Sunday, March 23, 2014

Currently Loving!

There are lots and lots of things that I am currently loving right now!

*Juicing! I am been introduced to a little thing called juicing and I am hooked! I am not a girl who likes to just munch on a cucumber or cook kale for dinner, but if you juice it, i'll drink it! They are pretty tasty and I feel super healthy when I'm doing it! There is this really cool place downtown Santa Barbara called Juice Ranch. They have fresh, raw, organic pressed juice in tons of combinations. My fav so far is the Greens and Ginger. It has kale, celery, romaine, cucumber, spinach, parsley, apple, ginger, and lemon. They come in these really neat glass bottle and when you return the bottle, they give you a discount on your next bottle. I would like to get a juicer to do this at home, but lets be honest, I bet they do it better!
Greens and Ginger
*Barbara Oneal. I just finished a book by Barbara Oneal, The All you and Dream Buffet. Its about 4 bloggers that meet through their blogs and decide to meet in person for a party at a Lavender Farm. She is such a descriptive writer that you can almost smell the lavender and taste the fresh coffee they brew. This is her latest that came out in March, but I have read all of her books. Another favorite of mine is called The Garden of Happy Endings. A common theme in all of them is that there is always a dog, they are located in the midwest, and they are constantly baking and cooking good foods! Also, if you know me, the im a sucker for a cute book cover!

*Fresh Flowers. California, especially the central cost area is known for its flowers. Locally grown flowers on street corners downtown and at the market are abundant and beautiful! I try to keep a bouquet in the house at all times because it just brightens my day and smells amazing! There are usually fields of flowers growing by my house and I hope to snap some pictures soon! Thats another plus about living here in California, I feel its spring year round! 

This picture is my inspiration for my next trip to the flower shop!


*Homemade margarita pizza. I have been making homemade pizza crust, homemade pizza sauce and adding fresh mozzarella and basil to this delicious dish. I use my kitchen aid stand mixer to make the crust then par bake that before adding my toppings. Unfortunately I have not found a good take out pizza here in CA yet. So for now, its homemade for us!
YUM!!
*Wine and Candles. Now I will burn candles and drink wine till the cows come home! Im kinda picky about my candles but Bath and Body works of for sure my favorite! They actually add more fragrance oils to their candles then Yankee candle does. That means but it burns the smell is more potent and lasts longer. They have warm and cozy candles in the fall but in the spring the candles are like walking into a garden!! Im currently burning Lilac in one room and Honeysuckle in another. I recently bought a candle called Snap Peas, which is surprisingly nice! It has less of a floral scent and more of a grass smell...does that make sense? Anyway, its very spring/summery! 
As picky as I am about candles, I am not picky about wine. I haven't met a wine I didn't like, but I LOVE this one! I picked a few bottles up at Trader Joes and this one had a cute label and the price was right. They had a red and white and both are superb! 

That is my lavender plant in the background. Its pretty fantastic.
How cute is this bottle!?

*MILLIE! Lastly, i'm currently/always loving this sweet face!
Millie says good night!
                                                                                                                                         -Kels


Kansas comes to Cali

Living in California has its perks, one of which is that people love to come visit! In February, my dad bought my mom a ticket to come see me!  He got a great price on a ticket from Kansas City to Santa Barbara, and it was quite a pleasant change to go from a snow storm in Kansas to blooming roses in California. I picked her up at the airport and we headed to Monticito for a mani/pedi at Shine Blow Dry Bar. We picked out a pretty pink and they got to work! We were given a cupcake and glass of champagne to top off our experience there!

After  that we headed home and made some homemade pizza  and snuggled with Millie. The next day we had reservations for a tour of a winery in Solvang. Rideau Winery is a vinyard that offers tours and tastings year round. Its a beautiful estate, unfortunatly in Febuary the flowers were not in bloom. The tour was still very interesting and the wine was tasty!




This tasting was a walking tour, so you would get a glass at each little destination and at the end they had you sit and try a few more with little snacks to pair with the wine. Mom isn't a big wine drinker but I think she enjoyed it! We spent the next couple of days hitting up the farmers market, cooking delicious food, and just enjoying the weather!

I got lucky again in March when my brother and his fiance came to town! She had a friend who was getting married in Santa Barbara so they flew out for that and then hung out with us for the next few days. I picked them up and we headed to the Harbor for some dinner on the dock overlooking the boats. We indulged in calamari, wine, and great conversation! They filled me in on all the wedding plans while we were soaking up the sun! 
Miss Caitlin and I at the Harbor



I only had one other day off while they were here so we decided to go to a wine tasting. Do you see a pattern here? :) This particular vineyard we stopped at was Roblar Winery. It was GORGEOUS! We did our tasting outside where the wisteria was in full bloom and smelled like heaven! The santa ynez valley has such a country feel that we felt right at home!




This is a part of the outside area at Roblar Winery. I want to live here!!
We finished off the day with dinner in Los Olivos at the Cafe and Wine Merchant. We sat outside under the pergola and drank more wine!! It was so great to have them here and I cant wait for the wedding!



                                                                                                                                      -Kels