Currently loving

...this song. Perfect for a rainy day. Wish I was home with a cup of tea watching Good Will Hunting..

Weekending

The weekend: merry and bright.

I've been starting every morning (and afternoon) with a cup of my favorite holiday tea.

And tea must be followed up with a leftover cookie...or three.

Friday, Flav became a US citizen! I wasn't able to attend his swearing-in ceremony because I was giving my last final, but such a momentous occasion couldn't go by without proper celebration.

So we went out for pickle marys and Saturday morning brunch at my new favorite spot, Great Maple.

{I love a giant pickle!}

Guiri was showered in gifts this weekend by her uncles, and she always buries her most prized possessions. We caught her hiding her bone under the Christmas tree. Silly goose.

{the ornament on her head makes her look like a behatted Christmas elf}

We went to a couple of great holiday parties, including a white elephant (we won movie tickets - woot!), and a Christmas Soups party on Saturday, where the hosts made 12 different kinds of delicious soup - how fun is that?!

{white elephant}

Saturday night our friends treated us to Holiday Pops at the San Diego Symphony. It was a magical night filled with sounds of the season, including an all-audience carol sing-along (I brought the house down with my vocal contributions) and a snow finale!!! New Year's resolution: attend more cultural happenings. My favorite song of the night was "Somewhere in My Memory" - the song from Home Alone. Sung by the San Diego childrens' choir, it gave me chills. I love the lyrics: "Precious moments, special people, happy faces, Christmas joys all around me...feeling that gingerbread feeling." It pretty much sums up this weekend.

{snow!} 

We're off to the dog park and then for a hot chocolated drive around Christmas Circle to see the lights. Gingerbread feeling, indeed.

My favorite winter lunch...

...is soup of course. Soup is like a hug in a bowl, so I put on a quick pot of butternut squash, topped it with a little bacon, wrapped myself in a soft blanket, and Guiri and I cuddled up to watch the drizzle outside.

Today is my favorite kind of day - rain, a twinkling Christmas tree, John Denver & the Muppets' Christmas album on iTunes, plans to bake cookies later, and absolutely nowhere to be. I have grading to do and a house to clean, but I can feel the semester wrapping up (last final tomorrow - whattup!), and am feeling beyond peaceful and happy. It's a magical time of year.

Activities Advent Calendar

{one of last year's advent activities, mulled wine by the tree}

I look forward to the holiday season all year long. I start playing Christmas music on Thanksgiving, put my decorations up early, sip my favorite holiday tea while addressing my Christmas cards, and I feel so festive and peaceful as I enjoy each of these small traditions. For me, the holidays are all about experiences. But somehow, the calendar fills up, things get hectic, and I used to find myself scrambling or forgetting to enjoy the simple joys of the season. So, for our first married Christmas 2 years ago, I decided I wanted to be intentional about celebrating the holidays and I talked to Flavio about creating an activities advent calendar. Did you grow up with an advent calendar? It's one of my favorite traditions. We wrote down 25 things we wanted to do to celebrate the season, like have a romantic candlelit picnic by the tree, watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, pack hot chocolate and drive around to see the lights, etc. and we stuck each activity into the 25 stockings in our advent calendar, along with 2 little pieces of chocolate for each day. We planned our activities so that during the week the experiences were small and no-pressure, and we left bigger outings, like ice skating, to the weekends. Yesterday, December 1, we picked out our Christmas tree and decked the halls while listening to Christmas music. Tonight's experience was to rock out and dance crazy to "Feliz Navidad" - which Guiri thought was scary. I'm excited to document this year's advent activities on the blog - My goal is to post most days, but work is crazy and we'll see how it goes.. I am feeling so merry already!

PS: In case you are looking for a cute calendar, this is our Hats and Mittens Advent Calendar, which I love, for sale here.

8 Things About Me

On Friday I linked to the article 8 Things Every Happy Woman Should Have, and got to thinking about my own answers. At first I thought the questions were silly.  I mean, a "go-to drink" seems to trivialize true elements of happiness - you know, like meaningful relationships, health, kindness, and gratitude. But as I started thinking about my answers, I realized maybe the bigger point behind the article is to know thyself and to love thyself - because your unique 8 things make you...you! I suspect some of my answers will change in years to come, so I'm putting them in my time capsule (aka blog) to look back upon some day. 

A go-to drink

Champagne or anything bubbly-based - I love a good French 75.

A go-to Karaoke song

There are many, but I love to do Salt-N-Pepa's 'Shoop'

A uniform

Love a belted dress, boots or heels, and a scarf. Pretty much wear this 5 days/week. Rarely wear pants - I feel like me in a dress. LOVE tights in the fall/winter (see cartoon - it's me every morning this time of year. Ha!).

A hair stylist they love

Jan Wilson - my hair stylist, my Thai mom, witness at our wedding, and one of my all around favorite people on earth.

An exercise routine

CrossFit, 3-4xs/week

A hobby

Baking, reading, movies, and now blogging.

A best friend

Shauna, my best friend and spirit animal of 22 years. Flavio is also my best friend. And so is Guiri. :)

A healthy sense of self

Still a work in progress. I am on the verge of turning 33 and am currently focusing on surrounding myself with positive people and energy, doing things that make me happy and healthy, and realizing the only opinion of me that matters in my own.

Weekending

Except for a trip out with friends on Saturday night, we were mostly homebound this weekend. We both worked all day Saturday and I knocked out a bunch of prep and grading, which means this coming work week should be smooth sailing.  That night we met friends at Heights Tavern (now our go-to neighborhood bar - love that place!) for dinner, libations and some great discussion around the Tavern's fire pit. The four of us spent much of the night tipsily debating whether or not to have kids and on the walk home, Flavio and I declared we are leaning more in the direction of to have, than not to (!). Not immediately, but.. Scary. Anyway, a fun night and a delightful end to a long day.

Sunday morning we took Guiri to the park and then came back for warm muffins and coffee and an all-morning movie marathon. We re-watched Drive, which is amazing, and were enamored by the classic landmark Italian film The Bicycle Thief, streaming on Netflix. Flavio's teenage nephew is in town, so they went to play soccer while I spent the afternoon getting our house ready for the week and listening to music (loving this Calexico album). This evening we made salsa verde to add to some tasty shrimp tacos for dinner. It was a quiet fiesta.

{anniversary flowers, slightly wilted but still going strong}

{muffin prep}

{salsa prep}

{taco fixins}

{she loves to watch us wash the dishes}

Brownies for Alaska...& a song!

My brother and nephew breezed through town today. They were here on a pit stop en route to an Alaskan adventure. I am so stoked for them and can't wait to see photos of glaciers and grizzlies galore! In their honor, I made these brownies to-go. I baked and packed them, then delivered the brownies, along with two excited travelers, to the San Diego Airport. Flavio and I kept two squares for ourselves and topped them with ice cream and berries. Thank god the rest of these babies are on their way out of town. Irresistible hunks of chewy, fudgey heaven are not the kind of thing I want to be left alone with.

Alaska or bust.

PS: Totally not related, but my alarm went off to this song this morning, and left me in the best mood. Brownies and Robin Thicke are not a bad way to wake up. Yum to both. ;)

Some notes on brownie-making: Homemade really is better than the box (if you use the right recipe), are just as easy and don't have any of the scary artificial ingredients. I made these and they are the archetypal brownie, decadent and rich with a crackly candylike crust. I sprinkle a little sea salt on top mid-way through baking. It makes all the sweetness sing.