Author: Elena

{Date Night Fridays} I’m still dating my husband

California, Date Night Fridays, Dates, Life, Romance, Southern California

…and loving every minute of it.  Just because you get married doesn’t mean you should stop going on dates.  When the hubby and I were dating our date night was usually on Friday night and it was involved doing something different that we hadn’t done before.  Fast forward to almost 11 years later and we are still committed to going on dates.  On this segment called Date Night Fridays I’m going to give you suggestions on where to go on dates in Southern California.  I’m aware I’ll probably hate myself later if you all start showing up to my favorite spots but I’m willing to take that risk.  Southern California is full of museums, botanical gardens, comedy clubs, and other places that could be quite romantical.  Please keep in mind that many places the hubby and I go to are very affordable which is a bonus for us. We actually try to outdo ourselves with planning the “cheapest” date.

One of our favorite FREE museums to visit is the California Science Center.
When I was little my parents used to take me there and I later found out that my hubby’s parents used to do the same thing.  (I wonder if we were ever there at the same time.)  The museum is pretty big and there are a lot of things to do.  They have a small aquarium where you can touch some of the star fish at.  Sometimes they have very cool exhibits but they are usually cost extra. We love going in there and playing with all the things and sometime catching a film in their huge IMAX theater.  Parking is usually about $10 bucks but if you’re feeling a tad adventurous or if you’re trying to go green you might want to take the Metro.  This place is totally kid friendly but it can also be enjoyed with just your significant other.  We’ve taken our little goddaughter with us on several occasions and she has a blast.  
If you want to romance your special loved one pack a picnic basket and enjoy it in the adjacent Rose Garden. (Keep in mind that it’s closed from January 1st to March 15th.) 

Where is your favorite place to go on a date?

Life: Happy Valentine’s Day

Holidays, Life, Love
I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine’s day and now here are my thoughts on this holiday.  I’ve always had a love for holidays but Valentine’s has always had a special place in my heart.  When I was growing up my mom used to make a big deal about it and I loved every minute of it.  I loved going to the store and picking out cards to pass out to my classmates.  I loved seeing hearts all over the place not to mention the crazy amount of pink all around.  As the years have gone by I’ve realized that love should be celebrated all year long not just one day a year. 

I’m fortunate enough to have married someone that makes me feel loved all year long and not just on Valentine’s day.  I’m truly blessed because my hubby and my mom tell me they love me on a daily basis and I know that there are people out there who are not as fortunate as I am.  I’ve had a lot of death in my family and I believe that you should tell people how you feel every chance you get.  If you’re reading this and you haven’t told someone you love them today please do so now.  Remember that life is precious and you might not get another opportunity to tell someone you love them.  If on the other hand you are someone that hasn’t heard those words in a long time please know that this stranger sends you her love. I love you guys and without you I would not have anyone to blog my stories to.

Happy Valentine’s Day!
  

Recipes: Calabacitas con Queso (Zucchini with Cheese)

Cooking, Food, Mexican Mondays, Recipes
In my last post I mentioned that I was going to start a new series called Mexican Mondays.  If you've been following my blog then you should know that I'm Mexican American and I've realized that it would be fun to feature some recipes that I grew up with.  For my first post I'm featuring one of my favorite recipes and one of the easiest one to make, calabacitas con queso (zucchini with cheese).  My mom used to make this recipe for me when I was little and my grandma used to make it for me when I would go visit in Mexico.  When I had this dish at my grandmother's house she would make it with vegetables that were grown in their farm and with homemade cheese. 

More loveliness here »

Life: On trying to be a better me

Inspiration, Life, Quotes

…well at least I’m hoping that by having a more structured blog I will become a better blogger.  This morning as I was going through my old Twitter and blog posts I realized that I’ve had quite an interesting last year but I failed to blog about it here.  I tend to tweet more about what’s going on in my life than to actually sit down and blog about it.

Throughout the day I walk around thinking about great blog topics but I usually second guess myself about wether or not I should write about something.  I mean seriously who’s out there reading the random things I often say.  At the beginning of the year the hubby bought me my own domain name and if that doesn’t say love and encouragement I don’t know what does.  It was only a $10 purchase but the fact that the hubby believes in me enough to think that I deserve to have it says a lot about the type of man that I married.  I’ve realized that this little blog might develop into a career but what the heck do I have to lose.  This year I’ve decided that I need to take more risks and believe in what those possibilities could bring.

