Man Cave

Hello blogosphere -

It's me Daniel, again. So as our wedding nears, Christine and I need to start planning out our future living arrangements. I have a house in Aliso Viejo, and she has one near my office in Costa Mesa. We decided that it is probably for the best that we move closer to my office. As you may have noticed, Christine has a very particular design taste that lets just say is a little more princessy than my taste. Christine's house is a three bedroom, so I'm thinking we will have the shared master bedroom (obviously), a guestroom that will double as her office, and the third room will be a guestroom that will double as my office/man cave.

Christine doesn't seem as excited as I am about the man cave, so I'm still trying to convince her it's a great idea. I mean, how harmless does this look.

I am pretty sure when Christine closes her eyes and imagines my man cave, she is picturing something like this:

I'm picturing something closer to this:

Assuming my dreams come true, and I get a man cave, in realty, it's probably going to be something closer to what Christine is envisioning with a little freshman year dormroom flare. Think Godfather posters and a sweet Fathead.

Wedding diet starts...

today.

Daniel and I have both been enjoying ourselves way too much with friends---eating good food and having joyous encounters filled with oops juice galore. (Photo attached was the amazing Brazilian food spread at my cousins graduation party on Saturday. Clearly, we had the chance to over eat deliciousness...which we seized the opportunity and did just that.)

SO, we have decided to start our healthy cleanse diet starting with strictly veggies and grilled chicken or fish. Wish us luck!

Tired.

This whole time change "fall forward" business has really gotten my inner time senses out of sync. It's only about 4:30 PM but it looks and feels like 10 PM.

Add on some rainy showers and some dark clouds and you've got a girl who'd rather curl up in a giant ball--fetal position--and cat nap until tomorrow morning. I. AM. TIRED. I know, I know. I'm supposed to "gain" an extra hour of sleep, but that just gives me a really, really bad excuse to stay up superly duperly late. And here I am. I get to complain about it. Lucky you.

Well, there goes the carwash I just paid for yesterday! So, in light of this frigid weather, I've clicked on the fireplace, turned on Top Chef, crawled back into my jammies and made a hot crockpot of Kimchi Jjigae. (It's been stewing all day and smells like spicy deeeericiousness---can't wait to eat this giant batch of red, furious kimchi soup!)

On another note, Daniel and I have been getting back into the groove of wedding planning. We have yet to pick a cake out, and have been consulting with quite a few cake vendors in the San Diego County. At the least, we know what design we want---think frills, very white/neutral colors...something very pretty. Oh, and we're also meeting with the jeweler that designed the engagement ring that Daniel picked out to help design our wedding bands next Saturday! <insert 5 year old girl squeal here>

Someone's calling me from a blocked number right now. Why do people do that? It's so obnoxious. OBVIOUSLY I'm screening your phone call. Duh.

ANYWAY, I found a really neat craft website that has the most affordable craft supplies, EVARRRRR. My bridal shower's coming up soon (my sweet, sweet sister is planning this fancy pants 20's themed soiree---so fun!) and I wanted to find pretty manzanita branches to display. I purchased two of them, and they are beautiful (though, a tad smaller than I had hoped for). I'll definitely be using them as much as I can---starting with my soon to be SIL's 30th Bday party next weekend!

I think I like love them. :)

Alright, friends. Time to blow out my currant Anthro candle and eat some dinner. The brains starting to feel stuffy from all these chemical fumes.

Night!

Fall-ing into November!

HAPPY NOVEMBER!!!

I absolutely adore this time of the year. The scent of spiced pumpkin in the air, hot lattes to warm me up in the morning, and boots and scarves galore.

Oh wait.

California is still running in the high 80's. This weather is totally unacceptable for Fall, CALIFORNIA.

The last few weeks (along with the following upcoming weeks) have been 200% filled with hanging out with friends to celebrate the entrance into this Thanksgiving season. From pumpkin carving contests to our first dinner party (that Daniel mentioned in his last blog) to Halloween dinner with some friends, we've definitely been enjoying life! Oh, and of course, some photos from last night's dinner with our good friends, Pat and Lynnia. (TOTALLY should've taken some photos of our actual friends, but I'm a dork and was so impressed with the presentation of Lynnia's cooking, that it's all I got photos of!)

Caprese salad with pesto

Melon wrapped in prosciutto and seasoned. SO DELISH.

Lasagna. Again, freaking delicious.

Homemade Bourbon Pecan Pie and whipped topping

NOW...back to the wedding planning. Le sigh.

Current project: finding a suitable centerpiece

Current materials: Valspar frosted spray paint, clear glass jars, and...maybe some twine to jazz things up

Grabbed my jar of valspar and cleaned off of a marinara mason jar. (To clean off the 'goo' residue from stickers, simply rub an 'oil' of your choice---I used coconut oil---and the goo typically has no issues removing itself!)

After a few coats of frosted valspar spray paint!

I removed the labels and goo off this tequila jar and tightly wrapped twine string around the neck to create this look! Easy peezy!

Playing around with ideas! (Flowers to go in the frosted mason jar) 

AHHHH. So fun. I've also been talking to my sister about the bridal shower she's throwing me. (Roaring 20's themed bridal shower? Don't mind if I do!)

We're getting there, folks. T-minus 4 months and 23 days till the wedding. Phew.

And with that, I leave you all with a photo of bambi. Seriously, seriously in love with this little bugger.