Latte Love

twenty four

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Tue, 22 May 2012 05:13:00 +0000

Every year since I was 15, maybe earlier, I have stayed up late the night before my birthday journaling reflections on the year and hopes for the news ones. This night it is a little different, but typing that makes me so nostalgic for the paper and ink that I guess I will still pull out my old journal tonight and see what flows forth.

It's a crazy week - with celebrations, gatherings, party planning, graduation, meetings at work, board events and saying goodbye to some really dear friends who are moving on. In the past few weeks I've spent a lot of time reflecting as I was given the opportunity to share a few thoughts on seminary wife life at a gathering last month, and was also asked to give a devotional and share some memories with the wives of the seminary board members who will be coming out this week. (Maybe I'll get to putting some of those in a bloggable format after the craziness dies down.) 'Tis the season of sharing memories, celebrating milestones, and saying goodbyes and it's starting to all sink in.

There is so much I'm ready to do and explore this year. Mid-twenties seems like a great time to figure out what I'm doing with my life (ha), but in reality I do think this year is going to clarify a lot of what will come in my and our future. For now, it's just enjoying (surviving) the next few weeks of celebrations until the dust settles. And I do love to celebrate.

Birthdays are reminder of the great gift of life. Ultimately, I'm thankful to God for his faithfulness for another year of it.

Days 2-3 on Live Below the Line: What Counts?

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:23:00 +0000

Living Below the Line (see here)

By day two, we were already facing a big dilemma - what counts?

It's very difficult to determine what to consider part of the $1.50. For instance, if I have a bag of m&ms I got on clearance after Easter that cost me $.49 - I can eat 1/4 of the bag as a snack, right?
If my aunt gives us a dozen grapefruit and oranges from their backyard tree that I didn't pay anything for, or I pick broccoli, radishes or lettuce from the garden - do I calculate my $1.50 based on their value in a grocery store, or not factor them in to my cost?

Conversely ,we've made a [moral] decision to purchase only organic, cage-free eggs, which cost $3 a dozen. Can I pretend I bought the $.99/dozen version for the purpose of my calculations, because I could get eggs for that cheap? I can handle buying cheaper bread, non-organic milk, etc because those are a matter of nutritional value and personal preference, but do I change my moral standard for a week-long exercise?

The types of food you can eat on $1.50 a day are basically bland and/or carbs. Rice and lentils. Lentils and rice. Pasta and oats. Oats and more rice. White bread. Minimal spices, minimal vegetables. Basically no meat. I really wonder what kinds of food you can purchase in third world countries with $1.50. If it's much more or much less than what we can get here. The quality of food you can buy here on that amount is abysmal, so all we've really purchased is rice, oats, lentils, vegetables on sale, and combined that with whatever we still have in our refrigerator. Costco packs of crackers and cookies for snacks, because the only way to afford a snack is if it's processed, and purchased in bulk. I miss variety, and flavors, and meat!

This was a tough week to try living below the line, as E has all his final papers due, and he wasn't getting enough brain food to finish strong. So we've supplemented with extra food we have on hand at home(I would still imagine he's under $2-$2.50 a day).

This whole thing it not easy and it doesn't feel that great, but it is a really eye-opening experiment!

Below the Line

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:18:00 +0000

This week, E and I are attempting to live on $1.50 per day for food. We're participating in a campaign called Live Below the Line to help raise money for organizations that help fight extreme poverty. 1.4 Billion people all over the world live on less than $1.50 a day for food and we're seeing what that is like, firsthand.

When this campaign came through my BzzAgent profile, I wasn't sure how interested I would be in it. I'm not entirely sold on the idea of giving up food, just because others are hungry. But we realized that if we do live off of $15 for a week, instead of the usual $50-60 I spend on groceries a week, we could afford to donate that money to one of the sponsoring organizations in the campaign, which help some of the population in extreme poverty all over the world.

We're one day in and it's been more of a challenge than I thought. Working out is getting put on hold because I can't afford to consume enough calories to sustain a workout. Carbs like rice and pasta are the cheapest options, so they're staples at most meals.
I thought I'd record what we eat and share the approximate cost so you can get an idea of what you can afford on $1.50 a day.

Day 1
Breakfast: 1 c. oatmeal with 1 tbs brown sugar, splash of milk + cup of coffee $.55
Lunch: black beans and tomatoes with chips $.45
Snack: 2 oreos $.08
Dinner: pasta with homemade pesto of radish leaves, and radishes from our garden. $.51
Day 1 Total = $1.49

We both felt hungry and lethargic throughout the day, but we're drinking a ton of water - almost twice our usual intake. I'll post another update soon!

p.s. If you're interested in donating, you can do so here: https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/lattelove

p.p.s. This isn't a sponsored post and I didn't receive anything to blog about it. I'm participating in the campaign for personal reasons, and just wanted to share!

What's next?

