Who cries over cake? This girl....

{typed on Sept.10}

This past weekend, I'm so grateful for my ever wonderful, perfectly extraordinary fiance!!  

He spoils me to no end and has already made my birthday AMAZINGLY AWESOME!!! We had a lovely dinner at Olive Garden, spent time together (which I crave!) and then he surprised me with my beloved Viking Cake from Extraordinary Desserts!!!!  

I cried.  

(Yeah yeah, who cries over cake?!?!)   I've been wanting it for the last 3 years, especially on my birthday and it's NEVER available.  When Levi surprised me by driving us over to the Balboa location, I didn't want to get my hopes up for the Viking.  I already started to think of the other desserts I would have to choose, instead.  As we walked up, he said that we could just walk in to pick it up. There was a long line, as usual... so I was confused and wasn't exactly sure what "it" was! Then it was confirmed, he ordered my Viking cake, a week before!!!!  

I was in shock!!!  

I started crying!! FINALLY after 3 years of disappointments, I was going to have the VIKING CAKE!!!!!  I cried because this is some damn good cake!

But most of all, I cried because I was so touched by the thought & effort that Levi put into remembering that this is my favorite cake. My constant disappointment was finally overshadowed by him ordering it a week in advance, ALL the trouble he had to go through to get my name on it (cause apparently they're not keen on that idea, and spelling out my name over the phone is NOT easy) and just how much it cost! All that combined, made me feel so tremendously special!! 

This man spoils me to no end!  As we drove home, I continued to tear up because I just couldn't believe how he planned this all out and surprised me!! I had no clue and I LOVE LOVE LOVE being surprised!!  All my birthday wishes of hoping to find someone to love and love me in return finally paid off..... he is definitely my wish come true! 

HELLO SEPTEMBER!! So glad to have you here!

My nephew Bub, entered the MTC on Wednesday! He'll be there for about 2 months while he learns Tagalog for his mission to Naga, Philippines.  Luckily, he's been living in Utah for the past year and a half, so it won't sting as much to not have him here or get to talk to him as often.  I'll still miss him a lot because he's just such a GREAT guy!!  He has a very infectious personality and EVERYONE just loves him!  Maybe that's my biased opinion, but it's true, I promise.  
One of my mission companions had the coolest laundry bag! All of Ash's friends had signed it with cool & uplifting thoughts, which was cool to reflect on while out in the mission field.  I remember how awesome I thought Ash's bag was because it was so full of fun and loving memories for her to enjoy every week, while we dreadfully did laundry.  She totally loved her bag and since then, I've tried to do that for my friends/family who have also left on missions.  I did that for Simi and Hermanita, but doing it for Bub was a lil tricky.  I started it down here, with the help of Sim and then he took it up to Utah to have Bub's girlfriend have all of his friends sign it, as well.  I'm glad he enjoyed this gift. Oh Bub, I miss him so!

IT'S  SEPTEMBER!!!! You know what that means!!! IT'S MY BIRTHDAY MONTH!!! Oh I surely love birthdays!! I had a long string of terrible birthdays, but now, they're A LOT better!! First off, my birthday's September 11, and everyone who hears this usually tells me that "that's a bad day for a birthday! Gosh, I feel sorry for you!"  Seriously, if I hear that one more time, I'm gonna scream! I wish they'd realize how stupid they sound.  As if I had any way of picking my birthday AND what day a national tragedy would hit?!?  Ugh, so annoying! 
Anyways, back to GOOD birthday vibes!!  My birthday will be on a Tuesday this year, not the coolest of days, but hey, it could be worse. I always like having the Viking cake (from Extraordinary Desserts) on my birthday! So we'll see.  My parents want to take me out for lunch, to eat sushi! YUM! So now I've gotta figure out what I'd like to do for my evening.... I think I have an idea.  I'm HOPING that the Baker and I get to spend my birthday weekend together (Darn school!).  I TRY not to get my hopes up for my birthday, because of my birthday past, but I just can't help it! I love my birthday! Hmm....we'll see.  I need to start thinking of my birthday dress.  I just feel like wearing a dress on your birthday makes it so much more special!  My last several birthdays have been big hits! So I've gotta do something spectacular!! Man, I'm so giddy for my birthday weekend/week!!  YEAAAAAAAH!  CANNOT WAIT!!!  

Extraordinary? Absolutely!

This is my friend, Neffie.  

She was in town and it was such a delight to see her!  

Extraordinary Desserts, oh how we love you!

We'd love you more, if you had our Viking available!!!

 This is Neffie's seester, Wissa.  She is such a blast!

As you can obviously tell from the photo!

(we were mocking a friend and all of her FB/Myspace pic poses)

Menu!

Can I just say how crazy/excited I am for tomorrow night!!
 I've FINALLY decided on a menu!!

Appetizer: Prosciutto & Cantaloupe

A VERY delicious combination! Plus it'll remind him of his time in Italia!

 Dinner: Crab stuffed Salmon!!

I've been craving these for several weeks now.

Twice Baked Potatoes!

