3 years!

Tyson and I celebrated our three year anniversary on Wednesday at Pappas Bros. Steakhouse, and it was delicious and so much fun!

We started out in the lounge with drinks! The sparkletini--super yummy!

They even had an arrangement on our table to celebrate with us!

We both got the special...filet mignon, lobster tail, and mashed potatoes with asparagus. 

The midnight cake and dessert wine pairing was sublime. Yum yum yum.

A very memorable evening...they even called us back on Thursday to make sure we enjoyed our experience. Too cool!

Summer goals

Back in May, I made a Summer 2k12 to do list. I have not gotten very far...

• Seriously clean my car Done!
• San Diego Well, that one was easy.
• Organize school binders (I forgot to bring home my three-hole punch so that one is proving difficult)
• Scrapbook 15 layouts (2 of 15 completed--see below!)
• Take Brody to the park 
• Watch Gilligan's Island--all 3 seasons (I've only watched season one and two episodes of two)

Pretty sad. And rain is forecasted all week, so the park is out for now. Maybe I could just add more goals to my list so my ratio of completed to uncompleted goals looks better...

Apologies for the cell phone picture.

Every year I make a dog sitting scrapbook pages for their parents when they come home. Unfortunately, I realized that I have a tendency to go for blue and yellow. Oh well, it's summer-y. :o) See last year's digital page here. I also made a Vegas food page yesterday, but I forgot to take a picture. 

Random Photo Wednesday

This has to be the happiest dog on earth. If she visited Disney World, would the world implode?

Flora

Lately I've been thinking about outdoor spaces. When I was dog sitting this past weekend, there were so many pretty flowers and trees and shrubberies (I just love that word), that it made me want to sit outside the whole time and kill mosquitoes enjoy nature. My favorite was sitting outside right at dusk, usually with my feet dangling in the pool. A fruity beverage would have made it even more enjoyable.

I snapped a few pictures one afternoon to get ideas for flowers...

Of course, there has to be room for a regulation badminton court too. I told Tyson we were hosting a tournament at our housewarming party. Have I mentioned we got a house? :o)

Currently Reading

Divergent series, Veronica Roth | Um, yes please. Yet another dystopian fiction, but done very, very well. The second book was just as good (if not better) as the first because it had even more action. Love. The last book in the trilogy comes out October 2013 (entirely too long.).

Blood Red Road (Dust Lands series), Moira Young | We read this for a summer book club--another dystopian fiction. The characters were sketched vividly, but there was still a ton of mystery about why the world is the way it is. Very interesting and full of action. I read that it's been optioned for a movie, so read it now! The next book comes out this October.

Mark of the Lion series, Francine Rivers | Honestly, I can't believe I hadn't read these sooner. I've only read the first two, but, wow, are they fabulous! I became obsessed. It's historical fiction circa 62 A.D. in Rome. I love the characters. I love the description of the surroundings of the time. There were so many similarities between their culture and what I see around me today. Just very interesting. And she's the same author of Redeeming Love so you know it's good!

Between the Lines, Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer | This is our book club's next read, and I just finished it last night. It's a really cute book about characters' thoughts and actions when the story ends. There is the fairy tale point of view, the prince's, and a fifteen year old girl reading the story. Super duper cute. Putting this one on my class library bookshelf for sure.

Any must-reads while I still have some free time?

Mostly tongues.

I had to share a few pictures from dog sitting! I just love these pups. But don't let the fluffy clouds and cerulean sky fool you--it was only like this for about two afternoons. Mostly it was overcast and rainy!! 

Yawny McYawns a lot. 

 Sticking her tongue out at me.

They are all so sleepy! 

Overseeing the pack.

 Doesn't he look like King Lazzy with his royal subjects/toys?

Seriously. Licked me right on the lips.

San Diego

First sight at the airport. The weather was gorgeous (60s-70s with low humidity) and palm trees were plentiful.

We were there for the International Society for Technology in Education. It was insane. So many inspiring people and new tools I want to try out further. I definitely will be kept busy for the rest of the summer! The highlight for me was the keynote speaker, Yong Zhao:

Mayim Bialik was there too!!

In between sessions, I could walk out onto the balcony at the convention center for this view that taunted me. So beautiful!

On the exhibit floor. With Curious George.

Random Photo Wednesday

Summer. Reading by the pool. I did not coordinate my towel, nails, and book on purpose.

Weekend Shenanigans.

This weekend Tyson, Brody, and I decided to visit my parents at the last minute. Brody was being extremely mopey, and we thought a weekend with a backyard would cheer him up. Mission accomplished! Of course, I had to take a few pictures of Brody and Iris yesterday...

 So serious.

 A tad doubtful about...something.

 Yawny McYawns A Lot.

 Looking for his bunny friend.

 He is so happy!

 Loving the abundance of grass and a canine friend.

There is no menu planning to do, as we have muchas leftovers from last week and this weekend. I've got quite a bit of packing and organizing to do before a week of dog sitting and then a conference...I know this week will fly by!

