a little bit of life, a whole lotta love

Saucing from Scratch

2011-09-18T18:14:00.000-07:00

Our garden has finally started to produce some vegetables due to the warmer weather these last few weeks and we had so many tomatoes we didn't really know what to do with them all....so we decided to try making our own spaghetti sauce from scratch.

I have to admit that I thought the process of it was way more fun than the end results. The sauce came out good, but I hate admitting this but I kinda like canned sauce a little bit better (and it's so much easier!).

Still, Dan and I had a great time making sauce together for the first time.

Gislason-Girl Day

2011-08-11T11:02:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, we planned a girls trip wtih my mom, sisters, and two nieces to Napa.

My sister Rheanna had never been and my nieces wanted to come too, so it was a fun day to drive around, stop at some of the prettier wineries and just have a fun girls day together.

We had a great time driving around, exploring the gardens at some of the "fancier" wineries and even had an awesome picnic at Berringer Winery.

Don't ask me why we are all doing thumbs up....some of us (aka me) had already had a bit of wine

Me and my youngest niece Kyley

My mom, Sarah, and me enjoying wine at V. Satui

Me and Tea on the drive home...Always amazes me how grown up she is!

The Gislason-Girls

Sarah always wanted to go to Dean & Deluca's since watching Felicity

How far would you go for a cup of coffee?

2011-08-11T10:50:00.000-07:00

Well we went all the way to Seattle!

Dan travels so much for work that he had so many miles and hotel points racked up that we booked a weekend trip to Seattle with our friends Steve and Sarita and joked that we were just going for coffee.

We left Friday afternoon to Seattle. We stayed at the Westin in downtown Seattle and because Dan is a platinum member he got upgraded to a huge 2 bedroom suite. The view was fantastic....great views of the city and an amazing view of hte Space Needle.
View from our hotel in the day

View from our hotel suite at night

We went to THE BEST dinner at Metropolitan Grill on Friday night. It was so fantastic! Dan had Chateubriand and I had Alaskan King Crab....and we can't forget about our Calamari, Mushroom Platter and lobster mac & cheese appetizers! **All four of us shared the appetizers, we aren't complete pigs :)

On Saturday, Dan had to work at the Seattle Urban Challenge (a fun event where contestants race around seattle scavenger hunt style using their HTC cell phones to get their next clues), so Sarita, Steve and myself went to Pike's Place Market for coffee, amazing breakfast pastries, and to watch the fish guys do their thing at the market.
Pike's Place Market

We met up with Dan and then went to the top of the Space Needle. We chose the best day for the space needle...clear skies, warm weather and best of all it was fleet week in Seattle and while we were at the top of the Needle, we got to see the Blue Angels fly right in front of us.

Here's a pic looking up at the space needle before we ventured to the top

Group shot having a drink inside the Space Needle

Such a great day to see the city from the top

Pic of the Blue Angels

I had to leave on Saturday because I had a girls trip to Napa planned (tough life right?)the following day but the rest of the gang stayed until Sunday.

I have been to Seattle twice now and honestly think I could consider moving there, except for the damn rain!

laboring

2011-07-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

We were quite productive this past sunday....we finally hemmed the extra long curtains in our room that we have been talking about hemming for about 6 months.

we painted our soon-to-be closet/nook from plain white to vibrant yellow (pics to come)

and we built an arbor for our garden. i should say "dan" built the arbor, i supplied the lunch and beer :)

Our garden is growing like crazy and the arbor is a great finishing touch. we bought grape vines to grow up and over the arbor....can't wait for the vines to fill in!

Berre Les Alpes

2011-07-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

Evelyene was our wonderful host in her home town of Berre Les Alpes on our second day in France. Evelyene is the aunt of dan's uncle's longtime girlfriend (had to think that one through).

We met her at the train station in Nice and she took us to her town for lunch at her home and a tour.

Berre Les Alpes is the cutest town I think perhaps I've ever seen. It's very small and very, very old. The streets are all stone and the houses are built up into the hill, so it's like a maze walking around.

We went to Evelyene's beautiful home for lunch, which was probably my favorite meal by far. We ate outside in her backyard (my favorite thing to do is eat outside!) and lunch consisted of some baquettes, wine, fresh tomatoes with olive oil, quiche, delicious roasted chicken, more wine and some great steak.

After lunch we took a tour all our Berre and met the local friends at the center of town at the town bar.

It was a fantastic day! We ended up staying for dinner, dessert, coffee and then got back to our hotel late that night.

The gorgeous view from Berre

Walking thru the Streets

Having dinner on the porch

Our fantastic outdoor lunch

France .... Day 2

2011-07-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

We woke up early on Day #2....well I should say I was wide awake at 6am and woke dan up because i was bored and wanted to get a jump start on the day!

We were meeting a family friend about noon, so we wanted to get her a gift from the Flower Market that morning before we left to meet her.

So we got dressed and headed down the promenade and walked around for a bit because we got the market before everyone had even set up (sorry dan!).

We thought it was funny that we passed a nightclub we had walked by the night before that was in full swing and we saw a bunch of party-goers still partying at 7am that morning. They had their cocktails and were hanging out in front of the club...it was an interesting site to seem some of the people stumbling about at 7am.

The flower and farmers market was beautiful! So much fresh produce, the ripest tomatoes I've ever seen, bins and bins full of olives, seasoned mushrooms, roasted red peppers, flowers, bread, cheese, fish, wine, etc. You name it...they had it. We bought some cherries, marinated olives and roasted sun dried tomatoes that we snacked on while walking around. We picked out a goregous boquet of flowers and a nice bottle of wine to give our family friend that was hosting us for lunch.

We stopped for cafe and crepes at an outdoor cafe on our way back to the hotel and walked thru an old book sale in the middle of the plaza. Then we headed to the train station to meet our family friend Eveleyne.

Oooh la la.....our trip to France

2011-07-06T11:24:00.000-07:00

It's taken a while to get back to the swing of everyday life after going on an AMAZING vacation from May 26 - June 12th.

Dan and I have always wanted to go to Europe, so we made it happen this year and took a whirwhind trip to France, Italy and Greece....it was FANTASTIC.

Here's a summary of our trip to France.........
We flew into Nice, France, took a cab to our hotel, dropped off our luggage and went out to explore! We stayed right in the downtown area of Nice and literally walked about 15 feet before stopping at an outdoor cafe for some "cafe au lait".

**Background note: we didn't stay in any "touristy" locations, we just wanted R&R, coffee, baquettes, cheese, and beautiful, small town country-side. We didn't hit up any famous museums or landmarks on the first half...we hate museums.

Anyway, after sitting for about an hour drinking coffee after coffee after coffee, dan then used his year of high school french to purchase and SIM card for his phone. That took forever but was funny to watch Dan try to explain in broken french what he needed at the cellular store.

We then just walked around Nice and explored. We walked along the promenade by the beach, thru the town and stopped for lunch at a nice outdoor cafe right in the center of the plaza. Lunch consisted of foie gras, fresh bread, beef carpaccio and a liter of wine (our first of MANY). We went back to the hotel in the afternoon since we were exhausted form our 14 hour flight and took a much needed nap.

After resting up, changing and freshing up, we headed out into the Downtown area of Nice again at about 8pm and had dinner. We had a few cocktails, some pizza, and pomme frites....delicious!

After dinner, we accidentally found ourselves in old Nice and fell in love with the cute little buildings and crooked little streets, we walked around for a bit and decided to check out old Nice again in the daylight.

Favorite part of day #1: observing the french culture. people dressed so well, took two hour lunch breaks, drank wine during lunch even when you could tell they were working, and just enjoyed life.

Enjoying our first coffee of the trip

Lunch in the Plaza

Streets of Nice

Hooked on Etsy

2011-06-16T10:54:00.000-07:00

Etsy is like my crack....i try to limit my time spent on the site since I find about a million things I feel i "need" everytime i log on.

