Craving a Retreat

Work has been crazy and such a huge learning experience but by the time I get home all I want to do is curl up with my lovey and relax. I know indoor tents/forts aren't anything new in the blogging world but these looks so dreamy and relaxing. I would love to have the space to have one of these!

I might be the only one on the planet who hasn't read or watched "Where the Wild Things Are"
Any place that has cupcakes looks good to me!

This one seems so relaxing and dreamy. I'd love to curl up with a book and big latte ( replace that tea pot with a big foamy latte!)

I hope when we have kids that they can have a uber cool setup like this one!

Le Sigh. This might be my favorite. I wonder if my friends would think I'm bizarre if I plopped a boat in the middle of my living room and sat in it reading books. This one is my favorite of all time. Not technically a fort but definitely a cozy snuggly place.

Hope your Thursday is wonderfully relaxing.

Cheers-

Raechel

P.S. All images via weheartit.com

Officially Six Months!

Till we depart for Paris. OMG. I hope the time flies by like the beginning of this year has. We've booked our apartment for Paris. Here's some pics of it. Its TINY but has a little kitchen and in a very nice area of Paris I'm told by some online research.

We found the place on vrbo.com, it was one of the cheaper places to stay but had a minimum requirement of 7 nights. We are paying 500euros for 7 nights/8 days. Which is really good price. Hotels in Paris can cost upwards of 150euros for mid level hotels ( like super 8's). We signed the contract and I'm mailing it off today. Sooo excited! It feels like everything is falling place for this trip which always makes you feel a bit better. Now to save for this trip so we can do lots of fun excursions. Sorry if this blog turns into talking about traveling. If you've been reading my blog since the beginning you'll realize I tend to talk about what's going on in my life and right now this is what is on the top of my list. So until, I get all the sleeping arrangements booked and things figured out I"m sure you'll be my sounding board.

Cheers-

Raechel

We did it!

Almost....this morning we bought our tickets for our fall trip to Belgium and France! I can hardly wait even though its 6 months plus 4 days until we leave for out trip!

For proof!





This was our #1 goal on my 101 in 1001 days post. Check it out here.

Cheers-

Raechel

EarthDay Giveaway!

Plant a tree, take a pic, upload it to their website and get a free necklace! Seems pretty fricken sweet to me! I think we're going to try and do this! I have the pleasure of owning of their necklaces and a pair of studs. Cool jewelry and really nice adorable people!

Figs and Ginger Giveaway Info

I am hoping to get the rest of my SF trip up as soon as I have a free moment. Work just got very interesting. I've been temporarily promoted to a production coordinator position and will be overseeing a commercial! Yippee!


Cheers-

Raechel

Turning 26 - Part One

Yesterday was my 26th birthday. I spent an amazing weekend in San Francisco hanging out with some of my best friends! I worked on the actual date of my birth but I managed to have fun anyways! This post will probably be broken down into several smaller posts to share my whole experience.

Friday afternoon, we drove up to San Francisco from LA ( about 400 miles). We arrived mid afternoon and got ready to meet good friends and have dinner at Delfina Pizzeria in Pacific Heights.


via delfina's facebook page - delfina website

The pizza was pretty good. We shared a pizza with an egg on it and a spicy fennel sausage pizza. Yum! My only disappointment was in the wines. I'm a true California wine lover and they only had Italian wines. They are just not my cup of wine..erm tea.

After that we headed out to Buckshot and had some drinks ( pretty cheap at $5 for a mixed drink-not well!) and played some ski-ball and just chatted.



This is Nikki and I trying to hold as many ski-balls as possible. It seemed like a good idea at the time! By the way, if you ever have a chance to go a bar that has some of your favorite Chuck E. Cheese games go for it! This place was really fun and a dive bar in the nice, clean fun way. Not the kind where you're not sure if there are STD's on the barstools.

I'll follow up with some more of my trip in the next few days!

Cheers-
Raechel

Sephora Coupon -15% off

Also, forgot to mention in my post below! I just received a coupon code from sephora in my email.

15% off your order just enter code madness in the discount section from 4/12-4/19. I just placed a huge order last week to refill some of my necessities and now this comes to me 3 days later. Grumble. argh. I hope you can enjoy it!

