Belated Birthday Gift Post.

I don't even know where to begin when talking about my love for the Keurig. My lovely parents, as a birthday gift, bought me a Keurig Mini Plus for my morning ritual. Since the husband isn't a daily coffee drinker (why?  I have no idea!), making coffee out of our coffeemaker was starting to become a chore. I cursed myself every morning for not setting it on the automatic scheduled mode and ended up most days just not having my coffee which made for a sorta grouchy self. 


So, when my Keurig finally arrived at my doorstep, I was ecstatic to use it! It was easy peasy, too! The greatest pro: you only need to wash a mug, that's it! 

Most people think that they are going to have to spend a grip of money on the pods that contain coffee or that they won't like the coffee that is offered for the Keurig. Your solution: purchase the KCup Filter and then you can use your absolute favorite coffee and not have to spend money coffee you don't really care for. I recently tried the KCup filter so that I could enjoy some Peet's Coffee and had no problems whatsoever. 

Now, every morning, I don't have to stress about washing a gazillion pieces of the coffee machine just to make a few cups of coffee. I just use my Keurig and I'm a happy girl. Now, go get one :) It's strongly recommended that you do! 

Happy 2011.

Happy New Year! 2011, I welcome you with open arms and hope for the best! The husband and I had a low key HNY. We initially had dinner reservations at a local restaurant, but decided to cancel, stay home, and make a home cooked meal of turkey burgers, oven baked fries, and apple pie from Apple Hill, CA. All the while, watching Dick Clark's countdown.

I think it was the best decision ever! 

This year, I started something new. Bikram Hot Yoga. There was a great deal at Living Social.com for a month long of hot yoga for $25. I just couldn't pass it up.  Went to my first class a couple of weeks ago and have been loving it every since. 

First class was kinda gruesome though. I ended up puking my brains out after class outside the studio. Second time, I was nervous about having the same experience, but thankfully, I didn't and it ended up being a terrific experience. Third time, absolutely fell in love. I love how it relaxes me, keeps me balanced, challenges me,  and lets me sweat out all the toxins away.

Right now, the most challenging pose is the camel pose. It feels so unnatural to bend backwards, not to mention scary. But eventually, I know that I can do it. When that day comes, I am celebrating! 

Calistoga, Hot Springs, Girl Time.

Have I ever told you that I am just grateful to work with some of the best people? I love my coworkers, aka work besties. They make going to work not to dreadful and most of all, fun and that's a good thing!

 A few weeks ago, we took a mini trip to Calistoga, CA for some rest and relaxation. I can't believe I worked the night before and I was running on zero sleep the entire day but yet, I was wide awake because I couldn't just let the day slip by me. 

On our way to Calistoga, we stopped at a winery named, V. Sattui. I've always heard good things about this winery. It always seems to be hopping and bursting with tons of people on pretty sunshine days. But, it was just never on our list of wineries to go to. Finally, I get a chance to sample some of their wine and nom on some of their yummy food and cheeses. 

We shared a bottle of Gamay Rouge which was one of my work bestie's favorite. I thought it was okay. Tasted more like a wine cooler to me and probably would be great on a hot summer day.  


Once our tummy's were full of deliciousness, we headed on up to Calistoga. Calistoga reminded me of the Lake Tahoe mountains. There were so many trees surrounding the cute little city plus the downtown reminded me of an old western town that you forget where you are for a quick moment. 

There were tons of cute little boutique shops, wine shops, and oh,  an antique shop that I just had to duck into. Unfortunately, I left with nothing in my hand but it was fun perusing the sweet goods. 

 We stayed a night at the Calistoga Spa Hot Springs. It's not a fancy schmancy place, despite the cool name, but it's a good place if you want to take advantage of their several warm mineral pools, massages at a reasonable price.  

We plan on making this an annual trip in November and I can't wait until next year to return! Yay for work besties and relaxation! 





 

Tis' The Season....

Usually, I"m a traditionalist and wait to decorate the house and start Christmas shopping until after Thanksgiving. But the other day, I got the itch to decorate the house. 

Can I just express to you how excited I am to have a mantel this Christmas season? Last year, I was bummed that we couldn't hang up our stockings. It looked pretty ridiculous with the white 3M rubber hangers.  

I decided to go with a multicolor assortment of ornaments this year as opposed to the last two years where it's been a gold-bronze color. I am kinda diggin' the multicolor theme, I must say. It makes me smile. 

I got to use some of the ornaments that I purchased during the post Christmas sales last year. Like these bird cage ornaments.  Cute, yes?

Two Years Old Already.

This past Wednesday, our dear Maddie turned a whopping 2 years old. That puts her a full fledged teenager in dog years. Waaah. Where is all the time going? She's growing so fast. 

It seems just yesterday, she was this small.   Can you believe she actually fit in that weight scale?

In the morning, I quickly made a little birthday cone hat for her and with some stern talking, she managed to stay still and let me snap a photo of her, which pretty much explains the pissed look on her face. 

She went for a morning walk, had some extra treats, dined on some gourmet dog food and had some organic frozen yogurt for dessert. What a life, this dog has! She sure deserves it because she's a wonderful dog. Love her! Happy Birthday Sweet Maddie! I hope you enjoyed your day.

Mainland Hawaiian Restaurants not so Hawaiian?

A few days ago, I was craving Hawaiian food badly. I could literally taste the mayonaissey macaroni salad in my mouth. 

So, I up and ordered a mini meal at our local Hawaiian restaurant. It came with three pretty descent sized boneless bbq teriyaki chicken breasts, one scoop of macaroni salad and one scoop of white steamed rice. It was more than enough to fill one's need. I can't imagine ordering a full sized meal as it is double the size!

The food itself was your average tasting mainland Hawaiian food. What got me is that I noticed that it was Chinese people cooking our " authentic Hawaiian food" which makes me wonder do Chinese people also own this Hawaiian food establishment? Regardless if they own it or not, it totally took away the feel of the place. Made me not want to order from this place again because, well, frankly, they ain't Hawaiian. Am I wrong for thinking this way? 


I mean, I know that there are plenty of Korean places that are owned and cooked by Japanese people and visa versa and I really don't have a problem with that, oddly enough. Then there is Panda Express who have Hispanic workers making the Chinese food. 


Last night, we made homemade loco moco's. Totally worth to make this dish at home. Moreso because you can control what goes in the dish. I sometimes make it a bit healthy by using ground turkey meat and brown rice. But last night, I went all out and used ground beef. Oh how it tasted much better! 

My question is, do any of you feel slightly cheated when you go into a certain ethnic restaurant and come to find out its not that ethnicity creating the food for you? 

 

Pottery Barn Inspiration

I received the Pottery Barn, " Give Thanks" catalogue today and found so much inspiration to decorate the house for the holidays.  Let's take a look, shall we?

Maize.
These are so adorable and not to mention, easy peasy! All you have to do is gather a bunch of dried Indian corn and wrap it all together using raffia. Voila, you have an instant centerpiece to your dining table! 

Leaves/Twigs.
If you get a fresh tree each year or a fresh wreath and trim it, you can use those trimmings to fill a clear glass vase and a candle in the middle of it.

Manzanita Branches
I've always loved the look of manzanita branches. Always. They just scream nature chic. So, why not use them to make them Christmas chic. Hang a bunch of ornaments on the stems and placing them in flower pot. 

Clear Bottles.
Turn those clear bottles into instant candle holders. Wouldn't these look darling over a mantel, a console table, or heck, even a dining table centerpiece lined along the middle? Romantic holiday
, yes?