We kicked off our weekend celebrating our anniversary on Friday. It was a very low key day since Dave and I decided we want to take a tropical vacation in the next few weeks/months instead of going all out on the actual day. But we still had a great time celebrating!

First up, we took our daily walk down to the meadow. Bondi has been obsessed with the mud lately and has been making a beeline right for it. She also decided to jump in the pond to swim after the ducks! Needless to say she's ended up having more baths in the last week than in the past year!

Since our first anniversary is considered the "paper" anniversary, Dave's mom gave us some Elephant Poo Poo Paper! Such a fun and clever present, and very fitting for the "paper" anniversary! Have you seen this stationary before? Can't wait to use it!

For dinner, we went to The Chart House. The view from the dining room is pretty spectacular and luckily we were seated just in time for sunset. Although I'm not a huge fan that they print their menus daily with their specials (big waste of paper!), it was really fun that they had our anniversary printed on the top of the menu! The service we excellent and the food was amazing. I highly recommend the New Wave Surf and Turf with short ribs, scallops and mashed potatoes -- some of my favorite foods!

When we got home we opened up one of our last bottles of Ernest Hill and ate the other half of the chili chocolate bar from Mexico. Note to self, keep chocolate in the freezer and not the fridge when you want to save it for a year. :)

The rest of the weekend was spent working in the yard, raking pine needles and clearing out bushes. We're getting ready to put in a small stream, waterfall, and pond in over the next few weeks (depending on the snowfall this week). I'll be sharing photos of that project soon!

How did you spend your weekend?

Our 5/1 Anniversary!

It's hard to believe that it has been a full year since we finally tied the knot! This is an extra special anniversary because we're celebrating 5 years together (along with our 1 year of marriage). All of our special anniversaries fall on the same day which make it very easy to remember -- 321.

Since we were married in Mexico and didn't have a wedding cake, I picked up some spicy Mexican chocolate that we ate part of as soon as we were back home in Tahoe after the wedding. I've been saving the rest of the bar for the past year and so we'll finish that off tomorrow instead of the top of a cake. We also have some special wine from Ernst Hill, one of my favorite vineyards in Australia, and I believe we are down to our last two bottles! We picked up a case on our 1 year anniversary and have finally worked our way through it, mostly saving them for special occasions.

To celebrate this occasion, here are some photos of us from each year we've been together!

Our first vacation! Western Australia -- April 2009
Yes, this was only a few weeks after we started dating!

Hanging with some local wildlife in Sydney -- April 2010 

Soaring! Celebrating our 2 year anniversary a few months late. October 2011

We're engaged! Our 3 year anniversary at Heavenly March 21, 2012

We're married on our 4th anniversary -- March 21, 2013

Here's to many more anniversaries as a push-me-pull-you couple. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Time to celebrate!

The "Jessica" Sales Cycle

So last night I had probably one of the funnier and yet more embarrassing "idiot" moments in a long time. I've been selling a bunch of my old DVDs through a local Facebook group called Upcycle. It's like Craigslist but on Facebook. Anyways, a girl came over last night around 8:45pm to pick up some of the movies, and this is what ended up happening...

Girl: I'll take 2 of the boxed TV series and 1 DVD.

...total comes to $11 and she hands me $11...

Me: Oh, let me give you $5 change!

...I hand her $5 for no reason...

...she walks out the door...

...I realize my mistake and run after her...

Me: I'm so sorry but the total was actually $11 so I should not have given you change.  

Can I please have my $5 back?

...she says no problem, hands me the $5, and drives away...

...I come back inside and put the cash in my wallet when I realize that the $10 bill is missing...

...I frantically search everywhere, looking for the $10 bill, and I can't find it....anywhere...

Dave: Did you accidentally hand her the $10 back?

...he starts laughing hysterically...

Me: I can't remember! I have no idea but I guess so! OMG I gave her back her money!

...Yup, I apparently decided to give her her original $10 bill when I got my $5 back from her...

...Frantically begin texting her telling her my mistake...

...Thank goodness for nice people! She drove back and gave me the $10...

...So I gave her another DVD for free...

Cannot. believe. this. actually. happened.

As Dave described it:

The "Jessica" Sales Cycle

Stage 1 -- Exchange Goods for Money

Stage 2 -- Return half the funds as 'change' without reason

Stage 3 -- Attempt to remedy Stage 2, but instead return all funds to buyer

Stage 4 -- Fail

Fashion: Wedding Attire Options

As I was looking through our calendar for this coming summer, I realized that we've been invited to 5 weddings! Apparently 2014 is turning out to be a popular year.  The weddings are a complete range of styles/dress codes too. I figured I should start looking for some possible dresses to wear. Shopping is rather limited in Tahoe with the closest "real" mall an hour away in Reno or two hours away in Sacramento, so I usually buy online to save time. Here are some of my favorites that I've found so far.

ModCloth

This is my favorite dress so far -- it just looks so fun and fancy! I think it would fit for any of the ceremony types too!

ModCloth

I think this dress is so fun! This would be perfect for some of the dressier/evening weddings.

