October 2019 Favorites

A little late in summarizing a very busy traveling October.  In the beginning of the month, we traveled to Vancouver, British Columbia for vacation, with a one-day stop in Seattle.

We visited the Pike Place Public Market in Seattle.

And visited our friend Cassi in Bellingham, WA.

We visited the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, and went on a Forbidden Vancouver tour.

We biked around the seawall of Stanley Park.

Went on a Gastronomic Gastown Tour. 

Visited Granville Island Public Market and Queen Elizabeth Park. 

Vancouver was awesome and we would totally go again!

This is definitely NOT a fave, but on our last night on vacation in Vancouver, we got a text from our next door neighbor Fred, who is also our catsitter.  A driver in a Prius HIT OUR HOUSE.  We are still dealing with insurance and contractors to fix our house, with no end in sight yet.  Total bummer!  This is what I referred to in my previous blog post about being busy dealing with this sh*t!  I will write a whole blog post about dealing with this once it’s finally over, which I don’t expect until January 2020.

We watched Veronica Mars season 4 on a one week Hulu trial.  Then we did a 5-day trial of YouTube TV and decided to cut the cord and cancel Dish Network.  Saved us $75/month and a great decision so far.  No regrets! 

On Monday 10/21 I had lunch with my friend from my old job Patsy, at Pailin Thai.  I totally forgot to take a photo.  It was GREAT to catch up with Patsy!

Todd went on a bike ride by the ocean with some friends from the San Diego Triathlon Club.

On Sunday 10/13 we met up with Sally and her kids to walk around Miramar Lake and have lunch at Chile Peppers afterwards.

On Wednesday 10/16 I had lunch with my work friend Erecca at Ponce’s Mexican.  Always so fun to chat with Erecca.  We have made it a recurring monthly date to get together.

I am going to write a post about all the awesome new dishes we’ve cooked at home lately.  One of them is this homemade from scratch pizza!  It turned out so good!

We went to dinner with our friend Cecile at Sushi Fish Attack.  It was fun to catch up with Cecile and see what she’s been up to!

I deep cleaned my Keurig for the fall season (I only drink cold brew coffee during the summer).  Then I bought the “My K-Cup” (at the recommendation from my friend Jennifer) so I could use whatever coffee I want, and it’s reusable so it’s a lot less waste!  I’ve been enjoying extra-good coffee! 

We went to Ohio to visit Todd’s family at the end of October.  We did lots of fun things, including a special tour of the Goodyear Blimp.

Making a spooky Halloween dinner.

And enjoying the fall foliage.

Noodle was extra needy because of all our traveling.  And he’s more snuggly when the weather turns cooler.

Still loving his infinity bed.

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September 2019 Favorites

Another month has gone by and it’s time to play favorites again! 

September 1st was my one-year anniversary of leaving work, so Todd and I celebrated by going to Pete’s Seafood, Extraordinary Desserts, and Mitsuwa Japanese market. 

I got to look at all the Japanese skincare products.  There were like two aisles of them!

And I picked out a few things, which Todd gifted me as my one-year-leaving-work anniversary gift.

On Labor Day, we went walking at the coast and it was just beautiful!

My old 7-year old computer was finally on its last legs, so we bought me a new computer.  It arrived on 9/4 and I LOVE it so far!  It was a pain to set up and install a new computer for a few days, but now it’s great.  Such a speedy difference to my old computer!

I had to go to the dentist on 9/9 to fix a filling that had chipped.  I got some breakfast afterwards at Jack In The Box and it was actually pretty good!

Ok, are you watching A Very Brady Renovation?  If not, you must!  I was so nostalgic I cried, LOL.  HGTV bought the Brady Bunch house (the one in the external shots on the show).  They are renovated the inside so that it looks exactly like the inside of the Brady Bunch house in the show.  They filmed on a soundstage, so the inside of the house wasn’t real before.  So great!  Brady Bunch was the first American show I watched when we immigrated to the US in 1979.  I watched the reruns every day after school.  It’s practically how I learned English, ha ha.  Which may explain why I was saying “groovy” in the early 1980’s still.  :D

We checked out a few new places to eat at Liberty Public Market.  I got the pork and chicken baos at Bao Bar. 

Todd got a BBQ plate at The Pig’s Gig.

Our trip to Malibu for Todd’s triathlon was so fun!  If you missed it, you can read all about it here, here, and here. 

Breakfast at Breakfast Republic!  They had some September specials that I wanted to eat.  Mainly the Eggies Classic Breakfast Sandwich and the Hazelnut Creme Latte!

After dinner strolls in our neighborhood with Todd.  We saw an incredible sunset one night.

Todd making regular popcorn and homemade caramel popcorn to bring to his book club meeting.

The skincare shelf reorganization.

The return of Pumpkin Chai Iced Latte at Circle K!  I bring my own travel cup and it’s only 99 cents!

The return of ESPN College Gameday and college football!

Skincare window shopping at the Hmart Korean supermarket.  I didn’t buy anything but had fun looking at everything!

The garlic naan bread at Bombay Coast! 

Todd bought the new iPhone 11 Pro Max at the Apple Store.  He knows an Apple employee who was able to get him a 15% discount.  He picked it up on 9/23 after dinner.  He told me the Apple Store was a zoo!  This phone has three cameras!

But guess what that means?  I get his 2-year old iPhone 8 Plus now!  I migrated to it on Friday and it’s huge and awesome!  I love hand-me-downs!

Todd got to go to Hotel Del Coronado two days last week for a conference.  It’s such a beautiful place!  He got to take a break and read outside.

Hang out with coworkers.

I made a new dish last week, Beef Kofta Meatballs with Roasted Vegetables.  The Middle Eastern flavors in the meatballs are insanely good!  I just love beef kofta at Middle Eastern restaurants, and I’m so excited that I can make this at home pretty easily now!

I got to have lunch with my friend Erecca at Gor Gai Thai on 9/17.  So fun to catch-up!

My standing monthly lunch date with my friend Anne was on 9/23.  We went to Grub.  I enjoyed our conversation so much!  Anne is an awesome writer and so fun to talk to.

We went up to our friends AJ & Meera’s house on 9/28 and made them dinner.  We made Chinese Chili and Scallion Noodles and added rotisserie chicken in there.   So yummy!  Everyone loved it.  But most of all, we love our good friends and we loved seeing them after a few months of lapse! 

The Noodle antics this month are very funny and off the charts.

I came down the stairs and found this... Fairly certain that something like this was the original inspiration for the Sistine Chapel ceiling...

Behold, The Lion King. Simba (Noodle) sitting high up on his rock (soft rug), surveying the vast land (living room) where he rules.

He managed to squish himself into a drawer organizer box that had fabric matrix in the middle! 

Todd cannot be left alone. 

And those are some of my favorites from September!  Always makes me feel blessed to capture these memories on the old blog.

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