another lovely photoshoot

friday night marked another photoshoot - this time with the precious pups!! we had a blast!

finny has her kappa pearls on~

my favorite kaia picture!

trying to get kaia to lay down

hahaha i love this one!

a blurry puggle!

"who me?"

now i'm trying to get kaia to sit!

it didn't work!

just call me martha!

for my birthday i got 2 wonderfully, lovely baking tools for the kitchen. 1. my kitchenaid mixer from aric and 2. my gorgeous Emile Henry pie dish from my sis.

so of course i'm going to make a pie right away! apple it was! above are the apples before baking...

my makeshift lattice top with the filling! yum...i was so anxious to try this!

beautiful!! and so tasty!

i use my mom's homemade pie crust recipe from food & wine...but here is the apple filling part:

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup water

8 apples (i used 4 of one, 4 of another), peeled, cored & sliced

DIRECTIONS:

1. Melt butter in a sauce pan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add white sugar, brown sugar and water; bring to a boil.
2. Bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees. Reduce the temperature to 350 and continue baking for 35-45 minutes.
3. VOILA! you've made an apple pie!! enjoy!

birthday celebration

birthday dinner at "house" in denver with aunt b and uncle jeffy. b thought it was hilarious to mix up the letters in aric & i's name so we wouldn't know who's present it was!

one of the things they got us was a watering can!!! i was so excited. it's a long story, but a hilarious one - if you want to know call me!

this was such a great restaurant with a fab patio! we had a blast!! thank you again b&jeff for making our bday's extra special!

mykah's last night in denver...

anthony, aric & mykah

after the rockies game!

mykah...we'll miss you!

my birthday trip!

if you didn't know, my birthday was last friday, august 6! i thought - what better way than to spend it in san diego and santa monica with one of my best friends - christy!!

museum in san diego

huge house on the beach in la jolla

isn't this house amazing? who on earth do you think lives there?

this was a great design district! i found some really cool finds.

cool statue

christy & i!

we wandered into this really cool nursery with the most amazing flowers i've ever seen!

this was so cool - people were getting hang gliding tours right on the coast!

me on the cliff! ps - there was a nude beach below! gross!

back at christy's apartment! she made me strawberry pie for my birthday! winston - her black lab (and finley's boyfriend) thought it was for him! sorry winny!

he still loves me even though i didn't give him a slice!

downtown san diego

ever since i saw an episode on diners, drive-in's and dives where they featured a hamburger with a fried egg, i thought i had to have one! finally...at nicky rottens in downtown san diego - i had one. complete with bacon & a hashbrown. and the best part - all organic and grass fed meat!

murphy, the yellow lab kept coming by wanting food from us!

lunch on my birthday at the beach!

our hotel!! check it out - it's the huntley in santa monica!! so nice.

i loved their branding!

saturday morning, christy and i headed down to the farmer's market on the 3rd street promenade in santa monica! this was the biggest avocado we had both seen!

outside of the huntley!

huntley logo

lobby of the huntley

super cute vintage store in venice

i love that coral magnifying glass!

and i think i need those stripped pillows pronto!

food truck!! we did not eat there however, but it did look tasty!

me in front of one of my favorite paper stores ever!! urbanic in venice! i literally didn't want to leave. i think i did about 4 laps around the store.

really cool dog store!

THIS PLACE WAS AMAZING!! they had cake stands EVERYWHERE! we had to be so careful where we walked!

these baby cake plates are so cute!

this chandelier was really cool too - it had silver + pink ornaments hanging from it!

the beach in santa monica

beach + mountains = amazingness!

outside of the huntley! love the huge antique mirrors

this was at the huntley too - an orange chandelier. who knew it would be so cool!

back in san diego before i go home! i got to see winny again!

love this one! he was trying to run away!

LITTLE ITALY!

christy & i with some farewall sangrias before i went to the airport

this was such a cool wine + tapas bar!

fantastic trip full of wonderful food, great friends and relaxation time! did i mention we sat next to simon baker at dinner in santa monica? he's on the mentalist and was also in devil wears prada! icing on the cake!