April 2018 – The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

Whole30

Hi Friends! Hope you’re having a great weekend! The hubs and I started Whole30.

Basically you eliminate certain food groups in your diet for 30 days. We are entering our 2nd week and hopefully we’ll be successful! I totally miss my coffee creamer in the morning and my rice, while the hubs misses his milk consumption. I’m so impressed with him though because he hardly complains about missing his favorite drink, unlike me! HA. He just decided to join this with me for “moral support” haha! I’ve been thinking about doing this since February (since I got the whole30 book) and decided last week, to try the challenge and just do it!

Since starting this challenge, we’ve been to 5 grocery stores (not in the same day though)! Trader Joe’s, Safeway,Winco, PCC,Whole foods! I just want to make sure we have fresh produce always:) We both feel good and are looking forward to finishing this challenge. I’ve already had my meal plans this week. You have to prepare as much as you can so you will not be tempted to just give up when you’re in that “hangry” time of day!

Grocery Hauls from Trader Joe’s

Trader Joe’s again! They do have a lot of whole30 complaint products!

I’m tired of prosciutto this week, so I’m happy we found a sugar free bacon at PCC! expensive but its really good!

Some of the meals we had during our week 1:

Chicken Adobo with mashed sweet potato (recipe from the whole30 fast and easy cookbook). We really liked this one,and will make this again.

brunch:eggs,prosciutto,salsa,plantain chips

roasted sweet potatoes, grilled shrimp and pineapple,grilled steak

chicken wings (clarified butter,franks hot sauce)

The fresh guacamole and grilled skirt steak was such an amazing combination!

Happy Birthday!

Hello Friends! How’s your week going? I’m still battling a cough and I’m so over it! UGH! Anyways, last week we celebrated my Dad In law’s birthday at home with a fondue (on his actual bday), but we also had a dinner at Maggiano’s Little Italy restaurant.

The Hubs made the fondue, Wisconsin Trio Fondue and it was so good! Thanks for doing all of the work, Ga. We also had crab cakes and shrimps. We used this fondue set we’ve had for 8 years now and it’s been worth it! YUM!

Love celebrating our Grandpa Phil! He’s such a special guy. So good to me and my little family! Happy Birthday to my DIL!

Weekend Fun!

Hello Family and friends! I hope your weekend was a great one! Mia and I are having colds, nothing serious though as we are still functioning normally! Our pediatrician checked her earlier and said it’s just one of those days. We are taking it easy here.

We had dinner and hung out with our friends last Friday night! It’s always fun whenever we see them. Mia had a great time also.

Lots of cuddle time and had lunch at a local restaurant!

Our new refrigerator is finally here and we love it! Especially the Hubs! I’ve caught him having a giddy face every time he’s in the kitchen! HA!

We saved up and were able to pay for it with cash.. #saving#winning! So I plan to be in a “saving” mood these coming weeks, months! Unfortunately, I failed miserably this weekend because — TAKEOUT! UGH!!

I’m still within our monthly budget though, so all is good!????????

I hope your week is better than ours! With the colds going on here I’m totally feeling like:

Shrimp and Grits!

Hello friends! How are you all doing? I was watching Food Network/Pioneer Woman where she was cooking 16 minute meal/fast meals! She did her “speedy shrimp and grits“. It looked so simple and I had all of the ingredients in my pantry/freezer. I was inspired to cook it but to be honest it took more than 16 minutes when I did it! HA! It was worth it though because the family enjoyed it.

We’ll be adding this one to my recipe book for sure!

Anniversary Weekend!

Hi Family and Friends! The Hubs and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary this weekend! We had a simple celebration (movie and sushi), but we plan to do something nice this summer. After our Philippine trip just 3 weeks ago, I personally have no desire to be on a plane somewhere this week. I need time to recover!HA!

We had a little lunch celebration with Mia at one of the local restaurants near our place:

Happy Anniversary Ga! He’s giving his eyes a break from contact lens, thus the glasses!

Saturday night My In laws offered to babysit Mia while we watched the movie “I can only Imagine”, such a good movie! If you have the chance to watch it, you should. Great story about forgiveness and redemption, even if you’re a non-believer, I think you can appreciate the story! We had sushi after the movie! Looks like we ordered too much!

The hubs and I decided not to give “BIG” gifts this anniversary because we are getting a new refrigerator that will arrive this coming Tuesday. I’m so excited to have a new fridge! Our current one is acting up,and we think it’s worth it to get a new one! But my Hubs was nice enough to still give me some of my “wish list” on the Lenox site!HA..Thanks Hubs!

Got these angel figurines! I have them in the kitchen.

I plan to get something that will elevate them!

I got this Lenox Anniversary Plate! With our names and wedding date!

Roses too! I plan to put the plate in our bedroom but for now its staying in the kitchen!

Some throwback pics before the wedding:

This is Us 10 years after:

Thank God for blessing me with my Hubs whose so good to me! So grateful for the gift of marriage and family! Thanks to our family and friends who share this beautiful journey with us. To God be the Glory!

Philippines Trip!

Hello Friends! I’ve mentioned in the last post that Mia and I got to visit my hometown (in the Philippines) for 2 weeks. It was a short, yet fun visit. I wanted to introduce Mia to my family/relatives who were eager to meet her! US-Philippines is such a long flight, what a journey! I’m so grateful that my sister offered to help me with this trip because I don’t think I could have made it without her! International travel and an active toddler ALONE is something else! Mia did fine going to the Philippines but the trip going back to the US was a nightmare! She cried a lot of times in the 12 hours journey (MANILA- LOS ANGELES). The woman beside us offered to give us lavender essential oil to rub on her forehead! HA! She did calm down for 15 minutes! OH FUN!

Despite the long travels, it was so worth having the rest of my family finally meet Mia. Her cousins got to play with her. She was so clingy to me during the first week but eventually she did fine when others wanted to carry her. My friends got to see her also, so that was special!

Jollibee spag was in order!HA! First meal in the car once we arrived in the PH!

with my Friends! We’ve been friends since gradeschool!

with my friend Sweetlove and her cute kids!

with my nursing friends! Macky and Ping!

Lots of family time during this trip! We did water parks, swimming at a local resort near our place, beach time too! I wish my family lived closer. It would be so nice to see them often! But for the mean time, we’ll be fine with facetime/facebook! Till next time guys! We miss you so much!

Gotta have a family picture taken when everybody is home!

Easter 2018!

Hello Family and Friends! Happy Easter! He is Risen! Hallelujah!! Thank You Jesus for what you’ve done on the Cross! I hope that you had a meaningful Easter celebration with your loved ones! We had a fun Easter weekend here. Mia had her first Egg hunt at a local church near our place. We didn’t stay for a long time because she wasn’t really participating and overwhelmed with all the festivities surrounding her. She was still so cute though!

After the egg hunt, we had lunch at Chic fil-A! We also had to stop at our Asian market to get some crabs for our Easter brunch (Hubby made Crabs eggs Benedict).

Saturday evening I prepared Mia’s easter basket! She got a spring dress and a stuffed cow toy from us. Grandma/Grandpa got her an Easter dress and candies/crayons!

With Auntie Juju!

Daddy took some Easter pics of Mia and Riley!

Easter Brunch! Crabs benedict, bacon/sausages,fruits! It was busy in the kitchen, but the food was delicious! Thanks Ga for all the cooking!

With Grandma!

After all the festivities I need sometime to recover! HA!

I’ve been MIA for the month of March because Mia and I just got back from the Philippines (we stayed for 12 days), I’ll share more of our mini vacation in the coming days! Have a good start of the week Friends! Blessings!