A Month With Us: Days 13, 14, 15 and 16

Goodness it has been a really busy week! The funny thing is that a busy week means lots of good stuff to post BUT no time to post it. Ironic. Saturday was a really fun day. My mom was here all day and I was so blessed by the fun and fellowship with her. We went shopping all day and really enjoyed our time. I was excited because I got to use some gift cards I had been waiting to spend forever. The fantastic thing about them is you get to shop and get things and then NO SHOPPERS GUILT! That is amazing : ) After she drove home, Christian and I drove to Pasadena for an evening out on the town with two very dear friends of ours, Eric and Peter.

First time we have dressed up for an outing in a while... except for church of course.

MY NEW SHOES! Courtesy of my gift card.... I love them!

I love city life. The music. The lights. The grime and grit. The liveliness.

This is our friend Eric. He is as deep of a thinker as he looks. And I may steal his glasses one day.

Cheesecake. That is all I have to say.

Sunday I woke up sick. I had an icky sore throat and body aches and mirgrane... blah. Needless to say, I only dragged myself out of bed to make us hot dogs for dinner. It was a nasty day. Christian was in charge of the camera that day. That means there were more pictures of me than usual.

Not feeling standing in the kitchen cooking. I lasted about five minutes. And was grouchy the whole time.

Monday I was feeling MUCH better. I made my Mama's tacos for dinner. Unfortunately they were not as good as hers. Fortunately they were not too bad. Pretty tasty.

I then procedeed to burn the cookies. I blamed it on my sickness the day before. Christian still ate every single one of them. He is far too nice and I love him for it.

How my kitchen looks after a night of cooking.

Tuesday night was, as you can see, Salmon and Rice night. I always have fun with this meal since it is one of my favorites. I couldn't decided between garlic and lemon pepper and spice so we did as little of both.

My husband... I never tire of calling him that. It is still very surreal to me. I love him : )

Think the bananas are almost ready to be made into bread?! I think so...

And in other news... I got my business cards FINALLY! The backs are all different. Each has a different photo I have taken. I love these little cards. Now please, help me get rid of them!

A Month with Us: Day 9, 10, 11 and 12

Goodness I guess I am getting good at this whole wait-three-days-before-you-post-again thing! It has been a fun but very busy week in the Rodriguez household. So far, most nights consist of us coming home from work, making dinner, trying to clean/organize some part of the apartment and just enjoying each other. This week it included all of the above plus a few visits with friends as well.

Tuesday we made chili cheese dogs from the left over chili we had the other night. They were tasty! And easy! Christian turned the camera on me and caught all sorts of odd faces. This was the closest face to normal out of the whole bunch. If you know me... you know my face expressions are typically nothing close to normal!

On Wednesday, Chrish and I went to have dinner and desert with some new friends from church. We had so much fun. We enjoyed the evening with two couples and three toddlers. So entertaining- we loved it though! As you can see my husband tends to provide as much entertainment as the kids do. I like him...

Thursday we made pizza again! It is definitely one of our favorite meals for summer time. Our friend James came over to enjoy it with us but I forgot to take a picture of him. Oops! He went to Israel with Christian and has come over a few times to hang out with us since they have been back. He is always a joy to have around and always provides great fellowship for both of us.

Tonight my Mama came to visit us! I haven't gotten to see her much since the wedding because we live nearly two hours away form both my parents and Christian's parents. It is so nice to have her here. Tomorrow we are having a girl day- much needed. I love her so.

A Month With Us: Days 5, 6, 7 and 8

Sheesh I lost track of the days. I am sure the last four days haven't passed- its still Friday isn't it?! This whole being a wife thing makes the days pass by very, very quickly. I am exhausted so this may be more of a simple informative post rather than a deep thinking one. Though I don't think most of them are- I need to start putting more time into these. Anyhow...

On Friday we decided to make kabobs. Since it's been so hot we have been trying to stay out of the hot kitchen. The BBQ and our homey little porch have been good friends of ours. By the way, Christian is fantastic at the grill... mmm mmm mmm!

Outside eating done right at the Rodriguez residence.

Yummy cheese garlic bread. I kinda went on a whim to make it but we liked it. It has butter and chive/onion cream cheese, mozzarella cheese and garlic salt. Tasty and gooey cheesy goodness!

Christian's handiwork... so so good.

We enjoyed a lovely outside dinner. We have these big trees outside the fence that keep us nice and shady.

Saturday I ran around all day doing errands and grocery shopping. Saturdays are my prepare-for-the-whole-week day. It is my productive day. It was productive...

My To Do List... there were two pages. I try and keep the list long so I can stay busy. Its hard to stay busy (riiiiight!) so I try and come up with things- or keep up with them! Sheesh!

I would appreciate it if gas prices went back down.

I used the crock pot for the first time. It was nice to pour a bunch of stuff into the slow cooker and come home from errands and have chili! Magic!

Sunday we went to church. We have been attending Faith Community Church in Oxnard and absolutely love it. It is starting to feel like home already.

Pastor Rick Anderson's pulpit. He is an amazing shepherd of his congregation. We love sitting under him on Sundays.

Monday is work day. This is my space in the office. The office is actually under renovation right at the moment. This is not my usual desk- in fact, its not a desk. It is a big tall project table. My feet don't reach the floor. This is the transition desk so that I don't have to sit on the floor this week. We are going to get new desks, a window so I can see outside (most excited about this), and painting the walls a fresh new color. I'll be sure to keep you posted on the changes.

My time sheet that proves how hard I work :)

My coffee and keyboard are my companions for most of the morning.

Hopefully these posts will come more frequently so that they are not so long and I can focus on writing a little more. Happy Monday everyone!

A Month With Us: Day 4

OK, you you may be thinking. Stacey, Day 4 does not follow Day 2- do the math. I know, I know. But between getting a little sick the other day (no, I'm not pregnant Internet) and having a surprise visitor (you'll be introduced to him later) blogging just didn't happen. I did however, shoot every day, which is my biggest goal. I want to practice my art. I want to be good- not just because I got lucky, but because I intrinsically understand what I am doing. I have a long way to go but that is another story for another day. So this is a catch up post from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th (today!).

A few days ago, Christian took me out on a date- the first one since being back home. We had such a fantastic time, just hanging out. We had a gift card from the wedding, so we got to eat from the special side of the menu: Steak and Seafood! We party pretty hard, I know. Any how, I brought along my camera and Christian snapped the above shot. I like him.

Our yummy dinner, right before it was consumed! But the best part? No clean up!

Last night our good friend Jamison came to hang out with us. We told him he wins the award of being our first friend to drop by and hang with the scary married couple :) It was fun. We had dinner and watched Walk the Line and goofed off. This is him showing off Thunder to Christian (the other one is Lightning, but its too fast and furious to be caught on film).

If you know Jamison, you know why this picture is just him. He's a ham. He never comes through my front door, but instead always hops over my fence and knocks on my sliding glass door. He buys us Otter Pops and imitates Stevie Wonder. Jamison is the entertainment in our household- we don't have TV.

Today I made homemade pizza for dinner. It was delicious if I do say so myself! We had fun trying to get the raw pizza dough on the grill and not through it. It was a fun night though. Christian and I hung out on our patio and grilled and talked- nice and simple. I like nice and simple.

I did shoot today, but Christian was on photo duty while I cooked (the shot above was his too). I like the way he sees things- simply. Like I said earlier, I like simple.

Happy August 4th everyone. See you all again tomorrow! Be here or be square :)