Our Final Days in the Bay!

Hey all! Hope you all have had a nice week thus far. I am in desperate need of some writing time. Writing is the kinda thing I absolutely crave..even if it’s just writing up a recap! I should be studying for my final exam, but I think I’m more productive and clear headed when I take time to get some of my thoughts out on paper- er- WP virtual paper, I suppose.

Our last week was a mad dash to get ready for the move while trying to simultaneously study and get school assignments done….. June 20th I had a long overdue hair appointment at Aveda salon in Willow Glen. I have to say, I am pretty excited to be out of CA when it comes to hair care— the salons around the Bay Area were terribly overpriced. They are way more reasonable in Texas. AND we got a coupon pack from our apartment when we arrived  that included an Aveda coupon in it for a salon nearby- woot woot!

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I’m working on getting those darker roots so I can go longer and longer without getting it touched up. I definitely feel like my hair is back to itself after last summer when it turned pink, lol! Also, Smalls was able to experience the Hair Salon too (nothing like reading about the pathophysiological mechanisms of reactive oxygen species while getting your hair did). At one point he decided to jump off my lap onto the floor- and I swear it rattled the building. That was very much a “You’re killing me Smalls” moment.

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Quick question– has anyone tried Madison Reed? I am considering it because it would save a ton, but I don’t trust myself with hair one bit… curious if anyone has experience with it?

On June 21st I ran some errands on Main Street- I already miss that express Target we had basically out our back door- it was extremely convenient, but also this will force us to be more intentional with grocery shopping and cut out the “fluff”… Savings September is right around the corner, so this is a great temptation to not have near us.

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On June 21st I used up some more of the chicken for DJ making BBQ chicken, wild rice, and a wedge salad with bacon, diced tomatoes and thousand island dressing (DJ’s favorite type of dressing).

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June 22nd was a big day of packing. It feels like this was yesterday, but it was a month and a half ago- never ceases to amaze me how crazy quick time flies!

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To refuel from packing I had a big ole’ Murasaki potato, artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, beets, hummus, and Fage. I have this almost everyday- with different variations. Adding jalapenos is my favorite addition lately!

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In the evening I made DJ flank steak with a side of chimchurri sauce, brown rice and a caprese salad.

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On June 23rd we went for our last Date Night ever on Main Street. We decided to go to Rootstock and enjoy their patio. I didn’t take many pics- just soaked up every single moment!

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We passed our giant Apple on the way home for the last time. Since Cupertino is where Apple is headquartered (we could see it from our apartment window) they have a giant apple right on Main Street. People love it as a photo op.

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June 24th I woke up to a luminous sunrise. Sigh. This is turning out to be a quite the nostalgic post for me to write <3

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We consolidated all our belongings into one spot & were mostly all ready to go for the big move! We ordered half our boxes from Amazon and got the other half of the bigger boxes from the Home Depot. The ones from Amazon were pretty cheap and went a long way.

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I woke up with a delicious omelette with tons of veggies, vegan cheese and a slice of toast with butter.

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In the afternoon… I enjoyed…you guessed it…my stuffed murasaki potato..creature of habit over here!

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In the evening we enjoyed salmon topped with artichoke hearts, roasted veggies, and quinoa… only half the veggies actually made it on the plate (the other half makes it into my mouth straight out of the oven, lol).

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I recapped more of my highlights from June 24th to the 28th in my Friday Favorites post! On June 29th I enjoyed one of my last walks around the ‘hood.

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In an effort to try to use up some of the last of our food I made an egg white omelette with artichokes, whatever veggies were in the fridge and a side of grapefruit…. on a Christmas plate. Gotta use whatever you’ve got when moves happen, haha. I guess I was just embracing Christmas in July.

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June 30th was a BIG day! It was DJ’s last day working at the stadium. His coworkers had planned for weeks to send him out with a bang! They arranged to surprise him by having him throw the first pitch as they all lined up behind home plate, plus they made an absolutely heartwarming video of him and his contributions to the team. It was incredible. They so sweetly invited me to be a part of it all! I brought Sara with me to the game so we could have some girl time too before the move <3 (It was Luau night at the stadium as you can probably tell ).

