Anyway...

dear robin...

Dear vodkaboobs, i mean, robin,


this is my face when you aren't on gchat because you're off oggling male strippers for 48 hours   doing wholesome, non-bachelorette, non-smuggling-in-alcohol things on a boring cruise ship without me...

but seriously, i hope you ladies have fun! 

and there aren't any strippers 

or penis shaped things.

because that's gross.

vodka boobs, however, vodka boobs are not gross.

(and now you have to blog about vodka boobs, or readers will be P-I-S-E-D!)

love,

ash

Roadtrip to Dino Land

After the bridal activities a few weeks ago, I went over to my momma's for some good ol' family fun. 

Both my lil sister(Lisa) and brother (Quincy) have birthdays in September so we celebrated them with some bbq and football.

Monday we woke up early and I hit the road with my older sister (Ami) and her two super adorable kids. They were coming to visit me in Arizona for the week so we decided to make a road trip out of it.

Now I will admit, I stop at the dinosaurs in Cabazon almost every other time 

I drive from California to Arizona. 

Yes, I realize I am 27. 

But when I was a kid, we used to stop every time we went to visit my grandparents in Joshua Tree so it holds a special place in my heart. Plus... dinos! 

We would always go up into the gift shop in the belly of the brontosaurus and stare at the massive t-rex. We would beg our parents to take us into the back museum, but always got told "no" due to time and money constraints. 

This time, since we were old enough to have our own money but with young enough kids to have an excuse, we decided to go into the museum in the back. 

Childhood dream realized. 

The back museum has 50+ dinosaur statues and robotic dinosaurs. 

With museum admission, you also get to walk up into the mouth of the t-rex. 

Yes, the big one you can see from the freeway. 

It was an intense climb up a tiny spiral staircase. But awesome view and experience. 

I love that she is casually posing on the teeth and he looks terrified. 

Such a great time.

Cucumber Caprese Quinoa Shells

I would be lying if I said I haven't been eyeballing caprese recipes lately. To be honest, I have never tried a caprese salad. But I don't understand why... I love all of the basic ingredients!

Lucky for me, my coworker brought me a big bag of homegrown basil today. I searched through the last few recipes I starred, compared to what was in my kitchen and came up with this: a random, combination of these two recipes.

• Cucumber Avocado Caprese Salad
• Orzo Caprese Salad

I loved the idea of adding cucumbers to the caprese salad (since cucumber + tomato = legen... wait for it... dary! legendary!) and I liked the idea of the salad mixed with the orzo (or more specifically, any sort of grain... I was thinking quinoa, cous cous, brown rice... something along those lines to stretch the flavor and make it more filling). So I mixed and matched and made some changes based on what I had on hand, but I really want to try the originals someday!!

Cucumber Caprese Quinoa Pasta

Ingredients (my version):

• 1.5 cups uncooked quinoa pasta shells
• 3 cucumbers 
• 10.5 oz cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup fresh basil (firmly packed)
• 1 cup mozarella (the little balls)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• garlic, salt, and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Cook the pasta according to directions. Rinse with cold water and mix with a small amount of olive oil to prevent from sticking. Set aside.
2. Follow the directions from this site (excluding avocados because sadly I didn't have them on hand).
3. Eat. A lot.

Yum!

Disclaimer: I am not attempting to call this a recipe, or take any credit for it. I just wanted to share with you the goodness that was my dinner :) 

Kristin's Bridal Shower

Two weekends ago I had the super rad honor of flying out to California for my friend's bridal shower. 

The maid of honor and her mom decorated the back yard and patio super cute 

and served us various forms of mini poppyseed muffins, cinnamon rolls, champagne cocktails, 

quiches, cheesy potatos, cheesecake, and peanut butter balls (and probably more that I am forgetting). 

I've known the MOH since 5th grade and let me tell you, her momma knows how to host a party. 

"Movie Night" was never just simple popcorn, it was always a 5 course meal (but I'm not complaining).

 We played all the basic bridal shower games, ate lots of food and found a secret midget door.

Potter?! Are in you in there??

I won a super cute scarf during the "who knows the couple the best" game... but I think living with the couple out in Arizona may have given me an unfair advantage.

Me and Ashley also almost won the toilet paper wedding dress game (everyone agreed ours was the best) but the bride had to get all sappy and pick her mom's team. I guess I can live with that ;)

After the Bridal shower we cleaned up and went out for a night on the town. Margaritas at the fabulous Mission Inn and then wandering the dive bars that are Downtown Riverside.

I adore hanging out with these ladies and when we go on our cruise for the bachelorette party in October... its gonna be AWESOME.

baby, i'm back...

it's been months since my last post...
but i'm coming back outta retirement
(or at least going to make a serious effort)


since the last time we spoke i have:
- visited friends and hosted visitors
- moved apartments
- watched far too much Storage Wars and Bar Rescue
- survived another tax deadline (aka "overtime city")
- changed relationship status
- gone back to school
- discovered the best sandwich known to mankind

so... you see i have decent reasons for my absence
but i hope to see you all around much more from now on :)

A small slice of heaven...

today i was a little late leaving my office
which means i missed my bus by approximately 30 seconds
i literally saw it pulling away as i waited at the crosswalk
boo. 

so i figured, i might as well walk. i've done it before and it would have taken just as long to wait for the next bus. i headed down the street and the sky started to look a little eerie.

i don't know if you all know, but we have this thing out here in arizona called a haboob which is essentially a big dust storm / wall of dust / scene from the mummy. and after saturday's splendid display of haboobiness, i got a little worried for my face.

saturday's haboob - as taken by my friend

i decided to run away take shelter in a small strip mall on the way home and happened to find myself in a cute little pizzeria. i was unsure how intense the dust would end up being, but figured might as well order a slice and wait out the bulk of it.

turns out there was no haboob... just dusty sky. BUT the fact that i delayed my walk home meant that i got to see a stupendous sunset! if you follow me on instagram, you already know i'm a bit obsessed with clouds, but the clouds tonight were legit. 2 legit 2 quit, if ya know what i mean.

please enjoy a small slice of heaven, courtesy of arizona. (all of these were taken with my iphone, no filter... and even more glorious in person).