I am seriously considering this though, it's a handy little wallet that also fits your phone. I am constantly leaving my purse at home and just bringing my wallet with me and this is even better because now I no longer have to try and cram my phone into my non-existent pockets.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/74825249/iphone-4-with-a-bumper-retro-modern?ref=v1_other_1

a classy birthday

2011-05-11T09:38:00.000-07:00

I had the greatest birthday! In the past few years, we've always done some sort of get together with friends for my birthday, but this year when Dan asked what I wanted to do, I told him I just wanted to spend time with him.

So.....Dan surprised me and took me to the Clairmont Spa in Berkley for drinks, jazz music and dinner.

I had been to the Clairmont only once when I was like 10 years old but we didn't get to do anything but take a tour. So this was my first time dining there.

We dressed up (which I love!) and started with a cocktail at the bar where a jazz band was playing. I had the best cocktail...it was called Raspberry Ginger Ale and consisted of Hangar One Raspberry Vodka, Fresh Ginger, and a Splash of ginger ale...it was so crisp and refreshing I could drink them all day.

Then we headed up to the main dining room for a late dinner (we both love having dinner late! our reservation wasn't until 8pm). We started off with a glass of champagne and oysters. Then dan couldn't decide between two dishes, but you can order a "small plate" of each item on the menu, so he had both. He had homemade pasta and braised short ribs. I chose Cioppini (best i've ever had!) and we finished it off by sharing Creme Brulee.

It was a fantastic birthday!

The balcony overlooking the bay area was a great place for pictures....but it was freezing!!!

lola, the hiking pup

2011-05-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

a few weeks ago we took lola hiking...i have never met a dog that just loves being off her leash and exploring on her own more than Lola.

We had a great time just being outside as a little family

Hoppy Easter

2011-05-01T13:14:00.001-07:00

We had a low key Easter this year, we spent the day at my mom's house enjoying our favorite family meal (cheese and crackers) and just hung out.

It was such a fun day, filled with lots of laughs and silliness....two of my favorite things.

My sisters and I made what we called "bunny butt" cupcakes, following a design we saw in a cupcake book. It's supposed to look like bunnies jumping in a hole among grass....they actually came out pretty cute, the picture didn't come out so well.

Weekend Festivities

2011-04-19T15:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend was all about celebrating dan's birthday!

On Friday (dan's actual birthday), I took him to Olive Garden for dinner...before you laugh, Dan's favorite food is and always has been Tortellini's. He was talking the other day about how much he missed tortellinis (we are both on a low carb diet and tort's are a no-go) so as a special treat we went to our old favorite restaurant :) Neither of us had been to olive garden in about 10 years. Plus I had a gift card that pretty much covered our entire meal.

After we stuffed ourselves of cheap wine, endless breadsticks and pasta, we headed to the movies. Not much was playing that late, so we ended up seeing Scream 4. I actually liked it. I hate scary movies so I like the Scream movies because they totally aren't scary.

On Saturday, I surprised Dan with tickets to see Jerry Seinfeld perform. Dan's all time favorite show is Seinfeld, he loved his surprise!

I started off with having our friends Joel and Sarah over (they came with us to the show). We had champagne in the backyard and then we had dan's other favorite treat...dominoes pizza :)

We didn't tell dan where we were going until we got there and he saw the marquee. It was fun being able to surprise him!

Inside the Paramount Theater in Oakland

Happy Birthday Dan!!

2011-04-15T11:11:00.000-07:00

Today is a big day....Dan's 30th Birthday!

It also means that starting this year, Dan and I have been dating for over half of our lives(we started dating at 15). Seems strange but cool.

In honor of the birthday boy, I decided to rack my brain and think of 30 reasons why Dan McDowell Rocks :)

1. He is honestly the smartest person I know. He knows everything. I sometimes purposely try to find topics he doesn't know about by googling random things but he always has at least a little bit of knowledge about every single topic in human history.

2. He makes friends with practically everyone he meets (including total strangers) which tends to somehow ending up with us getting great deals on things and free stuff.

3. He is the best kisser

4. He knows how to cheer me up

5. He is the world's greatest story teller, because each story involves him reinacting parts out. It's always very lively to have Dan tell you a story.

6. He loves his family and my family

7. He is the world's best dog whisperer...watch your back Cesear!

8. He has so many things he wants to do in life and he makes them happen for himself

9. He's a do-er, not just a talker (that's his phrase when people flake out on plans, "There's talkers and do-ers man, talkers and do-ers"

10. He is the human equivalent to GPS...can get you anywhere you need to be without directions, even if he's never been there before

11. He picks out the funniest cards for people and writes the dumbest (in a funny way) messages inside

12. He makes the best Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

13. He can jump higher than anyone i've ever met

14. He's so handy...can fix plumbing, electrical, computers, cars, put up walls, build stuff out of wood

15. He is great at drawing. My favorite picture in our entire house is a picture dan drew in art class. The only time his artistic ability is not fun is when we play pictionary because time runs out before he finishes his "masterpiece"

16. He has the loudest voice which comes in handy when it's crowded and i need to follow his voice to find him

17. He always sings along with music and never sings the right words

18. He is ridiculously strong and has a rocking bod'

19. He has an infectious smile (and perfect teeth)

20. He makes up his own songs at random about people/things/events that make me laugh so hard i cry

21. He finds any excuse he can to not wear a shirt

22. He's not a sports fanatic so we aren't glued to the tv on sundays to watch football, how boring would that be!

23. He has great style and is a trend setter (something he will tell you himself, over and over and over)

24. He can remember numbers forever

25. He is a great guitar player

26. He makes up a nickname for almost everyone and then proceeds to only address them by that name (B, t-rav, jayese, 'rita, matt-attack, chris-man, gunny)

27. He doesn't worry or stress about things

28. He leaves random voicemails (burping "i love you", singing a song at the top of his lungs, pretending he is someone else - like our dog)

29. I never feel unsafe in any situation when he's around

30. He is honestly the best person i've ever met

a "smashing" bad week

2011-04-11T14:18:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday, I woke up to find someone had thrown a huge rock into my rear car window sometime during the night. The entire back window was smashed, there was glass all over the street and all in the car.

To make matters worse, I had just forked over a bunch of cash to purchase our summer vacation plane tickets to France (which I am totally not complaining about), but paying for a new window was definitely a surprise expense...and not a good surprise.

So I had to borrow dan's car (thanks dan!) for a couple days while I got it repaired. I normally really like driving dan's little sports car but it's a stick shift so driving for 2 days in bumper to bumper traffic was not so fun. To make matters even worse, I had to drive to San Fran on Thursday for work and the site I was going to required driving up some pretty steep hills....definitely stress full in the stick shift.

But I made it without any accidents and thought the week seemed to be cheering up.

Then I called the window guy on Friday and happily found out my car was ready to be picked up. I told him (for the second time) that I didn't have a spare set of keys, so I asked if he could just leave the car outside in the parking lot and put the keys under the front mat and leave it unlocked and I would be by soon to pick it up.

So Friday I drove all the way home then asked Dan to give me a ride back out to Dublin so I could pick up my car. I get there and the doors are locked with the keys inside. The glass guy is closed for the day.

Eventually it worked out and now I have my car back but what a stressful week.

cruising...on a sunny afternoon

2011-03-31T13:04:00.000-07:00

I got a brand new bicycle!!!!!

i have been looking for a beach cruiser style bike for soooo long and a couple weeks ago I found one, on sale no less.

I haven't had a bike since I was in junior high. But dan loves to ride bikes but I hate riding his mountain bikes so I got my own so we can go riding together.

The only sad thing was that right after I got my bike it rained non-stop for like two weeks straight. It was so sad to sit and look at my beautiful brand new bike and just see the rain pouring down outside.

**if you'll notice i kept my bike in the house, right in the living room, so i could sit and stare at it everyday. it's now in the garage since i've ridden it thru mud and the tires are all dirty.

Now that it's nice weather out, i've ridden my bike nearly everyday.

I love it!

My gorgeous pearl white cruiser, just waiting for it to stop raining

My bike remaining in the living room until a sunny day. And my cute little niece playing Dance Central on the Kinnect in the foreground.

My Life's Motto

2011-03-29T10:17:00.000-07:00

I am not good at keeping my house perfectly clean, orderly, and organized at all times.

