Favorite Food Friday

yesterday was a super busy day so i didn't make my Friday blog post in time... but to make it up to you i have a sneak peek and two (!) restaurants to show you today!!!! 

hip hooray!

we started off our morning on a breakfast date since my mother-in-law had the kids spend the night the night before! we went to my all time favorite breakfast restaurant, Hash House A Go Go. dang, it was gooooood. 

 it's located in the heart of Hillcrest. 

 you have to get there early, there is ALWAYS a long wait. it was a Friday morning and there were tons of people. we had to sit at the bar in order to get seated quickly. not my favorite place to sit, but i was so hungry i could have eaten a waffle bigger than my head a horse. 

 busy. busy. busy.

 i love their drinkware. their cups and mugs are footed. and we all know i love anything footed. wink.

 sleepy heads. it was nice to not be woken up by little screaming banshees whispers and angel kisses from our sweet children, but our bed here at the dorm is making our good sleep to be desired. 

remember when i almost said a waffle the size of my head. well, that's actually what i got! the vanilla waffle is like eating cake for breakfast. the picture does not justice for the real life scale of how huge this think is. they use plates that could fit a roasted turkey on!

blackberry granola flapjack. nothing like a pancake to promote American obesity. my dad is cringing at this post, i just know it. and somewhere in the world a family of ten could live off this meal and we ate a 1/4 of it and took the rest home. 

the next restaurant i'm posting about we actually had on Wednesday. we love Pho, a Vietnamese noodle soup, so we found this restaurant while driving around and thought we try it out. 

the service was great and the people were super nice, but we have pretty high standards for Pho. our fav place is in Chula Vista and we compare everything to that one. 

 eggrolls. wrap them in fresh mint and lettuce and dip in broth. 

 always always wash it down with a Thai Tea (with no boba) for the adults and young coconut juice for the kids. 

 my husband gets a large beef ball soup and shares it with the kids. 

i always get the grilled chicken with broken rice and share with the kids.

 mmmm. 

now for the sneak peek! 

we got our family pictures taken by Jackie Wonders last night and this is what i wore!

i love my new dress soooooo much!

have a great weekend!

what we wore wednesday

well, it's Wednesday again. we took more pictures of ourselves. now you can see them. sorry if you came to my blog to see pictures of, let's just say, PAPER!?!?! yeah, you won't see any of that here. 

seriously, do you like seeing what we wear? i know i'm not a crazy fashionista so i'm starting to wonder why i'm doing this. hahaha!

i had a picture of all the kids and i so you could see our full body outfits, but it didn't upload onto my computer from my phone and i deleted it before realizing it... boo. 

 i've got a really cute maxi dress on from TJMaxx with an ikat pattern in fuchsia, black, cream, tan, grey, orange, and coral. sounds crazy but i promise it's cute. and super comfy. i wore it with my tan Rainbow flip flops. 

 little a has on a striped tank from Target, jeggings (not seen here), and sunglasses and a necklace from the Swap Meet. 

 big A is wearing a Transformers tshirt that was a gift from my parents and plaid shorts from Target. 

and my husband made it in this week, wearing a camp tshirt from several years ago, a sweet beard, and his new RayBan frames. isn't he so handsome? 

big hug, little kiss.

tara

UPDATE: 30 days of love making

i wanted to give you all an honest update about our 30 days of love making. and just to forewarn any male readers... there is some personal "lady stuff" in here so maybe you should skip this one. 

my husband read my blog before Father's Day and found out about his gift before i even gave it to him. one of the downsides of putting it out there for all to see. i didn't really mind because i knew he would appreciate it. as you've read in past posts, we are currently in San Diego, away from home, because my husband's band is leading worship for a high school camp. read: crazy hours, living in a dorm, super busy and tired. guess what? the camp started on Father's Day. the challenges awaited us. 

