the matt + margaret project

Random

2012-02-16T12:42:00.000-08:00

This post is completely random, but I was going through photos on my camera and saw these two and it reminded me of one of the funnest and cheesiest moments Margaret and I have had together.

We were in Sunnyvale over my winter break and were trying to find something to do. We went to Target because that seems to be our go-to place if we have nothing to do haha. The trip was short, so we sat in the car and talked about what we could do next. We ended up reclining our chairs and taking a nap with the sunroof open....in the Target parking lot!! We laughed about it pretty hard when we finally left, but it's these kinds of moments where you can make the most of such a simple situation.

Happy Valentine's Day ♥

2012-02-14T20:56:00.000-08:00

I feel like I have this endless affinity for love. I just love love. And I love holidays that celebrate love, even if they are completely over commercialized and make half the population want to either a) throw up everywhere, b) drink themselves into a coma, or c) sleep through the entire 24 hours (plus the 12 preceding and following) of v-day. But regardless, I don't care, because I love holidays and I especially love holidays filled with pink, hearts, and chocolate. I know I'm biased because I am in love but I can't help it. Plus Matt always gives me the best v-day cards :)

This year was a little bit of a downer, because we didn't get to spend actual Valentine's day together (hence why I am blogging while zillions of other lovey-dovey couples spend tons of money on overpriced romantic dinners and flowers). Actually, today was pretty awesome. I got chocolate, a Starbucks card, and Sprinkles at work, so I really shouldn't complain. Plus I got went on a great date with five of the coolest girls I know (thanks for making sure I wasn't feeling lonely guys....) and even got to sake bomb (they know the way to my heart). So overall, not the BEST valentine's day I've ever had, but definitely top 5 (Matt and I have only had 4 v-days together!!!).

Our actual Valentine's Day date was on Sunday night (well really I guess it was the whole weekend, because I flew down to spend it with my guy). So I guess I should tell you about my weekend... I got in really late on Friday night (it's not really worth saving $50 on a later-evening flight, because the anticipation was killing me!!) so Friday night was kind of a bust. But I got to hang out with Matt, so realistically...win-win. The next morning, we started off the day right with breakfast burritos from Fresh MXN; I swear if I could have a burrito soulmate, this would be it. This boy really knows how to make me smile. We spent most of Saturday hanging out with my best friend Amber and her new friend Ian (if you ever read this Ian, we are a huge fan). Let's just say we made up for lost time by hitting up 3 of SD's best breweries and catching up. Amber and I used to have ambermargaret days in high school, where our parents would call us in sick from school and we would spend the entire day watching movies, going to starbucks, and baking (yes our parents are awesome and yes we are awesome). This was like grown-up ambermargaret day with requested time off from work plus boys. Plus they even stuck around and went downtown with us. I gotta say, La Puerta is where it's at...we love this bar, especially when Matt's friend is working and offers us free tequila shots. Who could ever turn down free tequila? Overall, a great night with friends :)

On Sunday, Matt and I went to lunch with his roommate and pretty much spent the day in bed watching movies in his "cave" (which is actually just Matt's room with a blanket over the window). We watched 3!!!! movies that day. We did managed to squeeze in showers and got fancy for our Valentine's day date. He took me to this adorable Italian restaurant, La Dolce Vita. This place was so cute, very intimate and romantic and perfect for a regular date night or a off-day V-day. We loved it. Plus I'm pretty sure the waiters were ACTUALLY italian (surprise surprise). Of course, Matt's dinner was better than mine (which it always is) but I am lucky enough that he always shares with me! We topped off our night by watching The Vow (Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum). You know how I know I'm a lucky girl? Because even though Matt thinks Channing Tatum is the worst actor in the entire world (who is completely void of dramatic acting abilities), this loving boyfriend let me pick the movie! He actually even remotely enjoyed it...I think. I couldn't have asked for a better V-day, or a better boyfriend (ever). He is simply the best. PS if you were wondering, we also watched Contagion and the Joneses.

I don't think we actually took a picture together on Valentine's Day :(

On Monday, he had to go to class, so I slept in (of course). Then he picked me up and we went to breakfast at The Mission; we'd never been there before, but this place totally blew my mind. I had this awesome tortilla-egg-potato-green sauce thing and it was incredible. For some odd reason, I seem to have a passion for mexican breakfasts. Matt got blueberry pancakes....sometimes I wonder if we could be more different. The food was delicious and I highly recommend it if you are looking for a place for breakfast in San Diego (they have three locations). Afterwards, we decided to go for a nice bike ride along Mission Beach because it was beautiful outside (and because bike rentals were only $5/hour). Weirdly enough, a few hours after our bike ride, it started pouring. We finished off my last few hours in San Diego by going to Basic Pizza with some friends for happy hour and going to Extraordinary Desserts (for V-day part 2!) Nothing quite says Valentine's Day like paying $15 for a piece of chocolate cake. But so incredibly worth it. Plus we had a "gift certificate" for $20 bucks to Extraordinary Desserts from Matt's parents (as part of my graduation present that we finally put to good use). Yay!! Did I mention I love chocolate?

1 pm, followed by 3pm. the difference of two hours..

Anyways, I got kind of sniffly (and by that I mean I was bawling) when Matt finally dropped me off. Even though we spent lots of time together for our V-day, it still kind of sucks that we weren't together, when everyone else in the world is out there celebrating being in love and being with the one they love. But on the bright side, at least I had some great friends on my side.

i love you matt ♥

February Photo a Day - Matt

2012-02-09T18:13:00.000-08:00

Day 1: My view = work alllllll day

Day 2: Words

Day 3: Hands

Day 4: A stranger (I pushed this one off till late into the night so I took a moving shot of my neighbor haha)

Day 5: 10 o'clock (I missed it by 32 minutes)

Day 6: Dinner ( I ate the food so fast that I forgot to take a photo)

Day 7: Button

Day 8: Sun

Day 9: Front door (My house has an ugly one!)

Week 1 - February Photo a Day

2012-02-08T16:46:00.001-08:00

For the month of february, there's this thing going around on twitter/instagram called the February Photo a Day challenge. Matt and I decided that we wanted to participate, so here is our first week (plus 1 day) of our photos each day.

The Challenge

Day 1: My View (it's work)

Day 2: Words

Day 3: Hands

Day 4: A stranger

Day 5: 10am (the pancake machine)

Day 6: Dinner (actually this was my lunch but still)

Day 7: Buttons (I had to sew a button on before work)

Day 8: The Sun

Stay tuned for Matt's contributions

this song will probably be our first dance song

2012-01-27T19:31:00.001-08:00

even though we are hundreds (of thousands of thousands) of miles away from each other,

at the end of the day....

we got us.

ps i meant eventually. don't get your hopes up

Our Last Few Weeks...According to my iPhone

2012-01-17T21:29:00.000-08:00

Matt and the Munchkin

2012-01-11T19:30:00.000-08:00

Last last weekend, Matt and I hung out with my good friend, Marie and her son, Landon. Marie and I used to love going to the farmer's market, so on that beautiful (but chilly) Saturday morning, we decided to grab some coffee and walk around the farmer's market. It was Matt's second time ever hanging out with them, so of course Landon was kind of shy. But within 20 minutes, the four of us were running around the farmer's market acting like idiots, especially Matt and Landon. It was nice because I got to catch up with Marie, and Matt had fun because he was able to act like a kid (mind you, Landon is only one and a half, so I guess Matt was acting more like a toddler). We were able to sample lots of fruits (and lots of real food too, the hummus man is my fave!!). I think it must be because it's winter time, but the fruit didn't taste as spectacular as I remember. But we did score a free samosa (I bought two and the lady threw in an extra one for free!).

After we decided that we had had enough of the farmer's market (aka all the vendors started giving us mean looks for trying to snag more of their samples), we decided to head to Target, because no one loves Target more than Marie and I (and apparently Landon). This kid love the place. Marie had to ask him multiple times to get up and stop trying to lick the floor. Funniest thing ever. Plus we spent at least 20 minutes in the toy section. I could hear Matt mimicking Landon's babbling from 4 aisles away. Those two are probably going to be best buds some day.

I think the real plus was Landon opening his present at the end of the morning. What an excited kid he was!!

After hanging out with Marie and Landon, we grabbed some Philz Coffee (best coffee in the entire freaking world) with Brandon (Matt's brother) and his wife, Caitlin, and walked around downtown San Jose. What a great way to spend our last morning of 2011.

Winter Wonderland

2012-01-10T19:33:00.000-08:00

Margaret found a Groupon to attend the Winter Wonderland "festival" and we were very excited to check it out. It took place in the parking lot of the Great America theme park and had a very cool carnival type feel to it.

It is basically a bunch of neat light fixtures set up and everyone walks around and takes photos. Of course it would just be LAME for us to take simple photos with the lights. So as you will see below we definitely took the fun to whole other level: by impersonating many of the fixtures!

I don't know if we will do it again because it seems to be definitely geared towards a younger audience, but nonetheless, we had a BLAST!! Enjoy.

Entrance!

One of our only normal photos haha

Rowing the Boat

Fish?

Grrrrrrrrr

Rawr

I am...an idiot

Angry pig!

Failed attempt at "lifting" the bridge

Gooooooooo Niners

I so fat!

Peacock!....and cokes

Best looking fixture in my opinion

Jack Frost

Creepy (my face) Moon

"I have such a big body, and tiny little arms!"

Redeemer City Church

2012-01-09T19:38:00.000-08:00

Last night, we were part of something magical. We were part of a celebration, one celebrating the opening of a new church, Redeemer City Church. It was something that we were a part of last summer, we were there when this church met at the Wagners on Friday nights with 8 people and now this is a full fledged church meeting on Sunday night in San Francisco with over 50 people. It is incredible to see this happen, and I can definitely see God here with us.

Part of my new years resolution is to be a part of this, this church with these amazing wonderful people and this awesome God. And I have every intention of keeping this resolution. Though it's hard to go without Matt, I am just hoping I have the strength to keep going on my own. It's not that I can't do it, or I don't want to do it, but I guess as stupid as this sounds, these people and this church know us, Matt and Margaret. And now I think it's time for them to get to know me. It's just weird because these people are our "couple friends." All our other friends, they knew me and now they know Matt, or they knew Matt and now they know me. But these people, they know us. So it's hard to be there without Matt, but I have faith that (hopefully) they will still like me even when he's in San Diego!

We are so glad you are now here, Redeemer City Church, and we cannot wait to watch you flourish in this beautiful city we know and love, San Francisco.

Ugly Sweater Cal Train Pub Crawl

2011-12-26T14:36:00.000-08:00

After finals, Matt drove up to Sunnyvale to hang out with me for a few days before going home to Reno for Christmas. Let's just say we squeezed in as much as possible during our few days together (even though we may have missed a few events...aka horseback riding because we wanted to cuddle). But we did plan and partake in a crazzzyy ugly sweater cal train pub crawl. I know it's a lot to say. We met up with my coworkers, Courtney and Tyler, in Palo Alto and grabbed a few drinks in downtown PA (slider bar and madam Tam's). Slider bar had good food, but terrible service (at one point, matt and tyler had to walk up to bar to get drinks, and our waitress tried to seat them again because she forgot what they looked like). Madam Tam's had cheap pictures, plus awesome giants pints :) We had to rush to catch our 4:30 train to burlingame.

Did I mention the focus on ugly sweaters?

Tyler and Courtney!

Courtney, being prepared as always, handed out mimosas on the train...we are classy. In burlingame, we met up with more of my coworkers (Maddie and her bf, Brian, and Caroline and Mike) at Paddy Flynn's. This bar is irish beyond belief, but super fun. I think Matt really hit it off with all of my coworkers (which I'm thrilled about because they are all awesome. We left the bar at 7 to catch our train, but at the train station, we found out there was a 30 minute delay. Well....what better to do than hit up another bar and a donut shop? Which is exactly what we did. When we made it to SF finally (and much later than anticipated), we were all starving, so of course, we went to my favorite bar/restaurant, 21st Amendment for our final stop. This place has the world famous watermelon beer I love! Overall, this was one of the best bar crawls I have ever been on. Thanks to my wonderful friends for coming out and being a blast!

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-24T16:14:00.000-08:00

We hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful day celebrating Jesus, and one of my favorite days of the year. We know we are blessed with everything we have and we are grateful for all the wonderful and amazing people in our lives. Hopefully you are surrounded by as much love as we are.

merrychristmas

These are not our real Christmas cards (we don't do Christmas cards yet...) but it's fun to pretend!!

"I gave my kids a terrible Christmas present."

2011-12-18T23:42:00.001-08:00

Thanks Jimmy Kimmel.

"I like when you cook dinner...like hot pockets."

4 days!

2011-12-13T10:51:00.001-08:00

4 days and I will be in the loving arms of my girlfriend! I just have to get through this extremelyyyyyyy long day that is playing out to being 12 straight hours of intense work. I hope to find some breaks in there to keep my sanity, but this will be the final push for a majority of my school work so Im excited for it to be Wednesday already!!

