LAUREN LIVES

Another month has come and gone! April has always been one of my favorite months of the year – and maybe even more so now that it’s home to our wedding anniversary – I think because it’s the start of the Spring season…everything feels fresh and new! We actually had a pretty jam-packed month with weekend trips away and family visiting! I’m looking forward to an entire month of May in our little home, working on some home improvement projects and taking lots of walks on the beach! We’re also prepping for our Mt. Whitney hike in June, so we have a lot of elevation training to do in the next month and a half!

APRIL’S LOOKBACK

READING:

While this isn’t really a front-to-back read, I recently purchased Joanna Gaines’ new cookbook, Magnolia Table. I’ve been spending some time reading through what she has to say inside and bookmarking some of the recipes that I want to try out. We made our first one tonight – balsamic Brussels sprouts – and paired them with a delicious rib eye steak that Al cooked up. Anyway, I don’t have a huge selection of cookbooks, as I find most of my recipes online, but the few that I do have, I absolutely love, so I was happy to add this one to my small collection!

 

WATCHING:

Laur and I went to see I Feel Pretty this month, starring Amy Schumer. She plays the Protagonist who is so unhappy with her appearance and state in life…when she goes to a Soul Cycle class one day, she falls and hits her head and suddenly wakes up with all the confidence in the world. Overall, the movie drives home the point that if we love and believe in ourselves, others will too. It was definitely a feel-good kind of flick, with a lot of laughs. I recommend for a girls night out!

 

COOKING:

One of my very favorite things about living where we live, is the sense of community we have with our neighbors. At least once a week, they invite us over for dinner (and sometimes breakfast!) and vice versa. It’s just become sort of a “given” around here. We’ll text the other one in the morning, saying what we’re making and invite them to join after the workday. Something about all sitting down together at the table makes me feel really damn blessed.

But some of the meals Al and I have made this month – for ourselves and/or for our friends!:

These Meatball Subs because one day it just hit me, “wow we don’t have meatball subs enough!” Even though these aren’t quite as easy as Trader Joes frozen meatballs, trust me when I say they are quick and easy to make! And they’re delicious too! Make sure you put the cheese on the bun first, then the meatballs…it melts the cheese juuuuust right! 😉 For such a simple recipe, these were a major win.

Al picked out this Honey Garlic Chicken & Veggies recipe for the crockpot as well! We had it after dinner one night and it was great!

I put out a message on instagram one day asking anyone and everyone for their best Baked Mac N Cheese recipe, and thank god my brother’s friend, Brielle, answered first! She gave me her family recipe and my god, if it wasn’t the best baked mac I’ve ever had! I’m not sure that I can give her family recipe away, but trust me when I say the leftovers were even delicious! We shared this with the neighbors on a Sunday after an afternoon hike!

Al found –> this super unique peppers and meatloaf-type recipe, which ended up being really good. The way the pepper was cut into rings and just sat around the meat was kind of odd to me, but the taste together went really well and I want him to make it again!

And unbeknownst to each other, we both chose meatloaf-esque recipes in the same week! I got mine from Chrissy Teigen’s book, Cravings, and it included both ground beef and spicy Italian sausage. I love meatloaf because it looks like a lot of ingredients, but you’re really just throwing them all together in one bowl and mashing them up with your hands! So easy and tasty.

Our nights spent cooking together have become one of my favorite parts about marriage. After long days spent at the office where we get lost in computer screens and meetings, it’s so nice to come home and unwind and make dinner together. We put on some of our favorite music and we each handle a task, and then we sit down at the table together to talk about our days. I’m so grateful to have a husband who also believes in the importance of sitting down to a meal together.

 

DRINKING:

We finally made it downtown to the new Modern Times DTLA brewery! My cousin Chris, and his girlfriend, Christine, were visiting us for a few days while Christine visited one of her work offices…they took the train into DTLA, so we picked them up and immediately went to the brewery! It’s been packed every other time we’ve tried to go, but apparently 4pm on a Saturday is the ticket! All of their beer is really good, and we ordered a variety of entrees off of their menu – I ordered the Bahn Mi sandwich and I was impressed…it even had a little bit of a kick to it!

 

MAKING:

The weaving bug has bitten me! I’m feeling super inspired again with my weaving…finally! Or maybe I’m just trying harder to make the time for it again 😉 I wove a really pretty and soft off-white piece, in which I’m hoping to create a similar, larger piece this month! And then I completed April’s Weave Along Challenge: Earth Day! This month the challenge involved utilizing the color, green, as well as earthly elements or recycled materials. I started the piece on our little family vacation in Big Bear, so I used some of the dried out firewood from our little cabin. I’m super happy with how it turned out 🙂

 

GOING:

If you follow me on Instagram, then you know that Al and I took a weekend trip to Big Bear to celebrate our One Year Anniversary! We had the best time – just our little family of three. We stayed in my kind of dream home: an A Frame cabin in the woods. We packed all of our food and made all of our meals up there, Al surprised me with a couples massage, and we spent our days hiking with our pup, and hanging out on our little porch…Al playing his guitar and myself weaving. Maybe it doesn’t sound like a crazy one-year trip to some people, but I think it was perfect to us. Sometimes you just want to get out of the city for a little bit and get back to the things that make your heart sing 🙂

And then I wrote about this earlier this week, but I also spent a weekend in Joshua Tree with some friends! You can read all about it–> here!

We got up early one morning to hike with the neighbors + pups on the Portuguese Bend Trail in Palos Verdes. Last year when we did this hike, it was covered in this crazy beautiful yellow wildflowers! This year, no wildflowers, but there was this crazy marine layer hovering over us the entire time which made for the most beautiful foggy photos. Beauty is all in the beholder, right?

While my cousins were in town, Al and I got to play Tour Guides, which we love to do! Especially when it’s someone’s first time in LA! Although Al got to spend more time with my cousin, Chris, than I did, I did get to take them to one of my favorite spots: Abalone Cove in Palos Verdes! We just so happened to get there, not only on Earth Day, but also during lowtide! So we got to go further out than I’ve ever gone before…and we got to explore all of the tide pools! It was a really magical kind of morning. On Tuesday night, before they left the next morning, Al was awesome enough to arrange a beach bonfire for all of us + friends! Luckily it was a gorgeous sunset night, and we hung around the fire for a couple of hours, drinking beer and making hot dogs and s’mores. One of my very favorite kinds of nights. I’m thankful for that husband of mine 😉

 

LOVING/CELEBRATING:

These are just one in the same this month! We celebrated one full year with our little pup, Marty, on the 11^th! I wrote an in-depth post about that à here. And we also celebrated our One Year Anniversary as husband and wife on the 28th! Ahhh!! I have plans to write a more detailed post about our trip as well as our first year of marriage, so I’ll save the details for that! But what I can say is that, everyday I grow more and more in love with my little family, and that I can’t wait to see where the future takes us! I’ve got it good, guys.

Since Easter was the first of the month this year, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to dress up our little easter bunny! 😉

who wore it better?! hahaha!

 

LISTENING:

I’ve been on a major The Who kick this month! Tell me you can’t listen to “Join Together” and not smile!?! I’ve also been super into this band called Dope Lemon … I love the kind of laid back relaxed music that I can cruise around on a Saturday morning to, weave along with, or put on in the background while I write. Give em’ a listen if you have the time!

bring on May!

xox!