Everyday Photos + Stories

I realize this is probably going to be one huge catch-up post of our daily lives.  But I’ve been thinking about my blog lately.  I feel a little bit like I’ve veered off-course regarding what I (and Todd) love the most about my blog:  the everyday photos + stories.  I work full time so I have a limited amount of time I can spend every week on processing photos, blogging, Project Life, and other crafting adventures.  But one thing I feel strongly about is documenting every day life on my blog.  This year I haven’t done it as much.  I think it’s because it already takes me so much time to blog about Project Life and other craft projects.  And that I am blogging 2-3 times a month over at The Lilypad blog too.  Those posts are usually time-consuming because I research into a topic and then take photos or do a project, and write about it.  All this has caused me to neglect my own passion, which is documenting everyday life on my blog.  So I’m going to try to do a little bit better with this going forward.  I realize I have new blog readers who come to my blog for Project Life or other crafty inspiration, and I love that.  But blogging about my projects is FOR my readers and not for me.  After all, I know what my Project Life pages look like, and I know what cards I made.  Blogging about my everyday life is for ME and for Todd.  I can’t veer away from that and be happy with myself.  And honestly, I have so many scrapbooking pages and Project Life pages made of stories I copied and pasted from my blog.  It’s really important to me that my blog continues to provide that for me.  So with this long self-encouragement out of the way, here are some everyday photos + stories from the past few weeks.

Noodle The Cat

Noodle has been just as sweet as ever.  There are some mornings when he wakes us up way too early with his meowing and pawing at the bedroom door.  But when we scoop him up and he purrs loudly in our arms, we forgive him.



He’s quite good at posing for the camera.


This photo was taken with my iPod Touch and then processed using the free app Pixlr-o-matic. 

Then Friday he was resting on his favorite chair in the living room out front.


A couple of weeks ago, Todd took this photo of Noodle and me. Because we were both taking a nap in the family room.  And we were almost in the same exact position.  Did Noodle copy me?  Or did I copy Noodle?  :D

Running At The Coast

We’ve run at the coast the last three weekends.  Sometimes it was cold, windy, and gloomy out there.






Sometimes sunny and warm…




But ALL the time, we feel incredibly lucky to live so close to the ocean and be able to enjoy such great outdoor weather for running year-round.

New Running Gear

I bought some new running gear.  Yesterday was the first time I ran outside with my new Nike Free Run+ 2 shoes.  I already have a pair (the pink ones above), but I’ve run about 230 miles in them and they’re starting to wear down. 


I also bought a new set of Nike running skirt and shirt.  I only had one Nike running skirt before and I’ve had it since 2009.  I LOVE it and wanted to buy another Nike running skirt.

Consider this a public service announcement.  NOT all Nike skirts are the same.  These were awful.  The compression shorts underneath them ride up so much.  During this one hour run, I must have stopped to pull down the shorts underneath the skirt 10 times.  Not only that, but this Nike skirt was made with very flimsy material, whereas the gray skirt that I bought in 2009 was made of very sturdy material that compressed and flattered.  I would suggest trying the Nike skirts on at a local store and either buying them at the store, or writing down the model number and then go online and see if you can find it cheaper.  Lesson learned.

Food

We went to the famed Rudy’s for the first time a week ago and had their famous Carne Asada plate.  Our friend Andy the foodie always said the best carne asada in San Diego was at Rudy’s.  So we finally checked it out!

First of all, this sign was hilarious.  “Best Carne Asada and Coke Zero in San Diego!”  Guess what, they do have good carne asada, but there was no Coke Zero to be found, so I don’t know what that’s about…


The carne asada comes as a huge piece of thin-cut steak.  It was a bit challenging to cut it with a plastic knife!  But it was very good.  And they give you so much food that it’s good for two meals, at least.


Todd in front of Rudy’s.  Now we’ve been there!


Todd made some homemade caramel apple cider one morning.  Just because he felt like having some after swimming.  I was the lucky beneficiary of a cup of homemade apple cider.


We bought a huge container of strawberries at Costco on Friday.  They are huge, juicy, red, and sweet!


We’ve been eating them a lot!

Yesterday after our run on the coast, we went to Bull Taco and had tacos over the ocean!


They have inauthentic, strange, yet delicious tacos.  Yesterday I had an oyster taco and a curry shrimp taco.


Todd had a carne asada burrito.

Todd enjoying tacos by the ocean!


We’ve also cooked a lot of new recipes that are so yummy, but that deserves its own blog post soon.

Friends

We went to try a new-to-us Hawaiian food place called Homestyle Hawaiian on Thursday night with Cassi, Dan, and Madison. 


The company was awesome but the food was just okay.  I got Korean style chicken, which I didn’t expect to be so… fried.


Todd got chicken katsu, which we expected to be fried.  But it was not that special, we’ve had better.


Dan ordered some ahi poke (raw tuna) and we shared it.  It was not that great compared to the ahi poke I’ve had in Hawaii.

So all in all, don’t think we’ll be going back to this restaurant.  But it was fun to hang out with Cassi, Dan, and Madison!

Todd got to go see his friend Kim Divine’s CD-release concert last weekend.  Todd used to play in Kim’s band when she lived in San Diego, along with percussionist Matt.


Kim on stage.
 

Todd also saw his singer-songwriter friend Lindsay Yung.

I was tired and didn’t go because it was later at night on Saturday (2/18), but it looked like a lot of fun and I’m glad Todd got to see his musician friends.

Self-Portraits

I took a few self-portraits in the mirror this week, because all my online avatars are pictures from about two years ago.  I needed a few new photos of myself.  I just used my Canon T2i and aimed at the bathroom mirror.  Some photos turned out better than others.  After some cropping and processing, I liked these two the best.

That’s it for my massive “Everyday Life Photos + Stories” update!  Hope to keep it up more often so I don’t have to do this type of post again, LOL!