My Pinterest Addiction

Happy New Year everyone! One of my resolutions, amongst a few, is to update this blog at least once a week. Let's see if that happens.

Over the Christmas break my new addiction has been Pinterest. for those of you who don't know what this is, it's basically a site that organizes interesting things you have seen and bookmarked - or in their words "pinned" to keep in one place and share with your friends. I've been a member since shortly after i got married in October, but ever since being off of work for almost two weeks this month i've been really into it. Since i have a new house i've looked a lot of organizing tips and ideas, decorations, new hairstyles, as well as recipes to make for me and my husband. To say the least, i love it and have been trying a lot of things out.

Here are a few, my favorites, so far - this is clearly what i would be doing more of if i didn't work - waiting for that day to come. All of these are on my pinterest boards if you think you want to try them out yourself!

Home-made Hamburgers, complete with a new grill i bought Steve for Christmas

Braided Bun (not that successful but still a start)

Hawaiin Chicken with Seasoned Asparagus

"gourmet" grilled cheese

Now for the Highlight of the New Year weekend!! I attempted, and i would say succeeded, in making Kneaders French Toast! (recipe on pinterest)

1. Made the dough in my new kitchen aid (love) and rolled out and put in cinnamon roll filling, then rolled into a roll form

Then i cut that roll up into a bunch of little pieces

cool shot :)

then i put those pieces into the bread pan to cook

All cooked and ready to go for the morning (i made this the night before)

sliced the bread into pieces for french toast - made that like usual

made the kneaders syrup (poured a little too much on my plate), home-made whipped creme and of course added strawberries like kneaders. And walah, done and soooo good. Tasted just like it, and have loaves to spare for another morning :)

Now that i'm back at work, not sure how much more i can do - but doing pretty good with the dinner meals! Mostly crock pot recipes that i'm trying out. Not good picture opps.

till next time...

A New Beginning

Welcome to our new blog "Potter About". I'm trying to start fresh - i figured since i'm starting a new life with Steve i mine as well start a new blog! Right now we are short of pictures, still trying to get all settled, but they will for sure be coming.

Stephen and I have now been married about a month (minus 2 days)! I don't feel like we've had to adjust much to married life, i mean yes we are always with each other now and i have to cook for Steve - but that's how we already were! The only thing different is we have to sleep in the same bed. Now THAT takes some adjusting - turns out i talk in my sleep (which i already knew) and he is a pretty active sleeper to say the least. I guess we'll get used to that :)

Biggest things that have happened to us in the past month...

1. Went to Kaui on our honeymoon! Hawaii was, for lack of a better word to describe it, AMAZING. I don't think either of us have ever been so relaxed in our entire lives. The scenery was breath-taking, the beaches were beautiful and the activities were so fun. Some activities included touring the island in a helicopter, snorkeling, hiking to beaches and waterfalls, and bbq'ing on the beach. It was the best time ever! Pictures are to come (believe me, i can't even wait to see them all).

2. Moved to El Segundo. We've finally gotten semi-settled into our newly remodeled home (duplex) a block away from the beach. It's been quite an adventure with this one alone, but the apartment turned out so great and i'm loving every minute of organizing it, decorating it (in theory right now), and even cleaning it! We are loving the small home town feel of El Segundo, the grocery stores actually have ample parking! It's been a blast getting to know the area and the people here. More pictures to come of this as well.

3. Bought a washer and dryer! Now this one is life changing, maybe just as much as getting married! We just got these two beauties delivered yesterday and i feel like such a grown-up now! We've already done like 5 loads - just cause we can. Steve actually has been doing them because he thinks it's fun, wonder how long that will last.

I'm trying to post more often, so feel free to check-in and see how we're doing!

I'm on a boat

In March Courtney and i went on our first cruise! It was a 4 night crusie that went from LA/Long Beach to Catalina then to Ensenada Mexico and back. Best thing about a cruise? THE FOOD!