I will be in Sunnyvale in...

2011-12-11T20:16:00.001-08:00

5 days!!!!!

Matt will be here in one week!

2011-12-09T21:51:00.001-08:00

I'm already counting down the days: 7!

Halloween in San Diego

2011-12-04T11:23:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: I know this post is over a month old, but I never got around to posting it.

It's practically tradition now for me to spend Halloween in San Diego (I mean I have spent the last 6 years there...and I only went to school for 4). But with Matt in San Diego, it's hard not to feel the pull of Southern California. I took a few days off of work to maximize my time with Matt (great idea!!). I flew in late on Thursday night and got to spend four glorious days with my favorite people (Matt + my sorority sistas!) on one of my favorite holidays. Who could complain?

On Friday, we hung out with our friend Brad, who works at Matt's favorite place ever, Stone Brewery. We grabbed some lunch at the restaurant and then Matt refilled his growler. It was a beautiful day in San Diego, maybe the best I've seen in a while. Perfect for a lunch outdoor with some great beer (his favorite, but not mine). Later that night, we had purchased tickets for the Jason Aldean concert at Cricket Ampitheater. I've been to country concerts before, but let me tell you, you don't know country til you've been to a Jason Aldean concert. I saw enough lifted trucks for the rest of my life (not to mention we followed truck waving a full-sized American flag to the concert). I love America, so do Jason Aldean fans. We made friends with a nice couple and played a game called washers. It's like corn hole, except you use washers. Fun game...too bad I lost one of the washers 5 minutes into the game. Luckily Matt found it :) Unfortunately, due to traffic, poor reception, and numerous other factors, most of our friends never found us. But the concert was still one of the best concerts I've ever been to. Chris Young, of course, looked incredible and sexy (even though he had yucky sweat stains). The concert was incredible. O fun story, I tried to sneak into the guys' bathroom because the line for the girls' bathroom was too long and I was going to pee myself, but they wouldn't let me in, so then I cut in line with a random woman. The wonders of making friends!

Beer lover

following the American flag
to a country concert....

we <3 flannel

On Saturday (at this point, I can't even remember...) I am pretty sure we didn't do anything. We hung out with his roommate and ran errands (I know, how exciting is it that I spent my Saturday running errands....) Anyways, later that night, we went to my favorite BBQ restaurant in San Diego, Bubba's Smokehouse BBQ (no, not Phil's). Let me just tell you how awesome this place is...they have the best BBQ sauce ever. Plus the owner of the place remembers us and told us it had been awhile since he'd seen us (great customer service). What a way to start our night. Later that night, we met up with our friends in downtown for our Halloween adventure!! I have to admit, bar hopping in downtown San Diego is wayyy more fun than going to a club down there. Plus I got to hang out with some of my favorite people!

On Sunday, we bummed around the house and strolled around pacific beach. We got some pizza slices at our favorite bar/pizza place Ciro's, which we love because they have over 10 beers on tap, and at least another 20 in bottles. You can't deny that I'm Matt's girlfriend right? Then we walked along the pier a little bit and took some pictures at the beach. Pretty standard. Later that night, we hit up Ocean Beach to see our good friends Laszlo and Feeney. I am so excited to see them for New Year's! They are part of the reason I miss SD so much (other than Matt....and good breakfast burritos).

Monday was my last day, and that went by pretty quickly (and of course, we went to Lucha Libre, because no san diego trip is complete without it). It's incredible how fast four days can go by, especially when you want them to last forever.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T15:14:00.000-08:00

This year (like last year) we are spending Thanksgiving with Matt's family. His family makes five turkeys...two for leftovers, three for Thanksgiving dinner, so clearly this was an easy decision. We are about to get tryptophan-ed out, so wish us luck! We just wanted to wish everyone a happy thanksgiving! Nothing makes for a better day than family, friends, turkey, food, drinking, football, Macy's Thanksgiving Parade (Congratulations to the Homestead cheer team and marching band...I saw you guys on TV. You make me so proud!!), and being together. Hope you guys are enjoying time with your loved ones and being as gluttonous as possible.

We are ready!!!!

hello pumpkin!

2011-10-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

Did you know halloween is definitely on my list of....top 3 holidays? I mean what better way to celebrate life than by dressing up in a ridiculous costume and gutting out a pumpkin :)

Can you guess what my pumpkin is supposed to be? I hope Matt and I carve pumpkins this weekend when I see him (hint hint hint hint hint). Because I just love halloweeeen :)

Beach Date with my best friend!

2011-10-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

My best friend Amber came to visit Matt and I a few weeks ago (or at this rate, maybe a few months ago). I think it was sometime in early September. She has been living in Irvine and working as a scribe while studying for the MCATs (she is pretty incredible). Anyways, she only had a few hours (since she was only home for a few days and usually spends all that time with her family) so we decided to take her to our favorite brewery, Social. We absolutely love this place. It has great food, and even better beer. For a penny, you can do a sampling of all their beers (usually there are like 6 beers). They were having a special for the weekend, $12 bucks for a cheeseburger, fries, and a large beer...so of course, we each ordered a special. The cheeseburgers were super delicious, and I picked the Big Lebowski beer because it tasted like coffee. If you live in SF, you have to try this Brewery (the Davidsons actually introduced it to us, which only makes us love it more!).

beer sampling

twins

cheers!

After we ate, we were struggling with ideas about what we should do. We were too full to eat dessert, so that was out of the question. But Matt came up with a great idea to go to the beach. For once, it was not foggy and cold, but it was actually like 70-75 degrees out. Best idea ever. It was beautiful out. Surfers catching waves, babies playing in the sand, couples jogging with their dogs...typical wonderful sunset at the beach (if we were in San Diego). Literally this was only the second time we've been to the beach (and the first time we didn't even touch the water because it was freezing). It makes me miss San Diego so much. We ran into the water fully clothed, in jeans/shorts/pants etc. and it was totally worth it getting soaked. This was probably one of our best nights in San Francisco.

sneak attack: he jumped in our picture.

the water was still pretty cold though...

Thanks for bringing the sunshine from So Cal with you, Bamber!

See you in five days, honey.

2011-10-22T21:45:00.001-07:00

Food Truck Dates

2011-10-17T19:50:00.000-07:00

So this summer, God blessed us with two wonderful awesome new friends, Jaleen and Russell Davidson. They are our married friends (we call them that because we really don't have that many married friends) who recently moved from SLO to San Francisco. And we think they are incredible!! I swear Matt and Russell are like the same person. They like to drink (and brew beer), they are both architects (well almost), and they both love to eat. Nothing brings friends together like food and beer. Jaleen and I were talking about how much I love food trucks one day, and I decided that we needed to experience Off the Grid, a food truck meet that travels throughout the city. We chose to go to the one in Haight Ashbury on Thursday nights (I know, whoever decided to wander the Haight at night is not the smartest cookie). Anyways, it was SPECTACULAR. Nothing brings people together like waiting in lines for food from trucks, scrambling to get four chairs together, and eating community food. Jaleen and I waited in line at supposedly the best food truck in SF called Señor Sisig. We got a burrito, because that's what everyone told us to get and it really was pretty amazing. The boys waited in line for "sexy fries" which turned out to be fries covered in indian curry, sounds interesting (and a little scary), but it was the BOMB. We even got these garlic noodles from this place that is supposed to be the best (and they were okay...probably cus they came from a truck). Plus then we got some cupcakes. I swear, this place is like a foodie's heaven. There is literally a little bit of everything. I heard that there was a bacon truck, but it wasn't there that week (did I mention that the trucks alternate? Different trucks come every week). I can't believe we waited until the very last week we lived in SF to go. Regardless I think it was a great way for us to end our summer....food, fun, laughs and good friends :)

There is a little bit of a lack of pictures (since we only had our phones and my iPhone doesn't have a flash), but Matt has a video of us talking about our favorite foods. Hopefully he will put it up.

"Hi I'm Russell and my favorite thing was.....sexy fries!!"

Date Wars: Matt's Date

2011-10-10T22:12:00.000-07:00

First, coming up with my date was quite a challenge. I had so many ideas running through my head and I simply wanted it to be perfect. Ultimately I decided on a date that I thought was awesome!! Here's how it went:

I returned from work and presented Margaret with two beautiful Gerber Daisy flowers (her favorite flower, mind you!).

We then proceeded to drive to dinner where I had window seat reservations at Grub. I picked this place for two reasons: 1) Margaret LOVES mac 'n' cheese, and 2) we came here once before and had an amazing experience. The food really hit the spot and I we were definitely enjoying our time together. I got the mac 'n' cheese with add-ons of bacon, sun dried tomatoes, and truffle oil. Let's just say that both of us would do terrible things to get our hands on a dish that good! Margaret got the chicken breast burger and it was definitely a solid combination for the mac 'n' cheese. We shared both dishes so we both had a little slice of heaven.

Dinner finally came to an end and we were on route to the main event: ice skating at the Yerba Buena Ice Skating rink!! Margaret has been ice skating before and I never have, but we have talked about ice skating for a REALLY long time. I thought it would be a really fun date to get out and do something that we have never done together before. We shared a ton of laughs when Margaret screamed every time she almost fell and at the times when I tried doing spins in the air. Let's just say that both of us had moments of getting on a personal level with the ice.

Great posture!

Triple mctwist with a perfect dismount and landing!

This was only one of two times that

I saw her fall. Not too shabby!

I win date wars because this picture is now
our blog's profile picture!

Dessert WAS planned but because of a few financial surprises with the date and our exhaustion from skating, we decided to forgo dessert and just get a really large coke instead. All in all, this was a very fun date and is something that I hope to do again with her!

San Francisco with the Evans

2011-10-10T19:50:00.000-07:00

The Sunday before Matt and I had to move out, his fam bam came to visit us in San Francisco. And you know what we love more than visitors in SF....doing tourist-y things with our visitors. Of course, being the awesome parents they are, Matt's parents (and his sister) let us drag them around our favorite parts of San Francisco. They arrived around 11am (they drove 8 hours back and forth just to hang out with us). When they got here, they were starving (just like the two of us waiting for them). We decided to take them to Fisherman's Wharf for bread bowls filled with chowder from Boudin. If you haven't been to Boudin...you're missing out. They practically invented sourdough bread. This place practically defines San Francisco for me. We decided to sit upstairs and it was such a beautiful day out. We had a great view of the ocean and the docks...very typical San Francisco without the fog (for once). We walked around Pier 39 because it is probably my favorite place ever. I know it's tourist-y and overpriced and loud and crazy (but how could you NOT love it?). We meandered through the stores a little bit and watched a magic show.

After walking off our bread bowls (kind of), we decided to go somewhere new. Don't laugh. Matt and I have never been to Ghiradelli Square. Seriously. For a girl who loves chocolate and a guy who loves being a tourist in San Francisco, I swear neither of us have ever been there. So what better way to top off an excellent day but with ooey gooey melting chocolate and creamy ice cream (I know I'm killing myself just thinking about it). Matt's mom was the only one who had ever been there before, so it was a treat for everyone. Matt's parents each finished their own Ghiradelli sundae...I am so incredibly impressed. Abby and I shared a sundae and Matt just got two scoops of cookie dough ice cream in a waffle cone (if this kid ever ordered anything but chocolate chip cookie dough, it might blow my mind). After that day, I am definitely a believer in the Ghiradelli difference. Matt and I will definitely be back. It might now be one of my favorite places in San Francisco :)

Date Wars: Margaret's Date

2011-10-10T19:27:00.001-07:00

I know our blog has pretty much missed out on the rest of our summer (but hopefully that means we have been having too much fun to blog). Sometimes (usually) this is true, but occasionally (the rest of the time) it's because I'm too lazy to get all my thoughts down (since I spend so much time in front of the computer at work...). Anyways, I think our last blog post talked about our date wars.

Well to remind you of the rules...

must be between 6-10pm
must spend under $50
must include dinner (if you cook dinner, $$ is not deducted from the $50)

Anyways, my date came first. I picked Thursday...because on Thursdays, at the California Academy of Sciences, they host Nightlife. Nightlife lets you into the Academy of Sciences (for only $12/person) to explore, drink, laugh, learn, etc. It's a museum + a fun theme. The week I picked (this was a selling point for me), the theme was Prohibition. We LOVE the Prohibition (because nothing makes you want a drink more than remembering that back then, it was like a game trying to get a cocktail). Plus everything from that era is so fun. They have better drinks (well at least more unique drinks) and everyone got to wear such spectacular clothing. Nothing says A+ date like dressing up :)

Because I was spending money on the tickets (and I wanted to be able to get us each at least one of the specialty drinks), I decided to make dinner. At the academy, they were serving a roasted pork dish (to go with the Prohibition theme) so of course, my first thought was....pulled pork! So on Wednesday overnight, I made my pulled pork in my crockpot (never thought you would hear that word again huh?). I came home in a rush on Thursday and heated up the pulled pork and lathered them onto buns. Then I served dinner with roasted potatoes and apple sauce. What's more prohibition than that? (I know...just about everything else). Anyways, as an added bonus, I decided to get us a little bit dressed up for the theme. We stopped by this great secondhand chain store in our neighborhood called Crossroads. This place has the best stuff. I know it's a little nerdy, but we had so much fun trying on "costumes." Unfortunately, I couldn't include Matt's vest and my dress in the date tab (so maybe I cheated a little bit), but you will not believe these finds. I told him his vest would have been great with a pageboy hat but he didn't believe me. I found this great simple black dress for $7. What a steal.

