A few weeks ago we went to Victoria Gardens out in Rancho Cucamonga for some shopping. Okay, mostly just to go to Crate & Barrell and buy a cookie sheet I needed, but it was such a nice day that we just had to get out. On this day, Kris took over the camera. The whole day!

Snapshots from the day, just a few.

My favorite necklace right now, Eiffel Tower. From Forever 21.

Didn’t find anything on the sale rack from one of our favorite stores, Urban Outfitters. But aren’t these albums so pretty?

Next time I will turn the camera on Kris, it’s only fair. And set-up the self-timer for a photo of us, baby steps.  ;)

I love the life that we have built together. Thankful and happy to have you by my side. How is it that I still get all gitty when you call me on your lunch or call to say that you are coming home?

These are the latest photos of us. From last month during my birthday weekend. And I love that you said “Wow, we need to take more photos of us!”. Maybe we should call Jose Villa and see if he’s available?

Happy anniversary, my love. You’re my everything!

I love this team. It’s been almost 2 years ago since we shot our first wedding. And it was only by accident that Kris started second shooting with me, but then the photo bug bit him. He got a taste for it and said he wanted more. After every wedding I still ask him if he’s still enjoying it. The answer is always yes. There is something so appealing about a husband/wife team. I love the feeling the morning of a wedding and waking up next to my partner, knowing that he is dependable and ready to go. We have a great routine going and I hope it just gets better with time.

Thank you my love for being my right hand, I couldn’t do this without you!

On the business end, I’ve had quite a few bridal consultations and it looks like 2011 is going to be a great year. On the personal end, I’ve had major inconveniences. Like dealing with the man that rear-ended us on Sunday two blocks from home at a red light (we are okay, just major whip lash). Yes, again… it’s been like four times that people do this to me while my car is a dead stop (dead stop!) at a red light. Can we say annoying? And someone please remove the bull’s eye from the rear of my car, thank you. Oh, and while we’re at it. This is why people shouldn’t speed, duh! Okay, rant is over.  ;)

I have missed blogging. Mostly because you know how much I love capturing and preserving memories, so here is a little snippet in photos of what I have been up to in the last week. Well, at least the good stuff anyway. That’s what we want to remember, right? Right.

Because you can never have enough sunset photos, never.

My second time at the Hip Kitty in Claremont, it never disappoints. I love that you don’t have to do a drink minimum and their cocktails are very reasonable. Even on a Sunday night you can listen to some awesome jazz and soak in the lovely ambiance at this place.  We finally actually got out and had a real date night! Can’t wait to bring back some friends in the future and have a group outing.

Since I have been in and out so much from home and my daily routine, I’ve been making homemade smoothies. You just can’t get a decent smoothie anymore, they use so much sugar and juices with additives, what’s the point? My favorite is a green one that is delish! It has celery, kale, apple, pear, honey, lemon juice and crushed ice. The pear and apple make it sweet enough that I don’t even taste the celery and kale. Plus, I realize I get stuck in a rut and always eat my veggies raw or steamed, gotta switch it up a bit. Research shows that one should eat veggies and fruit in different forms to get the most of the nutritional value (sorry for the nutrition lesson, I’m a wanna-be nutritionist).

Kris had this last Friday off and we wanted to get out of the house and do something chill. We decided to hang out with our little man, Ubaldo. Took him to the park and for some frozen yogurt. Needless to say, we all had a great time.

My favorite.

I must do a family session at this park, it’s gorgeous and so many tall trees. Yum!

This last Sunday we were invited to a barbecue at Kris’ friend’s house. Edgar and Lorena just bought a home in Covina, very near us and so it was a housewarming sort of celebration. Edgar made some really good ribs and Lorena’s green salad was delicious. Not to mention the fresh oranges from their tree in the yard.

Mr. Elias, poor guy had a cold, but he was a trooper. Love his facial gestures!

All photos taken with the awesome Instagram app, so fun and highly recommend.

Wishing you a great Wednesday. I’ve got some fun posts I’d like to do in the next week so stay tuned, hopefully I can dig myself out of the to do list sooner than I expect.

We met each other as a boy and girl when we were just 19 and today we stand all grown up as a man and woman that have lived a life full of laughter, love, sadness, stress, travel, joy and all the madness that life brings! It’s funny how 11 years can really change someone because for sure you and I have changed since then and I am so grateful that we managed to grow together and create a life of our own unlike no one else. I’ve always loved our hippie tendencies! We just do what feels right for us and I would not change a thing.

