Lemony Lentil Soup

With the weather beginning to get more chilly here, yesterday I decided to make a soup. I had in mind a lemony lentil soup with fresh spinach. After checking out a few recipes I found this one. As usual I made a few substitutions and left a couple things out but this soup did not disappoint. It had a really clean and fresh taste while remaining hearty with the lentils. So good.

I left out the potato because I didn't want it to be too heavy, used about five sprigs of thyme instead of dill, and because I'm lazy I used precooked brown lentils from Trader Joe's that I added at the end. Oh, and of course I added more garlic. After being together for eight and a half years, both of us aren't scared of a little garlic breath.

Small Space

This small, colorful, and charming house in Australia is just so damn cute to me! I love the kitchen especially. The backsplash is really creative and definitely in my color palette that I adore. The little patio is fab too.

via desire to inspire

Art I Like..

I am so wanting this limited edition print by artist Mark Warren Jacques. Maybe a little post birthday gift to myself?

On his site it says... Directions for use - Order; get excited for mail; tell the mail man thanks; open & hang on wall (near plants and sunshine if possible); stare at often until you become tired and ready for sleep; fall asleep.

 Sounds good to me. Find it here.

Emerson Made

What a great outfit from Emerson Made. I'm totally loving the wide leg and the high waist of the pant paired with a silk shirt. A refreshing departure from all the skinny jeans. Not that I'll be ditching any of mine anytime soon but it's nice to see a different silhouette that is so flattering.  Look at these adorable little clutches they have as well. So perfect!

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Birthday Weekend

I had a great birthday weekend that ended in a crazier than crazy karaoke party with over twenty of my friends. Every single one of them made the evening so much better than I could have imagined. I really do have some of the most fun and entertaining people in my life. Let the pictures below speak for themselves. We definitely got loose to say the least. I'm gonna blame that on all the soju we drank of course.

I love my friends!

Guess What?

Today is my birthday!! My cake would have a few more candles on it of course. I'm looking forward to a nice dinner with Alex tonight and belting out some Dolly Parton tomorrow night with friends in a private karaoke room we rented. It shoud be a really fun weekend!

image via

A Livable Space

I love this living room I spotted over on Apartment Therapy. That couch is fantastic and I'm actually really into the wood walls. It has such a cool vibe to it and isn't too pretentious. I can totally imagine people living in the space, unlike many homes I see featured on some design blogs and in magazines.

Day Trip

Since Melissa and I both had the day off yesterday we decided to take a little drive up the coast to Encinitas. Our first stop was a little vegan raw cafe called The Greenery. At lunch time they stock a refrigerator full of prepared goodied. Apparently they have full menu for dinner so I would love to go back and try it again.

We shared a few things things starting with the pesto pasta which was actually very thinly sliced zucchini with  pine nut pesto and sundried tomatoes on top. This was soo delicious! We also had a seaweed salad with peppers, leeks, and heirloom tomatoes and a creamy vegetable stirfry with a pine nut sauce which seemed more like a slaw of some sort but was still pretty tasty.

Next we headed over to The Lotus Cafe because Melissa said they had really great vegan cupcakes that she had tasted on her last birthday. Once we got there and saw their extensive menu we decided to eat again. Seriously, we couldn't believe it either but since we shared at the first place, and the portions were small, we decided it was our appetizer. :) We both decided on the vege chili dog. In our defense, we didn't finish it all. It was pretty good but I still think Melissa makes a better one for sure.

Oh dear, this thing was super great but I still have my half minus a couple bites sitting in my kitchen. I had never had a vegan cupcake before, and to tell you the truth I wouldn't even have known the difference. This little cupcake was so moist and delicious.

After the eating marathon we headed over to the Self Realization Fellowship to walk through their meditation garden that is perched upon the hill overlooking the ocean. It was really pretty.

Sunrise

After crashing super hard from a long couple days at work and waking up early today, this is what I saw. I thought it was so pretty. Don't you think?

The Weekend

I think it's pretty funny that I was talking about fall clothes in my last post due to the fact that we have had a super heat wave that rolled in this weekend here. After lusting for wool, knits, and boots I was laying out at our pool having margaritas and trying to catch some sun. It was fun for sure until it hit the 100's. I'm not a fan of major heat so the past couple days have killed me. I've had to work as well so it has been even more unbearable.

Sunday I was lucky enough to get off work early enough to enjoy part of the day. I was planning on meeting Melissa at the street fair that was going on in her neighborhood but due to the heat, all I could ask for was some ac and some good food. Alex met us and we had a great meal at Kensington Cafe.

I had the greatest vege chorizo tacos. Super yum, but I always find something that I think could make the meal totally complete. In this case it was something semi crunchy like a pickled red onion. But that is just the perfectionist in me. All in all it was super good and then Melissa and I made our way to the Blind Lady Ale House for a drink while Alex hung out with a friend. It was really a great place that I would love to go back to when it is less busy for sure.

  After that we headed downtown to catch a happy hour where our friend was playing music. Meliss took a pic of us since we, or I rarely make an appearance on this little blog. Here we are.... The happy couple :) It is almost our two year married anniversary in a couple weeks!

 Hope everyone is having a good week so far. xo

A Few Fall Favorites

Just a few things I have my eye on for this fall season. Even though it never gets too cold here, I still cannot wait to start layering and get cozy. Retire my sandals and start stepping out in some cute boots. Fall is definitely my favorite time of the year!

1,2,3

Shrimp Salad

I made this salad for dinner last night using this easy recipe and it was really fresh and yummy. I did make a few substitutions and added a couple other ingredients though. Since we can't get enough of baby heirloom tomatoes I used those instead, yellow and orange peppers, added a couple extra cloves of garlic, more lime, a teaspoon of ground cumin, and instead of salt I used a bit of a sazon package from Goya (coriander & annatto to be exact). So good!