We're Baaaack!!!

After a year and 9 month break, i'm back to blogging!! What a crazy time it has been for both of us. Between working, our adorable kitties, house hunting, weddings, etc, I think we've maybe spent 4 weekends at home all year, and we're in July already!! While there are so many other things I could be doing, I definitely want to take time out to get all my thoughts and the details of our crazy life down on paper (or the computer screen!). So, here's a quick catch up the major Cancino activities over the past year and a half!

WORK:
Without hesitation, I can definitely say that Ray and I have worked harder this past year than we ever have! Ray has received 3 promotions since my last blog... yeah, he's kind of a rockstar :) His official title is now Program Director and he runs 3 programs here in San Francisco, assisting seniors, families and single adults. His stress level is definitely higher than its ever been but he is handling the transition extremely well and I am so incredibly proud of him! My job has been crazy too. Lots and lots of work and my ability to handle stress has definitely been tested. I don't think I handle it as well as Ray does but I'm working on it :) I am starting to travel more for work, which is definitely a love/hate situation for me. I am terribly scared of flying, especially after my clots and so I get extremely anxious whenever I have to travel. On the other hand, I am grateful for the ability to have these new experiences and seeing new places. It is definitely a good thing for my career so I'm working on taking it in stride.

KITTIES:
Last year, on August 12, 2012 we brought home two 5 wk old kittens who have completely stolen our hearts and become the loves of our life. Neither one of us have ever been a huge cat person but we just couldn't resist their adorable faces and having something to take care of. My maternal desire is growing by the minute, so I was happy for the practice of training and raising 2 kittens. The boys are now 1 year old and while they still drive us crazy at times, we love them more every day. Here are some pics of our boys, Rocky and Apollo :)

HOUSE HUNTING:
This is a topic that I'm sure I will be blogging about ALOT in the upcoming months. To be extremely frank, we are in hell. This has got to be the worst experience I have ever gone through involving money and emotions. We are pinpointing our search in the Alameda area, and have just had the worst luck. From shady realtors and bidding wars offering over $150k over asking (and only ranking #5), this is definitely tugging at my emotions... and patience! If it wasn't crystal clear when I was talking about the boys, I am SO ready to have babies and the house is the last piece of the puzzle before we can have Cancino bambinos :) So understandably I am anxious to find a place. But we also dont want to walk into a bad situation, whether physically or financially so we're being cautious as well. More to come on this for sure!

I think that gets you caught up on the major stuff! I look forward to sharing more with you soon!

xoxo,
Trisha

Things are lookin up....

This past week and weekend has really flown by! After a relaxing weekend after date night, Ray and I were then thrust into a crazy work week, both of us so tired every night. 


For those of you that don't know, Ray runs a social service program for a low income housing building in SOMA (South of Market district). I am so impressed with what he does. He has to deal with some really heavy stuff, things that I am way too emotional to handle on a daily basis. He does a really good job of keeping work at work, but some weeks are harder than others. Last week was a hard one. I can always tell on his face when he is emotionally drained and so I tried to take care of  little things around the apt to allow him to relax a bit. 


My work week was hectic too. I ended up bringing home my work laptop almost every night. Transitioning to a new job is never "easy" but I wasn't quite prepared with how different it was going to be. When I first started, after a few weeks people would ask me "how is your new job? do you LOVE it?!" My answer was usually "wellll... i like it....". I couldn't really say that I didn't like it at all, because that wasn't true. But it has definitely been hard going from knowing everything about something to knowing absolutely nothing. I have been second guessing myself alot and I made a rather large error on a project which brought my spirits way down. We had our Regional Sales Conference at the Clift Hotel this past Tues. It was my first time meeting all of our Regional team, which I communicate with regularly. When it came time for lunch, I was approached by one of our other account managers to sit with her for lunch. We sat down and she said "so hows it going?" i said my usual "oh, its good" and she turned around to see who was behind us and then said "ok seriously, HOW is it going?" I was so relieved! I told her the good things as well as things about the job and company that frustrate me. To my delight, she had/has some of the same issues. We spent the entire hour chatting and I picked her brain for tips/tricks. By the end of the lunch, I felt like I had a renewed attitude and maybe even a new friend :)


Ray's good friend Carlos and his family are visiting the Bay Area from Florida so we got to see them on Friday night. They have an adorable 8 month old girl that I completely fell in love with. She was adorable! I sat next to her during dinner and let her pull on my watch, necklace....she was so cute, I didn't even care! It seems like everyone around me lately is having babies and while I'm not ready RIGHT NOW, it definitely gets me excited for the time that we will have one of our own :) I think Ray is starting to feel it now too.... so we'll see with that! haha.


Saturday morning I drove down to Aptos early, had coffee with Baylee as she was setting up for Asher's birthday and then picked up my dad. He was coming to stay with us for a few days. Once we got to San Francisco, I dropped my dad off and headed downtown for an afternoon at Joseph Cozza (thanks Mom!). I have had alot of people highlight my hair over the years but I swear, Christopher @ Joseph Cozza is a genius!! He does it just perfectly. He did my color before the wedding and I have never had so many compliments. He is a bit pricey so I usually go to a smaller salon near our apt. After this visit, I will never let anyone else touch my head. It just looks so good, I have made the executive decision that he is it for me! Luckily my husband agrees that its worth the extra $$$ :)  I have let my hair grow out extremely long since the wedding. I love how long hair looks on me but it is just so hard to muster up energy to do it every day! When it came time for my haircut, I told Amy to make my hair "healthy". Well, by making it healthy she cut it about 3 inches! I was a little freaked out in the beginning but now I'm loving it! It's not super short, but definitely more manageable!

