Burger Joint Run Down

Mr. Suhr has a favorite food. 

Burgers. 

Any kind. 

Put a big, delicious steak in front of him and he'll choose a burger every time. 

We're always trying to find the next best burger. 

Some of our favorite places recently (out here on the West Coast) are: 

The Counter. Located in Irvine (there are more than one), this is a great little place 

where you get an awesome menu and get to pick your own toppings. 

And there are LOTS to choose from.

They say they are "the 21st Century's bold answer to the classic burger joint."

Here's a sample of the menu: 

And here's what a typical Counter burger looks like. 

Massive. 

With the ability to pile on the toppings, these things just keep growing.

This was Garrett's from last time we were there. It's a 3/4 pound lamb burger, corn and black bean salsa, pepperocinis, onion straws, caramelized onions, and fresh mozzarella on a soft pretzel bun. 

My favorite combo is something like the chicken, with jalapeño jack cheese, organic mixed greens, roasted corn & black bean salsa, housemade guacamole, sun dried tomatoes, 

and roasted garlic aioli sauce, all on a multi-grain bun. 

So good. 

Another burger place we recently went to with one of Garrett's RA's, Nathan, and his fiance, Jessica was a place in Santa Monica called Umami Burger. 

Their claim to fame is that they have created the fifth taste. 

The first four tastes are sweet, sour, salt and bitter. 

The fifth, Umami, can be simply described as savory. 

More information on it can be found here. :) 

Our Umami experience was definitely a repeater. We will be back. :)

Burgers, smushed potatoes, onion rings, sweet potato fries, and shoestring fries. 

Garrett and I split an Umami Burger, which had all kinds of crazy stuff on it. Apparently, the idea is that all the different flavors give it one unique taste that is super complimentary. 

We also split the Port and Stilton Burger. 

The burgers even have a U stamped on top! Neat-o!

One of Mr. Suhr's current RA's and his fiance, Nathan & Jessica. 

3 out of the 4 of us started off ordering water until the waiter told us that all proceeds from the bottled root beer went directly to an animal shelter. Jessica and I are all about saving the animals. :) 

All four of us ended up with root beer. 

Last, but most certainly not least....the burger of all time. 

I know without a doubt that I have found my perfect burger. 

I ate it one night at a teeny tiny place called Father's Office. 

(The website, unlike the burger, leaves much to be desired.)
This little establishment is in Santa Monica and holds maybe a total of 35 people inside. 

It's not big at all, and you really have to fight through the crowds 

to get to the counter where you place your order. 

There is one burger on the menu, and you can't make any substitutions. 

Luckily, you don't need to. It's seriously that good. 

It was on a soft, wheat & grain roll, it was perfectly cooked to a nice medium rare, and it had a blue cheese spread, carmelized onions, and fresh baby spinach. Sounds simple enough, but I can't tell you how good this burger was. Served with a side of garlic shoestring fries.

 I seriously could eat one of these on a very regular basis. 

And though this post may not show it, I'm not that much of a burger girl. 

I am, however, a little hungry...

This may have been the longest I have ever thought about the subject of burgers...ever. 

I'm sure Garrett could say otherwise. :) 

Do It Yourself: Chalkboard

I finally finished a project! 

I'm not always the greatest at following through, and this project did take me a while. 

I started with a piece of galvanized metal, some primer, and chalkboard paint. 

I sanded the metal a little, I guess to take the smoother surface of it off? 

Not totally sure what the purpose of that was. Ha!

I started with a little foam brush, and switched to a regular paint brush. 

The regular paintbrush left some lines on the board.
So after the first coat, I switched to a foam roller.

I did three coats total and then let it dry. 

After searching for a square frame that fit my board for a couple of months, I finally found one. 

Marshall's. $10. And my piece of galvanized, chalk-painted, steel fit perfectly into the frame. Glorious.

It's a chalkboard. 

It's magnetic. 

And if you walk in our front door, you'll see it on our wall. 

Project complete. 

To do: Paddleboarding- Check!

Every year or so, :), we do an adventurous outing with another one of the RD couples on campus. 

I think in our heart of hearts we intend to go more often. 

'Cause every time we go, it is a stinkin' fun time. 

The Powells like to show us around their favorite California places. 

Last time it was snowshoeing. 

