Category Archives: Dogs

Being a Host and Dinner Plans

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Hello Friends!

A few weeks ago my down-the-street neighbor Michelle from Tahoe came to visit me and my new little place. It was my first time hosting someone for the weekend, and she was the perfect person to host. It was kinda a busy weekend, but full of all great things for the two of us girls to enjoy. On Friday my friend Maryah came to visit me at my new school. She was my first visitor to ND and I felt so proud showing her the campus and my office and classrooms. I feel so lucky to work at a school that is so amazing, and values the arts. She brought me Starbucks, and it was the perfect start to a great weekend.

Maryah and I

Later that day, I had her and my friend Robert over for board games at the new place. We had tons of cheese and crackers and played Ticket to Ride, which is this ridiculously fun board game that I kinda want to play every weekend. #nerdlife

Game Night

On Saturday Michelle was my sous chef and we made a delicious dinner for my girls small group bible study from a few years ago. Most of us are a little more spread out (think Santa Cruz, Morgan Hill & Sunnyvale) so it’s just not easy for the 6 or so of us to meet up weekly like we used. I might have gone overboard on the appetizers, but they were all so good!
Girls Dinner Girls Dinner

Amy, Maryah & Brandy came up to my parents house for dinner. Reece’s was a great helper in the kitchen as well.

My cooking assistant

On Sunday Michelle and I had a low key day hanging out at my house, she helped me meal prep for the week. She was such a fun person to have around for the weekend, I hope she visits me again soon! (P.S Michelle, if you are reading this I hope year #2 at college is going well, and I can’t wait for more game nights in Tahoe at Christmas!)

Love,

-S

On My Radar

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Hello! We made it to Wednesday. This is my first full week of school with my kiddos, and so far it’s going great. There have just been so many good things going on lately with friends, family and work. These are recipes, videos and photos that have popped up on my screen lately.

 

Sparkling Strawberry Kiwi Sangria

I have a girls dinner that I’m just starting to plan for next month, and a friend passed this recipe along. I might have to make a test bath before my event! It looks delicious.

 

The Cinematic Age

A few friends have posted compilations of their wedding videos. I find them so touching and sweet. I found this one and love everything about it.

 

The Best of Tumblr: 

My best friend A sent me this super cute photograph of dogs holding tennis balls in their mouth, and this user has the best posting. I particularly love this one, but they have a lot of great things on their account.

 

Studio McGee

I’ve been following this brand on instagram and their blog for a while now, but they just started doing videos, and I’m hooked. They are both so cute, and their designs are impeccable. I would love to use them, if I ever buy a house. You can watch their first video here!

 

Olympic Commentary Fail

I have watched this so many times, and every time it cracks me up. This is typically my level of understanding of each sport I watch.

 

Hope your week is going well! Have any fun plans for the long weekend?

Love,

-S

 

Life Lately

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Girls Day at the Beach

So this is a few snaps from the last week! It’s only been one short week of summer, but I’ve packed a lot in.

Three beach days in one Week!
Sun Hats

A and I hitting up the beach on Tuesday. Sun hats are crucial to not ending up with a sunburnt nose!

Summer Sunsets

We’ve had some pretty amazing sunsets here in San Jose, and I tried to capture the gorgeous colors we got last week!

Capitola

We had a lovely mellow Father’s Day in Capitola with the whole fam (including the dog!) at a dog friendly beach, followed up by yummy food at Gayle’s Bakery.

How was your week? Do anything fun or summery?

Love,

-S

Snowy Days

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The day after Christmas my family and I drove up to Tahoe. We were blessed this year with a good amount of snow, so we were fairly excited to get in a good few days of skiing. The last three years have been what we call “brown Christmas’s” as in, there is no snow on the ground and we can see dirt for miles. Which is tragic.

This year, despite being in our fourth year of a drought, we had snow!! We visited our family friends a few days later and let the puppies have a glorious playdate running around in the snow. And then we tried out their new front loader, which was so. much. fun!

I drove this puppy down to the end of their drive-way, and now I want one! I have no need for it, but it was a beauty!

Love,

-S

Golfing in Arnold

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The weekend after school started my friend Kim and her boyfriend Aaron treated me to a decadent weekend in Arnold. Her Grandfather and mother have a family house in Arnold. Kim and I are long time friends, we met at our all girls preparatory middle school. Kim and I are both teachers, we love the T.V. show Suits, and are tight Snapchat buddies. In short, we have a ridiculous amount of fun together.

This summer we hung out a ton, and discussed Arnold. She had invited me to a weekend up there in middle school, and I haven’t been back since. She proposed a weekend getaway. We met up Friday after work, gassed up the SUV, put Cali the dog in the backseat with me as my snuggle-buddy, and hit the freeway.