there were a couple nights that i waited up for him waayyyyy past my bedtime, and due to the thin walls it was a struggle to engage in the intimacy of it all. we're not trying to freak out the other staff members of the camp! but we were committed and willing to work through the kinks. then, "aunt martha" came for a visit, after just a short 4 days into the challenge. per my husbands request, we decided to take a break until that time passed. because, let's face it... it's not the best time for either of us. 

shortly after i was in the clear, he had to fly back up to Fresno for two days to lead worship at our church.  so that brings us to today. we haven't really discussed it but i think we're just going to start over. or maybe make a rule that we both have to be ready. i know i wanted it to be 30 days in a row, but i also don't want it to be forced. the whole point of the gift was that i would being giving him my heart, and mind, in preparation of love making. that i wouldn't refuse him, no matter how tired i am, or any other reason i could find to not do it. my goal is to safe guard our marriage by fulfilling that need in him, and in turn i think we will be drawn closer to each other as a result of both our needs being met. 

so for now... this is where we are. my heart is ready. and i think that he feels more loved because of that.

i was very encouraged to get several emails from people who were willing to do the challenge with me, and several others from people who weren't willing just yet but were headed in that direction. i would still love to hear from you, any thoughts that you might have about this. 

i hope, if nothing else, that you would be encouraged by my honesty in this matter. so many people are walking through their marriage struggling through their intimate relationship and feel so alone. i know i was one of them. 

xoxo

tara

Favorite Food Friday

i know what you're thinking, another reoccurring blog? with a really cliche name? that starts with all F's? you just wanna barf in your mouth a little? 

i'm thinking the same things too, truly. but i can't help it. i love cliche's. so you have to deal with it. plus, it's only our favorite food's while we're in San Diego, so you only have to suffer for a little while. 

ever since our little family moved away from San Diego back in October i think we realized how good we had it in food-wise. there are just so many great little places to get a wide variety of tasty delicacies. our good friend, Chelsey, had never been to this first restaurant and we felt responsible for teaching her the ways of good italian food. 

Chelsey, you're welcome. 

 both my husband and i have a long history with this restaurant. he went there with his family a lot while growing up and actually lived around the corner for the first 6 years of his life. i was a hostess there in my early adult years, and when we first started dating he brought his friends to "check me out" while i was on working one day. 

i guess they approved!

 Filippi's Pizza Grotto. the best italian food in San Diego. in my opinion.

 there is usually a crazy long line, well worth waiting in. it's kinda crazy, there are italian restaurants surrounding this one and they are always empty with the hostess just standing there bored to death watching all these people wait in a ridiculous line for Filippi's. 

view from our table.

 antipasto salad.

 fettucini alfredo.

 the sun started going down in these pics so they're really dark, but this is the lasagna (my fav) and spaghetti with a meatball combo plate.

 pepperoni pizza. 

and Chels. i love her. i'm so glad she's here. she lives in Fresno and it's crazy because i'm finding myself a little homesick and she's like a little piece of home. 

what we wore wednesday

so i tried to update a post last night but blogger was down. now it's what we wore yesterday.

do you like how i'm posing so studiously on our corporate dorm housing two seater? i thought you would. i'm wearing a white wife beater under a turquoise Old Navy tank. my navy blue skirt is from Gap and it's RIDICULOUSLY comfortable. and my TOMS.

i love my TOMS. blue with yellow anchors. yum.

the kids were cranky after naps and didn't really feel like posing for pictures. so i secretly got them while having some craft time. big A is wearing a cute stripes polo with some cargo shorts, all from Target. 

little a is wearing a dress that looks like a t-shirt with ruffles on the bottom from Walmart. it was $5. LOVE.

i like to call this beach/messy hair. i strategically used a mixture of pool water and sunblock to create a textured look, then, while running after her, fixed a cute little clip to get her hair out of her eyes. 

and my bangs. they are still so, so messed up. i like to call these mydaughtercameatmewithscissors look. hopefully they will have a serious growth spurt before our family pictures with Jackie Wonders.... next week. yeah, i don't think so either. well, i can just say i did it on purpose. i mean, that look is totally in, right?