This time, it was paddleboarding in Long Beach! 

It was the four of us, and the Rae's, our next door dorm neighbors. :) 

We got a quick lesson from Mr. Powell, and before we knew it, 

we were testing our skills, or lack thereof. 

Go, Suhr, go! 

A little wobbly, but lots of fun!

Four paddleboards on top of a Honda Civic.

After circling the canal a couple of times, we worked up quite an appetite. 

We headed South to Seal Beach and put our names in at Beachwood Barbeque. 

What a FABULOUS place. 

It felt like good home Southern Cooking! 

BBQ Chicken, pulled pork, corn on the cob, cole slaw, corn bread...wowzers.  

And my FAVORITE part of the meal....

Fried Pickles!

So, so, so, so, so good. 

This is one of those appetizers where no one was being polite in 

making sure everyone else got their fair share. 

It was a fight to the finish! 

Delicious. Yum. 

Thank you, Powells! 

Olivers and Alleyways

Recently, some of the girls from the office and I went to Olive Garden, which, in my opinion, is always delicious. We had a great time and ate lots of...mmmmmm....de...de...de...licious food.

Afterwards, we had a photo shoot in the alleyway back to our car. *smirk* 

Couldn't help but post the photos. 

There's nothing better than pretending you're something' else. :)

Thanks for work detox night ladies.

I think they keep us all sane! :)

Vintage Pearl Giveaway!

Vintage Pearl is a company that has fresh ideas when it comes to jewelry. 

I love pearls. They are absolutely my favorites gemstone, if you will. 

They are classic, versatile, and a true sign of beauty.

I have a couple of blogs I want to direct you to. 

The first blog I want to direct you to is The Vintage Pearl, where they are doing the giveaway! 

Leave a comment, write a blog post, and tweet for 3 chances to win a piece of jewelry that is 

not only beautiful, but holds great meaning. Their jewelry is customizable so it can easily 

become a treasured piece for years to come!

The other blog is where you'll find a story on the meaning behind pearls and how valuable they are, not only monetarily. Gretchen's post "Pearls of a Great Price" is remarkable and touches places in my soul that are deeper than sometimes I even knew were possible. 

Enjoy!

Cayucos Retreat

A couple of weeks ago, Mr. Suhr and I got to take his staff on their semesterly staff retreat. 

One of the girls on staff has a house that belongs to her family in Cayucos, CA. 

It was rainy and cold, but we had a great weekend, very relaxing, with lots of beautiful views! 

(The first five pictures were taken by me, with  my iPhone camera.) 

Hearst Castle

7 of the 9 on Garrett's Staff. :) 

(The last four pictures were taken by the kid in the middle of the above picture with the really cheesy smile)

This picture is not very nice. 

The last picture is absolutely my favorite. 

This little guy was looking for some food, I think. 

He was totally unafraid. 

Climbed right up on my lap. 

I was, obviously, delighted! 

:)

West Coast Mama

About two weeks ago now, Mama came out to California!

It was her first time on the West Coast. 

First time farther than Wisconsin. 

First time touching the Pacific Ocean.

First time at Chipotle.

First time to Disneyland.

First time on a roller coaster. 

First time eating beignets. 

First time assisting with an Admissions Event. 

First time in our apartment.

First time visiting our church. 

First time meeting our West Coast friends. 

Not her first time shopping. But lots of shopping was done. :) 

And hopefully, not her last time out to California. 

We had a blast. 

I love you, Mama. 

Pockets of Lace

I wore a new thrift find to work today. :) 

A sweet little vintage shirt that's a lovely shade of blue.

This is probably one of my favorites. 

It has lace details on the pocket and sleeves and beautiful brass colored buttons. 

And it maybe cost me $1.50. 

I'll take that. :) 

      

(Sorry for the lame self portraits. Gotta figure out how else to get a snapshot.) 

:) 

The pretty little quilt in the background is another thrift find. 

It adds a delightful pop of color to our room that was affordably, $2.25. 

Happy times in the thrift stores.

Hubs

One night I came home to this guy, sitting at our kitchen table, using an online tutorial to help him figure out how to make flies. 

He had all of his little tools out, the table all set up, and he was in serious concentration mode.

It was just the cutest scene to walk in on.