The rest of the weekend with my dad has been fun. While I was at the salon on Sat, Ray was taking my dad for a walk and fell and twisted his ankle...again! (he twisted the other ankle a couple weeks ago at a golf tournament). Poor Ray! Needless to say, we didnt do as much walking this weekend as we originally planned. Sat night we took my dad out to dinner at Don Pistos, a mexican restaurant in North Beach and then to Beach Blanked Babylon. The show is a San Francisco institution and Ray & I had never been. It was so funny! Very entertaining and not at all as cheesy as I originally thought. The best thing about Yesterday we took my dad to brunch then to the Disney Family Museum in the Presidio. It is such a great museum! I am still a little confused on why they chose to have the museum in San Francisco but it was fun anyway. Lots of great history about the Disney world as well as just about animation in general. After that, we went on a walk at Crissy Fields and walked almost to the bridge. The weather in SF yesterday was amazing! It was in the low 80s, not a cloud in the sky! I love days like that because it makes me appreciate this gorgeous city I am so fortunate to live in!

Last night we took my dad to A16 for his birthday dinner. Ray and I have been there once before and the food is great! Last night we had the Funghi (mushroom) pizza as an appetizer and then all 3 of us got the chicken dish. Delicious. Although perhaps the best thing about the restaurant is this amazing dessert they have. It is similar to a chocolate tart but it has sea salt and is drizzled with olive oil. I would have never dreamed that chocolate and olive oil would taste so good together. Even my dad liked it. You should have seen the look he gave us when we ordered it, he thought we were nuts! Here's a pic of me with the birthday boy. He really wasn't as grumpy as he looks in this pic, I need to get him to smile more!

Now its Monday afternoon and I'm ready for a nap! haha. My dad is hanging out at our apartment today and is making dinner for us tonight.


Til next time!

Date Night :)

One of the things I enjoy most about my husband is how much fun we have together. I have come to cherish our date nights. Whether we go to dinner, a movie, or just hang out at home I know it will always be great! Last night we decided to try a new restaurant, Park Tavern. One of my favorite neighborhoods in San Francisco is North Beach. It's always bustling with energy and really gives me the "city" vibe. Park Tavern is right on the border of Washington Square Park and the menu looked amazing. This week I have been battling feeling nauseous (no, I am NOT pregnant!) so I was hoping & praying all week that I would be up to going out. Thankfully I was :) yay!

Last week, Ray went in for a doctor's appointment and was told that he needed to back down on eating red meat because his cholestrol level was a bit high. I decided to do this with him for a few reasons- first to be a supportive wife, and second to help establish healthier eating habits for both of us. Ray is an AMAZING cook, thank god because I definitely am NOT! But while everything he cooks is delicious and decadent, they aren't always the healthiest dishes. So this should be quite an adventure for us.

Our date night got off to a bit of a late start. I was in desperate need of a mani/pedi and just wanted some relax time to myself. After work, I booked my bootie up to Milk +, a nail salon by our apartment. We originally had dinner reservations at 7, but when the salon was running late, I called and moved the reservation to 7:30. I was sitting in the chair, gossip magazine in hand, about to close my eyes when Ray walks in. I had forgot to text him and tell him about the change in timing. He had thought he would sit and wait for me instead of going home or meeting me after the appointment. So in between moments of relaxation, I began to get the following text messages "this place is so quiet", "i feel like im in a library". It's called relaxation, dear :) I gave him the out to go home (which I really was hoping he would do) but he decided to stay. Even the lady doing my pedicure said, "wow, what a great man for waiting for you" ahhh yes... a great man he is :) He even paid for my services because my nails were still wet. Score!!

We made it to Park Tavern and as I open the menu I notice they have steak and french fries (my favorite meal) on the menu. Yes!!! ohhh wait...no :( I told Ray I would do the no red meat with him. I mentioned they had it on the menu but my observant husband had already noticed. "Babe, get it, I know its your favorite." Hmmm.... I had a decision to make. Supportive wife? Yummy food? I took the high road and went with supportive wife. Besides, he had brought a nice bottle of chardonnay to dinner... I can compromise. I ordered Poulet Rouge, which is basically a mini chicken. Delicious!! and they served standing up on this really cool cast iron plate, which we might walk down to Williams Sonoma to get this afternoon.

After a great dinner, we came home and Ray parked himself on the couch to play video games and I laid in bed and watched wedding shows... all in all a fantastic evening :)

Welcome to our Blog!

So Ray and I started a food blog a while back, but for some reason I just couldn't get in to it. I love food and wine but didn't get excited about writing about it. I want to write about what's happening in our lives, our dreams, adventures and what we are excited about. One thing I have come to realize in the past 7 months since the wedding is that life is not always a "fairtytale" per say. Don't get me wrong, I love being married but the newlywed life isn't exactly the cake walk that every romantic comedy you've ever seen portrays. It takes compassion, understanding, compromise and a few arguments here and there to really gauge what's important. So for all my recently married and engaged friends, listen up! While I wont share ALL the dirty details, I intend to expose newlywed bliss for what it truly is.... a wonderful adventure!

So here it is! Sit back and enjoy the ride with us crazy Cancinos :)