Leathers and Linens

All this fuss about moving has my focus totally off of school, and totally glued to what I want my new, semi-permanent (by which I mean 2 years) home to look like. And I must say, after much mulling, I've decided that I'm a little bit obsessed with Restoration Hardware. Of course it's some of the most expensive furniture you can buy. Of course most of it is over-sized and better suited for a 10,000 square foot joint. But it's what I aspire to. And if I can't have that exact furniture, I can at least mimic the styles, right? Here's some of my favorites:


I love the light linens in this room. It's so open and clean.

 I love tall bookcases.

 The Manor House Mirror is almost 9 feet tall. I'd need sky high ceilings to make this piece feel at home.

I'm on a mission to complete my classes without becoming entirely distracted. Once I've bagged them all, my mission will be to thrift shop for items that I can fix up, so that my home no longer looks like it belongs to two inexperienced college students.

Easter Basket

I'm pretty sure everyone who reads this blog knows how Easter Bunnies and Santa Clauses work. For those who don't, sorry to spoil it. You had to learn it someday.

I grew up getting awesome Easter baskets, filled to the brim with candy, bubbles, kites, gift cards, etc. Now that we're older, I find it a great excuse to load ourselves with grown up presents. So I was thinking I'd make a cute little basket as a surprise for Conrad. I ran to Target looking for little trinkets I thought he'd like. I ended up spending $100. This is what I bought him:



2 yoga mats. He's always wanting to do yoga with me, so this would be perfect to have!

A hiking backpack with the sucky thing. We're going to Yosemite in August, so again, perfect!




New pair of swim trunks, because my dearest likes to dress like a homeless person.



A loofah, because he's a loofah lover.



See's Peanut Butter egg, since he never gets to have peanut products. He has to eat it at work.



And a shake weight (for myself, 50% for the hilarity of it, 50% seriousness). I'll just say, I tried it. I'm sore.

Being the silly, frugal man he is, he insisted that we don't need any of this stuff, and we took it all back. Except for the loofah and the peanut butter egg. He needs those, of course.

I'm just telling you all now, I'm going back for the shake weight.

Fragrance Frustration

I love walking by someone who smells really good. Even more, I love when i think that my own perfume is awesome. I have yet to find my perfect scent. There have been two perfumes in my life that I have absolutely loved.

Hollister's August, which was discontinued when I was in high school. I think Hollister's peeps are really losing money by not bringing this back.





And Jil Sander Sun Delight. This was given to me by an exchange student who was living with us. It's super sweet, and I can't wear it everyday, but that's ok because I'm trying to make the last 1/4 oz. last as long as possible.




What other awesome perfumes are there? I get so woozy smelling bottle after bottle, so I just need some recommendations. There are a lot that I use, most of them from Victoria's Secret, and, having worked there, I'm entitled to say, they are all cheap smelling and either smell like a 14-year-old or a 60-year-old. Don't even get me started on the hussy ones.

Let the stressing commence

I've got about 4 weeks left of the semester, and I still haven't heard back from UCSD. I'm a little worried about what my options are if I don't get in. I'm trying to just focus on doing well with what I'm handling right now. I took a Marketing exam yesterday, and I feel OK about it. Not awesome, but I'm sure I didn't fail. Then, I had a French quiz that I was really antsy about. Took the quiz, wanted to die, and then my teacher said that everyone would get full credit on the quiz. Whew! I love when that happens, but there's still this looming after-stress effect.

I've got several papers and finals coming up, and I know I won't fail any of them, but I still feel really anxious. I think most of what I'm anxious about is our condo. We just had our inspection yesterday, and all went well! Looks like we'll definitely be buying. I think we went into escrow on Wednesday, so in about a month, we'll be paying for something we'll eventually own! It's exciting!

So now I've got to finish school, hear from university, then pack, then move, then meet a whole bunch of new people again (yuck)... There's something about moving that just... Before we decided to move, we were so excited about the possibility. Then after we decide to move, I still felt excited, but I also feel a whole bunch of sadness for what I'm leaving behind. I love our apartment, our ward, our friends.

We've got a bunch of big purchases coming up: washer/dryer, nice couch, flat screen TV, and just other furniture in general. That's one thing I'm really looking forward to: decorating. I love filling an empty shell of a house with all the stuff Conrad and I have together.