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:45:00 +0000

Last weekend I was stamping and stuffing E's graduation ceremony/party invitations and realizing it will all be over in just four weeks. My identity as a student wife - more specifically, a seminary wife - will disappear. Along with the late library hours, Greek and Hebrew flashcards, and lunch hours spent with E. In some ways it feels "finally!" and is some ways it feels foreign.

I can hardly imagine what our lives will look like in a few weeks, because the student life has been our normal since day one. I can hardly believe it's almost over - E has been a student for the past 21 years straight! His time in seminary really has been a really unique and incredible experience for both E and I. A degree from the seminary E attends is definitely more involved than a lot of graduate degrees; because of the nature of the study (preparing to be future pastors), the spouses and families of the students spend a lot of time together. Some of my closest friends out here are married to E's classmates. It has not just been an education, it has been a community.

Typically what happens with most seminary students who graduate with their Master of Divinity degree is that they'd start a paid, year-long internship or a full-time pastoral position. E and I decided around the beginning of the year that we wanted to hold off on looking for either of those positions immediately after graduation for some practical reasons involving our recent church change, and a desire to pay down some student loans.

A secondary reason why we decided to stay is simple - we're not quite ready to go! While many of E's classmates moved away from their hometowns to attend school for 3-4 years and are anxious to get back, we feel very settled here. We live about five minutes away from my in-laws and have a lot of friends in the area. We're not anxious to leave the San Diego area if we can help it. Realistically we know we probably won't stay here forever, so we want to soak up every minute of living in southern California before our future plans firm up.

All this means for us now is that E will looking for a 'regular' job' to last at least the next year. My lunch breaks won't involve seeing him (as I work on campus), and there won't be any more evening homework cramping our style. The next year may look like a bit of a holding pattern, but it is one that feels more like a plan.

What big or small life changes are you looking forward to?

Long Overdue: Blogger Map Update

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:15:00 +0000

When I created The Blogger Map Project for some blog friends I wanted to meet up with, I didn't know how many people from all over the world would find it! I've found a bunch of great new blogs from near and very, very far. Well over 300 of you have joined so far, and I thank you.

However, I owe a few of you some sincere apologies. I got very behind on updating the map in February when I was doing some travel (over 100 people joined in a two week period!) and I got overwhelmed. I was finally able to catch up last night. Thank you all for your immense patience on this project!

You can see the updated Blogger Map here:

A few notes:

There will probably be a lot of you checking out the map and not finding your blog. Unfortunately, there have been over 100 incomplete submissions. If you're wondering why you didn't make it, here are the most likely reasons:

You didn't post the button on your blog or I couldn't find the button.
You posted about it a blog post, but you didn't send the link to the blog post and I couldn't find it.
You didn't specify where you live. As mentioned in the directions on the form - I need at least a city to pinpoint your location, even if it's a major city near the city where you live. Those that submitted their forms with "Canada", "California" or no location at all will not show up on the map.
You blog url wasn't valid or it has been closed down, you linked to a shop or online store instead of a blog, your blog has explicit content.

I understand that due to the length of time it took me to add you, a few of you may have checked the Blogger Map and not seeing yourself on it, you removed the button from your side bar. I truly am sorry! But in order to keep things as organized as possible, I'm going to delete all the forms of those who didn't make, and start over.
If you don't see yourself on there now, please follow the directions here to resubmit your form. I promise to have you added within a week!

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at latteloveblog(at)gmail and I'll do my best to answer questions or make clarifications.

Thank you all, again!

It's always something (Tucson, instagram edition)

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:31:00 +0000

Despite all my best intentions to get back here more regularly, life keeps happening. In the latest case - a nasty bout of food poisoning which had me worshiping at the porcelain throne for 10 hours straight getting the best ab workout of my life. And then being paranoid for the next 48 hours to consume anything of substance for fear it would start again. I felt pretty drained last week, but now somewhat back to normal.

For my day of recovery, I started season one of Downtown Abbey, got completely sucked in, and then realized the seasons are only 7 or 8 episodes long! What kind of a cruel joke is that?...

Before all that, E and I had a fun Easter weekend visiting my grandparents who winter in Tucson, AZ. They have a place in a top-rated RV resort and it was just about as nice of a place as any resort I could imagine, minus the poolside drink service.

We spent a day of adventuring, walking through some ghost mining towns, visiting a crazy rattlesnake shop, and stopping in Bisbee and Tombstone.

The rattlesnake large property with dozens of rows of trash-heap antiques. I was dying over a few of the items, and nothing was for sale! This couple just goes dumpster diving and keeps a collection of every antique pieces you can imagine from farm equipment to cooking supplies, cameras and typewriters.

They make their money selling stones and rattlesnake skin paraphernalia like keychains, headbands, knife sheaths, etc.

Bisbee was a really interesting place that E and I may have enjoyed more on our own. (My grandparents are wonderful, but very different travel companions) It has an old mining history and buildings, a lot of leftover hippy people and stores, and a bunch of artsy boutiques, shops and galleries.

