Diet Coke #ShowYourHeart competition: I won!

As a supporter of heart health, Diet Coke is sponsoring a Show Your Heart contest. The idea is you post a picture on Instagram within the "Show Your Heart" theme, then five people are selected to fly to New York City for the Red Dress fashion show.

Two days ago, I submitted my picture. I figured it would have a good chance of winning, if it could be seen through the hundreds of pictures being posted, because it is creative, artsy and (semi-) unique, in ways similar to last year's winners.

Yesterday, Diet Coke announced its first winner, and it wasn't me. It was a pretty rough day yesterday in general, so I finally just told Taylor I didn't think I would win, because I never win competitions. It's just not in my luck.

Little did I know, that very night I received a message from Diet Coke. They picked me as the second winner! Let's be honest, I'm unbelievably excited. I'm going to New York City in February and McKenzie gets to come play with me! I just hope I don't freeze.

All those years of drinking Diet Coke finally paid off. To celebrate I made delicious brown sugar cookies from Dad's blog in my red KitchenAid while drinking Diet Coke.

Refurnishing Furniture: Before

Taylor and I decided it was time to make our apartment a home. We've been living in limbo since we got married (even longer than that if you count all the years spent in student apartments) and we got tired of it so we started looking for furniture and decorations.

We started with a Walmart desk, but it was just looked and felt cheap so we returned it and started hitting up all the thrift stores.  We decided to find a wood desk and paint it black, all thanks to the personalized guidance of my sister-in-law's experience painting furniture.

 We found this desk for $20, the side table for $10 and the mirror for $15. 

Taylor's been busting his butt sanding, painting and sealing and it's looking incredible. His mom and sister have been a lot of help in making things look professional. If we had more space I might consider making and selling some.

We finally feel comfortable and homey in our place. I was really kind of sick of our apartment, but now I love it. Stay tuned for the "after" pictures later this week.

CAwesome Christmas

I coined "CAwesome Christmas" while sharing an iPhoto PhotoStream with my siblings. Aren't I a clever one? Speaking of clever, we taught my Grandma how to use PhotoStream. #win

The trip was awesome. Taylor and I are finally recovered from the two weeks of overeating, oversleeping, and semi-sickness we both experienced, and we're finally getting back into a normal schedule. He doesn't start school for another week so we're both trying to stay busy as a good start to 2013.

We got into California early enough we got to celebrate Philip's birthday with him by eating King Egg Rolls and Nothing Bundt Cake. A quick word about both: Kings is a wonderful Chinese place (you may or may not hear no English as you visit) where I recommend you simply eat egg rolls. My family usually gets friend rice, and I always request, then wonder why I do, a steamed pork bun. I can't eat egg rolls anywhere else. Nothing Bundt Cake was one of the best finds ever brought to our family. The cakes are delicious, moist, huge and covered in delicious frosting.

Beyond the food and family time, the best thing we did was a day-trip to San Francisco. It was by far the clearest day I've ever seen in the City, you could not only see Oakland, but you could see the entire bay clearly.

Do you love my sockbun? I mastered the technique while in California and I'm afraid I may do it every day thanks to its ease the way it makes me feel awesome. Then we watched the sun set on the Golden Gate bridge. Please, everyone, do yourself a favor and go to the bay area.