Day 27 - From a Distance

Day 27 of the October Photo Challenge is from a distance.


This picture was taken a month or so ago (am I cheating?) at a food truck meet-up Hubs and went to hosted by the Food Network, featuring the Seabirds Truck. In all honesty I couldn’t find something interesting today to take from far away and I liked this photo because it shows how long the line for a vegan truck can get in Southern California…. a vegan truck given out free food paid for by the Food Network. Seriously though the Seabirds Truck is one of my favorite trucks, they make great food :)

Five for Friday

Previous Fridays

1 – When you flew back from Houston on Wednesday you stopped by my office and took me to lunch before you went home, even though you’d basically been awake since 1:30 am PST.

2 – You get colder at home than I do you try to trick me into turning on the heater.

3 – Our pumpkins :)
4 – You brag to your friends about me.

5 – Your robot dance moves aren’t jerky enough, but you’re working on it ;-)

Interior Design Bingo

With the October Photo Challenge coming to a close in a few days I decided to invent a challenge for November to help me jump start my interior design blogging skills, as a gear up to start my portfolio blog for school. With these 30 interior design ideas to keep in mind during the month of November, I hope it will inspire me in school and in other design projects.


Unlike the photo challenges, I’ve decided to lay this challenge out as more of a BINGO idea, because I know finding some of these things may be more difficult. You can find a few in one day or go an whole day without finding any. Just a picture to and post them on your blog. The goal is to find all 30 by November 30th.

I hope you’ll participate with me! Please comment below if you are so I can link to your blogs on November 1st.

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I thought I’d clarify a couple things since a couple of you have brought this up…
1 – Don’t worry, you’re not meant to find ALL these in your own home. It’s meant to help us become more aware of the designs in all the spaces we’re in – restaurants, shops, friend’s homes, offices etc.
2 – On Tuesday, the start of the challenge, I’ll define a few of these more “interior designy” terms. If you have something specific you’d like me to define, please tell me in the comments below :)
3 - It's not a competition, just a challenge, you have the whole month of November to get all 30. Just have fun.

Days 21-26

Yes, I skipped day 20… I may attempt it later ;-)

Day 21 of the October Photo Challenge is a faceless self portrait.

This past weekend my dad, sister and I went to San Francisco for the weekend to see Cal beat Utah at AT&T park. The football tickets were my sister and my birthday gift to my dad. Here I’m wearing the Cal shirt I purchased from Old Navy with a pair of WH/BM jeans.

Day 22 of the October Photo Challenge is hands.
I’m so proud of myself for starting my Christmas shopping early and snatching up these super cute, and very reasonably priced, oven-mitts for my besties.

Day 23 of the October Photo Challenge is a sunflare.


As part of our trip to SF for the football game, we left before the sun came out on Friday morning to drive up to Half Moon Bay in time for my dad to make his 12:50 tee time at the Ritz Carlton golf course. My sister and I wondered around downtown Half Moon Bay and drove up the coast for the afternoon before we met our dad back at Ritz for drinks at sunset. We sat outside and listened to the bagpipe as the sunset, which is where I caught this awesome sunflare on my sister’s phone.

Day 24 of the October Photo Challenge is an animal.


This is Chirpy Bird (aka Sir Chirps-a-lot or Chirps). I gave Chirpy Bird to Hubs on our first anniversary when he totaled his car and needed something to make his new car more his. Also because I wanted Quackers back, who he’d been borrowing in his rental car.

Day 25 of the October Photo Challenge is something pink.



Same trip to SF – the night after the football game (which was actually day 21) we went to this awesome BBQ place my dad had read about in Airways Magazine on his way back from Maryland a month or so ago. It wasn’t completely what we had expected, but it was well worth the effort it took to find parking. Seriously, if you’re in SF (or Venice or Hollywood) GO GET BBQ at Baby Blues BBQ!

Day 26 of the October Photo Challenge is close-up.

These corks made up a bar top (with glass over them, obvs) at a crepe restaurant in Del Mar, CA. I want to make a table out of wine corks now… I best start drinking more wine ;-)

Five for Friday

Previous Fridays

1 - We're buying our first house!!!

2 - You try not to brag about all the cool food you get to eat while traveling for work, even though I tell you I want to hear about all the cool stuff.

3 - You change your shoes when you want to be more casual... not your whole outfit.

4 - You stayed awake late with me on Saturday night when I was too scared to fall asleep from watching American Horror Story.

5 - You stay up late when you're on the East Coast to talk to me when I get out of class.

Days 12-19

Day 12 of the October Photo Challenge is sunset.


I take a lot of photos at gas stations. This was taken while pumping gas on my way back from Jazzercise in San Clemente on night. This picture doesn’t even do the sky justice, it was one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen.