Tombstone is a ghost town turned tourist trap that I enjoyed despite that fact. There were a lot of jewelry and leather shops and E found a really cool belt. We enjoyed strolling through the saloons and watching the horse-drawn carriage tours roll through.

My grandparents love breakfast so we went out a few times. The last morning to a dive called Bobo's, which was memorable, if not recommend-able. The pancakes were twice the size of the plate they served them on, and take it from this non-pancake fan, they were good.

I'm so thankful to have such young and active grandparents, and for the chance to see them in the winters!

Cooking, and a great lasagna recipe

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:25:00 +0000

I love to cook.

This statement makes both my mother-in-law and my mom look at me quizzically and say "It won't last long!" or "why?!".

I grew up in a household with a reluctant cook. My mom isn't at her best in the kitchen, and while she made dinner most nights of my childhood, she never has really enjoyed it. (And she admits this freely. and has lots of other wonderful talents! love you, mom.)
Anyway, I grew up with a pretty limited cooking repertoire, mostly casseroles and dishes with minimal ingredients and boring spices, which left me with a blank slate when I entered my own kitchen. Early on in my marital cooking adventures I discovered epicurious.com, allrecipes.com, and The Pioneer Woman, and from there - dozens of food blogs. A whole world was opened up to me and as I began to see food as a creative expression rather than just basic sustenance, I started to love it. I bought and used spices and ingredients (and cheeses!) I'd previously never heard of, cooked all kinds of ethnic foods, and *gasp* even started experimenting without using a recipe.

Now when I get home from work I kick off my shoes, put on an apron and start chopping, sauteing, or roasting - it's easily one of the most relaxing times of my day (even more so with a glass of wine for company!). The kitchen has been my haven, my retreat after a long day.

Before you roll your eyes at my waxing poetic about my love of cooking - please know that I fail often. Oh, the flops. E and I have worked out a system for avoiding hurt feelings in those situations. When he loves a meal, he asks me to save the recipe for a repeat. When he doesn't love it - he still eats, still thanks me for dinner, but doesn't suggest holding on to the recipe for future dinners. This works well for us.

We had a friend and classmate of E's over for dinner last week (as we do almost every week) and I made lasagna that was save-worthy. It was so good I had to share the recipe, which was adapted from The Bride and Groom First & Forever Cookbook.

Homemade Meat Marinara (this is my best guestimate as a lot of the seasoning is 'to taste')
4 - 14 oz cans of sliced tewed tomatoes
8 oz of ground beef
8 oz of hot Italian sausage
2 tblsp olive oil
2 sweet onions, diced
4-6 cloves garlic, miced
2 tsp oregano
1 large handful of fresh basil (or 2 tsp of dried basil)
2 tsp of sugar
salt
pepper

Crumble and brown the sausage and ground beef together in a heavy bottom pot for 8-10 minutes. Strain out with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add 1 tblsp of olive oil to the pot over medium heat and cook onions for 3-4 minutes, then add garlic and cook for 2 more minutes.
Pulse the stewed tomatoes in a food processor, two cans at a time, until lightly blended. Add to garlic and onions, with oregano and sugar (and dried basil if you don't have fresh). Stir for a minute, and then add the cooked meat to the mixture.
Simmer over medium low heat for 5 minutes, remove from heat, and stir in fresh basil and another drizzle of olive oil.

Lasagna (adapted from The Bride and Groom First & Forever Cookbook, which I cannot recommend highly enough)
Serves 6-8

8 oz cream cheese
12 oz ricotta cheese
3/4 c. parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 c. pesto
1 pkg (8 oz) of no boil lasagna noodles
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Blend cream cheese and ricotta until well combined, and stir in parmesan, pesto and 1/4 tsp pepper.
lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan and then layer as follows.

1 c. meat sauce
noodle layer
1 1/2 c. meat sauce
1/2 of the cheese mixture in spoonfuls
noodle layer
1 1/2 c meat sauce
other 1/2 cheese mixture
noodle layer
1 1/2 c meat sauce
noodle layer
rest of meat sauce
mozzarella cheese

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40-45 minutes. Remove foil and bake for additional 10-15 minutes to brown the cheese. Let rest for a few minutes before serving.

DIY: cable spool coffee table

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 18:46:00 +0000

I'm the last person that should be writing this post. I have almost no innate creativity and no experience working with power tools. But in week, I completed a home project I'd found on Pinterest (sadly, with no original photo source) and in the Design*Sponge book, that has been on my wishlist for a couple years.

I'm going to include a light tutorial, but please feel free to ask questions if you have them, and I'll do my best to answer! A friend (you just saw her beautiful wedding) and I worked on this project together. I had the inspiration/motivation to get it started, and she had the space, experience and power tools.