Its time to take a leap of faith and see where I land.  I mean I already know where my passions lie so I guess I’m a tad ahead of the game. I love photography, baking, social media, and a ton of other things that I’ve mentioned throughout this blog.

Since I know that I have to work for my dreams I shall begin by letting everyone know what this blog will undergo some serious change.  Over the next year I will be learning HTML, Java Script, Photoshop, several other programing languages and photo editing software that will be implemented into this blog.  Please expect some changes to happen to this site along with posts on things that I find interesting.  Since I love to bake I plan on doing more of it this year too so don’t be turned away by the mayhem this site is about to experience.  
The structure I was talking about earlier has to do with assigning days to specific posts that way if you’re interested in one topic over another you can come back on those days but if you’re really cool you’ll come back all week long.
Wednesdays = Wordless Wednesdays
Fridays = Date night Fridays
The rest of the week I’m reserving for random types of posts until I come up with other cool ones. 
Next week I’ll be rolling this out and until then please feel free to look around and explore my blog.  Please let me know if there is something else you might want to read about since I’m open for suggestions.  Since I’ve mentioned several times before I love quotes and here’s a great one I found on Pinterest check out more awesome quotes here.

Sweets: The Pioneer Woman’s Amazing Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon Rolls, Pioneer Woman, Sweets

I can't believe the obsession I've developed with Pinterest and one night as I was looking through the countless pins I saw this and this.  These pins reminded me of my cousin's love for cinnamon rolls.  When I lived at my aunts house every so often I would surprise my cousin's with cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  I've been wanting to make cinnamon rolls for a few months now and after seeing the pins all around Pinterest I decided that it was time. The problem was that there is countless of recipes out there and I wasn't sure which one to pick.  After a couple of hours I decided on the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls.  All I have to say is yikes! These may not be like the ones I used to bring home to my cousin's (no pixie dust on them) but they were so yummy.

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Life: Honeymoon Day 11

Europe, Honeymoon, Life, London, Planning, Travels, Vacation

Our time in Europe was simply amazing and will never be forgotten. We’re planning on making another trip in the near future but before we do that here’s the last post on the subject.

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 3:00pm from Heathrow Airport so we had some time to kill before we left.  We had to check out of our room before noon and they were nice enough to watch our luggage for us for a few hours before we left to the airport.  The hotel we stayed at Base 2 Stay was nice but not spectacular.  It looked clean but not spotless.  They provide free wifi but you have to put in a code every single time you use it which gets very frustrating.  On the bright side the rooms are large but if you get one next to the street it tends to get noisy.  I think this hotel would be lovely for a big family who would use the kitchenette. Overall we think it was a good value for the amount we paid for it and its proximity to the Underground.  

Since the receptionist were nice enough to watch over our luggage we decided to take quick trip to Harrods to pick up some last minute gifts.  The store was huge and beautiful.  We could have easily spend the whole day but since we only had a couple of hours we choose to focus on the departments and had stuff we actually were interested in. 
I loved these 6 feel tall bears. I wish we could have brought one home with us. 
How cute are these Prince William and Princess Catherine dolls? Okay there are really a tad creepy looking but I would still like to have them.  
I LOVE CHRISTMAS!! I’ll take Christmas in September any day of the week. I was seriously like a kid in a candy store.
The highlight of our trip to Harrods was the Chocolate Bar.  I can still taste the amazing hot chocolate that we had there. I would seriously travel back to London just for that decadent drink.  I ordered the Trinidad hot chocolate and the hubby ordered the Venezuela one. 
We rushed back to our hotel got our luggage and headed out to the airport. We went to were we purchased our Oyster card to get a refund for the amount we still had in the card.  
Our flight was with Virgin Atlantic and we loved it.  We had a few issues with our flight back but they were upfront with us about it and it didn’t bother us.  First of the plane we were supposed to be on was struck by lightning in Dubai.  They replaced the airplane but then the catering company they were using didn’t work so they had to get another one.  While we waited they passed our magazines and newspapers.
About an hour and a half later we were able to board the airplane or so we thought.  It turns out that once we were on the plane a passenger started freaking out about all the things going wrong and she demanded to get off.  It took about another hour to depart because they had to get the porters to come back and take her luggage off.  They had to do another security scan and then we were able to leave. All together we ended up departing about 3 hours late and we were all starving.  After working in a company were customer service is so important I have to say that the employees did a great job under the circumstances that we were all in.  The hubby and I were very impressed with the professionalism everyone demonstrated as they were dealing with difficult customers.  Once in the air everyone was well feed and we had lots of entertainment to keep us busy.  We had a few issues with our flight but that will not stop us from flying with Virgin Atlantic again.  We actually look forward to booking a flight with Virgin in the near future. 
When we got back home my in-laws had a surprise waiting for us. 
I really hope you enjoyed the recap of our honeymoon adventures in Europe. 

