London 2011

For our 3rd anniversary we went to Europe!
It was amazing, a trip of a life time.
We loved every second.
I am still morning the loss of our pictures. They were on our laptop and the hard-drive went bad. We didn't back it up, we tried to have it recovered with nothing working. A sad lesson to learn with pictures that you can't re-take. My handsome husband tells me "well we will just have to go back so we can take new pictures." I am still very sad. I am thankful that they are on facebook; well, some of them are. They are now low res, and if we printed them... they would be blurry, but at least we can see them. 


First Stop was LONDON: (a long, post.)

(Top left: Piccadilly street, Top right: London street, with double decker bus in background, bottom left: in front of london bridge, bottom right: on the river cruise.)

Oh, how we loved London.
First adventure started when we got off the plane and Cruz was almost deported. Long story... and kind of a funny one now that it is over. He is from Venezuela and so he has a Venezuelan passport, which he just renewed and it is valid for one more year. However, when they renewed it he didn't get a new booklet; he just got a stamp thing that says that it is valid for another year. Venezuelans do not need a visa to go to Europe unless... they have the old style of passport. (Like my husband did.) The kind that doesn't have a chip in it. So, he was detained for 2 hours, when we checked on this before we planned our trip the embassy told us Venezuelans don't need visas to go to England or Europe. So... while I was sent into the air-port to wait his fate. I was so sad. They gave me NO hope that he'd be let into the country. They made me feel like he was going to be sent home. I cried as I walked to the baggage claim. I had to pick up my baggage and enter into the regular part of the airport on my own, I met our tour director and he was really nice and positive. I talked to the information desk and they gave me no hope telling me about the common area where I could say good-bye to my husband before he was sent on a plane back to the states. This is not what I had planned for our 3rd year anniversary trip. I had to sit waiting for the next hour wondering what would happen. Holding back the tears, I waited.
Meanwhile....
Cruz was being questioned, and the people were all very nice. They basically did a application for a visa right then and there. They let him in the country with a warning, and after some paperwork was filled out they offered him sandwiches and soda/drinks while he and his new friend Peter (a worker in the detainment office) watched a soccer game. Finally he was able to call me, and give me the news.
I was so relieved, and excited for the real trip to begin.


Our hotel in England was very nice, and had a modern design. It was also very close to the tube station which allowed us to go anywhere we wanted with out much trouble. We stayed at the Novetel, I would stay their again.


The first night we arrived we went on a optional excursion with our tour. We took a cruise on the River Thames that included dinner at a traditional english pub. I ate fish and chips for dinner... not really that impressed. Cruz had a English beef pie, it was very flavorful. The night cruise on the river was fantastic, colder than I had expected but we got the history of the area and a view of most of the main tourist attractions.


Day two: we enjoyed the fantastic breakfast buffet at our hotel, and it filled us up until the evening. In the morning we went to big ben, westminster abbey and rode the london eye. It was really fun to go on the London eye... a view of the entire city. We walked the streets for a while until we headed back to the hotel to catch the bus to take us to Buckingham Palace. Buckingham Palace is The Queen's official London residence, though I am sure she wasn't there at the time. I believe that it is only open to the public in Aug and Sept. so we were lucky to have gone during this time. We walked the halls and got to see Kate's wedding dress, and also their cake. I loved every second of it. I loved all the fancy details in every room. I wished that we could have taken pictures, but they weren't allowed. As part of the tour we also got to see The Royal Mews houses the State vehicles, both horse-drawn carriages and motor car are stored there.  Cruz was very impressed by the carriage that was 4 tons of gold. We also went to piccadilly street which was lots of fun, with street performers and fun little pubs and cafes. We had a yummy dinner, we sort of shared our food. A sausage dish with mash (potatoes) and another english pie. For dessert we stopped at an adorable little bakery. We continued walking the streets of london until late into the night stopping at every tourist spot we felt important. London was great, the people were friendly for the most part. The lines weren't long and we felt like we had a great taste of London for only being there 2 days. We hope to go back one day. :)


Day three: We woke up ate breakfast, and we were on a bus that took us on a last little tour of England. We were headed to the ferry to cross the channel and eventually would end up in Brussels, Belgium. 

to be continued...

working on working out

{download this calendar for yourself by clicking on the image, and then zooming in.}

I am going to run this. (the 5k part)
I have never ran a race before.
I do well when I keep track of my progress.
I was really motivated in January when I signed up for the race.
I made a calendar for February, and it only filled out the first 2 weeks, and the last few days.
I hope to do much better this month.
I have a goal this year to BE HEALTHY. This is part of that.
I made this calendar for March, and thought you may want to keep track of yourself as well.