Anyways, we finally got to the Academy at 7, which was perfect. We snagged some tickets for the planetarium at 8:30 and then headed into the rainforest. If you haven't been to the Academy, I highly recommend it. I loved the rainforest. The best part is that you walk all the way up to the top and then take an elevator all the way down to the bottom to the underground aquarium. I don't know what it is...but I LOVE aquariums. It was so unique. And incredible. There were butterflies and birds and snakes and bugs (ok, that part isn't that cool) and then you see sharks and fish and everything. It's like being in a whole different world. I was in awe.

in the jungle...the mighty jungle...

adapting to our environment

blending in....

making friends with starfish

We grabbed a few drinks (one for each of us) and watched a demonstration of a bartender making a pisco sour. Everyone was so into the prohibition thing. I think any other week would not have been as magical. We walked around and explored the museum a little bit more until it was time for the planetarium show. I've seen a show in there before and it's cool...but there are cooler things at the Academy. Like the living roof. It was freezing outside (and it was dark), but you can just tell that the living roof is INCREDIBLE. I think it's one of the biggest living roofs in the country (correct me if I'm wrong). But it would be spectacular to see during the day.

hahahhahahah no words.

Honestly, this is one of the best dates I've ever been on (probably because I'm such an excellent planner). But it was just a new experience for us. I picked it because we walked through Golden Gate Park one day and Matt was yapping about how cool it would be to go in there, so I think it was perfect for our date. Definitely one of the best ways to spend our last few weeks in San Francisco.

Hopefully Matt had as much fun as I did :)

date wars

2011-09-17T21:33:00.000-07:00

matt has two weeks left in san francisco. so the next two wednesdays, we are having date wars. i am planning our first date on next wednesday and he is planning our second date the wednesday after that. i know we don't have that many followers, but hopefully you guys participate. we are going to post our dates afterwards and we want you guys to vote for the best date idea (which will be MINE!!!). winner pays for a third (and probably final date for a while).

hopefully his date knocks my socks off (because that will be a pretty sweet date). wish us luck!!!!!

beer brewing

2011-09-05T22:32:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday, Margaret and I had Russell and Jaleen over to brew my first batch of beer ever!! I am very excited to say that in approximately 4 weeks I will be drinking my home made IPA that I have named Evy's Black Cap IPA. The process took about 3 hours altogether and was extremely nerve wracking only because it was my first time brewing.

The whole night was a lot of fun. Russell and I were totally involved with the brewing process while Margaret and Jaleen were obsessing over their Kindles. We kept Jaleen and Russell up pretty late but I can safely say that I wouldn't have been nearly as comfortable brewing if Russell wasn't there. He's a seasoned veteran when it comes to home made brewing.

Friends!

Straining the wort

I love hoppy beers

Anyway, the beer is sitting idly in a corner for the next two weeks until it will be ready to be bottled. I can't wait to see how it is going to turn out!

walk around the neighborhood (testing out the new camera)

2011-08-29T22:46:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased a Canon T2i DSLR camera and am really excited about it! I've been wanting a quality camera for a while and love taking photos with it. I know that it is going to benefit in more ways than the simple pleasure in taking random photos. We will definitely be taking more photos before the end of the summer and I am very excited for that!

These photos were on the day after I got the camera. We had a spontaneous walk out around our street because it was so sunny. However, the fog rolled in quick so our trip was short lived. I think I still got some pretty good photos. Click on the photos and you can get a better picture quality. Enjoy!

She brings a whole new level to the word: Beautiful.

Excited to live here obviously!

We like wine

This cool detail only comes out nice because of the camera

Awesome details!

Happy Birthday Abby!

2011-08-07T18:52:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Matt's younger siblings, Abby and Josh came out to visit us. Abby was turning 17 on Monday, so they came out to SF to visit us and go to the giants game. When they got here (two hours laters than we anticipated), the first thing they told us was that they were starving. So we asked them what they wanted to eat....and we expected a "I don't know" or a "I don't care" but Abby blurted out, what about deep dish pizza? So we tried this Chicago-style pizza chain called Patxi's, the one in Hayes Valley. I think Hayes Valley is known as a trendy mini shopping area. Cute ritzy stores. Good food. Patxi's pizza....is awesome. We were starving, so we ordered a lunch special (pizza slice + salad + soda) and a large pizza. Josh was so hungry, he practically licked his salad plate clean (best salad ever). And the waiter gave us an extra slice of pizza because we had to wait a little longer (since someone else took our slice). Overall, a great experience (plus the giants game was on).

After eating, we decided to walk around a little in Haight Ashbury. They had never been there before, so of course, they had to experience the one place where it's practically cool to be homeless. I was on the hunt for a new pair of Toms, and Josh was on the hunt for some new sunglasses. We stopped in pretty much every store that sold sunglasses for 10 bucks. But Josh couldn't find anything!! We did check out some cool shops and met some interesting people. Nothing like a good dose of Haight Ashbury to get you acquainted with San Francisco. We also took them into Amoeba Records, the world's largest independent record store. It's just cool to see all the records/cds/tapes and learning about this place's history. There are also a ton of stores that sell giants apparel. Awesome.

Haight Ashbury sign!

After eating and shopping and people watching, we decided we wanted some ice cream!! Abby had looked up this place called Bi-Rite Creamery in the Mission. It turns out that Bi-Rite Creamery is also on the Big Eat SF List so of course we had to go. There was a long line and we must have waited at least 20 minutes, but I think it was worth it. Matt got the trifecta ice cream trio, which included the flavor on the Big Eat SF List, salted caramel. For the most part, I think it's a really great flavor and it's yummy, but it wouldn't be my cup of tea all the time. It's definitely worth trying once though. I ordered the balsamic strawberry-vanilla swirl soft serve...and it was the BOMB! I love soft serve ice cream, so I'd probably be just as excited about McDonald's soft serve ice cream. We walked up to Mission Dolores Park and took some pictures of the awesome view of the city. But it was getting dark...which means time to get out of the Dolores Park (pretty sure it's a major hang out for druggies and dealers...uh-oh). For some reason, Matt was craving coffee (weird right?) and so we stopped at Philz Coffee. Yes I am embarrassed about how much eating we did that day. Philz is awesome. They individually brew each cup of glorious coffee. It's definitely a little bit more $$$ but well worth it if you're looking for a coffee treat. Plus they were closing and kind of rushing us out, so they gave us some free donuts because they felt bad. Good customer service...well good save anyway. Afterwards, we were too tired to do much, so we just came back to the house and hung out.

On Sunday, we tried a new place for breakfast called Howard's Cafe. The food was pretty good and decently priced. We picked Howard's because it was the only place with a tv and the giants game was already on at 10 in the morning. We'll probably be back. Looks like it's been around for a long time, so they must be doing something right. Afterwards, we took the N-line to Union Square to the Ferry Building. Abby was super excited because it was her first time riding public transportation!

first time riding the muni!!!

We walked around a little bit in that area because there was a really cool waterfall water structure. Sunday morning was also the day of the SF Marathon, and there were tons of people at the Ferry Building who had just finished up their 26.2 miles. Very busy. We tried to take the cute little bus to Fisherman's Wharf but we ended up going the wrong direction. Worked out for me though because I stopped in forever 21 and bought a pair of sunglasses. We finally took the right bus to Pier 39 and walked around the shops in that area. I think Pier 39 might be one of my favorite places in SF. There were a lot of seals out that day, making their crazy seal sounds. Matt and I totally pretended to be seals and made embarrassingly loud seal sounds. It was awesome. We also saw a magic show because there was a magician performing for "free." I think from now on, whenever I go to Pier 39, I will just put 10 dollars aside to pass out to worthy street performers. We tried on some hats in the hat store, played around in the left-handed store, bought some salt water taffy, and grabbed some coffee. Being a Sunday afternoon, it was super crowded. We walked through Fisherman's Wharf a little bit and saw a group of guys break dancing for a crowd. We also saw some pretty lame silver/gold "robot" men. I've seen some pretty good ones, so these guys were just mediocre. Abby really wanted to see the "bush man" who hides behind a fake bush and pops out at unsuspecting tourists, but apparently he was taking a break. Sad :( We meandered through North Beach, finally making our way to Chinatown, the neighborhood that I think Josh and Abby were most excited for.

seals and alcatraz!!!

magic show. yes he is throwing knives.

trying on hats. best place on pier 39!

i wanted to buy everything!

we love america!!

break dancers!

We walked around and stopped at all the stereotypical Chinatown shops. Josh bought some fake Ray-Bans finally, so at least he was successful in his shopping. We stopped in our favorite Chinese restaurant, Snow Garden, where we had last gone with Amber and David before a Giants game. I think I like this place so much because the food is super cheap and the people are really nice. Plus there were other white folks there (and the inside of the restaurant is orange...and who doesn't love orange walls!!). We got some chow mein, orange chicken, mongolian beef, and some potstickers. Overall, big success! Abby said they were the best potstickers she had ever had! I think the highlight of our trip was Matt's purchase: this man bought a fanny pack. No joke (I wish I were kidding). He also bought an alcatraz shirt in anticipation of our trip to alcatraz in August. He plans on bringing a camera and wearing his fanny pack. Embarrassing I know.

he's so cultured.

we're not tourists...

we don't monkey around!!

Nothing quite says tourist-y like Chinatown. After all the neighborhoods we had perused (did you lose count...i did), the kids were tired and we headed home. Quite a crazy weekend. So much that on Monday morning, I was almost late to work after waking up 20 minutes before I had to leave. Too much partying ;) just kidding parents.

Today was a whirlwind

2011-08-04T20:54:00.000-07:00

I'm a little too tired to blog about our weekend (I know I'm so far behind) but today was just one of those days. At work, I spent 6 hours working on a project, and I feel like I've barely made a dent. Speaking of which, today was the worst day on Wall Street since the 2008 financial crisis. Can I get a "uh-oh". Things were a little hectic at work today (a lot of tense financial advisors). And I realized that I forgot to order printer ink, so one of the printers was inkless for the day (I'm sure they all blame me and think I'm an idiot). It was just such a whatever borderline awful day. But I did get to hang out with my friend Nicole. We grabbed some much needed drinks. Afterwards, I came home to this:

I'm not really sure what I would do without this guy. He is the best. And he knows how to make me smile. He said I needed them cus I was having a crappy day (and the poor kid is battling a cold). I lovelovelove him so much.

another one bites the dust

2011-08-03T17:07:00.000-07:00

So we've been to the Taco Shop at Underdog's before because we found it on yelp looking for a place to watch the giants game. The first time we went, we LOVED it. 5 dollars for a tecate and a shot of tequila. Plus they have a good street taco combo. My favorite was the carnitas one. Well, we just recently found out that it's on the Big Eat SF list! Apparently, their tacos "Nick's Way" made the cut. So needless to say, we had to go back (granted we had already decided we loved it and would go back anyways). Well, we went on taco tuesday (because we LOVE taco tuesday). And the best part.....we got to sit on a pac man machine. Awesome. Like our table was the pac man game. I ordered a carnitas taco Nick's Way...which essentially is a loaded taco (with beans, guac, meat, cheese, etc) but with a soft and a hard shell. Can anyone say gordita? Yah!!! Anyways, the taco was DELICIOUS. I highly recommend this place to anyone needing a good taco fix. Plus two dollar tecates and a place to watch the giants game? Well worth the wait!!!

Anyways, that's another thing to cross off the list :) Stay tuned for pictures

our "wasssuppp san francisco" weekend

2011-07-27T22:41:00.000-07:00

Soooo we decided we are not only going to try and conquer the 2010 Big Eat SF list, but we are also going to try and hit up as many cool neighborhoods in san francisco as we possibly can. we are going to call this the "wassup san francisco" challenge. we want to spend as much time possible getting to know the coolest city in the world. and that is exactly what we did this weekend.