Sauteed Asparagus!

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Now, if only I could figure out what to have for dessert.......

Maybe, Banana Ice Cream since it's his favorite?

However, I did think about:

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My beloved Viking!!

We'll see.........

 Let's just hope Houston likes it...and likes me even more because of it! :)

San Diego, I LOVE YOU!

Last night, I went out with one of my good ol' friends, Rudy.  Cool guy, I've known him since my single digit years.... I think since we were 8 or 9 years old, in Primary.  Time surely flies.  It's cool that we're still friends and live in the same general area. We were texting back and forth about being hungry and not knowing what to eat.  He introduced me to this AWESOME TJ style taco stand in town. LOVE IT!! But we eat there all the time.  So we ended up at SONIC!!!!

Oh man, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this place!!  I haven't been there since Summer 2010 while I was up in Utah.  I'm so glad that Rudy suggested this place!! It's about 20 min. east of us, but it always seemed farther, til tonight. LOVE!!! I'm DEFINITELY going back soon!!

Rudy and I had been talking for months about going to eat at my FAVORITE dessert spot here in town, EXTRAORDINARY DESSERTS!!!
Yesterday was National Chocolate Cake day!!! SO YUMMY DELICIOUS!!! Although this wasn't my beloved Viking cake, it was just as good. 

Since we were near downtown San Diego, we cruised on over to the Spruce Street bridge.  I use to work near it, but never checked it out. Heard about it, but didn't exactly know what type of bridge it was.... til last night. Oh man!! It's a SUSPENSION bridge!!!!  As in, it's suspended from one side to the other and is NOTHING. LIKE. THE. ONES. AT. A. PLAYGROUND.!!!! I mean, there are some SERIOUS wires attached. Some larger than my arm!! So you know this is some serious business!!

At first, I was thinking, "Sure, I'll try it, not like it REALLY moves?!" Wrong, SO wrong! Oh man, it was scary/trippy.  I had to take it in increments.  Got about 1/4 in, then turned back because it was wobbly. Went back to the start and assessed it.
Start again.
Got 1/2 in on the bridge. (but didn't know it was half way while I was standing on this wobbly and shaking bridge that's suspended 70 feet above the ground!)  I bolted back to the start and assessed it, again!! (It was easier to go back the start because the car was on that side, of course.)   Have I mentioned that Rudy's by my side the whole time trying to encourage me and not make fun of me--at least, not aloud.  I REALLY wanted to get to the other side!! Not for the scenery, because it was dark but because I'd get over a fear of doing something scary! It's funny how "bragging rights" can be a HUGE motivator!! 
Start again. 
Rudy was a huge help! He was doing his very, VERY best to distract me and ask me all sorts of questions as I was doing my very, VERY best to get to the other side, quickly!!!
I had never been so happy to see the other side of a bridge!!!  Then I realized that we couldn't get home until we returned back.  5 minutes to breathe and accept that fact. 
Start again. 
Got 1/8 in and realized that the bridge is completely suspended from the start, so that means IMMEDIATE boucing, shaking, and wobbling going on!!! Since Rudy's right behind me, I can't easily turn around, nor do I REALLY want to be running, on a suspended brige, in front of someone--not the prettiest sight.
Thought pattern:
Breathe.
Step forward.
Breathe.
Grip hand rail for dear life.
Breathe.
Step forward.
Breathe.
Try to answer Rudy's incessantly distracting questions.
Breathe.
Repeat.

I was SO proud of myself that I did it!! Sure, it took about 30 minutes to do, but I DID IT!!!
And I'm glad. It was kinda fun. KINDA.

Afterwards, we drove down to the harbor to see the "Victory Kiss" statue. I've been wanting to see it for a while, and luckily a friend told me exactly where to find it. Of course, we couldn't see it all too well because it was about midnight. But it was still cool to see. There were also statues to celebrate all that Bob Hope did in the USO. The shape and sculpture of the statues were so lifelike. It was kinda freaky.  But it was a nice tribute to Bob. 
All in all, it was a fun night!  It was a very cool San Diego night!!  I sometimes forget how LUCKY, BLESSED and FORTUNATE I am to live in such an AWESOME city!!! I couldnt be any luckier to call this place home.  Love it!

T-minus 10 DAYS!!!!

I LOVE counting down to my birthday!!!! 

I especially LOVE when my birthday includes this DELICIOUSNESS called, "The Viking" from Extraordinary Desserts!!

The Viking: 

A staff pick and an absolute favorite among chocolate lovers. Chocolate creme brulee and milk chocolate cremeuse are hidden between chocolate cake layers. Crushed chocolate almond pralines surround this dark and dense torte.

10 Day YOU Challenge: 5

cinco: The Viking Cake from Extraordinary Desserts

4: Pepperoni & Sausage pizza from The Pie Pizzeria in SLC, UT

tre: My Peruvian Bean & Chicken soup--SO DELISH!!

2: Anything Mama McK makes... Oh I miss her so!

un: The cheese bread @ Mastoris Diner in Bordentown, NJ.