My First Turbo Class
Today I taught my first Turbo Kick class at Gold’s Gym. Sandy was subbing for Susana but she let me teach instead since i need experience. It went very smoothly and i was happy with how I taught for the most part. Right before i was about to teach Jeff texted me good luck, and it made me smile because he was thinking of me even though he was all the way in Oregon. Thanks babe!
Rita’s Birthday Party
Since Kathy will be on vacation during Rita’s actual birthday (April 28th) we did a little celebration today. I baked some Low Fat Fudgy Brownies (that my mom was so kind to give me the recipe for), decorated with M&Ms. I also bought her some festive balloons, birthday girl crown and a gift.
Fast-Lite Candles
Ever have difficulty lighting all those candles on the cake? Well you’re in luck because with these Fast-Lite candles, all you have to do is light one then the rest light themselves!
(I like how they only sell these in a pack of 8. Like ok, 8 candles aren’t THAT hard to light are they? I’d see the benefits if there was a big string of 50…though i guess you could buy multiple packs…)
Forget Something…?
Jeff left for Oregon this morning to visit his brother Pat for the week. When i come home from the gym i notice my printer is on, and there are driving directions sitting in there. Hmm, i think Jeff was supposed to TAKE that with him, no?
96 Degrees
Yay for hot weather! Even though it won’t last…
1-year Anniversary
Our one year anniversary is officially today, April 19. The day started off wonderfully warm – it ended up getting into the 90s. We checked out of the hotel and planned to go to Borders bookstore and then spend the day at the Sea Otter Classic, but ended up deciding to go home and do yardwork. Which led to, “hey wouldn’t it be fun to buy a grill” since it was such a hot day. So we head over to OSH and buy a Weber 300 grill. It is a small gas grill that is perfect for the two of us but still big enough for when we have bigger bbqs.
We grilled some corn on the cob and bbq chicken. It was really yummy!
Jeff’s parents gave us wind chimes as an anniversary present, so we hung them up in our back patio area.
Jeff gave me his “paper” anniversary present to me – origami flowers he personally folded! It was so adorable! He was embarrased a little since they didn’t turn out quite like they were “supposed” to but I still love them. I would much rather get a handmade gift over anything else. Doesn’t he look so proud?
After enjoying our grilled dinner we sliced up the top tier of our wedding cake. It still tasted incredibly good for surviving 1 year in the freezer. I seriously LOVE this cake. It is a Layers sponge cake with raspberry bavarian creme, butter cream frosting and covered in white chocolate. The actual wedding cake’s lower tiers included fresh strawberries but we decided to not include them on this tier since we knew it would get frozen and it might not have kept well. This is the best wedding cake EVER. No lie. I could eat it everyday (and I did eat up the rest almost single handly).
Jeff – thank you for a spectacular year of being my husband. I love being here for you as your wife and look forward to the adventures that lie before us this year and for the years to come.
Big Sur
Today drove down highway 1 in Big Sur to go on some hikes. We visited Julia Pfieffer Park, which has a waterfall going directly onto a beach and into the ocean!
We planned on going on a longer hike, but the trail ended up being closed because of last year’s wild fires. Jeff and I ate our Safeway sandwiches for lunch at the park benches while a couple of blue jays tried to steal our food.
After lunch, we decided to headed back up to Pfieffer Beach. We were surprised that we had to wait in line for a parking spot (even after paying $5). The wait was worth it though, the beach was gorgeous and we both fell asleep in the sun on a big sand dune.
We came back to the hotel and opened up our complimentary bottle of champagne and toasted ourselves to a wonderful 1st year of marriage. Dinner plans ended up being more relaxed than yesterday, as we ordered room service at about 10pm and crashed out on the comfy king bed soon thereafter.
Carmel Highlands Hotel
Today was the start of our 1-year wedding anniversary weekend getaway. Jeff and I booked an ocean-view hotel room at Carmel Highlands which is right next to the pacific coastline (hwy 1) in Carmel. Chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of sparking wine were waiting for us when we checked in to our room. I gave Jeff my present (a custom made puzzle) and handmade card which he loved.
The view from the balcony, and the inside of our hotel room.
We went out to dinner at the hotel’s 4-star restaurant, Pacific Edge, which is a supposed to have fantastic views and excellent food (i.e. very expensive)! I like seeing how creative the menu items are at places like these, and took note of the fact that they had used “Garlic Granola” as a crunchy topping to a salad. It tasted pretty good, but i think i’d still prefer won ton strips or croutons. We also ordered some goat cheese croquettes which were warm, creamy, and crispy goodness.
I had butternut squash ravioli with granny smith apples, pecans and a buttery sauce. It was a little dry, but very delicious. I wished there were more apples though.
Jeff had a steak accompanied with an herbed aioli and sweet potato gratin. The steak was well seasoned and cooked, but the potatoes were not to our liking and the aioli was way to herby for his taste.
I finished off the meal with a trio of sorbets, Mango and Raspberry (I asked for double mango in lieu of banana). Jeff preferred to skip dessert and get a coffee.
The service at the resturant was pretty terrible, but the food itself was up to par i would say. The views are wonderful, though because of the service (or lack thereof) and priceyness I don’t think we’d ever go back. It was a memorable dinner for our first anniversary.
After dinner we walked back to our room and Jeff started up a fire in the wood burning fire place. It was a nice treat since we don’t have a fireplace at our house.
Paycheck Delight
Kathy always adornes our paychecks with cute stickers. I feel like a kid in school getting my report card! These ones were especially adorable since they were so itty bitty. All of us ooohhhed and aaahhhed over them for a while. She bought them from a Japanese stationary store called Maido in Santana Row.
Twitter Capacity
I can’t seem to find a photo for Wednesday, April 15th, so i’m using this extra photo i have from Monday the 13th. I tried to visit Twitter that day and it was had maxed out its capacity and couldn’t show me my homepage. I thought this whale was uber cute! I guess sometimes my brain hits max capacity and i forget to take my 365 photo and don’t even realize it till weeks later. Oh well, we can’t ALL be perfect (only some of us).