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Here we all are lined up behind the home plate with DJ pitchin’! Tammy took this pic- her and her husband, Ben, went too! I was thankful to see them one last time before we left too.

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Going in for a hug when he realized I was there, hehe.

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They even signed a bat to give him and wrote some of the kindest cards. He will undoubtedly be missed!

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After watching some of the game, Sara and I went to Santana Row to use up my free vouchers I got through Instagram and enjoy one last girls night. The Hotel only requested I take some pics to share- I took the pics, just have yet to share them- so I’ll start here, ha!

The Hotel Valencia was just serene and lovely.

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We used our coupons to get a our pretty drinks & then chatted for what felt like five minutes, but was actually a couple hours, out on their terrace. We also went to look over The Row on the balcony side too.

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I miss Sara sooo much already. It was an emotional goodbye, but could not have been a more perfect last day in the Bay!

When DJ returned from the game he was pretty hungry, so I used the last eggs we had and made him a piece of peanut butter toast. And this was the last dinner ever had in our apartment! Not the most extravagant- but at least we used up all we had left.

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And if you’ve followed my blog for a while you may know I have a little nightly ice cream cone (except for when we travel, of course). But just because we were leaving I wasn’t about to let that stop me from my daily tradition! (I refreeze it after making it, but before eating it, so it doesn’t melt as fast— I know, I’m weirdlyyy particular about my ice cream cone- haha).

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In the next post I’ll recap our trip from CA to TX!

Questions for you:

  • Favorite salad dressing?
  • Do you have any unique daily routines?

xo <3

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I also just want to say before I end this- my heart is so heavy with the shootings that occurred this past weekend. Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone impacted 😢 💔

Crazy Wildfires & DJ’s Birthday Celebrations!

Happy Thursday, ya’ll (well, Thursday by the time anyone reads this- although it is currently Wednesday evening)! How’s it kickin’?

We said goodbye to one of my favorite charge nurses last week; I was super sad to see her go 🙁 (This send off banner was too funny not to share though!)

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DJ’s birthday was October 6th!!! I can’t believe I am just shooting this post up now. Sheesh! Anywho, we had a gift card to Open Table that was put to phenomenal use at the local Forbes Mill in Los Gatos!

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This sweet man.. I would usually not pull my phone out at places this nice to snap food pics, but he convinced me that it was just us two and it wasn’t a big deal…. I obliged pretty easily 😉

We started with the giant prawn cocktail. There is nothing better than a fresh shrimp/prawn appetizer. It’s easily our go-to!

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We also tried their crab cakes! They were tasty, no denying it…yet a far cry from the cakes we had in Baltimore.

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I also had their generously sized beets and macadamia crusted goat cheese salad. It was one of the best I have ever had,  and it’s so simple to throw together! I definitely will be recreating this at home.

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DJ tried the ULTIMATE surf and turf with a combo of waygu and lobster tail. I sampled the waygu because it’s supposed to be the highest quality of meat, and I couldn’t let the opportunity pass….. butttt I had an aversion to the flavor. After not eating meat for about four years it didn’t do anything for me.

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We also dabbled in a side of creamed spinach.. if it’s on the menu you know we are jumping on it! We absolutely loved it. I still think the creamed spinach from Ben and Jack’s in New York is the best of all time, but this is not far behind.

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And I couldn’t pass up the epic, rave-worthy, award-winning scallops….. I think the only ones that contest are Farallon’s in San Francisco. Gosh, just the thought is making my mouth water all over the darn laptop. They were served over forbidden rice- a new obsession of mine officially. Has anyone had this magical grain?! It’s ah-may-zin!

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I could go on for days and days about how amazing DJ is. He is a man of God, handsome, humble, hilarious, loyal as they come, my rock, courageous, intelligent, witty, intuitive, hard working, dedicated, and genuine. Those qualities just scratch the surface. I don’t know why God blessed me with such an incredible man, but I won’t argue with His provision 😉

The days are all kind of blurring together from the rest of the last few weeks. I do want to share of my favorite snap shots from random runs and of course, even more random pics of all the foooooodddd we’ve been scarfin’!