Growing up my mom was (and still is) THE best at having a spotless house at all times. Her dishes are always done, the laundry gets folded and put away straight from the dryer, grass is always nicely mowed, counters are spotless, rugs are always freshly vaccumed.

When i first moved out i realized how much constant work it is to keep a house that clean. Don't get me wrong, I consider myself neat but at any given time you could walk into my house and find a basket of laundry to be folded, a stray coffee cup in the sink waiting to be washed, a pile of mail sitting on the kitchen counter, etc.

I used to feel bad and that I should be cleaning more, but I honestly just enjoy doing other things so much more than cleaning my house.

Then I saw this quote and thought....this sums we up in a nutshell :) I also believe it's true for me. It may not apply to everyone because in no way am i saying my mom's life is misspent, she's just so much more ogranized that I am.

"A perfectly kept house is a sign of a misspent life"

I was in Miami Biotch!

2011-03-21T14:06:00.000-07:00

Dan and I just spent a lovely long weekend in Miami Beach.

I had only ever been to Orlando as a kid and a couple times to visit my grandparents in Tampa. Before you think to yourself..Tampa sounds exciting...they lived in a retirement area and we were the only kids there. Although they did have some cool three wheel bikes we rode around.

Anyway...Dan had to go to Miami for work last week (tough life I know) so I joined him there on Thursday night and we got back late last night.

From the weather reports, phone calls and updates I saw on facebook...we couldn't have chosen a better time to run away to the beaches of Miami (based on all the rain/storms here back at home).

The trip was....perfection! Miami is gorgeous! Perfect weather for laying out all day at the beach, the water was teal blue and the perfect temp for spending hours playing in the waves. The people watching was the best I've ever seen, the food was splendid and don't even get me started on the Mojitos!

Came home with a rocking new pair of Aviators I bought in South Beach, 5 pounds heavier and a whole lot tanner.

taking the "what the heck am i going to where" out of getting ready for special events

2011-03-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

I know I'm not alone when I get ready to go to a baby shower, brunch, work party, etc. and I stand in front of my closet and wonder "what the heck does one wear to lunch with work friends" or "what does business casual mean exactly"?

I saw this book at the bookstore yesterday and had seen it on a blog I read regularly and decided I had to have it.

It's fantastic....it lists all sorts of occassions one might have to attend and then shows pictures and gives examples of outfits that would be perfect to wear.

Weekly Look Back

2011-03-11T12:05:00.000-08:00

Well I haven't posted anything else this week, so I guess I'll have to do a good job of summing it all up here.

Here are the highlights from my week:

1. Flowers From My Boss
Wednesday was National RD Day (registered dietitian) so my boss bought be beautiful tulips for my office!

2. Brunch with Dan
Dan and I went to a lovely brunch last weekend and then shopped our way around Santana Row. It was gorgeous weather, great food, great drinks, and the best company a girl could ask for.

3. Beauty Shop Time
I am getting my hair cut and highlighted later this afternoon. Excited for 2 reasons: 1) i love getting my hair done and 2) it means i get to leave work early

4. Little person in a big world
We went out last weekend and there was this huge oversized table and chair outside, so of course we had to snap a few pics.

Weekly Look Back

2011-03-04T13:08:00.000-08:00

It was a pretty good week this week, minus a little family drama (not on my part), but otherwise pretty darn swell.

A few of my favorite parts of this past week...

My sister Sarah bought me flowers last night. I LOVE having flowers in the house, especially when they are from other people

Loving the fact that I cleaned my house last night, which means I don't have to clean at all this weekend!

Turkey Bacon. I don't like regular bacon but I tried turkey bacon and LOOOOVE it. I'm finally on the bacon bandwagon!

I totally want to re-create this outfit from Tory Birch (in a less expensive way). I think it would look so cute at work!

My new boots from Shoe Dazzle....they are not my typical style but I can't wait to wear them with some leggins or even a cute little dress with black tights.

fun in the sun

2011-03-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was cold but so nice and sunny in Livermore,

We took Lola to the salt flats near our house to run around. Dan brought his remote control car and drove it around and thru puddles. Lola was not amused by the toy car.

Lola is usually scared of everything and everyone, so I was super surprised that she ran straight thru some of the puddles on the ground instead of her normal habit of spending endless amounts of time trying to find alternate routes where she wouldn't have to get her precious paws dirty.

I snapped this one picture of her, hoping I could time it right to ger her running thru the puddle, but it turns out I caught her mid-air, clearing the entire puddle. She is a fantastic jumper.

War Declared

2011-02-28T09:56:00.000-08:00

We had to run to Target yesterday to pick up a few boring household supplies...Dan said he didn't want to just buy boring stuff and that we should make it fun by buying a treat for ourselves.

We walked by the toy aisle and Dan suggested we get Nerf Guns, I'm sure he thought I would protest but I think I surprised him when I said it was a great idea.

We each decided to pick out our own gun and that it would we war in the Hollyhock Household. It was pretty fun picking out our guns because there are sooooo many to choose from.

I picked out a relatively simple gun and purchases 2 extra "clips" for my Nerf darts so that I wouldn't have to reload during "battle". I was even happy my gun was on sale for $15.99.

Dan on the otherhand went all out and bought a fully automatic Nerf Gun that came with a tripod and the type of "nerf bullets" that come in a long chain (think Rambo style). The price for his exaggerated gun...$44.99!!

So we went home, set up our guns and declared war....I'm happy to announce that I was the WINNER!

Dan is such a nerd however that he modified his gun last night by gluing two of the bullet chains together so that now he can shoot 50 nerf darts without ever having to reload. I still think I'm going to beat him everytime though.

Back among the Living

2011-02-22T15:24:00.000-08:00

I have been so sick for the past two weeks I haven't even thought about updating this blog.

But thanks to the wonderful world of antibiotics, my mom's homemade chicken soup, and about 20 hours a day of sleep I am back among the living world.

Week-Endings

2011-01-21T13:01:00.000-08:00

Someone told me today that it's important to not only look forward to the weekend, but to take equal amounts of time looking back at little things during the week that really got you to Friday.

So....i've decided to try every Friday to look back on my week and list a couple things that stick out in my mind that helped get me to the weekend.

1. My Sexy Husband

I could never make it through my week without pulling out all my hair without my husband cheering me along. And the fact that he looks so cute while cheering is an added bonus.

2. Exercise

I worked out 4 out of 5 days this week and although i'm extremely sore I feel great for working out.

3. Delicious Dinners

I find cooking somewhat relaxing and I found that the week was a little less stressful when I had a new recipe to try waiting for me at home.

4. Modern Family

I watched the most current episode last night with my sister and just find it hilarious.

Organization Ideas

2011-01-18T12:56:00.001-08:00

We have a cabinet in our kitchen where we store all our pots and pans and I hate everytime I have to go in that cabinet to get something. The cabinet is really deep so usually what I need to get is near the back and then I have to pull all the other pots out and lids start falling on the floor. It's a pain.

I looked online today and found these great ideas for how to organize this area. I'm hoping to find something similar this weekend and finally get my pots in order.

Delicious Dinner

2011-01-18T12:52:00.000-08:00

I've gotten back into cooking again and last night's dinner was delicious...and HEALTHY!

We had greek burgers (lean ground turkey with feta, wilted spinach, thinly sliced cucumber and a sauce made with greek yogurt and dill)...it was the first time i had made them and they were great!

We also had my most favorite side dish....mexican bean salad. It's such a great tasting bean salad with black beans, garbonzo beans, kidney beans, red bell pepper, cilantro, garlic, onion, red pepper flakes and a light dressing of olive oil and lemon juice. It was fantastic!

Plus i got to cook side by side with my hubby...so it was a fun night

Cabinet Clutter

2011-01-17T13:09:00.000-08:00

Dan was out of town this weekend on a "guys trip" so i thought it would be the perfect time to organize some parts of our house a bit.

My progress started out slow but by the end of Sunday evening, i had fully re-organized my closet...a project that was a MUST for me. I found so many outfits i had totally forgetten i'd had that were way back in the back of my closet. I really love the feeling of a neat, organized closet. It just really helps me pick out my work outfits so much easier in the morning.

