McBrides in San Diego!

  The last stop on our California excursion took us down to San Diego for the weekend to visit my cousin/god-mother, Dawn, and her husband John. We had SUCH a great time and were so fortunate to have the two best tour guides in town! Dawn and John even let us in on their favorite coffee shop/breakfast locale - so tasty!

  We toured the sites, and had great food! Here are a few of our favorite pics!

Went to visit the seals!

a stop to visit John's Cop-Shop on Shelter Island!

checking out the Police boats with the Chief himself! Don't mess with John...

Thanks so much John & Dawn!!

McBrides in Huntington Beach!

  Our next stop on my work shopping trip with Kevin was Huntington Beach! Kevin says he prefers it in Huntington Beach by FAR: "Every one's so laid back and dresses like me, and I'm not hacking up smog!" + Temps in the high 70's =  exactly what these two Minnesotans needed.

  Here's a few of our favorite pics:

McBrides in LA!

   Kevin recently accompanied me to Los Angeles/Santa Monica on a shopping trip for work - and thank goodness! I don't think I would do so well driving in that LA traffic!

What we did - Feb. 13, 14:
- sat in traffic
- shopped cute boutiques
- took photos
- had sushi with friends
- more shopping
- a few purchases
- sat in traffic some more
- tasty Italian food for Valentine's Day!
- a romantic walk on the pier...until the fog rolled in and it got really cold!

Here's our fav shots from where we stayed in Santa Monica (courtesy of Kevin of course!)

our hotel - right on the beach!

and here comes the fog...

Next stop Huntington Beach! Our fav pics soon!

McBride's on Staycation!

   August has been a busy month so far! Luckily, Kevin and I were able to take a week off work for vacation - or, for the most part: stay-cation. But that doesn't mean we took it easy! We packed our week full of chores activities: Hoping to get a lot of home 'progress' done + some time to sit back and relax.

Here's a few of things we did:
- Doctors appt - it's hard to find time to schedule those!
- Big Target shopping trip
- Took the Subaru in for a tune up
- Dentist appt for BOTH of us
- Organizing in the office
- Machine sewing at my mom's (still prefer her old Singer to my newer one...)
- Completely cleaned + installed cabinets in the garage (see evidence in the 'Bagster' out in the driveway...
- Massage + Facial for Elisa
- Bowling for Kevin
- Only checked and responded to work e-mails 5-7 times...each...
- Tabitha over for dinner :)
- Kevin built a "cat house" with Madeleine

- Made lots of food to bring the cabin: banana bread, garlic/basil/sage bread, pasta salad, fresh dill dip, zucchini patties + prepped much more to make while there...
- Headed to the cabin with Madeleine and Finch!
- Out to dinner at Indianhead Supper Club in Balsam Lake, WI (Kevin's Osso Buco = the best)
- Pedicure with Nana
- Fishing
- Worked on fixing the fishing boat
- Slept in...
- Sewing and stuffing cute Squeaky dog bone toys and Owl Tooth Fairy Pillows
- Finch for a long walk
- A "Hunny-Cruise" around the lake for me and Kevin
- Ate LOTS of good food
- A TON of reading
- Repaired the 'hilarious' bird feeder
- Mowed the lawn
- Watched movies
- ....and some more that I'm sure I missed... (+ don't get me started on the list of things I wish we'd had time to get to...)


- AND! Decided which puppy we are going to bring home on Sept. 1st! That's right! We are adding to the McBride Family - a little, fawn, black mask boxer pup - just like big brother Finch!

Can't wait to introduce you to the new pup soon!

Cabin Favorites

   I've been visiting Kevin's family's cabin in St. Croix Falls, WI for years - my first trip was the weekend right before I turned 18 - so a *while ago...  At around 1 hour 15 minutes away, it's far enough to get out of the city; away from home, but close enough so as NOT to spend the whole day on the road. We get to spend time with Nana, head out on the boat, eat really great food, visit the nearby Fawn-Doe-Rosa, set off fireworks, check out the Pea-Pick'n-Flea Market, and lay around reading all day...
   Here are a few more of my favorite things about the cabin:

I love the metal bird artwork that hangs above the fireplace

Nana's collection of birdhouses - these are just a fraction...

family photos everywhere - including the best shot of Kevin when he was little with Poppy on the dock fishing.

a few pieces I've created for the Cabin up in the kitchen...

Finch and his brother Rocko always have a great time

+ this year at the Fawn Doe Rosa

These were a few of my favorite friends this year - the little Alpaca (upper right) was SOOOOOO soft...

Can't wait to get back to the cabin in a few weeks!

Weekend Adventure in Lutsen!

This past weekend, we were up at the North Shore, in Lutsen, with friends Sara and Ian. It was so pretty up there! We encountered some really good eat'n, and some not so good... The Blue Fin and Betty's Pies were the best!
The guys went golfing, while the ladies relaxed :) We ate, drank, hiked, got massaged, golfed, swam, sat in the sun, played cards, made s'mores at a campfire, and hit the Alpine Slide.

We hit up a few "antique" shops on the way back home on Sunday - most of which were kind of just vintage-junk shops that were pretty stinky...
We stopped for lunch + dessert at Betty's Pies: oh man, so good.....

Here was the best part:

Elisa's French Strawberry Pie

Kevin's Banana Cream Pie

Sara's Apple Crunch Pie

Ian's Key Lime Pie

 Oh my!