Here's what you'll need (I didn't have ANY of these tools or supplies before I got started. Most of you probably have some tools on hand already, but I'll include everything I used)

Electrical cable reel (or spool). We picked up these spools at a local electrical supply company that literally had piles of them lying behind their warehouse. We were permitted to pick them up for free. (total score!)
A power sander (like this, or a smaller version here)
Cordless drill with screw-driving and drilling bit sets
1 inch spade drill bit
Wood stain
2.5 inch screws
Compass, or soft measuring tape
8 feet of 1 inch dowel rods (I used 5 pieces cut at 18" each and trimmed them up as needed)
level
wrench
hammer

Ok! here we go.

This is what the spool looked like when I got started.

(I had already removed a metal plate from the top)

First, hammer down the nails sticking out to make a smooth surface.
Then sand, sand, sand. My goal was to get rid of most of the stamped letters and paint on top and any other imperfections in the wood. I used the electric sander on the surface for probably an hour before it looked and felt like what I wanted. I lightly sanded the sides, the center cylinder, and the bottom up-facing surface, to protect from splinters. Then I took a piece of sand paper and hit some spots around the center hole by hand.

Once it was completely sanded, I wiped it gently with a damp washcloth, then brushed one layer of Ikea's Behandla wood stain on it. I stained the dowels as well and left both to dry. (Because I was working on this project at my friend's, I came back about 5 days later, but an overnight dry would have been enough.)

When the stain was dry I started marking out where I would install the dowels. This would have been much easier with a compass, so that's what I included above. I marked out 5 places where I wanted the dowels, about 18" apart and measured them halfway in from the edge, which was 2.5". I marked them on the inside of the top, and on the bottom.

I drilled a 1 inch bevel for the dowel to sit in on the underside of the top (the table was upside down here). I measured the space carefully and added about 1/8" for the dowel length, and cut it. Placing one side of the dowel in the groove, I used a rubber mallet to hammer the dowel until it leveled evenly. Then I drilled a small hole for a screw through the bottom of the table and into the dowel, and screwed the flat end of the dowel to the bottom.

I did this around each point and then wiped the whole thing clean.

After getting it home, I decided I wanted another layer of stain on the top so I applied that, and then sprayed it with an indoor wood sealant to protect from water stains. 4 coats and 3 hours later, it was finished. (I was ready to bring it inside, but it smelled pretty strongly for 2 days afterwards so it should have probably be left out in a garage for a few days to air out.)

Total cost (to me): $40
Total time: 8 hours

and then - ta da! We put some of our favorite books on display and I topped it temporarily with this decorative plate and bark balls from Ikea.

instagrammed: catching up

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 19:20:00 +0000

Judging by the radio silence and/or light posting of a lot of my regular blog reads, I must not be the only one feeling a little blah on the writing front lately. (but I am going to share a cool project next week - so please don't give up on me yet)

Here's a Friday-appropriate, cop out post of instagram pics.

1. rather blah hair day trying to figure out a new style.
2. I was a winner in the 2nd anniversary giveaway at In Pursuit of Pretty Things! (Thanks, Carol & Kathryn)
3. dinner: goat cheese, caramelized onion, roasted garlic pizza. yum
4. what my hair looked like right after walking out of the salon...perfect and unrepeatable
5. picked a bunch of calla lilies from our yard to bring to a friends for lunch. Sadly, they wilted on the way.
6. Indian food on girls night!
7. DIY knit baby booties (I finished them off with a tiny pink polka dot ribbon)
8. a t-shirt necklace made from a shirt I ruined last year.
9. homemade skillet cornbread - elicited audible groans from the boys = huge win
10. sneak peek of the project I'm sharing next week.

ps. follow me on instagram - I'm lattelove

Happy Friday, friends!

I'm going to make these mint chocolate chip cookies and maybe have a Guinness with E this weekend. Then we're going to start working on our garden!

New Year's Eve DIY Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 19:17:00 +0000

Remember my friend's beautiful DIY wedding? I shared a few of my instagram pics of the night here, but now I'm excited to share her professional wedding pictures from Hey Jonny.

My friend Tricia will be posting about a lot of the projects and stories of putting their wedding together on their new blog: http://oururbanfrontier.com/. She and her husband are masters at finding and executing beautiful DIY projects for everything from home decor to gardening.

Before I get to the wedding, I have to start with the transformation they made to the 'shop'for their venue. It was a spare barn on the father of the groom's avocado ranch, and with the help of friends and family they transformed into a perfect wedding venue.

Before

After

Incredible, right? They had a vision for this beautiful wedding, and I'm so excited to share it with you!

Phillip and Tricia had their first look at the site of Phil's proposal beneath this beautiful tree at his parent's avocado ranch. Isn't the bench swing he made so beautiful?

The ceremony was just before sundown and all of us guests got a gorgeous view of San Pasqual Valley.

Then it was time to party back at the shop! During happy hour guests drank mojitos and sangria, three kinds of beer made just for the wedding by the groom's brother-in-law (with the kegs stored in an old tub in the back of an old truck), and kahlua in our coffee, made by the bride and groom. The cake buffet was stocked with homemade cakes from Tricia's girlfriends (I made a lavender lemon bundt cake). Gifts were collected in a wheelbarrow in front of the guest book table.

