Skagit Tulip Festival + Blogger Meet Up

My friends and I went up to the Skagit tulip festival a couple months ago and I got to finally meet Jane in person! The tulip fields was a good 3 hour drive including crazy traffic just getting there. We spent some time chatting, walking around the fields, taking billion photos of the field and soaking up some of that sun!



The fields were absolutely breathtaking. Leaving the fields was not. We sat in bumper to bumper traffic for over a hour. In a one lane road. Just trying to get to the freeway. We were all cranky, tired and famished. And I have learned that sitting in the third row of a SUV makes me incredibly sick and the drive home was just painful. Right Noel?

Frankie turned 5!

So much has been going in the last couple weeks and I apologize for the lack of updates. The hubby is deployed again and Thank you to my amazing friends Noel & Ana for spending the first day with me. ♥



Anyways, our handsome boy Frankie turned the big 5 on the 21st! I baked some doggy friendly carob cupcakes, bought him some treats (he absolutely loved the pizzle stick) and a couple new toys, which he completely neglected! Cupcakes were thoroughly devoured with delight and pizzle sticks to follow. I think Frankie had a great birthday. We definitely wished Daddy was home to celebrate with us. Poor guy missed Frankie's first birthday (he was in Iraq) and now his 5th. Probably some in between.





Frankie is still so gentle and sweet. He's a professional couch potato, but he loves to go on walks and observe people. He will cry if he can't find a space in our bed and even with the tiniest spot, he will curl up and snuggle. Did I mention that he's also the BEST snuggler. He also farts and yawns a lot. His farts surprises him. Human farts are scarier. He hates the water, cleans his paws like a cat, bath time is the end of the world to him. He's an amazing big brother and lets Maggie do whatever she wants to him. Frankie is an amazing dog and we are ever so blessed to have him in our lives. Happy birthday Frankie doodle!





After this photo, she completely inhaled that cupcake and ate the wrapper too. I have a feeling there's a rainbow colored cupcake wrapper somewhere in my backyard.

10.

10 years ago, I married this amazing guy. With tears in his eyes, he proposed to me the night before he left for basic training. We spent the next many months, writing letters, waiting for his phone calls and he'd surprise me with flowers at work. After basic, he got his first duty station in Korea which was a million miles away. Many calling cards purchased and late late night phone calls. He came home on leave just so we can get married. After being married for a mere 2 weeks, he had to return to Korea for another 6 months.



We've gone from Virginia to Washington state to Florida to New York and now back to Washington State. Including 2 deployments and one on the way. Through the happy and the oh so ugly times, 2 fur babies Frankie and Maggie, purchasing our first home later... We've made it!



We've never had a proper ceremony, let alone proper photos taken, so I was ecstatic to get some done for the big 10! Thank you so much to our photographer Shelby for taking time out of her day to capture this special moment for us.


All photos © SG Photography

Happy Holidays!

Star Struck

Thursday, Dec 5th, I received a text from my friend Ana around midnight asking if I was awake. I was. She told me THE PIONEER WOMAN was having a book signing in Seattle that same day. I swear my heart skipped a beat, my hands got shaky and I asked her if we're going. When I woke up that morning, I texted her to pinch me because I could of sworn she said we were going to meet Ree Drummond that night.



We left post around 230/3PM to avoid Seattle's crazy traffic and we made it into the line at 430PM. It was ridiculously cold and thankfully the doors opened at 5-ish and they had a bathroom. Wintery cold + a good hour or so of driving + Ana is pregnant and I accidentally forgot to feed her lunch? Disaster slowly waiting to happen. Thankfully I had a few snacks in my purse. We waited for what felt like forever....



Then, there she was. Shiny like a new toy, or her sweating profusely. She went on to explain her back story which I waited for impatiently... I've read back her blog entries in the past and I just wanted to meet her already! I have to say, getting people adults to stand in a single file line is probably the worst idea ever. Adults like to stand in a massive blob pretending to listen. No joke. Ana and I slowly migrated from one side to the next pretty swiftly and after about 20 minutes or so, we got to meet her!!



At first, I kinda just stood there looking at the back of her head. It was pretty chaotic where she sat, one lady is taking photos (one shot only), one lady is keeping the line moving, people want to meet her and talk her ear off. I just stood there soaking up her awesomeness, but I knew I had to say something. So, I told her that she is one of the reasons why I started a food blog. Which is actually true. My first recipe I made was her apple tart. I was embarrassed that she might ask for my blog, so I quickly told her it's not that great LOL I panicked okay?! Side note: I think my eyes are open in this photo.

After she signed our books and I was done basking in all her awesomeness, I looked at Ana and declared dinner time! We were beyond starving at the time and thankfully we were next to the International district in Seattle so we grabbed some late dim sum and didn't get home til around 11PM. Ana, thank you so much for thinking of me when you found out about this event. We must do this more often! Nate on the other hand? He's tired of me talking about meeting Ree.

