rockin and a shakin...

Yesterday Morgan Hill was the epicenter for a 4.6 earthquake. Yep - we were a shakin yesterday here at my office... for a good 15 seconds or so too! Being a born and raised Arizona girl, I nearly climbed under my desk I was so freaked out... luckily I have some locals in the office that clued me in on everything that is earthquakes -- so that, combined with my Saved by the Bell earthquake episode knowledge makes me uber prepared! Doorways = good. Windows = bad. Under sturdy desk with hands on head with Zach Morris = best bet.

Green Thumb Crew, Inc.

Here's our garden... it's only about 1 week old, but it's looking good. We didn't grow what you see from seeds.... we bought them at a nursery but we'll be planting seeds this week. Josh read that you want a mixture of both nursery "starter" plants and plants from seeds so that they harvest at different times... you don't want 2 weeks of produce produce produce... you want your goods to take turns in harvest... so that's what we're hoping for. What you see is a mixture of tomatoes (cherry and roma), lettuces, strawberries, bell peppers, chili rellano (you know, spicing it up), and green onion. We're planting from seeds a mixture of squashes and zucchini, sugar snap peas, and cucumbers.

Those cute little flowery shruby looking things behind the garden boxes are 2 pink jasmine plants. We wanted to smell of the jasmine but something to grow along the fence... so hopefully those will start to climb the fence and bloom bloom bloom!!

More to come on our herbs... we'll be growing those in pots at our front entry way or just outside our kitchen door (we just discovered we get sun back along that fence, so that may be the best place...).

introductions...

So I introduced Josh to the world of mixing yogurt with pecans... for some reason he had never thought of the combo. And now - he's hooked. We find ourselves at TJ's on a weekly basis buying more and more yogurt... and only yogurt with REAL milk and sugar and other ingredients... none of that fake high fructose stuff. More calories? Perhaps. Worth it? 100% YES. Josh likes the greek fruit yogurt and I'm a TJ's organic key lime kinda girl... Josh, meet yogurt and pecans. Pecans and yogurt, this is Josh. BFF.

gym rats

New city, new jobs, new lives... new gym and new gym friend! As long as we've been married I've been the gym rat of the Dunlop clan. I love going to the gym or just getting all tuckered out and sweaty. Bring it on. But Josh has never been (nor will he ever be) a fan of working out for working out's sake. He's more of a "let's go on a hike" than a "let's go put in some time on the treadmill"... and I totally see that... but when you're not going on that many hikes and playing video games in your spare time, now that's where the treadmill can come in handy.

Josh will forever be thin. Josh has the metabolism and intestinal strength of a superhuman. In fact, he talks and thinks so often about superheroes, I have a feeling that God may have blessed him with his own super power - eating and eating and eating and eating without the side effects that I get if I so much as LOOK at a piece of chocolate cake... let alone eat 3/4 of it... JOSH! But that said, it's one thing to be thin and it's another to be heart healthy. Now Josh uses his hands and lifts things and carries around heavy things all day long... he doesn't exactly have a desk job, but I wouldn't say he often gets his 10,000 steps a day. So, as of late, and for the first time in Dunlop history, Josh has gotten a gym membership!!

Of course, the first day we get to the gym Josh jumps on the treadmill and basically sprints 3 1/2 miles with minimal sweat while I've been going to the gym on average 4 days a week for the past 3 years and can't even run 3 1/2 miles if I wanted too. *Sigh* But I'm just happy he's going with me and actually enjoying it... and now I have a little rat friend...

call us the obamas...

So the Obamas are planting a vegatable garden at the White House for the first time since Roosevelt in WWII. They're trying to send a message to kids in the US to choose fresh fruits and veggies instead of fast food... Well Michelle, guess what? Josh and I are planting OUR garden tomorrow. Call us twins. Except I won't be digging in a suit and then hand it off to my gardener on hand... but nonetheless... twins...

"Ragin Cajun"

Tonight Josh and I will be joining the lovely Joanna and Julia (formerly) Carr for a little southern lovin... food lovin that is. ROUX Louisiana Kitchen is the place to be tonight with live jazz music and I'm sure some sort of crawfish or alligator cuisine. Perhaps the food will be as delicious as I'm sure the food was on Top Chef and their New Orleans finale... or perhaps the food will cause the little Emeril in me to shout "BAM!" as I enjoy the delicacies that make my mouth turn into a furnace. Regardless, I'm looking forward to their Louisiana Lemonade... an adult beverage with a mix pineapple, orange, and cranberry juices involved... sounds marti gras-rific to me!

back wall = decorated

We've finally hung things! We've decorated our back wall... it's the wall that you first see what you enter our domain. You like?

And this is our latest Etsy purchase...

It's a collage of pics that make up the spelling of our last name...

we've adopted

We've adopted a kitty. Unfortunately he/she's not really ours, but he/she seems to think that he/she is. Everyday we come home from work or anytime we open our front door after dinner, we have a little furball that has made our front door mat home.

