak should feel like.

Laura picking out fabulous strips of fabric at the Alameda Flea Market - perfect fabric flower making material dontcha think?! Craft day girls!!!

This funny globe is now in my apartment (I haggled it down from 20 to 12 dollars - my bargain hunting mother would be proud!) - I've gotta little thing for maps - and as Kat pointed out, now I can play the globe game. You know, the game where you put your index finger on the globe and then spin it - and THEN fly to wherever the globe stops underneath your fingertip.

Oh and my other love affair is with bottles and jars - I bought two of 'em - one now holds a single pink rose and the other holds a little cluster of lavender :).

Kat is practically in an alphabet soup here! How fun is that?! She bought letters to spell out Bath :).