 

Something I love about my hubsters is that he is all man, totally likes to camp, fish, hunt, hike, shoot, kayak, rock climb, ski, explore, be outdoors, scale mountains, etc., etc., etc....

But the other thing I love about him is he's about the sweetest guy ever. 

Always kind. 

Super patient. 

Very loving. 

What a combo.

Marriage License

I found this cool old marriage license graphic from The Graphics Fairy and instantly knew I wanted to add our information to it and make a print to hang in our house. Our marriage license just doesn't look quite as cool. :)

 Here's the before, blank.

And the after, with us included. :) 

Super fun, and pretty easy to do. 

I just have to print it out and make sure that it turns out ok. :) 

Hooray for an evening computer experiment!

The Tale of Two Duckies

Today is my sweet little Bella Boo's 5th birthday! 

I honestly can't believe it! 

To give you a little insight into Miss Bologna, she's very particular. 

She has always had ONE toy that she plays with.

Only one. 

She doesn't even glance in any other toy's direction.

This toy is affectionately titled "Ducky"

Bella Boo LOVES her Ducky. 

She loves to thrash it around.

Stand over top of it. 

And really pretend like she's boss. 

She has a routine, too. 

She goes potty.

Comes inside.

And goes straight for Ducky. 

Every.

Single.

Time.

Not too long ago...Ducky went missing. 

(gasp)

Ducky was gone for a couple of days before Belle Belle was obviously suffering from stress. 

Finally, Mama and Daddy resorted to backup Ducky. 

I had found backup Ducky in a store one time.

I knew this day was bound to come. 

Backup Ducky is a little cheaper, and a little more yellow, but pretty much looks about the same. 

But Backup Ducky had never been put to the test. 

In the moment of truth, with Ducky nowhere to be found, Backup Ducky passed with flying colors. 

Bella sniffed a little at first.

Then totally introduced Backup Ducky to the routine that would now be her life. 

One week later, Ducky was found! 

A dog and her two Duckies.

What's a girl to do?  

Live it up, Bella Boo!

You're now totally spoiled. 

And you deserve it. 

Work Moment

Headphones at work? 

Just what the doctor ordered. 

Over ear headphones that don't hurt to wear.

+ 10 points

Multi-colored stripes on the side. 

+ 10 points

Garth Brooks playing loudly in my ears. 

Therapy for the soul. :) 

Melamine Goodness

A while back, I gave away some our favorite mixing bowls to a very worthy recipient. When Garrett came home to find them replaced by cheaper, non-grippy, mixing bowls, he was none too happy. (Not like, mad. Just like, disappointed. Like.) So, ever since then, I've been on the hunt for our old mixing bowls. Or ones similar.

They were Melamine. Colorful. Grippy on the bottom. And just solid as can be.

So I typed Melamine Bowls into the google tab.

And that's when I discovered French Bull.

Oh heavens.

I spent the next 20 minutes adding all my favorites to "my cart" only to sadly realize the total was well over $200.

Maybe I'll get one piece.

Here are some of my favs.

If you click on the pic (yay for rhyme time), it will link you to the website.

So you can get addicted, too. 

I'm just looking out for you, ya know? 

They just make my heart, and my eyeballs, happy. 

Mmm...Melamine. 

Still looking for my bowls, but this satisfied for a while. :) 

Mountain Top Getaway = The Perfect Day

The month of February was seriously...insane. It felt like it was never, ever, ever going to end. Never ever. 

When it finally did, Mr. Suhr and I were ready to celebrate! For us, a getaway means a quick trip up the mountain to either Lake Arrowhead or Big Bear. We threw our skis in the car and headed out! After a quick stop at Chick-Fil-A (the most amazing chicken biscuits) I slept the whole way up the mountain. Mr. Suhr was a good sport. :) We reached the top, found the hill, did the whole changing in the parking lot thing, and ski-boot walked to the bottom of the mountain. (Ski-boot walking is probably some of the most awkward walking ever)

I was a little nervous, as it had been a year since I'd last skied. We took a couple of easy slopes at first till we got our legs under us, and then we went big! Here's a picture of us halfway down one of the California Double Black Diamonds. (I say California Double Black, 'cause it's more like a Colorado Intermediate)

We had a great view of Big Bear Lake. 

