Oh, so there was a bull

Soo... The Wednesday before my vacation was Shelly's work going away party at Johnny Utah's and I brought my dear friend Tanya, who some how didn't make it into any pictures...

Below are some random photos from a very interesting night.

Tara coming prepared to party...

Ready to Ride

So maybe I did ride a bull in a dress...

Per Tanya's request

Me & Shelly

So yea, it was a fun night and a rough Thursday morning.

My Vacation Recap = Food

So instead of recapping the boring details about what I did during the day I thought I would recap about all the yummy food I ate...

Sunday Dinner - A nothing special dinner with my parents.  Dad made BBQ chicken with rice & broccoli.  It wasn't the greatest meal I had during my vacation because I grew up on chicken, rice & veggies so I'm not a huge fan of that protein.

Monday Lunch - Fidel's in Solana Beach!  Had lunch with the Hammond's and got my first fix of real Mexican food.  I had a margarita, chips with guacamole and a shredded beef enchilada.  Oh Mexican food, how I craved it and it fulfilled every morsel of my being.

Monday Dinner - Dad made braised beef short ribs with mashed potatoes.  OMG it was soo good.  Best Valentine's dinner I've ever had.

Tuesday Lunch - Vincenzo Ristorante Italiano in Little Italy with Kim, Mom, Taylor & his Friend.  It was great company with two bottles of wine and some good food.

Tuesday Dinner - I had dinner with Michael at Hexagone in Hillcrest and it was good, like lick your plate clean good.  Our appetizers were delicious and our entrees were to die for.  If it wasn't uncouth I would have ordered a second round of my dinner because it was that good.  Then after inhaling our dinners I convinced Michael that Golden Spoon would be a great idea for dessert AND it was! 

Wednesday Dinner - Mexican again at  Tony Jacal's.  Our family's favorite Mexican restaurant, my Dad's been going to Tony's since the 70's.  For dinner it was my parents, my brother & his family and our family friend Steve.  Again with the margaritas, chips and guac and this time I had a cheese enchilada and a carnitas soft taco.  I salivate even thinking of eating at Tony's.

Thursday Happy Hour - Sonoma had a happy hour in San Diego while I was home, yay!  It was at Rock Bottom in La Jolla, food was OK, it was more the catching up with old friends that made a worth while night.  Though my sister-in-law Teresa would beg to differ on the food since she became obsessed with the mushroom wraps.

Friday Dinner - Lasagna! I helped my Dad make lasagna on Friday night and I have to say I did a pretty good job following his directions because it turned out to be amazing and best part it was very cheesy.

Saturday Dinner - Grandma came over for an early dinner.  Dad made bone in pork roast with mushroom risotto and asparagus enjoyed with a great Pinot Noir.  Then Mom made chocolate bread pudding (the Paula Deen version with croissants) and fresh whipped cream for dessert.  It was a very decadent and uber delicious meal.

Sunday Breakfast - Potato Shack with Ben! It was like a late start High School morning all over again.  I had my favorite a banana and chocolate chip pancake, man hole cover size! I only hate half, so I brought the other half home for Jackson.  He was very excited about his pancake breakfast.


So those were the highlights of my weekend and I think I gained about 15 lbs, but it was totally worth it.  Guess it's back to the gym and weight watchers...

oh & here are some pics..

Fate Wanted this Weekend to Happen

For this blog post I will have a co-blogger, my best friend Meggy.

February 12^th & 13^th just happen to be one of the best weekends EVER.  I think fate wanted it to happen. I really do because everything went right for Megan & myself.  On Sunday Megan and I decided there were some major topics points that needed to be discussed, so lets get this weekend recap happening. 

Topics:

1. "Flying There"

I arrive in San Diego on Friday night, Saturday morning bright and early (5:30am) I wake up and prepare myself for a romantic weekend with my best friend Megan in Palm Desert/Rancho Mirage.  I get to Megan's in Newport Beach by 7:45am and we're on the road to the desert in no time.  On the drive we catch up on life, gossip and share one of Pat's famous coffee cake muffins for breakfast.  We arrive to the Westin Resort by 9:45am, a two hour drive took up an hour & fifteen, we "flew" there.

2. Early Check-In

Megan had requested a 10am early check-in, but we all know no hotel will "confirm" your requested time, but low & behold our room was ready at 9:45am when we arrived.  Ah-mazing!

3. 45-minute Towel Rule

As in typical fashion we hit the pool as soon as we dropped our stuff in the room.  But by the time we got there at 10am all the best chairs in the sun were "reserved" with people's miscellaneous clothing articles & folded pool towels.  Not to be deterred Megan asked the pool attendant if we could take two chairs on the other side of the pool in the sun and the pool attendant gladly removed the misc clothing articles and towels so Megan and I could get some much needed vitamin D.  Well, about an hour and a half later the original occupants arrive at the pool baffled as to why the entire row they "reserved" is now down two chairs.  I so kindly informed them to speak with the pool attendant and once they returned they spoke among themselves that the pool attendant spoke of a "45-minute" towel rule. Megan and I were just little bit proud of ourselves.  Its unfair to think that even if you get to the pool at 8am to "reserve" a chair that it will be there two hours later, if you do not stay at the pool you fore fit your reservation.

4. Delicious Lunch by the Pool

By 11:45am the cabana boys started working the pool area with menus for food and drink.  By 12:30 after eating almost the entire bag of mini-goldfish it was time for lunch.  We opted to share a Ceasar Chicken wrap for lunch with an adult raspberry lemonade to wash down the yummy goodness.  Much to our surprise the wrap was HUGE and actually quite delicious.

