camera therapy with a little guitar and a tamale

work has been real crazy lately, and it started to wear on me last night. (i'm sure you got the vibe from my latest post). i had a terribly rough day yesterday from people i work with and from clients and i just about crashed as soon as i got home. taylor could tell i was a little down, so to brighten my spirits he picked up his guitar and followed me around playing me his improvised blues. at first i didn't want to be bothered, but he was so cute and i couldn't help but laugh at his silly attempt to cheer me up.

so i picked up my camera and started following him around everywhere. its these little moments that i want to remember forever; moments when taylor makes me me laugh when i'm down, moments of feeling young, moments of being madly in love...

we heated up some chicken tamale left-overs from the local grocer and life felt right and normal again. only my camera, taylor, a guitar and a delicious tamale can turn a "not-so-good" day, into a good one.

i have to pinch myself sometimes because i can't believe how lucky i am to get to share my life with such an incredible person. 

have a lovely afternoon my dear friends

self mantra

something i had to write to get me through today... 

thought i'd share incase theres someone out there that might need it too

life is too short to "take it personal" from people who aren't so nice. i'm sorry but being considerate and understanding is not that hard to do. maybe i just need to "toughen up", but i truly believe that no matter how busy i am, a thank you takes two seconds and  please less than that. it baffles me how rude, short and unappreciative some people are in the field in which i work. it really wears me down sometimes, but i've made a promise to myself that for however long i work in the creative advertising industry, i will always have time to listen, i will always have time to answer questions, i will never make someone feel stupid for asking a question, i will always say please and thank you (and always with sincerity), and i will always smile. its crazy far a smile can go (they're actually contagious!)


...and just because everyone around me gets stressed and flustered, it doesn't mean i have to too. its all about my attitude that can make this sometimes chaotic job, just a little easier. i am only one person and there is only so much this little gal can do at one time. please forgive me for not being perfect. 

candied peach waffles

it was another waffle kinda wednesday at our lovely little home this morning

i was inspired to make candied peaches to top off my waffles after perusing through joy the baker's blog yesterday. i very loosely followed her recipe for roasting the fruit, but instead of apricots (which i didn't have), i used peaches.

another yummy waffle wednesday

sorry for the lack of pictures today. taylor and i were preoccupied trying to plan our summer trip to oregon's 13th annual "pickathon" music festival. i'm so excited, i could scream! we have our tickets and camping gear, so now all we need is a flight up there.

ta-ta for now

june gloom

a little poem i thought up on my walk to work

(i know i'm not very poetic, but i wanted to share it with you anyway... so please don't tease)

june-gloom, gloomy june

i guess i must have spoke too soon

how silly to think that without a doubt

surely you were on your way out

but it was clouds that i awoke to on this day

so i guess you decided for a longer stay

i don't mind the morning cuddle with my honey

but please leave soon for a summer bright and sunny

xoxo

kittens!

kittens, kittens, kittens!

my mom rescued a young momma cat and her kittens at her school a couple weeks ago. she had been feeding the mother cat, named alaska, who is practically a kitten herself (about a year old) for weeks. alaska grew to trust my mom and when the time was right, my mom took her to the vet to get checked and spade. all was fine until the vet gave news that alaska was nursing and just had kittens!

my mom felt terrible. alaska was so skinny and feeble it was unimaginable to think she was pregnant. my mom immediately brought her back to her kittens and let her be for about a week. the vet and my mom thought there would be at most one kitten, given alaska's condition and frailty, but sure enough there were five!

they were all hiding under my mom's classroom among broken bottles and dirt. they were so filthy you couldn't even tell they had any white fur.

my mom brought them home and they've been there since - happy and healthy

if you or anyone you know is looking for a cat, my mom has five!

they're only about a week and a half old, so they'll be good to go to a new home in about 6 weeks.

i'm still trying to coax taylor into taking one, but its been an uphill battle trying to convince him 

-__-

weekend escapades.

happy monday!

i hope you all enjoyed the summer-y weekend we just had

it was a scorcher, but i loved it

is it safe to say june-gloom is on its way out? its been so nice waking up to the sun

this past weekend taylor and i tried something new. we went to kcrw's summer nights at one colorado in old-town pasadena. the seattle based band, motopony, played a free show and boy was it a blast.

laughter and love filled in the air. i couldn't help but take shots of all the couples dancing and enjoying each other's company. 

there is nothing better than a summer romance

 we also went to h.d. buttercup located at the old helm's bakery for their yearly 20-70% off sale

everything was still outrageously expensive, but tay and i love going. its like disneyland for us; we can roam for hours!

