Our Pacific Northwest Honeymoon

As we embark four months from our wedding today, I'm seriously having honeymoon withdrawals. Before leaving I was told,  "Your honeymoon should be the most memorable, spontaneous and advernture-filled trip you will take." And to be honest-looking back, it was just that.

Late nights, desert for dinner, coffee, sushi, breakfast in bed, the pacific, boat rides, steak, maple leaves, man vs. food, water falls, cozy fires and best of all - no schedules, being surrounded by love, nature and my hubby.

About our trip:

We landed in Seattle ---> drove up to Whistler, BC where we spent time on snow capped mountains ---> drove down to Vancouver where we saw water falls, city life, parks, ate lots of steak ---> took a ferry ride over to Victoria, BC which is an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and slept in a b&b off of the coast ---> and finished off driving back to Seattle where we spent time in the market, golfing, drinking Stumptown coffee and being artsy with the locals! 

Baker's Shelves

After moving in and a few groceries later, Gabriel and I knew we needed to figure out a way of maximizing our 1951 galley (long and narrow) kitchen storage or else space would be an issue (for this baker at least).

Then our spacious laundry room came to mind -  off to Home Depot it was!

And some major time spent staging of course ---

{I love to have cook books on display & easy to read}

{cupcakes, cakes and cookie containers/ display stands}

{stainless steel pots and pans are my fav}

{easy to find and store mixer attachments}

.....................

I believe the quickest way for a house feel homier is to have your passion on display. Weither it be art, instruments, sports or gardening-put it up.  As for me, I love to cook and bake.

How do you make your home feel homier?

Oh Monday.

This weekend was filled with a lot of relaxing, house sprucing, cooking,  and taking care of a sick hubby. I'm really loving our weekends together now, more than ever being in our cozy renovation free home. It's an awesome experience getting to just do everyday life together.

Check back tomorrow for a peak at our pantry and how I've organized my bakers shelves!

How was your weekend? Did it fly just as much as mine?

Wedding Centerpieces

Throughout the wedding planning process, I wanted to make sure everything about our wedding reflected our Cuban vintage theme - while still being appropriate for a Sunday afternoon.

Old cigar box + white and green flowers + stacked up = perfect!

We named each table after a Cuban province, designed cards and placed them into wooden frames that my sister and I literally beat up on purpose.

Outside on the back porch of the house was a wooden pallet that strung the place cards across it. Don't ask me how this whole thing came about.. it was pretty much one of those crazy ideas you get and you just have to go with it! While of course driving everyone else crazy at the same time.. thank you hubby and brother in law!

On the day of the wedding, I had the florist assemble the centerpieces - in order to have this done right, set up an appointment with your florist a few weeks before and explain how you want them to look. Making a mock centerpiece with him/her (like we did) might help in explaining exactly what you want.

Whichever way you choose to go, centerpieces make a big statement! I recommend putting thought into the look and feel you are trying to achieve!

What were/are your centerpieces like? 

Sweet Day!!

At The Diaz House Lately

 With the passing of Abuela Sira last week, we decided to hold off our trip to Tampa to visit my family and reschedule for Easter weekend. I can't wait to spend our long weekend up there!!

So while we were home this weekend, we spent our time relaxing, eating, cuddling and watching golf at the Cadillac Championship Golf Tournament. Donal Trump just bought the Doral Resort (home of the tournament) and he is in the process of sprucing it up!

We got to see our favorites too.... Phil, Rory, Ricky and Tiger of course - who is actually not one of our favorites, but has a huge following so he's interesting to watch.

In the world of food, I spent some time baking my grandma's carrot cake for a dinner party we went to on Friday night! I made sure to call the night before and get all of the family secrets ;) I'll post this one soon- it was a knock out!

Being on our healthy kick, salad pretty much accompanies every meal. Chicken with salad, fish with salad, steak with salad and salad with salad. Here is a quick salmon dish I whipped up and think you should too! It's just so easy.

1. Add lemon juice, lemon peels, salt, pepper, rosemary, chopped garlic, garlic powder
2.. Broil salmon for 15 minutes

Boom- you've got yourself an amazingly healthy dish!

How was your weekend? This week we have some more painting and organizing to do. Our renovations are finally done and now it's time to put everything back in place!! We are thrilled with the results!!!! Can't wait to share!