On friday, matt's oldest brother was coming into town, so we decided to spend some time with him (his name is brandon). Brandon is currently in seminary school in Reno and he is "learning" to be a future pastor (sounds like a pretty awesome gig). He is part of something big...he is trying to help start up a church in San Francisco. It's awesome. On Fridays, he drives up from Reno to participate in the weekly meetings geared towards starting up the church. The meetings are at 7 on Fridays (at a local pastor's apartment), so we graciously accepted Brandon's invitation to join the party. Before we met up with them, we decided to try this awesome organic hot dog place in our neighborhood, Underdog. This place is totally mellow, like straight out of Berkeley "mellow." The hot dogs are a little bit pricier (they run about 4-5 bucks, but hey it's all organic...even the ketchup!). Anyways, Matt tried the bratwurst, and I decided to try the chicken apple sausage. This place is delicious. I love hot dogs, so I honestly am not super picky when it comes to these glorious pieces of meat. The bratwurst was definitely up Matt's alley, and he topped it with some onions, ketchup, mustard, and a little bit of sauerkraut. I wanted to spice up my chicken apple sausage, so I added relish, ketchup, mustard, some deli mustard, and even some sauerkraut. I am a huge fan of this place. At the end of the day, I don't think it tops costco's $1.50 dogs (plus soda), but I'm pretty sure very little in the world can top them. After our delicious dinner, we drove over to UCSF and attended the small group. You know, to be in a place where people love Jesus as much as these people do and are truly driven to do something big (well as big as starting a church) in a city as big as SF...it's incredible. The people were super nice and just welcoming. I know that sounds like every church, but these guys are welcoming, fun, and just overall cool. I think we will definitely be back next weekend...even though Brandon tricked us and didn't tell us that we were going to be filmed for a documentary about the SF lifestyle. Yes it was totally nerve-wracking being in front of a camera, but I guess if we had to do it for something, at least it was for Jesus. Honestly, as nerdy as it sounds, it was a really awesome way to spend Friday night. After the small group, we decided to go to a hookah lounge in our neighborhood called Old Jerusalem Cafe. They guarantee it's the smoothest hookah you've ever had, or you get another one. I don't know that I agree with that (especially since they made us order two hookahs since we had more than 3 people...Brandon brought a friend) but it was still a fun experience. I haven't hookah-ed in ages, so it was fun to do (and it inspired us to buy a hookah later this weekend....wait just a little bit longer to here about that). Plus they had a really good chai. Yum. Fun Friday night :)

On Saturday, we bid farewell to Brandon and his friend, Andrew. Matt and I had decided in advance that this would be a great day to explore SF. We took the N-line (which is kind of like a train/lightrail in the city) to Union Square. We did a little shopping...because that is the best type of thing to do in Union Square. He bought a cute zip up from Gap. We enjoyed watching people participate in a Special Olympics fundraiser....called Over the Edge, where participants climbed down the side of the Hilton. It was pretty sweet and very uplifting.

Afterwards, we walked upwards toward Chinatown. For some reason, I'm the chinese one, but Matt is the one that LOVES chinatown. No joke...this kid talks about it ALL THE TIME. I think it's because last time we went, he got bomb chinese food and bought like 3 t-shirts for 2 bucks a pop. I love Chinatown. It's just full of tourists and all these asian people giving the tourists funny looks. Plus everything is so cheap. I bought an orange scarf (guess where I am going to wear that) for only 4 bucks. We bought some mangos because they looked so delicious it would have been impossible to pass up. And as we were walking through exploring, it turned out that there was a parade today. I think it was supposed to spread awareness about oppression in China, and it was fun to watch the people walking through the streets chanting and the band following close behind them. It's not a good day in chinatown until you see a parade and/or festival. We thought about getting food in Chinatown, but for once in his life, Matt wasn't feeling chinese food. We also tried to get some egg custard tarts from the Golden Gate Bakery, but as you can see...they were on vacation.

We also stopped in a bookstore called City Lights. It's the first business in San Francisco to be named a historical landmark (most landmarks are famous because of the building, not what's inside). I know it's super famous, but I actually need to be enlightened on why it is super famous...so if you know, let me know :)

So we just kept walking...to North Beach. For those of you who don't know, North Beach is essentially San Francisco's Little Italy. If you are looking for some authentic pasta, this is where you need to go. There are little shops filled with cheeses, wines, bread, etc. Everything italian you could possibly think of. Plus tons of cafes (where you can get your cappuccinos!) and lots of pizza and pasta restaurants. Sounds like my kind of place. I love it here. We tried to decide on one italian restaurant, but honestly, unless you do some research beforehand, it's hard to pick one. So we decided to do something a little more interesting. We chose a restaurant called The Stinking Rose....their tagline is "We season our garlic with food." Yes this restaurant is entirely catered towards garlic. Honestly, it sounded like fun, because they had bagna calda (which is this dish matt has been telling me about for ages), but at the end of the day, I think I'm the kind of girl who can only eat so much garlic before I want to puke and die. Don't get me wrong, the food is delicious. We weren't very hungry, so we just ordered the appetizer bagna calda, which is essentially garlic cloves marinaded and cooked in butter, olive oil, and a hint of anchovies and herbs. Yes it sounds weird, but Matt has raved about it forever. What I did love at TSR is their foccacia and free pesto. The foccacia is maybe the best bread ever. Anyways, I think this is one of those places that you can go to only if you love reeking of garlic (and also having garlic leak out of your pores afterwards). I can see why people love it, it's quite the experience, but not so much for me. After our garlic-ky meal, we decided to head home.

Z Cioccolato candy store in North Beach

We stopped in Levi's to say hi to Matt's friend, Laith, who works there. After all that walking we were pooped. After our Muni ride home, we passed out for 3 hours in the middle of the afternoon. Sometimes I think we are 4-year olds sitting around waiting for naptime. When we woke up, we cooked up some dinner and stopped in the Haight Ashbury district to buy a hookah. After our hookah session the night before, Matt made up his mind to buy one of his own. I love Haight Ashbury. It's just such a fascinating area. Matt had a conversation with a homeless man who convinced Matt that he was a better rapper than Eminem....see what I mean about this place having personality? It's amazing.

Later that night, we decided to see Captain America. OMG. BEST SUPER HEROOOO EVER. Honestly, watching that movie made me proud to be an American...and thankful for super heroes in the world :) Five stars in my book. And if you decide to watch the movie, make sure you stay until the VERY end. You will not regret it!!!! In case you can't tell, we had a GREAT saturday.

On Sunday, we headed home to Sunnyvale. I think my mom has missed us a lot, so I'm glad we stopped by to hang out with her and my brother. We went to target and did our weekly shopping (for the record, target is much cheaper in sunnyvale than in sf...weird). Then we kicked it poolside. My mom took us to dinner and made us tons of food to take back with us...she is the best mom ever. We have "leftovers" galore and I pretty much don't have to cook all week. Plus we have lunch! awesome. Anyways, it was a perfect relaxing sunday...exactly what we needed.

last weekend...

2011-07-18T23:11:00.000-07:00

we saw harry potter!! and it was glorious. i can't even begin to describe how i feel. it's like suddenly growing up overnight (actually, in 2 hours to be exact). i know i'm 23 (and really have been an adult for 5 years now) but seriously, my childhood just ended. but good news. for once in my life, i didn't cry. seriously. because i'm such a movie crier. it's incredible. i almost cried. it was that good. the movie definitely did it justice (though it did cut out some big details that I would have loved to see). let's be serious. this movie is epic. and i'm pretty sure it had the biggest movie opening...ever in the history of the world. bravo harry (and ron and hermione...and let's give a big what's up to neville, because he is pretty cute in real life). anyways, to tell you the truth, i will probably see it at least once (or twice) more in theaters. actually, i could go for a harry marathon.

harry (and even voldy). it was great knowing you. thanks for the good memories!

yes we are those people.

it all ends tonight (well tomorrow for us)

2011-07-14T18:15:00.000-07:00

and by it i mean my childhood. ϟ

birthday girl!!!!

2011-07-13T22:15:00.000-07:00

yes. i am referring to myself. happy birthday to me!!!! actually it was yesterday. but throughout the day yesterday, i realized how awesome the people in my life are. let me just recap my 23rd (and maybe best) birthday for you.

I woke up to this guy making me breakfast before work. the poor kid woke up an hour earlier than usual just to make me eggs and toast. what a cutie. plus he got me this sweet watch. best boyfriend ever.

when i got to work, my desk was littered with stuff. and by stuff i mean a confetti tree, a balloon, some cards, and eventually flowers. this is my first time working on my birthday (this means that i'm officially part of the real world...working on your birthday tsk tsk). anyways, it was awesome. pretty much everyone said happy birthday to me at work. one of my co-workers bought me breakfast at my desk (pancakes!) and then my financial advisor took me to lunch. amazing. and after lunch, they got me TWO CAKES, one red velvet from nothing bundt cakes and another red velvet cake (good thing i like red velvet!!). i gotta say...if birthdays are always this fun at work....well i'm totally down to work on my birthday.

when i got home, i found a dozen sprinkles cupcakes on my doorstep....courtesy of the faboosh meghan. thanks girl. you know the way to my heart. even though you are 259073719384 miles away, you know how to make my birthday rock.

my small birthday dinner turned into a big friend fest. some of my closest friends drove up to have pizza with us. OOOO! we went to little star which is on the foodie list! we tried the little star pizza of course because it's the actual one on the list. it was delicious. i just love pizza. and vinitha baked me the most fabulous looking cake in the world. it's shaped like a giants hat :) she knows me so well. Afterwards, we grabbed a few drinks but pretty much kept it low key. that's how you know you're 23. ick. getting home before 11 on your birthday. but i was exhausted from being so damn happy all day. i would say that i had the most fantastic day ever.

and today (not even my birthday), i came home from work and found these beautiful flowers from my favorite one year old. thanks landon :) (and marie). who knew that he knew how to order flowers from 1800flowers. he's such a gifted child.

anyways, i'm pretty sure i gained like 10 pounds from eating (mostly cake) in the past 24 hours. but it's my birthday, so if i say let them eat cake, then let them eat cake (and by them, i mean me).

so......i just wanted to give a big thank you to everyone who contributed to my awesome birthday (i know i've said awesome like 12 times already). you guys are the best, including everyone that blew up my facebook! thank you everybody :)

BIG NEWS!

2011-07-10T21:44:00.000-07:00

So remember how I told you that Matt and I had big news and we were waiting for something before we were going to let you all know. Well....we're ready. Here goes.

matt moved to san francisco for the summer and we got our own apartment together. and he is pretty much working his dream job right now.

i know. sometimes i can't believe it either. we are living in the sunset district in an in-law unit that is HUGE and beautiful and quaint. our landlord is awesome (and told us we could pick her vegetables if we wanted fresh produce). we have our own room, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. I will post pictures as soon as matt gets them uploaded. isn't it incredible? we are like real people. we cook, we clean, we lounge...it's awesome. if any of our friends want to visit, this is your official invitation to come over. we have LOTS of room (who would have thought I would ever be able to say that in san francisco).

the living room:

the bedroom:

the bathroom:

the kitchen:

our street:

Moving on...matt is working at backen, gillam and kroeger architects. His official title is architectural intern, but he gets to do all sorts of neat stuff around the office, like check out some really cool architecture drawings (and pack them into boxes), run office errands (where he spent 70 bucks on creamer one time) and even drive the boss man's BMW around to get it gassed and washed. plus he is around architectural geniuses day and night. and they are practically over the moon to have an awesome an intern as matt. pretty much win win all around.

matt's new commute to work

his new place of employment in sausalito, ca

we are pretty much living the dream right now. plus we live in a neighborhood that's beautiful and cold and foggy but wonderful. tonight, we made dinner, cleaned the house, packed lunches for tomorrow, did the laundry, and even went for a nice evening walk around the neighborhood. i love it here. plus there is soooo much great food around here :) and i get to be with matt all the time!! quite the change from our recent year, but definitely worth the wait (even if it means i have to get up earlier for work because i have a longer drive).

also, we decided we are going to do this challenge. it's called the 100 best things to eat in san francisco before you die. we are going to try and knock it outta the park. if you remember, we started this blog two years ago because we made a list of things we wanted to do. well....here we go again. wish us luck!!!

so to give you an update on our week....we moved in on monday (unfortunately, we were too tired to have any big 4th of july plans). we did see a couple fireworks from our window. we have a pretty good view! on tuesday, we went to matt's first giants game of the season with my company. go morgan stanley! we pretty much paid 4 bucks for a hot chocolate and that's it. the tickets were free, the hot dogs were free, and the beer was free. matt got to come because we had extra tickets. we also learned that the n-line lightrail drops us off directly in front of the 2nd street and king entrance, and the stop is one block away from our house. best news ever. we are sooooo hooked on this place. of course, wednesday my entire office was exhausted because the game didn't end until 10ish. but it was worth it. my company peeps are really cool! thanks morgan stanley.

look how close we were to amy g!!

wednesday night was pretty low key. we made dinner, went to target in emeryville (it's right next to oakland lol) and picked up a free boxspring for our room. awesome. nothing is better than free ninety nine. anyways, on thursday...guess where we went. AT&T PARK. again. since matt cain finally hit the 1000 strikeout mark, tickets were ten bucks (and since we hadn't expected matt to come on tuesday), we had bought these tickets a week ago. i love at&t park...especially with good friends (thanks for coming nicole, lunani, david and jp). it was well worth being tired the next day (even though the game ended at 9:30, we didn't get home til 11 because the muni lightrail delayed for almost half an hour).

the view from the bay bridge (coming back from berk)

finally it was friday. i love fridays. congrats surviving your first week of working matty. on friday we drove up to sunnyvale and hung out with my mom and brother (since matt didn't really spend that much time with them on monday since we were in a hurry to move in). we went to dinner at this mongolian bbq place (which had free ice cream yay) and watched the giants game. we went to bed super early on friday night....guess we can't rage like we used to. those were the good ol days ;) on saturday, we ran a couple errands (picked up my bday present from the post office, drove my brother around, went to the sunnyvale farmers market) and went to the mall. got some cool stufff. always a good time. and last night we went out with a couple of my friends.

sunnyvale farmer's market

my new birthday present!!

our new super embarassing
but awesome shoes

anyways, i think i need to stop blogging for tonight. i'm exhausted. but have a good week everybody!

ps it's my birthday on tuesday :)

skype fail!