stay tuned for my next post

my mom rescued a momma cat and her five kittens

i have so many pictures and will post later tonight

cheerio!

apple cinnamon french toast

work has been keeping me real busy this week; its been hard to find time to post

but i can always find time for a french toast friday post!

this morning i made taylor 

bite-sized french toast with cinnamon apple with chopped walnuts

 what you will need for french toast and topping:

half apple thinly sliced

two loaves bread, cut into fours

cinnamon

two tablespoons milk

two eggs

a pinch all-purpose flour

two pinches brown sugar

one teaspoon vanilla extract

tablespoon butter

half cup water

handful chopped walnuts.

instructions:

let me start by saying i don't have exact measurements of any of the ingredients. a pinch here, a pinch there... i kind of eyeball everything so be ware when following this recipe.

french toast:

1.) chop each loaf of bread into quarters

2.) mix together, cinnamon, all-purpose flour, eggs, milk, vanilla extract, and brown sugar.

3.) dip each bread square into the mixture and saturate each side for at least one minute.

4.) add soaked bread to a greased saute pan at medium heat.

5.) flip bread pieces every so often until both sides are golden brown

6.) remove from heat.

apple topping:

1.) melt butter into small pan over medium heat

2.) add thinly sliced apple pieces, dash of cinnamon, water, dash of brown sugar

3.) heat for about 5-7minutes, stirring occasionally.

4.) remove from heat

5.) plate the french toast and pour apple topping over the top, including all the juices (makes for a great syrup!)

lastly, add chopped walnuts and whipped cream

...and viola!

happy friday

enjoy the beautiful weekend to come!

waffles: a little chocolate, peanut butter and banana

a new tradition seems to have set way in our little home.

waffle wednesdays!

this morning i made waffles with semi-sweet chocolate chips (for the sweetie)

with chopped organic bananas. melted peanut butter and warm maple syrup

i asked tay whether these were really good or just good, he replied "ugh, they're too good"

success!

i don't really eat any of these morning treats otherwise i'd be a billion pounds. but, i do get to lick my fingers and do teeny-tiny taste tests, so i can agree with taylor that these waffles were too good! taylor's body hasn't quite figured out the concept of gaining weight yet (must be nice...) 

its been a week since my accident and things are getting easier. i still need a lot of help from tay to do the big stuff. how lucky i am to have such a loving b to take care of me when i'm not 100%

summer days

 summer has officially arrived and the news couldn't be better

everything is a little bit brighter, smiles are a little bit bigger, and love is a little big stronger

things i love about the summer:

saturday night cinespia, walks on the beach, the sun, warm weather, strawberry season, frequent san francisco weekenders, dockweiler bonfires, ocean breezes, ice cream, girls annual summer trip, long summer nights, sun dresses, breakfast smoothies, bbq's, driving with all the windows down, thursday night santa monica concerts on the pier, mojitos, tuesday night jazz in hollywood and friday night jazz at lacma, picnic baskets, sunflowers, swimming pools, and so much more

happy summer friends

enjoy this long, vibrant, beautiful day

fathers, sons, uncles and bbq

what a lovely father's day it was spending it with my family during the day and taylor's family in the evening.

there was plenty of food at the donsker father's celebration

we had horderves, bbq'd, drank wine, and closed off the night with some yummy treats!

since i could't drive to get gifts, i decided my gift to everyone would be summer-y, chocolate dipped bananas. i got the recipe here 

i scrapped together some treats around the kitchen and decided to adorn my frozen bananas in chopped peanuts, sprinkles, cut-up reese's pieces, granola, and coconut; each banana with a unique combination.

 on the way to manhattan beach (where taylor's grandparents live), taylor's mom (cecilia) and i stopped off the side of the road at "lenny's bbq truck" to pick up some whiskey glazed baby back ribs and mac 'n' cheese. our mouth's watered as we watched lenny and his wife cook up a storm on the barbie

 once we got there. we popped open the wine, brought out the appetizers, turned on the bbq and cooked turkey burgers and [more] baby back ribs

then, we ate...and ate some more.

 and even though everyone had stuffed bellies, it didn't stop us from moving on to dessert.

which was cheesecake, sugared strawberries and...

frozen bananas!

 i felt terrible after realizing the granola i used on some of the bananas contained pecans

taylor is very sensitive. he had to take a benadryl to ease the allergic reaction

so he was pretty much a walking zombie the rest of the night

good thing it was already late so he didn't miss out on too much of the father's day fun.

i hope you enjoyed your time with your fathers.

here's to tomorrow being the official first day of summer

woo-hoo!