The Birthday Girl

Today is my 27th birthday, and it is truly wonderful.

I'll be back later with recaps. 

Happy birthday, ME!

Photo borrowed from Semi Gloss Chic

Gold Luxury

My Golden Birthday is almost here (27 on the 27th). So, here are some of my favorite [Golden] things.....

Gold Elephant Accessories: I heart elephants in design elements. I've spent significant amounts of time with elephant accessories, so I cannot speak to how much I actually like the entire species of elephants, but I think I'd like them too.

Gold mirror: I've been really swooning over unique gold guilder mirrors and venetian mirrors recently. They are such statement pieces. 

Gold sequence fashion: I'm loving the sparkle in these pieces. JCrew recently paired a gold shirt with a casual top and I thought it was gorgeous. Gold fashion can frequently go wrong - so watch out - no gold leggings or spandex allowed!

Source: smadirty.tumblr.com via Nicole on Pinterest

Gold nesting/nightstand bowls: Any kind of jewelry bowl makes me happy. I love  making my jewelry into a beautiful vignette when I'm not wearing it. My pretty jewelry deserves a pretty place to rest. I particularly love these Olive and Cocoa gold gilded bowls. 

Source: oliveandcocoa.com via Vanessa on Pinterest

Gold Pendant Necklace: I think gold pendant necklaces, especially monogrammed ones, can go with almost every outfit. You can definitely "make it work!"  

Source: catbirdnyc.com via Andrea on Pinterest

Source: catbirdnyc.com via Andrea on Pinterest

Have your birthday cake and eat it too

The past two years have been quite a journey. It's time to celebrate life and count my blessings. So, for this birthday especially, I think I'll have my cake and eat it too!

Happy Friday! Enjoy your cake!

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Source: None via Sara on Pinterest

My Golden Birthday - My Lust List

It is one week until my Golden Birthday - 27 on the 27th. I love my birthdays! Over the next week I'll be posting birthday related things. The first - my lust list. Although I am most excited to spend my birthday celebrating with the people I love, I still can have a gift lust list :) I just adore these things, and I think you'll see why! Happy Wednesday!

1. Personalized iPhone Case: Dani Notes on Etsy makes beautiful ones!

Source: etsy.com via Sara on Pinterest

2. Pandora Bracelet: Love that each charm has a special meaning for the wearer.

Source: fab-hairstyles.blogspot.com via Sara on Pinterest

                                                                3. These J Brand Jeans

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4. This J.Crew top

Source: notwithoutheels.com via Sara on Pinterest

5. This travel bag from Saltbox NYC

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6. This Horchow floor mirror

Source: horchow.com via Sara on Pinterest

7. An awesome oversized watch

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8. These crazy expensive currently unattainable David Yurman Earrings

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9. Pink Peonies

Source: elementsofstyleblog.com via Sara on Pinterest

10. Quartz Lamp

Source: shadesoflight.com via JaimeeRose on Pinterest

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11. Lucite Legged Bench

12. SLR Camera

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13. Tufted Headboard

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14. Shun Kitchen Knives

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Trip to Tombstone

On Sunday, we drove through this....

to get here....

to Tombstone, Arizona. The real Wild West! We saw the famous O.K. Corral 

where the Wyatt Earp gun fight went down. See what happened by watching this movie...

The town...

has this saloon restaurant where we ate...

Isn't the bar so cool! I love the old wood, the arches, and the mirrors. Sarsaparilla anyone?

I'm glad we didn't get into any gun fights and end up here....

The Tombstone Courthouse. I love its historic-ness. Is that a word?

So if I've got you in the mood for a good, hearty southwest BBQ treat, check out The Pioneer Woman's Spicy Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork and Cilantro Jalapeno Slaw. It's delightful. All of your guests will want seconds.

Source: thepioneerwoman.com via Sara on Pinterest

Publish Post

Retail Therapy and Latte Delights

Unfortunately This post is not about shopping. In fact, it is the exact opposite - retail therapy to stop purchases. I've recently found a ways to discourage yourself from swiping your credit card for impulse purchases like when you Sephora just because you feel like getting a new $40 blush (or is that just me?). Anyways, Dashing and I recently combined all of our accounts on a financial management/planner website Mint.com. Although this website provides all sorts of pretty little charts and graphs, it very clearly shows your husband how much you've been spending on items like cosmetics and coffee. Can I say self-guilt trip?

So, Dashing looked at me and said, "Honey, do you know you've spend $100 on coffee in the last 20 days?" Ouch. I'm thinking in my head, oh Starbucks venti, iced, non-fat latte how I adore thee.....so I replied, "ummm, yeah, I guess that sounds about right." I immediately got THE LOOK. I knew right then and there that my pleasant Starbucks mornings were no longer going to continue. I knew that if I swiped my little plastic card at any coffee shop, mint.com was going to tell on me. Crap. I had to figure out a new way to get my latte fix without the cost. OOOh this reminds me of a latte colored dress Kate Middleton wore! 

Source: google.com via Sara on Pinterest

..........Stay focused Sara Cate! No retail thoughts!..............

