On Friday, Mr. M and I headed up the road to watch our first World Team Tennis match at the mall… yes… the mall. Each summer, they construct a huge tennis court on the edge of the parking lot for the month of July for the events and concessions (where they sell those uber cool giant tennis balls!).

We happened to go to this match because Michael Chang was making his WTT debut for our Sacramento Capitals… and while he lost his sets (singles & men’s doubles), it was still a great night to be out and watching tennis! When I asked Mr. M if he had sat this close to the court before, he looked at me as if I was crazy wrong, since I guess his Wimbledon visits were bit closer with bigger stars. When I added the qualifier, “have you sat this close at a hard court match?” he conceeded that this was the closest he’d been. I can easily say it’s the closest I’ve been for a match though, as I only got closer when I’d stop by the courts at UCLA to watch Pete Sampras practice on my walk back to the dorms.

If you happen to have a WTT team near you, it’s well worth the trip to watch a marquee match-up! Anna Kournikova is here tonight for her match, and even the Williams sisters are playing matches this month for their respective teams. The $10-20 tickets sure beat the price of ATP matches or a gram slam.

How did Mr. M say “Happy Anniversary” on Tuesday (or Monday night really)???  With an amazing planned & booked by him SPA day on Tuesday!!

That’s right! He took care of all the reservations and sent my on my merry way at noon to get a fabulous french mani/pedi (my nail upkeep has been pretty shabby ever since I left the cheap nail salons of LA & my sorority days) and indulgent facial as well. I sipped my strawberry water and munched on fresh fruit and muffins while being totally pampered for four hours. It truly made me want to galevant at home on the weekends in my own plush robe and slippers…

It was exactly the refresher and day of relaxation I needed, and was so surprised by it all. I’m going to say Mr. M is quite the keeper… 2 years and many more to come!

Do you know what this amazing piece of frozen goodness I have in my hand right now?

If you guessed that it was a Lemon Parisian Macaron Ice Cream Sandwich… then you were right!

Macaroons = yumminess…. but GIANT macaroons with ice cream = HEAVENLY!

[Thank you Ginger Elizabeth for once again elevating my expectations for dessert]

There is something absolutely heavenly about the combination of chocolate and sourdough. Perhaps it’s because they’re not supposed to be anywhere near each other on a table… or just that it’s hard to find an ocassion to eat or not to eat this bread. Either way, Zingerman’s chocolate sourdough is a precious commodity in our house when we receive it in the mail, and our loaf is half devoured and half savored in the freezer.

Along with it, for our anniversary, we received a Tuscan gift basket, which was just about as close to a retreat in Florence that we could ask for! Let’s just say we’re enjoying a bit of a culinary feast for our 2nd time around the calendar.

Happy Anniversary darling Mr. M! Thanks for the daily giggles, the morning tickles and love no matter what.

I have a “Proposal”… but before I get to this, I must acknowledge something. If I could choose to wake up one morning in the body and life of another guy, I would be one of two people… Hugh Jackman or Ryan Reynolds. The former is obvious – the man can sing and dance…and he’s got frickin claws. And well, he’s frickin cool. And then the latter, I wanted to be Van Wilder. Now, I have to disagree with his choice of who to marry… Scarlet J has never been anywhere near my top 10 women celebrities… in any category.

Okay, so Kim and I went to see “The Proposal” this weekend. She had made me promise not to see it without her. And we both really enjoyed it. Again, if you’re looking for amazing performances, go elsewhere…but it you want a fun, quirky romantic comedy, this can be your escape. Maybe while your significant other is sneaking into Transformers 2.

The general plot – in case you missed the trailer – is as follows: Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) plays the assistant to Canadian Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock). Early on in the movie, Tate gets in trouble with immigration for ignoring the limitations of her visa (because she’s so career-driven) and is in danger of being deported. Being the demon-boss that she is, she grabs Paxton and plays him up as her fiancé in front of her bosses. When Immigration gets involved, Paxton and Tate have to keep up the farce in front of Paxton’s family in Alaska for Paxton’s grandmother’s birthday celebration. Turns out that Paxton is a bit of an Alaskan Paris Hilton (without the Chihuahuas and other annoying traits) and Tate has a thing for rap and R&B.

Betty White plays the quirky grandmother who is hilarious during the three day affair… the rest of the cast really just serves to complement what’s building between Bullock and Reynolds. I will warn you that the trailer (if you’ve seen it) does show a bunch of the big funny moments…so try not to memorize it before go see the movie.

That’s right - both of our parents shared the same national holiday for their wedding date - a strange coincidence that we discovered on our 4th date. I’m happy to report that both are celebrating and on vacation to celebrate their 40th & 33rd anniversaries.

The M’s

The L’s

So, happy birthday America…. and happy anniversary moms & dads!

With summer here, showers suddenly serve two purposes: clean ups and cool downs. And since we don’t have a place to splash in the backyard, I thought I’d restock the shower essentials to make that experience a bit more special.

Philosophy has another sale on its shower gels… 3 for $33… so why not indulge as well? Just enter summer3for33 or summer 2for25 to get the discount!

I love strolling through art galleries and art shows… but I sometimes gulp at the prices that they charge for small pieces of art on the walls. Sure you can get affordable pictures at art.com or IKEA, but it’s also quite common and not so unique. Etsy is a great stop as well, but finding anything on there is getting to be a difficult task.

That’s why I totally love WallBlank.com — LE art (LE editions offered for 7 days or sellout) at ridiculously reasonable prices. You can subscribe to their RSS feed to see what they have to offer daily… and maybe you’ll stumble upon something that will make you fall in love.

But once it’s gone… it’s gone. I missed out on buying this amazing photograph while we were back east by one simple day… so now I’m on the site like a hawk looking for the next gem. And trust me, I will find it!