Under Contract

Things are a bit crazy over here.  My husband and I are under contract on a little condo in the mountains!  After viewing over twenty condos and making offers on two places, our third offer was accepted.  This means we are busy putting together all the loan info, scheduling inspections, and day-dreaming about decorating. 

We are a bit disappointed that we won't get to move in until after ski season, but plan on using it a lot this summer between mountain biking and kayaking (hanging out in the hot tub).  Bonus, the HOA allows owner's pets, so Atticus will get to explore with us! 

We are worried the drive up with him might be a disaster if he just whines the whole time.  Yep, he continues to be the most talkative cat I have ever met (alright, and the cutest).  He is currently in my lap, slowly shoving the laptop farther and farther away.

Springtime in Colorado continues to be a guessing game. Tuesday morning we woke up to unexpected snow that threw everyone's commute off.  Then it was sunny and in the 40s all afternoon.  The weather certainly keeps us on our toes! 

4 new Chobani flavors

Chobani was kind enough to send me four new flavors to try out. 

I also got a sweet spoon.  :)  Chobani sent me the yogurt for free, but did not compensate in any other way, nor even ask that I post a review.  All opinions are my own.  

Two of the flavors are a new line - Chobani bites.  These 4 oz yogurts come in a four pack and are mini-desserts clocking in at 100 calories.  We (I say 'we' because the husband ate a good portion) loved these.  Pineapple caramel and raspberry with little chocolate hunks.  I would say both would be an excellent substitute for a chemical filled jello pudding snack.  There is also a fig based bite I am going to track down!

We also received 2% banana and 0% pear.  The pear tasted like a ripe pear.  I liked it, but would not go out of my way to purchase it.  The banana similarly tasted like a real banana - not like banana pudding.  This one had some textural issues for me.  Neither Jake nor I were crazy about it straight up.  Next time I want to try baking banana bread with it.  

I am always blown away by Chobani's generosity.  It is a company I am glad to support, even if it means paying a little more at the store.  If you want to try the new flavors, Target is carrying them.

My tasty Valentine

Jake was supposed to be out of town most of the week for work, but ended up being in town for Valentine's day.  He cooked mussels and Brussels Sprouts (a la the delicious way we had them in California!).  Delicious!  It was a low-key and wonderful night.

  

We also had some friends over for a game night on Tuesday -that's why you spy loads of cards in the background!  

Enjoy the weekend!

San Fran day 4

Our last day in San Fransisco was all about exploring.   We started with breakfast at Tartine.  We split pain du jambon (ham croissant) and a morning roll (orange muffin crossed with a cinnamon bun).  Crazy good, and the whole area knows it - there was even a line even on a random Tuesday morning. 

 We explored Mission Hill district and found a crazy pirate storefront.  The place is actually a non-profit writing center for kids, with a pirate them.  

Then Jake told me there were slides in a certain area we should go find.  Now, I was certain these slides were going to be like "Oh, there is a pool on the roof!" situations.  I did not trust the internet.  

Wrong move.  After hiking around a bit, we found them.  40 foot slides tucked away in a neighborhood. 

Fast slides. 

 Our next adventure was finding China town.

 We wandered a bit then picked up picnic supplies and headed to the coast to enjoy our last hours on the Pacific. 

It was a wonderful trip and I am so glad we went.  There was nature, museums, great food, interesting wine, and an amazing city. 

San Fran Day 3!

Day 3 in San Francisco was all about the water.

First we headed out to Alcatraz island.   We found Pier 31 (after a stop for breakfast and the best coffee ever at the Ferry Building) and boarded the ferry.

  I think I was one of like 10 people who actually watched Alcatraz on Fox last year, so I was actually quite excited to see it. 

 Plus, any opportunity to nerd out with an audio tour and I am a happy girl.  Prisoners one the island included Al Capone and some crazy murderers.  The cells were very small - smaller than the width of the redwood yesterday!

Did you know the island was actually the site of an Native Indian occupation in the late 1960s?  Lots of tribes came together to claim Alcatraz island as their own.  The occupation lasted for about 15 months. 

Freedom was so close yet so far.  The tour said that prisoners could often hear parties from the mainland on calm nights.  

After the tour, we got back on the ferry and headed back to the mainland.  I was in search of one thing - sea lions! 

 Seals?

 Either way, incredibly cute (and loud). 

We crashed in our room for a late afternoon siesta then headed back out.

 Space ship art across from our hotel.  

The port of San Fransisco! 

After wandering a bit, we headed out to our fancy dinner at Michael Mina.  Dinner was amazing.  The highlights included the bread served with a ricotta-honey spread and the lobster pot-pie.  Seriously, the best lobster I ever had in my life.  Delicious. 

San Francisco Day 2 aka the day of boozing it up.

We knew that neither of us wanted to be a designated driver on a day set aside from 11-4 for wine tasting.  So we were uber-fancy and hired a driver for the day.  It made the tasting easy peasy and stress free.  Here we are at a vineyard that is a converted hops barn. 

 This is why we hired a driver.  We rented a Corvette for the weekend and didn't want Jake to get into too much trouble.  :)

 

VML vineyard had beautiful labels.  They keep a designer on staff who does all of their labeling.

 

Still at VML, there was a lovely garden, live music, and delicious soup to enjoy. 

 After 4pm, we decided we needed to kill some time before Jake made the drive into San Francisco.  We found a nearby theater and saw Django Unchained.  We both enjoyed it, but knew going in how violent it was likely to be.  