Summatime.

Celebrating the last day of school.

Time for:

• pandora "Summer hits of the 2000s" station
• grilling on the weekends
• lemonade...of all varieties! 
• short(er) to do lists
• makeup routines of mascara, bronzer, and lip gloss only
• lazy hours by the pool with a book (savoring when it's just us, like today!)
• a super clean and organized home
• plenty of walks and lounge time with Brody
• scrapbooking!!!

We have partaken in my favorite type of summer Saturday: coffee, morning workout, shopping in a local used bookstore, lunch at home, a few hours laying out and hanging out in the pool (re-reading Chelsea Chelsea, Bang Bang and laughing out loud most of the time), and we're about to grill burgers and corn shortly with friends. I had my end of the year (hot pink) pedicure, so I am totally ready to savor the freedom of summer!

Of course, I also have a ginormous stack of papers to sort through and put in binders for next year...I want to be super organized for next year! I'm already planning for the first week of school. :o)

Public Service Announcement: If you have yet to read Divergent...get thee to a library or book store immediately!!! Hunger Games definitely has a rival in this amazing series. Love it. I already purchased one copy to pass around to friends this summer. Will most likely get another to re-read soon. It's that good.

Weekend in Photos

I love weekends. We tend to go out of town often, so I relish staying home and having a low-key couple of days. We watched HP 7a on Friday night in anticipation of the new movie, which we saw Saturday morning at Studio Movie Grill. Loved it. Tyson finished the book about four minutes before the movie started, so he was a tad more critical of the deviations in plot than the rest of us. :o) I also had a Suits marathon, which is quickly becoming a favorite show.

Other than that, we just grilled, made some delicious sangria, and relaxed. Totally love the quiet weekends. Probably won't be posting much this week, as I'm studying for a test I've got coming up soon.

Summer Lovin'

Loving the fun things of summer, when I'm not unpacking, organizing, calling AT&T...aka the work part of not having a job all year. :o) Hopefully I get everything set up in the next few days because our new place has much better light and I'm ready to take some pictures!

We Missed You :: Scrapbook Layout

Hello! After two weeks of no tv or Internet, we are connected to the world again! I must admit that it was kind of nice to be unplugged for a little bit...until I was having to wait around and be on hold with customer service for hours on end.

For the past few years, I have spent a week and a half in the summer dog sitting for some family friends, and at the end of my time there I like to make the humans a little scrapbook layout with a few pictures of their cute pups. This was the first year I went digital, and I just realized how much more quickly digital pages can come together! I am a fiend about measuring and placing things just so (and I love my undo button), which is one of the many reasons I love digital scrapbooking.

Fonts :: Garamound + Love ya like a Sister
Patterned Paper :: Beach Bloom Mellow paper pack
Frame :: old Designer Digitals freebie

Yay for the short week--I've still got another phone call with AT&T tomorrow to try for a third time to return the old DVR to them. My grandparents are coming in town, so the weekend will consist of good food and hopefully a few workouts.

Happy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day! Today we are spending the day looking for a recliner and then grilling out with friends by the pool. Hopefully I get some pictures to share (if we ever get internet...I am sitting at the pool with my laptop again right now) and scrapbook!

Striped journaler freebie from designerdigitals.com :o)

Summertime for me is a time that I constantly have a book that I'm reading. Lately, I've been obsessed with the Women's Murder Club series by James Patterson. I started reading them on my nook, but the library's waiting list wasn't moving fast enough! Luckily I had a friend with the first 9 books (the 10th one just came out last month) that I was able to borrow.

Yesterday afternoon I read Heaven is for Real, which is about a four year old's experience during a surgery when he enters heaven. I don't know else to describe it, but it was quite interesting. It's a quick read, so if you are able to get your hands on a copy you should check it out.

I also read The Help a few weeks ago. I read the first few pages several months ago and lost interest, but got back into it the first week of summer. I won't give anything away, but it's definitely a great read. The movie is coming out in August (with my fave, Emma Stone), and I'm interested to see how that compares.

Any recommendations I should add to my summer reading list?

It's Summertime!

I thought it might be fun to share a few of my favorite summer items today! I wear very little makeup in the summer: usually just some light eye shadow, Maybelline mascara (I love the brush + find coupons for it in the paper fairly often), and this bronzer by Jane in Fiji. Add a clear lip gloss or chap stick and I'm good to go.

My skin is pretty fickle, but I love this clay mask with oatmeal and avocado. It advertises that it purges clogged pores, so the first time I used it my skin broke out for about a week. I use it once a week though, and it has been great since. I also alternate between Clean & Clear astringent (not pictured) and foaming facial--both very refreshing.

Lastly, my summer scent is Bath & Body Works exotic coconut. We live near an outlet and I picked it up for $3 right after Christmas (and it's on sale again!). I love coconut--the smell, coconut shrimp, and it reminds me of Gilligan's Island.

Happy Monday!