what i wore {wedding edition}

our five year anniversary is two months from today and i thought i'd reminisce along with absolute mommy today as she celebrates her seventh wedding anniversary, congrats! our wedding day was magical, except for the outrageous heat, our officiant being an hour late and our florist botching a good amount of our flowers but once we got passed all that it was everything we hoped for. we got married at mt. woodson golf club on june 30, 2007. every element was carefully planned and designed by yours truly. i wanted a gown that was made for a princess and i got it. the train was out of control long, but unique because it was scalloped, once bustled (which was so heavy) it was even more gorgeous. i was lucky enough to wear my dress three times: wedding and two trash the dress sessions. my pre-wedding wear consisted of a victoria's secret wedding day hoodie and sweats pant while my make-up was done by chloé from MAC. my wedding dress was by jasmine bridal purchased at jinny's bridal, my shoes stuart weitzman and jewelry was from nordstrom. my seven bridesmaids wore espresso brown alfred angelo a-line gowns with custom sashes made by my friends mom. it's crazy how five years have (almost) come and gone and how it feels like yesterday when i married my best friend. p.s. who is that girl pictured below? holy get back on the program melissa!  

 

my mommy looked amazing! 

love you jamesy! 

monday phone dump {link-up party}

busy weekend as usual. the dailey method started my weekend mornings off, some park time, an adorable polka dots & cupcakes first birthday party order, cleaning (and some more cleaning) and watching baby brianna for the first time. my mother-in-law arrives tonight and at 2 pm we close escrow. a lot of exciting things will be happening this week. especially since my mother-in-law hasn't been out from new jersey since april of 2010. cannot wait to spend time with her, tony and jim since he's taking the whole week off. make it a great week people! 

            

make sure to follow me via instagram...     

 i am linking up with what makes savanah smile 

playing at the park. jumping off of large rocks. 

my boo-boo brady lounging watching little einsteins. 

after our last storm god was letting me know he was shining down on us. i said hello to my grandma's at this moment. 

meet & tweet twitter hop {link-up party}

today i am one of co-hosts for our reflection's meet & tweet twitter hop. get ready to get your tweet on and meet a few guys and gals, just make sure to give a "hi", "howdy" or "hello". we all love a little twitter lovin' now and then. 

get ready, get set...GO!

housewives recap - {rhoc}

 

heather: first, i love her assistants sunglasses. second, i truly like terry and you can tell that he loves his wife and would do anything for her. ahem! jim, take notes. poor alexis. heather is also spot on that there is something "off" about alexis. 

gretchen: go gretchen! way to snub alexis and her morning news glory. i love how she prepped everyone how she was going to suck. way to disappoint them from the get-go! i hope bravo just makes it seem worse than it really is! 

tamra: not much from tamra this episode. she looked great in vegas and i love how jealous alexis gets. 

vicki:  brooks is a little off. glad she took the high road with gretchen/slade. 

alexis: why bravo, why must you show that clip of alexis on the news again? i love, like love the fact that gretchen said that fox 5 called her first. of course, they are calling her begging her to come on the show because you cannot even read the teleprompter and you look like a hooker. i wish bravo would allude to the fact that they paid that make-up artist to make her look like a drag queen and bruises? stop using them as an excuse! 

it's a weekly thang {weigh-in wednesdays}

i've had a rough week of in taking entirely too many carbs. i am telling myself it's okay because it really is. i started taking classes at the dailey method: barre fitness last friday and love it. i can already see a difference throughout my hips and thighs. i purchased six weeks so i am hoping with the right diet that i will see great results by the time vegas rolls around. i am happy there wasn't a gain this week because i thought there was going to be a significant one. here's to a better week! 


my starting weight: 170 today's weight: 149 week one: 6 pounds week two: 3 pounds week three: 1 pound week four: 1 pound week five: 3 pounds  week six: 0 pounds week seven: 2 pounds week eight: 1 pound week nine: +.6 ounces  week ten: 2.6 pounds   week eleven: 0 pounds week twelve: +.02 ounces week thirteen: +2.4week fourteen: 3.2 week fifteen: 1 pound total weight loss for week sixteen: 0 pounds
total weight loss: 21 pounds  pounds away from goal #1: 1pounds away from goal #2: 10

baked falafel & greek salad {recipe}

a few weeks back on my monday phone dump i confessed my love for falafel. i have always been in search of the perfect falafel and i found it at the kebab shop. i crave their falafel doner but it is a little pricey and it doesn't necessarily fit within my diet guidelines but every so often it is amazing. last week, kim, posted a pic on her facebook page of her baked falafel dinner and i was intrigued to make them myself. i found this recipe for the falafel and then made a simple greek yogurt cucumber dressing and paired it all with a greek salad. it was relatively quick to put together, meaning we ate before 6:30 and everyone was happy. well, besides payton who had a 102.4 temp but she sat with us chugging her blue gatorade. i love me a crispy fried falafel so the baked version wasn't crispy enough for my taste but it was amazing nonetheless. 