It's simple...

time = total time exercised

dis = total distance 

cal = total calories burned

I plan to fill out this cute little calendar at least 4 days a week.
My goal is to go 3.2 miles (5K) at least 2 times a week.

Wish me the luck of the Irish!

Feel free to download this for yourself, and keep track of all your hard-work.

H20! (and Downloadable Label)

Do you know how much water you should drink in ONE day? Do this little quizy and find out... here.

I made this little label for me to remember how much water I need to drink, and how I am doing. I hope to drink 4 bottles of water while I am at work, and then one at home (total of 100 oz). This is possible, but I do have to remember to just do it. This week has been the trial week, and so far I am doing pretty good. Only draw back is that it makes me have to go to the restroom a zillion times. LOL.

{Sorry for these poor pictures... I took them with the cell phone.}

I mark off how much water I drink, to help me keep track. I mark with a pencil, so that I can just erase and start over the next day. I am sure after a while I will need to print a new label... but this has been working good for a while. :) Good idea, don't you think?

{download your own water tracking label, 

by clicking on image above, and zoom in.}

Just a little way to BE HEALTHY this year.

the year of the RABBIT

02.03.2011 was the first day of the Chinese New Year celebration. We had a festive party on the 4th to celebrate. (It's more fun to party on Friday night, than Thursday... since Friday morning you have to get up and go to work.)

I have a lot of Asian decor, since I served my mission in Japan. People will give me stuff that looks Asian, and or that is from Japan.  Aren't these little rabbits perfect, my Friend (from Japan) gave them to my Mom as a thank-you. I had to barrow them.

I made these little favors... "Lai See"  are small red and gold envelopes containing money and are given at Chinese New Year. The envelopes must be red as these signify prosperity and good luck. I put a chocolate coin inside. (yum!)

I also made these paper lanterns, (the red and gold ones, the white ones are store bought) from this tutorial; here. 

I also printed out a little info on everyones Chinese Zodiac sign so we could see what our own sign was all about. My sign is the MONKEY. Cruz's is the PIG.  {Click to see them bigger.}

We had some Chinese-ish food. Grilled Shrimp, Fortune Cookies, Mandarin Oranges, Swedish Fish (It's common to serve the entire fish, including the head for CNY, hence we went with candy ones). 

We also went with some RABBIT food, since it was the year of the rabbit. Some nice veggies, to round off the snacks.

Origami. We folded paper rabbits. Did you know... It began in China in the first or second century and then spread to Japan sometime during the sixth century. I didn't.

Of course we had to have some Chinese finger traps. People were pretty festive and wore red, black, and gold clothing. 

And no new years celebration is complete with out fireworks. We had Sparklers. These photos are us trying to be cool and write the word RABBIT, and take a picture. However, my lack of knowing how to use my camera did not allow for cool pictures. (Thank you Darlene Peterson for answering my plea on facebook and providing the sparklers! Your awesome.)

 We had a great time with reading about our Chinese Zodiac, and also watching Kung-fu Panda. It was a great excuse to get together, and have a party. Thanks again everyone for being good sports.

For some reason the guys got into jumping, and throwing paper airplanes all while they were being photographed. Not sure why... but they did have a good time. Maybe they were trying to be really awesome at hopping like a rabbit.... or maybe they are just boys being boys?

I think this is part of fulfilling my 2011 goal of PARTY MORE.

black & white dinner party

celebrate all things.
So far this year we started off with a good party. (NYE was celebrated at sparks, bringing the party well into the new year.) But as I mentioned in my "goals" for this year I want to party more.
Which means I need to get thinking ahead of time. Even though I do think that I through a great party at the last minute. Parties that are planned ahead are always just a bit more festive if you ask me. :)
Party plans for JANUARY include:

• 01.01.2011: New Years Day: game night (It was a successes.)
• 01.16.2011: Orem Girls Party: the girls that i grew up with & their families, we usually get together about twice a year. 
• 01.17.2011: Black & White Dinner Party: all things black & white
• 01.26.2011: My Birthday: knowing us we'll be celebrating on the weekend after or so... but we will for sure celebrate it. (I turn the big 3.0. !)