A live band made up of classmates of the bride and a professor kept the dance floor going well into the night. (see if you can spot E and I in that last photo!)

my dashing husband :-)

There really was not a detail in this wedding without a personal touch. It was breathtakingly gorgeous, immensely fun, and very them.

Hope you enjoyed!

Photos: Hey Jonny
Catering: Terry at La Farfalla
Everything else: Bride, Groom, Family and Friends!

Fashion trends I love

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 06:09:00 +0000

I'm back, later than expected, with a set of fashion trends I am into.

My picks are from a mix of seasons, because in Southern California it's appropriate to wear any season's clothing year-round, but it's also been kind of chilly lately.

Fashion trends I'm loving lately by lattelove

Click on the link for all the item details.

Striped layers: lots of options with stripes these days, but I'm a fan of the striped blazer/cardigan looks
Silky blouses: so classy! I'd wear it tucked in with slim pants or belted over a pencil skirt. Plus, colors!
Color-blocking -Don't you love when colors that get put together unexpectedly for you?
Boyfriend blazers - Can I get a holla for comfortable blazers? No more scrunched shoulders with this casual style!
Polka dots - they're still around for good reason: red, blue, or my favorite - camel/black combination.
Booties - E got me a pair for Christmas that I wear...a lot. So comfy, so fun.
Statement necklaces - dress up any boring outfit. They make me want to break out my many neutral separates.
Big patterns - There have been bikes, elephants, birds. I love this take on patterns.
Neon accents - I just love how neon looks in contrast with muted colors and fabrics, like on this little bag from shopbop!

Are any of these on your list too?

Fashion trends I'm just not into

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:57:00 +0000

As I have spent more time on fashion blogs (including my own) and more time thinking about how to wear clothing better, it's been important to me to have a certain perspective towards fashion trends. I love to read about them all, and appreciate some of them on others, but I have made a personal rule to only implement trends that are me. It's so easy to see something cute on a friend or fashion blogger and immediately want to recreate the look, but I started realizing that every outfit isn't recreate-able. That approach doesn't always help me develop a personal style.

Here are few trends that just aren't 'me'.

Fashion Trends I'm not into by lattelove

Chambray and lace. For some reason, I just can't into this combination. Maybe because I'm not really a lace girl?
Faux fur vest.
Crazy nail designs. I'm not sure why, but it seems like fashion blogs everywhere recently have been featuring crazy hand-painted nail designs. I can't even keep a solid color on my nails for 24 hours - I cannot do this!
Leather leggings. The thought of doing anything while wearing tight, unbreathe-able leather...eek.
Leopard. No hate - I know how many people love it. But it's just not me at all.
Denim jackets. Ever since I retired the only denim jacket I owned in jr. high, I don't think I'll bring myself to buy another.

I don't intend this post to be critical, I just want to encourage you all that every trend isn't for every body. Now it's your turn - what are some trends that just don't work for you?

Coming up: a post on trends I love!

ps. Trends men love to hate.

Tax time

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:47:00 +0000

Tax time - the one time every year I am happy about how little we make on our one-income student lifestyle, because it usually means a nice refund.

image source

I did our taxes over the weekend, which was a huge relief - both to be done with them, and to know our bank account is going to be a little bit fatter soon. I never know what to do with our tax refund. It is money we earned after all, not a generous gift, so I feel guilty being too indulgent when our income often leaves us feeling a step behind financially.

There is the really responsible decision - pay off some of our student loans, and feed back into our emergency savings.

But Europe is always calling for another trip. We both have airline mileage sitting in our accounts waiting to take us to a far away country.

And the reality is that most years I just deposit the refund in our checking account and it mysteriously disappears, the way money does over a period of a few months. Immediate indulgences on a few new clothing items or dinners out usually win out to any long term planning.

This year, whatever we decided to spend our refund on, I wanted to be really intentional about it for the long term. So here is my plan:
40%: student loans
20%: emergency savings
20%: travel savings
10%: split in our peach money funds (i.e. discretionary income)
10%: Offering to our church

How do you guys decide where to spend your tax refund? Do you plan, or not?

Ira Glass on Marriage

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:29:00 +0000

"Actually one of the things that's a comfort in marriage is that there isn't a door at 7 years. And so if something is messed up in the short term, there's a comfort of knowing we made this commitment so we're just going to work this out. And even if tonight there's something wrong or something between us doesn't feel right, we have a comfort in knowing we've got time, we're going to figure this out. And it makes it so much easier. Because you do have times when you hate each other's guts, you know what I mean? And the 'no escape' clause, weirdly, is a bigger comfort to being married than I ever would have thought before I got married."

From the latest episode from This American Life, What I Did for Love

Happy Friday, friends!

