Shaz by the Sea

Jim has his LAST class tomorrow night!!!! I can tell he is jumping out of his skin, as am I. He actually said to me this morning, "Shaz, should we have a party when I'm done with school?"  (In other words -- "Shaz, throw me a party when I'm done with school"). Whichever way he approached it, he definitely deserves a monstrous party. For his birthday last year, I rented a boat for a few hours and we went out in the marina with about 10 friends.  It was so fun. I could tell he loved it. Maybe we can do something like that again...or maybe we just have a huge party here at our place. We'll see...stay tuned for that decision to be made. Today I am still in the process of cooking up everything in my fridge. I was craving hash browns, and since I had a couple sweet potatoes in the fridge, I decided to make sweet potato hash browns with scrambled eggs...and whatever else we had. They were AMAZING. They certainly are a must-try, if you have the patience to

You wanna know one of the things I enjoy most about getting ready for a trip?  I love seeing what meals I can come up with when I am cleaning out my fridge... Jim and I are preparing for our trip to Boston for Thanksgiving next week and we are SO excited. I am excited to be home, excited to get away from work for a few days...but I am not excited about the actual travel since we are taking the red eye the night before Thanksgiving. Ugh, wish us luck. Over the last few weeks, I have been piling up some items so I don't forget to pack them. For example, I forgot my mom and dad's birthday cards in September, so I already threw those in my suitcase. I packed up my peacoat, a few sweatshirts, my UGG boots, etc. Today, I decided to look through the fridge to see what perishable items needed to be eaten/cooked/tossed prior to our trip.  I noticed we had typical veggies such as red peppers, onions, spinach, baby carrots...as well as some shredded cheddar cheese and ground beef t

I wanted to share this morning's breakfast with you because it really hit the spot.  I usually wake up craving something specific -- but not this morning.  Instead, I slept in, took a long warm shower and as I walked into the kitchen, I noticed Jim had started boiling a few eggs.  This rarely happens... As Jim was cooking at the stove, I asked him to throw on some turkey bacon because I have been really trying to eat more protein lately.  I am not a huge meat eater, so I am doing everything I can to eat more of it.  Last night, we walked to the local grocery store and bought a few essentials, such as some plain Greek yogurt, granola and fruit.  Therefore, I decided to make a simple little parfait for us to pair with the eggs and bacon.  I only used bananas, granola and the yogurt and made a few layers...as well as a sprinkle of cinnamon on top to add a little fall flavor. ;)  Here are the ingredients I used:   Finished product!  I think it's all about the presentatio

I've been homesick this week.  I am not sure if it's because I've been having some serious fall season envy....or if it's because I secretly thought I would be living back home by now....or because we have a trip planned in a few weeks and I want it to be November 27th now.  Who knows, maybe I am just overly emotional.   But to continue with my honesty, I must say I am not a fashionista by any means -- but fall is my favorite style season.  With that, I wanted to show you some of my favorite fall looks.  People here in LA tend to wear fall clothes as if the weather is any different than summer.  In fact, sometimes it's nicer here in the fall months, so I struggle wearing boots and scarves and lots of layers.  I think I may be getting used to it, but here goes nothing. In the fall, there's nothing better than the simplicity of some stylish skinnies, paired with an oversized dressy top, a colorful scarf and tall brown boots (preferably Tory Burch).  You reall