Consolidating

Since I've been back I have started the process of consolidating the office and guest room down into one room so that I can start getting the nursery together - I only have 99 more days until my due date! I can't believe that it's approaching quite so quickly my to do list is a mile long... not that it all has to be done before the baby arrives - but it sure would be nice!

The Guest Room and Office are for the most part completely unused spaces for us. I did the bare minimum for each room knowing that in the future we would be purging most of the stuff in them to make room for kids. Below is the before picture of the guest bedroom corner/closet that is now going to house our home office. We actually just bought the desk a few months ago it's been completely bare in this corner for the last 4 years.
After some slight reworking of my original plan here's what we ended up with.

The details--

Desk - Is from World Market, I chose this one because it was reasonably priced, solid wood, and on the small but not too small side.

Shelf - Is from Ikea I put little feet on the bottom of the shelf to allow it to sit closer to the wall.

Storage containers -

The aluminum storage bins are in the heavy duty garage storage at Lowe's, they are slightly to long for the shelving unit, but since it's in a closet I just kept it about an inch from the wall and it worked out perfectly.
Ribbon and paper storage are from Michael's

Magazine storage is from Ikea

Floating shelf - from Lowe's. Originally it was black I painted it white.

I'm really happy with the way that it turned out! I have some finishing touches and things I would still like to do in here but it's completed for the time being... the nursery sounds like a lot more fun to work on! The crib and chair have been ordered so I will start making final decisions on the the nursery soon!

Fun!

My fish pillow is in a treasury on Etsy! Check it out!

Happy 4th!

I love three day weekends! We had a lot of fun and managed to pack in 3 barbeque's and 2 fireworks shows... did I take any real pictures? Of course not! But here is a quick one from last night that I snapped with my cell phone. Fireworks at the beach! They put on a fantastic show and hopefully they didn't burn any holes in the pier this year!
While cleaning out my cell phone pictures I also found this one. I took it on my way out to California from the airplane. We had to fly around a massive storm (we could see it for a good 3 hours) and the clouds were going crazy with lightening. I really wished I had a better camera with me at that point, I think it still looks pretty neat though.

random chickens.... my cousin and I found these running around my aunts neighborhood one evening... we should have 'rescued' them, they were definitely loose from someones yard. We chased them around for a while trying to get a picture. They weren't scared of us though!

Alright well I am off. I hope every one's holiday weekends were fun!

Shells alla Caprese

Finally, I know- I have been promising to post this recipe for... months... I REALLY didn't mean for it to take this long. But here it is!

This recipe is a little hard to give measurments for so just realize you have to go with the flow on this one a lot of it is to taste, and what you can find to purchase in your local stores. It can also be served hot or cold, we prefer warm.

Shells Alla Caprese
recipe as shown serves 4 adults very generously...

Tomatoes - you can use what ever size/type you prefer. I like the smaller on the vine tomatoes, this container contains 2 pounds I use the whole thing.
fresh basil - to taste
3-6 cloves garlic - depending on size and your preference to garlic
salt and pepper - to taste
Olive oil - optional
Fresh mozzerella - 16 oz shown in picture
Shells

-Start water to boil

If you know how to make Bruschetta this next part will be very familiar to you as this is what you will be making. You can make this part of the recipe in advance and let it sit in the fridge it only tastes better the longer you let it marinate (within reason of course!).

-wash, seed and chop up tomatoes (seeding your tomatoes will keep your pasta from being overly liquidy, it will also be better if you have left overs)
-chop your fresh basil
-press your garlic
-Mix tomatoes, basil, garlic, salt and pepper in bowl. If you would like add a tbs. of olive oil in. (I tend to skip this step)

-Cube the fresh mozzerella and put to the side.

-strain your shells, if you want the pasta to be cold rinse the shells in cold water.

-add cooked shells and then the mozzerella on top of the bruschetta

-mix and serve

Try not to eat to much, this recipe is ridiculously addictive!

Let me know if you have any questions!

Baby M's Shower

My amazingly awesome Aunt was kind enough to throw me a shower while I was back. This is the same Aunt who was kind enough to let me use her house for Uber's and my wedding. It was a ton of fun. I just wanted to show you the lovely spread and decorations.
Raspberry Lemonade.... yum!

Do you see that elephant garland?!? Gorgeous!

Here's me with the hostess's. (From left to right my Aunt Sherie, me, Grandma, and Aunt Rhonda)

And we can't forget my cousin Corrie. She had to leave a little early but she also helped with the shower. Isn't she adorable? She is just graduated from Monterrey and in another semester will have all of her teaching credentials done! Uber's Mom and I. I am so glad she got to be at a shower. I had so much fun getting to spend time with Ubers parents!