Catalina Island: We didn't do any excursions here, insteaed we rented bikes and just rode around the island. We visited the botanical gardens at the top of the island, then rode around for the views!
Ensenada, Mexico: Here we went 4 wheeling in the wine country, it was gorgeous. After we went around the city with some of our friends we made and they were nice to buy us our fish taco lunch. Fish that we chose from the market, fresh, then went next door to get it cooked. Then we went to the markets, in Ensenada and by the Blowhole (30 minutes out). The blowhole is one of the 3 largest blowholes in the world so we thought we had to make the trip out to see it.

On the Boat: let's just say all we did was eat, relax, dance :)

San Fran: After the cruise we drove right up to San Fransisco cause i had a friend getting married and we thought we'd just continue on with our Tour de Cali :)



To sum it up, we're "kind of a big deal" :)

Bungee Jumping

Back in February i went bungee jumping for my 25th birthday. If any of you watch the Bachelor i went where he went with his first date with Vienna. It's called the Bridge to Nowhere, literally it's off this bridge that is tucked 5 miles back into the mountains. It was so fun and a different kind of exhilaration. Since i've been skydiving i can compare for you, as everyone asks, this is definitely a quick adrenaline rush that come and goes quickly rather then a long term adrenaline rush. I think it's scarier just because the ground is MUCH closer and you are jumping off the side of a freakin bridge!!! See the scariness for yourself! :)

Videos of me to come...have some technical difficulties with my camera :(

Hiking to the bridge, walking through rivers and valleys to get there!

View from the bridge

See the red platform on the top left, that's what we jumped off of

The bridge from aside
Since i am the better picture taker, these are some pics of my friend John for you to get an idea of how all this looks. We did 3 jumps each: forward, backwards, and vertical (which is just stepping back and going straight down - by FAR the scariest because your body doesn't register that you're falling since you are still standing straight up)

My Spontaneous Trip Home

I was sitting at work Thursday in a status meeting with my co-workers talking about our Martin Luther King Holiday Plans (since we had the day off and a long 3 day weekend ahead). When it came to my turn to answer what i was doing over the weekend i was disappointed to say that i had nothing too exciting going on, just sticking around boring ol' LA not going to any fun destinations. Little did i know that was the EXACT OPPOSITE of how my weekend would turn out.

Saturday was awesome actually, i went to a Nike Sports Event with a friend of mine and sat in on a live interview with Kobe, one of the best basketball players ever, who is a member of the Lakers. It was really fun, plus i got to see Zack Effron ;) During the event my mom texted me and asked me if i wanted to go to Breakfast with her the next day. Of course i was all for it because i immediately knew that she was taking a flight into LA, how often does mom come to LA!!!

So the next morning i met her and her crew for breakfast at 8am (so early for me on a Sunday). Luckily i got up early enough to get ready and put on decent clothes! So i waited for mom to take care of the patient her crew was dropping off and then we headed off to the best breakfast at IHOP. During our conversation mom mentioned to me that because they just dropped off a patient there was room for me to come back to ABQ with them! I pushed the idea aside, but then realized that i had Monday off from work, I could totally go! So with everyone pressuring me to go back with them i agreed! Did i go home to pack...no. I just jumped right in with the clothes on my back, my purse, and my tennis racquet and shoes that just so happened to be in my car. That's right, i left LA on a jet plane, came back to NM in style!!! It was so cool, loved the ride, the most chill airplane ride ever. Here are some pics of the fun ride :)





It was so nice to be back in NM so soon for some reason. I took a long nice Sunday walk with mom, played some tennis, did some shopping, ate out with Tiff and my nephews, and my parents, and watched the whole premiere of 24 with my dad! I flew back to LA Tuesday morning to get back to work, the flight felt like a commute! I Got in at 8:30am and drove straight into work, and a busy day of work at that! It was really the best spontaneous weekend ever! Now who had plans to talk about at work ;) THANKS MOM, I LOVE YOU!!!