With half the year behind me, it’s about that time for a photo dump! I know that’s what Instagram is for but most of the time I don’t think about sharing pics right away so… here they are now, heh.

After we went to Portland and had the fish sauce wings at Pok Pok, I asked Rob to try making them one night and he obliged.

They don’t look pretty but they were OHSOGOOD. Recipe here.

I also made mango sticky rice for dessert a few times — it’s one of my favorite desserts and so easy to make too. Recipe here.

I’ve never been a huge burger fan (though I do LOVE Shake Shack) but on a business trip to San Francisco, I got the chance to try Super Duper Burger. YUMMY!

At our local mall, a new pizza place opened called Pieology. For only $7.50, you get an oversized personal thin crust pizza that you can customize with as many toppings as you like. They also have this amazing herb butter that they spread over the dough before it bakes. WOW. IT’S AWESOME.

Finally tried the shaved ice/frozen yogurt combo at Milk & Honey. Gawd, I love dessert.

We’ve also managed to do a couple of things around the house…

Purchased an IKEA daybed for the guest room. Now our guests have a real bed to sleep on! Plus, this particular one converts from a twin to a king. Very cool.

By far the BEST decision we made this year was to have artificial grass installed in our tiny backyard. We have a really small space but it was so difficult to keep the grass alive. I’ll spare you the before picture but it was TERRIBLE. Diesel loves the new turf! Makes me so happy.

Thanks to my job, I got to attend my very first Lakers games this year (one regular season and one playoff game)!

Too bad they were horrible this year. 🙁 Not to mention that my first game ever happened to be the one immediately after Kobe tore his achilles.

Still. SO FUN!

We’ve also visited Disneyland & California Adventure a few times (of course).

There’s always something new to see like the Iron Man exhibit at Innoventions.

We just love Radiator Springs Racers in Carsland. Rob even willingly wakes up early so we can get to the park at opening to get in line!

It wouldn’t be us if we didn’t do some traveling. So on one of my business trips to San Francisco, Rob tagged along with me for a few days. We had a great view of Union Square (despite the fog and rain).

Luckily the weather cleared up on the day that we headed across the bay to…

Our old stomping grounds, Cal. I absolutely love visiting campus but WOW, I am starting to feel old when I see the students. LOL.

And that’s the photo dump for now! We have a busy few months coming up (San Diego Comic-Con, a weekend in New York, a 5th anniversary trip to the Mediterranean) but I’ll be back with more updates & pics. Hope everyone is having a GREAT summer so far (and happy upcoming 4th of July to all my American friends)!