ethnic fare for four.

after happy hour, nick, angela, d & i decided on indian food for dinner. 

tempe has a ton of ethnic options - indian, thai, pakistani, ethiopian.

so per nick's recommendation, we landed at the Delhi Palace Cuisine of India and it was so good!

nick is quite the traveler, so we let him take care of the ordering on behalf of the table.
we had samosas, lamb curry, chicken tikka masala & a vegetarian dish plus two types of naan and basmati rice.

upon walking in, nick scooped up a spoonful of this herb & seed mixture, put it in my hand and told me to eat it... to cleanse my palette. it was, er, interesting. kinda like mint mixed with black licorice. cleansed.

when in india... kingfisher. 

nicoli deep in the menu. me & any, deep in the naan. 

equal parts deeeeelicious, flavorful & colorful. so tasty.

earlier in the week, i saw a link to this website on another blog and found it really interesting. you enter your birthday, and it talks about your personality traits based on the day you were born, day of the week, month, etc. it gives an overall "headline" along with health & personality traits. 

i entered mine and it was strangely accurate. so i gave danny's a whirl - holy crap - it was him. danny had the idea to print out angela & nick's and we'd all review/discuss them during dinner. we each read another person's and it was super interesting and almost eerie. angela & nick's were pretty spot-on, too. 

give it a try here: Secret Language of Birthdays

let's meet in the middle: mill avenue.

{mill avenue in tempe}

mill avenue is the main hub for ASU students. 

each time i'm on mill i remember how much i like it. maybe it reminds me of university blvd. in tucson? or it could just be the brick retail shops & restaurants lining a high-energy street. i dig. 

on friday night, we had plans to meet nick & angela for a night out, and ting suggested tempe since the city it middle ground for the four of us. ASU starts next week, so mill avenue was bustling. lots of college co-eds with fresh summer tans and new back-to-schools outfits were out and about.

we started with a drink at the handlebar

not a college student. 

inside the handlebar.

husbands. 

angela working on our instagram upload. obvi.

no love for the patio this time of year. 

how obsessed are you with angela's new haircut? i loooove it. 

let's goooo.... i'm hungry.

linner is the new brunch.

just you watch. it's gonna be the next big thing. 

i'm a big fan of linner (super late lunch). it just needs a cooler name. i like it because you get to sleep in, eat a late breakfast, do your chores (i'm one of those people who has to get things in order before i can really relax) and then crank things up around 4 o'clock when you've got tons of energy, it's still daylight and then you can just see where the night takes you. perfection. 

here's my thing with brunch... i'm a huge fan, particularly because i love daytime cocktailing. however, if i do a real boozy brunch, it's pretty much a guarantee i won't get anything done before i go and there's a good chance i won't do anything after. i feel like that's a perk of linner - you get to dabble in a little bit of both daytime and nighttime play. 

it makes tons of sense, right? here's a glimpse at last weekend's late saturday afternoon at the vig uptown. 

an arizonan's summer dream. 

the naturally lit indoor "patio" 

so what do you think on pushing this late afternoon concept with me? 

sunday pizza in the neighborhood.

there's no denying it: we eat pizza 3 out of 4 sunday nights a month. it's kinda a thing. (more about sunday traditions here) 

judge us all you want. 

last night, we decided to shake things up and walk to the local pizza shop to actually dine in verses take out on our couch. big deal for us. seriously, ooohhhhh big changes around here. it was the first time we'd eaten there. 

i'm a little obsessed with our neighborhood. 

these streets. 

landmark willo sign & the one of a kind easley's costume shop

arizona's NYPD pizza shop

the cheesy tv commercial pull of the slice with the cheese still stuck... perfection. 

hawaiian. a very polarizing pizza flavor. a personal fave of mine. 

i'd already finished the chelsea chopped salad. my fave. 

our dusky walk home on a warm summer night.

note: if you're looking for other good pizza in downtown phoenix, pino's pizza al centro is fantastic. 

however, they're closed on sundays. bummer for both of us. 

san diego dinner dates.

as soon as we drove into california, we scooped up our nephew jacob (yes! that's jake), my little brother steven and headed straight to Sublime Ale House to decompress and catch up. i love these boys SO much. it's nice to be home. 

he's no longer a boy. he's a little man now, and he's a good kid. and we love him so much. 

(just not the ear stretchers so much - stop it!)

another night, we checked out San Diego's South Park & North Park neighborhoods and met up with a longtime friend of mine, Rico (or Rico & Rachel Castillero, photographer extraordinares). ting is obsessed with South Park.

and even after spending the entire fourth of july together, we didn't quite have our fix of the quinns yet. so we met up for one more night together (and pizza & beer). 

brunch has gone to the babies... not the bubbles.

that may not be entirely true - blair never made a peep during brunch - perfect angel. 

but perhaps it was ironic for me to kick off tiff's thirties at a champagne brunch and pass on the mimosas. 

a sign of what's to come for me in just a couple of months?

naaaahh... just the decision based on a wicked hangover. 

tiff's lovely parents diane & mike treated us to a delicious brunch at Sparks in Huntington Beach. 

it was a toast to two birthdays - tiff and sabrina, her younger sister. 

the brunchin' bentleys!

 a man who's not afraid of a baby. 

a beautiful new mama on her birthday.

cheers, tiff! 

what felt like the longest drive EVER back from california.

leaving friends post-brunch on the most beautiful california day and waving goodbye to the beach to drive back into the blow dryer (what the air feels like on your face in arizona right now) when all we really wanted to do was go park ourselves on the beach to relax, was not cool. then the holiday traffic on the 10-E. the insanely crowded gas stations. the freeway accidents. the stopping six times. the heat coming through the windows. the i'm-sick-of-all-my-music-right-now. despite it all, we were home in six hours, but it felt like we drove across the country. terrible. 

i'm quite certain it was this 40-minute detour in palm springs that got us through it without complete meltdowns.

food makes everything better.

tiff turns thirty... and we were in ca to celebrate!

in addition to getting to meet miss blair tatum while we were in california, 

we got to join the festivities to celebrate tiffany's 30th birthday! 

i was more than a little excited. so when we hit gridlock traffic on the I-5 North (at 11am on a saturday!), i was not a happy co-pilot. i went into mute-mode and just pouted until the traffic gods finally smiled down on us & we finally arrived at tiff & troy's adorable new bungalow. 

the party was past miss blair's bedtime, but she was there for the pre-party and photos. 

a big group gathered for wine and apps -- sorry d, no entrees -- at The Wine Gallery in Corona Del Mar

never. enough. time. together.

tiffany's lady loves. 

miss colby

such a great wine bar.

lauren .. colby .. tiff .. katie .. julie + baby bump

some of the group that continued on to spot #2. 

bff's & sour gummies

hot summer nights.

lalalaaaaa... a little birthday diddy.