Saturday, October 25, 2008

i made an apple pie & french toast...

... and amanda & kenji got married!!! so i'm pretty excited about the fact that i baked an apple pie for the first time ever and learned how to make my dad's fantastically scrumptious french toast... HOWEVER, i'm even more pumped about the fact that amanda & kenji finally became mr. and mrs. brantley today!!! yay!!! here are a few pictures from their amazing wedding (thank you amanda & kenji for letting me share in your incredibly special day... love you!)


the beautiful centerpieces!


... plus the exquisite bridesmaids bouquets!


the cutest newlyweds ever...


... get even cuter.


i love my big!!!


with the beyond gorgeous bride!!! mrs. amanda bolch brantley!


sweet cassie trying not to burn herself with the sparklers (attempt... fail.)


there are no words to describe how perfect this is. love you guys.

and in case you were really thrilled to hear that i'm learning how to cook (i know my husband is!)...


apple pie! bring it on, betty crocker - i know pillsbury's box recipe now.


french toast! (i did not prepare the bacon... not that talented, people!)

'we're going to the fair, and all we're gonna do is eat...'

welcome to the north carolina state fair mentality. something one of my dearest friends in the world, mark, and i agreed upon this past monday. it's been 3 years since i've been able to go to the fair... that's 3 years that did not contain fried candy bars... should that even be allowed?! thank goodness mark and i ate our weight in fair food to make up for the sugar drought!

in case you were wondering, here's what we ate:
- 1 footlong hot dog
- 1 bloomin' onion (unfortunately, it was not an awesome blossom... it needed some extra awesome)
- apple fries (DELISH!!! a new treat that mark introduced me to... next time, we're bringing the 'a la mode')
- 1 philly cheesesteak
- 1 fried 3 musketeers (all of y'all back in oakland know how i am about some 3 musketeers!)
- 1 basket of fried oreos

the result: we looked like this.

(okay, but seriously... how precious are these things?! i want one right now!!! paul, do you think we can sneak another animal into 703?!)

more pictures of the fabulous evening!!!:

me and my sweet mark.


mark finishing off the philly cheesesteak


it's like the mothership is calling me home.


eat it.


the EXACT moment i found out how fantastic fried oreos are.

it was a great night. thank you for eating loads of food & looking at the livestock with me, mark!

a weekend in west jeffy...

last weekend, 5 ladies headed west to the north carolina mountains for a few days o' fun in lovely west jefferson, nc. as most of you may know, my parents have a cabin in 'west jeffy,' and we all love to spend as much time there as we possibly can. my mom, my aunt debbie, my cousin meredith, one of my best friends meghan, and i got the chance to hang out, relax, eat, shop, and laugh a lot as the leaves of the blue ridge mountains turned from green to dramatic shades of red, orange, and yellow. it was magnificent. here are a few pictures from our mini-vacay.


'headed down south to the land of the pine, thumbin' my way into north caroline...'


as aunt debbie kept saying, 'let it fill your soul.'


meredith & meghan watching mom... love them.


this is the result of a plate of spinach dip & 5 hungry women. yum.


pumpkin spice krispy kreme... does life get any better?...


... it does... thus, homemade pumpkin spice waffles (thanks to aunt debbie!)


meghan, meredith, me. did we have to leave?


we miss you, erin!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

i've landed...

paul and i arrived on southern soil a little more than a week ago on friday night, october 10th. we've been going, going, going ever since - so i apologize for the delayed update. since i think pictures are the best way to go about telling a story, i'm just going to post a few of the ones from my first few days back in raleigh, nc and paul's short visit before heading back to our home in california.

the first picture taken of uncle paul and little scott together at last!


we are so happy to finally meet our nephew face-to-face!!!


aunt megan... can you even believe it?!


busy adoring the little one!


in the cutest little hat ever that his aunt sarah gave him


i think my favorite of scott's faces.

paul flew back to california on wednesday... picture me with an extremely sad frown on my face... but i had the most fabulous [girls] weekend ever in west jeffy with my aunt debbie, cousin meredith, my momma, and the lovely meghan! it had been such a blessing to spend this quality time with people i love oh-so-much. pictures to follow...