2011-06-27T23:05:00.000-07:00

Margaret and I tried to Skype tonight but it failed miserably because her internet connection was bad. Im extremely angry at this because I didn't get to capture any solid facial expressions. I guess you'll have to settle with this older gallery of photos. Enjoy!!

what is love?

2011-06-17T21:32:00.000-07:00

This is the cutest thing I have ever seen. Kids say the darndest things. Look at what some of them said when asked "What is love?"

"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French Fries without making them give you any of theirs." --Chrissy, age 6

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday." --Noelle, age 7

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day." --Mary Ann, age 4

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth." --Billy, age 4

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired." --Terri, age 4

Lifedates (aka Life Updates)

2011-06-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

We are NOT avoiding our blog. I promise. We are actually waiting on some news (that is taking a lot longer than expected) hence the blogging hiatus (except for Matt's cute post dedicated to my photography). I can't tell you what we're waiting for...because we don't want to jinx it (knock on wood). But I will give you a few other lifedates (or life-updates...cute right?)

Work: I am finishing up my FOURTH week of work at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. Incredible. I actually am really enjoying working there. Everyone is really great and it's just a different environment for me. So far so good. Plus I got MY FIRST FULL-TIME PAYCHECK. yowsers. too bad I have already spent half of it paying off my credit card for all the new work clothes I bought. Part of doing well at work is looking good at work, right? Please just agree with me so I feel better.

School: Matt is all done with his class finals and is finishing up with studio. He should be done next tuesday, so send him positive vibes to get him through this! If you're reading this (which I know you will) I love you and you will be awesome. YOU ARE ALMOST DONE with third year. Crazy.

Amber McCormick: graduated from UC Irvine. Girl got her degreeee. Congrats :) I love youuu!

Kery (Bro-sef): finished up his first year of college. EVEN CRAZIER. Good job brothhaaa. Proud of you.

Graduation: I graduated ONE YEAR AGO. Isn't that insane? I'm turning 23 in a little under a month. Another scary thought. What is going on? Where is all the time going? I feel like one of those blubbering moms thinking...omg where did all the time go? How did my baby grow up so fast, except that I am the baby? I don't know. I am blubbering now. But maybe you understand what I'm trying to say?

Anyways, tomorrow i'm kicking it poolside and working on my tan. I love summer.

margaret is so talented!

2011-06-12T17:42:00.000-07:00

I know these pictures don't really do her justice, but Margaret is a wonderful photographer and I just wanted to share with you a taste of what she can do. Im really excited to see the actual prints. Enjoy!

The Fray Concert!

2011-05-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

Guess who's HERE!?!?!?!?

THAT GUY!

Matt arrived yesterday afternoon via SFO and I picked him up! We had big plans....Fray Concert at the Fillmore!! A couple weeks ago, I met up with this random dude from Craigslist (haha this sounds so sketchy) and bought two tickets to this concert....because Matt LOVES THE FRAY (actually this is like the understatement of the year. He loves the fray like i love taylor swift). Anyways, we decided to meet up with my friend Nicole for some drinks in San Francisco. We were on our way to 21st amendment, when we stumbled upon this cute Mexican restaurant, Maya. They had two dollar tacos (and 21st doesn't really have happy hour), so we decided to stop here. The tacos here....are small, but DELICIOUS. We recommend eating here :) Afterwards, we decided to head over to the Fillmore area. We found out that the doors weren't opening until 8 (and it was only 7:30), so of course we decided to eat and drink some more. We found a cute restaurant called Rassela's that turned out to be a jazz club that served Ethiopian food (I know, random) and stopped there because they had the Giants game on. Good decision. They had yummy chicken wings. We finished watching the rest of the Giants game (great win by lincecum. Welcome to the majors Brandon Crawford!! Grand slam baby) and finally decided it was time to go into the Fillmore. It's beautiful there. Walking through the hallways....there are hundreds of photos of famous musicians who have performed at the Fillmore in the past. This place has so much history and it's the best venue ever. It's known for its intimate setting, which really allows concert goers and the bands to really interact. It's amazing. For the fray, it was like a big open room where everyone stood and rocked out with the band. The Fray is such an amazing band (this is our second time seeing them) and they never cease to impress with their live performances. They started off with a new song and went straight into Over My Head. They played all their greatest songs, How to Save a Life, Happiness, Syndicate, All At Once....and they played at least 4-5 new songs. They even dedicated to Justin Bieber!!!! It was Never Say Never. Haha appropriate. Their dedication only made me love them more :) It really was the best concert experience I've ever had. Plus Isaac, the lead singer, parted the crowd and walked through the crowd high-fiving people. It was AWESOME. And it was Isaac's birthday 18 hours before, so we tried to start a happy birthday song with the people around us, but it didn't catch on :( Anyways, I'm excited for the Fray's new music to come out....and even more excited to go to more concerts at the Fillmore!!

sooooooo excited!!!

2011-05-27T10:47:00.000-07:00

I get to see this very attractive human being TODAYYYYYYYY!!!!!! and ALL WEEKEND LONG!!!!!

Parachute is our new favorite band!!

2011-05-23T21:46:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have heard of the band Parachute. They sing that song "She is Love." Probably the most well known song they have. Matt and I discovered them this weekend. Well I found them a couple of week's ago, because they came out with a new song that I love called "Kiss Me Slowly." But Matt found a free song of theirs, "What I Know" on iTunes and decided to download it. He loved it, so he told me to download it. So I did. And I loved it. Which made me browse through their new CD, The Way It Was. This CD is awesome. My absolute favorite song on their cd is called "Forever and Always." It's really sad, but it is just beautiful. I almost cried (actually I did) the first time I heard it. It's that good. Buy this song. Heck buy the whole CD.

Here it is:

i want you forever and always.

this song is sad but SOOOOO GOOOOOOOD!!

Get Your Tissues Out For This One.

2011-05-21T01:33:00.000-07:00

Remember when I used to post commercials that I love??? Well, get ready for some more :) I'm actually going to kick it off with the best one yet. This is probably the best commercial I have ever seen....in my 22 years of living. Honestly. This one made me cry. And I get teary-eyed watching it every time after that (and I've seen it at least 13 times). It's just amazing...and it's not just because of the cute asian girl (granted she is adorable. I hope I was half as cute as she is). But this commercial just really sells it. I mean I hope every dad does this for his daughter because it's incredibly touching, and sweet, and heartwarming, and just plain cute. I am so impressed Google Chrome (so much that I am now using Google Chrome...because I finally downloaded it because of this commercial). I hope whoever came up with this gets a huge raise.

I hope they make a commercial 18 years from now (or maybe 3 years....) showing the dad reading these emails with her. I would probably start bawling.

you wanted to name him salt.

Incubus of Viral Plague

2011-05-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

Soooooo....no joke but this past week and a half has been the worst it's ever been for my immune system. Seriously. Last Tuesday, my muscles started feeling achey and by Wednesday, I had the full-on "feels like I got hit by a bus" body soreness followed by the fever and chills! Guess who got the flu! Welp, Wednesday and Thursday sped by (with me doped up on advil/tylenol) and by Friday I was finally feeling normal. I went into work for a few hours, and then even hung out with my friends Ping and Jon (I actually ate at Chevy's....see, totally normal because only non-sick people can eat Chevy's/mexican food). And then Saturday night, as I was on my way to my friend Marie's, I felt like I was getting a migraine, so I took one of my migraine-prevention pills. The last time I took this pill, I took it as I was going to bed. Well, this time, being very awake (and trying to play with my favorite one year old, Landon), I started to feel kind of woozy and light-headed. Well....so much for being normal again. Anyways, I went home and then started puking (from the migraine, not the meds) and guess what.....woke up on Sunday with a full blown migraine! Lucky me. So, being bed ridden all day on Sunday, I could only pray that it wouldn't blow over until Monday. Luckily, it didn't. But Monday night, I started getting achey.....and by Tuesday, I had the flu....AGAIN. You might think...HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? Because that's exactly what I thought. Apparently, your flu symptoms can go dormant after a few days....and then come right back swinging at you a few days later. So Tuesday and Wednesday I was again stuck in bed....with the chills, the fever, the aches. Ugh it's disgusting. I swear it was worse the second time around. It's Thursday now, and I spent a couple hours at work and even went to school for an hour to copy some notes (from the class I ditched on Tuesday!) I think this is the first time in two days I have been awake for more than 3 hours at a time. Amazing. I've spent the last 3 days living on jamba juice. Incredible how much better jamba juice tastes when you're sick (or hungover...which I wasn't, but I'm just saying (for future reference)).

Anyways, the whole reason I'm blogging about this is because I need to figure out ways to boost my immune system. Clearly what I have been doing....isn't working. Seriously I have had the flu every year at least once since starting college. And you know, I think the flu decided to be extra mean this year. Anyone who tells you medical illnesses don't discriminate...THEY ARE WRONG. It was like...."You may think you're not getting the flu this year, but you are getting it...and it's going to be extra rough!!!!!" I hate the flu. I EVEN GOT THE FLU SHOT THIS YEAR. Anyways, I didn't mean to complain for this long of a blog post, but I think this is just a reminder for myself to find ways to boost my immune system, so this doesn't happen again next year. Speaking of which, IT'S NOT EVEN FLU SEASON ANYMORE. As you can see, I have some anger issues right now, but for good reason. This week has been really awful. I just hope I'm healthy and ready in time for my new job next Monday. Wish me luck

My Trip to San Diego!

2011-05-15T22:55:00.000-07:00

In honor of our anniversary and Matt's birthday, we decided it would be best if I took a week off of work and came down to San Diego for that entire week. I arrived on Friday the 29th (at 8:30 in the morning) and jetted back to San Jose on Saturday May 7th (just in time for dinner). It's really incredible what you can accomplish in a week (and then some). Every other time, I've been down for only a couple days, but this time, I saw so many people that I never realized how much I missed until I was with them. And I'm grateful for all of them. I think it would be hard to really blog about every day (seeing as how I am already a week behind, so I think I will just post the highlights (which realistically is most of the trip so get ready for a longgggg post).

Highlights of my trip to San Diego:

1. Eating 2 burritos in one day with Matt: Well actually we split a breakfast burrito (from MXN) when I first got into San Diego (which I ate most of) and then tried the famous Vallarta's for lunch later that afternoon (which Matt ate most of). Yum. Breakfast burritos for $4 are high on my list of favorite things in San Diego.

breakfast burrito of champs vallarta's california burrito!

2. Yardhouse with Matt's roomies (minus Evan) for Bryan's (very belated) birthday celebration: Because it was happy hour and because it was bryan's birthday, our entire table ordered half-yards of beer. Let me tell you, it's incredibly hard to drink a half-yard of beer if you are a little person (like Cristina and I) but it is totally worth it. Plus it was also entertaining watching Bryan try to finish his entire plate of nachos.

before

after

3. Our anniversary + blowing up peeps with Matt

random cute picture of us

4. The Alumnae Tea Party: Lucky for me, the tea party fell on the same weekend I was in San Diego and I got to (tea) party it up with some of my favorite ladies (aka my Sigma Kappa sisters). I probably don't need to tell you that this tea party is one of my favorite events of the year (because I was in charge of once...a very long time ago). I loved catching up with my girls (and meeting new alumnae and new active girls). It was my first year going as an alum, so that was different, but it was still beautiful and pleasant and wonderful and awesome!

5. Going to Flood with Matt: I started going to this new church called Venture in Los Gatos with my friend Nicole. But going back to Flood in San Diego really made me realize that I just....love it there. I mean it's probably because I'm used to it there (and also because Matt Hammett is amazing) but it really makes me wish I was in San Diego so I could go there all the time (because I need ANOTHER reason to move down to San Diego).