The other task i tackled...reorganizing one of our cabinets in the kitchen. We have this one cabinet where every time you open it something falls outs. Whether it be dog treats, usually the pam cooking oil, peanut butter, cake decorating sprinkles, etc. I cringe everytime Dan opens this cabinet because something always fell out and it was usually something i had shoved in there.

So i went through everything in the cabinet, changed out the shelving liner with new, fresh and clean paper, and got rid of a LOT of stuff we didn't need (i.e. a package of jello that expired in 2002...yuck).

I'm thrilled with the end result.

Before

After

Whole Living 28 Day Mind & Body Challenge

2011-01-10T19:23:00.000-08:00

I love a good challenge. I also love, love, love the magazine Whole Living. So what could be better than Whole Living 28 Day online challenge....daily tips and challenges to get you in the perfect mind and body for 2011.

The goal of the program: Change Your Life This Month!

If you've been eating, drinking, and being a little too merry, have we got the cure for you! Break out of your post-holiday stupor with our annual Whole Living Action Plan, a 28-day jump-start on a year of total mind and body wellness.

Read more at Wholeliving.com: Whole Living Action Plan 2011,

THis Week is Week 1: Pare Down and Purify

Day 1 is all about simplifying. Steps for today included...
1. Ditch Common Food Allergens
2. Add Mindfullness to your Meals
3. Tune out with a partial media fast (no phone, internet, computer, etc)
4. Detox your body with a little light yoga

So Excited!

A hacking Happy New Year

2011-01-06T09:30:00.000-08:00

This New Year's Eve, I volunteered to work as a bartender for the residents at the retirement home where I work for their New Year's Eve Cocktail Party.

I've been bartending this party for the past 3 years now and I actually have so much fun doing it. The residents at my work LOVE to drink and it doesn't really affect my New Year's Eve since their party ends at 9pm (they watch the ball drop in New York and then they go to bed).

This year, Dan agreed to come to my work to help me bartend.

It is the first time that Dan has been to my work and I had such a good time introducing him to the residents and showing him the place. The residents ADORED him!

After we finished serving the old folks Scotch, Bourbon and Champange, we stopped at our friends house for a Champagne Toast.

Dan and I had been sick for the entire past week, so we only stayed until about 11pm, then we drove home and were asleep by 11:30pm. No midnight kiss for us.

New Camera Fun

2011-01-06T09:27:00.001-08:00

I'm so in love with my new camera! My favorite part so far is all the different settings that it has.....

I'm currently addicted to using the "pinhole" setting

and the "film grain" setting

Deacon Dave's

2011-01-03T17:33:00.000-08:00

On Saturday night, we went to a house in Livermore called Deacon Dave's. I had never heard of this before, but our friends told us about it so we all drove out to look at it. It's a man that turns the exterior of his house into a xmas light spectacular every year and lets people come and walk thru the exhibit.

It was nuts! The lights were so pretty and cool to see!

Deacon Dave used a total of 325,000 christmas lights to decorate.

A little looking back, a lotta looking forward

2010-12-31T12:37:00.000-08:00

I re-read my December 2009 post listing the goals I had for myself in the year 2010....I didn't do very well.

These were my goals for 2010 and the progress I made towards that goal
1. Be in the best shape of my life by my 30th bday in May
- didn't meet this goal at all

2. Finally legally change my last name
- Accomplished!

3. Take a photography class
- Started, but dropped out

4. Go to Europe
- Going to france, greece and italy in 2011

5. Take my family on vacation
- Didn't happen, but did get to see my sisters a lot this year

Here are my new goals for 2011

1. Be Healthy (eating right, living an active life)
2. Learn French before my trip to France/Italy/Greece
3. Call my friends more (i hate talking on the phone)
4. Tidy up my house each night before going to bed so I can start each day fresh

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year

Miss Madelyn McDowell

2010-12-28T09:57:00.000-08:00

I got to spend a lot of time this past week with my little niece Madelyn. She's about 7 months old and just the cutest little thing!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-28T09:53:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas, except that Dan was sick on Christmas day with a horrible cold/flu!

We followed our normal tradition of going to celebrate with Dan's mom's side of the family on Christmas Eve for dinner at his Grandparent's house in Los Altos.

After that, Dan and I went home and at midnight we exchanged gifts. We always exchange gifts at midnight because we get up semi-early the next morning to go to his dad's house for breakfast and we like to sleep in as long as possible.

On Christmas morning, we went to dan's dad's house for breakfast with his brothers and sister. His dad makes a huge breakfast and dan always schools everone on the importance of good coffee vs mediocre coffee.

Then, Dan and I went to my mom's house for Christmas dinner with my side of the family, followed by a birthday celebration for my sister Rheanna.

It was a great day and a great way to end the year.

I love my friends...part 2

2010-12-20T11:08:00.000-08:00

Saturday night a group of us got together to catch up and celebrate Dan's brother Matt's bday and our good friend Steve's bday.

The girls decided instead of going out to dinner, we would cook the guys dinner at Sarita and Steve's house instead.

It was so much fun! I love hanging out all together, low key, at someone's house instead of trying to get a table for 10 people at a restaurant.

It was a fun evening.

I love my friends!

2010-12-20T11:05:00.001-08:00

Last night our good friends Sarah and Joel came over to catch up and have a beer.

Sarah and I exchanged the gifts we had gotten for each other and I was so excited by the gifts I received!

Sarah got me to the Frommers Guide to Greece for my upcoming vacation to Greece (June 2011). She also got me a flowering tea pot...which I had posted on my blog awhile ago that I had wanted.

I couldn't believe how much thought was put into the gift.

I love my friends!

Merry Christmas to Me!

2010-12-20T10:59:00.001-08:00

I decided that I had worked really hard this year and deserved a treat. So...i got a brand new camera!

My other camera sadly died after a recent camping trip where I left it out all night and I think it froze to death.

So, on Saturday, with the help of my expert techie husband, I picked out a a new camera.

The Panasonic ZS5 Lumix with a Leica Lenz

I love it! Now I just have to learn how to use it.

Christmas in the Park

2010-12-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

I have never been to Christmas in the Park before in downtown San Jose so this past Saturday, my sisters, my mom, myself and my 2 nieces took a trip down to see what all the fuss was about.

We had a great time! The weather was actually nice and wasn't too cold. It was very crowded though, but we all enjoyed seeing all the Christmas decorations and festivities.

My favorite part....the best hot chocolate EVER! It was a cup of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream, sprinkles, a candy cane, and a plastic snowman. It was delicious!

Hoorah for Holidays

2010-11-29T11:32:00.000-08:00

For the past few years, Dan and I have always cut down our Christmas Tree each year. Last year, we took my nieces for their first tree cutting experience and this year we shared the day with our good friends Joel and Sarah.

We went to a tree farm in Castro Valley and had a great time. We brought mugs of Kahlua and Coffee to keep up from freezing our butts off :)

I really wanted to get this tree....I thought it would be funny to have such a little tree with a big stem in my living room. But dan vetoed it and said no.

We found a great tree and discovered once we set it up in our living room that it is much bigger than we thought! I'll post a finished pic once we get around to decorating it.

Christmas in the City

2010-11-29T11:26:00.000-08:00

Since Dan travels so much for work, he racks up a lot of free hotel points. He had a great deal with Starwood Suites for 2 free nights stay that he had to use up by December 1st.

Soooo.... we decided to use the free nights to stay in the city on friday and saturday this past weekend.

We stayed at the St. Francis in Union Square....what a super swanky hotel! It was the tree lighting ceremony in Union Square that same weekend, so it was busy but nice to see the city decorated for Christmas.

We didn't know what we were going to do about Lola while we were gone, so we called up the hotel and surprise, surprise...they allow small dogs.

This was Lola's first trip to the city and her first time in hotel. She's such a fancy dog that her very first hotel stay was at the St. Francis. The hotel was so cool about her staying, they asked for her name when we checked in so that they could add her to the registration list, and even sent up a doggie bed and dog bowl for her to our room.

We had a great time! I absolutely love San Francisco, especially at Christmas time.

