dating

I look back on Caleb and I meeting, dating, and eventually getting married. I remember avoiding all lounge wear and pajamas for months and months because Caleb would always pop by my apartment without warning and I didn't want to look undone. I remember curling my hair exactly the same way for our first like 7 dates because he casually mentioned that my hair looked nice weeks before. I also remember our first date after we got married and how grown up I felt going to dinner with my husband. Weird! Weird! Weird!

For a while, we kind of got into a date slump and we've been making a better effort to keep that same kind of special anticipation for date night. It's something that we look forward to, plan throughout the week, and try really really hard not to break for our social calendars. Our best recipe for a date is: simple + new + relaxing.

This week we tried a new indian restaurant that turned out to be amazing! You always have this trepidation about restaurants that look semi-empty when you walk in and seem a little too excited to seat you. Soooo good!

We also decided to explore Stanford during sunset and play a little frisbee in some random courtyard. Right outside the main quad is a cast of my favorite sculpture, The Burghers of Calais, by Rodin.

^ To the girl in green: nailed it.

^when you think that your self-timer already went off and you did a High School Musical jumping shot for nothing

4th of july

For the past couple of years, it feels like we've been all over the place for 4th of July. Last year was Texas, before that I was a youth camp leader while Caleb was working in Arizona, and before that was California.

I was so excited to return back to our wonderful Provo and celebrate with family. We also got to celebrate my Grandma's 80th birthday and visit my sister who just started college. Lot's going on! We had a small family reunion and birthday party up Provo Canyon with lots of food and games. Caleb and I are semi-athletic! Come see us for badminton and a game of pickle.

One of my favorite things about Utah summer is the smell! It's so distinct-warm, soft, and reminds me of grass and the mountains. There are a couple of things that we still miss about being in Utah-mainly being close to family and our friends-but, we feel like we've started a new part of our lives in Palo Alto and I started missing our new "home" a bit towards the end of our trip.

We went to Stadium of Fire with my family to see Journey perform. There were so many fireworks that it started to rain debri!

carmel

This past weekend, Caleb's parents came to visit us and we went to Carmel for a day trip. Carmel was one of those rare beach trips where you lay out and nap on the beach in jeans instead of a swimsuit and it feels right! The beaches in Northern California are cold or windy on most days and as you go more south, things start to warm up. There were still some wind, but just enough to make you put on a light jacket.

The town of Carmel was so cute! We ran around different stores and restaurants while I kept nudging Caleb at different houses I wanted to one day retire in. Yes, I'm 22 and I'm already planning out my retirement. EXCITING!

^Such. A. Glamour. Shot.

^forced candid gone wrong

farmer's market // father's day

 First and foremost, a very happy Father's Day to my Dad and and Caleb! Growing up, I always said that I wanted to marry someone just like my Dad and when I met Caleb it was almost scary how much they had in common. I love that! I'm so thankful for not just the love, but the tough love that each of these men have given me. Although we don't have kids yet, I considered Caleb a father the moment we got married. I know that our children are waiting and can't wait to be reunited with Dad.

This weekend we got a chance to stop by the Downtown Palo Alto Farmer's Market. The community really emphasizes organic, fresh, and local produce in most of the grocery stores and the farmers market was like a party for local values. Gilroy, a small farming community that is only about 45 minutes away, has so much fresh produce that the prices are pretty great and you meet some of the growers at the market.

^ We ordered a great crepe from a stand that was made with all organic ingredients. Nutella + English Creme! 

^ I didn't notice that when we sat down we kind of crashed a family embrace...I think we were sitting in the middle of one large family and had no clue why everyone was smiling at us...

carpool

Today I caught a small glimpse into the life of a mom while her kids are away at school. I always wondered what in the world my Mom was doing while I spent what felt like a lifetime in the classroom. I imagined her taking naps, going shopping, hanging out with friends and getting ice cream. How wrong was I?

I picked up Caleb early from work today and it was the exact time when kids were getting out of school. I realized how fast the day went and as productive as I was, I accomplished nothing! It's only going to get worse...

Right now I'm Caleb's official tour guide of Palo Alto since I've been spending the day exploring while he's at work. Totally unfair I know. I've been taking him to my favorite neighborhoods for walks and some of my food finds. 

Shrimp salad from Sancho's Taqueria 

I found a Sprinkles 5 minutes away from our house and I've finally converted Caleb. Their instagram sometimes reveals codewords for free cupcakes

My first baby romper! I saw a tutorial and decided to give it a try. I still have a little bit more to finish but I'm so excited because everything has turned out so clean so far

I love this specialty cotton! It was super easy to sew with and was really forgiving while I was learning to sew the buttons

life balance

I think I'm really starting to get the hang of "life balance". Not too much work-not too much play. When you do laundry at 10pm on a Saturday night, make sure you go swimming while everything is drying. When you're husband has his first day at work, get donuts to celebrate surviving your first day separated from one another in 2 months. And finally, when you feel like you've got a handle on roads and freeways and 10,000 small surface streets, get lost for 1 hour only to realize that you're about 4 minutes away from your home. Life balance-Check! 

^ Introducing my new favorite-the cronut hole! 

^ Some of the best donuts we've ever had are from this little shop across the street from us called Happy Donuts. They are open 24/7 (this could be the best thing or the worst thing about Palo Alto so far) and they constantly have cronuts on hand. Everyone sells out really fast since they only make them once a day, but Happy Donuts bakes throughout the day so everything is super fresh and on supply 

fisherman's wharf + ghirardelli square

One of my favorite things about our move has been how close I feel to so many different places. We're only a half day trip to my parents, 20 minutes from the beach, 30 minutes from the mountains and country, and 40 minutes from San Francisco. There's a lot to do and we've been slowly checking off our lists! 

This past week we headed to San Francisco to do only a couple of things in the city before getting too tired. I think we'll probably do only a few attractions and head home early each time we go. I've already started making a restaurant and shopping list for unique places that aren't chains. 

First stop: Boudin! A great stop for San Francisco sour dough bread and right on Fisherman's Wharf. 

^ Finally! I captured Caleb's "girl-please" face

One of the sweetest stops in San Francisco, (see what I did there?) Ghirardelli Square. We split this massive ice-cream brownie sundae and felt so sick afterwards! Thank goodness for the hills and streets throughout the city-every bit helps!

Transamerica Pyramid in the background

half moon bay

During our last week before Caleb starts work, we've decided to go absolutely bonkers with crazy exciting things. We spent a whole day at the DMV, swiffered our floor 3,000 times that still stays dirty, and sweated to death through the hottest day of the summer.  CRAZY STUFF. 

Finally, we got to some of the things that we've been dying to do since we've moved to Palo Alto. We got to visit Half Moon Bay, a cute small seaside town with lots of trees and cool cool cool weather (emphasis on the cool). 

Prepare yourself for a picture blast. 

^ The cutest nursery with some of the best flower prices I've seen in a while. We really want to plant a garden and start "livin off the land". I anticipate that our plants will die in less than 3 weeks. It's the intentions that count. 

^ We stopped at Barbara's Seafood. Crazy good fish n'chips!

^ Holy Gums!

^^ Holy Chins!

^ An inn that I couldn't stop taking pictures of as Caleb repeatedly shut down my camera