Chicken Pot Pie Oh My!

Sunday night dinner is somewhat of a haven in our house. It's the night Joe and I try to make something wonderful to eat... something so wonderful that it makes us forget that the weekend is over and tomorrow is Monday.

Tonight we made one of my favorites... Chicken Pot Pie. Warm, hearty comfort food that fills the belly and the soul. And if that weren't enough, Joe follows his mother's tradition of writing in the homemade crust. Tonight he wrote one for me...

"<3 JEN"

 Ain't he sweet?

Baked Golden Brown Crust

Dinner is served!

Joe says it looks like mush, but I say it looks like heaven in a salad bowl. Either way, we both agree it's delicious.

Soccer Practice

Joe and I have joined a coed soccer league in San Carlos that plays on Thursday nights. A friend of ours started a team and thankfully asked us to join! Joe and I both played in high school, but that was a LONG time ago and have only played in sporatic pick up games here and there ever since, so this should be interesting.

I've coached soccer in East Palo Alto for the past 4 years, but blowing a whistle and telling kids to run is entirely different than actually being on the field and playing. And after recovering from what seemed like the world's longest lasting cold, I've also been completely MIA from any sort of physical activity, much less running on a field for an hour and a half. Yesterday everyone got together for what will be our weekly soccer practice every Saturday for the season. I wouldn't say it was a complete embarrassment, but I've certainly got some work to do in the cardio department. I'm out of breathe just thinking about it.

This was after practice, tired but happy

Whitney is also playing on our team. For those that don't know, Whit has been my friend since we were 4 years old in pre-school at Sea Breeze. We've played AYSO soccer for over a decade together and I'm beyond excited that we're back at it :-)

Me and Whit

My soccer cleats from high school, a tad beat up

Soccer's the only sport I played in high school, and I have to say it's still my personal favorite. It's got to be the one and only thing that can motivate me to run for over an hour and forget how sore I feel. Hopefully this season goes well for us, but either way it's so amazing to be back out on the field.

Early Birds

Any of our friends could tell you, very honestly, that Joe and I are not late-nighters. We are almost always the first to leave during a night out at the bars with friends, and I'll admit I take responsibility for most of it. I'm just not a night owl anymore. It's almost impossible to believe that I used to stay up until 3am most nights in college. Then again, that would generally be followed up with sleeping in until noon. THIS is the one great thing about conking out so early at night... waking up earlier than everyone else in the world! OK, maybe not the world, but still. It's a pretty great feeling to wake up and have the whole day ahead of you.

Last night, after wrapping up the work week Joe and I passed out on the couch around 7:30 pm, possibly a new early record for us! SO, at the crack of 6am we woke up refreshed and ready to start our day! He had the great idea to see the sunrise up on the giant rock in the Redwood City hills, so off we went!

7am We made it up to the top! Good Morning SUN!

Jen Givens... QUEEN of the WORLD!!

This is Joe's Thoughtful pose

Not a terrible view of the Bay :)

After our little adventure we stopped at the store and picked up ingredients to make Huevos Rancheros for breakfast...

Breakfast! Flowers compliments of Mr. Wonderful

Perfect Saturday Morning? Check.

Chopping Onions

Tonight's menu included a roasted vegetable pasta ensemble... aka start slicing those veggies!!! Joe and I are attempting to eat a little healthier and curb some of that happy newlywed weight, so by adding a ridiculous amount of veggies (nearly calorie free) we can still stuff our faces without contributing to our tightening waistbands...

On that note... please allow me to show you the start of our cooking venture.

Cooking without wine is like walking without legs

$2 Chardonnay from Whole Foods... too sweet for Joe's taste, but I'm a huge fan. And at $2 a bottle, I have no guilt popping this bad boy on a weeknight! NOW we can get started on dinner!

As we started chopping (when I say "we" I mean "Joe" because I despise chopping onions, I cry enough on my own thank you very much!) I took a quick pic...

Whole Onion, No More

Apparently Joe screwed up. Onions were supposed to be sliced, but instead got chopped (but it all ends up tasting the same anyways doesn't it?!?) SO we went with it and decided now would be a good time to teach Jen how to properly chop an onion...

Slice Flat

Slice Down

Now Chop!

I know, I know... I was pretty amazed myself. I married a talented genius :-) Meanwhile, to prove that I was helping in the kitchen too, I snapped a shot of myself in action...

I'm Helping!!!

I know what you're thinking, My husband does all the work while I just sit back and drink wine. But that's not true. I ate the dinner too! :-D 

Some days life is good. Today is no exception.

Last Minute SLO Roadtrip!

Just got back from a last minute trip to San Luis Obispo with some of our very great friends: Lisa & Kev, Cary & Luke, Joe & Myself. We figured that it would be much easier, not to mention more FUN, to rent a vehicle to fit all six of us to travel in. Unfortunately a Limo was a tad beyond our budget, so we went with the next best thing... a Toyota Sienna Minivan!

Obligatory Group Prom Pose!!!

This bad boy sat 8.5 passengers (one spot for a car seat included) and had what we counted to be 14 cup holders. Why ANYONE would ever need 14 cup holders is beyond me. I'm already picturing the stereotypical soccer mom with plenty of cheerios to have to clean out of the car, why would they want to clean out 14 sunny-D drinks left in there too? But I digress...


We had a blast on the car ride, blasting everything from Lonely Island to Miley Cyrus to Nelly. Just around the time we were all losing our voices from singing along, we Paso Robles for our wine tasting events. One of the first spots had a sweet picnic area where we took over the place and chowed down.

While tasting at Tobin James Winery (my personal favorite because it looks like a saloon inside and everyone's super nice) I told Joe he could have ONE glass of wine. This is the glass he chose.

Yes, this is the man I married.

The day was perfect followed by a brewery visit, then a hotel check-in, and out on the town in SLO for some dinner and drinks. 

The next day, we woke up (some of us needed a little more nudging than others) and headed to Pismo for some beach air. It must have been 70 degrees out with a breeze and I had to keep reminding myself that it was the end of January and the rest of the country does not live like this. 

We finished off the trip by stopping back in SLO for some Firestone Grill Tri-Tip sandwiches. One of my favorite parts of visiting SLO, these things are killer. THEN we all loaded up back in the mini-van and headed home. All in all, it was a perfect spontaneous little getaway and we made some pretty great memories. I think I'll be smiling from this trip for a while :-)