(not my house... just FYI to you stalkers)

Santa Monica Instadump

as promised yesterday, here's some pics from my santa monica adventure
this adventure was fairly last minute
but when someone says "hey, do you want to stay in my beach condo for the weekend?"
you don't say no... am i right?

shirt my brother got me - seemed appropriate for the roadtrip 

saying good bye to arizona and the sun

not a shabby view

frank the turtle who resides in the courtyard

santa monica pier at night

(taken by @okfnjesse)

santa monica pier during the day

the dinos in cabazon - i have to stop every. single. time.

windmills remind me of going to my gma's as a kiddo

the weather was lovely, i spent most of the day reading and soakin in the scenery
sat night we went to sushi with my good friend tijana and her man
(known that lady since 5th grade, whaaat?)
and then we all walked down to the beach for some night time wave watching
after returning to the condo, my friend nicole from college came over with her man
and i realized we had a lil ucla party going on
(2 ucla undergrad students, 1 ucla masters student... go bruins!)
we chatted into the wee hours of the night (aka midnight... i'm old now)
then sunday was more book reading and sight seeing as we drove home

not gonna lie, all this traveling is fun. but its great to be home.
sleep in my own bed. use my own shower.
unpack my suitcase (two loads of laundry done!)
and it'll last a whoooole weekend.
because i'm road tripping out to san diego in two weekends.
somebody stop me.
or dont. i like the adventures.
so i better rest/catch up while i can ;)

have you guys been traveling lately?
anyone gonna be in sd in two weekends?
anyone else love those dinos?!?

I don't even know where to start.....

...i feel like i haven't stopped running full speed since a month ago.
i spent a weekend in california,
then two weeks in iowa,
then the next weekend back in california.
4 weekends in a row outta town.
17 out of the past 24 days either traveling or in another state. sheesh!

and to top it all off, i didn't unpack my suitcase the whole month. 

sure i did a few loads of laundry, 

but the clothes went from the suitcase to the washer back in the suitcase.

everything else stayed packed up.

i suppose it made traveling easier for the month, 

but living out of a suitcase for a month added a lil bit of stress. 

since i am still in the process of returning to a normal life (unpack, laundry, groceries, etc) 

i will leave you all with an insta-dump of my iowa adventures. 

iowa 

 mexican food at the airport before take off

 the barn "with character" at his parents farm

 view from the back porch at his brother's

my first time at the races - waiting for "the biggest fireworks display in the state" to begin

old courthouse and town square, complete with brick streets

getting malts at the pharmacy in the town square

the bridges of madison county

they may be weeds, but the thistle fields were so purty!

the swinging bridge (much scarier, and less sturdy than it looks)

i'll dump some santa monica on you tomorrow, 

then hopefully have some real stories to tell you. 

if i ever get caught up with my life. 

what have you all been up to??

27 on the 27th

as some of you may have seen/read/heard Wednesday was my birthday 

my golden birthday

27 on the 27th 

i'm golden y'all 

i think this means i'm finally allowed to hang out with my favorite ladies 

woohoo!! 

anyways, my birthday was a blast

aside from partying with my absolute best friends in california last weekend

i was treated to cheesecake, flowers and sushi on my actual bday

way to make a girl feel loved ;) 

now i'm here to tell you that i will be off for a week 

i'm headed out to the great state of iowa for some good ol' fashioned midwest fun 

i see a fish fry, 4th of july bbq and river float in my future

along with farmer's markets, visiting THE bar in town (yes, only one bar in his tiny tiny town) and bonfires

i'm a little nervous since i've never been out there before, but i know it will be a blast 

i didn't rope in any guest bloggers, so you probably won't hear from me for a week or two 

unless ashley decides to step it up 

::cough cough:: ashley, you could post stuff ::cough cough:: 

otherwise follow me on twitter (@lebonk) or instagram (@lebonk) for up to the minute updates

i KNOW you want to see the goodness that iowa brings

otherwise, i'll share my adventures on my return 

til then, here's a few pics from my birthday :) 

work friends decorated :) 

I got to keep the leftovers.... yummmmm

"Have a great birthday - Here's an Iowa tshirt to help you get familiar with the state :)
You'll have so much fun when you get here!!"
His mom is too cute (ps i did NOT expect a gift in the mail from his mom, so sweet)

hehe

first time i've ever received "romantic" flowers
(sad that i'm 27 and it's the first time... but it's kinda  my fault... i always ask for food instead of flowers...
im a simple chick)

ahhh yes... the true way to my heart...
veggie tempura roll, shrimp tempura roll, crab tempura roll, philidelphia roll
fushi at its finest
fatties at their finest
mmmmm... happy birthday to meeeeeeeee!!

See you in July!!!