Life Lately (In the Last 6 Months) Part II

Here's what we've been up to from May through July! See Part I and Part I cont.  here!

May - In May, we celebrated our 1 year anniversary. It's crazy how fast the year went by. Actually, it's crazy to think that Dean and I have been together for 9 years total! For our first anniversary, I knew I wanted to go away and I've been meaning to get to Santa Barbara for a long time. I'll do a separate post on this since there will be lots of photos and I want to be able to give details on where we stayed, ate and the places we visited!

For now, here's a sneak peek.

Another major thing we did in May was go to Maui! I'm saving that for another full blog post as well because there's about a week's worth of details I'll need to fit in. 

It was ridiculously hot in May and all we could think of was wanting a swimming pool. Since this is not our forever home, we really don't want to invest in one. Luckily, my cousins live in a community that has a community pool. Actually, it's better than a community pool...it's like a resort!

June - In June, I got the itch to redecorate. I had been wanting to move a few things around at home but just never had the energy or the time to do it. One Saturday, I finally did and convinced Dean to help me. 

I don't have a before picture of the room, but I snapped this photo when we were taking down the bookcases that lived in the front room.

And here's the after!

xx, Shiela

Life Lately but Part I - Continued

While I was putting together Part I, Dean came home from running errands and grocery shopping and I got all distracted with all of the goodies he came home with. We recently replaced our cookware set and he needed to exchange one piece...more on that on a later post.

Anyway, I completely spaced and didn't include so many more things we did in April. So, this post is a continuation of my updates for April.

My sister-in-law is pregnant and they threw together a gender reveal party. They already have one boy and girl and this next baby is going to be their tie-breaker. She asked me to make a salad and although I appreciated being tasked which a very easy task, I still had to make it pretty!

I also attended my cousin's bridal shower. They had it in the foothills near where we live. Great views and lots of narrow roads = super charming.

My Free People dress.

Then, family from the Philippines came to visit so we had some family over and had a BBQ at the house. The chocolate cake you see there is from the Nugget Market. I think it's called their triple chocolate cake. Anyway, it's crazy good. It's definitely a crowd pleaser.

I think that's everything! April was so busy!

xx, Shiela

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Life Lately (In the last 6 Months) Part I

I've been meaning to get back to blogging. Not regularly of course, because I was never regularly blogging ;) I've been thinking about this blog a lot and trying to figure out what I really want out of it. My mind is always full of ideas...mental list of what I want to blog about, things I want to change around the house, places I want to visit, things I want to research and changes I want to make.

When I look at that list, I honestly think that would make for lots and lots and lots of very interesting blog posts. I just still haven't figured out how to fit this all in, how to make the blog "pretty" and how to develop original content. 

I also struggle with both putting too much information out there and would anyone care and too little information and why would it matter? But then again maybe that's the best part about blogs...is that there aren't any rules. It can be about anything, as often or not often at all, as much or very little and it would be more about me than my readers. Is there anyone out there reading this anyway? I guess I should tell people that I actually have a blog :)

Well, enough of that and let's get to some updates. I know it's been since January since I last posted so I'll try to go month by month to share what we've done!

February - Can I even remember this far back? Wasn't the Super Bowl in February? If it was, then we had a Super Bowl party and I made my first ever banana cream pie! I used store bought dough and this recipe.

We also took a day trip to Napa with a couple of our favorite friends, Ravi and Priya. We visited one of our go to's in Napa Elizabeth Spencer Wines and finished the day off at R+D Kitchen in Yountville. 

March - We celebrated a couple birthdays in March. This one is a combined birthday celebration for a couple of cousins. 

And then, of course, Easter! Our first as a married couple and it was special because we attended mass at the church where we got married. Every time we're there, it is just a nice reminder of the big day. 

April - One of our favorite things to do is go to the movies. Dean wanted to see Batman v. Superman and we love going to the Studio Movie Grill!

And then, since it was starting to warm up real fast in northern California, I was itching to to redecorate a bit and change out some of my neutral pillows for some color! I picked up this and this Shibori throw pillow covers from one of my favorite places, Pottery Barn!

I also discovered this Peanut Butter Bread recipe on Pinterest and oh. my. goodness! Try it, just try it. 

Lastly, yet another day trip to Napa with our favorite people! If your haven't noticed yet, we're always in Napa! It is only a couple hours away from us and we love it there! This trip, we have brunch at Archetype, a MUST!

Donut holes and dipping sauce with our coffees!

And I had their lemon ricotta pancakes with blueberry sauce. Yum. 

Stay tuned for updates from May through July!

xx, Shiela

2015 Holiday Season Recap II

We flew in and out of Seattle from California because it was way cheaper than taking a direct flight into Canada. Even though it was a 2 hour drive and a short wait at the Canadian border, the drive wasn't too bad and it gave us the opportunity to stop and have a Seattle day!

Pike Place Market

We got home a couple days before New Year's Eve. I have this strange rule that we at least have to spend one holiday at home during the season. I think it's because in my mind, being home for the holidays is exactly what the holidays are all about. So, since we spent Christmas away, we threw a small NYE game night pajama party with a handful of friends. 

We started off with a nice dinner with friends at Paul Martin's - a nice little neighborhood restaurant.

Then, we got back to the house, prepped some appetizers and desserts and had more drinks, played Taboo and rang in the 2016 with a handful of good friends. 

The next day after breakfast, we were supposed to head to Napa for a leisurely day wine tasting and a nice lunch. However, we underestimated how tired and slow we would be the next day and decided to check out a local winery instead. To our surprise, we had the best time, chatted with the owner and got to have some fantastic tasting wine!

Looking forward to more family time, friendships and fun in 2016!!!

xx, Shiela

2015 Holiday Season Recap - Part I

And just like that, December is over! It went by incredibly fast. In addition to being so busy at work, we decided to throw a Christmas party, visit out of town family for Christmas, host a brunch with my brother-in-law, sister-in-law and their kids and throw a NYE party! It was tiring, crazy but a whole lot of fun!

A quick photo before our Christmas party. Thanks goodness my cousin snapped this photo because it's the only one I got of both of us. 

D and I after the party. We were exhausted!

We flew into Canada a couple days before Christmas and celebrated with our family. My cousin and I love to bake so we tried this new crepe cake with Nutella ganache recipe. Truth be told, it was ok. I think we need a little practice to perfect it. 

Canada's version of the States' Black Friday is called Boxing Day and usually occurs the day after Christmas. My cousin and I had a great time shopping for Christmas decorations and clothes! We stopped at Tim Horton's for a french vanilla cappuccino and Canadian maple custard-filled donuts. YUM!!!

After Christmas, we went to see the canyon lights at the Capilano Suspension bridge. It was freezing outside and the bridge was so scary, but before it got dark the views were amazing! We made it across safely and toured the treehouse course. 

D and I also walked across the glass bottom bridge. Luckily for me, it was too dark to see how far up we were. Heights make me a little uneasy so not seeing what was down there made it manageable for me to walk across. 

Day 4, we did a Vancouver day! First stop, Luckys Doughnuts. They were delicious and definitely not your average doughnuts. Top Row/Left to Right: Peanut Butter and Jelly | Champagne | Salted Caramel | Chestnut |Old Fashioned |Apple Fritter

We also stopped at Beta 5 for some cream puffs. 

Clockwise: Apple Pie | Salted Caramel | Smoked Almond | Douglas Fir

Here's the Douglas Fir up close because it was just so stunning!

Our last day in Canada we decided to sightsee at Canada Place in Vancouver. We ate at Bow Down in Gas Town and walked off all those calories with the cousins. 

Stay tuned for Part II!

xx, Shiela