6. Going to Mexico to visit Matt's orphanage project: You know I am one of those people who is easily sketched out by going new places/Mexico. It's kind of scary going down to Tijuana right now, but we trekked down there to visit Eben-ezer, the site of Matt's newest project. He's going to be working on an expansion for this orphanage through a class at NSAD. It's incredible. God is helping him do real and positive things for this orphanage. And being there (and being hugged by at least 10 different kids) really made my heart break...because these kids are dealt such hard cards in life, yet they hugged me when I walked into the room. It's incredible. But I think a big part of how incredible these kids are is the family that is taking care of them. Pastor Freddy and his wife and son are such genuine people that I can only hope this project works out for them.

7. Getting breakfast in Mexico after the orphanage visit: nothing like a real breakfast in Tijuana to get your morning started. After the visit, we decided to stop for a "real Mexican" breakfast (as Matt's groupmate called it) in Mexico. This place had such delicious food! It's amazing how different food is right across the border.

8. Accepting a new job offer at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney after returning from Mexico (more on this later). EEEEKKK!!! :)

9. Getting happy hour at Mary Jane's with my girl/sorority sister Amanda: I have not seen Amanda in literally years, so I had to catch up with her when I was in San Diego. She and I pledged our sorority the same year and this girl is probably one of the main reasons I love Sigma Kappa as much as I do. I met up with her and her boyfriend, Jason, to catch happy hour at Mary Jane's in the Hard Rock Hotel, which coincidentally begins at 4:20. You know, not really my style, but the place is cute and the food was yummy. Plus happy hour goes til 8:20pm here. In happy hour world, that is pretty much unheard of, so props to the Hard Rock Hotel.

10. Watching the lakers game with my fave Fijis plus Matt's friends/roomies at Ciro's: We used to love going to this pizza place called Old City Grille, but I just found out recently that it was replaced by Ciro's. Honestly, I think I love Ciro's even more than Old City Grille. We met up with some of my favorite Fijis plus Matt's roomies plus his new friends from NSAD (Dan and Brandon are great :)) and watched the Lakers play against the Mavs. Sadly, victory was not in our favor. But great beer and good friends saved the night (did I mention that Ciro's is not only a pizzeria but also a beerhouse...glorious).

11. Happy hour at Yardhouse with my girl/sorority sister Ms. Jessica: You know this girl and I pretty much own the term happy hour. It's just something we love to do (because it's cheap and we like to pretend we are super classy). She is probably one of the biggest reasons I miss San Diego and the girl and I are always on the same wavelength (mainly cus she is also in a long distance relationship, loves Taylor Swift and works at this cute ceramic cafe...what's not to love right?). Anyways, we caught up over drinks and snacks at Yardhouse (because I could not love this place anymore than I already do). Just to mix it up a little, I got a martini (see...classy) and so did she (we were meant to be). I'm so glad we got to hang out (because coincidentally we tend to miss each other a lot because when I am visiting Matt, she is visiting her boyfriend in Michigan).

12. Grocery shopping at Costco with Alex Sanchez: This really doesn't sound as much fun as it may seem, but it really is. Alex is also a sorority sister and I am so proud to call her that. This girl is going to save the world some day (she just doesn't know it yet). She's been super busy and managed to squeeze me in between working 2 jobs, bible study, studying for the LSATs, etc. I'm glad we got to hang out, because I realized how much of her life I am missing. I don't know if she'll see this, but if you do Alex, I want you to know you can call me whenever. I love you! And don't worry about the LSATs, once you get yourself into motion, you will kick their ass.

13. Taco Tuesday with Chris: did I mention that Taco Tuesday is pretty much non-existant in Nor Cal except for this hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant that has $1 tacos (that are really really tacos...I mean you can get one with cow tongue BARF). Anyways, we went to my favorite place ever, World Famous, because they have the best $1 fish tacos on Tuesday. Needless to say, I was satisfied.

14. Happy hour with some Sigma K alumnae: When I was VP alumnae relations in Sigma Kappa, I ended up really bonding with my advisor, Karina, and her close girlfriends/sisters, Emily and Melissa. So every time I'm in SD now, I try to catch up with them (usually with Jess too). Anyways, Karina, Emily, Melissa and I met up at Fleming's (yes the steakhouse...wowwww) for happy hour (because that is the only time that this restaurant is affordable). I didn't even order a drink but I did try their mushroom ravioli. Delish! I love hanging out with these girls because they are so fun. I hope that when I am older (they are like 25 tops ;) or at least they act that way), I am as cool as they are. But seriously, they are that cool...I almost convinced them to come out to Incahoots (see below), but to no avail. You girls missed out!

15. Incahoots with Tommy and my fave sorority sisters (plus a new favorite, KIM!): I don't know if you know how much I love Incahoots, but chances are if you know me well, then you know this already. Incahoots is this country bar in Mission Valley that I adore. They play country music and everyone actually two-steps! It's incredible. Plus I got to wear my cowboy boots...and hang out with Tommy Ross (who is on my list of top 3 favorite Fijis) and Corinne and Selin and Selin's newest little, Kim. I love Corinne!! Seriously, on the most random day, I will get a text message that says "Rain makes corn..." from our favorite Luke Bryan song. I miss this girl (and her little Selin) way too much! Anyways, Matt tried to line dance (and worked that dance floor like he owned it). Probably one of my favorite nights in SD :)

16. Sushi and shopping with Eric, one of my best buds from high school: I cannot thank Eric enough for taking me to the Bob Marley-themed sushi place :) What is there not to love about sushi and bob marley posters everywhere and bob marley music playing 24/7? Eric and I go wayyy back (to 10th grade almost) and it was great to hang out with him. I hope he ends up moving home after graduation (or better yet I find a job in SD). He's probably one of my only guy friends who doesn't mind shopping, so I'm glad he let me drag him along!

17. Matt's actual birthday!!!!! For Matt's birthday night, we decided to go barhopping in Pacific Beach (one of our favorite places in the entire world). We spent most of the night with Matt's roommate, Bryan, and my girls Corinne, Selin, and Kim. I can't even tell you how many people came out for Matt's birthday!! This lucky guy has a lot of really good friends (plus when you throw my friends in the mix....always a party!) I really want to say thank you to everyone who came out and hung out with us (and also the photographers taking pictures of people with the Dos Equis man). You guys made this night super memorable and we are so lucky to have you in our lives :) Plus an extra happy birthday to my "big bro" Dustin (who shares the same fun and crazy birthday as Matt). Also, Matt and I got these glorious hot dogs after our night out. I'm not sure what was in them....cream cheese, peppers, ketchup. But they were amazing!

happy birthday to my fave guy

love these girls

706 friends :)

newschool friends!

18. Olive Garden with my favorite Sigma Kappa freshmen: Well, I guess technically Hope and Maggie are not freshmen anymore. But it doesn't make them any less my favorites! These girls literally go on and on about how much they love Olive Garden (and their breadsticks), so I knew that if we hung out in San Diego, we had to go to Olive Garden. We actually had a mini Sigma K reunion, with Corinne and Selin (because I can't get enough of them) at Olive Garden. It was awesome. Nothing says sisterhood like soup, salad and breadsticks. Plus Maggie and Hope taught me the wonders of ordering the alfredo boat so you can dip your breadsticks in it. Needless to say, my life will never be the same. I'm pretty sure if we stayed any longer, they were going to kick us out because we were the last ones left in the restaurant. You know, it almost felt like college again because we all got to sit around and eat and talk about what we did last night (if your version of college is as high class as ours....at Olive Garden). I'm so glad Hope reminded me of this because this was definitely one of my favorite parts of my trip :)

19. Date night with my boyfriend at Bubba's: We love Bubba's Smokehouse BBQ. It's this cute little BBQ place in downtown La Jolla that is completely affordable (trust me, anything affordable is amazing and a complete diamond in the rough in DTLJ). We have been coming to this place for years (wow can you even say that when you're only 22....but seriously we've been coming here for at least 2 years) and we love it. I know everyone in San Diego loves Phil's BBQ and you know, to each their own, but we love Bubba's. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that we love Bubba's more than Phil's (gasp). Anyways, we love this place because it's got great food and a great owner, Jeff. We finally got to know the guy (after so long) and he is just a big sweetheart (and a big Lakers fan....plus 10 points). He gave us some free macaroni and even let us sample his newest top-secret unrevealed unnamed BBQ sauce....and it was awesome. Can't wait to see that one hit the menu. Anyways, it was honestly the most perfect night ever because I got to hang out with my boyfriend (just the two of us), eat at this great restaurant, and watch the lakers game (I guess the only thing not perfect is their third loss to the Mavericks). Jeff even offered to buy us a beer if the Lakers won (which he didn't need to). But seriously, if you live in San Diego, give Bubba's a try. It is the best.

20. Brunch with Danielle and her Indian-cowboy-doctor boyfriend, Brett: Danielle is one of my old roommates. I found this girl on Craigslist (super randomly) and I have never been more thankful for a Craiglist find. I love her! She is the funniest, most random, cute, and fun person ever. I saw her a couple weeks ago when she came up to visit SF and I just wish I could spend more time with her. She pretty much always makes time for me when I am in SD and I am so grateful to have her as such a good friend in my life. Danielle and her new boyfriend came out on Thursday night too, but I feel like you don't really get to know someone until you can grill them over their thoughts on football, Danielle, and movies over brunch at Cafe 976....which is exactly what Matt and I did. (PS I saw my old boss, Rachel of Bliss Events that morning too and I recently just found out she is pregnant....CONGRATS RACHEL!!! You will be the best mom!). Anyways, Brett is a huge fan of Friday Night Lights (the tv show), starting his residency in San Diego in a few months, and very clearly adores Danielle. He sounds like a major winner in my book. He is also from Texas and aspires to be a high school football coach in Texas. This guy really is awesome. I'm super happy for you Danielle :)

21. Hanging out with Laszlo and Feeney and Cam and playing with their Apple TV: You guys should know about my friend Laszlo (we planned a whole trip to Bakersfield to visit his girlfriend a couple months ago). Anyways, he has been living in Ocean Beach, right down the street from Feeney and Cam. We spent most of Saturday afternoon hanging out at their place playing with their AppleTV. Did you know that if you hook up into their wireless network, you can play music videos off your iphone onto their TV? So cooooolll!!! No joke, we spent like an hour and a half watching Chris Brown music videos (because I LOVE CHRIS BROWN). This is why I love hanging out with these guys. There's no super huge expectation to do something cool....we can just hang out and do dumb stuff. Honestly, Las and the Fijis is probably another reason I miss San Diego as much as I do. He is the best! Anyways, after playing with AppleTV until it got boring (just kidding), we decided to head over to the neighborhood BBQ at Laszlo's apartment complex. His place is so cool. Literally minutes from the beach. It's amazing. I wish I could live in Ocean Beach....He even has this cool hammock that hangs out his porch. Anyways, Las put on some music and set up his croquet set and I learned to play croquet. Again, just another one of those random things you end up doing with Laszlo. It was sooooo much fun. And amazingly enough, I almost won. Seriously....Matt beat me by one stroke (is that what you even call it? I don't even know) and I totally beat Laszlo. Ahhh what a great way to spend my last few hours in San Diego.

You know I think this pretty much covers......everything.

Blowing up PEEPS!

2011-05-14T00:11:00.000-07:00

I just realized I forgot to share one of my favorite parts of our anniversary: blowing up peeps in the microwave. Matt bought me packs of peeps after Easter as part of my anniversary present, for the specific purpose of blowing them up in the microwave (because we're so mature). It's actually one of those things that everyone always talks about, and I had never done as a kid, so I told him about it. And being the caring and considerate and thoughtful boyfriend he is, he scavengered stores for Peeps after Easter. What a keeper. Anyways, after we drove home from Orange County, we were exhausted, so we decided to stay in and watch a movie (Life as we know it!). Afterwards, having reenergized ourselves, we decided to burn some puffy pink marshmallow bunnies!! We made a little video.....

my boyfriend loves grey's anatomy tooo

2011-05-13T22:07:00.000-07:00

so matt and i were talking on facebook chat because i was watching grey's anatomy..... and our conversation went a little bit like this.

Me: poor alex

Me: in grey's

Me: he never ends up happy with anyone

Matt: Carev?

Me: the chick he was dating stole his job

Matt: for chief resident?

Me: no. he got offered a job in africa and he thought about taking it without considering her

Me: and it pissed her off

Me: so she took the job

but FYI, Alex is in the running for chief resident. and his last name is Karev.

[and then later…..]

Me: OMG the hot guy with the nice eyes is in love with lexie
Matt: the rat guy

Me: but i think lexie is still in love with mcsteamy

Me: yah LOL

Matt: oh shnap

AND the guy with the nice eyes, avery, is working on a rat experiment.

reason 324 why i love matt.