Here's a bump picture... courtesy of my Uncle Doug.

I'll show you some of the gifts a little later!

If you go to San Francisco....

I spent 3 days in San Francisco with Uber... they consisted of catching up on rest in the morning, meeting him for lunch and then bumming around waiting for him to get off so we could go explore... nothing in particular... just what every we came upon... probably not the best way to go about it but it was no stress and worked for us. No plans, no expectations, no frustrations.
I really enjoyed the Ferry Building Market Place. Which reminded me of a clean more expensive version of Pike's Place Market in Seattle... I like them both... but I had to resist the urge to buy things at this one... darn limited packing space!
Ok this is just to be mean to Uber... and to make me laugh. We had a fantastic lunch at Ferry Plaza Seafood and I was 'bugging' him trying to figure out the camera.... he should have thought about that face before making it!

The Bay Bridge and Treasure Island

Isn't he adorable in his little uniform? I should have thought to have someone get our picture together... as I am pretty sure that he will never be talked into getting into this uniform again! Our evenings consisted of public transportation and a LOT of walking. Which was a blast I don't think I have ever hurt as bad as I did after 3 days of walking there.

Turning around the cable car at the Powell/Market Turntable.

I can't even imagine trying to walk these hills, but it makes a pretty picture.

Alcatraz was on our list for this trip but we found out after a very long walk to the ferry terminal that they were sold out for the entirety of my trip there... we had no idea that we should have gotten our tickets in advance... everyone else we talked to seemed to find this weird too... but regardless if this is something you want to do while you're visiting here's your warning. We really didn't care either way so we had no problems about skipping it and headed off to my only must see for the trip.

The Golden Gate Bridge. I've been to San Francisco a lot and had yet to actually make it anywhere near this bridge, so I am happy to say I have now checked that off!

Alcatraz from afar

Here's Ubers and my go to restaurant. I know there is a lot of good food in San Fran but we usually come here when we get the chance to visit. If you go get the Tirimisu.... amazing!

Since we had nothing in particular planned we went up to the Coit tower one evening. There is a bus that takes you to the top of this hill... a bus that we couldn't seem to find a stop for... which was ridiculously irritating considering we kept watching buses come down from the tower and never saw a single one heading up there... so since we were so close we decided to walk... ahem....this may look like no big deal but this hill is so steep that cars are only allowed to park on a 90 degree angle to the curb. Uber was kind enough to pull me up half of it.

The views from the top are gorgeous. But I would say don't bother to pay to go up into the tower unless it's an absolutely clear day. We went ahead a did since we were there but it was rather pointless since the fog had rolled in we could actually see more from the base of the tower than the top.

I would recommend at least one full day devoted to Golden Gate Park. We almost went here instead of the coit tower and it would have definitely been more worth our time. We spent a few hours bumming around here on my last day and it was gorgeous. Beautiful walking parks and there are quite a few museums/gardens/conservatory...etc. to chose from. We just went for all the free stuff since we were having to drive back to Sacramento that night and didn't have time to do more.

Sherie trying to coax one of the turtles to come over.

Uber with an uncomfortable statue...

It was fun to wander around a 'real' city again. It did take a while to get used to it I didn't expect it to be quite as daunting as it was... of course usually I am with a group of people so this was really the first time I did any wandering by myself!

Yosemite in a day

About 3 1/2 hours from Ubers parents house, Yosemite just barely slides in as a feasible day trip from Sacramento (if you are crazy, and we apparently are). We got up, packed into two cars and headed down on a Saturday morning. We really wanted a chance to visit because it's June and all the falls are at their peak, or close enough. The only downside is that of course everyone else wants to see them right now too, and school just got out, and parking in Yosemite is a complete joke.
But all that aside it was lovely. There were water falls everywhere.
And the weather was perfect.

Here is Yosemite Falls.

Uber and I at the bottom of Bridal Veil. Shortly after this photo the wind shifted and we were all drenched.... but not a big deal you dry off on your walk back down to your car.

I'm pretty sure this is my favorite spot in Yosemite. There are a lot of pretty places to stop and look out over the valley but this one seems to be the best. I think it's because all you see is the natural beauty, there are not buildings or cars intruding. And you can't beat a waterfall rainbow!

Quick family picture. On the way out I got to check off one of my 'must see/do while in yosemite' my father-in-law caught sight of this black bear in a field as we were driving out.

So we of course immediately pulled over and I ran to try and get a picture... I was hoping for better but he was pretty far away. My adorable nephew wanted to know who was going to shoot it.... haha... ok well it makes me laugh anyway. Though I have seen a bear in the wild before it was a lot of fun to see one that was going to stay in the wild and that we just happened along. more adventures soon...