Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Vegas Baby

Kyle and I had the chance to get away for a little bit at the end of January...he had a test in Las Vegas, and after the busy holidays (I had been working a TON of overtime), we thought it would be fun to take a little trip together. Even though he would be working, I could sleep in, walk around, and pay a visit to some family in the area.


We stayed at Mandalay Bay, and had a great time! I have to say, we took advantage of the $2 beer/$3 glass of wine Happy Hour at House of Blues almost every night! ;)
We ate at this amazing Chinese restaurant the first night, where the food was delicious! Some of the most memorable dishes were the wasabi (yes, wasabi) mashed potatoes and fried spinach! Mmm!

It rained a lot of our trip, which was interesting; we usually go to Vegas in the summer, so a rainy Vegas was a whole new experience! It gave us an excuse to check out more of the cool attractions in the casinos, rather than just the pools :)
The second night we headed to the beautiful Venetian, where we saw Blue Man Group. It was sooo good! Very entertaining--definitely worth seeing.

One day I had lunch at the Burger Bar with my Aunt Kelly, my cousin Chloe, and her beautiful new baby boy Kaden (born on Thanksgiving Day 2009). He is sooo sweet! :)


The last day (Kyle was not working) we decided to be frivolous (with the dining credit we had) and order breakfast in bed--can you say creme brulee and mimosas? :) It was soo nice...I truly felt like I was on vacation at that point :) Before we drove home, we met Chloe, Jason, and Kaden at Hash House A Go Go for some brunch. It was great to see them and get a chance to hang out.
The last surprise of the trip was the drive home...when it snowed! Thank goodness Kyle is such a safe driver (thanks Dave ;)...even though it was comin' down, he went slow and got us back to Simi safe and sound ;)

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Rose Parade

On New Year's Day we decided to go look at the Pasadena Rose Parade floats after the parade...thinking we might avoid some of the craziness with all of the parade-goers....

However, it seemed as if almost all the parade viewers decided to go see the floats again after the parade...(maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit)...but it felt like we were at Disneyland maneuvering through the crowds...

It was definitely worth it once we got inside! The amazing detail of the floats when you see them up close is spectacular. You can also smell the incredible blossoms if you're close enough! :)



By far one of our favorite (and one of the most popular floats) starred this cute little dog (and several others like him)...they were the snowboarding bulldogs!


There was even a baby version of the talented bulldogs...

On the front of the float was a giant bulldog...

And this little house is where the dogs end up after their trip down the "slopes"...


They get a little help getting on the board at the top of the hill...

And then away they go!
The whole crowd was cheering the dogs on as one by one, they sledded down the hill, to the background music of "Who Let the Dogs Out." Way cute.


Happy 2010!


Pictures of some amazing creations...


(Of course, we had to get into some of the pics...:)


Friday, January 1, 2010

New Year's 2009


We were lucky enough to spend the last day of 2009 with one of our favorite friends, Amy! She was able to spend the whole weekend with us.

I have been practicing my "tablescapes," so to speak, and I wanted to create something elegant and contemporary for her visit. I've been having a lot of fun mixing colors and textures, and playing with elements like flowers and candles to create something inviting and aesthetically pleasing. Here's what I came up with:



I made some hot apple cider to start off our New Year's Eve afternoon (since it was a little chilly for Southern California ;) in the new mini crockpot my mom had given us for Christmas.




When Amy arrived, we had cider and talked while I started making some appetizers. We were ready to relax and start the New Year off right!


As you can see, the appetizer's went fast: we had a cheeseball (which sounds kinda 'cheeseball' but they are actually really good ;) with crackers, Kyle's favorite "Parmies" (pastry-wrapped hot dogs topped with parmesan cheese, served with a spicy mustard dip), and one of Amy's favorites, caprese salad....yum! And to wash it down, some yummy champagne cocktails.



After more hanging out and catching up, we decided to go down to Limon Latin Grill, where we had a pre-New Year's Eve party cocktail. The nice thing about having the Simi Valley Town Center right below us (where Limon is located) is that everything is walking-distance! After this we were going to head over to Jeremy and Trish's to watch the ball drop.




On our way back up to the apartment, of course we couldn't help but pose with the ginormous Christmas tree in the middle of the Town Center!


After a great evening celebrating the coming of 2010, we headed back to the apartment and got some sleep. New Year's Day morning Kyle was sweet enough to treat Amy and I to breakfast--homemade waffles, eggs, and bacon...mmm. There's no better way to start off the New Year than with the one you love, wonderful friends, and wonderful food!


Happy 2010!