Hey there!

(Loving these Instagram stickers from Nicole!!!)

Our mom’s wedding is only four days away – the countdown continues! I am spending half of Wednesday and Thursday in San Francisco for a work event and the other half running wedding related errands in the south bay.

Posted by Lauren

Hey there!

(Loving these Instagram stickers from Nicole!!!)

Our mom’s wedding is only four days away – the countdown continues! I am spending half of Wednesday and Thursday in San Francisco for a work event and the other half running wedding related errands in the south bay.

(Still protecting my knee and foam rolling!)

Monday was very productive! I got a lot of work done thanks to my early alarm, had fun with the Girls on the Run crew in the afternoon, spent an hour at the gym ellipticalicizing and lifting a few weights, finally got a carwash, and then had a super delicious meal at Cindy’s house!

Springtime Succulents – straight from LA

The dinner plate! Lemon-artichoke salmon, corn + radish salad, roasted broccoli and cauliflower, and a fresh spring salad! Oh, and two heavenly slices of garlic bread … over great conversation with Mike, Cindy, and Sarah. Then it was time for dessert!! :)

Lemon Bars! Homemade from an old family recipe and just so so so good.

Eventually our chat turned into just Girl Talk, which I love.

I get to see these two again this weekend at the wedding and then again the week after for the season premiere of The Bachelorette! :)

* * *

After work on Tuesday, I went to the bank, the craft store, my aunt Cori’s house to pick up 20 (!!!!) cupcake stands, watched the Sharks game (boo!), and did a secret craft project. MUAHHAHA.

Nicole’s on her way hooooome (after 3 brutal finals in one day, yuck!) and we have to somehow make 400+ mini cupcakes on Friday. Should get interesting around here!

Question: What’s your all-time favorite wedding movie?

Wedding Singer all the way! That was one of my first DVDs and I’ve seen it SO. MANY. TIMES.

-Lauren

Monday and Tuesday were two rough days. It feels like I just woke up from a really stressful, bad dream haha. Finals will do that to you. On Monday, I sure “got around”….. that is…. with various study locations:

I don’t think [...]]]> Posted by Nicole

Monday and Tuesday were two rough days. It feels like I just woke up from a really stressful, bad dream haha. Finals will do that to you. On Monday, I sure “got around”….. that is…. with various study locations:

I don’t think I would ever willingly take three finals on the same day ever again. It was brutal, but I sure felt accomplished and relieved afterwards. Last night, I packed up the rest of my stuff and spent the last few hours in my apartment watching trash TV with my roomies. E! has some ridiculous shows nowadays…. like “What Would Ryan Lochte Do?” We sure had a laugh at his idiotic comments about his “Lochtourage.”

Despite the mental workouts, physical workouts have definitely been slacking. I haven’t gone to the gym in 4 days and I’m feeling a little terrible. It’s been hard to fall asleep at night because of extra energy. It will be nice to get in a few good workouts before the wedding… including the Capitola Half Marathon on Sunday morning!

This morning, I packed my bedding and bid adieu to junior year at USC.

In a few short hours, I’ll be landed in SJ, and this time I can actually feel relaxed because it’s officially summer. Woo! It will be a fun few days of baking cupcakes (~400 for the wedding), celebrating with family, seeing friends, and watching my mom change her last name!!! I can’t wait. And then work starts on Tuesday and it’s back to the grind. It’s going to be a great summer.

- Nicole

Question: What was your favorite place to study in college?

Happy Monday! It’s not much of a happy day for me though; I’m headed down to LA today for the impending doom of three finals tomorrow. Yikes! I’m wishing I could go back to Friday and relive the weekend. I guess that’s why we have this little blog?

On Friday, after drinking [...]]]> Posted by Nicole

Happy Monday! It’s not much of a happy day for me though; I’m headed down to LA today for the impending doom of three finals tomorrow. Yikes! I’m wishing I could go back to Friday and relive the weekend. I guess that’s why we have this little blog?

On Friday, after drinking classy beer and eating delicious food in celebration of David’s birthday, I joined some friends for some less classy beer drinking. Mmmmmm tastes like college.

As much as I love my the craziness of my school, it’s always fun to hang with high school buddies.

On Saturday, we did house work and I managed to study a good amount. That night, we took advantage of the warm weather and dined al fresco. How snazzy are the new patio lights? I love them!

