Caprese Pasta Salad

Hi you guys!

Remember how I watch AprilJustinTV? I love April and Justin and luckily April has a cooking channel I can learn some stuff from! She has an old video on how to make caprese pasta salad and I came across it the other day. Since it's summer I need to find easy recipes so I can cook for the family. Seemed simple enough for me to make and voila!

Cooked the pasta, blended up some pesto, sliced the cherry tomatoes, and balled up some fresh mozzarella cheese. Put it all in a bowl, mix it up, chill it in the fridge and you got yourself a meal!

I changed up the recipe a bit because it tasted too peppery and I hadn't even added any pepper! I took a chance and added a bit of sugar to it. I think it was pretty good. Next time I should add more cheese though.




Made for a surprisingly fresh, light summer meal!

ALG

Gifts & Griefs

Hola,

Let's start with the gifts part of this post. I don't like getting a ton of cards and gifts for my birthday so this was a nice amount. The main gift was my new iPad Air. Got a tin of one of my fav cookies, spending money, a Lush gift card, etc. My aunt got me a cut of soap from Lush!! I haven't had the chance to go to Lush in weeks, but I think I am still kind of obsessed with the store!

Schatzi got me my very own special S'well bottle! Can't say it'd be the first design I'd have chosen, but after hearing his thought behind it, I love it. He said because I won't get my ocean view from the dorm next year he thought I could use a little blue in my room. Isn't that thoughtful? Now I can carry my water with me and not worry about the condensation or needing to add more ice. The bottle is specially designed to keep liquid cool for 24 hours or hot for 12! Pretty cool huh? (Think that's one of the first things Schatzi said to me when he showed me his bottle lol) The box in the bottom corner of the top photo was also from my Schatzi. He's so funny. Before I got to open my gifts he made sure I would open his last. Figured it was for the iPad because of his reaction the night before at the pool. He was surprised I hadn't gotten my iPad yet.

You guys see the duct tape bag in the top photo? My cousin happens to be super crafty and made it! Not only did she made that bag decorated with a bow and a peace sign charm, she made a bunch of intricate items too! She made me a bow ring, a balloon tied to a letter, a ball, a snake, and an awesome hand sanitizer case with a candy charm! Each item has my favorite color too! The funny thing is that I had forgotten that she emailed me a week or two prior to ask me what my favorite colors were . . . I told her I liked teal and green. I'd have never though to make any of these. She's so creative!

Now on to the griefs aspect. Normally introducing a boyfriend or girlfriend to the family can be a bit interesting right? Well Schatzi is very different that my past high school boyfriends. Not in a bad way! Introducing him to the family didn't go terrible, yet can't say it went great. My grandparents are far from fond of his/our mode of transportation. That starter the evening off not so well, but by the end of the night they cooled off. I think it's safe to say that the rest of the family likes him! While we are on the topic of family . . . I get to meet his family next week! Super excited about it! Only get to be up there for 3 whole days, but still better than nothing right?

 ALG

Bday Celebration With Family

Hey guys,

Yes, this is one of the last bday posts.






If you are wondering why there are so many bday celebrations it's because the four of us, mom, dad, brother, and I celebrate by going out and do gifts at home. Then the whole family, well all 12ish of us go out to eat then come back here for gifts and cake. Dad is in charge of the decorations. This year it was minion themed!! I thought they were adorable.

A while back I asked Schatzi if he would bake me a funfetti cake for my birthday. Of course he said yes right? After a lot of drama on my part, this was the finished product. I was thinking he should have put the candles in a semicircle around the back of the minion decoration, but he said he wanted to have them random so they would be harder to blow out all at once. Maybe not the word most people would use to describe a funfetti cake, but I thought it was beautiful. Thank you for taking the time and effort to bake it for me Schatzi.

There's the work of art again next to my brother's cake. I love how the minions look like they are cheering us on!

You may not know this about me, unless you lived in the dorm with me and happened to be there that day (Bob, Sarah, you guys know what I'm talkn bout). I hate the Happy Birthday song. Not exactly sure why. Could be because it's so "happy" or maybe because I don't like how annoying it sounds. So for once, this year they didn't sing it! I was surprised to be honest.

My brother blew his candles out first. He blew out all but one of his, yet he managed to blow out one of mine! So I blew out his last one real quick and in a breath blew out the rest of mine!

Just had some more of the leftover funfetti cake. So yummy!