Lola loved her "heavenly" pet bed

Fancy little lola in the hotel lobby

Strolling thru the city

Lots to be Thankful for

2010-11-26T10:36:00.000-08:00

This is the first time in 5 years that I've been able to celebrate Thanksgiving with family. Last year Dan and I were in Thailand and the 4 years before that I always had to work.

It's hard trying to balance time between both mine and dan's family but this year we made it work pretty well.

My mom and sister Rheanna came over to our house for a "thanksgiving lunch". Instead of turkey, I made a roasted chicken, green beans, fresh baked bread, spaetzel (a tradition in our family) and salad with homemade ranch dressing (another tradition in for the gislason girls). It was so nice just to have a low key but delicious lunch with my family.

Then, we went to dan's grandparent's house in Los Altos for dinner. There we had beef tenderloin, scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce.

I made mini pumpkin cheesecakes for dessert that were a huge hit (and bite size so you could have a lot without all the guilt!)

It was a wonderful day. I missed my older sister and nieces but they had to spend the day with the dad's side of the family.

5 Things I'm Loving This Week

2010-11-22T17:04:00.001-08:00

1. My new Crisp Apple Scented Candle

2. The clean, fresh, lavender sheets I just put on my bed

3. That as of right now I have completely washed, dried, folded and put away 5 loads of laundry

4. The fresh crab I made for dinner last night (especially since it was only $3.99/lb)

5. The song "dear john" by Taylor Swift. Take that John Mayer

Feuding

2010-11-12T08:59:00.000-08:00

Dan hates board games....I love them.

Sooooo...I was so excited when Dan sent me an invite to play "Word Feud" on our phones against each other. Word Feud is an app on our phones that is similar to a live scrabble game. We play each other, so it's an ongoing game. Dan will play a word, then it's my turn, then back to his turn, etc.

We are both fairly competative so it's pretty fun. Plus he's been traveling a lot this past week so it's a fun way to stay in touch during the day.

So far we've played two games and....I've been the winner each time!!

Dan says it's unfair because I read a lot of books so he thinks I know more words, but I just think it's because I'm naturally a borderline genius (jk).

Roughing It

2010-11-01T16:21:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Dan and I took my nieces (Tea - 13 and Kyley - 8) camping for their first time ever. A group of us went, so there was a bunch of us.

We stayed at Butano State Park, right near half moon bay. This is probably my favorite camping spot...it's near a little town but it's back in these woods and so pretty with great places to hike. We even went to a goat farm where you can sample homemade goat cheeses...so good!

The weather was freezing but we actually had a good time. My nieces had fun and said the highlight of the trip was seeing a beached whale (it was sad but I guess it's kind of interesting to see a 80 foot whale up close).

Overall, we had a great time...minus the rain that started saturday night and didn't stop until we left on Sunday morning.

13th birthday bash

2010-10-16T23:07:00.000-07:00

My niece is turning 13 next week and my sister threw her a fantastic surprise party tonight.

My sister is so creative when it comes to party planning...the theme was zebra print. She and I made a super cute cake, she decorated with balloons and pictures of my niece over the past 13 years hanging from the ceiling, and had a photo booth complete with props for the kids to dress up up in to take photos against a zebra background.

I had a lot of fun....and my niece had a great time.

I can't believe she's 13 already.

My sister's cute balloon / picture decor

The party favors....my niece's top 13 songs

The cake

The photo booth sign

These little boys were sooo cute and loved having their picture taken

The cutest little girl!

Me and My Sisters with the Bday girl

Props were the only way to keep sane with a house full of teenage girls

My mom and tea

Walking in to the surprise party

Blowing out her candles

camping cabin style

2010-10-16T22:58:00.001-07:00

Two weekends ago, a bunch of us went quote and quote "camping" at dan's aunt's cabin.

It was actually super chill and sooo fun (for me anyway)...I slept in till 10am, we went to downtown sonora, went out for a nice dinner all together, and spent the rest of the time lounging around watching weird shows on tv....super relaxing and lots of fun time with great friends/family.

Here's a group shot from when we went out to a nice Italian dinner together out last night there.

I kinda like this pic of me and dan....we are both HORRIBLE at being in photos so this kinda shows how we react when someone tries to take our picture

Ready for Fall

2010-09-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

I love the idea of fall...although I'm 100% a summer type of person.
Here are some of my favorite things about fall.......

Operation house to home

2010-09-24T11:33:00.001-07:00

We've been homeowners for over 7 years now. This past year we seriously contemplated moving to a newer/bigger house....but now we are staying put in our little hollyhock home.

Now that we are staying I've put operation "Cozy Casa" into full effect. My mission is to design and decorate our home into the home of our dreams. A cozy, comfy, lived in home where we can entertain guests and raise a family.

I want to be surrounded by color, pictures, and comfort. My goal is to get our house to the point where when we kick back on the couch (most likely with a glass of wine) and take a look around, we'll feel perfectly content at our home.

Recent Obsessions

2010-09-23T12:05:00.000-07:00

I go thru phases with things....one minute I'll be completely obsessed with something/someone/etc, the next week they've been stuck on the back burner, no longer on my mind, replaced by something new.

This week's recent obsessions include...

1. Starbucks Vanilla Bean Frappucino Ice Cream

My sister hooked me on this by leaving it in my freezer after she spent the weekend with us. It's sooooo good!

2. Over the Knee Boots

My legs aren't quite thin enough to pull off this look...but I LOVE it! Maybe one day I'll get there.

3. Inspiration Boards

I recently read in a magazine that it's good to have a "inspiration board" to post clippings of styles you like, decorating ideas, quotes, etc. I think this is a great idea since I often see things that I like but then forget all about them. Plus I like visual things.

4. Tea Pots

I am in the market for an actual tea pot...the kind you have to brew tea in and not just a kettle you put on the stove. I found This One online and think I might actually get it.

5. Greece

Dan and I are planning a trip to Greece next year and I cannot wait! I have pictures in my mind of what I think it will be like...I'm sure the real thing is even better

6. Photography
(pic from www.skogasinvogue.com)

I loooooove pictures and am in the process of taking an online class to learn more about digital photography. We have a really nice digital camera so I hope to start taking some good pics. These pics inspire me!

boys and their babes

2010-09-09T09:12:00.000-07:00

This pic makes me laugh......dan with the love of his life (our dog lola) and his brother matt with his little baby Madelyn.

Lola loves babies

2010-09-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

My dog loves babies! It's so strange because she really doesn't like people very well at all but for some reason whenever there is a baby around she just wants to be near them.

This pic is of lola and my niece Madelyn, taken while we were in Tahoe one weekend.

House of my Dreams

2010-09-09T09:04:00.001-07:00

We were in Clearlake this past weekend and while riding around the lake in the boat, we came upon this house....MY DREAM HOUSE!

I can just picture myself living there, inviting people to come stay for long weekends, having huge BBQ's or even clam bakes. I don't really know how to do a clam bake but this just looks like the type of house that would do that sort of thing.

A girl can dream I guess

Biggest Loser Challenge

2010-08-31T09:26:00.000-07:00

My girlfriends and I got together on Saturday night and being typical girls, starting talking about how we all wanted to lose some weight, eat healthier, exercise more, etc.

So, we all decided to have a "Biggest Loser" contest of our own.

Here's how our contest works...
1. The contest lasts for 6 months (Sept 1 - April 1)
2. Each participant pays $10 a month that goes into a pool
3. We all get together once a month to pay our $10 fee,weigh in and check in with each other to see how everyone is doing
4. At the end of the contest, whoever lost the most body weight % wins the entire pool of money

So far there are 7 of us participating, which means the winner at the end of the 6 months wins $420! That is definitely motivation for me!

So far it's fun because we are all very competative and there's nothing like money and weighing-in in front of friends each month to hold yourself accountable for your healthier living goals.

Plus we have a chart tracking everyone's progress....gotta love anything involving charts!

Left 4 Dead

2010-08-31T09:23:00.000-07:00

My sister's co-worker liked a cake we recently made for her so she asked us to make a cake for her son's birthday. When asked what type of cake she wanted, her request was that we make a cake that resembles her son's favorite video game "Left 4 Dead".