6 Things You Should Know

I was tagged by Cassie @ A Southern Pair :)



1. What is your favorite things to cook and/or bake? Cookies are definitely one my favorite things to bake. They take a few trips to the oven, but they're made with lots of love and I love seeing people's face light up, especially when I make s'more cookies. As for cooking, I love my pasta, but my favorite thing to cook? Roasted broccoli/brussels sprouts, one pot meals, casseroles. I like simple no fuss recipes and with my husband home, I like making his favorite pork adobo, but with chicken instead.

2. What's your favorite go-to outfit? My go to outfit is always a plain solid t-shirt, a cardigan, jeans and flip flops. I'm simple :)

3. What's your favorite part about marriage/being in a relationship? To know that I can share my life with someone like Nate. It's been quite a journey I would say. In the last (almost) 10 years, I never imagined I would live in 9 different locations... 3 being my parent's home. I never imagined sometimes being in a part-time marriage with the Army. There has been lots of ups and downs and we always pull through. My favorite part about my marriage is Nate.

4. What blogs do you like to stalk? I stalk a lot of blogs :) Oh Joys, Pinch of Yum... There's many more, but I'm too lazy to list.

5. What is your favorite treat? Sweet treat? I am a sucker for sweets and every kind is my favorite kind.

30.

I've been away on vacation and it's been awesome! So glad to finally be back home and settling in before the hubby returns to work at his new unit.

While I was away, I turned 30 on Sept 2. My friend Jenny surprised me with a trip to the Drybar to get our hair did and fabulous hair is what we got! I was having a total melt down that day and I thought the rest of the night was going to suck, but I actually had an amazing birthday!



Delicious dinner at Fleming's in Newport and the BEST company and our waiter was amazing.







After dinner, I wanted Sprinkles Ice Cream and I tried their Cap 'n Crunch which was actually really good. The boys were complaining to go drinking some more so we went to Slaters 5050 in HB which I nursed my cocktail all night. Seriously, one of the best birthdays ever and I am so blessed for everyone and everything I have in my life. Hopefully I'll be returning shortly with more posts... probably after the Husband goes back to work :)

Grateful.

So, I have this friend Noel. She's kind of a pain in my ass. Always asking me for menus and making fun of my Asian ways. FYI, I've only parked bad once. In all honesty, I wouldn't have it any other way. She drives to "Canada" to have lunch with me, hang out and get mauled by my dogs (especially Maggie). We have our weird food Wednesdays... more weird for her. We're running out of weird things to eat over here too! She's always down for her honeydew boba and froyo. She's introduced me to her group of friends and has me out and about mingling with the world.

With that being said, I wish I had met her earlier. I might not say it to her face, but I hope she knows how eternally grateful I am to have her annoying a*s self in my life. I will be sad when she leaves. I won't have a weird food Wednesday friend anymore. Or just a kick ass friend in general.

With us being a military spouse, we tend to say goodbyes far too many times then we'd like. Be grateful and savor every moment you have. *sigh* What a sappy post. I recently went to a ladie's night in after Noel huffed and puffed about me staying home watching my K-dramas and I'm glad I listened to her and went. I had a BLAST! The whole night, I thought to myself... I could be sitting at home doing this and that instead of sitting there laughing my ass off and enjoying some good company. And laughing at this one married wife who didn't know what a strap-on was or has ever given oral.

So, HEY NOEL! THANK YOOOUUUUUUU! Now, let's go eat weird food and get froyo!

HB Riot 2013

I thought there was a full moon out on Sunday night. I had to deal with crazy kids... lots of screaming and a whole lotta tears were shed. Then my friend Jenny texted me about a riot going on in downtown Huntington Beach, Calif after the surfing competition ended. Now, I don't know about you, but after youtubing some videos, I was starting to get pretty pissed off about it. I read comments about people from the 909 coming to cause a ruckus and the whole time I'm thinking that there's men and women out there fighting for our freedom, our country and this happens. I bet your parents would be proud.

Anyways, sorry I have been MIA for the last couple weeks... I've actually been busy. It's almost August which means I'll been even more busy then usual because my husband will be home sooooooon! Anyways, this is my rant. I have a headache. If you want to see some videos about the riot check out this one or this one.

Hanging With the Bride to Be

I haven't seen the bride to be in almost a year so we made sure to set aside a day just for us. Hang out, catch up, EAT and of course do wedding stuff. We decided to head out to Fashion Island to shop around and I really wanted to go to True Food Kitchen. One of our stops was 'lette macarons and it was so delicious! Jeannie bought a dozen and shared 4 of them with me... I got the coffee one (seriously amazing!), caramel, raspberry and earl grey. Was a little disappointed in the earl grey though. Maybe I'm just unfamiliar with earl grey in general.