Friday, October 10, 2008

thus begins my journey home...

before we head out of apartment 703 in a few hours, i thought it appropriate to post some last few picture of our house! i'm getting far too sentimental in my old age...

we went and watched the office last night with taylor & michael (fabulous) and then came back to this... poor little one... he knows what the suitcases mean... days of loneliness... good thing he has his sweet aunt taylor & uncle michael to take care of him! i'm gonna miss the tjut so much... ugh.

paul and i joined in on the fun.

then i went on a photo-taking-spree with paul's new camera...
so cute.

my new favorite picture. (our "mantel": one of my favorite photos from our wedding, my favorite candle from anthropologie, and some of my favorite flowers [hydrangeas] that paul grew for me)

the stanford seal that paul made a few quarters ago.

ugly santa with the supplies for his new addition! who will be lucky enough to get him this year?!

i just like it. as mark would agree, we have too many wedding pictures in our apartment... tough, i love them. :-)

our new key hook! (i'm unfortunately addicted to anthropologie... can you tell?... bad lighting by the way... still not a pro at this whole thing)

me watching paul hang the new wine rack from ikea (a last minute buy for a last minute woman's touch on this place).

all done! paul was less than thrilled about the photo shoot. oh well! good job, love!

so now we're running around trying to get things together... get ready nc... we're arriving around 8:40pm tonight! we love you all and can't wait to get our arms around each of you!!!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

pictures that make me smile

today, tjuta had a spa day (actually, yesterday was part of his spa day as well). paul trimmed his nails (he got a mani/pedi), and today, i gave him a "relaxing" bath with massage. he was less than thrilled. here's a picture that paul just took of him trying to escape my grasp.

and here's a picture (much delayed) of the beautifully delicious cupcakes that deana brought for us to eat on my (day after) birthday! what a fantastic friend... i love her.

my last weekend in california for 3 months...

it's hard to believe that i (megan) will be moving back home to raleigh, nc for 3 months starting in 2 DAYS! utter craziness! i'll be starting my FIRST full-time clinical at rex hospital at the end of october (for those of you who don't know, my school requires it such that you have to be out of the bay area for one of these clinicals since there is not enough space for all of us... so, paul and i decided that if i have to go somewhere, why not back home?! :-)). i'm quite pumped, but also surprisingly sad to be leaving our little home that paul and i have made together in palo alto, ca.

i say surprisingly because if you had come up to me this time last year and said, "hey, you wanna move back home for 3 months?" i would not have even bothered to pack before hopping on a plane the second the question was asked. i keep thinking back to what my mom told me so many times during those homesick days... even though you and paul may not know it, you're making your niche, you're starting your own little family of 2 (well, 3 if you include "the tjut"... which, of course, we should), and someday it won't feel so strange to walk into apartment 703 and feel home. i think i laughed every time she told me that, but once again, mom, you were right.

aside from missing our little space, i'm obviously going to miss the hubs more than anything. i keep asking paul if he's sad that i'll be gone... he sarcastically comes back with a "i told you that you were going to miss me." he'll miss me. good thing he'll be coming back with me for the first 5 days so we can meet our little nephew and i can have a slightly smoother transition into not being with him 24-7. we leave friday morning!!! wee!

to take advantage of our last weekend together in california for quite some time, on friday, we went to stanford's "back to school" get-together along with taylor & michael. it was really fun (they had many a kegs there and beer pong tables set up... however, it was hard to get beer so, therefore, the playing of beer pong did not ensue). we got to see a ton of people we had not seen in a while (since paul has spent so much time studying for quals)! all 4 of us then came back to our apartment and paul began to teach taylor & michael how to play beer pong . that night, we found out how much tim-tam adored taylor, which then led to his adoption 2 days later (that's right, tim-tam is now part of the zabala family which is fabulous because now he can play with his parents without being fearful of being eaten by tjuta).


michael & taylor were both really great @ beer pong... paul & i were lucky we weren't playing couple vs. couple (thanks for saving the girls team, taylor!).


i'm going to miss you too much.


the happy new mommy of tim-tam!

saturday, paul and i went to the "hardly strictly bluegrass" festival in golden gate park which was AMAZING! we brought some snacks, drinks, and a blanket, which resulted in two extremely happy people when you add in the bluegrass. the music was fantastic, the weather was perfect, and the people-watching opportunities were top-notch ! we then got to go eat at our favorite restaurant in the city (TAI CHI) with amul and his girlfriend kira! best. day. ever.


paul rocked his obama socks that sarah gave him @ hardly strictly bluegrass


delicious-ness (credits go to sarah & charles!)


lovin' our life... it's awesome.


paul needed a cup holder while beating me in spit (i got better quick, though!)


my handsome husband!


look what we saw on the way to tai chi! we love you, little scott!!!

as if things couldn't get better, we had a nice lazy morning on sunday (sleeping in = perf) - went to costco to load paul up before me and my costco card head east and then i cleaned the apartment while paul went to play frisbee golf with some of his buds. THEN we went over to big paul and jon's apartment for a delicious wisconsin cook-out to celebrate big paul's birthday. yep, that was one sweet weekend.

this week has consisted of paul working/researching/grading papers, me ta-ing in oakland, and me packing (attempting to be concise is not my strong suit). i can't wait to post some pictures of us and little scott TOGETHER starting this weekend! stay tuned... and get excited about my arrival back in good 'ole tarheel country!!! i can't wait a second longer to see all of you!!!