August Update!

Again, it's been a while since I've been on here... I guess it's going to be a common thing.  The only time I can really get some blog time in is when I wake up at 6am on Saturday morning, and the hubby is still asleep!  Yes, I know... I'm crazy, but for some reason I just have trouble sleeping in!  So here's to a little recap of this past month:

July 29th - Will's Birthday
Since Will has been working so much lately (6 days a week to be exact), we haven't had much "us" time.  He was actually able to come home at a fairly decent time so that we could celebrate his 27th birthday!  Our new thing is that we are to try a new restaurant for each event we have in the future because we always seem to resort back to the same places every time.  I chose the restaurant this time and we went to a place called The Door.  The food was wonderful, the atmosphere was lovely - and I love how they have an outdoor eating area overlooking the creek.  The restaurant is owned by a guy who used to be a chef at Betelnut in SF.  Since we have been there before and loved the food - we couldn't wait to try this place.  We can't wait to go back and take our families!  Here are a few pictures of the food:

Mongolian Fillet Mignon

Korean Green Apple Salad

Coconut Tapioca

Chocolate Lover

Will's was one happy guy with his new iPhone from my parents!

July 30th - Screening of Moneyball
This was the one thing Will wanted for his birthday.  He to take a few hours off from work so that we could go to the screening of Moneyball at the A's stadium.  Since he is a huge A's fan and read the book, he was the most excited I have seen him in a long time!  If you don't know what the movie is about... look it up!  We did manage to see Brad Pitt (he looks so old!) and Jonah Hill.  It was too bad that they didn't allow any cameras or pictures into the stadium.  I was going to try to take a picture with my phone until I saw people literally get their phones confiscated for trying to sneak in a picture or two!  We had a great time (even though it was freezing) and shared the night with our friends Jack and Sharon.  Thanks again for keeping us company!  Hope you two had a wonderful time!

August 1st - Will's Birthday Lunch
For Will's birthday, I decided to have a few people over for lunch.  Since the weather was perfect, we decided to sit on our deck and enjoy the company of our friends and family.  Thanks again to everyone who came out to celebrate with us!

Will and I

From left to right: JT, Nina, Jordan and Kevin

From left to right: Will, Jon, Joanne, Erica and Grandma Alice

Obviously something was really funny... Will's special dessert requests: homemade cheesecake! (Gwen and Avery in the background)

August 7th - My Grandma's 85th Birthday Lunch
To celebrate my Grandma's birthday - my Mom's side of the family planned a lunch for her at one of their favorite Chinese food restaurants, Nathan's.  We were happy we were able to go and see everyone again!  It's not often enough that we get to see all of our distant relatives.  I'm so glad that my Grandma's two sisters and brother were able to be there with her.  I of course, was in charge of the dessert and make dark chocolate cupcakes with chocolate butter-cream frosting!  Check out the pictures from the event:

My Grandma (85 years old) and Grandpa (92 years old)

My Grandma with her two sisters and brother

My Mom, brother and I with my grandparents

My homemade cupcakes!  I even managed to make pretty pink flowers out of fondant and edible pearls!

August 14th - Dinner with Nina & Macy
Will and I had Nina and Macy over for dinner since Jordan was out of town.  I just made a simple spaghetti meal (since my big ride was the next day).  It's always nice seeing them - they are seriously like family to us.  As most of you know, The Pacheco's were our old next door neighbors at our last apartment complex.  We miss living near them :(  At the beginning of this month, we started a weekly dinner outing each week with them.  So far, we have been going to dinner 3 weeks in a row now... it's such a pleasure (for both Will and Nina to get off of work early).  Macy loves her Uncle Wheel (she even gave him this wonderful necklace she made at school) and here is a great picture to show it:

Uncle Wheel and Macy watching Charlie Brown Thanksgiving :)

August 15th - Tour d'Organics
Up bright and early on Sunday (4am to be exact), I was on my way to Sebastapol for a 65 mile organized bike ride.  Unfortunately Will had to work so I was just by myself... I was actually impressed that I was able to get my bike all set-up and in the car by myself!  :)  The ride and food (for those of you who don't know... this is a Vegan ride - we stopped at all different farms for organic fresh fruits and veggies) couldn't have been anymore beautiful and what made it even better were the friends I got to ride with!  Thanks again for Natalie and Roy organizing the event - and to Kira for pacing with me!  It was great to see everyone again!  When's our next ride?

Our group before take-off!

Kira and I

A beautiful bridge and river we passed through... yes, Kira and I literally stopped to take pictures mid-ride.

Natalie, Roy and I at our halfway point having lunch

Meris and I with some organic flowers - our 2nd to last rest stop

Johnny Appleseed at our last rest stop

Natalie and I literally 100 feet from the finish line!

August 16th - Our 2nd Anniversary
Will and I celebrated our second anniversary at the Walnut Creek Yacht Club for dinner.  Typically this wouldn't be a restaurant that we would choose because the selection of food is all seafood, but we are trying to branch out!  There are many good reviews for this place, so we decided to try it.  The first thing we noticed as soon as we walked in was our names on the menu for our anniversary!  How awesome is that!  The service was great, and the food was wonderful.  I couldn't be much happier with crab cakes, clam chowder and grilled shrimp!  Yum!  Also, since we were celebrating dessert was on the house!  We had a wonderful berry shortcake - it was amazing!

Homemade clam chowder with bacon!!!

Lobster Mac-n-Cheese

Crab Cakes

Will enjoying dinner

Grilled shrimp and fries

Grilled halibut and scalloped potatoes

Berry Shortcake with chantilly cream

Will and I before we left the restaurant - full and happy!

The beautiful flower bouquet that Will got me.  :)