On Sunday, we celebrated the most important person in our lives – our mom!

Not only is she beautiful, she is the most supportive and loving person in the world. We love you, Mom!

We went to the San Jose Giants game to watch a little baseball, but mostly to get top notch BBQ food.

It was HOT outside and we all worked on our tans for the wedding ;)

The meat-eaters enjoyed giant tri-tips, a hot link, and a philly cheesesteak. I was surprised to find a vegan burger on the menu! And we realized that garlic fries dipped in BBQ sauce is an awesome combo.

Back at the house, I fought a food coma and packed up some roasted veggies for that afternoon’s BBQ at my dad’s house. There were about 30 people at their house and it was a good time!

There were a ton of healthier side dishes, so I was a happy camper. The zucchini boats with tomatoes and mozzarella were bomb.

So much good food on Sunday… but it’s time to eat well before the wedding. My mom and I have been chanting “protein and water” haha.

After such a great weekend, I’m realizing it’s time to get serious with the studying. I woke up early and have been working hard so far. I’m thinking it’s going to be a 14 hour study day — 8 AM to 10 PM. Challenge accepted.

24 hours from now I will officially be reigning in summer. Work hard, play hard! Have a good day!

- Nicole

L: On Friday night, we brought most of the “fam” together to celebrate David’s birthday. I somehow convinced my mom to have everyone drive to Mountain View so we could try Steins Beer Garden. Luckily for me, it’s just one block from work :)

895 Villa St, [...]]]> Posted by Lauren and Nicole

L: On Friday night, we brought most of the “fam” together to celebrate David’s birthday. I somehow convinced my mom to have everyone drive to Mountain View so we could try Steins Beer Garden. Luckily for me, it’s just one block from work :)

Steins Beer Garden

895 Villa St, Mountain View, CA
Website – Yelp

L: I’ve been to Steins once before with coworkers and really enjoyed their meatball sandwich. As it was lunchtime on a work-day, I couldn’t necessarily try out the beer selection, so I have been waiting patiently for a return visit. It’s no mystery why I like this place – or the “idea” of it – the people running Steins recently transformed the space into a modern beer house with a sleek bar, huge TVs, and an enormous outdoor beer garden. Plus, their menu is simple with almost everything scratch-made.

Drinks

Light Flight

• Urban People’s Common Lager, a California Lager from Linden St
• Cali Coast, a kolsch from Calicraft Brewing Co
• Blond, a blond ale from Brouwerij West
• Das Naturtrube, an unfiltered pilsner from Schwaben Brau

Fruit Flight

• Floris Apple Ale, from Brouwerij Huyghe
• Floris Strawberry, from Brouwerij Huyghe **Nicole ordered a pint of this, so refreshing and non-beer like!
• Wells Banana Bread, from Wells & Young
• Marionberry Hibiscus Gose, from Widmer Bros

Dark Flight – not sure what came with this!

Kyle chose the Item 9, a wheat IPA from Brash (their beer labels are funky!)

Appetizers

Fresh baked pretzels with caraway beer mustard

Mini bratwurst corn dogs with slaw/pickled mustard seed vinaigrette

Mac & cheese with cheddar and buttery bread crumbs

Lamb meatballs with parmesan bread crumbs

Entrees

Summer Squash – with roasted corn, cherry tomatoes, and a yogurt herb dressing

N: This was just average. It was very fresh, but nothing too special.

The Steins Burger – house ground blend of dry aged short rib, brisket, and sirloin on a brioche bun

French Dip – roast beef, au jus, ciabatta

Slow Cooked Short Rib – with savory bread pudding, rainbow chard, and onion jam

N: I tried a bite of Lauren’s bread pudding and it was AMAZING. Beer and dinner were the perfect complement to the exciting Warriors game on the large TVs. We left when it started to get a little rowdy in the restaurant.

L: After dinner, we walked over to my building so I could show my mom, David, and Sam the space. My mom busted out a chocolate cake and we sang Happy Birthday to David… that cake was yuuuuummmyyyy.

N: David turned 6 years old ;) but unfortunately we didn’t have matches to light the candles. Doesn’t mean he didn’t get to make a birthday wish…

L: Happy Birthday, David!

