Soak it up

I was pondering my thoughts the other day and was just thinking about life and how I want to live mine. A really cool idea came to my mind which was Make yesterday jealous of today. I think if you always had this in the back of your mind each day you could really make sure you didn't take the day for granted and that you did something that made the day before jealous. It doesn't mean you have to one up each day to where you could no longer top it unless you went to space but it could just be the little things, like smelling a rose! I think it’s just a way to remind ourselves that we should always live to the fullest and appreciate every moment we are given. My friend Erica sent me this really cool video and it’s 7 minutes of your life I am sure you won’t regret. It was neat and made me smile J

http://www.upworthy.com/scientists-discover-one-of-the-greatest-contributing-factors-to-happiness-youll-thank-me

Quick and healthy poser pasta!

So I have really been loving spaghetti squash and the endless possibilities of eating pasta but not really. It really is an amazing substitute.I mean I'll admit it's not the same gooey, soft, melt in your mouth pasta...BUT it really does feel like you are still eating pasta, just a little more crispy :) I cook the spaghetti squash the night before so I don't have to mess with it the next day. To prepare you first preheat the oven to 375. Then you put the squash in a casserole dish (I just lay it in there with a piece of foil underneath so I don't have to clean the dish!) then you have to stick a few holes in the squash to allow for ventilation while it cooks. I use a skewer and do about 15 holes all around...you can use a small knife too. Put it in the oven and bake it for an hour. Take it out, cut it in half and let it cool. Once it's cooled and you can grab it you will use a spoon to scoop out the middle section that isn't really the stringy good stuff you want. You might see the seeds too and you will off course scoop them out. Once you have scooped out the middle from each half you just take a fork and start scraping the sides of the squash and it will just start coming off like strings (noodles!). I just do this as much as I can and then I dump it all in a Tupperware bowl and put in the fridge. So then my dinner for the next day is pretty much done...I will just need to make some good sauce.
The next day I just used tomato sauce, garlic salt, pepper, sea salt, mushrooms, bell peppers, garlic cloves and simmered it on the stove for about an hour while I took a shower and watched bad tv. Then I just scooped out some squash from my tupperware dish in the fridge and heated it in the microwave:

                                                                  The Squash noodles :)

                                                     

                                                   Then I finished up simmering the sauce...

                                                                                         

THEN....the finished product- Spaghetti Squash spaghetti

It was delicious! If I weren't doing Vegan this week I would have added cheese and it would have probably been even more scrumptious. I am testing myself this week to see if I can be a Vegan for a week :) We will see how it goes... 

To anyone who has ever lost hope....

One moment, oh I am sure there have been many- but that one moment so many years ago on that very day, very minute, very second when you knew all was lost. Your head in your pillow with tears streaming down; a million anxieties rushing through creating a pit in your stomach. Fear, dread, sorrow, sadness, anger: the most burdening thoughts upon you. How could you go on? What was there to live for? 
Yet now, just years later it's just a prick of a memory...a drop in the bucket. A thousand years have passed and that day never killed you like you knew it would. What was it? How did you get there and how did you ever lose sight? It fades from your memory now like writing in the sand; wind blowing each grain sideways and water washing over making you forget there was ever any trace. What is there to worry about if knowing it will pass tomorrow..and the next day...the day after that..until years seem like a hundred thousand lives away. This day gone tomorrow with a fresh morning calling upon you more eager than ever, "Get up...get up...let's make yesterday the past". 

Broccoli on the run

So I am always looking for FAST and good meals which isn't always easy. I am just not one to chop up a bunch of stuff..I kind of hate prepping. Anyways, I found a recipe last week for broccoli and made it last night for dinner. We loved it. Matt is my true judge because he is the most amazing cook so if he goes on and on about it then I know it must be a good one. He ate it in  like 45 seconds and wanted more. It was so easy! I didn't take pictures or anything but the recipe will give you an idea. We put it over brown rice :)

So I am really bad because we didn't have coconut oil which is the healthy route...so instead I did butter and some olive oil...ya know just throw in the crap that's the closest. Next time I promise to go the healthier route. 

http://urbanacresmarket.com/roasted-broccoli-with-honey-sriracha-recipe

Oprah…I had my WOW moment.