It was so gross looking! It looked really creepy and I didn't like the way it looked, but I guess I'm not on the same mindset as a 12 year old boy because he LOVED it!

Here's the actual video game box vs our cake

I'll Sell you my pickle for a nickle....

2010-08-31T09:18:00.000-07:00

Our cucumber plant is growing like crazy, we sometimes pick 5 cucumbers a day! It's more cucumbers that we could ever eat, so we tried to find new ways to use them up.

Here 2 things we did with our surplus of cucumbers....

We Made Pickles
Our very first batch of pickles is ready to be tasted labor day weekend!

We Made Pim's Cups

Dan and I went to New Orlenes about 5 years ago and they had this drink there called a Pim's Cup....we both loved it! It's so refreshing, not heavy and super good. We could never find them here but then at BevMo we found Pim's (it's a type of alcohol) and a recipe.
This is how you make one...
2 parts Pims
Muddle some lemon (optional)
Ice
Top off the rest of the glass with Sprite or Ginger Ale
Add sliced cucumber

eating fresh

2010-08-31T09:01:00.000-07:00

Our garden is growing like crazy and so we've been trying to make dinners that include ingredients from our garden.

We had our friends Sarah and Joel over for dinner on Sunday and everything we made had items from our garden in it...it was such a light and fresh meal! Everyone was stuffed afterwards.

Here's what was on the menu...

Stuffed Mushrooms (made with fresh italian parsley from our garden)

Tomato, Fresh Mozzarella and Basil on toasted bread (tomatoes and basil from our garden)

Arugula & Mixed Greens Salad with Cucumber, Tomatoes, Toasted Almonds, and Red Onion (cucumber from our garden)

Marinated Shrimp and Vegetable Kababobs (the marinade included fresh Thyme from our garden)

It is so fun to use our own vegetables :)

Delish Dessert

2010-08-31T08:56:00.000-07:00

I made Rum-Grilled Pineapple with Coconut for the first time for a small dinner we had with friends at our house on Sunday.

I am a HUGE dessert fan, but am always looking for new recipes that don't involve cake or pie.

I found this recipe in Cooking Light magazine....it's delicious!

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 2 pineapple wedges, 1 teaspoon coconut, and 1/2 cup ice cream)

Ingredients
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup dark spiced rum (such as Captain Morgan's)
1 pineapple, peeled, cored, halved lengthwise, and sliced lengthwise into 12 wedges (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons sweetened flaked coconut, toasted
3 cups low-fat vanilla ice cream
Preparation
1. Combine sugar and rum in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at HIGH 1 1/2 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Brush rum mixture evenly over pineapple wedges.

2. Melt butter in a grill pan over medium-high heat. Add pineapple to pan; grill 3 minutes on each side or until grill marks form and pineapple is thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with coconut. Serve with ice cream.

Nutritional Information
Calories:226
Fat:4g (sat 2.6g,mono 0.5g,poly 0.1g)
Protein:3.7g
Carbohydrate:43.1g
Fiber:4.7g
Cholesterol:10mg
Iron:0.5mg
Sodium:78mg
Calcium:123mg

the cook is back in the kitchen

2010-08-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I was addicted to Food Network and started making dinner almost every night. I did this for about 2 months and really loved it. Work got a little hectic and I stopped and we went back to sandwiches, salad, or take out for dinner.

Tonight I kicked off homemade dinners again....and I have to say the menu was delicious!

As a dietitian, i try to find healthy alternatives to some tasty meals that I love but I have a motto that I don't believe in eating "fake" foods. Meaning I don't like fat-free/sugar-free/no natural ingredients at all fake meat/pasta, etc. I truly believe in everything in moderation and replacing fatty/sugary items with lower fat / lower sugar NATURAL alternatives.

That being said...the menu tonight was
- Skinny Sangria
- Thai Pasta Salad
- Wasabi Tuna Burgers

Everything was delicious.

If you are a fan of champagne (let's face it...who isn't???), then you have to try this Sangria. The recipe is by Bethenny Frankel (Real Housewives of New York) and it's so refreshing.

Here's the Recipe ....

Skinny Girl Sangria
8 peaches, pitted and sliced
4 white peaches, pitted and sliced
1 pound green grapes, cut in half
3 bottles Prosecco
One 12-ounce can Fresca or diet lemon/lime soda
One 12-ounce can club soda

***I made this drink for Dan and Me, so I cut the recipe in half and it was a perfect amount for 2 people. And I omitted grapes and it was still delicious!

indy

2010-08-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, our former roommate Travis and his wife Kristle invited us to Sears Point for the Indy car race. Travis, Kristle and Dan are all avid car fans....Kristle is a NASCAR fanatic, travis works with cars and dan loves cars (he owns 5)...me on the otherhand, I cannot stand car races.

But I'm a sucker when someone mentions tailgaiting and sunshine! So, we headed out to Sears Point on Sunday, got there about noon, ate sandwiches and drank beer and wine in the parking lot before heading to watch the race.

I always find at sporting events that you aren't particularly interested in that it's much more enjoyable if you pick a person to root for. So....not really knowing anything about car racing, I chose to root for Dario Franchitti. I chose Dario for two very important reasons...
1. He is married to Ashley Judd and I like her
2. He was racing a Target car and i LOVE Target

Sadly he just escaped victory and came in 2nd but have to admit the car race was much better than I envisioned.

Plus I got a little tan...win-win in my opinion.

Decorating 101

2010-08-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

My sisters and I have decided to try and get into making and decorating cakes as a side hobby together.

My sister's co-worker is moving, so we made her a cake to celebrate her upcoming move. When my sister moved her co-worker gave her a garden gnome for her new house. We played off that idea and this is what came out.....

Our end product was MUCH different than what we originally planned on making, but everything is edible and actually tastes good!

We hope to get better as we practice more :)

Fueled by the Grape

2010-08-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

Dan and I took a day trip to Napa with our good friends Steve and Sarita on Saturday.

It took Sarita and me a lot of convincing to get the guys to go to Napa. They wanted to do a "cabin weekend", but us girls were so tired of cabin/outdoor adventures. We wanted wine and cheese!

After the convincing was done, it actually was a super fun day. Dan and I have been to Napa a few times and living in Livermore, we are very competent in choosing wine :) so we planned out our trip.

We hired a driver to take us from winery to winery, no need for anyone to drink and drive! Safety first ;)

We had a great time going from winery to winery and even got to tour the caves at one winery. We ended the night with a great dinner in downtown Napa, then headed home.

Me and Sarita enjoying the sun (and wine)

Somehow we couldn't ever get Dan to pose normal for a pic

The boys stopping to smell the flowers

Dan and Sarita being silly in the limo

Touring the caves

Enjoying the wine

Phony Macaroni

2010-08-11T13:37:00.000-07:00

We had dinner with our good friends Sarah and Joel on Sunday. Sarah brought over some macaroni and cheese she had made the night before...but with a twist, instead of a ton of cheese, this macaroni was made of primarily pureed butternut squash. It was actually really good!

I was so excited by the recipe! I try to make food that's healthier but it usually tastes horrible. This is the first recipe that really tastes pretty similar to the real thing. Plus because it only has a little bit of cheese in the recipe, it still has a cheesy flavor but not as much fat.

I think kids would be easily fooled too because the butternut squash gives it the same color as actual mac & cheese.

Here's the recipe...courtesy of food network.

Macaroni and 4 Cheeses

Kitchen Upgrades

2010-08-06T16:47:00.001-07:00

We've been doing a lot of upgrades lately to our kitchen....the most recent and in my opinion best have been laminate tile on the floor and granite counter tops.

I love, love, love the new floor and the counters! They make our kitchen look so much newer than it really is!

The Old, Nasty Green Linoleium and Old White Counters

We Did the Floors First

The New Granite Counter Tops

Major Reading Kick

2010-07-27T21:12:00.000-07:00

I've been on such a reading kick this past week. In the last 7 days I have finished the following books.....

Eat, Pray, Love
Loved, Loved, Loved this book! Can't wait to see the movie and what a shock that Dan actually agreed to go see it with me

The Life and Death of Charlie St. Cloud
Finished this book in a few hours. Very sad but a really good love story. Can't wait to see this movie either, the fact that Zac Effron is in it doesn't hurt either.