Sad Days

2011-05-09T21:53:00.000-07:00

You know, as much as I loved every minute of the past week that Matt and I spent together, it almost makes it harder to go back to Sunnyvale. I flew back to San Francisco on Saturday night and went to dinner with my friend Nicole (at the Homeroom....trust me, I will post about this later because it is bomb diggity). Anyways, I had a great day with Matt and a great dinner with Nicole. Yet when I got home that night, and crawled into bed, I couldn't stop myself from crying for a good 20 minutes. I called Matt (and I know I brought down his mood too) and I just sat on the phone with him while tears poured down my face. As great as our relationship has been lately, I still have those nights when it is just really hard to 500 miles apart. It's not like something awful triggered this episode (it would be better that way), it just happened. And I know I sound like such a sob story right now, but this is our blog and it's better if we don't pretend things are perfect and dandy and great all the time. We both know how hard it is, but we chose this, and at the end of the day, we work really hard at making this work. I'm not really sure what my point is, I guess one of them is to thank Matt for being in this with me (through thick and thin). I guess another one is that even on bad days like this, I know he is there for me and he is feeling the same way. But we all have bad days and we all make it through. I am just lucky enough to always have him (even if it's just on the phone or through skype).

I know there are other people out there trying to make long distance relationships work. Honestly, it really makes you value the little things and the time you have together. So kudos to all of you out there doing the same thing as us (but no kudos to that movie, Going the Distance, because that movie sucked). My advice: it's okay to cry sometimes just because you're sad. You might have a headache later, but I think it's worth it sometimes.

Our Third Anniversary

2011-05-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

April 30, 2011 marks our three year anniversary. I won't get all mushy on here, but how CRAZY is that?

–noun

the yearly recurrence of the date of a past event: the tenthanniversary of their marriage.

the celebration or commemoration of such a date.

The yearly recurrence of the date of a past event. This is the third yearly occurrence. Matt and I sat around for almost 20 minutes trying to remember each of our anniversaries. I know it's a little pathetic that we couldn't recall it right away, but I mean...that's just us. It's not like one of us forgot (because that would be awful) but rather, both of us had a hard time remembering. I guess it's not always the little details that make up the day, but rather the idea that we were together...focused on our relationship the whole day. I know it's cliche and dumb, but it really amazes me how much both of us have grown in this relationship as individuals and as a duo. It's not that I love him any less any other day (granted some days he really knows how to push my buttons and I might love him a little less those days), but it's just nice because it reminds me to notice the little details of our relationship that get passed up every day. I love anniversaries. And I love him.

Anyways, enough with the mumbo jumbo, I bet you're dying to know what we did :) We started our day off by having lunch at one of my favorite places, Noodles and Company. I can't get enough of that place. I used to drive 20 minutes just to get it up in Encinitas and then when I moved out of San diego, they opened one at UTC mall, like 5 minutes from where I live. Talk about life not being fair. Anyways, I got noodles (of course) and Matt tried one of their new sandwiches (let's just say he is now a believer in noodles and company!!)

Afterwards, we decided to do something fun (this sounds so spontaneous...and it was because we decided to do it like two days before). Being the creative cats we are, we decided to go whale watching in orange county. This little whalewatching company in Dana Point takes you out on a boat for two hours on the quest for whales. We got there a little early, so we walked around the shops in that area and shot a couple rolls of film with my new camera (yes I did say film...I'm taking a black and white photography class :)). We finally got on the boat, and ended up getting drenched because of the choppy waves. Yup I spent 20 minutes in a soaking wet dress. Worth it though.... because we saw a million dolphins (and ZERO whales). It was such a beautiful sight...dolphins swimming up along side the boat playing in the waves. It's AMAZING and I highly recommend it. And I think I already talked about this, but the best part was this cute older couple we sat next to on the boat. After talking to us for five minutes, they told us we were the perfect couple. It was very sweet. The old man practically wanted to adopt us (because the poor guy wanted grandchildren and all his kids are barren or unfit for parenting). I love making new friends!

Afterwards, we decided to go wine tasting at the San Clemente Wine Company. It's this beautiful little wine shop in San Clemente where they pride themselves on selling local wines (and beers too). I did a flight of whites and Matt tried a bunch of wines from one company (whose name I have forgotten). After wine tasting, we had dinner at this cute little Italian restaurant. Because what is more romantic than italian? And being the wine connoisseur that Matt suddenly became overnight, he decided to even order a glass of wine with dinner! It was perfect. Quaint, romantic, a little dark (but in the good way), and just overall the perfect way to cap off our day. Like I said, I love anniversaries :) I think this will be the most memorable anniversary to date, mainly because we did something different and unique. I mean we even ventured all the way out of San Diego. Best anniversary ever.

Happy 3 Years....

2011-05-01T17:57:00.000-07:00

to us.

Yesterday was our THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY. How crazy right? Trust me it still blows my mind sometimes. I'll definitely blog more later about what we did (which includes whale watching, wine tasting in san clemente, and dining on italian food), but I just to say I'm having a great time in San Diego with the love of my life :)

Pretty dolphins!!

PS. Yesterday when we were whale watching, we ended up sitting next to this older couples (probably late 50s or early 60s) and they told us we were "the perfect couple." The dude practically wanted to adopt us, but it was so sweet to hear someone we didn't know say that. It really touched my heart. And it made us feel very blessed. We had a great day, and I will blog more about it later!

2 more days....

2011-04-27T13:36:00.001-07:00

until I get to see this.

I'm definitely talking about this fish....

the easter bunny has arrived

2011-04-24T19:25:00.000-07:00

This is my friend Marie's baby boy, Landon. He is my favorite almost one year old. I LOOOVEEEE HIM!!! And I bet you will too....

How cute is this kid?!?

Hoppy Easter. God is good.

another countdown

2011-04-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

countdown to see this dorky girl and her love of messy foods and those chicken wings.......5 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am visiting Matt on Friday...weeeeeeeeeeeee

2011-04-23T16:35:00.000-07:00

Countdown to San Diego (and this ridiculously goofy looking guy and that Sprinkles cupcake location): 6 days

Movies List

2011-04-20T16:40:00.000-07:00

I think I promised you guys a list of movies that Matt and I watched during the two weeks of his break. Well get ready to be impresssedd. Because honestly....I am. This is a lot of time clocked in with the dvd player! Plus these are some really really really good movies :)

MOVIES WE WATCHED IN 12 DAYS (OR MAYBE LESS)

the next 3 days - I am a big fan of elizabeth banks and russell crowe in this movie. I know as a law-abiding citizen, i shouldn't condone breaking out of jail. But realistically this movie is soooo kickbutt that it's hard to not be on their side.

morning glory - I LOVE rachel mcadams (i think she's my favorite actress) and this movie is such a feel-good movie. Sure harrison ford is a grump (and i really don't like diane keaton), but rachel nails this movie. Definitely a cute movie.

the fighter - Matt liked this movie a lot. and i can see why christian bale won the oscar for this movie. his transformation is phenomenal. This movie isn't really my style (maybe because it takes place in boston and i hate the celtics?) but it was decent. Plus i like marky mark and amy adams (another favorite actress).

takers - I don't care what Matt and Bas say. I loved takers. Mainly because chris brown is in it (and I am soooooo team chris brown). Actually that's not even true. I loved takers because of Paul Walker. Let's be serious. He is beauttifuulll (and we picked him as Matt's doppleganger). I think overall, this situation is win-win!!

no strings attached - Such a cute movie! We loved it. My favorite part is when ashton is like "No wonder you never want to get breakfast together. You eat like a baby dinosaur." And matt turns to me and goes "YOU EAT LIKE A BABY DINOSAUR!" Thanks babe. Anyways, the movie is so cute. I mean ashton makes natalie a "period mix." Impressive.

the lincoln lawyer - For once in my life, I saw the movie before reading the book. And I am so impressed. Matthew McCounnaughy (or however you spell his name) nails the part. He is so good. And I just recently read another book by Michael Connelly called The Reversal and it is based on the same character as the Lincoln Lawyer. I am now a huge fan of Michael Connelly. But really, great movie.

127 hours - I am shocked that james franco cut off his arm and didn't win an oscar. Tough crowd. This movie is sooooo loopy and crazy and intense. I couldn't watch him cut off his arm, but matt said it was gruesome. Not for the faint of heart (or the weak of stomach either). But overall, interesting movie. Again, not my style.

love and other drugs - Cute movie. A lot of nudity (be warned). I love Jake gyllenhaal. It's also about the rise of viagra, so be prepared before you watch the movie. Overall, cute stuff. Anne hathaway was a little too indie for me, so I was too distracted by her ugly hair the whole movie.

megamind - Funny movie. Very cute. Good for kids and adults.

source code - Again, I love Jake. And I also love michelle monaghan. Interesting twist, but a good overall thriller. I liked it a lot. It really makes you think.

limitless - Bradley Cooper's first headlining movie. Success. Such a trippy concept. Can you imagine a pill that could let you access 100% of your brain. He was soooo brilliant. And the movie is really incredible. Huge fan.

I'd say considering how many movies we watched, this was a huge success. There really wasn't a movie I regret watching so overall, I'd say this was time well wasted :)

spring break twenty eleven!

2011-04-19T01:27:00.000-07:00

alright so Im not nearly as good about blogging as margaret is but I will try to contribute as much as I can anyway. she covered all the way to thursday so I get to take it from here!

basim came into town friday night to hang out with us which was really cool. he was kind of going through a rough time as he just got out of a 2 1/2 year long relationship so he needed a little M & M time to help cheer him up. we picked him up at the airport and immediately went to downtown San Jose to watch the Giants game. although they lost, we still had a blast watching the game and we got to experience it at a really cool restaurant called San Jose Bar and Grill. margaret talked a lot about this place and it definitely lived up to the hype.

saturday consisted of one major thing: BEER! we all went into Oakland for a beerfest that was one of the best experiences in recent memory. we payed $8 and got to taste/chug as much beer as we wanted for about 3 hours. stands included Guinness, Anchor Steam, Black Pond, and many many more. needless to say, we were feeling pretty good the rest of the day but when it came time to go home we were exhausted. we were really glad we took BART, not only to be safe, but because we got to pass out the entire way home haha

baz and I headed home on sunday so that he would be home for school and I could get to see the Evan's family. being home was awesome for me, but since this is the matt + margaret project, ill leave out my reno adventures. to sum it all up, though, I did a lot of relaxing and got to see all of the people I wanted to see while I was home, which was a very important thing for me.

coming back over to San Jose the following thursday was a little different for one main reason: I had Abby with me! she came along for part of her spring break and I must say that it was a really good thing she did because I got to bond with her a lot while we were together. it's been really cool to see her grow as a person over the years and I can't wait to see the things that she will accomplish in her life.

anyway, the remainder of our time in San Jose consisted of going to the Nickel arcade, BowlMore (some more!), getting donuts/coffee, and watching movies. all in all, it was another really good time. I know this is a much shorter post than margaret usually posts (she has A LOT to say haha), but it was very enjoyable for me to write this because in the midst of the stress of school it's nice to relive some of my relaxing break. it definitely put me at ease.

typically bowling form

dont want to see this movie

very modest for Facebook, dont you think?

"like"

the amazing fish above the door was acquired at our
famous beer festival in Oakland

so, look forward to more posts and future adventures as margaret is coming down to SD to see me for our anniversary and my very mature 22 year birthday. it should be a really fun time filled with plenty of excitement!

If you're a bird, I'm a bird.

2011-04-18T23:53:00.000-07:00

I want to watch the notebook. Best movie ever.

it will happen

2011-04-18T03:17:00.000-07:00

this is a promise that I will actually keep to my beautiful girlfriend.

I promise to: UPDATE THE BLOG TOMORROW NIGHT NO MATTER WHAT!!!!!! It will be the first thing I do when I get home. If it doesn't happen....Margaret, I owe you a dozen Sprinkles cupcakes

The end

Firsts

2011-04-15T21:46:00.000-07:00

Well....Matt PROMISED to blog about the rest of our trip (so we are going to hope he keeps his promise). I have much more important news to discuss. In 15 days, Matt and I will have been officially going out for THREE YEARS. It feels so surreal to think about that. I can still remember all the firsts.

The first date: watching Hostel 2 at my on-campus apartment....guess who's idea that was? NOT MINE. But the poor kid ran all the way to blockbuster to get the movie so who could complain.

The first kiss: Also, at my apartment while watching Hostel.

The first planned date: We went to dinner at Sammy's Woodfired Pizza and then saw The Strangers (at a real movie theater). And then Matt thought it would be a great idea to go have a beach bonfire (which in reality it is, except after you see a scary movie). I almost peed my pants waiting in the dark for him to run back to the car to grab a blanket.

His first birthday: Of course he had to have a birthday a week after we started dating. So what do you get a guy who you are just starting to date? Because you don't want to overdo it and get him a big present and have him take it the wrong way. But you don't want to not get him a present and make him think you don't care. Well what's better than Guinness?

First fight. First giants game together. First time meeting the parents. First thanksgiving with just the two of us. First one year anniversary. First valentine's day.