Cheers-

Raechel

The Great Cookie Debacle of 2010 pt 2

You might remember this posting about my cookie issue. Last night I bought some more dried cherries and had about 1/2 a bag left of dark chocolate chunks so I decided to try and tackle my dark chocolate chunk and cherry cookies. This was my outcome.

Not too bad if you are looking for a moist, chewy, nestle toll house type of cookie. Which I didn't want. I want crispy outside/yummy soft chewy insides. So, I am going to continue to try again and again until I get it right. I think that I might switch to milk chocolate chips as well. The dark might be a little to bitter for the sour cherries. Its a thought to ponder. I do apologize for my blog postings being light! I'm still transitioning and I hope you'll be patient and check back often for new posts!

cheers-

raechel

Diddy Riese Cookies

I'm sorry for being away for so long but entertaining guests who are, how shall we say, slightly unable to take care of themselves for any amount of time, types of people can be tiresome. My week consisted of working for 10 hours and then going to pick them up so we could eat dinner for a couple of hours and finally getting back home to sit up for another 2 hours with the dogs so they didnt feel neglected with me going back to work and being gone for 14hrs a day ( we do let them out for lunch but it was quick because we were meeting the visitors for lunch). Sooo enough of my complaining, the good part of entertaining people is that you try to remeber the great stuff you love about LA! One of my favorite places to go is Diddy Riese nestled on the outskirts of the UCLA campus is the cutest little city area called "Westwood Village" and inside filled with lots of yummy restaurants, a bunch of old movie theaters that do the official screenings of movies with celebs and Diddy Riese.

DR is a ice cream sandwich shop that has been open since 1983. For $1.50 you can get the best ice cream sandwich that ever lived. First you pick out the type of cookie you want and then you pick out the ice cream for the filling and they push them together and hand you a bowl of happiness. Its amazing! I highly recommend checking them out if you're in the area! The line looks long and scary but its really fast!



My favorite combo is snicker doodle top and bottom with butter pecan ice cream in the middle. Narm Narm Narm.

Cheers-
Raech

Happy Belated Easter!

We had a wonderful busy weekend! Family is in town and so with both of us working during the week we did some entertaining this weekend. I had about 6 people over for Easter and did the majority of the cooking, which I love doing. Its so much fun! I think I'm going to start a new tradition and make this cake every Easter. We had it last Easter and its super simple to make but tastes amazing.


Pear Cardamom Cake from "The Wednesday Chef Blog". If you click on the title it has the link to her blog with the recipe. Something I did notice is that her topping was much more crunchy and carmelized then mine. Mine was more soaked into the cake this time..Hmm..I wonder what I did differently?


Jack also made a homemade focaccia bread that was to die for. He used the Martha Stewart Recipe

Focaccia Bread and then we added really thinly sliced tomatoes, fresh rosemary, oregano, salt, freshly ground pepper, freshly grated reggianno and thinly sliced olives. We also let it sit overnight in the fridge for a slow rise which tends to give breads more character than if you just leave it out for a few hours and cook it. I highly recommend doing this to breads if you have the time and patience! Here was our results. It was amazing!



I hope you had a lovely weekend! I'm off to work in this rainy weather ( which I am so excited/happy for!)

Cheers-

Raechel

Is it Friday already?

Wowza the time flew by this week and year!


I can't believe its already the 2nd day of April. I remember saying something similar about March. It felt like I said that 3 days ago and now its poof April! On one hand I'm super excited. My birthday is on the 19th and so it is something to look forward to but once my birthday is done and over the month will fly by and summer will really be here!

To be honest, coming up with something creative to blog about when you're really tired and haven't had time to really peruse other awesome blogs for inspiration can leave you a bit dry. So today, I thought I'd round up some of my fav. blogs and share them with you! I hope you find a new couple of blogs to enjoy!

Design Inspiration


*blackapple

Inside a Black Apple

A Beautiful Mess

Skunkboy Creatures

Cooking Inspiration


*the wednesday chef

The Wednesday Chef

Bread and Honey

Wedding Inspiration


*green wedding shoes

Green Wedding Shoes

Snippet and Ink

I hope some of these inspire and encourage you! Let me know if you have some absolutly to die for blogs that you read! I'm always looking to read a new one! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Easter weekend always marks the beginning of spring for me.



*All pictures found via weheartit.com or unless noted