Moving on.........Iced Latte at home:

Pretend you're making your iced latte in this beautiful kitchen:

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There are a lot of iced coffee recipes out there, and I've tried them. They completely work, and I think are very good. However, I wanted something I could make quickly each morning with more of an espresso taste. So finally here is my at home Iced Latte recipe:

1-2 oz. water

3 Tbl. instant expresso powder (I use Medaglia D'Oro)

2 tsp. Splenda

non-fat milk

ice

Fill glass with 2-3 oz. of water

Add 3 Tbl (or to your liking) of instant espresso

Add 2 tsp. Splenda (or as much as you like)

Add milk & ice

















Tada! Latte at home. Enjoy.

Another Milestone

Yesterday, I visited my Oncologist at the Arizona Cancer Center for my regular 3 month check up. Another clean bill of health, another reason to celebrate life! 

Me standing next to a photograph in the Arizona Cancer Center
that was donated in my name as a survivor by Dashing's parents.

I can tell you that a fantastic treat to go along with any celebration is this recipe for Better than Sex Cake.

Source: allrecipes.com via Sara on Pinterest

365

I always look for moments in life to stop and reflect on where we've been and where we are going - our journey's past, present, and future. This weekend had many of these moments  as Dashing and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary [wedding photos post, and here, and here]. To properly revisit these memories, we paraded around Tucson visiting all of our favorite restaurants and doing the things we love to do together. Our actual anniversary was Sunday, but because of Dashing's shifts in the Emergency Department, we extended it over two days. So here is how we celebrated our 365.

On Saturday, I picked Dashing up from his Emergency Department shift (scheduled to leave the department at 4pm, but didn't walk out of the hospital until 8 - oh the life of a resident!). Our intentions were to originally spend all of our anniversaries at the resort where we had our reception, but once the move to Tucson happened, we realized we needed another plan...that's where this restaurant comes into play,

North - a Fox Concept restaurant.

Over the most delicious skirt steak, Italian wedding soup, and gourmet pepperoni pizza (Dashing's dish), we reminisced on "remember when's" and what the last year has brought. We looked out over the Tucson city scape view and were thankful for all of our blessings. 

We walked around the outdoor restaurant/shopping area and enjoyed the warm breeze of 80 some degree evening and landed at a gelato place. Dashing and I have always seemed to end up at various gelato places over the years, so it only felt right to find one in Tucson. Frost was delicious (my peanut butter crunch was the best!) and just right to wind down the evening.

Dashing - rightfully so - was exhausted, and we headed home for a nice night in. 

Sunday came, and the weather was simply beautiful. Blue skies with fluffy clouds and the sun shining upon us - and it was under 100 degrees! That is amazing for Arizona in July! For lunch, we did a throw back to 5 years ago. While visiting a very small town in Arizona (Payson) in 2002, we stopped at one of the few restaurants in town for lunch - Chili's. Yes the chain. BUT we loved the chili con queso and chips. So we revisited this trip by heading to Chili's and devoured some queso. Yum!

The afternoon consisted of letting our inner child loose by throwing a baseball around our new backyard; something we've always made time to do in Dashing's parents backyard. Our backyard, unlike the in-laws, is a rock yard. Not the same as a lush grassy yard, but it worked out all the same and no baseballs visited our neighbors' windows or the desert. Did I forget to mention I could have made it in the big leagues! hehe. We also did a little driving exploration - another activity we always find ourselves doing. Sometimes this can be interesting as I easily get car sick, but it is always a great time to spend together and leads to lots of memorable conversations.

Closing our our anniversary weekend, we visited a restaurant that our lives would not be the same without. Peter Piper Pizza. For those of you who don't know what kind of place this is....it's a version of Chucky Cheese's. Yes, a pizza and arcade place. Dashing has had almost all 26 birthday parties here. We celebrated his medical school graduation by heading to lunch at this place, and I have to boast that Dashing and I have before beaten the Terminator game at PPP in one evening. It may have cost $20 to do it, and a little bit of my pride as 1-2 hours playing a shooting game at a kids place isn't really in my DNA, but that night was so much fun as we laughed and shot down more creepy machine things. So pizza and games followed by a visit to Orange Leaf frozen yogurt made a wonderful night to laugh and think about what it will be like to one day bring our future children to PPP to do the same things with us. 

Although all of these restaurants and activities made more wonderful memories for us, it was the time spend together that meant the world to me (plus the bouquet of pink roses - thank you, Dashing). I have a wonderful husband who tells me how much I mean to him, who will give me a hug and not think it's too girlie, and stands with me as we go through this journey of life together. I am truly blessed. Happy Anniversary, Dashing husband!

The (New) Adventure Begins

I think my writing block has ended just as our new adventure begins. We've just settled in to our new home in Tucson, Arizona. I've begun my new job, and so has Dashing. There is so much to share! I am looking forward to writing regularly. Enjoy your wonderful weekend, and I'll see you Monday!

Try this summer treat from the Pioneer Woman: Chocolate Almond Mousse! It's delicious.

Source: thepioneerwoman.com via Sara on Pinterest