Day 13 of the October Photo Challenge is yourself with 13 things.

Is this a cop out?

Day 14 of the October Photo Challenge is eyes. This is out front of an old Bob’s Big Boy in Downey. I loved his eyes, like he couldn’t wait to eat this burger and was just willing it with his eyes not to topple over.

Day 15 of the October Photo Challenge is silhouette.

This is the same palm tree from Day 6, from a low angle. I took this photo on the same day I look Day 6's shot, hoping to get a sun flare, but ended up with a pretty cool silhouette.

Day 16 of the October Photo Challenge is long exposure.


Would you believe me if I told you THIS was my best long exposure picture? It looks like a fuzzy sighting of a lake monster.

Day 17 of the October Photo Challenge is technology.

This is a picture of my Polaroid camera, taken with the Xolaroid 2000 setting on the Retro Camera App on my Android Galaxy S Phone.

Day 18 of the October Photo Challenge is your shoes.


Confession, I wear these shoes pretty much everyday. Hubs is really tired of seeing them, but I just love them. I wear a LOT of black and they’re comfortable while still looking cute and giving height.

Day 19 of the October Photo Challenge is something orange.


This past weekend we drove up to Cal Poly Pomona, Hubs’ Alma Mater, to pick out a pumpkin. The first year we celebrated Halloween together we got our pumpkins at the same place, but HOLY MOLY there were FAR less people. Also, I’m pretty sure they grew the pumpkins themselves that year, so we felt justified driving all the way to Pomona to get a pumpkin because it was a real pumpkin patch. This year it was crazy busy, there were shuttles, a petting zoo, food vendors, a pancake breakfast and these pumpkins most definitely did not grow here. We made the most of it though :)

Days 8-11

Day 8 of the October Photo Challenge is a bad habit guilty pleasure.


Soooo, I read what I wanted to on this challenge and remembered it as a guilty pleasure instead of a bad habit. Oops. Since the only real bad habit I can think of is popping zits :-/ you’re welcome. My guilty pleasure, or at least one of them, is 80’s music. I love me some 80’s jams.


Day 9 of the October Photo Challenge is someone you love.


Any guesses on who is driving this Saab? If you guessed Hubs, you’re right ;-) I snapped this shot Monday morning when we were exiting our apartment complex on our way to work. Oh, and look I got a sun flare too! I just noticed that.


Day 10 of the October Photo Challenge is a bad habit a childhood memory.

I honestly cannot believe I am posting this picture on the interwebs for the world to see. As I’ve shared before, I work with my Dad… or for my Dad, whatever. Anyway, this loved picture (along with many others of my sister & I) is set-up in his office for everyone to see and comment. Why did my Mom style my hair like that for every fancy picture? My sister and I had a LOT of matching dresses growing up, and unlike lots of children, I LOVED them. Yes, I loved this dress.

Day 11 of the October Photo Challenge is something blue.

My ink color of choice is blue and my doodle of choice is the heart or many hearts. I doodled this little jem today while on the phone for something… I can’t remember what though. I taught myself how to draw hearts like that when I saw Madonna do it in her signature on something MTV aired a when I was in Jr. High. I didn’t want to be Madonna or anything, I just though drawing hearts without lifting your pen was way cooler than drawing one half and then the other and I needed to be cool like that. Totally!

Five for Friday

Previous Fridays

1 – You ate more than your part of the quiche.

2 – No business trips this week meant you were home all week.

3 – You found us a movie to watch last night. It was fun watching a movie in the middle of the week.

4 – You text me when you find fun food places on your lunch break.

5 – We’re getting serious about buying our house crush :)

Day 7 - Fruit

Day 7 of the October Photo Challenge is fruit.

Hubs has been sick since last Saturday and since I get sick easily I’ve been taking my vitamins and getting my daily fruits and vegetables. I’ve found recently that these things work the best for me in avoiding getting sick and getting over a cold quickly.

Day 6 - From A Low Angle

Day 6 of the October Photo Challenge is from a low angle.

I kept my eye out for a great photo to take from a low angle yesterday and I just wasn’t happy with anything I found. Then this morning while I was pumping gas I noticed this palm tree, with the sun behind it, from across the lot. I may have gotten a few odd looks from the other gas station patrons, but I don’t care because I’m pretty happy with how this picture turned out.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Spice Donuts

My Aunt, Uncle & cousins on my Mom’s side got me a Babycake donut maker for my birthday this year and sadly this weekend was the first opportunity I had to try it out. (My birthday is in July… it is now October. I really need more donut making time in my life).