Today I love you more than yesterday. You challenge me, support me and love me like I have never known and for that I could never thank you enough!

I absolutely adore every way that you love me. I enjoy feeling like the most beautiful woman when you tell me I’m pretty and clearly I look like a tornado swept through me. You always cater to me, not only when I’m sick or in need, but everyday. You worry about me and are protective of anything or anyone that wants to harm me, it used to drive me crazy, but I get it now. I am happy when you buy me the most perfect cd or little trinket that I wanted or didn’t know I wanted yet because you just know me that well. I love that we can say very little and just know how we feel or talk for hours and just find comfort that we have one another. Most of all I love our date nights at the movies and Barnes & Noble or spending quality time with you in our home. It’s the greatest gift.

The best is yet to come.

I’d also like to start a gratitude journal here, so here is the start of that as well. Sometimes it’s the little things and I want to document that so when I am having a bad day I have something to keep me grounded and remind me of how blessed I am.

Today I am reminding myself that sharing a home with your loved one can create so much more than a living space. We have created a cozy home full of harmony, love and peace in which we both embrace everyday. This makes me very happy.

On the trip I truly enjoyed my down time and only took 275 photos, yes, only 275! That is counting my couple’s session. Besides, this time around in Cancun we mostly did lounging at the beach and pool with only doing 1 tour to Xelha, a must if you go. It’s a natural aquarium and it’s so much fun, didn’t take my camera, only the point and shoot since you’re surrounded by water everywhere and didn’t want to deal with the hassle.

Kris swam with dolphins, so cool to watch and see the joy on his face.

Our new friends from New Orleans.

Kris went parasailing, I stayed on the boat. Open water and heights, no thank you, maybe one day I can be braver.

The Riu Las Americas Hotel in Cancun, it’s outstanding and all inclusive therefore budget friendly. Possibly a great place for a destination wedding, or 12 year anniversary by the time we get to it.

At Xelha, we tubed down the river for about an hour. Kris got to jump off cliffs and he pushed my tube down the river as he swam, I am so lucky.

Cancun Mexico-Beach from Nancy Orozco on Vimeo.

In a nutshell, we really enjoyed our time away. I mostly enjoyed not cleaning, working, cooking, running errands or having my phone ring. Somedays I had no idea what day it was or the time, for us the only way to do that is to get out of the country and already working hard to pay for the next vacation. It’s just a priority. We also enjoyed meeting new friends, we met some great peeps from Manchester, England, San Francisco, New Orleans, Poland and Argentina. Hello to all of you and I’ll be sending your photos soon.

Up next a couple photo session I did in Cancun.

You’re the best and I can never thank you enough for how much you do for me. I can keep trying though with my delicious meals and surprises that always bring a smile to your face. Thanks for always being you and making me laugh when I need it most. I love being your best friend and knowing that you’ll be by my side for the good, bad and the real ugly. I love the man you’re becoming, happy birthday my love!

As I mentioned before I have been reading The Artist’s Way and one of the assignments is morning pages in which you write three pages every morning of all your thoughts, any thoughts for at least three months if not longer. The exercise allows you to get rid of feelings and fears that are getting in the way of your creative journey or any journey for that matter. It has been so therapeutic for me, like my best friend Annie and I always say “who doesn’t need therapy at some point in their life?”. Not only is it forcing me to face my fears, but I’m taking action on some of them and it has been very liberating.It could not have come at a better time. Just when I was feeling lost and fearful I found a way to deal with it so that I can face it, heal and move on. It’s not to say that it will make it all better or that I will never fear again, I’m taking it one day at a time. Lately, that has been my motto “just take it one day at a time”. I’m still feeling a little lost, but I’m confident that I will find my way soon.

I wanted to share these photos because April was just not a good month on so many levels and seeing these photos makes me happy. It gives me that feeling of ah, I made it through now let’s move on. On Saturday Kris and I went shooting near our house just because. He will be practicing with me a little more as he becomes a second shooter for any future weddings I shoot. I’ve been dying for some photos of us and so I took a tripod that was given to me, but those photos just did not workout. Out of focus, couldn’t get the right angle and so we just shot each other and our surroundings. Here are some of my favorites that Kris captured and one that I took of him that he approved (yes, I have to get his approval to post). He was such a good director and comforting, bringing out the kid in me (he’s so good at doing that).  Thank you sweetie for always being there.

