a few days over in monterey...

s said before for Martin's birthday we went on a small kayaking excursion in Monterey at the Elkhorn Slough, and also over to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was a wonderful weekend. Here's a few pictures. Of course we brought no real camera, but camera phones can capture the memories as well.

Happy Birthday Husband

Martin had a birthday this weekend! We have had such a great week and it is only going to get better. We spent a day in Santa Cruz at the beach and downtown with Jen for day one of his birthday celebration. Then we spent a day and a night in Monterey, which was one of the best days I think either of us have ever had. We drove up early in the morning and kayaked the Elkhorn Slough which starts at the mouth of the bay, but you kayak up and around marshlands were seals, otters, jellyfish, birds and lots of wildlife is all around. It was amazing, I'll say that. Then we went to the aquarium, which I haven't done since I was little, and spent the evening in the honeymoon suite at the Colton Inn (an adorable bed and breakfast). Today we leave for the Russian river and will not be back until next Sunday, we can't wait!
For the cake, which I forgot the night of the Santa Cruz day, I had a little surprise party planned for Martin at my parents house just so I could have the opportunity to make him a cake, which was a Reese's peanut butter cake! I haven't done too much with peanut butter so this was an experiment for me. I found a similar cake to the one I made so I visually based the cake on that, and then I looked around for a peanut butter buttercream, and decided to whip up my own. It was delicious! I recommend it!

Peanut Butter Buttercream
(this is for one basic cake mix)

3/4 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. butter (1 cube)
3 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. milk
1 T. vanilla
1/2 c. cream

Cream the peanut butter and butter until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and beat until the powdered sugar is completely combined and there are no lumps. Add the milk 1 tablespoon at a time while mixing until all milk is in. Mix in vanilla. You can just add milk until the desired texture is reached if you prefer to not use cream, or if you don't have any on hand. But the cream gives it more rich and cohesive consistency. Mix for 1 to 2 minutes. Add sifted powdered sugar to thicken the frosting or add more milk to thin.



Chocolate Ganache

1 bag of semi sweet or milk chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups of cream

You can mix the two ingredients of a double boiler, until chocolate is completely combined and then for about 2 more minutes over the heat with a whisk, or use a microwave. In a glass bowl add both ingredients. Heat for about 1 minute, and whisk. Heat for another 30 seconds and mix. Keep heating and mixing until chocolate has melted completely. Make sure to whisk thoroughly at every break.
If the ganache is for a filling, which I did use for one layer, you will want to refrigerate it before use. If the ganache is to pour over the top, you will want it at about room temperature.

Our Story...

I have a little story for you all. Because I was never actually engaged, not too many were able to ask or hear much about Martin and I, and how we came to be. I don't keep a journal, I know I should, and so, I thought I would write it all out and share. Life is great, this last year has been more than amazing, and the best year of my life, and all thanks to the man of my dreams.


Although Martin and I have known each other for about 4 years, our romantic relationship only trails back to around April of 2008. We met while working at Outback Steakhouse in Fremont, where I stayed for only about a year, although he was there about 5 (wow). During the year I worked there he had started a new relationship and was off and on in an old one, so dating wasn’t something on my mind. I found a great group of friends while working there who all thought highly of Martin, but didn’t necessarily spend a lot of time with him or his group of friends. He was one of the few that I tried to make conversation with regularly; if ever we were closing or opening together, so when there was downtime.

Just over a year after starting, because of many outside sources, I decided it was time to make a major change in my life, so.. I moved to Utah! My sister and favorite cousin were in the midst of moving themselves, and I thought, why not?

I kept in touch with a few people from work after I moved away, thank goodness for social networks like myspace and facebook. And for whatever reason, I would check every now and again to see how Martin was doing. Although I knew his brother better (he also worked at Outback with me, and actually trained me, and was my age) I had always felt a slight connection to Martin. Every time I was back in town I would try to visit Outback and have dinner with a few of my friends, or at least visit those working, and would love any opportunity to talk to him, just as friends, never with anything else in mind though.

After living in Utah about a year and a half and having so many problems with school, work, my health, living situation, and my financial situation, I decided that I wasn’t supposed to be there anymore. I moved back to Fremont and knew that I would find more what I was looking for in life there. On top of that, school would be cheaper, living would be cheaper, jobs pay more, etc. etc.

When I finally moved back and had let everything soak in after a few months, I met up with some friends at Outback just like old times. They were discussing some plans for the weekend and Martin’s show came up. I knew he had written some songs and played the guitar, but I had no idea he was pursuing a career in music. With a few friends I went to his show that weekend. Just happy to have gotten out of the house and been around some new people, it was enjoyable. On my way out, I said great show and goodbye and he said, let’s get some coffee later in the week, and I said sure. And that’s really where it started. After work one night we met up and went to bay street coffee, where we both found out neither of us drank coffee and we got hot chocolate. Talked for a few hours and I guess I kind of knew he was the one. In a nut shell at least. (Within the next week or so, I told my mom we were soul mates, but we weren’t going to date, we were just too different).

