over the weekend

we celebrated dekel's niece's 1st birthday. she is the sweetest little thing and her parents (dekel's sister & her husband) threw a little party with the fam at the kibbutz they live on. they rented out a "party room" and grilled kebabs, steaks, chicken on skewers and liver. there were tons of salads (see this post), pitas with hummus, corn on the cobb & beer. needless to say we left stuffed.

 dekel with his two nieces: maya & ma'ayan

 i wore a new little summer dress i picked up at fox for $12! a steal!

 the beautiful birthday girl, maya!

what did you do this weekend?

day three

#on my plate

delishious mix of typical israeli salads: sliced carrots, purple cabbage with seasame seeds, thickly-cut cucumbers & tomatoes with parsley, finely-diced peppers, sliced almonds and pine nuts, sugar coated pecans and sweet dried cranberries all mixed with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper

day two

#empty

a quickly-finished strawberry, banana smoothie to start my day

day one

#morning

picking fresh peppers, tomatoes and onions from my grandfather's garden

a photo a day

im a little late on this one.
this is something i meant to start in june, after seeing my friend marli begin,  but its a new month almost a new month, i have a little more time on my hands & i want to challenge myself to stick to this "photo a day" and get creative  :)

who's with me??

a sweet tooth while studying

to say i have a sweet tooth would be an understatement!

i'm seriously addicted to sweets...

*ahem* that giant bag of peanut m&m's i got a few days ago are ALL GONE thanks to me!!!

my mom also sent some confetti cupcake mix & since i dont have a cupcake pan and i needed something sweet while studying, i decided to make a confetti cake.

managerial accounting goes well with confetti cake...

and dont let this little piece fool you...i went back for seconds. and thirds.

what's your favorite sweet treat?

my own happy hour

after a grueling friday morning class in international & corporate finance, dekel and i headed to the beach to relax for a few hours with some beer and bissili in hand. we soaked up the sun and frolicked in got beaten up by the violent ocean waves, but had the time of our lives. i love being at the beach with my man!

after the beach we came home to wash off the salt and sand and we got ready for a date night. we set out to try a new little sandwich bar in ramat yishay called 'zesty' where dekel had the philadelphia cheesesteak sandwich with roasted red peppers, YUM! i had the israeli version of a BLT which was alright. we shared an order of potato wedges covered in sweet chili sauce which were uhhmazing. omigoodness yum! i will be going back just for those! anyways, after dinner we headed to happy hour at one of our favorite places for drinks, barbarosa. dekel ordered hoegarden and i indulged in a cocktail called 'monica belichi,' which is gin, pinnapple juice and a hint of sprite. so good! i had another two after that. their happy hour is "buy one, get one free" on cocktails and beers, so its justifiable, right?  :)

i wore a black dress my sister sent me a long time ago from forever 21 with cut-outs in the sleeves, some old school brown target sandals, some earrings from the market and a high bun

 on the way home after a few drinks  :)

luckily i remembered to take an advil before bed & drink water so i could wake up hangover-free, which worked! but now were about to crunch down and study for managerial accounting. womp womp...

what are you doing this weekend??

the little things in life

my dad just returned from a very short business trip to the states, usually when he travels all the way over there for business, he makes a pitstop in texas to visit my brother and sister. he was only in dallas for two days, but my mom, sister & brother managed to get a few special things together in a care package for him to bring back to me. it is SO nice to receive a few familiar things from "back home" when living in a foreign country. thanks again mom, mirelle & ben!

peanut m&m's, confetti cupcake mix (my favorite!), pink buttercream frosting, pretty cupcake holders, a handmade bracelet made from recycled materials (more about that here), flavored drink enhancers, different flavored gum, a goofy, but fitting, card & some praline almonds and slim jim for my israeli grandparents on my dads side (my mom always sends them treats too)

my mom knows i hardly drink water unless its flavored  :)

extra dessert delights is sooo goood! i love these flavors! root beer & mint chocolate chip, which just tastes like mint

*sorry for the crappy phone pics, but we are cameraless for a while

currently craving

dark wash skinny jeans, a cool diy watercolor-inspired tee,

some roughed up boots & an overload of jewelry

1. watercolor tee via pintrest

2. forever 21 opaque faux stone bracelet - $9.80

3. forever 21 rhinestoned curb chain bracelet - $8.80

4. forever 21 oval rhinestone ring - $4.80

5. forever 21 multi-ring bracelet - $9.80

6. topshop MOTO indigo baxter jeans - $80

7. jeffrey campbell france suede boots - $198  (i originally saw them in this post)

a lazy saturday

on saturday i drug dekel away from studying to get out of the house for a few hours. i made a giant caesar salad with croutons and purple onion, sandwiches of peppered turkey, mustard and cucumber on wheat bread and brought some beer and we took off to our favorite picnic spot that overlooks the mountains, which is seriously picturesqe. i mean, it doesnt get any better than that!

for the caesar salad dressing i whisked together 2 tbs mayonaise, 1 tsp dijon mustard,

1 tsp worschestire (sp!) sauce, 2 tbs lemon juice, salt &pepper and voila! delish!

relaxation at its finest:

im not naked here, im just wearing a tubetop dress  :)

i had to say hi to the little cows!

what did you do this weekend??

the countdown begins

to say a vacation is needed would be an understatement. i have an itch to get out of the country even for just a few days. so husband and i have decided to plan a weekend 4-day get-a-way to amsterdam in july. we stopped there for the day on the way to dallas last year and absolutely loved it. we didnt have much time then, so im excited to go back and stay at a cute bed & breakfast in the city center and explore around town. this trip will include a canal ride, picnics in the park, bike riding, maybe a museum or two and just enjoying each others company.

i cannot wait!

here are some photos from our last 'short, but sweet' amsterdam experience:

 

have you ever been to amsterdam?

where would you jet off to for a quick get-a-way, i would love to know!