-Lauren and Nicole

Happy Friday! I actually put on real clothes this morning. It’s fun to live in your PJs, but it’s easier to be productive when you actually look presentable. I don’t think I’ve ever worn this much pink at one time, but hey, there’s a first time for everything.

It’s my [...]]]> Posted by Nicole

Happy Friday! I actually put on real clothes this morning. It’s fun to live in your PJs, but it’s easier to be productive when you actually look presentable. I don’t think I’ve ever worn this much pink at one time, but hey, there’s a first time for everything.

It’s my mom’s fiance’s bday today and he took the day off from work. We went out to a yummy breakfast and I gave him the lesson of how to take over as her designated “favorite” because he officially marries her next weekend. It will be hard to fill the role because I do a dang good job at it. Just kidding- we talked about finance and really cool stuff like that.

Not much else has been going on in my world. I studied at the local library for a couple hours yesterday. Then I realized I should probably be careful not to get a bad tanline because I’m wearing a strapless dress next weekend. Priorities….. tanlines are much more important than studying for finals.

Back at home, I put on a swimsuit and laid out in the sun with the pups. Mason was demanding my attention, but I tried to read at least a few of my notes.

Workouts have been going well lately! My double-day-challenge hasn’t been perfect, but I’m proud of my effort at least.

Tuesday – double day – 9.3 mile run, biking, etc.

Wednesday – single day – 2 mile run, 30 min bike, upper body weights

Thursday – double day – 5 mile run (split 2.25 and 2.75), 20 min bike, abs/lower body weights. My quads are feeling sore today!

It’s been really nice to lift weights again… but this positive attitude probably won’t last long. I definitely go through love/hate phases with weight training.

I’m also trying to run faster sometimes. Like yesterday’s first 2.25 miles… I started at a brisk pace and increased speed 0.2 mph every quarter mile.

I’m in NO way a fast runner, but it sure felt awesome to run at 8 mph even for a short while. If you run around the 9:00 pace, you should give this tactic of increasing speed; lowering incline actually makes the faster speeds feel easier.

I’m so glad that it’s Friday. It gets lonely having no one to hang around with during the week and this should be a busy weekend: spending time with Lauren tomorrow, painting my room (potentially), getting the house clean and “ready” for our visiting guests next weekend, and finishing final details before the wedding…. AND STUDYING. I keep forgetting I have three finals on Tuesday. Oops.

- Nicole

I’ll be honest with you, TWO 200-mile relays TWO weeks apart is NOT a smart idea…. yes, TWO.

After running the final stretch of the Golden Gate Relay as runner #12 on Sunday, I wanted to collapse in bed and hibernate for a month or so. I doubt that I gave [...]]]> Posted by Lauren

I’ll be honest with you, TWO 200-mile relays TWO weeks apart is NOT a smart idea…. yes, TWO.

After running the final stretch of the Golden Gate Relay as runner #12 on Sunday, I wanted to collapse in bed and hibernate for a month or so. I doubt that I gave my body enough time to recover after Ragnar SoCal, and it must have freaked out when I started the process all over again 14 days later.

From hips to toes, my IT band certainly took out its frustration on my knees – they were not happy with me at about 7 am Sunday morning! I’ll discuss all of The Relay in one post over the weekend, and for now I’ll fast forward to tonight (Thursday)… Kyle and I made a healthy, hearty salad for dinner and watched The Office!

Thursday’s dinner: kale, shrimp + chicken, corn, red pepper, carrots, mandarin oranges, avocado, lime dressing (and a dessert of crunchy peanut butter + pb cheerios)

Wednesday evening: after Girls on the Run, I went to my secret instrument lesson. My teacher says that I should practice an hour a day if I want to get REALLY good at a few songs before my mom’s wedding. LOL.

Tuesday night: Set up our booth at SIIA’s All About The Cloud conference in San Francisco. There was a round of speed dating that I’m [honestly] glad I missed. You can’t beat The Palace Hotel in SF…. (fun fact: after my first ever 1/2 marathon my mom and I stayed at this hotel!)

Monday afternoon: Girls on the Run practice 5k!!! The girls did great! Their real 5k is less than 2 weeks away. Woah.

Monday evening: Immediately after GotR, I went back to work for an “open house” to celebrate our new office space. The pictures on the clothesline are from Printstagram.

