Spoon House 2 (Post dinner)

So dinner last night was EXCEPTIONAL! ...and the company was even better! We all share our picks. Liz always gets the same thing and since Loraine doesn't like fishy stuff, she has gravitated to the Carbonara. Mine and Liz's came with a slice of bacon and a fried egg on top. I forgot to take the picture before I cut it all up. I also forgot to get one of the three of us. Oh well. Next time... I was enjoying myself too much to think about pictures.

* Do you like my work in Paintbrush? LOL.

Spoon House

I can't wait for tonight. It is girls night out with Liz, Loraine & Me. These are my girls from CSUDH. We were used to seeing each other a couple times a week. Now we are lucky if we can fit in our second Thursday of the month dinner.

I have had some great food with these girls and they love to share different places. Tonight we are headed for Spoon house. We've gone before and are headed back at my request. Spoon house is a Japanese spaghetti restaurant. Weird? Nope! Super Yummy! Just check out the great reviews:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/spoon-house-bakery-and-restaurant-gardena
http://mylifeisyummy.blogspot.com/2008/04/spoon-house.html

Liz always gets the one (I don't remember the name) with a tomato based sauce with bacon and eggs on top. Weird again? Nope! Super Super Yummy! The breakfast topping adds a richness to the dish. I'll let ya'll know how it goes!

25 Random Things About Me

Stolen from Sarah M.S. and from Facebook:


25 Random Things About Me


1. I like baby carrots dipped in A1 sauce
2. I just started using moisturizer on my face
3. I used to be frugal (e.g. 7 years ago I only had 2 pairs of pants)
4. Now I have about 50 pairs of shoes (and that's after giving away a bunch!)
5. I don't mind doing laundry or dishes, but HATE putting them away
6. I'm totally organized at work, but my desk at home is a horror (usually)!!!
7. I love maps
8. I want to be fluent in Spanish badly, but haven't done a whole lot about it
9. I graduated Magna Cum Laude from CSUDH with a B.S. in Business Administration, concentration in Management & Human Resources and with honors in my major (I miss being in school)
10. In college I took AutoCAD classes ‘cause I thought I wanted to be an architect
11. I have a certificate in Event and Meeting Planning
12. I am a Pampered Chef consultant, do cooking shows in peoples’ homes, set up bridal registries and do “Pampered” bridal showers
13. Sometimes I avoid stepping on cracks, or make sure I step the same amount of steps in each square of concrete
14. My new love is Pho: Vietnamese noodle soup (yummy and cheep)
15. I've never dieted
16. I love board games (even the kind that don’t actually have a board)
17. I used to voraciously bite my nails
18. I have a horrible memory
19. I would love to move to Tennessee
20. I wear a shoe size of 9 ½
21. I don’t pay much attention to gas prices (I can’t do anything about it anyway, and I’m not going to stop buying it)
22. I hate taking medicine
23. I need to get my tonsils out
24. When I pick a book up I can't put it down, so I just don't pick up a book that often anymore
25. My favorite perfume is Rockin’ Rose by Valentino

Tervis Tumblers

When I was in Tennessee, Jessie had these air insulated cups called Tervis Tumblers. They were seriously cool, so of course I had to buy some. You can get them personalized, with a special decoration, or plain. I thought I'd pick out a special design for each person in my house. We've tried to do special cups for everyone to reduce wasteful washing. It hasn't been completely successful (mostly cause my dad won't stick to the program).


Well I ordered them while in TN and got them a few days after I got home. I got an orange hibiscus for me, a colorful butterfly for my mom, a mahi mahi for my dad and the Florida Gater mascot/picture for Jonas (his dad loves that team and Jonas knows it. I couldn't find anything that Jonas would like more...so I ate my pride for the happiness of my boy). The cups are really cute and have lids for straws or drinking from directly. But the greatest thing about them is that you can have a cup FULL of ice water and no condensation forms. Great for the car or wooden furniture.

BTW, my dad won't use his...he says it's TOO big. Whatever! I took mine to work...maybe I'll just steal his back and use it around the house.

There were a few sights that sold these cups and they were cheaper to not get them from Tervis directly. You'll have to Google it yourself.

Scriptural Footwear

Last week, Jonas and I were at the mall. We wandered into the Nine West store...mmm....shoes...**drueling** I was trying on a pair of cute little turquoise flats when Jonas said, "Mom, Nephi shoes!!!" They were on the other side of the store and so I hadn't even noticed them. He was so right. What a smart boy. I had to take a picture right then and there. Don't you love camera phones!?!

At least I know that he is picking up something from the BOM DVDs my mom bought. Ha ha.

The many uses of toothpaste...

What is cars toothpaste used for??? Washing your car, of course!!!

What four year old boys do when left to their own devices...

A Tennessee Christmas

On Christmas day, Jonas and I flew to Nashville, TN to see my cousin Jessie, her husband Donald, and their daughter Ellie.

I grew up with Jessie. She lived in Long Beach, but when we were teenagers she moved to TN. Now we are all grown up with kiddies of our own. She’s got a little boy on the way too. This will be my fourth time visiting her there, but this was Jonas’ first. We had a blast! When I think back to what we did it is hard to think of anything that others might think were significant. We enjoyed them though.

This is the first time their family met Jonas. Ellie and Jonas love each other and fought like real family (Just like Jessie and I when we were younger).

We spent time together at home:

And fun times out:

We found some fun places to go with our kids. Here is our group (minus Donald) in Downtown Nashville:
We looked down at the river with LP Field (where the Titans play) on the other side:

We went to see the Christmas Lights at the Opry Land Hotel:

We saw some famous Nashville musical sights (Saw: as in drove by. LOL!):

Some of my other favorite Tennessee sights:

We ate some great food (and made some too):

Jessie asked me to bring some California oranges because she can only get ones from Florida and she swears that they aren’t as good. I thought it was a pregnancy thing…but then we tested it! We had two types of Florida oranges, an organic orange (we don’t know where it came from), and one of the California oranges I brought with me.

OKAY, JESSIE!!! You aren’t crazy. The Florida ones didn’t compare to the Cali one (and it wasn’t even a great one). Does that look like a happy pregnant woman or what?!? Also, did I mention we did the test twice? LOL!

I got to know Jessie’s friends from church on girls’ night. What a great group she has. They are fun, smart women that put Christ first and love their families. I’m so happy that Jessie found them and that they are such a support to her. I know that now I have friends there too! Miss ya’ll!

My favorite thing we did in Tennessee was go to the grocery store. Yup, I said it. But you don’t understand how great Publix is!!! It was clean, huge, had a giant selection of unique foods, and everyone was friendly. Kids can get free cookies at the bakery. They have someone showing how to prepare a recipe there with all the ingredients in the display. They had Monday one cent items. It was like a mix between a huge regular grocery store, a Whole Foods, a Trader Joes, and even had an item that I have to go the the Carniceria to get. Pavilions is nice, but Publix is better. Can you tell I’m impressed? Now how can I get one in California?
I LOVE IT!!!
http://www.publix.com/

I love Tennessee and I love Jessie! I don’t think I can say how much I miss being there. Now our kids love each other too. I promise to see them more than every five years.