Blog Challenge Day 13: What's Inside Your Fridge

It's mid week and the fridge is a bit bare. We've been bad about stocking up, meaning more likely to eat out or go to the store over and over.

Some of the items in there:
- Beer, mostly brews from Asheville, NC
- Almond milk for me
- Organic cow milk for Rob
- Coconut water for my long runs
- Peas for Sam
- A couple jars of sauce that are getting a bit fuzzy (ugh, shame on me!)
- Spinach and other veggies for salads
- Super yummy breaded chicken got for an amazing deal at EarthFare
- Yogurts
- Pickles
- Beer yeast
- Old bottle of nail polish
- Virgil's Rootbeer
- Baileys

Blog Challenge Day 12: Your Favorite Childhood Book

I can't really recall any favorite books when I was real little. I did like the Indian and the Cupboard books. I really didn't start reading a lot until I was a teenager. That's where I really started to read all. the. time. Rob and I both love books and hope to instill the same passion to Sam!

One book series that will always stand out is the Dinosaur World series by Stephen Leigh. I was in junior high when I bought the first book at a book fair. How could I not get it, it had a dinosaur on the cover? Come to find out that this book was based on The Sound of Thunder, my favorite short story by Ray Bradbury! As a kid, this book and the ones that followed after were awesome!

To make these books even that more special to me, in the back of the book they gave the address from the publisher if you wanted to write them a letter. I wrote them saying how much I loved the book and I (of course) sent along a picture I drew. Not only did I receive a letter back from the publisher, he sent along my letter to the author and HE wrote me back as well! Throughout the span of the book series we wrote back and forth. Just me saying what I thought of the books and a drawing and them saying thank you. I still have those letters and they mean the world to me, 'specially back in a time where correspondence was still through letters being mailed, where to world was a bit bigger.

Happy (super late) BIrthday Puppies!!

I feel like the worst dog mommy in the world...we forgot Molly and Ginny's birthday!! We celebrate both on Nov. 1st, the day we adopted Molly and Ginny was born in Nov. But this year we have Sam and that was the day Rob went to New York. You better believe we are celebrating tonight with good treats and a walk.

Happy Birthday Molly! You are our first kid. You are sweet and silly and I couldn't even get mad at you when you ate the mole on our rug. You taught me and Rob a lot about taking care of something together. I love how one of your most favorite things is belly rubs in the grass.

Happy Birthday Ginny! I still feel guilty when Rob said he brought you home and I was so so upset. We had just given Mason back since he wasn't a good fit and Tony asked if we could keep you for a couple of days while he makes room at his shelter. But we never gave you back. You taught me to be patient and more calm because you were so scared and skiddish. You are so smart and loving.

I love you guys so much! And as I keep telling you, things are wonky around here right now and I wish we could play and walk with you more, but it's just for a little bit. Then Sam will be older and we'll all be back to normal and it'll be so much more fun because Sam will want to play with you.

Blog Challenge Day 11: 10 Favorite Foods

I LOVE food! I am very grateful to grow up in a home where my mom cooked a lot and a lot of traditional Croatian and european dishes. It's definitely made me appreciate all kinds of food. I can honestly say that there are very few foods that I don't like. Most foods that I don't eat now it more of a health thing, like beef or soda or highly processed foods.

Here are my top 10:

1. Pizza- This is one food I can eat all the time. We used to make our own pizza (dough and all) every Friday. I'm not a huge fan of New York style pizza, too thin. I like my crust a bit bubbly, but not deep dish. Oh and pizza needs to have red sauce! My fav pizza is from this place down the road, it's sicilian style with fresh mozzarella cheese and their home sauce.

2. Sushi- Of course some of the best sushi we had was in Japan, but Arizona had a lot of great places too, considering it's way far from any ocean. I like classic sushi. I'm not a fan of the "let's see how much we can shove and fry" rolls.

3. Salads- I LOVE me a good salad! I love putting all sorts of healthy stuff on a salad. Nothing makes me feel more healthier than a good salad. In fact, that's what's for lunch today.

4. Borek- Borek is kind of like a Croatian strudel made with meat. It was always a special treat when my mom would make it because it's a bit time consuming.

5. Venison- We've been very fortunate to have friends who give us deer meat. I love the taste of it, even if it's gamey tasting. One of our favorite things to make is Sloppy Doe.