As you might have noticed, the workouts just aren’t happening… yet. I waited until tonight (Thursday) to do my first run and, although I took it easy, I can already feel some leg soreness coming in. I need this girl to give me pointers on hip strengthening exercises!

I can’t wait to fill you in on The Relay details!

Question: Which dessert would you choose?

Clockwise from top: (1) New York Style Cheesecake with raspberry sauce, (2) Apple Strudel baked in a homemade phyllo pastry and served with a scoop of vanilla gelato topped, (3) Bread Pudding with raisins, cinnamon, pecans, Jack Daniel sauce

After Sunday’s race, I was lucky to catch up with Kyle’s parents over dinner. We went to the ever delicious Vaso Azzurro in downtown Mountain View. That place is GOOD. I wish I could have spent more time with them before they went back to Colorado, but Kyle and I are planning a trip out this summer :) that doesn’t seem too far away.

-Lauren

p.s. the answer is SHARE all of them!

Happy Hump Day! Lauren keeps asking me how I am not blogging considering I have a ton of free time this week…. BUSTED! Here’s a quick recap of the past couple days and a few plans for this upcoming week.

Saturday- I had a really bad headache all [...]]]> Posted by Nicole

Happy Hump Day! Lauren keeps asking me how I am not blogging considering I have a ton of free time this week…. BUSTED! Here’s a quick recap of the past couple days and a few plans for this upcoming week.

Saturday- I had a really bad headache all day on Saturday. I took three naps and watched about 20 episodes of Happy Endings. It wasn’t productive, but I felt much better the next day. I think the Tylenol PM and ten hours of sleep helped.

Sunday- I studied a bit, walked for an hour on the treadmill (taking it easy for the win), and then celebrated Cinco De Mayo at my dad’s house. Steve (stepbro) and I got some drinks while waiting for his wife to get off her waitressing job and then we partied back at the house. A few Coronas, a delicious Mexican feast, and some billiards = a good time!

Monday- A bit more studying, a full rest day from the gym, and then some cookin’ for my mom and David. I made the amazing tabouleh that our step-sis-in-law’s dad made a few months ago and sliced up a fresh french baguette.

Sooo good. I love this stuff, especially the leftovers.

Tuesday- Even though it seems like I’m on summer vacation, I have three big events on the horizon—- FINALS, the Capitola Half Marathon, and my mom’s WEDDING. To prepare for finals, I isolated myself at Starbucks and read part of my finance textbook. I’m about 2/5 of the way through and it.is.so.dense. Then I went to the gym to run 3.1 miles and do core exercises. Because the wedding is SO SOON, it’s officially the start of double days. I did this before going to Vegas with dance team last summer and it seemed to work.

Back at home, I studied some more and later went to get my hair deep conditioned. Curling my hair for dance team has destroyeddddd it. After the hair appointment, it was time for gym round two. I got a random burst of energy which motivated me to bike for 30 minutes and then run 6.2 miles. Not really sure where that came from, but it was nice to have a 9.3 mile day considering the half marathon in two weeks. I kept my mind occupied by some news about a political USC lecture and the news about the Cleveland kidnappings.

Wednesday- I’m scrubbing some data at Lauren’s office today. To kick off the morning I got a SF hazelnut coffee and an egg white wrap. Those things are a special treat.

Lunch break!

Back to the office in a bit. Hope your day is going well!

- Nicole

After a long, fun week at work, I was so excited for Friday’s festivities – a surprise engagement party for Katie!!! Before I get to that, quick shout out to my Thursday lunch date with Jaqueline!!!

She met me in downtown Mountain View and we decided on Mexican food [...]]]> Posted by Lauren

After a long, fun week at work, I was so excited for Friday’s festivities – a surprise engagement party for Katie!!! Before I get to that, quick shout out to my Thursday lunch date with Jaqueline!!!

She met me in downtown Mountain View and we decided on Mexican food at Taqueria Los Charros. Chips and salsa, run talk, tostadas, blog talk… Always so much fun to hang out with her and it’s been too long.

Also want to say thanks Nicole for blogging about “bring your sister to work day” yesterday! She’s interning (remotely) for us for a few weeks but was able to be on site Friday. :) We went to a festive Moroccan restaurant for lunch, she shared Instagram stickers with me (one step closer to a hipster laptop), and we got a LOT done.