Visitors

My brother Ryan and my almost-brother Zac are visiting from LA. I love visitors. It means I get to cook special things, and go out to dinner, and do fun stuff, and show them around town (those are all things I get to do anyway, but it's different for a guest).

This morning, we all woke up super early and the boys went surfing. I had tutoring, so I took care of business, made some moolah, and we all met back at the house. 30 minutes later, we all went back to the beach (since I didn't get to go), and surfed more, and bathed in grease and sun. It was a lovely time, full of romping in the waves, observing millions of recently hatched sand crabs, and throwing of frisbees.

Once all the boys started complaining of neck sunburns, we went to In-n-out. And since we were in the neighborhood, we stopped by our condo-to-be, where we creeped around, peeked in windows (we don't have keys, you see), and fantasized about furniture placement.

Home now, and the guests are napping - one on my bed, btw - and I have some down time to do homework that I might not have time or focus to do later. Instead I blog and pack silly things that we use rarely, like board games and candles. I'm trying to convince all the men to go up and spa with me, but they say they prefer not to because of the burns all over their bodies. I'll get them there somehow. This is my house, after all.

QUICHE ALSACIENNE

Ok, so I exaggerated by 998, but I've been cooking all night, and it feels like a lot more than what I have to show for it.

For a baby shower tomorrow (which I ironically can't go to), I made quiche. I was going to make them in a cupcake tin, so they were easily proportioned, but I decided using a pre-made pie crust was really the way to go tonight. At least I was able to cut that step out of all the rest of the cooking!

Pre-made pie crusts, just fill once thawed

Filling (per pie): 

6 eggs 

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 Tbsp sour cream

ham or bacon, to liking

green onion

salt and pepper

gruyere cheese (or other cheese, if you prefer)

grated parmesan

Mix the eggs, heavy cream, sour cream, salt and pepper. Chop the green onions (however much you like) and mix into egg mixture. Chop ham or bacon into cubes, spread half into the unbaked pie crust. Fill with egg mixture. Add some cheese, then add the rest of the ham, and the rest of the cheese (this layering seems silly, but this way you'll have ham suspended in the pie, not just all sunken at the bottom). Bake at 375 F for 30-35 minutes (it took me a complete 35). 

Then I made these Cheese Danishes for breakfast tomorrow! Find the recipe here.

Raw:

 Finished:

Awesome day

check out this link:
http://www.sdlookup.com/Pictures-100038068

This is the condo we just put an offer on! If everything goes well, we'll go into escrow tomorrow!

Here were my good things today:

• Today my mom and sister came to visit, and it was hardly enough. Our schedules only matched up for an hour or so, so we hardly got to spend time together. I'm still glad, because our visits are pretty sparse. 
• Remember all that grapefruit I got? There was no way I was going to eat it before it all "expired" (aka rotted), so I gave some as a gift to my tutoree's family.
• I got an extra hour of tutoring today! It balances out the day I didn't have to work at the office. 
• Drove up to Carlsbad and got Submarina with my husband.
• Obviously, signing tons of papers for the condo!

Things I love today

Mema and Pepa's grapefruit from their backyard
freckles that come out in the sunshine
Conrad
crafting abilities
my budding basil sprouts
bbq chicken and artichokes
having a current temple recommend
being excited about putting our offers in!!
new swimsuits from Victoria's

It's been a lovely day.

Pie in the Sky

I've been toying with the idea of opening a bakery. Nay, not just any bakery, a pie shop. My mind has thought of nothing else since the idea came. I had 2 dreams about it. I even drafted up a menu. It includes all kinds of dessert pies (obviously!), and breakfast and lunch pies, like quiches and pot pies.

Sometimes I get ideas that I think are great, but then I get sick of it or lose motivation. To see if this one sticks, I've been baking pies, just to make sure it's my thing.

The first one I forgot to take pictures of: Single crust apple with crumble topping. It was a hit at the church gathering I brought it to.

Today, I'm making a ricotta cheesecake. Here it is, almost done. I'm bringing it to a girl's night event. All the husbands will be at the Priesthood session of Conference, so we're getting together. Hope it turns out well!