• Dream vs. reality – studded shoes

    If you’ve ever checked out the big-name fashion blogs, or wandered through the designer shoe department at Nordstrom, you’ve probably seen a pair of Valentino Rockstuds. They come in all different colors, in heels and flats, and they are absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, they cost so much that you may have to forgo food for the month […]

  • Fab Fave Friday: wardrobe basics

    Jen’s note: Fab Fave Friday is a recurring feature in which I highlight some of my favorite things — in all sorts of categories. Today’s category is wardrobe basics. We’ve all seen the lists: The ones that tell us all women must have a crisp white button-down shirt, a little black dress, a trench coat, black […]

  • Raspberry pie

    raspberry pie 2

    I have a confession: I prefer pie to cake. I know, I know. Cakes are prettier, and they usually feed more people, and they are definitely a much better vehicle for rainbow sprinkles. And ice cream cake is obviously amazing. But there’s just something about a piece of key lime pie, or cherry pie with vanilla […]

  • Birthday dress

    We haven’t come across a lot of super fancy restaurants in the San Diego area. You can wear jeans almost everywhere, and a casual sundress and sandals can go from the beach to dinner. But on my birthday, I wanted to be a bit dressier. I had gotten this dress at Francesca’s when Melissa was […]

  • Scuba diving – The Cathedrals

    lanai cathedral

    The island of Lanai is only about 10 miles from the western part of Maui; it’s visible from Kaanapali beach and Lahaina. But since the island is very sparsely inhabited and almost entirely owned by one (very, very rich) man, we didn’t know much about it before we visited. Luckily for us, one of the […]

  • Scuba diving – Mala Pier, Lahaina

    Do you scuba? My dad got certified as a scuba diver in the 1970s — I’m not sure how he kept the water out of his mask with the insane sideburns and mustache he was rocking at the time — but he always wanted my brother and I to get certified. It took several false […]

  • Jen & Toby versus the volcano

    haleakala clouds

    My childhood hatred of hiking is well documented. But, as you’ve probably noticed, I’ve gotten past that — and since we were visiting an island that is 75 percent volcano, we thought we should probably visit said volcano. But there was no way in Hades that I was going to ride a bike down that […]

  • Spinach and Gruyere frittata

    I’m interrupting my series of posts about our trip to Hawaii for an easy, protein-packed breakfast recipe.   When we went to LA a few weeks ago, we went to FIG in Santa Monica for brunch and I tried ordering their spinach and gruyere quiche. Unfortunately, they had run out, so I ended up getting a […]

  • Matchy matchy

    I really didn’t plan it. When I packed this new dress from Kate Spade outlet, I didn’t know I was going to get Toby this Tommy Bahama shirt. But I did… and we matched perfectly. I adore this color, and it works really well on both of us. And when I tried on this dress and […]

  • Rainforest and waterfalls hike

    maui waterfall

    When we were planning our trip to Hawaii, hiking in the rainforest wasn’t really on our radar. We wanted to go up to the top of Haleakala (the volcano) and hike a bit, to scuba dive, to take surf lessons, and to lay around by the pool… and that was about it. Then we went […]