baked falafel & greek salad 

falafel: 

1 15 oz. can chickpeas/garbanzo beans 

3 cloves garlic 

2 TB parsley

2 TB flour 

1 tsp cumin 

1 tsp coriander 

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp salt 

1/4 tsp pepper 

dressing:

1 container fage nonfant plain greek yogurt 

1/2 seeded cucumber, diced

3 cloves garlic 

pinch of salt

mint, optional

salad:

romaine

grape tomatoes

kalamata and green olives, sliced

feta cheese 

red onion, thinly sliced

cucumber, thinly sliced

pita 

here's how: 

preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. combine all ingredients and pulse until creamy. 

scoop bean mixture into eight patties. placed on a greased cookie sheet and then spray the top of each falafel with cooking spray (i used pam olive oil spray).

bake for twenty minutes. i flipped mine after ten and then baked an additional five so they were crispy.

for the dressing:

combine all the dressing ingredients in a food processor and pulse until creamy. refrigerate until ready to use.

for the salad:

plate all salad ingredients, drizzle dressing and top with falafel patties. enjoy!

her new froggie princess jammies, freshly painted electric purple nails, a requested venti blue gatorade and her red cheeks. working her first big fever. 

avocado festival + avocado caprese salad {recipe}

two weekends ago we headed thirty minutes north to fallbrook for their annual avocado festival. we had lunch at my old boss' new adventure, magee's tavern and grill, and then we headed out onto the packed street. the avocado festival was more like a street fair with only a few avocado-y foods. there were a few guac trucks, avocado tamales and cold stone brought the green stuff in ice cream form. i was kind of disappointed with the lack of avocado based foods. i guess the food network got my hopes up while watching festivals like the garlic fest. it was hot, so we got the kids rootbeer floats which ended up being a flop. we got princess "crowns" for the girls, saw the local 4H animals and bought some avocados and then we called it a day. thank goodness for the awesome corned beef tacos, corned beef mac 'n cheese and fish taco we dined on at the tavern, oh and did i mention a few snakebites? besides the food the best part of the day was being with my sister, nieces, nephew and aunt and uncle. weekends packed with family truly make monday morning so much better! 

my sister is laughing so hard because i was calling them brad and angelina because of our brood. her and jim always crack eachother up. 

i tried taking pics of everything that screamed avocado fest! 

packed. like 70k+ packed. 

ethan carrying his baby cousin. 

enjoying their floats. 

the most expensive rootbeer float, ever. 

almost bought one of these but the floats broke the bank. i love unique ornaments and p loved it because it's her fav food! 

avo wind chimes. 

robert's new bar. 

love this bbq train! 

avocado caprese salad 

what you'll need: 

1/2 pint of grape tomatoes, cut in half

1/2 tub petite mozzarella balls

2 TB chopped basil 

2 avocados, diced 

salt to taste

drizzle of balsamic vinegar

combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix. that's it! if you won't be eating this until later mix without the avocado and then add the avo right before serving. voila! 

payton and i ate this entire salad to ourselves. the perfect post-nap snack! 

monday phone dump {link-up party}

get ready for my serious phone dump. now that i have instagram i cannot make my fun collages that you have seen the last seven weeks. so as the title states let's dump that phone 'o mine.

                             

 i am linking up with what makes savanah smile

saturday after the gym i got my nails done. i loved how the color looked against my dress. 

saturday we ditched the adult dinner plans and babysitter for a kid friendly dinner at jimmy's famous american tavern down on the san diego harbor. after dinner charlie and payton got to run around but they made sure to pose for their 2012 prom pic, remember their ages two and three, perfectly posed. pray for janelle and i. 

my dinner at j-fat. it was worth every calorie. 

last week amira posted a pic of her nails and it came out that four of us share a common palm freckle. 

friday began my six week journey of the dailey method classes. let's just say, i am addicted. minus the excessive amounts of lululemon that fill the room. 

wednesday night i snuck out for happy hour with janelle & tessa. my reward after jim's business trip. 

jim reading over the doc's as we sign our lives away on on our second house. 

i had two. 

all the boats... i love the san diego harbor. 

after not napping saturday she asked to sit with me as jim and i were watching water for elephants, she passed out babbling about riding an elephant. 

this should officially be ours on the 30th. squee! 

aunt kathy and payton on the new golf cart that will drive her to school and around the corner to their house.