Arnold 2015

Her Grandpa is amazing. He made so much yummy food, from pancakes before we went golfing (more on that later!) to hands down the best chicken teriyaki that I have ever had!

Arnold 2015

Saturday morning Kim, Aaron, Kim’s dad, and his best friend took me golfing. We ate tasty snacks, drank margaritas on ice, and they let me drive the golf-cart! It was gorgeous weather, nice and sunny without being too hot. The grounds were lovely, and everyone was so much fun about me not knowing all the rules. It was such a blast.

Arnold 2015 Arnold 2015 Arnold 2015

I wasn’t golfing, but I still had a great time thanks to great company and a beautiful course. Who knew golfing could be so fun Have you ever been nervous about something and found it more fun than you planned?

Love,

-S

Mountain Air

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A week before work started back up again, my brother and I went to Tahoe. Now, my brother and I exist on slightly different sleep schedules during summer. I, not using my alarm clock daily, and sleep in until 8 or 9 and stay up later (to the shocking time of 11 or thereabouts). My brother, who is usually roused by his rather large and rather noisy pup at the tune of 5am, has become an early riser.

So, on the weekend we went for Tahoe, my brother stated he would like me to get up and drive to Tahoe round 5am. I tried to negotiate, but I lost. Off we went.

On the plus side, we had a rather nice sunrise during our drive.

Sunrise

We met up with my father in Truckee where I ate what appeared to be the largest bowl of oatmeal.

Oatmeal

We were headed to see our good friends new house just outside of Truckee. They are nestled pretty deeply in the woods, and have a gorgeous backyard and beautiful mountain house.

Truckee Truckee

We grabbed the pup and took a walk up the hill behind their house. They have a great view of the backside of North Star. The pup promptly found the largest stick he could carry, and proceeded to bang it on every tree and rock on his hike up the mountain. I also got to see their adorable 2-story treehouse!

Tahoe 2015 Tahoe 2015 Tahoe 2015 Tahoe 2015

 

After our walk, we drove back to our house on the other side of the mountains. Tahoe is always so relaxing, full of tasty food, extra sleep, and lazy movie time. I’m hoping to get more Tahoe time this school-year, as it didn’t seem to happen often enough last year.

Where is your favorite place to relax and unwind?

Love,

-S

Summer Lovin’

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As much as I love my kiddos, I also realllllyyyy enjoy summer break off. This last year was particularly brutal as I barreled through working full time, night classes to finish up my Master’s, and completing my second year of … Continue reading →

On my Radar in December

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I think this should happen, like now.

College Textbooks- Image from Stumble

 [ Image from Stumble ]

Wouldn’t that be so cool? Think of how many people could be tons more successful if college textbooks were free.

All I want for Christmas is You

I’ve had this song basically on repeat for the whole week leading up to Christmas. Oxford University’s all male a cappella group called Out of the Blue is hands down amazing, and adorable.

Walter the Labrador

At a small italian villa, a Go-Pro was placed on a Labrador named Walter, and we watch as he races down the mountain towards the water.

A Curious Marmot 

Greenpeace set up a camera for a time-lapse video at Glacier National Park, that was disturbed by a tiny, cute, and very curious marmot

Sea of Shoes: Le Bal Des Debutantes

I stumbled across this amazing blog called Sea of Shoes, which is a fashion blog, and the author went to one of the premiere debutante balls in Paris in 2013. The photos, the dresses, the decorations, the girls, everything is divine! There’s tons more photos on her website if you follow the above link.

Lady Amelia Windsor

[ Above Photos from Sea of Shoes ]

I always find the best things on Stumble!

Love,

-S

Chili Cook-off, Gingerbread Houses and Christmas Trees

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On Saturday, we invited a few friends over to bake cookies and have a chili cook-off. We made two chili’s, a coworker of mine brought a white bean chili, and two family friends brought two other chili’s. We had two different types of cornbread, and enjoyed one tasty meal! We tasted all of them, and then voted. My dad’s house chili won hands down! I was so proud.

Our Chili Cook-off Group

Our Chili Cook-off Group

On Sunday we baked our family breakfast pastry, called Nuthorns. They are amazing. My brother and Roomie tackled making a gingerbread house to beat all houses. Being an engineer and math teacher, they created a structurally sound but still beautiful house.

 

We had a tasty dinner last night of raclette, and enjoyed dinner just as a family last night. Today we had aunts, friends and neighbors stop by to exchange presents. I lucked out this year! More on that later.

IMG_9541

Now we are preparing dinner for the group of us; honey mustard salad, grilled kebobs, potatoes au gratin, an onion grape  tarte, lemon sorbet and apple pie! I am looking forward to a yummy family dinner.

I hope everyone is enjoying time with their family, I know I am. We played lots of wii today, and hung out with four pups!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Love,

-S