Yay For Christmas Time!

I just LOVE Christmas Time! If it were up to me, I would have our tree up the day after Halloween. I think Thanksgiving and Christmas go hand in hand, right? I guess Dan would be embarrassed or something, so we waited until after Thanksgiving this year to decorate our beloved Christmas tree. On December 1st, Dan and I turned on the Pandora Christmas station, sipped eggnog and hung up our Christmas decorations. And then we wrapped ourselves in blankets and watched the Grinch {Dan's all-time favorite}. Now why can't we celebrate Christmas year round? I love this fun stuff.

^^^ Dan cut a wafer from our Christmas tree trunk last year and I made into an ornament so we could always have a little piece of our first Christmas from 2012. {Just let the wafer dry for a few months and use a soldering iron to burn words or a design into the wood -- super easy}.

^^^We found some snow on a hot chocolate walk with friends! The church around the corner made snow for us to play in...I mean the kids, for the kids to play in.

^^^I tried my hand at making snowflakes out of coffee filters. Pretty cool huh?

^^^ A Christmas Wreath Party with neighbors. We all brought our own wreaths and decorated them together while listening to Christmas music and drinking pomegranate mojitos! My kind of party :)

^^^ The finished product!

Our First Married Valentine's Day + Happy 6 Months Danny

On Feb 14th I came home from work and this Rico Suave was in the backyard...very smooth Dan. I love it. He made me crab stuffed lobster, grilled veggies and garlic mashed potatoes. For dessert we had chocolate ganache cake with blueberries and wine. Oh how I love you Danny. Happy, happy Valentine's Day my love.

 

 

 goober^

 

Speaking of LOVE, today {Feb 25} is our 6 month anniversary of our first year married! I know, I know...I'm one of those people that counts the months. Actually, Dan was the one who ever so kindly reminded me of the 1/2 way mark. Too cute, my hub is better at keeping track than I am!

 

I Love You Danny.

Time flies by when we're having fun. I can't believe it has already been 6 months. You're the apple of my eye. I love you with all of my heart and I am grateful for everyday we're together. You truly are the best.

 

Pictures: 1-3 A Bit Of Bees Knees, Picture 4 By GusandLula

Ahi Poke

Dan made some awesome Ahi Poke the other day. He tried to make it taste just like our fav from Bear Flag...he came pretty close!

Ingredients:

4 cups of Ahi (fresh sashimi grade)

1 cup of soy sauce

2 tablespoons of sesame oil

1 cup of sweet onion (diced)

1/2 cup of green onion a.k.a. scallions (diced)

1 clove of Garlic, (finely minced or pressed)

1 teaspoon white sesame seeds

Salt (Sea salt or Kosher)

Pepper

Directions:

Clean your fresh Ahi Tuna and slice it into 1 inch cubes. Mix the soy sauce, sesame oil, onion, scallions and garlic in a bowl. Add the Ahi Tuna. Finish by sprinkling with sesame seeds, slat and pepper.

20 Ideas For An Awesome Date

Sometimes our dates are few and far between -- life is busy and we work 40-45 hours a week on, but when Friday night rolls around, we do our best to find something fun to do! Dan and I went to dinner at Embarcadero the other night. I was so stoked to get dressed up and have a nice dinner with my love.

We shared some dungeness crab cakes and a seared ahi tuna roll, with edamame, haas avocados, mango-papaya chutney with a ginger-soy reduction. Dan had a Filet Mignon with Grilled broccolini, lobster mashed potatoes and a zinfandel demi-glace. I had a New Zealand lamb rack with the best creamy basil-thyme polenta, baby zucchini a zesty garlic-oregano drizzle. Ooooooh my gosh. Best food baby ever.

After our amazing meal he swept me off to the mountains for the first snow of the year.
Dan is the best.

Here are some date ideas that we are fond of...good for  newbies or veterans.

 

 

1. Hot Groupon Dates (as the one above)! Pick a new restaurant on Groupon...half the price and amazing food!
2. Go on a hike (drive out to a local hiking area or research a new spot. Don't forget to pack a lunch)
3. Beach Day -- grab your boards and head to the beach.
4. Go out to breakfast -- start your day off right.
5. Go for an evening walk with hot chocolate or coffee in-hand. It's nice to slowdown and have a  good conversation while taking a stroll.
6. Wii game night. Invite your friends over and have a competition
7. $1 movie theater (they play reruns for cheap! Check to see if you have one near you)
8. Try a new ethnic restaurant...something different.
9. Hit the city. Sometimes we'll drive out to LA for some fun. Where is your largest city?
10. Take a cooking class together
11. Taco Tuesdays
12. Krav Mega lessons (Dan and I took a complimentary martial arts class once...Daniel got paired with this giant of a man named Mammal. What!? It was pretty funny to watch him defend himself. Haha.)
13.Sky Divining. If you dare
14. Camping
15. Thrift Store Shopping
16. Farmers Market for fresh fruits, veggies, cheese and bread
17. Bowling with your buds. Beer, Pizza and an embarrassing lack of bowling skills.
18. A mountain weekend trip...Drive to your local mountains and rent a cabin
19. A Duffy Ride (for those of you who live near a bay or harbor). Fun little boats to putz around in.
20. Cocktails and pictionary night with a few friends.

We Are Back!

After a loooooong glorious honeymoon, a few weeks of writing thank you notes and getting settled in, I am more than ready to catch up with A Bit Of Bees Knees. Oh how I've missed you!

Danny and I had a wonderful wedding -- the best day of our lives, filled with love, family, friends and good times. I am so excited to share some pictures with you over the next few months.

 I kept a journal with me while we were honeymooning in Europe and jotted down all the fun things we encountered...from the lemon ice in Positano,  to fabulous recipes, must see sights and some swanky European fashion ideas. I'm bursting with fun stories and a bazillion pictures to share with you. 10 countries and 17 cities in 30 days. What a whirlwind!

 

Our Engagement Pictures

Sailing And A Flying Jetpack! Sayyy Whaaa?

Daniel and I finally took a sailing class! We can now officially sail (somewhat) on our own! Yay! Here are some pictures of our 5 week class and all the fun things we learned. I can proudly say that we never capsized and we kept the yelling at eachother to a healthy minimal level. Ha-ha.

B-"No that's not how you do it!"
D-"Yes it is!"
B-"We're gonna tip!"
D-"Chilax "
B-"Arrrghhhh!"

but seriously, we had a blast.
and
Ahem...we were the best in the class.

Some basic knots we used in sailing

             Cleat Hitch                           Round turn and 2 half hitches

Clove Hitch

Figure Eight                                        Bowline

Square

Dan looking handsome

One of our many yachts...ha-ha



We sailed by this this guy that was wearing some kind of water jet suit! Blew my mind...

I researched it later and found out it's called a Jetlev Jetpack.

 

That was fun. What shall we try next Dan?

Love you.

Our Weekend Trip to Catalina Island

On our way! Mmmm gold fish.

We took the Flyer from Newport at 8:00 and arrived in Avalon 2 hours later.

The Catalina Island Casino Ballroom opened to the public in 1929. The entire top floor of the grand casino has the largest circular wooden dance floor in the world.

 Dany, Evan and Daniel

Avalon is a car free city...golf carts rule the streets. Specially licensed vehicles are allowed to travel the interior of the island, where 200 buffalo roam. Too cool.

Even big company's have to downsize on the island. I think they're cute.

Good morning!

Nice Tinkerbell towel Dan. It looks good on you.