Nordstrom

This is a great dress for a more casual outdoor wedding. I also love the color!

Nordstrom

This is a fun dress and I like the subtle high/low hem. It is also one that I think would be perfect for either a day or nighttime wedding. Will keep you posted on what I end up finding! Open to suggestions too if you know of some cute new styles out there.

Weekend Recap!

This weekend turned out to be a rather warm one here in the mountains with temps in the upper 50s! Certainly has not been much of a winter out here in Tahoe unfortunately, but we weren't complaining about the warm weather this weekend.  We've been grilling almost every night for dinner which has been really nice (and tasty!).

Thai Shrimp and Quinoa!

We tried a new thai shrimp and quinoa recipe that turned out delicious and I'll share later this week. We also spent some time with our friends over at Schue Love enjoying the beautiful weather with a leisurely walk down to the beach and then enjoyed lunch at our favorite spot at Edgewood.

Love this view!

The weather was SO nice this weekend that we even grilled some tasty sausages on Sunday and sat out on our deck enjoying lunch and the sunshine! Bondi was a happy camper sunning herself on the deck.

I also completed my first FULL week of eating gluten free! After cooking in all week we decided to order a gluten free pizza from our favorite local spot.  Unfortunately gluten free crust only comes in small or medium sizes and not a large pizza which was a bummer.  They also charge an additional $3 to make it gluten free.  I don't think we'll order pizza too often because of it, but the good news was that it turned out really delicious! I couldn't tell the difference other than the thinner crust so yay!

I also experimented with some gluten free baking and decided to tackle the classic Chocolate Chip Cookie. I figured that this cookie would be the true test to gluten free baking -- if I could make it taste as good as the original than I would be sold on giving up wheat flour.

Well I'm happy to report they were a big success! I'll be sharing my gluten free high altitude version tomorrow so check back! Hope everyone's week is off to a good start!

PS -- help one of my clients, Getaway Reno/Tahoe, by voting in this poll here.

1 year anniversary

In the midst of preparing my taxes, I realized that my business turns a year old today! YAY!!!!! Thank you to everyone who's supported me over the last year -- especially Dave who gave me the big push I needed to get this business started!

I'm so excited to hit this milestone. It has definitely been work but it has been so nice being able to work from home, set my own hours, and have control over my own business. Given everything that happened last year as well it was nice to have something that was so incredible flexible and allowed me to be everywhere I needed to be while still working. 

We'll see what Year 2 has in store, but I have high hopes for it! Don't forget, if you know someone that is need of some marketing whether it's social media, reputation management, press releases, promotions, etc, please send them my way! :)

If you haven't done so yet, visit my website too at zephyrcoveconsulting.com!

Tahoe Casual

I've recently discovered Polyvore (I know, I'm late to the party on this one) but I really love it! You can "clip" and create all sorts of different collage boards!

I had some fun the other day putting this outfit together. I thought it was a perfect casual outfit for Tahoe. I may need to buy that sweater... I just love the duck!

What do you think of the collection? Any other items you'd pair with it?

Tahoe Casual 
sweater // jeans // boots // clutch // necklace

Weekend Recap

It's Monday! (You can take that with excitement or dread depending on how you feel about Mondays...)

It was a fairly low-key weekend for us as we didn't have anyone from our ski lease come up to use the house for the holiday weekend since passes were blacked out. It was so quiet!  The weather is also still confused on whether its supposed to be winter or summer, with rain instead of snow at our house. So we decided to skip on skiing.

We never do very much for Valentine's Day each year since our anniversary is only a month later, but we did do a little something to celebrate.  I made Dave an awesome, decorated, handmade card, and he brought home some gorgeous pink tulips -- my favorite!

He also surprised me with my all time favorite dinner that he cooks -- Seared Ahi Tuna! It's marinated in orange juice, soy sauce and cilantro and he adds a macadamia nut crust. Delicious! If you're in Tahoe and need some fresh fish, we highly recommend Overland Meat & Seafood Co. They get fresh fish delivered every Friday straight from Hawaii. They also have a wide selection of organic, grass fed and free range meats.

We also opened a bottle out of our special case of wine from Ernest Hill Wines. This winery was a favorite of mine when we lived in Australia so we joined our wine club.  Before we moved back to the States, we picked up a full case of wine that we've been working our way through over the last 4 years on special occasions.  Unfortunately, the 2008 'Dam' Merlot (the only merlot I've found I actually like) had already turned bad. Damn! Dave thinks it may have been seal fail that caused it, but talk about a disappointment! We decided to open the 2009 of the same name to see if that was any better.  Luckily it wasn't a complete fail, but it was definitely past it's prime and needed quite a bit of time to open up -- like 24hrs... We ended up drinking a bottle from Safeway that was much better although rather ordinary.  Fingers crossed the last 3 bottles we have hold up one more month till our anniversary!

We also enjoyed the beautiful weather with a walk down to the beach (yes the beach in February!).  Other than that, it was quite the low-key weekend with plenty of time spent in front of the fire catching up on HBO and Netflix. So excited that House of Cards is back!