So this weekend I was spoiled; flat out 100% spoiled. Obviously, last weekend was pretty amazing because I was proposed to and I didn’t think it could get any better than that. The whole week was like I was living in a dream. The week after my engagement it was filled with cards, flowers, and sweet messages from friends congratulating Matt and I. It really touched me to see so much love from everyone about mine and Matt’s commitment to one another. Friday rolled around and Matt and I went to dinner with my parents. We got to discuss wedding plans and eat a pazookie from BJ’s. For my birthday gift my parents gave me money to get my hair done and they bought us a fan. I know a fan might not seem like a big deal to some but it has been 700 degrees (yes, I am exaggerating) in our little home and a fan is a god send. On Saturday I woke up and went to the gym and got my hair done at a friend’s salon. Megan, my co-worker/friend drove to the salon so that we could all have champagne and talk girl talk while I got my hair done. That evening we headed to the birthday gig Amira had been planning for weeks at the Shout House downtown. Shout house is a dueling piano bar that I have wanted to go to ever since I moved to San Diego.

When Matt and I got out of the cab and walked in I was overly excited. There were 5 tables right up front with champagne, buckets of beer, party hats, party glasses, gifts, and my friends smiling faces. The night was filled with so much laughter, presents, drinks, and just pure happiness. They called me up on stage to celebrate my 30^th and you better believe I danced to ‘Get Low’. Seeing all of my friends laughing hysterically and having such a wonderful time really made the night unforgettable; I had the time of my life. The gifts I got were beautiful. Amira made a book that has made me cry every time I’ve opened it; it is filled with pictures and sweet notes from all of my closest friends. Amira even put a page in there coming from Avery! It was the most touching thing to see and read everyone’s notes and it brings tears to my eyes thinking about it. It was so nice to have all my friends from different groups come together – it was like an explosion of love and happiness with all of the best people I know. The next morning Matt and I woke up because we were meeting Amira, Brandon, and Avery for breakfast in Encinitas. Just before we got our drinks at the table I heard my brother and sister in laws voices saying “happy birthday!!!!” I turned around and there they were holding huge balloons and presents. I was speechless for 45 seconds- just staring at them. I seriously thought I was dreaming. They live in Humboldt which is a 14 hour drive and I don’t get to see them nearly as much as I would like to. They drove 5 hours and flew 2 hours into San Diego; I was speechless. We all had breakfast while I opened my many gifts and it could not have been a better morning. Matt and I said our farewells and headed off to the coast where Matt had booked a surprise stay at a hotel. It couldn’t have been a better day driving up the coast thinking about all my family and friends who had come together for my big day. We got into Newport Beach and started driving up this beautiful hill which was the driveway to the resort we would be staying at. It brought us to the Villas at the Marriott. I felt like Cinderella. This place was beautiful and it overlooked the ocean. When we walked into the lobby there was a beautiful deck where you could overlook the resorts 3 pools and the ocean back behind it. The breeze was blowing and it was perfectly warm; I was in heaven. When we walked in to our room I screamed and ran into each room screaming even more. I jumped on the bed throwing myself down on my stomach and telling Matt I was in paradise. The next thing I did was text Amira and call my brother to see if they could come. This place had two master suites and baths attached. It had a full kitchen, living room, and balcony that over looked the ocean. We got into our swimwear and walked the resort ending up at the pool with six bridal magazines. Matt got me a pina colada and we ordered a veggi wrap for a snack. I was sitting there at the pool in absolute heaven thinking of how I was going to blog about my birthday. I was trying to figure out words and descriptions I could use that would really express the happiness I had felt over the weekend. I couldn’t think of anything I could say that would really describe what I was feeling. It then dawned on me that whenever I watch Oprah she always talks about the WOW moment. I get what she is saying and sometimes find her a little cheesy but at that moment I knew this was my moment. I knew that everything I had done in my life, all of my experiences both good and bad had lead me to this very moment. I realized that nothing really matters in life without the ones you love. The first thing I wanted to do when I walked into that villa was have my brother and ‘sister’ come join me because what is anything if you can’t share it with someone? What would the shout house have been if I couldn’t look over at all my friends laughing? What would this ring on my finger be if it weren’t from Matt? It’s never really the things in life but it’s the people you are surrounded by. When I read the notes in my book that Amira made me, my friends say the greatest things about me and I think, “Who am I to have you think this of me- you are the greatest person I know and you think this of me? How did I get this lucky?” It's an overwhelming sense of gratitude to have these people in my life. My friend Allison told me in her note that we are all on this road of life and you can look back in the rearview mirror and reflect on what you have had experienced and who you have touched along the way….my journey to 30 has been filled with many anxieties, tears, fears, worries, and disappointments but it’s also been really amazing too. I have traveled a lot, laughed a lot, eaten really good food, hugged a bunch of cute babies, had wonderful pets, learned many lessons, had a lot of fun crushes, toilet papered a hundred houses, danced a million times, stretched my imagination, and I could go on and on and on. All of these experiences have lead me to this moment when I turned 30 and realized I am surrounded and supported by so much love that it could just explode and last an infinity of a lifetime. I would never need anything more in this life than what I have at this very moment; I am fulfilled. 