When we arrived at our hotel in San Francisco, we were greeted with warm chocolate chip cookies and champagne to celebrate our anniversary!  We are very fancy, can't you tell? 

 

Oh, and here is a Muir Wood photo I just found.  Awesome bridge on top of a fallen giant tree.  

At this point, we now had 5 bottles of wine to get back home.  More to come (the next part we will actually be in San Francisco)!

San Francisco Day One!

I hope y'all are ready for some pictures.  

We arrived in San Francisco late Friday night and crashed at a hotel near the airport.  We woke up bright and early to make our way to stop number 1 for the day, but first, we got to go over the Golden Gate Bridge!

 After a fun drive, we arrived at our destination, Muir Woods National Monument.

 Home of the Redwoods

 This was one place I really wanted to go.  I've never seen any living thing so large.

 We hiked around for a bit marveling at the trees (and poor signage).  Tons of other hikers stopped us to ask where they were or how to get to the entrance...  We must have looked very knowledgeable in our sweet soft-shells.  

 After the woods, we drove along the coastline to Sonoma Wine Country!

 

Also, a random unicorn statue for your enjoyment.

 We had this pass for Saturday and Sunday.  It basically enabled us to go to about 70+ wineries and get in without paying a tasting fee. 

We got to meet up with a law school friend who was also out and about boozing it up.  Sadly, we both failed at getting pictures. 

Imagine a picture of two cute girls with wine glasses here.  

Most places had some sort of snack in addition to all the wine.

This place had a cow made out of corks.  Even draw. 

 

We then checked into our B and B for the evening.  Very lovely place, the Cottage Inn and Spa.  This was our private dining area where they delivered fresh pastries in the morning. 

 Gorgeous!  Off to the side is killer jacuzzi.  We managed to blow a fuse trying to use it. Whoops! 

 At this point, we'd purchased two bottles of wine.  There will be more purchased tomorrow! 

Week 3 of BBB and some donuts

I just completed Week 3 of Best Body Bootcamp by Tina!

I had to adapt this week quite a bit due to the trip to San Francisco.  I will post about this in the next few days - it was incredible. 

Back to bootcamp.  I made it through all three strength workouts, and used walking around Alcatraz, hiking SF, and skiing as my cardio for the week.  My legs are sore.  I totally spaced on goals though.  I need to make them a priority for next week!

I used Saturday to prep a bunch of food for the week, including Janetha's Healthy Dark Chocolate Donuts.  Y'all, these were so easy to make and incredibly good.  I subbed all white flour since I couldn't find whole wheat pastry flour at my regular grocery store.  I would show you a picture, but we ate them all very fast.  I highly recommend them.

Tomorrow (or Tuesday) - San Francisco! 

That time I made lasagna

Y'all, I made lasagna from scratch!  Well, not the noodles, but everything else!  This was one of my "30 before 30" goals.  And really the only one I could remember, so on Sunday night, I made lasagna.  Nothing like getting it in under the wire. I followed a recipe from Rachel Ray aka my food guru. 

First, I made a beef sauce from scratch.  Onions, garlic, carrots, celery, pancetta, and beef sauteed.  Then added a large can of crushed tomatoes and let simmer for 35 minutes.

Next up I tackled my first ever bechemel sauce.  This was actually easier than I thought it would be, but still took lots of babying and stirring.  

Finally, I started stacking. 

Baked for an hour.  Finally, after another 30 minutes of resting, we got to eat!

Final verdict? 

It was fine.  It took 3 1/2 hours from start to eating.  If I make it again, I would probably sub out the bechemel sauce - I thought it was too rich for the dish.  Maybe just layers of cheese instead?  

All in all, I am glad I tried something new to me.  I enjoyed the whole process, just wished it was shorter!  

 

30

I spent my 30th birthday hanging out with my boys, playing board games and eating Chinese. 

We have received/purchased/given each other several new games since Christmas.  We are trying to watch less tv and hang out together. This one is called small world. Goal: domination. 

I will do a review once we play them all!

Atticus remains super-cute and super vocal. 

Back later with a story about that time I made lasagna from scratch. 

Jury Duty

Last night did not go at all as hoped.  Poor Irish.  What a horrible end to an amazing season. 

This morning I go up bright and early for day two of boot camp and busted out some cardio.  I then got gussied up for jury duty.  After three hours, I was released from service.  Not going to lie, I am kind of bummed I didn't get chosen.  I've never been on a jury before and think it would be helpful to know how the legal system works on that side for future jury trials. 

After running a quick errand I arrived home to find my father-in-law and grandfather-in-law had arrived early at our house.  Thankfully I finished cleaning the house before I left this morning! 

BCS Championship

Go IRISH!!!!!

Anxiously awaiting kick-off. 

I'm going...

I've thought about it a few times and always chickened out.  I wanted to start off the new year with a plan to follow for fitness - besides a random Jillian Michaels DVD (though I love them lots).  I have been slacking off recently (most of December) on getting up early to work out and hope this will be a kick in the pants.  So, I bucked up and am off to boot camp! 

Meet Atticus

Happy New Year!  One of my resolutions was to get back to blogging. 

Lots has happened since we last spoke.  The job is good, the hubs is great, and Colorado is finally getting some snow.  Most importantly, however, was the new addition to our family.

Meet Atticus

A four month old kitten who just wants to sit in your lap or chase string.  Super cute and super fun.  I will try not to bombard you with pictures, but no promises.  :)