How did you spend your long holiday weekend? 

Recent Ramblings

It's been a fairly quiet week here at the Schnolls.  We're anxiously awaiting some snow here in Tahoe. Unfortunately the last snow we received was the day we flew to Minneapolis which was at the very beginning of December. While the warm, 50 degree sunny weather every day has been nice, it's supposed to be the middle of winter with lots of white fluffy snow everywhere!  So since we can't spend all of our free time skiing fresh snow, I've found a few other items to keep me busy this week.

I finally put together our wedding photo album from Mexico - yay! Gotta love Mixbook!

Discovered the show Scandal on Netflix and now I'm obsessed. Officially binge watching the series!

Dave and I also were turned on to the series Big Love, definitely an odd show but we're liking it!

I've also been cooking some new and old favorite recipes this week too! Everything from Sesame Noodles, Tortellini with mushrooms/spinach/sundried tomatoes, etc, Red Curry with chicken, and Grilled Chicken with Quinoa. I'll share some of these delicious recipes soon! :)  And on that note, I'm still not sure what to cook for dinner tonight! Any suggestions?

A Relaxing Weekend and Homemade Gourmet Hot Pockets

This weekend was a nice and relaxing way to kick off the new year. On Friday we headed out to dinner in Incline Village with Dave's mom, sister, and her boyfriend. One of our favorite restaurants, Bite is located in Incline and it's always a good time when we have an excuse to go there for dinner. It's an American tapas restaurant that is very innovative with fun twists on classic dishes. Some of my favorites include the Ahi Sliders, Moroccan Spiced Lamb Meatballs, Pan Seared Sea Scallops, and the Prawn Wontons... it's just all so tasty!

Not a bad view from Heavenly!

We also had some of our ski lease friends up this weekend, so on Saturday we had a fantastic day hanging with them. We hit the slopes at Heavenly for a few hours, and then had a delicious lunch of homemade gourmet hot pockets, jumped in the hot tub, napped, watched Rush, and cooked some amazing spicy burgers for dinner and enjoyed time with some awesome friends. Definitely a great weekend to kick off the new year.

Now on to these delicious hot pockets! These are so much better than the frozen kind you find at the store, and the best part is you can customize them to fit your taste buds! You can also make them as large or small as you want, which makes it great for satisfying your whole family. We've already made these 3 times in the past week!

Gourmet Hot Pockets (serves 2 adults)
You'll need:
- 1 package crescent rolls (each additional package makes 2 large hot pockets).
- Mesquite Turkey deli meat
- Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
- Pesto
- Sun-dried Tomatoes
- Garlic Salt
- Paprika
- Parmesan Cheese

You can change up any of the filling ingredients to fit your preferences. Dave likes to make his with hot habanero cheese, turkey, and mushrooms!

1) Preheat the oven to Bake at 375 degrees F.

2) Open up the package of crescent rolls. They come perforated to make 8 dinner rolls. You'll want to separate the sheet into quarters, consisting of 2 rolls. Using your fingers, gently smooth the perforation out and blend the dough together.

3) Add in the filling! Start with a thin layer of pesto, and make sure to leave room around all of the edges to seal it. Next, add your cheese, then turkey, and top with some sun-dried tomatoes!

4) Take another quarter that has the perforation smoothed out, and place over the top of the filling. Then starting folding the bottom dough up and over the top piece around all of the sides, using your fingers to help smooth out the dough. You want to avoid any holes and gaps so that the goodies don't leak out while baking.

5) Sprinkle a bit of paprika, garlic salt, and parmesan cheese on top.

6) Place on a non-stick cookie sheet, and bake for approx. 12 to 15mins. Keep an eye on it as it is baking. You want it to turn a nice golden brown.

7) Enjoy!

New Year's Resolutions

Since it's a new year, it's time for some New Year's Resolutions!  This year I've decided to try and stick to the following items:

1) Stop watching reality TV. This will be a tough one.  I am a sucker for reality TV from the Real Housewives, to The Bachelor, even Dance Moms!  You name it and I'll pretty much watch it. It's my guilty pleasure. But, it's about time I gave it up since it's just mindless junk.

2) Cook 1 new recipe per week.  It can be easy to get in a bit of a slump and cook the same thing week after week. We cook dinner about 5-6 times per week, but usually rotate through the same handful of recipes. This resolution will also help improve my cooking skills!

Making a pumpkin pie from scratch at Thanksgiving!

3) Continue working out at least once per week. Last year I got into an excellent fitness routine and was working out a minimum of once a week, but closer to 3x per week. I even ran in my first 12k race! I want to make sure that routine continues through this year too.

12k at Burton Creek!

**Updated 1/3/14**
I forgot to add another very important resolution!

4) Spend less time on my phone. I want to spend less time sucked in to mindless browsing on my iPhone. I find myself spending way to much time each day reading, and re-reading the news and checking social networks every few minutes to see what's new. I want to make my time more purposeful. There are too many good things in life to continuously be sucked in to my phone.

What are some of your resolutions for 2014?