Life Is Full, and I’m Full!

Real life has a way of getting in the way of blogging about it.  The last couple weeks has been a whirlwind of activities for us.  Thus I’m in need of doing several catch-up posts again.  Besides working, crafting, and scrapbooking, we’ve been cooking, eating, and hanging out with friends.  I was going to apologize for the number of photos in my post.  But no.  I’m not sorry one bit.  Life has been awesome and full, and I’ve taken a lot of photos! 

Dinner with Ashley:  On Saturday night 5/19, we met our friend Ashley for dinner at Amaya.  She came in town for the weekend from Austin.  She moved to Austin a couple of years ago, after living in San Diego.  Todd met her through Toastmasters.  Our meal at Amaya was amazing, but then again meals at Amaya has been known to be amazing.



Ashley is an incredible athlete.  She has done the FULL Ironman Triathlon.  That’s 2.4 miles of ocean swim, 112 miles of biking, THEN 26.2 miles of running!  She was one of Todd’s inspiration to start doing triathlons three years ago.  And she was Todd’s “Muddy Buddy”, his partner in the race a couple of years ago.  Here they are, just for old time’s sake. They were about to finish the muddy bike/run race.




Dinner with Dan:  Dan was in town for a conference and we got to have dinner wit him on Wednesday 5/23.  We’ve known Dan since 1995.  We met him and April through work, then they bought the house two houses down from us and we became neighbors as well.  Dan is an awesome guy and we were very excited to get together with him.  And when friends come from out of town, we usually take them to Mexican.  After all, this is San Diego!  So we headed to Fidel’s Little Mexico.


The food was really good.  Dan and I both got crab enchiladas.


I forgot what Todd got, but it was good too.


It was so much fun to chat with Dan.  I love getting together with old friends and catching up on life.  I love old friends because of the history we have between us.  Here’s a photo of all three of us after dinner.




Pete and Cass and baby Kate came over for dinner:  On Thursday night 5/24 we had Pete & Cass & baby Kate over for dinner.  Todd met Pete through the San Diego local music scene about 8 years ago.  They moved into our neighborhood and now we’re neighbors too!  Pete and Todd hope to get a couple of other guys together and form a Barenaked Ladies tribute band called “Fully Clothed Men”.  I for one can’t wait for that!  For those that don’t know, Todd is a very accomplished piano/keyboard player and has played in several rock bands.  Pete has done the same, and as a solo artist with his own songs. 

Todd made Pan-Seared Chicken with gravy from America’s Test Kitchen.


And Brussels sprouts.  All was yummy and we couldn’t stop eating.


But we did stop eating for a photo!


Todd also made Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies from America’s Test Kitchen.  When a recipe claims to be perfect, he has to check it out.  He’s been making these for three years and everyone who has had one has never forgotten about it, LOL.




Dinner with Yaiza and Karsten:  on Thursday 5/31 we went down to Pacific Beach and had dinner with Yaiza & Karsten at The Fishery.  We had never been there before.  It was a short walk from their place, so it was very convenient.  They just had baby Nyack in January, and Yaiza’s mother is in town from Spain to help out with the baby.  Of course, we all had seafood at The Fishery.


Food was yummy, but the conversation was even better.  We don’t get to hang out with Yaiza & Karsten very often, but it’s always fun when we do.




Lunch with Sally & the babies:  yesterday 6/2 we drove down to visit Sally and her twin babies, and to have lunch there.  I hadn’t seen Sally in about a month, and Todd had never seen the babies yet! 

Sally holding John.


Nina being cute in her carrier.


We brought ingredients to her house and Todd made one of our favorite vegetable recipes, Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Browned Butter.  SO so good!


Sally had some salmon burger patties from Costco and we grilled those up.


It’s tricky to hold a baby while eating, no?


I thought I had more baby photos, but no.  So you’ll have to settle for a photo of us.  Sans makeup even.  Sally has been a friend of mine for 30 years.  Yes, we were merely babies when we met, ha!



So yes, after this post, my tummy is very full, and so is my heart!  ♥♥♥