The Wedding Girl
Kind of a cute story, not a fantastic book though. By the same author that wrote the Shopaholic books, but didn't think it was as funny as that series.

Up Next....The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
This one got recommended by a friend of mine, I'll let you know how it goes. It's a long book, which I'm looking forward too....hopefully it will take me longer to read.

Food Crawl

2010-07-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Dan and I participated in our very own "food crawl". The idea is similar to a "pub crawl" where you go from pub to pub in a downtown area having a beer before moving on to the next one. I decided to change it up a bit and we changed the beer to food.

We went to Santana row and our food adventures began....

Stop #1 - Village California Bistro & Wine Bar
Here we each got a cocktail: a raspberry lemon drop for me and a Pimm's Cup for Dan. We split an excellent tuna sashimi lettuce wrap.

Stop #2 - Vintage Wine Bar
This place was super cute! It's located right in the middle of the street on Santana Row and it's a little house where you can sit at the bar or sit out on the patio. We sat on patio, each had a glass of wine and shared a cheese plate. I looooove cheese!

Stop #3 - Roux Louisiana Kitchen
Dan loved this place! He is a huge fan of cajun cooking and he had Jambalya, I had a salad and a cup of Ettoufe. This place had a great atmosphere and you eat on little love seats. It was a lot of fun.

At this point we were both stuffed, but I had never been to pinkberry (frozen yogurt) and have always wanted to try it, so I got a mini pinkberry on our way back to the car...it was soooo good!

Such a fun and different date night :)

Vegas Baby!

2010-07-12T08:35:00.001-07:00

Dan had to work in Vegas at an event on Saturday and we made a weekend of it and went Fri-Sun.

It was so much fun!

I have to been to Vegas with Dan once...I had just turned 21 and he was only 20! Suffice to say this trip was very different than the first time we went together.

The company put us up in the new hotel called Aria....it was huge! I especially liked the fact that when you walked into your room, the tv automatically turned on and started playing music and the blinds automatically opened and the lights turned on. IT was a really nice hotel.

More pics / stories to come!

Green Thumbs.....here we come!

2010-07-09T14:27:00.001-07:00

Dan and I recently planed a garden in our backyard. Now we are NOT good at keeping plants alive at all, but we've really been working hard on our garden.

We planted grape vines, tomatoes, habanero peppers, eggplant, strawberries, cucumbers, chives, thyme, parsley, cilantro, and jalepenos.

Today we picked our first vegetable.....a nice, ripe cucumber! We are so excited!

4th of July Weekend

2010-07-05T19:00:00.001-07:00

Dan, Lola and I packed up and headed to clearlake this weekend to celebrate the 4th of July with our good friends. I love driving through napa and played with the color settings a bit on my camera.

It was an excellent weekend! Hot weather, great friends and tons of great food! We found a gorgeous winery that you can only get to by boat and stopped there for a bit. They had huge fields of lavender.

We headed home early on Sunday for our street's annual block party.....our street put on a fantastic fireworks show.

Impromptu Geography Lesson

2010-06-03T10:14:00.000-07:00

Last night, Dan and I went out to dinner together for a little "Wednesday night date night".

While at dinner, I was asking Dan a little bit about the issues going on with the Humanitarian boat trying to go to Gaza but couldn't get through the Isreal blockadge. I am NOT good at geography at all, so to hep me understand, Dan mapped out the area using items on our table.

It actually helped me understand it much more and I thought it was funny.

Game Night

2010-05-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

We spend Saturday evening with our good friends Steve & Sarita. We went to dinner at Jack's Brewery in Fremont (dan's favorite place for hot wings) then went back to their house for some hot tubbing and to play a game

A little background info....Dan HATES board games. I on the other hand absolutely love them! So imagine my surprise when we played Balderdash and dan said he actually liked it!

yay! a game we can play!

Happy "Anniversary"

2010-05-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

Today marks the day that Dan and I officially began "dating" 15 years ago :)
It has been so much fun to have Dan as my boyfriend...we've been on millions of dates and have been fortunate enough to get to travel together quite a bit.

I'm glad that we still like to celebrate our "dating" anniversary even though we are now married.

A Little Bit of Sisterly Love

2010-05-11T20:04:00.001-07:00

We took pics for my mom for mother's day. I just have such a good time fooling around with my sisters!
Of course Lola had to make a cameo in one of the pictures, she hates being left out.

So in Love

2010-05-11T19:58:00.000-07:00

I am so in love with my little niece Madelyn! She is just such a good baby....already sleeps 5 hours a night and only cries when she is hungry or when she has a wet diaper. She is content letting just about anybody hold her and she just smells so cute!

The Big 3-0

2010-05-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

I turned 30 on cinco de mayo and I was totally looking forward to being 30. I'm not sure why since i feel like age is just a number and not hugely important but I guess I am just excited to have entered into a new milestone in my life. Goodbye 20's hello 30!

For my sister's 30th bday almost 2 years ago, my sisters I and took the following pic (making a 3 and a 0 with out hands). My mom has the picture on her kitchen counter and it always makes me laugh.

This year, we decided to make it a tradition and re-do the pic for my 30th bday.

It'll be fun to re-create it again in 4 years when my youngest sister turns 30.

Fun times with the Fam

2010-05-11T19:50:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love getting together with my family (aka the gislason girls). We can be doing nothing and just laugh a ton and have such a great time!

We met up tonight for a postponed mother's day / birthday dinner since last Friday my mom got the flu and couldn't make it.

We just went to chevy's but had such a great time!

Welcome to the World Little Baby Madelyn

2010-05-05T11:21:00.001-07:00

Yesterday my sister-in-law and brother-in-law had their very first baby....little Madelyn Grace McDowell. She was a little over 7 lbs and 21 inches long...super tall and skinny.

She is such a cutie! She slept the entire 2 hours I was there visiting but kept sticking out her tongue.

Mama and Daddy are doing great! Probably going home today.

Wine & Swine

2010-04-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

We went wine tasting in livermore last weekend....it was a perfect day for wine tasting!

The first place we went, there was no one else there and the owner took us down in the barrel room and let us try wine straight out of the barrel...it was great.

The next place we went had a pig! The pig's name is violet and she is huge!

A Big Day for Dan

2010-04-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

Dan is not the hugest sports fan...we like going to games but don't follow teams, etc. He has always said he'd rather be playing sportst than watching them.

That being said, there is one athlete that Dan has always loved...Ricky Henderson. He is he all time favorite and at last night A's game Dan got to sit next to him!

It was funny to see him excited about meeting him.

Love This!

2010-04-21T21:57:00.000-07:00

The Limited has a new wedding dress collection coming out.....i LOVE their looks!

The dresses are super romantic and get this...only about $200! I wish I could get married all over again just to wear one of their ultra feminine dresses.

Ale House

2010-04-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

We love the Ale House in Downtown Livermore...it's a family owned bar/restaurant that has tons of beers on tap, is open late and has a great vibe about it. It's the perfect place to kick back with friends and just hang out while enjoying great beer.

They recently moved directly next store to their old location and this weekend was the grand opening. A bunch of friends met us downtown and we were amazed at the new location. It's HUGE! It's awesome inside, brick walls, huge ceiling fans, lots of place to sit, a lounge on the right side to just hang out and lots of big screen tv to enjoy endless sports games.

If you are ever in livermore, I definitely recommend it!

Happy Birthday Dan

2010-04-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

April 15th was dan's birthday....so to celebrate I surprised him with a day trip to Capitola.

I rented a little boat where dan and our 2 friends (Joel and Sarah) went fishing for about 3 hours. Unfortunately we didn't catch anything, but it was fun to try and dan looooves fishing.

After that, we had lunch and champagne at Margaritaville then walked around Capitola for awhile. Our friends left and then Dan and I hung out on the beach for a few hours before heading to Pleasanton for dinner at Haps Steakhouse.

It was a perfect day in Capitola....80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky!

The next day, Dan went to the VW Meet (he goes every year in his VW bug) and then we met up at his dad's with his family for a BBQ.

It was a great weekend!

