GOOD FRIDAY.

Cute journal at Cotton On in Santa Monica.

Being inspired by 'Good Friday' and being super hungry, I decided to cook up a good meal for Victor and I. I got off work a couple hours before him so I had enough time to run to the grocery store and buy a few ingredients. I'm not the best cook, but I actually took the time to make this happen. I thought of the recipe in my head. I bought chicken breast and stuffed them with diced 'Italian style' tomatoes (they were seasoned with garlic, basil and oregano). I let the chicken breast marinate in the tomato sauce, and added a bit more garlic salt and basil with a few crushed red peppers. I grilled it all together along with fresh garlic and BOOM! I had two flavorful chicken breasts! I paired this with a light salad, some wheat pasta and garlic Texas toast. After dinner we headed down to Santa Monica and walked around the 3rd Street Promenade. We finally made it to Santa Monica, for the past 3 weeks I've been bugging Victor about going haha. We ended up leaving after about an hour and a half and stopped by Victor's favorite doughnut shop: Krispy Kremes.

HERE'S A VINE ROUND UP OF OUR 

GOOD FRIDAY:

(if you have vine follow us, @J_Hdez//@Victor_Go)

PORTRAITS.

Earlier this week Victor and I enjoyed our day off shopping for old movies at Amoeba and eating a feast at Red Robin in the Glendale Galleria. Before taking off for our adventure I set up my camera and took some photographs of us two. I think these turned out great, I love black and white photography especially when there is harsh lighting. Opposite of Victor I am a scruffy mess, I haven't shaved in a while. I'm cooking tonight so I should probably get started on that! 

Below is a  candid shot, the self timer went off too soon:

T. G. I. F.

The Embassy.

 

 

 

 

 

 Earlier this week Victor and I were invited to a dinner party that my friend/ex coworker Koko was hosting. We have been getting really close lately, and I just love spending time with her. She is such a fun person to be around and is always in a great mood. There's definitely a positive vibe about her that I love. I can be myself with her and she will just let it be (occasionally will poke fun at my bad english BUT that's ok with me!). She just moved into this beautiful apartment in Koreatown with her friend Jackie (whom both Victor and I LOVE!). I really love her apartment, I just describe it as a house. It is huge, especially huge when compared to our small studio! They have an amazing view and everything about their apartment is super cute! The menu for the night was salad for starters, and sweet sausage with steamed rice. This was my first time ever trying this kind of sausage ;) I mean I've only had the breakfast kind but this kind was delicious. She glazed it with brown sugar and it was so yummy I kind of wish I could have taken some home but the recipe is pretty easy, I will probably cook this soon. Her friends Anthony and Ser Antonio were invited to the dinner as well and we all had a good time. It was so much fun, we all talked and laughed together and it wasn't one bit awkward. I sometimes feel shy when meeting new people even though those who know me say that I am not shy at all. We were having such a good time that we even got a noise complaint from the land lord *whoops*. I hope Victor and I get to hang out with them soon, it would be great to have new friends close to our apartment.

Here's a choreo/dance video that Anthony showed us and I am currently obsessed with:

* CHEERS TO NEW FRIENDS *

BAKED.

Someone in our building was going to discard this amazing poster, makes for a great addition to our apartment!

Victor got these basil/cilantro grow kits at Target, such a great buy!

FINALLY! I have time to post a quick blog post! These past few weeks have been a bit crazy, even with my hours being cut at work, I still have other things keeping me busy. This past Sunday Victor whipped up a delicious dinner in less than 30 minutes! I love pasta it's so quick to make, and it fills you up pretty good! He's really good at mixing things we have in our kitchen and coming up with a great tasting dish. The highlight of the night however was me baking some 'Cupcake Brownies'! Sure it's from the box but it was still exciting to finally use my oven to bake something! I really want to get more into baking but have yet to stock up on baking utensils. We had a very relaxing Sunday evening: dinner, read our books, and finished it off with brownies for dessert. 

D - LICIOUS.

This Friday Victor and I got off work pretty early and with a pretty big appetite so we  took a drive down to Hollydale, (his childhood hometown) and went to the mom and pop burger joint "D's". Victor introduced me to D's a couple months after we started dating and shared the history of the burger joint with me. His mom had actually been coming to D's in her teens and even when she was pregnant with Victor and his twin sister Valerie! I thought that was so cool, I love going to places with history, places that have stories. It's also fun just how (I am going to use some of Victors favorite words when describing classic places) 'stuck in time' this place is. It hasn't changed a bit according to Victor and you can pretty much see that in the photographs. We ended the night by going to the mall and Victor was able to find some great buys at the crazy sale Forever 21 was having that day.

DIY VALENTINE.

Valentines day: an occasion in which lovers express their love for one another. This year I wanted to express that love in arts and crafts form! I usually try to personalize my gifts regardless, but I wanted to emphasize the idea of DIY for this Valentines Day. I feel like now the best gifts are the ones you make your own. The gifts which you thought of and took the time to plan out and bring to life.

Breakfast + Gifts

Victor suprised me that morning by whipping up a Valentines breakfast! Heart shaped pancakes, bacon (a fave!), scrambled eggs, AND strawberry milk (another fave!). He even turned our kitchen into a Valentines cafe!

I made Victor a Valentines Day card by tracing a kissing picture of us. I personalized the card even more by adding lyrics from one of his favorite Katy Perry songs: "Teenage Dream".  Knowing how much of a California boy he is, I made him an art piece that he can display in his little office, I have seen photos of the California outline and a heart over LA on Tumblr before so I took the idea from there but made it my own with the glitter. I ordered a custom pillow case from Etsy shop "FeatherHen" with our initials and the year we met.

As always, Victor wrapped the gifts beautifully, too cute to even rip apart! He gave me 3 cute growing kits, one is even strawberry! I love gardening as funny as that may sound so I got pretty excited once I opened these. I got even more excited when I opened the other two gifts, the book and film The Perks of Being A Wallflower! I haven't read the book yet but have heard so much about it from Victor that I have been wanting to read it not to mention that I fell in love with the film adaption of the book. In DIY form, Victor made us a board with a knitted heart on nails, and the three nails at the bottom represent the Valentines that we've spent together. So cute!

Dinner + A Movie

Victor whipped up a delicious dinner after work: bacon wrapped steak, sautéed green beans, rice, and biscuits. The perfect dinner for a perfect valentines day! After work I picked up some pastries from a bakery in West Hollywood called 'Between Us'. We ended the night by watching Frankenweenie and enjoyed the Heart shaped macaroons, a berry tart, and some fresh baked Disney heart sugar cookies. This has been the BEST valentines ever!

Here are some "behind the scenes" photos of my DIY gifts:

 Now to plan for next year...