Matt and I cancelled our dinner reservations for that night and we ordered pizza hut, drank champagne, and read bridal magazines. I also took a bath at 6 pm when it was daylight out and drank a mimosa- as Matt would say, “I was really livin high on the hog.”

The next morning we woke up and went to Disneyland. Can I just say something? If you want to know when the least busy day at Disneyland is- it’s the second week after all the schools start back. The longest we waited was 15 minutes. It was a dream!!! We went on rides, ate frozen bananas, and people watched. It was a successful day at the park. Matt had been spoiling me rotten so I decided to take him to the ESPN zone to watch football and drink beer…so he could be a man again. He really treated me like a princess this whole week and I couldn’t be more thankful for such a wonderful, caring, and giving person to be engaged to.

I am back to reality now and it’s just as great (okay maybe not 100% as great)! This week was really emotional and important to me because I have really reflected on what I have and what it means in my life. I feel like I am too lucky- how can anyone have this many wonderful people in their life? How do you tell someone how much it means to you that they want to be your friend? I can’t think of words. I have always known what I have but to see it all in front of you at once is indescribable. This is what I have accomplished and it was more than I could have ever hoped for; my life is so incredibly rich, beyond my wildest dreams.

This wasn’t meant to be a brag blog because I hate those. I just wanted to write about all the nice things that were done for me but more importantly point out what really matters in life. What are we all really looking for in this crazy world? I have been on this planet for 3 decades and in this very moment my life may not be totally ‘perfect’ in someone else’s eyes…but in mine, it really is that…perfect. And I think that’s all that ever really matters...seeing your life through your own eyes and seeing your happiness and taking it in completely. Don’t ever forget to take it in.

                                                        My Beautiful Best Friend. 

Man of my dreams

My work girls!

Amira and Jess 

Kelly!

Kevin!

The Hathcocks! (and the piano player)

Reading my book!

Aida <3

the cake Amira had made for me!

my book <3

My brother's surprise!

view from our Villa!

bath time

relaxation

hottest guy in the world

Disneyland

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoox

First day of the rest of my life...

Well I never imagined my second blog post on my Adventures of KandiLand would be the best adventure of my life thus far- I got engaged!

First, let me give you a little background to how I met him. His name is Matthew Alton Foley and he grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Attending college in Santa Cruz is what brought him to California and then years after he moved to San Diego with his friends.

About 2 years ago I was just living my life writing a blog about bad dates and was really kind of feeling hopeless about love. I felt like I was always looking and dating and it was just so exhausting. I decided in October of 2011 to give it a break and I was going to stop dating. In November of 2011 (a month later) I went to a pizza joint in Little Italy with my co-workers. My co-worker at the time, Dannie was talking about a few friends she had on a dating site that seemed to be a good one. I of course said, “I refuse to go on another site and pay for love”. She said, “Well, it’s free”. Long story short her and the other girls said if I didn’t at least try it out then they would set up an account for me and I wouldn’t have a say. SO….with a little arm twisting I decided to scope it out. The website is called OKcupid and it is actually free and legit... I have actually been meaning to email them and tell them about our story. I made some rules for myself when signing up that I would not message any guys and if any guys messaged me their profiles had to be perfect or I wouldn’t reply. I had been on it for about 2 days and was just browsing through all the guys and I saw his picture. Right away my heart was racing because I had never seen such an attractive man. I went and looked at his page and was just smitten with what he had to say and he also is a huge fan of Seinfeld. Knowing my rules I clicked off the page and went about my day and trying everything in my power to not sign back on and message him. The next day I checked my email and saw that someone had messaged me…it was him. He wrote a short email making a joke about the breed of my dog and then saying he was probably more obsessed with Seinfeld than I was. I was ecstatic! I remember just being so giddy and feeling such excitement. We exchanged a few emails for the next 2 days then decided to meet. I still remember it like it was yesterday- getting ready in the bathroom at work because we were meeting for happy hour in little Italy. I was wearing a red, short, cotton dress and black boots. I remember my heart racing when I walked into the restaurant and saw him in his work slacks and button up sitting at the bar with a beer. I walked in and he turned around and smiled. We started with drinks, great conversation, and a ton of laughter. I added more money to my meter and we went and got dessert and dinner…it was the perfect date. He put his arm around me when it was cold and then we ended the night. For the next 2 weeks we texted and talked about our next date…and from there it really was history. I knew he was the one about 2 months after dating. I have never felt a love like this. My heart still skips a beat when I see him. He is the most beautiful person I have ever met. I feel so safe with him and trust him with every ounce of my being. He ‘gets’ me and accepts me for exactly who I am. He is funny and logical and weird and perfect. I truly from the bottom of my heart believe we are soul mates and that we were meant to find one another. So…that’s the background J

