say something nice

I was going to post about my great office clean out today, but I saw this video on Black Eiffel yesterday and decided that I would rather share this with you.

This really impacted me because lately I've been thinking a lot about big and little ways which I can impact my community for the better--from volunteering at the local animal shelter to helping out during Vacation Bible School at my church to picking up a piece of garbage everyday on my walk with Chloe. I think that community service is so important, and it's something that I've kind of let slip from my priorites since I moved down to Orange County. It's time to change that.

Anyway, I hope that this video makes you smile and maybe we can all try to say something nice to a stranger today.

ham & pear paninis

Justin and I both love sandwiches, and I especially enjoy paninis. I know that this is not anything original or revolutionary, but it finally occurred to me that I could use our George Foreman Grill as a panini press. Why did it take so long for me to get around to this?

It's about 1,000 degress in Orange County right now, but I am so ready for cooler weather so I made a panini that is perfect for fall--black forest ham, havarti, pear, and whole grain Dijon mustard. It was so good (can a panini be bad?) On a side note, I am a little bit obsessed with the whole grain Dijon mustard from Trader Joe's--I try to keep some in the house at all times because it is so good on everything.

Now that I've discovered the wonders that are George Foreman Grill paninis, my next mission is to make a sort of jalapeno popper panini like the one that Justin had here.

What are your favorite sandwich fillings?

nike us open of surfing



The BMX stadium



Huntington Beach Pier from the surf stadium

Surfers

My sister and me

The Goodyear blimp made an appearance



Beautiful Huntington Beach



My sister drove down to visit me a few weeks ago and while she was here we went to the Nike US Open of Surfing at Huntington Beach. It was so much fun! After we finally found parking and trekked down to the beach, we were starving so we stopped at TK Burger because it was right there and the cheeseburgers smelled so good. We then headed down to the surf stadium and watched a couple of hours of surfing which included the mens and womens juniors finals as well as some freestyle entertainment by what we gathered were some well-respected surfers. Jackie and I were both pretty amazed by all of the stunts!

photo collage

Our hallway family photo collage.

More pictures up on the wall!
The hallway

We finally have pictures hanging on the walls in our house!

Everytime friends or family come to visit us, they always tell me, "You need to get some pictures up on your walls!" Well, after living in this space for almost a year, I finally committed to hanging things on the walls.

I don't know why, but I've always lagged on actually putting art and photos up. Maybe it has something to do with being an Army brat and moving a lot, or maybe I just have a mental block in this area of my life.


For the collage, I chose my favorite photograph from our wedding for the center, then family photos from our wedding, some favorite photographs of Justin and I as children, a picture of Chloe with Santa Claus last year (I know...), and a photograph of my maternal grandparents that I just love. I used the IKEA Ribba frames which I absolutely love and will probably use all over our house now that I have become a crazy picture-hanging woman.

For the other photos on the wall, I used a collage frame given to me by my mother which I believe she purchased at Target a couple of years ago. I included some of my favorite photos: sister and I at the Guggenheim in NYC, Justin and I at Fenway Park, my sisters laughing at the wedding, Katie and I at the wedding, Jessie and I in London, and my brother and sister with me at my college graduation.

It is so nice to walk by all of these memories everyday--I'm glad that I finally got my act together!

grilled shrimp with cilantro, lime & peanuts

Shrimp on the grill (does anyone use a grill basket for shrimp or veggies?)

Tossing the shrimp with fish sauce mixture, cilantro & peanuts
The finished product

I found this recipe from Martha Stewart on Pinterest after my friend Katie "pinned" it (you can find me on Pinterest here). It sounded so good that I went out and bought all of the ingredients and made it immediately. And I am so glad that I did! This is a great summer meal that is very easy to prepare. Katie described this dish perfectly: "Reminds me of something you'd get on the beach in Thailand and enjoy with a cold beer."