What We Wore Wednesday

well hello there. 

i'm so silly, i almost forgot today was Wednesday! for reals. that's what happens when you're a stay at home mom, away from home, at camp, with no calendar. thankfully my husband took some pictures of us on our way to dinner and i'm whipping up a post. thanks honey!

aren't you feeling so loved? i mean, i put absolutely NO effort into this outfit. actually, i was WAYYYY cuter this morning in a pretty floral summer dress and yellow scarf, but i changed before these pictures because the marine layer rolled in and i was cold. (did you hear that Fresnonians??? i said i was COLD! i know, that was mean.)

i pinky swear to be extra cute next week. cross my heart.

Big A is OBSESSED with this Thor helmet. he kinda looks like a little troll creeping around the parking lot here, but actually he is hunting for the best stick to replicate Thor's mallet. 

oh good, he found one. see all those leaves on the ground down there? yeah, he tore up that bush. get it Thor, get it. "kid Thor" (as he quickly corrects me if i ever use his real name...) is wearing a super wrinkled orange and plaid button up from Target and some jeans. i also made him put on closed toed shoes because of the chill in the hair. i hate ever thinking that those sweet little toes are cold!

little a chose a pretty pink and white floral tunic from Old Navy, jeggings from Target, a brown cardi and gold sparkle shoes, also from Target. here she is looking for caterpillars and cocoons under the map of the campus. 

i've got on a gray t-shirt from Old Navy for $3, navy blue super skinny cords also from Old Navy, and $3 moccasins from a thrift store in Fresno called Neighborhood Thrift. that super cute bag was a gift for my baby shower with little a and it is from Anthro (!). 

 we like Old Navy. specifically the sale rack where i can find things for $5 or less. i really hate spending money on clothes, but love to shop. i know, i'm crazy.

i'm sooooooo bummed because my mocs recently ripped. see it, over there on the left shoe? ugh. i love them so much. i'm thinking about duct taping them from the inside, but that's totally ghetto. do you have any suggestions? 

also, i may or may not have butchered my bangs. and by may or may not, i mean i did. i usually cut my own bangs and do a pretty good job, but something possessed me to go shorter!?!?! what? i know, i think i'm sleep deprived or something. please remove all scissors from our room until camp has commenced so i don't feel tempted to cut them again. bangs are not the portion of hair you should be taking risks with people. they are right at eye level and you can never tell if anyone is looking at your funky bangs or straight into your eyes. it's crazy making. 

good night and happy wednesday! 

xoxo.

Smitten Saturday?

oh no, i'm kind of freaking out that i didn't do a Smitten Saturday this past Saturday and am feeling really bad that i haven't posted anything for a while. my little family packed our bags (a months worth) and headed down to San Diego for a month so my husband's band, 330 Plan, could lead worship for Hume SD. 

here they are, practicing before the morning chapel in front of the amazing set.

we will be setting up camp for the next month here. it's so nice to be back in our hometown but a little overwhelming to try to be present at the camp and still try to see all our family and friends. i get the feeling these next four weeks will go by fast and i want to treasure every moment! all in all, we are very happy to be here. 

little a, singing Hosanna in front of 200+ junior high schoolers

the least i can do is share with you all the amazing pictures i took on Saturday when i went to the Farmer's Market in Little Italy & Seaport Village with one of my besties, Heather.

big A decided he was Thor, all day.

flower inspiration for a friend's upcoming wedding. (Leah, these dahlia's would be so pretty in your centerpieces!)

mmm, golden raspberries. 

wow. just, wow.

while driving around Little Italy and Down Town i saw soooo many awesome backgrounds for pictures, i think i'll have to come back and just capture them all one day.

historic carousel.

coronado bridge.

me and the feather.

lola, the parrot, and big A. i mean Thor. 

sorry if my posting is a little more random and sporadic, i'll try to keep up with my goings on around San Diego. 

love. tara.

p.s. some people have mentioned that they had trouble leaving comments, i think i fixed it so comment away!