Those are just a couple of our firsts. I mean imagine how many more firsts there are to conquer. Like first sky diving trip, or first time holding hands in a foreign country, or first christmas (actually spent together), or first apartment together. You know, after I really put things into perspective, realistically, we still have so many firsts to go. And you know, just to get a little mushy on you, I know that there is no one else I would rather be doing all this stuff with. Matt, I can't wait to see you in two weeks to celebrate our first three year anniversary :)

Matt's Trip to Sunnyvale: Part 2

2011-04-06T20:51:00.000-07:00

Of course, I promised to talk about the rest of our week....and I am only like 5 days behind. Well let's get to it!! I think I left off on Monday. Monday was probably Matt's favorite day of the week...because we went bowling!!!!!!!!! And not just any bowling....unlimited bowling from 9pm-1am for $16 :) :) :) (Don't worry, not much happened earlier that day. I went to work Matt worked on his resume and then we went shopping and didn't buy anything). Anyways, bowling at Bowlmor Lanes is the definitely worth it if you go on Monday nights (not worth it on Saturday nights....it's like $20 for half an hour/lane). We met up with David, Jon, and Ping (who decided not to bowl and just eat chicken tenders). AND GET THIS: I WON THE FIRST ROUND. I, MARGARET LUO, WHO NEVER SCORES ABOVE 100 POINTS SCORED OVER 100 POINTS BEATING ALL THE BOYS. Bowlmor lanes really seems to like me (I beat the boys in basketball Saturday night too remember?). Of course, every round after that I didn't even get close to scoring 100, but towards the last few games, we started messing around...bowling in between our legs backwards, granny style, using the bowling-assisting thing. It was actually a lot more fun when you try to bowl poorly. I definitely recommend it if you have unlimited bowling. And at Bowlmor, they randomize the colored pins and if your front pin randomly is white, and you call the server over, AND YOU BOWL A STRIKE, you get a free drink or game. We had the white pin at least 6 times, and only won two free drinks. I guess it reflects on how we bowl as a group. Can you tell I love Bowlmor? I'm pretty much a walking, talking, blogging advertisement for them :)

You can't see the score, but I totally won that round!

On Tuesday, I went to work again and Matt worked on his resume again (you will understand why very soon). When I got home, we decided to put my crockpot to good use. We made this ham and potato dish and it was awesome. Super easy and super fast (I actually cooked it for 3.5 hours like they suggested and it was overcooked....granted I practically halved the recipe, so that's probably my fault). Of course, what else would you do while your crock pot is cooking.....GO EAT? Ya, I didn't have lunch so I could have lunch with him, so I was starving when we decided to check out the taco tuesday place by my house, Little Michoacan. I don't know what Michoacan means (I would have asked the woman who worked there, but I think she only habla-ed espanol). This place is authentic mexican food. It's actually a nice change compared to Rubios. The tacos were yummy and only a dollar each. Definitely worth my money. And they have some really fun ones (like chile verde tacos). I'm a fan, but it doesn't beat shrimp tacos at world famous.

On Wednesday, we went to NAPA!!!!!!! Okay, so the reason Matt has been working on his resume (super hardcore) is because he had an interview with THE HOWARD BACKEN. If you don't know this guy, well I'm pretty sure Matt won't be friends with you anymore (so make sure you google him for the safety of your friendship). This guy is like the creme de la creme of architects. He's like the Michael Jordan of architects (well of the ones that are still alive). And it just so happens that his wife used to be Matt's mom's roommate in college (and Theta sisters). Well somehow, Matt ended up getting an interview/meet-and-greet with this guy, so of course we had to visit Napa (since he is based out of Napa). This guy is so good that he is thriving in this economy (he literally is turning down jobs because his firm is so busy). And his interview with Matt went so well. They seem to really hit it off (not that I was there...this is by word-of-mouth) and hopefully Matt can work for him this summer. Imagine Matty living in Napa. AMAZING. Anyways, we stopped for lunch at this cute cafe and grabbed some paninis. To tell you the truth, I should never order paninis because i am just never that impressed and I think it's because I don't like paninis...they are just kind of greasy and I honestly prefer a straight-up sandwich (as long as it's not from Subway). After Matt's meeting, we had to go wine tasting. His assistant recommended a couple places and we ended up picking The Franciscan. I ended up picking the Flight of Whites tasting...and I am really beginning to like wine (well white wine). I think my favorite one was the Fountain Court (it's half dessert one...so that explains my infatuation). Matt tried a sampling of reds. We are hoping to some day become wine connoisseurs....but realistically it might take a while. O and I forgot to mention that while Matt was in his meeting, I got to explore the town of St. Helena (couple miles north of Napa). It's so QUAINT. I love it there. I also really love this olive oil shop they had...it was so authentic. And I got to try a million different types of olive oil. I wanted to buy everything (and of course could afford absolutely nothing). But I am saving up my piggy bank for the next time we go up so I can get me some expensive olive oil (when did I become so domesticated?). After Napa, we were pooped, so we came home and watched some tv before meeting up with Vinitha for dinner. We went to a local favorite called Amarin, a thai restaurant. Afterwards, we met up with our friend Dylan at an irish pub called St. Stephen's Green. Of course, Matt and I ordered our customary Guinness'. Yum :)

train tracks by Backen Gillam & Kroeger

subpar paninis.

olive oil store that sells lavender!

we &hearts; wine

THURSDAY was OPENING DAY for the WORLD CHAMPION SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS!!!! And as much as I want to tell you about that, it is going to have to wait for the next post!

PS. I am reading Jodi Picoult's new book Sing You Home. If anyone else is reading that, I would love your input on it. I can't decide if I love it (or even like it yet).

New Favorite Song

2011-04-03T21:33:00.001-07:00

Love this song! Makes me think of my honey bee (barf!). But really it is a cute song. It's definitely going to be a summer jam!!

Honey Bee - Blake Shelton

Matt's Visit to Sunnyvale: Part 1

2011-04-03T20:54:00.002-07:00

In typical Matt and Margaret fashion, I always forget to update the blog when Matt is around. Blame it on him. Anyways, as you guys know, Matt arrived in Sunnyvale last Friday (well I guess that would be 2 fridays ago), exhausted, sleep-deprived but ready to party. It had been about 3 weeks since we had seen each other, so of course, I was ecstatic!!!! The poor kid finally arrived around 5....and we were thinking of having a low-key movie night. Instead, my friend Eric texted me about going to the Warriors game, so we decided...hey why not?? So we got together with our homies (Matt, me, Eric, Vinitha, David, and Lunani) and drove down to Oakland (don't worry, we had our bullet proof vests on ;) Of course, we picked the one night that all other major sporting events were going on....a couple of big NCAA march madness games (Ohio state went down that night....so did the rest of my bracket) and the night the Lakers played the Clippers. This game was special because Pau Gasol pledged to doonate $1000 for every point he scored to benefit Japan. Of course, I took multiple extended bathroom breaks...because the bathrooms were right next to the bar....which had six TVs on various basketball games. Anyways, the Lakers ended up winning and so did the warriors. Actually the warriors killed the raptors (did I mention the score was in the 50s after the first quarter?....I thought I had read the scoreboard wrong?) It was fun and a great way to catch up with old friends (Eric was home from San Diego, and Lunani was home for 3 days before moving permanently to Japan). And it was a great way to start Matt's trip :)

The next day, we decided to make the best lunch ever...after we went to the farmers market in Sunnyvale. We picked up a loaf of rosemary bread and some apples and then stopped by the grocery store for the essentials...to make grilled cheese sandwiches. But wait til you hear what we put in them....apples, bacon, cheese, ham. We went super gourmet. And they were delicious!! Then we watched movies at the house all day. I'm going to compile a list of movies we watched while he was here. You would be impressed....I was impressed (especially since I rarely ever rent movies). My mom wanted to take us to dinner, and Matt really loves hot pot-ting. For those of you who don't know, it's pretty much a process where you cook your own food in boiling soup. We went to this restaurant Hot Pot City, in Milpitas, a buffet-style hot-pot place where you pick your raw meats and veggies and then dunk em in the hot soup. If you've never done it before, you need to! I love restaurants where everything is a little more hands-on, like this one (and I've always wanted to try the La Jolla Strip House where you grill your own meat!). We had a blast! Afterwards, we met up with Eric and David and my so-RAWR-ity sistaaas Nicole and Alysa to grab some drinks at my favorite place, the bar at Bowlmor Lanes. This is really nerdy and strange, but my favorite place to grab a drink this area is actually the bar at this bowling alley. They have a full bar and maybe like 15 tvs. Great place to catch a sports game, especially if there's a Sharks game on because then it's happy hour! Alysa was actually home for spring break too, so it was great to catch up with her and see what was going on with Sigma Kappa (I miss you guys!!!!). Anyways, of course we had to play air hockey after grabbing some beers....because air hockey is maybe my new favorite thing ever. We also played some arcade basketball. You will all be so glad to hear that I beat Matt (7th grade basketball star), Eric (High school balla), and David (NCAA bball pointguard for Occidental). Yes you read that right. I beat them ALL!! Overall, I would say it was a completely WINNING night (for me especially!)

On Sunday, we started the day watching another movie. And then I decided we really needed to get out of the house. And randomly enough, we decided to go the Flea Market. I know, it's so random right? But we decided it would be fun. The San Jose Flea Market spans over 8 miles, so it gave us some exercise and some culture. We actually didn't end up buying anything (except for a fruit cup with a dash of spices....authentic Mexican style) but we walked around for over an hour. You can buy just about anything there....car stereos, kids toys, belt buckles, power tools, couches, etc. It's really an interesting place. Also a place where speaking Spanish would benefit someone a lot....it'd be good for bargaining. I think we decided to go to Chili's that night for dinner because I had a coupon where if you buy one meal, you get your second entree for like 3 bucks (aren't you proud moms?) Anyways, Chilis and the Flea Market....what's not to love? Plus, later that night (because we are total fatasses), we went to Coldstones AND pinkberry. Matt won't settle for yogurt, and I could die eating pinkberry, so of course we had to go to both right? Afterwards, we stopped by my BFF amber's house to pick up my phone charger (cus I pretty much spent most of last week hanging out there) and chatted with her parents a little bit. Then we caught a showing of No Strings Attached, that Natalie Portman-Ashton Kutcher movie. We loved it. Our favorite lines from the movie are "You fight like a hamster" and "You eat like a baby dinosaur"...both of which Matt frequently now tells me at least once a day. Thank you Ashton. If you can't tell, we had a great weekend :)

More updates and pictures laterrrr....

matt will be here on friday!!!!!!

2011-03-23T20:58:00.000-07:00

I can't wait :) Happy Days!!

Random photo montage....okay.

2011-03-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

Here is our relationship in photos. Well realistically I just picked some random pictures to bring up some good memories. And let's be serious, there were a lot of very good photos I didn't pick because there were rotated the wrong way and I don't know how to rotate on Blogger. Unfortunate. But enjoy the pictures I did pick out. This is 2 years and almost 11 months...and counting baby!

fiji island 2008

20th birthday at the zoo (mine not matt's)

one of these people likes the snow. one of them doesn't.

NYE UNR game!

wooodstock party!

2009 cocktail!

at the pumpkin patch!

jack bauer saved cleopatra. didn't you know?

presents 2009

first thanksgiving together :)

cocktail 2010

sigma kappa parents day. with matt.

b&b's rehearsal dinner

Here's a good laugh

2011-03-17T10:27:00.000-07:00

Matt and I skyped last night. I missed skype. It's been a while. But last night, I also got to talk to (and see) Matt's roommate, Bryan. This kid is taking Mustache March to a whole new meaning. He's been growing that thing since the beginning of February and he recently used Just for Men on it. Amazing right?

And here's Matt. How cute is he? And Hairy?

Sunday in Bakersfield

2011-03-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

Sunday was short and sweet. Matt and I met Laszlo for breakfast at one of his favorite places, the Arizona Cafe. He likes it because they serve authentic Mexican food for breakfast. And they really do. The boys were a little too tired for Laszlo's usual bloody mary (which is another reason he loves the Arizona) but we did get some authentic Mexican food. I ordered the huevos rancheros, which came out covered in Chili colorado. Interesting. I've never had anything like it before, but it was delicious! My favorite part is their tortillas. They taste homemade and delicious! I love them and have been craving huevos rancheros since then. Anyways, maybe not the best breakfast EVER but definitely unique!!! After we finished up with breakfast, Laszlo went back to the house to take care of Alice and Matt and I saw The Adjustment Bureau. I loved!! the movie. Emily Blunt + Matt Damon...who could complain. Plus it was nice to get to just hang out with my boyfriend :) I missed our date nights a lot. Plus our tickets were $5.50. Who could complain? After the movie, we headed back to Laszlo's to say goodbye and so Matt could hitch a ride back to San Diego.

I definitely wouldn't rule out another trip to Bakersfield! Granted it's probably not for everyone. Although we loved it for the 24 hours we were there :)