65.24 PETCO Park

PETCO Park: Home of the San Diego Padres

Justin outside of PETCO

View from our seats

I liked the incorporation of the old Western Supply building into the stadium

Gotta love that Jack in the Box marketing!

Justin had some barbecue from Randy Jones BBQ

The Padres scored more runs in this game than they had all year...

My hubby

Happy Anniversary, babe!

We have now visited 6 of the 30 MLB parks! PETCO Park, home of the San Diego Padres, is a nice ballpark. It's pretty new, so it's very modern and I would say very family friendly. I would compare it to Angels Stadium. I thought that the exterior of the venue was boring, but I really liked how they incorporated the old Western Metal Supply building into the ballpark--you know I love old brick buildings next to modern architecture.

There is a nice selection of food at the stadium (including healthy options and a gluten-free stand)--Justin tried Randy Jones BBQ and I had a hot dog (my usual ballpark order).

One really nice thing about PETCO park is that tickets are very affordable! They also have a good attendance at their games which is nice after what we've been experiencing at Dodgers Stadium this season...

There are shooting flames when the Padres score a home run (this definitely made me jump the first time), which we were able to experience quite a few times since the Padres scored were on a home run streak at the game we attended. I have to admit that it was fun to see the Padres beat the Giants!

san diego: old town san diego

On our way...


An herb garden planted in the 1700's


An oven at the edge of the garden


Pretty flowers covering the Barra Barra Saloon


I loved the succulents that were growing everywhere!


Traditional dancers


The new town center


Paper flags


A 1700's restaurant kitchen--notice the mouse/rat on the shelf!


The first public school in San Diego, built in 1865


The prison--can you imagine being locked up in this little metal box with other people in the middle of the afternoon?


Old Town San Diego


Home of the San Diego Union


Beautiful old Spanish religious architecture


An appropriately cheesily-named Irish Pub on the edge of Old Town

To celebrate our first anniversary, Justin and I decided to spend a weekend in San Diego. While we were down there, we went to a baseball game (of course!). We had some time to kill before the game started, so we checked out Old Town San Diego. It was a little bit cheesy as all touristy historical sites somehow end up being, but it was also kind of cool. Old Town San Diego is considered the birthplace of California, so the historical aspect of the site and buildings was very interesting. I loved all of the old Spanish architecture!

In addition to all of the historical buildings there is a pretty little shopping area and a Mexican Restaurant that Justin and I decided that we need to check out next time we're in San Diego! Mexican food in Old Town San Diego has to be good, right?

san francisco: sfmoma & yerba buena gardens

SFMOMA


Justin at the Yerba Buena Gardens


One of my favorite things about cities is always the mix of old and new architecture.


I also love communal spaces.


The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Waterfall


There were some great quotes inside of (beneath?) the memorial.


Have you ever read the whole speech? You can check it out here. He truly was a gifted writer & orator--thank God he put his gifts to good use!



Here are more photos from our trip to San Francisco which was already 2 months ago! Where has this summer gone?

We went to the SFMOMA and saw the exhibit The Steins Collect which was truly amazing. What an exciting time to be alive & able to participate in such a change in the world of art! Seeing so many of the early works by Picasso and Matisse was so cool. However, I have to admit that one of my favorite parts of the exhibit was reading about the Stein family and seeing the photos of their apartments in Paris with works like Woman with a Hat & The Bathers hanging on their walls. Can you even imagine?

After the art museum, Justin's uncle recommended that we walk across the street to see the Yerba Buena Gardens and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. I am so glad that we did--I find city parks to be so interesting (I think this has something to do with my people watching habit), and the MLK Jr. Memorial was very inspiring.

This may be my last post on our San Francisco trip (even though I haven't even made it through Day 1 yet!) as our computer crashed and I had just uploaded all of my photos from my camera. For some reason, I deleted all of the photos from my camera once I was done (something I never do). I am so sad, but I am hoping that the computer guy can fix our computer and recover our files. Keeping my fingers crossed...