Young the Giant Concert

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:52:00 +0000

This past Friday morning a friend emailed me that she had an extra ticket to Young the Giant concert in San Diego and invited me along. I've been listening to the Young the Giant station on Pandora for months now, so even though I'm not usually a big concert person, I went along.

The venue, SOMA, is pretty grungy and was full of drunk, sweaty teenagers. But the show was really worth going to (including the opening band, Walk the Moon). Young the Giant is one of those rare bands that sounds just as amazing live as they do on their record. And they're from Irvine!

Apartments, live on Jimmy Kimmel

also My Body & Cough Syrup

If you aren't already listening to Young the Giant, you're welcome!
and if you are, I'm sure you'll enjoy another dose of it this Monday :-)

all photos taken by me via my iPhone.

Caribbean Cruise

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:53:00 +0000

We had an amazing time on our Royal Caribbean cruise. It was the perfect amount of relaxing, eating, sunning, swimming. The only thing that was missing was enough sleep. We were on a conference cruise, and got to meet a bunch of new people and stayed up waaay too late every single night talking, dancing, and sipping cocktails.

And then E and I did crazy things like wake up at 6:30am to watch the sun rise. (you might want to turn down your volume as the wind in the video is kind of annoying.)

I can easily see why people who cruise get addicted to it - we'll definitely try it again! (We'd love to go on a Disney Cruise, and maybe one that is closer to home.)

The ports we stopped in were Falmouth, Jamaica and Labadee, Haiti. All of your comments and the site http://cruisecritic.com were really helpful. We ended up not booking any excursions to save some money, but it was perfect for us. We spent our time on the ship - mostly at the pool or the sports deck (that rock climbing wall was crazy high!), or on the beach.

I read the Hunger Games and it wasn't as good I had expected, so maybe a review will be forthcoming. That said, I am excited for the movies, because I think the story will translate well into film.

The food on the cruise ship was better than expected. I didn't have anything I didn't really like, and I got to try things I wouldn't normally eat, like escargot. We loved being able to eat at all hours of the day, basically anything we wanted, and we had a midnight pizza run every. single. night. (I miss it!)

It was amazing vacation, despite the craziness that awaited us at home. We felt rested and relaxed and ready for E's last semester of school (ever?!) and my busy season at work. Thanks again for all your advice!

Losing Picnik

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:53:00 +0000

Are you guys avid Picnik user like me? I don't edit my photos much, but Picnik got me started. I've been using the premium version for a couple of years as an alternative to purchasing a photo editing software (partly because of cost and partly because my old home computer couldn't handle another program). So you can imagine my dismay at the announcement that Picnik is shutting down on April 19! Google purchased Picnik in 2010 and has now decided to close down the site. (boo hoo)

Supposedly the alternative is going to be increased features on Google+. While I'm interested to see what changes they make to Google+, it's hard to imagine it being able to replace the features of Picnik! I use it to make collages, fix red-eye and a million other things.

Are you sad about losing Picnik too, or do you all use other photo-editing programs? Any alternatives I should be looking for?

What to do with leftover prime rib

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:28:00 +0000

I realized that this post-Christmas recipe isn't going to be relevant for most of your lives right now (especially not if you're vegetarian). I have 5-6 recipe posts that I've been procrastinating on.

So, in case you have a hefty prime rib to cook this week that will leave leftovers, here is my recipe for cheese steak sandwiches using left over meat. :-) This could be used with freshly cooked ribeye or other steak leftovers. It's simple, it's delicious, it's husband-approved.

1 tbls butter
1 onion, thinly sliced
8-10 button mushrooms, sliced
8 oz slice of brie (I used herbed brie)
1 french bread loaf or 4 small sandwich loaves
leftover prime rib (I had approximately 12 oz leftover)

Remove prime rib from the refrigerator at least an hour before an eating to bring to room temperature. Slice very thinly.

Preheat oven to 450. Melt 1 tbls of butter over medium high heat and add the onions. Stir frequently until softened about 7 minutes, add sliced mushrooms and cook until caramelized (15-20 min total).

While onions are cooking, cut bread in half, butter it, and toast it face-up in oven for 5-10 minutes. After bread is lightly browned, remove. Pile with thinly sliced meat and generous helpings of cheese and return to oven for 5 minutes.

When brie is melted, remove the sandwiches from oven and serve topped with the onion/mushroom mixture, a green salad and red wine!

obsessed with: knits

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:03:00 +0000

I picked up knitting again after a 5+ year hiatus and I've kind of obsessed. It's the perfect wintery activity. I can't stand watching a movie now without knitting in my hands - it feels so productive! My accessories wardrobe is increasing and I'm starting to make gifts for friends.

A few of my latest projects

The honey cowl (I was directed to this pattern by Holly - thanks!)

Ribbed cowl: I made this pattern up as I went. It's just a single rib pattern stitched into a cowl. Worn here

The Road scarf (worn here)

Montana Scarf for E

And headbands galore. The one I'm most proud of is this blue bow headband. I saw something similar when Christmas shopping at J.crew and I recreated the look. Now if only it was cold enough out here to wear!

