Heaven is a cal-king bed with a pillow-top :) That's what is sitting in our new bedroom right now and I am sure Blue and Bear are enjoying it, while I can't :(

Since the rearranging, our lives have been crazy, once everything migrates into our new space we will be done! Yay! I am thinking, now that I have a dresser all to myself, that I need more clothes, otherwise the drawers will be very empty, and that is just not right :)

The countdown begins... 34 days until we are in NYC! We are still not feeling it but once we start to pack, I figure it will hit us... I can't wait to eat pizza, ice skate in Central Park, go to the Met and eat Italian food in Little Italy. I am trying to convince Jose that it will be best to Christmas shop while we are there because of all the little shops everywhere but we'll see. For those who are interested in what we will be doing here is a short list:

• Ice skating in Central Park
• Visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Going to the Natural History Museum
• FAO Schwartz (need I say more?)
• Seeing the Statue of Liberty
• Paying our respects at Ground Zero
• Eating Dim Sum (never had it before, but I feel I gotta do it)
• Having a romantic dinner in a little Italian restaurant drinking good wine
• taking in the sights in Times Square
• Going in the Plaza Hotel and poking around :)
• Visiting my old friend Matt
• Eating at Stardust Diner
• Going to the Empire State Building (all the times I've been, I haven't gone there...)
• Going to Macy's & Tiffany's on 5th Ave
• Hmm.... Think that's about all I can think of for now...

That makes me a bit more excited but we still have a month but I feel this month is going to go by so fast but I love this time of year so I don't want it to go by that fast...

I hope everyone has a good Halloween and don't forget to change your clocks!

Live, Laugh, Love

Something to remember...

James 1:
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.
For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation.
Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.


I think this about sums up advice I should take and remind myself, it all will work out. Through the hardships and difficulties we are faced with, in the end, "what doesn't kill us, makes us stronger." (From the wise words of my Mom)

Updates, Updates!

We are rearranging our house!!! That's right... For those of you who know the situation, we convinced Jose's Mom to let us arrange the house how we want and in exchange, we forfeit the two-room family room.

So here is the low down. Our house is a four bedroom home with two bathrooms, but what is confusing is on the first level there is a very large room that we considered the family room, for the main reason that we didn't need the extra bedroom but desperately needed a place to have people hang out and watch TV. The "family room" was actually two rooms but instead of a door way adjoining the rooms they took out a wall so it is one very large room. Previously, Jose's Mom had taken the front room for her "sala" or formal living room. She has the very nice Victorian chairs and couch set and wanted it in the front room to display. For those who haven't experienced them, they are very hard and mighty uncomfortable, purely for the visual... she was also a little concerned about the dogs getting on them, since we are ok with them getting on my couches. We have also been eyeing the largest bedroom on the second level and keep wishing we could have that as our own. So we offered a switcheroo and convinced her to let us have that room and the front room in exchange for our family room and she went for it! Now we are in redecorating mode and what a better time to get new furniture! We found some things we liked and now are just looking forward to the final outcome. I like to paint but goodness, it is going to be tedious.
See below for some images to help you visualize...

First Floor

Second FloorNow we have plenty of places for people to sleep, yay!

Live, Laugh, Love

I love fall!

So it has finally come, that's right... FALL!!! I love it, I love having to use a blanket at night and I love having an excuse to eat candy corn every day :) It only comes one time a year so why not take full advantage right?
Last night we had two of our favorite gals over, Rosa and Lili. It was so much fun to hang out with them and it seems to have become a weekly occurrence, which I love. I love how we can convince Jose to watch girly movies, since there are more of us... I have someone who is interested in cooking and learning to cook. We have been trying to get at some of my recipe book recipes so I can finalize them, my next venture is stew and I have made it before so it won't be a huge thing to tackle. My most recent one was from a friend from my old job at the OC Cresa and they are so easy to make and so delicious and fun!
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Cakies:
1 box of cake mix (this can be ANY kind you want)
1/3 cup of softened butter
1/8 cup water
1 egg
Combine all, the dough will be pretty stiff, I tend to use my hands at the end.
Scoop with a tablespoon or I use a very small ice cream scooper and spread out on a parchment lined cookie sheet.* Bake at 375 degrees for about 10 to 15 minutes. The range is so large because it really depends on your oven.
*Size can vary, I have seen them made double the size above and come out great too, I like the bite size version because it makes more and I usually make them for Jose to take to work.
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Other then just having friends over and doing a lot of cooking, we have been trying to save for our NYC trip. We are counting down and it is at just about 8 weeks. So close yet so far. I am really trying not to make that my main focus because I love this season and if it gets here quick the whole season would have passed me by and then we are back in January and I will have to wait another 9 months for it to come back again...

So the parents haven't moved in yet and we are going on one year being in this house and living together. Quite a milestone if you ask me, but we are happy and still enjoying every minute. The dogs are happy and Blue is getting bigger, I think. He is still on the small side of what we were hoping but I'm ok with that. I like big dogs but I also like how medium dogs can snuggle with you on the bed and not push you off...

Lots of love to you all!

Live, Laugh, Love