ALG

Moved OUT

Hi again,

Last Friday I had my last final, chem, from 3-6pm. When I finished I made a trip to the market with Bob then headed to the dorm to pack up my stuff. Here's a handful of photos that sum up the packing experience. Lucky for me Schatzi agreed a long time ago to assist me in packing. With his help we were done in 3ish hours.

Now that I've been home for a week feels like something is off. Talked to Sarah today and think she agrees. It's weird waking up in the morning and not having someone sleeping above you, a living room full of trash, and a bathroom full of girls. These all may sound like negative things, and they may be, but either way I miss em. Feels a little lonely staying up til 3am alone. Not having someone there telling you all their latest gossip stories. Guess there's next year!

ALG

Catalina Island Day Trip!

Hi guys,

Yesterday was my brother's birthday and we took a day trip to Catalina Island! First time planning anything like this, but I'd say it was pretty successful. Left home around 7:30 and arrived in Long Beach at 8:40 to catch the Catalina Express at 10 am.

Catalina Express gives free rides for bday people, but didn't know he would be getting a cute bday ribbon! Made him wear it for a few pictures then pinned it to his backpack.




Here's the big boat! He's so funny. He was like it looks like the boat is missing something. The water was green!!! Eww!


Since I upgraded us, we got to sit in the Commodore Lounge and get a drink and snack!

The original plan was to get on the island, grab a bite to eat, snorkel the day away. That didn't happen though. We were reading the list of things to do if it's your bday and we saw the parasailing deals. Yes we went! As you can see here, we signed up for the 600 foot flight! Luckily he was free because it was his bday! Yay for bday deals!

It was amazing! So beautiful looking down at the water, island, sky from so high up. The parachute alone was so bright and colorful! Not us in this picture by the way.






Here we are. Those little specks up there! Cool huh? It's so peaceful up there. Had about 10-15 minutes up in the air.

Before we got off the boat I saw this funny sign!












After that we decided it was time to snorkel!! We didn't wana bother with the underwater cameras so we don't have many photos to show you guys. Sorry! This is the spot we went to though. See the tip of the rock on the left? We swam all the way over there! I think there were more fish this time compared to when I went 5 years ago? I went with some of my 8th grade class. I forgot how enjoyable it is to just float in the water and watch the fishies. If you guys haven't been snorkeling before you MUST try it!


After an hour and a half of snorkeling we stopped for dinner. Bday boy was hungry so we walked the whole city for a place to eat. Decided to sit down at a burger stand. It's funny because I realized that my brother and I were eating almost the same thing. Except his had a patty, onions, and cheese! I never thought to put a BLT on a wheat hamburger bun! Simple quiet dinner looking out into the harbor.




In the bday brochure we saw he could get a free scoop of ice cream! They gave huge scoops! Guess who's is who's! Fed a huge piece of cone to a little brown bird. "Obese bird in the making!"

Eating ice cream can make you thirsty so I asked my bro for some water. It was hilarious! He pulls the bottle from his bag and water goes EVERYWHERE! Apparently I didn't put the cap all the way after dinner. The funny thing is that in that specific part of his bag he had everything in bags or containers! Reminded me of the time my water spilled in my bag after that chem quiz except he was lucky . . .

Here's a not so great picture of the pier.
Wonder why they call it the green pier?

out tickets!

Tried to take a photo of the guy showing us all how to put on our life vest/flotation device and guess he knew I was photographing him.




Great day. I hope you enjoyed your birthday! It was nice and different being able to spend quality time together :)

ALG

The Bullet!

Hey,

The other day, just the four of us and the baby sat down for bday gifts. Mine are on the left and bro's are on the right.

Ate my M&M's that night lol I have been waiting for this Magic Bullet for months! Washed the parts that evening so I could use it in the morning. The book I feel like Bob & Sarah will get a kick out of. Hopefully I remember to take it to school next year! The triangle is a silicon musubi holder! Adorable right? Last item is the t-shirt from my brother. It's so perfect! Says "The Sarcasm Is Strong With This One" May possibly be my new favorite shirt!

That's my brother attempting to read his manual for his new alarm clock iphone dock thingie. Looks like he's on a road trip reading a huge map no?

Got to use the Bullet and I love it! I think it will come in handy a lot this summer!

ALG

Red Robin Bdays Dinner

Morning!

Have to make this quick. The family, four of us, went to dinner Tuesday night to celebrate my brother's and my birthdays. A little game for you guys! The four of us can't participate!! Guess in the comments below who ate what!

ALG