Las Brisas

When the hub and I started dating, he was living in southern Orange County, and I was living in the Pasadena area.  As we started talking about getting married, we were each trying to convince the other of moving.  One of the ways that he tried to convince me was by taking me to Las Brisas.

I will go out any night of the week for Mexican food.  I simply love it.  The lure of Las Brisas lies not only in the food but the location.  Situated on a the top of a bluff in Laguna Beach, I never been there on a bad day.  Or maybe it's just that Las Brisas makes the day better.

Hub eventually realized that moving to Pasadena was the better move, but we try to make it down to Las Brisas a few times a year.  We had never done brunch until recently, and we are such nice parents, we took the kids with us.  What is it about brunch that makes eating a huge steak before noon seem so reasonable?

Lipgloss Holder DIY

Before A was born and when she was tiny, I used to be quite crafty.  Not to blow my own horn, but at that point in my life, I could have given Martha Stewart a run for her money.  Having a Halloween party, okay, let's make pumpkin stew and serve it in individual mini pumpkins set on chargers that I personalized for every guest.  I had theme parties, spent more time wrapping presents than I did shopping for them, made an ornament for everyone on my Christmas list, and was always working on a needlepoint or cross-stitch project.  Then the child and the career got busy, and the crafts were the first thing to go.  It was either that or the already minimal sleep.  Coffee can only do so much.

Now that I'm starting to craft again, it's amazing how much has changed.  New techniques and materials, not to mention technology overwhelm me every time I go to Michael's or the fabric store.  Feeling like I didn't know where to start, I decided on this simple felt project.

Felt is so inexpensive, so when I went to the store by myself, I bought several colors for potential versions because the teenager can be a bit fickle on color choices from day-to-day. For some reason, I hate to use a sewing machine, so I liked that the stitching was so minimal I could do it by hand.

A now wants one in every color.  Pass the coffee.

Cinnamon Rolls

I was going through pictures on my computer and came across this picture of Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls I had made one weekend for the family.  There is no easy breakfast that is more appreciated than these cinnamon rolls.  I've mentioned before that when I was growing up, my parents were always self-employed, and a large portion of our meals were centered around things that were quick and easy to prepare.  These cinnamon rolls were one of the things that I loved while I was growing up, and the kids still love them.  I do try to make things from scratch though because I don't want to overdue preservatives and processed foods, so I've been on the lookout for an easy cinnamon roll recipe that could replace these. I've tried using frozen bread dough, but I think it doesn't have the right texture and makes the rolls dry.

So I went to Pinterest for inspiration where I found a picture labeled Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls.  Thinking it was too good to be true, I clicked through to the Food.com recipe and found that not only were these supposed to taste exactly like Cinnabon's, the dough could be prepared in the bread machine.

I literally threw these together just as we were sitting down to eat dinner.  An hour and a half later, I had a sweet dough that smelled and looked perfect.  I rolled it out, spread it with butter, dotted it with brown sugar and cinnamon, rolled and cut.

They only needed to bake for 10 minutes, and the icing was really easy to quickly mix as well.

Viola!  And they do taste just like Cinnabon.  Our weekend cinnamon roll dynamic has completely changed.

Rugs

We moved into this house two years ago...where does the time go, and we have needed carpet runners for the hallway ever since.  It's such a high traffic area, and I don't know why it was carpeted when the rest of that part of the house is all hard wood floors.  I'm having the carpets cleaned, and I finally resolved to find runners.  I'm obsessed with One Kings Lane lately, so when my daily email from them popped up, it was true serendipity that rugs were one of the featured items.

Athena 

Piper

Jillian

Areni

 I've always wanted to do a room in black and white, so I lusted after several of these first, but ultimately, I chose the rugs that will go with the majority of our furniture and the carpeting they will lie over since you'll be able to see the edges, so blue it is.

Merrakesh Trellis

 And ultimately, this was the winner.