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The fall blooms are just as gorgeous as the spring blooms!!! Even though we don’t have the leaves change like back in the good ol’ midwest, we still have the beautiful array of flowers to admire in this season.

Unfortunately, my autumn runs had to come to a quick halt when the wildfires started last week. It smelled pungent with smoke in the hospital (which is closer to the fires than our apartment is), and then eventually the air around our home was saturated with the unescapable burning scent. In the morning when we woke up our eyes itched, our throats scratched.. it was surreal. We just keep praying for everyone affected by these horrible fires. I truly hope the madness stops soon and mother earth cools her jets.

If you would like to help, please visit this link with multiple options you can contribute!

Back to the random food mess… I’m still on the egg kick for suure. (I put some of the leftover creamed spinach on a piece of toast and then the egg on top, good heavens).

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I also have been CRAVING a Whole Foods trip. Since they have always been ugly pricey, I usually only go every once in a while. However, now that they are bought by Amazon their prices have gone down tremendously!

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Using many of the ingredients from whole foods, I made a fall salad that I’m ridiculously obsessed now. I was inspired by Stein’s Beer Garden’s salad. It contains jicama, roasted butternut squash, quinoa, light craisins, and I use a homemade apple cider vinaigrette (with some apple cider, a touch of oil, and a touch of sugar).

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I think ya’ll get the point. Haha.

Another thing I, and the rest of everyone, has been loving is spaghetti squash! Ugh, it is SO good. I have been mixing it with vegan butter, vegan meatless crumbles, and a touch of parmesan on top. So easy, so scrumptious. I know many of you out there have tremendous recipes for the spag-squa, please share em’ with me!

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And I’ve been whipping up a lot of capreses for DJ. This is one of his favorite snacks and the heirloom tomatoes were on sale at Whole fuuds and, oh man, were they ever fresh!

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I’ve been decompressing from the studying with lots and lots of running. I have been mixing in Insanity workouts, but as soon as the smoke settled and the air cleared I booked it back outside.

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I’ll just slide in another picture of morning toast with dried apricots, chia seeds, oats, high protein plain greek yogurt, and stevia.

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Something else I’ve been devouring lately is smoked salmon on pita with caramelized onions and a fried or poached egg. This has been hitting the spot and has been a great high protein/healthy “comfort food” during this super stressful time.

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I took my GRE yesterday …

I crammed for about two and a half weeks in my time off work for the exam, and just didn’t score as well as I would have liked on the quantitative. Algebra and me do not exactly tango in the moonlight. Ask me to tell you the symptoms of Moya Moya or the proper medication to treat tuberculosis..we can chat. But I don’ t have the faintest idea what in the Westeros math has to do with it. It’s not even real math. Like I get 1+1=2… or me +math= disaster….. but I will be the first to admit I do not know how to solve “If Tommy had five oranges and Shelly had 12 and 2 were taken away and thrown at a cactus, why is the square root of the Eiffel tower a bag of potatoes?!”

*Deep breaths, deep breaths*

*It’s not about the problem, it’s about the procccessss*

I get that people study for a looong time for this, but only one of the schools I’m applying to out of five require it. I just don’t think it’s worth it to slave over the study material when majority of MSN-FNP admissions don’t require it, and the app deadline for the one that does is November 1st. (Which is actually great because then I don’t even have the option to retake it for now). Now I’m rambling. *clearing throat*. Oh well, que sera sera.

HOW ARE YOU?!?  I am jumping off the crazy train now, and heading to bed before an early morning wake up call. Muah!

Blog Birthdays:

Cassie at Cassie’s Cookery on October 17th. Sweet girl, Happy birthday. You have changed my life more than you know, and you inspire me every single day. I am SO beyond thankful for ya, sweet thang. You are strong, loyal, empathetic, lovely, beautiful, and full of God’s grace and goodness. You exude His love more than most I know. Our conversations are always close to my heart, and I love you to absolute pieces, sista! <3 I hope your birthday was beyond perfect and you know what a treasure and gift you are to this earth.

PS. Cassie has an amazing cookbook out! If you wanna check it out go HERE. I know I am getting my copy ASAP! 🙂

xo <3

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