Matt and I have wanted to go back to New Mexico since our last trip we took in February 2012. We went when it was snowing which I loved but he has wanted to take me back during the warmer months as well. We decided in June to book a trip to New Mexico for Labor Day weekend. When Matt was growing up his grandfather owned some cabins on a nice piece of land in Northern New Mexico. Matt has told me so many stories about all of the great times he has had at his grandpa’s and how beautiful the property is. When his grandfather passed away the land was sold to family friends who Matt’s family knew would take very good care it. One of the things Matt arranged for our trip was to go and visit the property so I could finally experience it. Matt’s mom had emailed weeks before our trip letting the owners’ know Matt wanted to propose to me on the land and they happily offered it up. It was planned for Saturday that we would drive 2 ½ hours to get to the property and take one way in and one way out so that I could get a nice feel for Northern New Mexico. Our road trip started at about 9 am. Northern New Mexico is gorgeous and I was so impressed with the different terrains. I always pictured New Mexico to be a dry dessert and man was I wrong. We ended up getting to the cabin around 10ish and it was absolutely stunning. There were pine trees and ponds and a few log cabins with meadows all around; it was just beautiful. Matt had mentioned a trail he wanted to take me to where there were some really pretty meadows. When we got there we decided to do that first and then he was going to teach me how to fly fish. We hopped on a four wheeler and headed up the mountain. I was on the back holding on and we kept going up and up and up; it was really beautiful. There were meadows everywhere with wild flowers. We came to one meadow that took my breathe away. It opened up to a view of the whole valley and there was a little pond with trees all around. Matt slowed down and asked if I wanted to stop for awhile. I told him yes and that I had to take pictures of this beautiful sight. I hopped off the back of the 4 wheeler and started taking pictures of the view. I turned around to talk to Matt and saw that he was down on one knee holding the ring in his hand. He asked, “Kandi, will you marry me?” I was so shocked I said, “What are you doing…yes!” I dropped to my knees to meet him at the ground and cried on his shoulder for five minutes. We talked about how much we loved each other while we were hugging and then I finally pulled my face away to look at the ring. It was absolutely beautiful. I still don’t understand how he could have picked such a perfect ring for me. I never once mentioned what my dream ring would look like or what my style was and yet there he was holding it. We sat up there for a while and talked and then went down the mountain to the bigger pond. Matt had packed a picnic with a table cloth and everything. We had white wine, cheese, hummus, crackers, salami, grapes, and jam. There was also a property dog roaming around which made me happy because I love animals. We toasted to our future and I called Amira, my brother, and my mom and dad to tell them the news! Turns out Matt had asked my dad for my hand in marriage on father’s day and had called Amira a few weeks before to let her in on the secret. My mom and brother were both in the dark and you can only imagine their excitement. After that Matt taught me how to fly fish and I actually caught something!! Except I couldn't reel it in and it got off the hook.  We drove back to Matt’s parent’s house, stopping off a few places to take in the scenery and enjoy the trip. When we got to Matt’s parents house his mom and dad were waiting at the door with huge smiles. His mom made fresh guacamole (she knows the way to my heart is food) and they had a bottle of champagne, balloons, and flowers. I felt like a true princess. I walked in and said, “Well I guess I’m going to be a Foley now”. Kandi Loren Foley, Kandi Loren Foley…I can’t stop saying it (sorry Brown family J). Matt had also made a reservation to have dinner at a nice place in Santa Fe but we were kind of exhausted and sun burnt. I said you know what…let’s just get in pajamas and relax. I didn’t really care about a dinner or dressing up, I just wanted to hang out with him and call my friends and family. The rest of the weekend was filled with celebratory dinners, talks about wedding plans, and relaxing with family and friends. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I can’t stop looking at the ring on my finger and I can’t stop calling him my fiancé (although I sound booshie saying it). I feel like I am living in a dream and I just couldn't be happier. What a way to end my 29^th year of being alive!!! Here are some pictures of the wonderful weekend.

                                                             The house Matt grew up in

The sun room in their house- watching the rain

The drive...

                                                                 The spot he proposed

                                                                      After the proposal

          

  

happy.

the ring

the picnic

 

         

Matt catching a big one

                                                  down by the river...with Matt Foley. hehe

 

Love. 

                                           
                                             A funny pre-engagement photo Matt's dad took

and a nice little photo