mansions & one pot wonders

so i finished converting my thesis into a journal article. it took me two full days & by the end of it i was so done with my thesis. miguel was great though - keeping me sane & cooking me food. i took two hours off of writing & took him on a surprise day trip to the leland stanford mansion. it has great architecture & thought it would be a great way to celebrate the end of miguel's first semester of architecture. it was just the two of us on the tour so it was nice (like a private tour!), but i was too shy to take photos inside the mansion & the sun was too bright to get a good photo of the whole house. so you get what you get i guess! it was quite beautiful & we enjoyed all of the greenery outside as well.

 we made one of the one pot wonder dishes i told you about in the last post! we made the spinach & artichoke one. it's crazy how easy it is & it turned out pretty good. needed a little salt in my opinion & we added some parmesan cheese & red pepper flakes (well, miguel did).

sorry about the unedited iphone photos! i'm just a bit lazy today, writing from a hotel room on a road trip with my family : )

yesterday & today & tomorrow

yesterday i spent most of the day giving my poor car a much needed bath & reading dan brown's the lost symbol. sadly i'm a very slow reader, so it takes me a while to get through books. this book though - it's a definite page turner. i started reading it when i was in thailand staying at this neat guest house that had lots of nooks & comfy places to read & a whole corner of books. the lost symbol  was basically the only book in english, & i was wanting something to relax at the beach with. so i began reading it. & i really got into it. i wanted to take it with me, but since i'd never stole something before, i didn't exactly want to start then. so when i got back home, one of the first things i did was take a trip to the thrift store with lizzie & found myself a copy. at 639 pages, i'm not even halfway through. i'm kind of glad though. i don't want the story to end too soon.

today, after swimming laps with my sister, i went shopping with my mom at target. we found these sleeveless merona tops that were $6 at 40% off. i loved the striped one & picked that one out for myself. i can't wait to wear it tomorrow.

tomorrow i am working in the morning & then visiting miguel for a few days. i'm escaping to his place for a quiet space to convert my thesis into a journal article for a job i'm applying to. it's a bit of a daunting task to do in a couple of days, but i'm going for it. i also think we will be cooking one of these wonders & getting excited for somebody's birthday next week ;)

p.s. also excited for somebody's wedding on saturday! oh love.

tonight

i roasted artichokes tonight using this recipe. the artichokes i used were humongous. & i loved the color of them after i cut their tops off. so beautiful.

i also made this cold brew coffee tonight for tomorrow morning breakfast.

we ate the artichokes & watched the grey's anatomy  finale. goodbye cristina.

mixed emotions

photos:
1. it's been a crazy, mixed-emotion couple of weeks. the day i left thailand, my mom messaged me that my cousin had passed away. it was shocking news as he was only 36 years old. so after i went home, my sister came home a week later for the funeral. it was bittersweet since i'm glad she's back, but sad about the reason why. i'm glad she came back just in time for mother's day though - a nice mother's day gift : )
2. speaking of mother's day, miguel made this planter for his mom. i was impressed! he even presented it with flowers planted & everything. he also made my mom a planter mold for her birthday at the beginning of the month. he's so crafty! (photo credit to miguel)
3. i just drove back last night from visiting miguel since wednesday morning. it was so relaxing being with him & a much needed break after everything that has been going on. he calms me. & at the same time causes me to feel all kinds of emotion. i guess love is weird that way.

in other news, my sister & i've been waking up at 6am the past week to go lap swimming at our local pool just two blocks away. it's free between 5:30 & 7am so that's great! also, i used to be on the swim team as a freshman/sophomore in high school, so it feels good to be back in the water swimming laps. my back & arms are quite sore now though!

p.s. i was happy to discover my swim team suit still fit! haha

link love:

• miguel & i love going to ikea & dreaming. recently i bought one of these towels after i saw this post on smart kitchenware at ikea. i think it will be my new picnic towel/food blanket.
• i thought this photography set of sleeping soon-to-be-parents was sweet. 
• this no-bake pie looks so good & seems so simple & easy to make! it's on my to make list.
• i would love to own such a whimsical kite.
• this (for some) eye-opening presentation was very well done. 
• i love sending mail to others & this stationary diy tutorial was great.

thailand

i'm back from thailand! it was such a great adventure & my sister & i did so many things. i met a blogger friend, pet baby tigers, & visited the breathtaking grand palace. we went to temples & saw the emerald buddha. we visited hill tribes & saw the karen long neck villagers. we rode tuk tuks, songthaews, minivans, taxi scooters, taxis, ferries, & planes & visited three cities. we ate thai, mexican, italian, japanese, greek, spanish, & western food. i got sick only once. & it wasn't just the heat, but the humidity also that really got to me. i experienced songkran & got soaked with water. i experienced going to a thai cinema & visited the cutest cafes. my sister & i packed so many things into those two weeks & i loved that she got to show me a little bit of where she has lived since september. it was a good trip.

there are so many photos of my trip, so i may be coming back here with little excerpts to show you. thanks for hanging in there while i was gone!

1. the grand palace

2. me in the temple at the grand palace

3. raquel & bougainvillea on the way from our guest room in bangkok. 

4. eating at an outdoor noodle shop called lung lek that is popular among locals in ayutthaya. the meal we had was about $2. total.