She's Gone Country!

We had a thoroughly fun time at the Rascal Flats concert last night!  I believe the last concert that Daniel and I attended was Brad Paisley three years ago!  Our weekend turned into more surprises than we ever imagined.  Our first included this guy:

 

I got a phone call last week that Nathan was coming home for the weekend.  Nathan lives in D.C. and you can find out more here. He is our greatest friend, like another one of the LaFuzes.  It has been one year since he has been home and we are hoping that his trip back to SD convinced him to return soon!  On our way to dinner with Nathan's family Daniel surprised me with the concert!  Samuel had an extra ticket so we just needed to buy one more, and Daniel was fortunate enough to get his schedule changed to allow us to go.

 

These boys are amazing and we always have fun whenever we get together with them!

 

The concert was so good and it brought me back to the good ol' days of my mom and I blasting Shania Twain in the car on our way home from soccer or dance.  I guess country is just in my roots!

 

We sat in the lawn section and despite the distance we were still able to see and hear everything just fine!  Kelly Pickler opened up and then Rascal Flats rocked the stage. 

 

By the end of the night we were heal clicking and dancing our way back to the car.

 Hillary, Nathan's sister, and I used to dance together when we were much younger..I love that girl! 

 The concert hooked Daniel and I!  We can't wait to go to another one.   But, more importantly The LaFuzes had fun on the weekend!  I have been reminded lately to look at life through the successes you make instead of all of the failures.  Even my to-do list felt impossible for today, spending quality time with my husband and living life jump started my day and I have almost everything done!

Hello Fall?

I think that San Diego definitely has its seasons mixed up this year.  Currently it is a awful blissful 98 degrees outside.  It is fall right?  Our summer was very cool so all the warm weather must be catching up to us.  Well, despite the fact that I was truly looking forward to a delightful fall-fill weekend and got crazy heat instead, I still was very productive!

By the time Friday afternoon rolls around I am exhausted!  My days start when my alarm goes off at 4:45am and I'm at work by 7am ready for my cute little kidos.  The one thing that definitely keeps me going is my job- my students are so eager to learn and it is just fun!  All of the fun finally catches up to me Friday afternoons as I plop down on the couch and want to sleep for days.

Daniel caught me mid laugh while on the couch, and yes that is a TV remote in my hand...we got cable back.  Daniel is very excited that he gets to watch football finally and keep up on his fantasy football players.  I wasn't the only one lazing around though.  Daniel started early shifts last week and we all know that he is not friends with mornings, so he was ready for a cat nap with Minnie too.  We summered up some energy to go try a new burger place called The Lounge and LOVED it!  

This weekend was the first one in the past month and a half that I didn't have anything on my calendar.  I took the opportunity to get in the fall spirit with a fun trip to Home Goods after cleaning the whole house.  Keeping up with our condo and decorating it is not my forte, but I am definitely trying.

 I got these adorable napkins there, and these flowers are still blooming after one week!  All of the colors are beautiful and I definitely love fall!  While at Home Goods I came across some vases that I could use all year around, they were perfect basics for future decorations.

 I enlisted the help of my friend Colleen (she has a super cute place for all new holidays and has an eye for taste) and my Pottery Barn catalog.  She helped me find some cute fillers and it already went with some fillers I had at home.

 Our coffee table finally looks complete!  We used to have just one vase and then cups, mugs, and remotes would fill all of the empty space.  Now, it is nice and clean with a little decor.  I fulfilled my desire to bring a little "fall" into our place and felt super productive.

 My mom came over last night for dinner so I decided to make a dish that I love but is not one of Daniel's favorite.  I made polenta pizza for us and got into the baking mood so we decided to bake some zucchini chocolate chip bread.

 Our bread some super moist and delicious, you would never know that it had zucchini in it! 

 This morning I headed to the gym and tried our Body Pump for the first time.  It was definitely fun, a little challenging, but my arms are feeling it right now!  I came home ready for Pancake Sunday.  Daniel and I have made it a tradition lately to make pancakes Sunday morning, sip some coffee, and actually eat breakfast together!  I was still in the fall mood so I decided to spice them up a little bit...

 With the help of these ingredients Pumpkin Pancakes were a breeze and amazing! 

Pumpkin Pancakes:

(I halved the recipe on the box so that we didn't have leftovers.)
1 c. Trader Joes Multigrain Pancake Mix
1/2 c. Almond Milk
1 egg
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 c. pumpkin
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl together with a whisk, cook, and enjoy!

After this delicious breakfast I picked up the house some more, started tackling the laundry (it is still in progress : \ ), lesson planed, and did a little bit of organizing in our closet.

We're Alive!

I knew this would happen!  As soon as work officially started and life started getting busier, blogging would slowly die.  We are alive, having fun, working hard and balancing life.  Sadly, the LaFuze's haven't been able to do much together. Our work schedules don't coincide so we have been trying to spend any and all time together during the nights we are both home.  

Work is going great and Daniel just started a new position.  On top of work there is grad school and this is my life:

 
My lesson planner, tons of post it notes, and text books that (fortunately) are helping with my instruction.  The one thing I feel successful is our meal planning!  Cooking is my stress relief when I come home and I have been loving new recipes.  Last week was delicious chicken lettuce wraps with jicama, carrots, and bean sprouts on top...yummy!

Tonight was lemony salmon, roasted zucchini, and a quinoa salad:

My weekends have been very productive and a total self esteem booster.  I FINALLY finished all of our landry...washed, dried, folded, hung, and all put away!  That was a huge accomplishment in itself!  Grocery shopping is my favorite chore lately and I love coming home and doing this:

Trying to keep the peace between work, grad school, and chores has been easy by little touches that I can add to our house.  Our new spice candle is welcoming the fall, and these fresh daisies put a huge smile on my face when I walk in the door.

And, of course, great friends and celebrations definitely help out in balancing life!  You can never replace relationships with anything else!