So... the most unique parties on this list is the Black & White Dinner Party that we have in the works, as of today. It's a really simple concept. We hold it on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It's fitting don't you think? We make a HEALTHY dinner; so we can keep up on the health goal of the new year, and enjoy some times with a few friends. Last year I decided to have this party on the very day we held it. Good thing we had 2 cars back then. It was a little rushed and tossed together. We didn't eat until 8 pm, which helped me have time to get everything ready. It was fun, and a perfect excuse to have a dinner party. We invited only one couple over since it was totally last minute, but I think they enjoyed it.

{Black and White party from last year...2010}

This year... 2011, we have a little more planning time. However, this was a festive party without a lot of crazyness, which is always nice. We may not change it up that much; but we will see.

Here are some ideas that I am thinking about:

Stuff:

• penguins
• zebra
• chalk board
• polk-a-dots
• damask print
• white flowers
• white vintage vases
• black table cloth

Food Ideas: (These are things I am thinking about... I wouldn't be making all this stuff. )

• black bean soup and rosemary chicken (same as last year.)
• oven roasted turkey
• garlic chicken
• spinach salad
• spinach stuffed mushrooms
• sparkling cider
• grape juice

Snacks: (Cruz & I would skip on this since were eating all HEALTHY)

• thankyou bags with homemade oreos
• chocolate and vinilla treats
• popcorn
• hugs candy

So... those are things running though my head today...! I hope that everyone finds something fun to celebrate this JANUARY whatever it may be. 

Any suggestions or good ideas, let me know?

HAPPY 2011

I am excited for a very fun, festive and fantastic 2011!
I hope you feel the same

BE CLEAN

HAPPY 2011.

I have many New Year's resolutions and I plan on blogging about ways to do them. 

Here is the fist post. Kinda long. I started with this idea from another website... and adapted it for me.

ONE of my resolutions is to BE CLEAN in my house and in other ways.

I’ve never been a big fan of Saturday’s being a clean-a-thon. Especially since I work full time, Saturday is the only day that is just for Me and Cruz. I like it to be a fabulous day of fun.

A friend asked me once, “now that you have a whole house, do you feel like there is tons of cleaning to do?” I said, “not really.” I think it’s because of 3 things:

1. Cruz and I both like things tidy, we make sure everything has a place.

2. We do a little every day.

3. We don’t have kids (less of a mess, and more free time... so I hear.) I don’t think kids equal an excuse to have a mess though. LOL.

To keep on top of “BE CLEAN” I do(ing) the following:

1) Clean up bed-time have everyone take the last 5 minutes before the bed-time routine and organize yourself, and put the clutter away. This way your house isn’t a mess when you wake up, it will help you feel less overwhelmed.

2) Dishes, Trash and Make the Bed. Do Your Dishes After Every Meal. My Mom is a pro at this, in fact if you came over and they were gone; with the dishes not done,  you know something is WRONG. (Like people in the hospital.) By waiting to have enough to fill up the dish-washer, makes this feel like a BIG job, rather than a quick thing. The same goes for take out trash as well. If you need to take the trash out, place it by the door to go out in the morning or dispose of it that night so it’s over and done with. Cruz is a gem at making our bed, makes a world of difference. Pretty much when the bed is made it feels like the room is tidy. 

3) Laundry I am super lucky since I have one of those washers with a timer on it, so I can load up the washer, set the timer for 8 hours later to start, then when I walk in the door from work, it’s just finishing the load, and I put it straight into the dryer. We also have a laundry basket that had different compartments, so there isn’t a need for a lot of time sorting out the clothes. (A huge time saver.) I try to keep the laundry down to only 2 loads each time. (For us with no kids, this isn’t too hard.) Often laundry day is also movie or TV night. So I can fold clothes during watching. If need be I will toss in a small load while I do other cleaning, otherwise I do it once a week.

4) Dance It Up and Sing Out loud: If cleaning isn’t really your cup of tea, make it as enjoyable as possible. This is a great chance to turn on pandora, your fancy ipod, or whatever you use to play your music. Have fun while working... and burn some calories too.

5) Be Flexible: Most items on the list below should take no more than 20-30 minutes total, except laundry. But if you don’t do them in order it’s ok. Sometimes I need to do one job sooner than the list says... so I just do it, and cross if off the list, and switch it up. (I do this as little as possible.) Another tricky thing is that I don’t like to CLEAN on Sunday. I try to use that day as a day of REST, so if Sunday lands on the 16th for example, I will swap it with the 15th. Easy switch. On Saturdays I do my best to do the cleaning first thing.

I clean in 20-30 minutes a day —every day— and things just seem to take care of themselves. Here’s a glimpse at the schedule I am using for 2011. (Numbers correspond to date on the calendar.)

{ Click to enlarge. }