Are you a knitting/crocheter? If you don't use it yet, ravelry.com is the best community website for yarn-lovers. Great patterns, advice, reviews, and you can keep a queue of projects you want to try and what supplies you need!

Help! need cruise tips

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:50:00 +0000

E and I are going on a cruise soon (yay!), so I have been researching what to expect, what to pack, etc but I'm a little overwhelmed. Have any of you out there have been on a cruise before? Do you have any tips? There is a whole world out there of cruise insiders and enthusiasts on blogs and chat boards, and I feel like I'm behind already and don't know where to start! (p.s. We are traveling with Royal Carribbean)

photo source

Some questions:

How dressy is formal night? (I've never owned a floor-length gown!)
Can you bring wine/soda aboard without smuggling?
How do you plan for shore excursions if you don't go through the cruise ship?
Should we carry our luggage on or check it?
How much should we plan to spend for 'extras'? (spa, drinks, games, tips)

Any other advice?
We'd really appreciate it!

Giveaway: Shabby Apple Jewelry

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:55:00 +0000

Today I have a giveaway from Shabby Apple's whimsical jewelry line. Shabby Apple is a fashion company that makes flirty but modest clothing and accessories for women. One of my favorite cocktail rings is from Shabby Apple, and I've also purchased a few of my favorite dresses from them so I am excited to share this giveaway with you.

The winner will have their choice of one of the three necklaces below:

Key to Wonderland Unlock the Queen's Castle Light as a Feather

To enter, please 'like' Shabby Apple on Facebook, then comment below to let me know which necklace you'd like to win.
Visit Shabby Apple's website here.

This giveaway is for U.S. readers only. Giveaway ends at midnight on Saturday, January 28.

Congratulations to the winner, Christy! Please email your name and address to latteloveblog at gmail dot com

P.S. Get 20% off almost every item on shabbyapple.com now with the coupon code: NEWYEAR, or a free necklace and free shipping with any order over $50 using coupon code: OURGIFT.

Blog Friend Meet-up

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:14:00 +0000

Sara of Running from the Law has been a long-time blog friend and I was thrilled when she emailed me (months ago!) about a work trip to San Diego. We met up on Tuesday night in Coronado for a dinner of delicious French food, where I sipped wine selfishly in front of her growing baby belly. (which was adorable, by the way!)

Every time I get the chance to meet up in real life with friends I've only known on the internet, it feels a little like a first date. But always I'm amazed by how easy it is to fall into comfortable conversation - after all, we've been reading about each other's lives for years! Sara was no exception and I'm happy to consider her a friend.

Happy weekend!

Sponsorship guidelines

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:00:00 +0000

My final blog post on blogging in this impromptu mini-series is a list of guidelines I came up with for blog sponsorship. I've been thinking of these for a while as personal rules to help me navigate the blog advertising waters, but I wanted reader accountability on what to expect when/if I ever have blog sponsors.

My main motivation for writing these is that I want to be extremely careful to not let sponsorship dominate my content. The frustration expressed in my blogging philosophy is not directed towards people that have blog sponsorship/advertising, but those that let the advertising take priority over content. I want to guard against that happening here.

For the record, I think making money from a blog is incredibly validating for a writer and is in many cases mutually beneficial for company, blogger, and readers. I fully support it.

Latte Love Sponsorship Guidelines

I will always disclose when links are affiliate (i.e. I receive a small percentage of income on products purchased through my link)
I will give honest reviews for courtesy products with full disclosure, but not more than two per month.
In a product review, I will link to a site homepage and/or to the specific product I'm reviewing, but I will not post multiple or unrelated links or keywords are required in the post.
For giveaways, I will limit the amount of comment entries to two. [I do this only because as a blog reader, I hate having to comment 5x with tweet, Facebook, google friend connect, etc for both the blogger and the product]
I will not require my readers to do more than one of the follow in order to enter a giveaway: "like" a company Facebook page, follow company on Twitter, subscribe to their email list, but I will suggest it.
I will not require my giveaway entrants to follow me on Twitter or Facebook, subscribe to my blog, etc.
I will not write monthly "intro to my new blog sponsors" posts
I will only review a product/hold a giveaway/let you buy ad space if the product or service a company offers is relevant to me/my blog (e.g. No giveaways for children's stuff because I'm not a mom/don't have a mommy blog)
I will only hold a giveaway/sell ad space if the product or service a company is offering is something I would recommend or use. (I am willing to review a company's product in order to determine whether I could hold a giveaway or offer ad space.)

I welcome any questions or comments, but would ask that you not copy and paste these as your own sponsorship guidelines, but think through the issues thoughtfully and come up with a list of your own!

p.s. While still on the topic of blogging - you all should take a look at Jenny's new series: Bloggy Thursdays

Sharing my blog with friends and family

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:09:00 +0000

[This is becoming a week of blogging about blogging. Thanks for reading!]