One of my current foodie pet peeves? People who keep calling them macaroons. *roll eyes* I'm sorry, I've become one of those people now.



After some sweets, I was hungrrrry and the crankiness was coming out. On top of that, it was another hot day in Southern California. True food kitchen was so COOL! Everything from the tables, to the decor to the open kitchen... Even the food was delicious. I started off with their kale aid which has kale, apple, cucumber, celery, lemon and ginger. I skipped the ginger. I ordered their chicken chopped salad with the chicken on the side. Best salad I've ate in awhile. It has the salad part with manchego cheese (first time having it and i love it), dates, dried cranberries, jicama, marcona almonds, farro and champagne vinaigrette. Jeannie wanted to come here because she's trying to eat "light", but she ended up ordering their bison burger with a side of kale salad and sweet potatoes.



Since we were sort of in the area, we went and checked out Sweet and Saucy Shop in Laguna. What a sweet shop it is! Jeannie tried their strawberry shortcake in a shot glass and OMG this trumped both of my desserts. It was light and the strawberries were so fresh. It was that good where she ate another one. I, on the other hand chose passion fruit panna cotta mainly because I've never had it before and it was extremely tart! Tart to the very last bite. I chose the mini s'more cupcake... mainly for show. Plus, if you 'like' them on facebook, you get a cupcake for free. The cupcake was okay. Loved the marshmallow goodness on top. This cupcake shop is extremely far, but we're glad we came by to try out their sweets.



After all the eating, we went back home to pick up her cousin and do some wedding stuff. I think I was there til about 1:30am decorating tumblers for out of town guests. KPOP + Wedding duties makes the time go by a whole lot faster that's for sure.

True Food Kitchen
451 Newport Center Dr
Newport Beach, CA 92660 | 949.644.2400
Website

Sweet & Saucy Shop
7922 E Pacific Coast Hwy
Newport Coast, CA 92657 | 949.715.0920
Website

Man, It's Good to Be Home

Did I tell you guys I was leaving? My best friend is got married and I flew back to Southern California for 6 days. 6 hot, beautiful, delicious and stressful days, but it was totally worth it. I've been stressing myself out prior to my trip... flying (it's been awhile), how to do my hair, what to eat, where to shop. You know, important stuff.

The flight was a cinch. I didn't even have to do my own hair for the wedding, I saw things, ate lots of delicious things and I'm kinda glad to be back. Except, it feels like Spring here, not Summer. Hopefully the sun will come out to play this summer and let the rain take a back seat. Seriously.



Man, it was so hot! Coming from the Pacific Northwest, I started to sweat the minute I stepped out of the nicely air conditioned airport. I was so excited when I saw my friend Jenny, who was about to get the airport people to page me because my flight was late and she forgot her phone. First stop, Irvine Spectrum. My friend Noel recently got back from visiting Korea and I had asked her to purchase some Skinfood products, but so glad I told her not to. I found the product in store and it smelled terrible. This shop was pretty tiny, but they didn't really have the products I wanted, but I did end up picking up a couple other things which will eventually be posted over at the beauty blog. Since I was starting to get cranky from waking up so early, tired, hungry and hot, we made a quick stop at Casey's Cupcakes and Milk + Honey before heading back to Jenny's house so I can rest.





After resting for a couple hours, my crankiness subsided and I was hungry. When I'm back home, there's an endless options of eateries, so choosing just one was near impossible. We ended up choosing Sushi on Fire down Main St. I have walked and driven by this place countless times, but have never ventured in. The thought of trying to find parking alone makes me not what to go. So glad we went! My favorite dish of the night was "Halloween" (pictured below) which has shrimp tempura and crab salad, topped with tuna, avocado, spicy crab mix and eel sauce. The one pictured above is "76" which has shrimp salad topped with yellowtail, salmon, avocado and spicy sauce. After dinner, we walked around a bit and ended up going to 2nd Floor Food Art Drinks for a drink. This place was AMAZING! The art works were on the walls to the tables. The drink I had was incredibly strong... well, technically, I never drink. Seriously. Never. When I told my dad I went to have a drink, he too was incredibly surprised. Hell, everyone I told was surprised. Anyways, the drink was very strong in my opinion and by the time 9pm rolled around... not only was I slowly crashing from a long day of traveling, but the booze helped me get sleepier and sleepier.



Day 1 out of 6 days of my trip. Hopefully I remember what I did out there because I was viewing some wedding photos taken in one of the booths and I don't even remember being in these people's photos! haha AND! I was completely sober.