5. The Obama lookalike: chair incident, potential pool sex then cuddling make out session

There was an Obama lookalike at the resort.  Megan first spotted him when he asked her to take a picture of himself and his girlfriend.  But we didn't connect the dots until he got into a "chair incident" with another couple behind us.  Unlike our sly takeover of someone else's chairs one couple just took over Obama and GF's chair when they were on their way back from a massage, they're incident included one pool attendant, Manager and guys peacocking trying to state their claim all for two chairs in the sun.  What people will do for some vitamin D.  We then spotted Obama and his GF very close in the pool, I suspect they were doing the “dirty” in the pool.  We cannot confirm but it sure looked like they were.  After the pool sex they hen cuddled up on the pool chairs and had a very public make-out session.

We thought it was Obama

6. Ducks in the Pool

So randomly there were two ducks who swam in the pool all day.  I'm not sure if this is safe but I guess they have enough chlorine in the pool that its "OK".  Story continues at dinner #7

 

7. Amazing Dinner

Per a recommendation from my parents, we went to dinner at 3rd Corner in Palm Desert.  And it was delicious!  And for some reason 2/3 of the items I ordered had duck confit.... I'm thinking the ducks in the pool had something to do with my meal choices.  But by far the best dish we had was the mushroom white truffle risotto, OMG it was good!!

8. Making Friends at Dinner/Fro-yo with peanut butter sauce

While listening to the couple behind us hear the dessert options our ears perked up when we heard donut pudding.  I leaned over and asked our dining neighbors how their dessert was, as we were very curious as to how it was.  They opted out of the pudding in lieu of getting frozen yogurt.  The husband then went into detail about the frozen yogurt shop they were heading too, the clincher - they had peanut butter sauce.  Due to the amazing marketing skills of the husband we ended up at Beach House frozen yogurt for dessert and the peanut butter sauce was everything he described and more.  Megan and I are googling to find where we can purchase our own bottle.

9. Bed by 8:30

We returned from dinner to the resort with the thought of taking a bottle of wine to the jacuzzi but ended up talking ourselves out of it and ended up crawling into bed at 8:30pm.  
Own beds + hotel beds + 10 hours = amazing sleep

10. Pool by 9am

If it was news to you, we were at the pool by 9am because where else would we be?

11. In-N-Out for Lunch

As if fate wasn't so kind we pulled into In-N-Out to find a parking spot in front.  With no line to order and snagging the last open table before the rush we enjoyed our favorite.  The only healthy part of this lunch was we were good and opted out of the milkshakes.

13. Pit Stop for Shopping

After circling the lot 3 times and becoming frustrated with those assholes who walk through the parking heading to their cars we gave ourselves one more lap before we gave up & fate was once again so kind to us when I saw a car backing out and I screamed at Megan to pull in.  We hit Coach (no luck), Furla (luck for Alyssa) and then Carters (our nephews and my niece are very lucky) we had a successful quick shopping trip.

Like I said before, best weekend EVER and per Megan "I wish we could relive the weekend." Me too! Me too!!

My Winter Arsenal

Hunter's, Timberland's & Ugg's

These shoes are keeping my feet dry & warm through this crazy winter weather.  Only 39 more days till Spring...

Superbowl Sunday

So we all know that the actual football game itself wasn't that exciting and X-tina totally flubbed the National Anthem but Sunday was a great.  It was a Smörgåsbord of food and great company.  It was more a family dinner than football tailgate.

Anthony made broccoli and sausage bread, delectable.  I made Reuben spread (recipe found here), it was delicious.  Lisa made ramen salad, very tasty.  And Sara made meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner with pumpkin bread for dessert, ah-mazing.  Oh and there were some chicken wings too.

We watched the game too but enjoyed each other's company more.

Matt, Brian & Lisa

Sara & Matt (different Matt than the one in the picture before)

Ant & Me

Look at what I made....

Baked Pasta with Butternut Squash & Ricotta

Doesn't it look delicious? Don't you want some?  Well... you can't have any! (well maybe if you're nice to me I'll share.)

An observation of Equinox at 10am on Sunday

This morning I went to the gym (I usually go during the week at 6am and Sunday's after 5:45 mass) here are a few things I noticed:

- All the anorexics either just wear sports bars (which they don't really need) or shirts that are low cut that show off their disgusting chest of bones.
    1. Its just gross, I'm at the gym to get in shape and attempting to lose my little pouch and I don't want to see your bony, skinny non-existent body. Your body is not aspirational.
    2. Its not attractive and I would make the assumption most gentlemen do not find that sexy.
    3. No matter what you're body looks like it should be required that a shirt is worn in the gym.

- I saw the biggest freaking rocks EVER.  This one lady had a diamond the size of her knuckle.
    1. I didn't know they really came that big &
    2. Who wears rocks that size at the gym?  Is that you weight lift with?
    3. It all clicking now, her gym bag was a LV large tote, totally practical

- The "older" ladies have full make-up & hair
    1. Do they not plan on sweating at the gym today?
    2. Don't they know its bad for your skin?  Oh, wait they have the top dermatologist & plastic surgeons to ensure everlasting "beauty"

- Ladies work out with their hair down? Seriously?
    1. Why? Don't you get hot? Doesn't it get all over the place? Do you really look that bad with your hair up?
    2. I just don't get it