Life: Honeymoon Day 10

Europe, Honeymoon, Life, London, Planning, Travels, Vacation

On our final day of our honeymoon we woke up sick with a head cold.  We took things a little easier than we originally planned to but we still had a lovely day.  In the morning I headed out to get something to eat while the hubby rested since I felt a tad better than him.  I bought a pasty from here and I have to be honest I didn’t really care for it.  I tried a sweet and a savory one but I didn’t care for either of them.

When the hubby was finally up to it we headed out to the Natural History Museum since it was the closest museum near our hotel.  We had a nice walk and we could help ourselves and stopped to look at these telephones. 
The Dinosaur exhibit was amazing my goddaughter would have absolutely loved it.  I loved seeing little British school children having a blast at the museum. 
After a couple of hours walking around the museum we began to feel sick again so we returned back to our hotel but not before stopping at a pharmacy to buy some medicine.  Once we started feeling better we returned to do some more sightseeing.  Another museum that was close by was the Victoria and Albert Museum.  The best part about museums in London was that a lot of them were free including the ones we went to. 
We didn’t spend too much time out and about since we needed to get our stuff ready to come back home.  After I finished packing my stuff I went to a local grocery store and stocked up on some baking supplies.  I bought a few edible  souvenirs for my loved ones to bring back home.

…To be continued…

Life: Honeymoon Day 9

Europe, Honeymoon, Life, London, Paris, Planning, Travels, Vacation

On day 9 we woke up early and took a train to the Gare du Nord Station.  We were sad to be leaving our beloved Paris but since we plan on going back sometime in the near future we weren’t too concern.

I had my last pastry in Paris at the station.
We took a TGV train from Paris to Calais, France.  Seeing some of the French countryside on the train was pretty amazing.  The station itself was a tad confusing since they wait until 10 minutes before our train departs to tell you what platform you should wait on.  Once they list the platform you have to dash to the train and find the right car to go on.  The train we went on was very quiet and relaxing.
The little town of Calais was very cute.
If you have been reading about our honeymoon adventures you know what when we first went to Paris we arrived via the Eurostar but since we wanted to experience something different we took the P & O Ferry from Calais to Dover and then a train back into London.  From the little town we decided to take a taxi to the ferry terminal but you can take a bus if you want to save some money.
  
We had yummy Indian food onboard the Pride of Calais ferry.
The ferry provided a shuttle that took us to the terminal and from there we took a taxi up to Dover Castle.
If you haven’t been following our adventures then you might be asking yourself what about our luggage?  Since we like to travel lightly and we bought very few souvenirs we carried our bag backs with us to the castle. 
  

Can you see the hubby waving at me?

When we got tired of walking around the beautiful castle we asked one of the workers if they could call a taxi for us and we went on our way.  We took a train from Dover Priory to the Victoria Station and from there the underground to the Earls Court Station.  The train ride was lovely since we got to see a lot of the countryside. 
We stayed at Base 2 Stay in Kensington  and we love the room we got. What we loved about our hotel was that they recommended a great place to eat and we got 10% off because we were staying at Base2Stay.  Orjowan was so good that we had it for dinner the night we arrived and for lunch the next day.
For dessert we had the hubby’s favorite, baklava.
…To be continued…
Day 1, Day 2,  Day 3 (Pt. 1), Day 3 (Pt. 2), Day 4 (Pt. 1), Day 4 (Pt. 2), Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 10,