Last night we had the lovely Melli's over for dinner and when they opened the door to go home our kitty friend was in his/her usual spot and as they slipped out the door, our fluffy friend darted in our house! A ballsy kitty no doubt...

Now, Josh and I are big animal lovers and despite my husband's severe allergic reaction to little kitties such as this, we really do want a little pup or kitten running around our house. However, we have a big no pets clause in our lease agreement. So perhaps if we build some clout with our landlord we may be able to get around this clause, but as for now it stands... and therefore the kitty stays on the mat (which, let's be honest... clause or no clause she would be anyway - hello... it's a thing called diseases spread by strays! Cat = eye candy only.).

year three = leather

Happy Anniversary to Josh and Audrey!
Three wonderful years with my baby...

It's really fun living so close to where we first met and eventually got married. For example, tonight Josh and I will be going to dinner at I Gatti... the place where we had our rehearsal lunch for the wedding. For our "official" anniversary I'm sure we'll be heading down to Santa Cruz to hit up the Buttery for some carrot cake... YUM. So many memories all within reach now. It's delightful!

In a field of poppies...

So we got all domestic and homey on you. We got pots and flowers for our little front entry way... I know... awww! The two smaller pots had flowers that were already in bloom, but the big one had unsprouted buds. Just yesterday we saw our first bloom! A bright yellow poppy. And today we had our second! And we were even given a peek of our 3rd bloom... a red one in the works. What a cheery front door!

Now... we're focusing our attention to the back - the big garden. Hmm... what fruits and veggies should we grow this season?

Mom, can you wash this?

You KNOW where I'm getting my clothes dry cleaned... bringin' it home to the Benson's.

Here

One of the first restaurants we heard we "HAD to go to" was Aqui. It's a Mexican/Cali-fusion type restaurant with fresh and organic ingredients and "industrial strength margaritas"... now, me likey the margs, so we really did HAVE to go here.

My first experience with Aqui was actually last Sunday... I ended up meeting the wonderful Miss Carr there for some margs, chips, guac, and delightful conversation... all of which were just wonderful. So I was determined to bring back that hubby of mine.

We ended up walking into town tonight. A wonderful 20 minute walk (we love being so close to town!!) and poof - we were there. I had this salmon, black bean, and saucy burrito deal (they were already sold out of their Saturday Special enchiladas... so we'll have to head back next week for those!), Josh got his usual carnitas burrito, and we ended up splitting the Aqui Swirl (their industrial strength margarita with a splash of sangria... YUM!). Now, if you know me, you're thinking "SPLIT a marg? Audrey? Say it ain't so!" - but let me tell you... when Joanna and I had our margs I was quite tipsy/overly so with just one. They're HUGE and delicious and easy to drink... talk about dangerous. So I was okay splitting... plus, save the calories for dessert!

Overall, I really love this place. Josh has a very high standard of burritos coming from Santa Barbara - home of Super Cuca's "size of a baby" carnitas burrito. I think Josh would cut off his hand for a lifetime supply of those burritos - so he wasn't overly impressed with Aqui. He has said he will give it another go and try something different but it's hard to get Josh to say "Wow!" about anything that has to deal with food. Me on the other hand... don't get me started...

Tomorrow we're hopefully going to make it to the farmers market - last week it was raining and although the market goes on rain or shine, call me silly, but I just wanted our first visit to the market to be somewhat perfect... oh yeah, and we don't have an umbrella...

Decal delight!

I've fallen in love. I've discovered the beauty of Etsy and love supporting the local... and by local I mean the people that create and use their artistic talents (that I so clearly lack) to make fun homemade items! Recently, among many other items, I have purchase this little monogrammed decal for our laptop (sorry mom if you wanted the computer back... we've personalized it... :)). It just takes our basic Dell to the next level, don't you think?

Oh me, oh my - we just did Shutterfly!

So after our long journey we have thousands of pictures. They are organized by location or activity but showing them to people is such a hassle. So we decided to make ourselves a little album. I mean, we love our wedding album and there's something to say about old school hard copies...

We put together about 150 pictures with cute little captions and sent it in last night... this morning I got a notice saying "It Shipped!" ... we LOVE shutterfly!

Breaking News!

We can now wash and dry clothes... IN OUR HOUSE. Talk about luxury. No more hauling our smelly ass clothes down 3 floors to the coin-operated machines only to find out that they are all already in use and have to make a total of about 5 or so trips up and down the stairs because only one of the 2 machines work and you already had to awkwardly take out the lady down the hall's unmentionables in order to use the dryer! Not to mention keeping a large stash of quarters on hand... at all times... just in case. God bless the laundry hook ups.

We ended up getting a washer and dryer from this guy who used to do repairs at Sears and then decided to go out on his own and refurbish all sorts of appliances. So we got a great deal on them and I'm happy as a clam.