Sushi Night

The two of us eat sushi about twice a week. It has started to become an expensive habit, so we thought of making sushi ourselves. =)


We purchased the japanese dish set, a bamboo mat, and my favorite japanese soda (It's a yummy kids soda with a marble on the inside), and all the necessary ingredients.


Ryan did all of the work, and it was amazing! I've had home-made sushi before, but this was the best i've ever had. We had rolls with imitation crab, cucumber, avocado, and asparagus.


So I thought I would post some pictures of our yummy dinner. Thank you Ryan! <3

  

  

  

Nova

Anyone who knows me knows that I love dogs. It's an obsession. My family bred Dalmatians, so I was always around at least 5 dogs at a time. As much as I want a dog, I knew it wasn't the smart thing to do while we're living in a small apartment with no yard. So after Ryan and I moved to a pet friendly apartment, we decided on getting a cat. 

It was late April when we started looking. Of course we went to the Humane Society and the SPCA to see if we could rescue one, but we were told it wasn't "kitty season" yet. We had our hearts set on a tiny baby kitten that we could take home and raise, but we thought we'd take a look at the older cats anyway. This process was so difficult! We would sit in the large outdoor room for hours petting, observing, and loving all of these cats. We found quite a few characters going through this process. Ryan met a cat named Muffin who loved giving hugs. In fact, he loved giving hugs so much that he ended up scratching Ryan’s shoulders! He was so adorable, but he was too old, and we were concerned if he had bad habits like scratching furniture that we wouldn’t be able to train him properly. While Ryan met Muffin, I found the cat I wanted. A 6-month-old black cat with green eyes named Dash. She was the most calm, cuddly cat but we soon figured out she was consistently sick, and felt if we were to take her home we may be unable to afford the vet bills.

Our second or third visit, a 1-year-old buff colored shorthaired cat with an attitude caught our eye. Her name at the time was Molly, and she was a playful but aggressive cat. Ryan loooooovveeeed her, and thought she was the one, but I’ll be honest I wasn't too sure about her. I thought she was mean after watching her interact with other cats. After sitting in that room for an hour, I agreed and we took her home.

Let me tell you, I was so wrong about her! She is the sweetest, most loving cat in the world. Although she doesn't like being held (which I still hold her anyway against her will), she always wants to be in the same room as us, and loves sleeping in our bed with us! My guess is she wasn't used to being around twenty plus cats, and maybe just likes being a lone ranger. She's done really well with us, and Ryan and I really enjoy caring for her. 

I felt that if she was going to be our cat, we needed to give her a new name. I was looking up Native American names, and saw "Nova" which I think in Hopi means, "chases butterflies." If you watch her play with her favorite toy, (da bird) you'll know why we ended up naming her that. Funny thing is, we rarely call her Nova. Most of the time it's "Kiddenz" or "Kitty." =)

So here she is! Miss Nova.

                                                              

                                                    
  

                                                    

Sailing to Catalina Island

Every year since I can remember, my family has taken a trip to Catalina Island. I feel so privileged to have been able to grow up spending my summers on this tiny gem off the California coast.  After last years flop (technical difficulties left us unable to sail) I was really looking forward to this year’s trip.

Ryan, my father and I came down to Marina del Rey a few days early to clean the boat and assemble the mast, which was hard work! We set sail early on Tuesday morning without really thinking twice to check the weather. It's summer... why would we?

The first portion of the sail was amazing. Just off the coast of Marina del Rey there were dolphins feeding, and they decided to play around with our boat, and swim right along next to us. That was quite an experience; I had never seen dolphins that close. Then a few hours in the sail got... interesting. As we caught wind, we also found ourselves in white caps. No bueno. This caused us to have to constantly spill the sail, and this left Amanda queasy. The entire sail she was seasick. A seasick sister, white caps and monsoon weather (YES I SAID MONSOON WEATHER) left this to be a very stressful trip. 

When we finally arrived at our room, I was elated. I didn't do the most of the work on the sail over, as I was trying to keep Amanda company, so I can't even imagine how my Dad & Ryan felt after that rough day. 

The rest of the trip went fairly smoothly. We spent a full day at the beach, which was amazing as this was my first year I could purchase alcohol from the beach bar. Since I was little I ALWAYS wanted to be able to walk up and buy a corona there, and this year I legally could, which was a major highlight. =)

Friday was our day to set sail back to the mainland, and after two days of watching the ocean & worrying about the wind, we got lucky. Although it was wind-less, foggy, and cold, I was just happy to have a stress free ride. We saw a dying sunfish (It looked like something must have ripped one of it's fins off), and we also saw a baby whale swim about 10 feet in front of our boat. Seeing sea life that close up without being at an aquarium is beautiful, and it makes me realize it truly is a different world out on that open water.

Let me tell you, being back at home was a relief! Although I think that was the best Catalina trip yet, I was very pleased to be home in my own bed. =)