Weekend Update: Open House and Wedding

The community benefit organization that I work for had an open house on Friday. We've done a lot of remodeling and expansion within the last year, so it was cool to get to show it off. One of my co-workers had this really cool Jello dish made with our logo and name. I'm not usually a Jello fan, but it was pretty tasty. 

Saturday was such a busy day! Went to a friend's wedding, and had to dash from the reception to catch a train to San Francisco (more on that later). I ended up not wearing the chiffon dress from my previous post, and went with a floral cotton dress. It was perfect for a June wedding and super comfy for a long train ride. 

The theme of the wedding was centered around wine. The groom is an Enologist (wine maker) and they both love wine and vineyards, so it was a very cute and personal touch. Their wedding favors were personalized mini wine bottles with their names and wedding date. Adorable!

 

Sorry for the grainy/low quality pictures. Most of my pictures are taken with my phone. I really need to get a new camera ASAP! So this is actually only half of my weekend. I spent Sunday in San Francisco at the Pride festival. I'll post some of those pictures soon. Had a great time, but came home to 108 degree (f) weather!! I'm also sporting a slight sunburn that I'm hoping fades (quickly!!!) into a tan. Unfortunately, my face is on the road to peeling. ick!

Here's hoping the week goes by as quickly as Monday went by. :)

Weekend Update

Saturday 

 

 

 

My best friend was in town from Santa Cruz. 

 

  

We spent a better part of the day lounging in her parent's green room.

 

Eating fresh apricots and cherries. Mmm.

Beautiful (and unusually cool) June weather called for a dress.  

Sunday

 

Father's Day gifts for my dad.

Beachy Birthday Cupcakes

For some reason, I just can't fall asleep tonight. So I guess I'm making up for all the non-blogging of last week. At least it will be short and super sweet. Wanted to share these beach cupcakes I made for my boss on her birthday. I organized a potluck and since every year she goes to the beach for her birthday, I decided there had to be a theme. I also made some pasta with cream pesto sauce. It made for a happy Tuesday in the office for sure. 

 

A close up. The "sand" is edible - it's graham cracker. 

My cupcake carrier is really more for storage and not travel.

I made a sharp turn on the road, they tumbled and I freaked out. 

Also, the intense June heat got to the frosting and as you can see made it kind of drippy. 

I've always loved making/decorating cupcakes, but I think I'm ready to step it up. I'm making some for our organizations open house. I want to incorporate a sun somehow since it resembles our logo. I'll have to make some practice batches this week. 

If you blink while caught in a whirlwind...

well all of a sudden you open your eyes and realize it's June. That's how I feel right now anyway. The older you get/ the busier/ the more involved/ etc., the easier it is to exist in the future. Does that make sense? I'm always looking ahead (what's on the calendar for the next week and next month and next year!) because of work and school that my personal life is starting to exist only in the in-between moments.

Summertime is just the excuse I need to reorganize and shake it up a bit. I don't want to take a breath and realize it's December without having enjoyed some very epic here and now moments. 

A quick recap of the in-betweens:

My friends Jackki and Derek moved away to live in Davis.

I miss them, but I'm definitely looking forward to visiting soon.

Especially since their engagement party is coming up in August. 

 

Like our Hot Dog on a Stick accessories?

My friend Alex also moved away... to CHICAGO!

I'm happy for/proud of her for setting off on a new adventure, but man will I miss that girl. 

Who knows, maybe I'll be blogging from Chi-town in the near future

white wine, scarves, and smiles for Japanese New Year in January

While not saying goodbye to dear friends, I've been keeping very very very busy with work and the first of four summer school classes. Right now I'm about to begin the third (and final!!) week of my American Inequality writing course. 

AAIS 104W. Writing about American Inequality (3)
Analysis of poverty, social class, and inequality in America. Students receive feedback in preparing papers on poverty and inequality. Emphasis on research techniques, evaluation and documentation of evidence, and style and mechanics of writing. Meets the upper-division writing skills requirement for graduation.

The reading list so far has included:

 

  Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan          Black Boy by Richard Wright

    Poverty in America by John Iceland

Not exactly beach reads, but pretty captivating and insightful. The class is super interesting, but whizzing by at the speed of light. My daily schedule for the last two weeks has been:

7a-11:15a -- Class

12p-5p -- Work

5p-3a -- Homework 

Not to leave off on a completely bleak note, here are some quick highlights I've squeezed in:

amidst a nasty bout with a cold,

 I treated myself to some yummy Ravioli at a local Italian place

 Daniel, probably playing with his Iphone

these adorable/comfy HushPuppies I found at a thrift store last weekend

a perfect summer time hat, made for lounging around with mimosas

(found in the dollar section of Target! they also had pink and yellow)

Maybe soon I'll get brave and post an Outfit of the Day (eeek!).  

Weekend Update II

Sunday (aka part 2 of summer vacation weekend) was pretty low key. What started off as a Mean Girls viewing party turned into a veggie taco dinner and United States of Tara filled afternoon. 

Grabbed some basic ingredients at WinCo. 

  

Put Sam in charge of chopping. 

and voila! veggie tacos

$10 meal, easy to make, and comfortably fed five people. 

p.s.: I know Mean Girls is supposed to be campy delightful fun (and I love Tina Fey), but I just never got into it. Actually it kind of irks me. Am I a killjoy?

Here, cleanse the palate with the goodness that is this opening sequence:

Colorful Cooking

Today was our staff appreciation day at work. We all met up at our director's house in Madera. In the haze of some long ago staff meeting I had agreed to bring a salad, a side dish, and dessert. Apparently I was feeling very ambitious that day, but more likely I was hungry and ready for lunch. I can make a few things well: scrambled eggs, pancakes, pupusas, sandwiches, spaghetti, etc., etc. You get the point. I can make things that are quick and easy. I put out a call on twitter and Facebook for recipes. Surprisingly (or not), most suggested going with pre-made stuff from the store. Considering I was coming to the end of a frazzled finals week where I'd been averaging 4 hours of sleep a night, that would have been the way to go. 

Anyway, this is what I came up with. Using materials already in the kitchen I got some pretty delicious (and colorful!) dishes to share. 

Fruit Salad

kiwi, Fuji apple, blackberries, strawberries, nectarine, and mango 

Shrimp and Veggies

Sautéed shrimp, zucchini, tomato, and onion. 

(used pomegranate vinegar wine and olive oil to cook) 

Cupcakes

Devil's food cupcakes decorated in our office colors.