Miss now Mrs.

2010-04-05T19:02:00.000-07:00

Well, after a year and half of being married, I finally legally changed my name last month. It's official I am now a McDowell.

I will definitely miss being a "gislason girl" with the rest of the girls in my family, but won't miss people mis-pronouncing my last name. I have to give some people credit on their originality on saying 'gislason'.

I just have to keep working on my signature...I loved how I signed my old last name and am not so crazy about how i've been signing mcdowell....better practice :)

Easter Sunday

2010-04-05T18:55:00.000-07:00

This Easter, we celebrated at my sister Sarah's house. We just wanted it to be a low key day and it was so much fun!

We had tons of goodies to eat...pizza, my mom's infamous shrimp salad, curry chicken, rice, and chicken adobo.

A few pics from the day....and don't bother looking at my hair, we currently have a love/hate relationship going on.

Hope everyone had a great Easter!

No holiday with my family would be complete without Cheetos

Like Mother, Like Daughter

A little "Beiber Fever"

Boys & Their Toys

2010-04-05T18:50:00.000-07:00

No big shocker that Dan got the ipad on Saturday and I have to admit it's pretty darn cool!

He refers to it as part of our family :)

Delicious Dinner

2010-03-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I made Tilapia Fish Tacos....they were so good. It was a recipe from Giada De laurentis that I saw on Food Network. In place of a taco shell, you use little wonton wrappers.

THey were delicious and a big hit in my house!

Tilapia Fish Tacos with Arugula Recipe : Giada De Laurentiis : Food Network

Sunday Funday

2010-03-28T17:17:00.000-07:00

Sunday was such great weather that Dan and I decided to take a hike on a trail near our house called "Bushy Peak"....we chose the 2 mile hike and I have to admit it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be....except we walked right next to bunches of cows...which I'm not a huge fan of cows.

We took our dog Lola and by the end of the hike, she was done for the day!

The great spring weather makes me so look forward to summer!!

Girls Night

2010-03-28T17:15:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Dan went to a friend's house with the guys to watch the fight.

So, the girls decided to have a girls night out.

We went to a lounge called Bijou in Hayward and I must say it was actually quite swanky for Hayward. We had a great time, sometimes you just need a night out with the girls.

A pic of me with my friend Alexis before we headed out for the night.

Pebble Beach

2010-03-28T17:01:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, Dan was honored at Verizon Wireless' Annual "Winner's Circle" Awards Dinner.

This year the dinner was at Pebble Beach. Verizon put us up in a gorgeous room at The Inn at Spanish Bay and then hosted a great cocktail reception, awards dinner and party afterwards.

The next day, we drove around Pebble Beach and had lunch at the lodge at Pebble Beach. It was an absolutely gorgeous day!! The weather was perfect and the views were amazing!

Countdown to Madelyn McDowell is on!

2010-03-28T16:58:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, my sister in law (Michelle) had her baby shower. She is the first of our close knit group to have a baby, so it was exciting to pick out cute baby outfits and talk about the arrival of Madelyn McDowell (who is due in 5 weeks).

Here's a pic of the rest of our "group" watching Michelle open her baby gifts....

A Working Man

2010-03-15T10:21:00.001-07:00

I looooove that Dan is such a jack of all trades!!

Last week my car started making a horrible noise sometimes when I would be driving...it sounded like metal rubbing against metal.

On Saturday Dan took a look at my car to see if he could find the problem and fix it for me...I came outside and he had the entire wheel taken apart...I mean every single bolt, seal, bearing, everything.

He spent about 8 hours on Saturday working on my car and then most of Sunday...he was covered in grease and axle fluid but never complained.

Yesterday, once it was all put back together it ran like a dream!

Thanks dan for being so handy and saving me about $2000 (not an estimation) in car repairs!

Sorenson's

2010-03-07T19:16:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, Dan & I and are friends Sarah & Joel went to stay in Sorenson's, wihch is a resort in Hope Valley (15 miles from Kirkwood).

It was so much fun!

The weather was perfect.....tons of fresh snow, sunshine, not too cold, just everything you could ask for.

We had a cute little 2 bedroom cabin with a wood fireplace, full kitchen and cozy porch to hang out on. We went sledding, drank a ton of wine, had great food, went to a natural hot spring (but didn't go it) and played games.

Both couples brought dogs, so it was so fun to see Lola (my dog) play around in the snow...she loved it!

We took a ton of pics, but here's some of my favorite!

Day 1 of Easytones

2010-02-23T11:11:00.000-08:00

I purchased the new Reebok Easytone shoes that are designed to mimic walking in sand, and therefore be good at toning your legs and butt muscles.

Yesterday was my first time wearing them...all I did was take lola on a walk around the block for about 30 min (not out of the norm for us) and this morning my calf muscles and butt was sore!

I'm so excited!

My Favorite Time of Day

2010-02-21T18:20:00.000-08:00

One of my most favorite times of the day on Sunday is when the house is spotless, the chores have all been done, candles are lit and flowers are on the counter (tulips are my fav!).

I think it's the most perfect time to sit back and relax with a glass of wine and a good movie.

The Boy has a New Toy

2010-02-21T18:17:00.000-08:00

Dan used to have a motorcycle a long time ago but he had to sell it.
2 weeks ago, he bought a used bike and I think he looks so cool riding it!

A new rug

2010-02-21T18:14:00.000-08:00

I don't know why getting a new rug makes me so happy....but it does!
Last weekend Dan and I bought a rug at Ikea for our family room...I love the way it adds color and pulls the room together.

Guest Room Re-Do

2010-02-21T18:06:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to re-do our guest room FOREVER! But I kept putting it off. A couple week's ago, Dan was gone for the weekend so I decided it was time to just dig in and get started on the renovations. The guest room is the same bedspread and bed and decorations I've had since I was a teenager.

I painted the room a teal color, changed the bedspread, got rid of a dresser that was falling apart and in place of an old table I put up a make-shift vanity.

Here are the results...I still have some adjustments to make and things to add, but so far a major improvement.

Before.....

After

Me and My Valentine

2010-02-16T09:57:00.000-08:00

Dan and I have never really been big Valentine's Day celebrators. We usually just make a nice dinner, rent a movie, have some wine and spend quality time together.

This year, we went out to dinner together. We went to Horatio's at the San Leandro Marina....it was delicious! Dan had prime rib and I had crab stuffed Mahi-Mahi. It was a great evening.

On our way home from dinner we talked about what we'd done for valentine's day in the past and there were 2 years we remembered the most....
1. When we were 17 I surprised Dan by making a romantic valentine's dinner for the two of us...I made fresh whole lobster (a scary experience) and homemade chocolate covered strawberries with homemade whipped cream. It was a great meal.

2. One year we went to the Equinox restaurant in SF, the one that spins around so you can view the whole city while eating. It was a lot of fun.

S*$@ on a Shingle

2010-02-08T14:28:00.000-08:00

It's been relatively low key at the McDowell household recently because dan has shingles. For those that don't know, shingles is an adult form of chicken pox. It is SUPER painful and dan has been out of commission with it now for almost 2 weeks.

I feel so bad for him because there isn't much you can do...he wakes up and says even his teeth hurt from the shingles he has on his face.

It's starting to clear up a little but the pain is still there. So we've been pretty homebound lately.

Feel better dan!

Project Runway Video Game

2010-01-27T10:49:00.000-08:00

I just heard that there is going to be a Project Runway Video Game for Wii coming out soon.

You get to be a contestant on the show, design clothes for your "model" for different challenges, pick out their hair, makeup and accessories...just like on the show.

I am a huge project runway fan and think this is a game I would totally love to play!

gamer in the making

2010-01-26T09:45:00.000-08:00

So Dan is an avid video game player...xbox, ps3, you name it, we have it.

2 weekends ago, he dragged me to Game Stop so he could trade in some games and offered to buy me a game to play. I picked out a game called "Little Big Planet" based on a recommendation from Dan's friend.

I am hooked! It's so fun....you are a little sack person and you can change their outfits while you play different levels/challenges. It kinda reminds me back in day when my sisters and I would spend the entire day playing the original super mario brothers.

Thanks Dan!