After work, our mom met us at my house and we split a bottle of wine and worked on the table arrangements for her WEDDING!

15 days!!

Anyways, so about that surprise engagement party…

My friends Katie (bff from high school) and Doug recently got engaged! They live in Portland, OR and always show me the best time when I visit. When Katie said she was coming home this weekend, I conspired with some friends, her parents, and Doug to arrange a little surprise. ;)

(Me, Sarah, Vanessa, Krish)

Katie thought her mom was going to pick her up from the airport…. Instead, the four of us waited for her with balloons and plans to take her out dancing!

Blurry “SURPRISE!” photo!!

We drove to Vanessa’s parents’ house and got ready for the night…

And then we went out to Rosie’s in Santana Row for drinks, dancing, and discussions (about the proposal, their recent trip to Spain!!, and the wedding plans of course).

And then something else happened….. tee hee ;)

Such a spectacular night!!!

-Lauren

I’ve been a busy lady since arriving home. I unloaded my car, attempted to unpack, and eventually got way too overwhelmed. My mom and her fiance went to their ballroom class and instead of being productive unpacking, I had them drop me off at the gym. I ran 2.5 miles at night [...]]]> Posted by Nicole

I’ve been a busy lady since arriving home. I unloaded my car, attempted to unpack, and eventually got way too overwhelmed. My mom and her fiance went to their ballroom class and instead of being productive unpacking, I had them drop me off at the gym. I ran 2.5 miles at night and did 3.5 in the morning so it was a pretty good running day.

After only six hours of sleep, I was up early because I had work plans for the day. It was “take your sister to work day” as Lauren called it. I helped clean up some data and actually got a lot of work done considering I was a measly 4 feet from my best friend!

We went out for lunch downtown on Castro Street. There are so many good lunch options, but we decided on Morocco’s Restaurant. Apparently the restaurant has belly-dancers, but there weren’t any during lunch to entertain us.

The inside of the restaurant is like a big circus tent.  Pretty cool! Don’t mind Lauren’s creeper face…

We both got the lunch time special. She ordered the signature lentil salad, kefta meatballs, and 3-step steamed couscous.

I ordered the anise bread, vegetarian tagine, and signature lentil salad. The cold lentils were surprisingly good, but overall the food was like a 6/10.

Then we worked for a couple more hours and instead of an afternoon nap, we had afternoon cake.

It was a really fun and productive day! It’s good to be home.

- Nicole

The semester is over… at least until finals!

My marketing final on Wednesday went well, but I still have 3 more to take on May 14th. Until then, I have study days. Because of this 10 day break in my schedule, I decided to move home for summer and then come back [...]]]> Posted by Nicole

The semester is over… at least until finals!

My marketing final on Wednesday went well, but I still have 3 more to take on May 14th. Until then, I have study days. Because of this 10 day break in my schedule, I decided to move home for summer and then come back for exams.  It’s basically a pre-summer tease, but minus the fun and plus the nonstop studying.

Before heading home, I made sure to have one good last workout with a friend.

{old pic from partner circuit sesh with the sis}

Nika and I spent some time on the treadmills (ran 1.5 miles) and then did three sets of a fun partner circuit workout:

• 20 plie squats with upright row (15#) – like this
• 15 pushups
• 20 bentover tricep extension – like this
• 15 partner leg throws – like this

The leg throws reminded me of my high school dance days – I was never a fan of those! We finished up with a few planks, regular/side crunches, and bicycle crunches.

I mentioned a random frozen yogurt craving during a plank and we decided it was only necessary to “TREAT YOSELF.” So much for that whole healthy May thing…

I kept it light with fruit even though the mini Nutter Butters and cookie dough bites were callin’ to me. Then I forced Nika to get in weight workout number 2 — loading up my car! Officially 95% of my apartment stuff junk  was moved into my car… it was tiring. All the hard work didn’t go unnoticed though, I paid her with the leftover food from my fridge and pantry.

The randomest assortment: fruit, milk, butternut squash soup, and pickles. I’ve had those pickles for weeeeeeeks. I’m happy to pass them along.

The plan for tomorrow is to wake up early for a morning workout (haven’t had one of those in a while) and then drive home after class. If all goes accordingly, I should be home around 7. Time to update the phone with some new music to entertain me during the six hour drive!

- Nicole