Weekend

As you all can tell from the pictures, Nina has become quite the chef. It's kind of funny because she doesn't like to cook but when she does she makes some delicious meals! This morning we had egg Benedict with potatoes which were really good. I hope she keeps it up when Mom returns from Virginia but I won't hold me breath, lol. We had a pretty relaxed weekend, yes, I finally had time off from work (three whole days). We went to the movies and saw Transformers 2 which wasn't too bad. Other than that we didn't do too much due to the heat. It's been really hot! Yesterday was 109 degress and today hit 105. So we stayed inside with the air conditioning on. I did mangage to wash her car which really needed a cleaning. We're both staying busy with working, and Nina has been doubling her workout routines in preparation for her marathon which is quickly approaching. She's running the half marathon (13 miles) at Disneyland on 6th Sept. Go Nina!!!

Chillaxing...

I change the layout. This one is soo much cuter than the other one. Also, this is Nina by the way, just signed in under Jared's name. He's actually sitting right next to me while I'm blogging. He finally has the weekend off, so we've been chillaxin at home and watching movies. It's just to dang HOT to do anything else. It was 108F today. Anyway, will write more tomorrow.

Costa Rica Hotel Reviews Part I

Well, this weekend has been uneventful in the Russell household, as Jared has to work this weekend again. But thankfully, he has next week off. So I'm sure we will find something to do. For one, we'll be expecting a visit from one of my best friends from College. Dani and her family are traveling from Las Vegas down to San Diego, for her Lola's (Filipino term for Grandma) 90th birthday. Haven't seen her since our wedding, so I'm sure we'll have lots of fun. This will give me or Jared more wonderful things to blog about. Woohoo!! =)
With Jared being hard at work at Hoag Hospital, thought I write up a review of our wonderful Honeymoon trip to Costa Rica.

Jared's work place

For those who love to travel - Costa Rica should definitely be on one of those places to visit. It's also a great destination for anyone, who doesn't want to break the bank. When I was researching and planning our trip to Costa Rica, I was debating on whether to got through a Travel Agency or to plan everything on my own.
During my wedding planning days, I frequented wedding message boards, got some great recommendations from someone who received a proposal from her then boyfriend, while they were vacationing in Costa Rica. Thanks to her help, I was able to book everything on my own and save us some money.

Here's our itinerary: 7 days in Manuel Antonio, 2 days in Monte Verde, 2 days in Arenal & 1 night in San Jose.
We flew from Ontario, California to Denver, Colorado, then to San Jose, Costa Rica. Once we arrived in San Jose, CR, we pickup our rental car. To save some money, I highly recommend reserving your car rental prior. The cheapest car rental rates, we found were with National Car Rental Since, we were some what on a budget we decided to go with a four door Peugot.
However, if money isn't an issue, I highly recommend renting an AWD SUV. Having an SUV as a car rental, will make the drive on those long stretches of gravel road a lot more pleasant.

Our Car

From San Jose, we still had to drive to Manuel Antonio. Although, Manuel Antonio isn't that far from San Jose (132km). It takes about takes about 4hours to get to Manuel Antonio. The drive it self wasn't too bad, as we were able to see the country side of Costa Rica. I was quite grateful that Jared loves to drive, because seeing some of the roads we had to drive on....Let's just say, I wasn't to keen on getting behind the wheel.

The bridge we had to drive through.

Another view of the bridge.

In Manuel Antonio, we stayed at the Condo complex Casa Chaman. We booked our condo through the website: Home Away. If you click, on the link it will take you directly the Casa Chaman. The complex consists of 7 condos that is mostly owned my Americans or Europeans. We stayed in a one bedroom, and our American landlords lived above us. From the three places we stayed in, this was by far our favorite.
It's such a lovely place. Just check out the pictures and see for yourself. Not only is this a gorgeous place, but it's quite inexpensive as well. We stayed there for 7 nights, and it was less than $600.

The Entrance to our Villa

The Livingroom

Our Bedroom

The Bathroom

Our Pool and view from our door

Isn't the place great?! For the most part, we had the entire pool to ourselves, as we traveled at the beginning of the raining season. Although, it was the rainy season when we traveled to Costa Rica. The rains didn't bother us to much, as the rains usually began in the late afternoon. Anyway, I will review the other two hotels in a different post, since this review was quite longer than I expected.

Delightfully,
Nina Sapphira

Bon Appetit

Everyone in my family knows that I don't cook, and typically I do not enjoy cooking. Many of you know that Jared started working at Hoag Medical Hospital. Unfortunately for me, they hired him for the graveyard shift (6:30pm -5am). Anyway this week, he was scheduled to work 5 days 10h shifts. Well, with my mom visiting my other sister in VA. I was more or less forced to break out my limited cooking skills. Now, what type of wife would I be if I let the hubby go to work hungry?! Of course being the photography fanatic, I had to shoot pictures of what I created.

Thai Curry with Chicken & Vegetables

Mediterranean bell pepper salad

Scrambled Eggs w/Spinach, feta cheese & bell peppers

Let's be honest now, would you have eaten my creations?! Of course, Jared swears that the food was delicious. But I think he's just being bias. Regardless, he would have eaten anything I made, as he knows how much I hate cooking. So sweet!!!
To everyone, who loves to cook, definitely give you mad props, because I was exhausted after the little bit of cooking I did. =) Well, I'm off to take a nap, before I go on a hike with my friend Haydee. She's keeping me entertained today, as Jared has to work tonight again. Have a great Sunday!

Delightfully,
Nina Sapphira

p.s.: btw, all recipes courtesy of smittenkitchen. Com'on folks as if I could whip something up from scratch!

Bienvenue! Willkommen! Welcome!

Bienvenue à notre blog! Welcome to our blog! This is our first post! Woohoo! I've been a blogger for about a year now. My sister Nita got me to join the blogging world, when I got engaged. Surprisingly it's quite fun! In addition, to my personal blog, I decided to create a blog for the both of us, so that all our friends and family can be part of our adventurous and exciting lives here in Southern California. Hence, our blog is called "La maison Russell", although I haven't formally changed my name to Russell just yet. For some reason, I'm having a hard time letting go of my last name. But we'll leave that for another post. =)

Delightfully,
Nina Sapphira

p.s: I do realize the blog template was made by a canadian, but i love the look of it. =)