Glebe

Slow Food

I've been on a pretty strict low fat, high fiber diet for about six weeks now.  The discipline is showing because for the first time in four years, I've been able to lose 10 pounds.  I've become such a skeptic when it comes to dieting that I keep waiting to hit a plateau and have the weight loss stop, but every week the scale creeps down a little bit more.  I'm religiously tracking all the food I consume in an online program, and it's really made me think about the foods I love.

One thing that was a very recent revelation is that all of my favorite foods are slow cooked (well except hamburgers).  I love big roasts, slowly cooked until they are juicy and tender and risotto and stews and, well you see where this is going.

Of course, by definition, the foods which are best cooked slowly contain a lot of fat.  The slow roasting turns that fat into deliciousness which makes it totally off my diet right now.

These pictures are as close to prime rib and risotto that I'm going to get for awhile.  Now back to salmon, brown rice and broccoli!

Bodum Thermal Glass Mugs

I admit it.  I have an addiction.  I am addicted to buying coffee cups.  I know I've admitted to it before, and I am able to control it most of the time.  Lately some new cups have entered the house.  I bought a new set of dishes which of course came with coffee cups.  While I was unpacking the box, my husband asked if we could just leave the coffee cups packed away since we have so many already.  I gave him the evil eye.  And then these beauties arrived.

The Bodum Double-Walled Thermal Glass Mugs mugs arrived in one of the PopSugar Must Have boxes a few months ago.

First, I'm absolutely addicted to these boxes.  I love getting my grab bag package every month, and the special seasonal boxes they have have all been great values.  The boxes always arrive with at least double the value in products over the $35 price.  These mugs along retail for more than that at Macy's, and the products are always a good mix of beauty, fashion, and lifestyle.  Perfect, right?

Now about these mugs.  They are a little smaller than I usually like since I prefer a huge cup first thing in the morning followed by at least two more huge cups over the course of the day.  Since my mugs are so big, I usually have to resort to the big no-no and pop my mug in the microwave for a quick reheat.  Without fail, the big ceramic mug I'm using almost burns my hand off, but the double-walled construction of these mugs doesn't heat up on the outside, so it never burns my hand.  Plus with the smaller size, I'm not having to reheat as much anyway.  I haven't tried it yet, but you are supposed to be able to freeze these mugs, and the inner core will keep your cold beverages like smoothies cold throughout consumption.  These mugs are really light and seem very delicate when you are using them but are supposed to be incredibly durable.  So form and function.  The perfect mug.

An Extraordinary Theory of Objects

Since I learned to read, I have always been a voracious reader.  I majored in English literature in college and graduate school.  I'm one of those people who can be reading multiple books at one time which seems to drive the people in my house crazy, but I can't figure out why.  So you would think that I would always have an easy answer for, "Have you read any good books lately?" Whenever someone asks me that question, it really throws me, and it wasn't until recently that I figured out why.  Liking a book is a really personal thing for me and, I think, for others as well.  Just because I like something doesn't mean you will like it.  Also, you might be really into non-fiction; I personally prefer fiction.  You might like to read about American or European history like my husband; I don't.  A book has to really knock my socks off for me to want to talk about it.

I was utterly surprised to like An Extraordinary Theory of Objects by Stephanie LaCava as much as I did. I initially picked it up because I'm preparing for a trip to France later this year, and I'm more drawn to stories with the country as a setting.  This book was especially appealing because it's written by an American woman who spent her teen years living in France, and even though it's non-fiction, I was curious.  Not knowing really anymore about the book than this, I dove in.

Although the story is heart-wrenching at times, it's one of the most personal and touching memoirs I've ever read.  To me, memoirs are usual full of bragging and excuses; not so here.  LaCava is brutally honest about her struggles, and she blames no one in the process.

LaCava is drawn to unusual objects and collects them as a means of coping.  Far from being a hoarder, her collection is carefully curated.  Just as she collects objects, she is able to lay out this memoir around this objects explaining the entomology of objects prior to every episode within the book.  It's a unique and fitting tie from her life to her memoir.