Sunday, still enjoying our lazy weekend I decided to finally break-out the donut maker and what better thing to make at the beginning of Fall then pumpkin spiced anything. I didn’t even have to go to the store because luckily we still had to cans of organic pumpkin for last year.


I was surprised at how great the consistency of these donuts were. They were similar to muffins, which I'm okay with because I feel like I'm eating something healthier.

Have you made any Fall foods yet?

Day 5 – From a High Angle

Day 5 of the October Photo Challenge is from a high angle.

It’s still raining here in “Sunny Southern California”. It’s kinda fun, since we don’t get rain all that often, and I really like my umbrella. It’s a Totes umbrella with the Open/Close function. The Open/Close function is the best invention since sliced bread, it makes getting in and out of my car SO much easier! I bought this multi-colored polka dot beauty a few years ago at Target because I knew it would match most of my outfits. Yes, I like it when my umbrella matches my clothes and since I wear a LOT of black with punches of color, this works perfectly :)

Day 4 – Something Green

Day 4 of the October Photo Challenge is clouds.

Everything is green around me. It’s not cold enough for the foliage to have died off yet… or it doesn’t get the cold around here anyway. Our street signs are green, shoot most of our signs are green. It was hard to find something not completely obvious that was green. I tried to think of something ecologically smart as something “green” or something new, but I couldn’t think of something clever enough. Yes, that’s right. I may not have the photo skills of other people in this challenge, so I’m trying to be clever, sue me… but please don’t.

Anywhoodle, I had to take a different route to work this morning because it was raining and my windshield wipers are were broken. Broken in that they were so old and worn the blades had fallen of the the holders. Ghetto, I know. So I stopped by the VW dealership on my way to work to purchase new wipers and have the parts guy replace them for me in a covered area. You guys, new wipers are AWESOME! They clear off the water so well, it’s like magic. On my way to work from the dealership I have to take the 405 freeway, which was bumper to bumper the whole way. I stopped by this exit sign for a bit and decided it was my “something green”. I liked it because the sign is very “Southern California” or what a lot of people think of when I tell them where I live. “Do you know the kids from Laguna Beach?” (No) However, it’s raining, which is very NOT “Southern California”.

Day 3 - Clouds

Day 3 of the October Photo Challenge is clouds.



This is my view by proxy, so to speak. This is the view from my co-worker, Yolanda’s office, and I sit right outside her office. There is a window in the wall between use, so I can see her view. They really did it so Yolanda could see anyone who came into the office from her desk, but I like to think it was so I could have a view too :) She just came back from the restroom to find me taking this picture through our binds. I said, “I’m doing a photo challenge this month for my blog and today is clouds.” She didn’t question it and just said, “okay”. I think she is used to my shenanigans.

Gluten Free Quiche

Anyone who has tried to feed my quiche in the past 15 years is looking at the post stunned. I don’t like quiche, I don’t eat quiche, I am not a fan. And, while it’s still not my favorite dish, I did enjoy this quiche this weekend, so I will probably not turn my noise up at the idea of quiche if someone else tried to feed it to me.

When we woke-up on Saturday morning Hubs felt like he was coming down with a cold. I suggested we lay low all day, watch movies and I’d make soup and grilled cheese. Well grilled cheese turned into paninis and paninis turned into quiche. He was sick and has been working so hard lately I couldn’t say no, when we asked for a quiche.

I was just going to make the quiche for him, using a pre-made crust still kickin’ it in my freezer, but once we’d purchased all the yummy veggies (zucchini, cremini mushrooms, and onion) it started to sound more appealing. Then once I’d researched how to make the crust from scratch and thought, “I can totally do that!” it was on.

Here’s how I made it…

(Click recipe to enlarge)

What food do you usually refuse to eat? Would you try it again?

Day 2 – What you wore today…

Day 2 of the October Photo Challenge. Since I had SO MUCH trouble taking a picture of myself yesterday, I decided to interpret today's challenge a little differently than I think it was implied. Today (and pretty much everyday) I wore Lolita Lempicka perfume.

To take this picture I used the "The FudgeCan" in the Retro Camera App, on my Android phone.

Day 1 – Self-portrait

Oh look, another 30 day photo challenge! Remember this photo challenge Nellie at Our Wire Lives and I started? Well, it starts today. Can you believe it’s already October? I can’t. I’m extra excited for this photo challenge because there are SO MANY other fabulous bloggers participating. If you’d still like to participate it’s not too late. Here’s the list of photos below, from White Peach Photo, take a picture of yourself and let’s get this thing going!

Seriously, THIS is the best self-portrait I could take of myself! I think part of my problem is I had to take this with my cellphone because the cord to hook my point and shoot to my computer is at work. Excuses, excuses I know, but I did figure out that I could take my picture in the medicine cabinet. Go me :)