6. Udon- Udon is everywhere in Japan, which makes me sad that it's hard to find here where we live. Now udon is not the same as ramen. Udon's noodles are thick and hearty, while ramen is thin. Gosh, talking about this is making me hungry!

7. Dark Chocolate- I like the really dark stuff. Give me anything above 70% cacao and don't think that milk chocolate is even in the same category.

(I had to stop writing this post because I was getting way too hungry! ha ha)

8. Cupcakes- What better way to eat cake? I like the different flavors the most. Get wild and crazy on me! We had this whiskey cupcake a few months back....whew! so boozy!

9. Cabo Style Mexican Tacos/Street Tacos - Typically grilled meat or fish with fresh ingredients. There's a place here in North Carolina that makes great tacos!

10. Tofu Chicken Salad - I really like tofu. Make it into a chicken salad, even better!!

Blog Challenge Day 10 - Best Trip of Your Life

The best trip of my life was when we went to Tokyo, Japan a few years ago. You can totally read about my trip in detail here and see our photos here.



It was such an amazing trip! We had always wanted to go, so Rob and I were like, "Let's just go!" We spent about a year saving up money and learning Japanese (I took some in highschool, but I was very rusty) And in May 2013 we went!

We decided to just do Tokyo on this trip because it's such a big city and we didn't want to be rushed by trying to visit other parts of the country. It also makes a great excuse to have to visit Japan again.

Tokyo is an amazing city. It very clean, everyone is very polite despite the mass amount of people and there's like shopping galore. Tucked away among the tall building and modern life, there's temples and gardens and museums. My favorite place in Tokyo was the Meiji Jingu temple that was right next to Harajuku. It's a beautiful temple tucked away in a park. There's a huge tree in it and a place to hang up your prayers. When you're around so many buildings and people, it's just nice to get away from it all.



The sushi was amazing. We loved all the cans of coffee. We ate at Denny's and McDonald (ick). We bought fried octopus balls from an old guy outside one of the parks. We drank whiskey and sake that we got from a vending machine. And the udon noodle bowls was so awesome that I am in search of something like that here.

We had fun looking at all the shops. I bought tons of cute things. We went to arcades and a ninja themed restaurant. And you know I went to a cat cafe!



We plan on going back in a few years. We'll be going to Kyoto next, to see the more traditional side of Japan. We also can't wait to bring Sam too!

Blog Challenge Day 9: What's in Your Bag/Wallet

Yesterday was pretty busy, so I'm a day late on this.

I'm kind of glad for this one because I needed to clean out the diaper bag. But I'm showing everything that was in there (including the random stuff)

Top Left to Right:
-Some Honest diapers. I love these diapers. It's my alternative to cloth and Sam doesn't get many diaper rashes.

-My diaper bag. It's been a dream to own an Oral Kiely bag and they were on sale and I figured I'm going to be a mom and will need a diaper bag more. It may not be very gender neutral, but it's an awesome bag.

- Attached to the bag is a beer bottle opener...cuz ya know, you never know when you'll need one.

- Taggy blanket that was a gift for Sam.

- Random papers including doctor appointment cards.

- Formula holder

- Organic Baby sunblock

- Burts Bees diaper cream (not a big fan, but I like the size)

- Honest wipes

- Socks, hat and sun glasses....hello, summer is over Suzy

- A panty liner and ONE, just one, breast pad

- Links, aka great distraction

- Car keys

- Comb

- Bunny toy

- iPhone

- Snacks, mostly from Trader Joes

- My clutch/wallet from REI. I don't carry a purse anymore and this is great.

Blog Challenge Day8: 5 Current Goals

1. Train and run a half marathon - Y'all know this one. I want to prove to myself that I can do this. I want to force myself to get into shape.

2. Live a more simple life with less - This is something that I've been trying to do since we moved from Arizona to New York in a one bedroom apartment and I realized how much crap I had. But now, I really want to strive to do this, 'specially with Sam. I want to have less clutter in the house, buy quality and only what I need. I want Sam to learn to appreciate what he has and not be overwhelmed with too many toys and stuff.

3. Learn to use my digital camera with manual settings - We did not spend a lot of money for me to always use my camera on auto. Shame on you!

4. Cook more - So silly, but it's true! Rob has been doing practically all the cooking since I had Sam. He doesn't mind, but I miss being in the kitchen and cooking new recipes.

5. Start crafting again - I have so many little things I want to make!