More (and more and more) lately I've been thinking about my blogging anonymity. Over three years ago I started this blog to record my wedding planning, and I told a select few friends and family about it who checked in every once in a while. But after the wedding was over, I couldn't stop writing. I was loving the creative outlet and getting to know so many amazing blog friends; I had forgotten (chose to forget?) that I'd ever told anyone in real life about it.
I loved the freedom to write beyond the trivial - about my marriage, family relationships, life and faith. Things that I generally wouldn't mind people knowing - but things that I wouldn't overtly share among most family, friends and acquaintances.

In order to protect my outlet here, I started a 'family' blog where I just posted pictures and generally surface-y things so my family and facebook friends could keep up with our life in California (since it is so foreign for most of my Midwest circle). But by this summer, I was habitually reposting the light content from Latte Love (read: photos and "what we did this week" stuff) to my family blog and filling in a few details, because I didn't have the energy to keep up with both.

When we got back from Italy, I stopped posting on the family blog altogether. It felt so repetitive, and while a few people may have missed it, I don't think there was much interest in it that Facebook updates weren't filling. I continued to hope that Latte Love was fairly anonymous from my IRL community.

But between the summer and now, four different acquaintances have told me that they discovered my blog completely randomly: though searches, my guest posts on other blogs, or link-ups I've participated in. My professor's wife even somehow found my style site! Most had no idea that I wrote or kept a blog and were really surprised to find it.

It's hard not to talk to people I know about something that is a part of my life - both the writing, and the relationships I've formed here. But when I do mention a blog friend, or a DIY project found on a blog, or a comment I received, it often leads into an uncomfortable conversation that goes something like this.

"Oh, you blog? I didn't know that...?" *looks expectantly*

"I do. But I don't feel comfortable sharing it with personal acquaintances"

"But isn't it public on the internet for anyone to read?"

"Yes it is. But most people I know don't know about it, and wouldn't know how to find it."

"Oh." *awkward pause*

So, why don't I just tell my family and friends about it?
There are two big hang-ups for me when it comes to sharing this part of my life. The most obvious one is that once I share this place, I'll have to be a bit more guarded and censored about how I write about my relationships with family and friends, my marriage, and certain things that might affect E or our family in future church ministry.

The second reason might sound a little strange. But my other apprehension is that people I know will read this blog and feel like they don't know me. Admittedly, I've changed a lot in the last 2-3 years. Getting married, moving to California away from my whole community, and starting this blog - in addition to just getting older (and wiser, I hope!) - has changed me. It's easy for me to relate to family and friends as myself-of-a-few-years-ago when I go back to visit, but its sometimes hard for me to reconcile the me of three years ago with the me now (who's still evolving), when it comes to long-time friends and my family. My habits, tastes, and hobbies have changed. My lifestyle is really different. I've been able to share those interests here without reserve, in a way I haven't felt as free to in real life. (Blogging has influenced or enhanced some of those changes!) Opening up the blog makes me vulnerable.

While I'd never plan to tell everyone I know, or post the link publiclyon Facebook, the idea of more openly sharing it with people close to me is looking like an inescapable reality.

So, friends, as I'm considering this decision I'm wondering where you are. Did you share your blog with your IRL circle from the beginning on facebook, etc? Do a few select friends know about it? or would you never, ever share it with people you know?

How would you feel if your circle found your blog?
I'd love some advice as I navigate these waters!

A better way to comment: switching from Blogger comments to Disqus

noreply@blogger.com (LatteLove) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

I've been struggling for ~~months~~years with the way Blogger handles comments. In the 4+ years I've been using this blogging platform, it seems like they should have upgraded the comment system by now! I've had struggles with non-Blogger users wanting to comment without linking to their Google profile, and I've been looking for a better way to reply to comments so that the commenter can actually find my response!

Several bloggers I know use the platform Disqus, (and I use it at my style blog since Tumblr doesn't have a comment platform). But when I looked into it several months ago for Latte Love, I found several blogs that reported they lost all their Blogger comments with the switch. So, boo. Three years worth of comments wasn't something I was willing to give up for the improvement.

But last week as I was scrolling through all your comments from my last post and trying to figure out the best way to respond, I decided to look into Disqus again...just in case.

It turns out, in September, Disqus launched an update which allows Blogger users to import their comments! Happy day. So I took a deep breath and added it this weekend. Within an hour - all my comments transferred over! Everything looks good so far, so I'm very excited for this change. (and p.s. If you commented on my last post, you probably didn't get a response notification, but I did do some responding!)

If you haven't created a Disqus profile, you can do so here or in the comment section below. Alternatively, you can comment with your Twitter handle, Google profile, Facebook profile, blog/website, or just your name. The best part is, you can get replies to comments via email so you never have to track down the post to see if there is a response!

I hope this is an improvement for you guys when commenting here, and I hope some of you other Blogger-users make the switch as well. It's been such a relief already.