So glad I had a good hair day, my curly noodles don’t always cooperate with me.

Yelllow flowers and a sunny day = happiness

For those of you still there, thank you for listening and always supporting me. Your comments always bring a smile to my face.

Here are a few pretties that are on my wish list and items that I’ve invested in because they keep my cooking foodie soul alive.

I love cookbooks, they bring so much inspiration and it makes it so much easier to do my meal planning for the week. I typically make 2 of my all time favorites that are my own recipes then try 1 or 2 new recipes from these cookbooks. It keeps my cooking fun and creative without feeling overwelmed.

The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone

I’ve checked it out at the book store and fell in love with quite a few of the recipes, definitely worth buying. We usually cook at least 2 vegetarian meals a week and I don’t have any vegetarian cook books, what’s wrong with this picture? Perfect excuse, right? It’s pretty high up on the wish list.

The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones

She is the cook that discovered Julia Child, I love her simple style and balance of a mediterranean diet. I figure I can just duplicate the recipes, like her cheese soufflé… yum.

Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson

She is also the blogger behind the very popular food recipe blog www.101cookbooks.com, I love that she finds ways to offer substitutes for flour, sweeteners in a more natural way like not using corn syrup for baking, but using natural can sugar and agave syrup, you get the drift. Also love how she evens out the types of foods so you’re eating a good range of all the good foods we should eat from grains to veggies. Definitely not your cook book if you like super rich carb & heavy foods.

Mango Splitter

We love eating mango’s in this house, especially during the summer. We have the pineapple cutter and we use it frequently. Genius, anyone who has cut a mango knows the pain of cutting them, plus I always feel like so much of the fruit is left on the seed, not anymore with this gadget. Totally getting this soon!

Cuisinart Food Processor

I have borrowed my dear friend and neighbor’s food processor to make pesto and veggie burgers in one of these, love at first sight and I must own one in the near future.

Williams Sonoma and their Technique Classes

The best part about these classes is that they are free to the public, yes FREE and I have yet to take advantage. Mostly because they are Sundays, but I must go to at least one next month, their May schedule is looking good, not available online yet, but you can get them early on if you sign-up for their emails. You can look them up by store and they also offer cooking classes, but those do include a fee. They do sound like a lot of fun though since they are theme based, like Cuban cuisine would be one they offer and of course you get a taste of it and a certain percentage off any item at the store that day. Not a bad deal.

Lunchskins

A few months back we invested in these because using and buying plastic sandwich bags gets old and  it’s bad for the environment so these dishwasher safe, certified food safe, hand sewn and quick drying light cotton lunchskins were the perfect solution. We liked these better than the lunch boxes with the containers because these are more roomy, plus we can both use them. Kris uses them for his packed lunches for work, I use them when on the go and running errands to pack nuts and fruit and we both use them when packing snacks for hiking. Yes, I did get those colors. There are other alternatives, I like these at this Evelyn Fields Etsy Shop, definitely cute and serve the same purpose.

Lavender Ice Cream

Source

Ever since watching It’s Complicated and watching Alec Baldwin eating it (wish they had a photo of him eating it, so amusing), I knew I had to have some… since I don’t have an ice cream maker I’m thinking I’ll have to search for a gourmet shop in LA that will carry it or I might need to just order some online and shipped to me in dry ice, um yeah, craving at it’s fullest. You can get the recipe clicking on the source link. And if you haven’t seen the movie and you’re a foodie then netflix it ASAP and watch it, seriously, you’ll be drooling and the chemistry between Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin is amazing.

Breville Juice Extractor

Kris and I had been wanting a juicer for years, we finally invested in one a few months back thanks to a gift card… so worth the investment. We now juice 3-4 times a week. Our favorite combos are the green drink which contains: spinach, zucchini, parsley, celery, sprouts and 2 apples to sweeten it up, delish! Our favorite fruit one so far is the pineapple and orange one, can’t wait to have small juice tastings when more friends come over. I will soon post juicing photos and Kris the juice master working this machine. It by no means takes away the nutritional value of eating raw fruits and veggies, but it’s another great way to get the daily fruit & veggie intake, plus it hits your blood stream right away. What I love most about juicing besides the nutritional value is that it’s something we do together that we both enjoy and makes for some good bonding time.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post as much as I did, I’m thinking this needs to be an ongoing series for me.

Cheers to healthy cooking and eating with a side of foodie shopping!