Walking Comics

I miss the sound of her laugh. It's loud and contagious. In a good way of course. From the moment I saw her at the airport, it was nothing but constant laughter with a couple cup full of tears. Actually, she volunteered to take the later flight, so her luggage arrived here before she did. I waited around for her and I spotted her. As she was picking up her luggage, I walked up and said "oh, is that your luggage?" She had this huge WTF look on her face but when she saw me... tears were flowing and off we went to start our adventure.

It was one of the best weeks of my life in 2013.



We spent way waaaaaaay too many hours in Lush. She doesn't have one in NM and they recently just opened up one here in the Tacoma Mall. The first day... oh man. Yes, we were there more than once. I was literally exhausted from Lush. I can only look and smell your products so much. We actually got a free facial when we went in the Friday before she was due to leave. Yes, we also spent a good 2 hour-ish in there again. I don't plan to go into a Lush store any time soon either. I need a break from seeing those girls haha



I can't believe it's already been 2 weeks since she was here! My dog Frankie definitely missed her. Maggie? She's confused and she's just happy when people come over and once you leave, it's like *poof* magic. Rosina... if you're reading this, dude, I love you! Loved ninja-ing you even though you got me pretty good when we went to go get our pedicures. She is definitely the older sister I've never had.

We almost DIED in Seattle!

So, this person above came to visit me last week. It has been a whirlwind of fun, laughter and tears. I haven't seen her since she moved from Drum December 17, 2010. Yes..., I remembered the day she moved. Iz has always said that when he gets back from his deployment, he'd take her up here to see me. Sadly, our beloved Iz passed away last May and wasn't here physically with us, but he definitely was here spiritually.


here's me at the Tree of Life



For first timers to Seattle... of course you have to do the sight-seeing stuff. We never got around to the space needle, the gum wall or other major touristy places, but I figure hey! Let's go to pike place market and stuff our faces and shop. That also did not happen. Apparently, I parked waaaaaay past the aquarium and pike place was still a million walking distance to go. We pretty much hiked a hour towards our destination and then I had to pee. Yea. So, we decided to just back track towards my car since neither one of us really remembered where we parked. *sigh* We did stop at a Pirate gift shop and she did pick up some souvenirs to bring home.



Aside from us never reaching our destination, we had a blast at our workout in Seattle. We did finally find a bathroom near the gift shop and there were also an arcade inside. Ro wanted to talk to the psychic so we visited her... 50 cents and less than a minute later we received our fortune. You know, for a machine, our fortune was a little spot on. Especially for her. Then off to find my car which I knew it was near a tea shop, but she was doubting me the whole time. *tiger face*



After resting for a bit and stuffing our faces with green apple flavored cotton candy, we decided to go get dinner in Bellevue. My navigation was trying to get me to go on the 520 which I was trying to avoid and ended up driving in a big circle. So, we were sitting at the stop light waiting to turn left. There was a huge truck on the opposite street turning left and he totally miscalculated his turn because the closer he got the more we both freaked out. I was more worried that he was going to scratch my car but as he inched forward, I reversed back... and my friend was freaking out because she saw his cargo sway and looked like it was going to tip over onto us. A whole lotta screaming happened (while my window was down) and people around us was scared for us. It was seriously a terrifying thing. Darn you Seattle and your small streets and truck drivers who miscalculate your turns!

In the end, we obviously survived. Anyways, this is just one part to my week of fun with Ro series. I've been trying to play catch up all week so hopefully I'll get more posts up soon.

Recipleaser + An Awesome Email

You know, no one has ever emailed me personally to say anything positive or negative about what I post here. Surprisingly though, earlier this May, this guy emailed me out of the blue. At first, I thought it was one of those "hey, we would love for you to try out this and that", but after reading his loooooong message, it was seriously THE BEST email I've ever received! My most popular, most viewed/pinned recipe is the Mexican Chicken and Rice Casserole. Even though, I do not take credit for creating the recipe, but he thanked me nonetheless. He told me how he made this recipe (a better version then mine) for a Cinco De Mayo potluck at work and he was surprised that everyone ate every last bit of it. He's never made the recipe beforehand and I don't think he even got the chance to try it, but he ended up remaking it for himself later that week. I told him he's going to have to go to rehab after making it so much. On top of his awesome email, he's offered to host me under his website which I haven't taken up the offer since I don't have a name for a website. GHOTH.com is taken. Which is my mistake when I created this blog.

So, this guy... his name is Chris and he currently has a website called Recipleaser and it's very similar to Pinterest, except there's no hair tutorials or home decor. It is strictly just food. The best bit is that you can add all your favorite recipes on to one site instead of having to go to a gazillion sites where your favorite recipes are stored. It's a brand new site. Literally. He created this site I think on May 1st and since his email, I have had helped him a bit by content and things. It's pretty cool. Easier for me to add my favorite recipes that I want to try and not have to go to so many sites.





I was not paid or asked to make this post. All opinion is 100% my own. Just a friend helping out a friend :)