We ended up only skiing at Bear Mountain, even though there was a free shuttle to Snow Summit, another mountain close by. The day flew by, though, and we didn't want to waste anytime on shuttles. We were told that Snow Summit was more of a ski hill, and Bear Mountain for the snowboarders, so we'll have to go back. We did go down a hill at one point and end up face to face with a Half Pipe and a Super Pipe. At first I was thinking, "No way am I going down that thing." A little 'cause I was super nervous, and a little 'cause I thought we'd get made fun of by all the Snowboarders. But we ended up jumping in to the Super Pipe and trying to get as high on the sides as we could without feeling like we were just going to fall over. I was surprised at how fast you end up going on those things! Yikes! We probably went through the Super Pipe a total of 5 times and it may have been my favorite part of the day. :) 

We also did some little jumps. I've never left the ground on my skis unless I was tumbling down the mountain in total yard sale fashion. But I got a little confident this run and we went over a couple little jumps and I got a little air action! It was so fun! True, I did biff it a couple of times and had to yell back to Mr. Suhr to tell him I was down on the other side of the hill so he didn't land on me. :) But it was a total blast! 

Afterwards we went into the little town of Big Bear and got some DELICIOUS pizza from a little place called Saucy Mamas. We highly recommend it! I got a half BBQ Chicken, half Mushrooms/Chicken/Alfredo pizza and both were so good! Mr. Suhr got a wonderful meatsy pizza. We both had leftovers for the next day! 

We ended the day with a fun trip into the Sweets Shop in Big Bear. I don't think I've ever seen so many chocolate covered anythings. As Mr. Suhr would say, Jeepers Cats! I took a couple of pics 'cause I was just so so enamored. 

So good and so much to choose from. We ended up with a couple different kinds of fudge, both with the combo of chocolate and peanut butter of course. 

In my eyes, this was literally a perfect day. 

Thanks, Mr. Suhr. 

Hopey

My longest known friend came to California last week. :) 

I've known Hope since, well, I was born? 

Our moms are dear friends and I think we're just destined to be the same. :) 

We had some good laughs and sincere chats. 

She's one of the most lovely, genuine people I know. 

Here's to lifelong friends! 

Spring Preview Day

Though it may not seem like it from my recent posts, there has been more going on in the Suhr household than just a whole bunch of cake-making. :) 

    

Two weeks ago was Spring Preview Day, an event we host for prospective students here at Biola University. This is my second biggest event of the year, with over 600 students and parents coming on campus to check out the school and see if it's a fit for them. It can get pretty stressful the week of these events and late nights in the office are a common occurrence. Usually, though, we power through and make it happen.

This year was a little different.

One week before the event, I was at Garrett and I's Grace Group (small group at our church) and we were going around sharing prayer requests. I have to admit that I do a lot of things on my own. I just figure it out, push through, and do it. So when prayer request time comes around, there's not much on my mind that I consider desperate enough for a prayer requests. (Not that you have to be desperate to pray about something. I think this is what I'm learning).

We were going around the circle and some people were offering up common life issues as things they were needing to trust God with. When it got around to me, I almost felt guilty. I had this huge event coming up, and I hadn't once stopped to ask God for help with it. So I mentioned this to the group, saying maybe it was my dependance on God that needed prayer. I was serious, but in the moment it also seemed a little funny. My prayer request was that I would have more prayer requests. Not that life would require them, but that I would trust God more with daily things.

The next day I got sick.

I'm talking, coughing every twenty seconds, achy, can't sleep from coughing sick.

How long did it last?

All week.

So what did I have to do?

I had to pray.

I asked God for strength to make it through.

He provided it.

And He provided others who eagerly stepped in and helped carry the load for the week.

Usually, the week before this event means super late nights. Not this time. We left at 6 or 7 most nights, and only stayed till 9 on Friday. The night before each event, I am usually up constantly, my mind racing with last minute details. It didn't happen this time. I slept peacefully. When Sunday rolled around, and all the eager kiddos and their parents arrived on campus, I knew this time was different than others. It had truly been a team effort, and one that God had orchestrated. The event flowed smoothly, and there even times I was standing around a little unsure of what to do with myself. Everything was covered. 

Thanks God, for a lesson in dependence on You. 

I may need a recap here soon. Keep reminding me of my own frailty.