At the time we had very different lives; I had just met someone I thought I could date, and he did not want to date anyone, but we clicked. The following week I went out to dinner with him a few times, had a few more long conversations and then I spent a week away, visiting the one I thought I could date, and it turned out I was very wrong. It took that trip for me to realize a guy like Martin was what I really wanted, whether or not he was the one, wasn’t as important at the time. Long story short, it turned out we loved being around each other. We could see each other almost all day every day and not get sick of each other and from there it all happened so fast. He left for a cross country tour/vacation with his brother. After a month of being a way, a group of my friends went out to New York to surprise them, where I didn’t know what would happen, at that point we were friends, and that was it. He told me he loved me as we watched the sun rise in central park the first morning I was there, and we’ve been inseparable ever since.

After about a year of dating I knew I would never find anyone as amazing or someone even with the deep down ability to love me as much as he did, and so I knew, that was it. I think it was probably around the same time for him as well.

Never once had I been the one to initiate marriage conversation, yet it was brought up often. Whether to me, or my sister, he found a way to bring up “future wife” comments or “future brother-in-law” comments. Finally I asked, when’s this going to happen, since you seem so sure of it. And Martin replied with a “you’ll see.” At this point I think I just melted inside and was just hopelessly in love. We found ourselves happier than we had ever been and more in love than we ever expected. Random days would be thrown out (by Martin) of when we would get married and I just went with it. I had no idea the seriousness or how soon it was going to happen, and I was just overjoyed that I didn’t have to worry about it. I knew I would never find myself in a 6 year + relationship wondering, what am I doing, or what does he want to do. (Which was a fear of mine in the beginning).

One day it came up again, let’s get married, says Martin. And I said ok. How soon? He says, I like 2010, it’s a cool year, and easy to remember the anniversary. I say, how about January 2nd. He says, perfect :) and that was it. That afternoon, we realized that January 2nd is a palindrome (01/02/2010) and a Saturday, and we were so excited. We looked up court information for Santa Cruz, because we knew we had wanted to elope in Santa Cruz and from there we quickly planned the whole thing. It was a weekend so we couldn’t do it in a court, and we decided we wanted our families there. We had a picture perfect setting for the wedding festivities, Shadowbrook, one of our first dates, and for the next month or so we kept it all a secret. Christmas morning we announced to our families that we were getting married the following week, although some knew (for planning’s sake) and others had a hunch, because we had asked everyone to keep that date open for a very important dinner they were invited to. It was perfect, the weather, the ceremony, our families, and of course, us. That last month actually felt like it was forever until we were getting married. And when the day came it was an amazing joy and a sigh of relief. We did it. We got married and we are just overwhelmed sometimes with the love we have for each other.

The Murray Family

The framed picture of the kids was a hit at christmas today. Both sets of grandparents and the parents themselves, absolutely loved it.
Merry Christmas everyone :)

Martin John Murray

This is the love of my life, Martin John Murray.
He makes my heart melt.
Sometimes I tear up just thinking about how happy he makes me
and how much we absolutely love each other.
I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him..

Have I mentioned..

that I am head over heels in love. Thursdays and Fridays I realize most what it is that keeps a smile on my face and a happy feeling in heart, and that's the love of my life. (He works on Thursdays and Fridays). And although my time is spent quite productive, doing laundry, homework, cooking, cleaning, and enjoying family, at almost any moment I still feel as if something is missing, until I get that txt, just to remind me, that I am not forgotten and I am loved just as much as I love.

birthday desserts

I didn't have time to make my own cheesecake, very sad I know, that's my favorite and most well known dessert, but this one comes in a close 2nd. Trader Joe's has a mini cheesecake, new york style and it is delicious! I unwrapped it, placed it on the new cake platter I got my mom, and covered it in my homemade ganache and strawberry sauce, and topped it with whipped cream.

My cute little helpers :)

Just in case you want to make your own ganache someday, here's my easy recipe:

1 bag of chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups of cream

Over a double boiler melt the chocolate chips, whisk in the cream, keep on heat until the mixture is hot. Take off heat and you can use immediately. It will still drizzle nicely if it cools down a bit. If you refrigerate the ganache, you can pop it in the microwave for about 30 seconds and you should be able to stir it up and get it to a drizzle consistency.

*Use any chocolate you like, depending on what taste you're going for. I usually use semi-sweet.

on our way home..

We finally made our way back home!! The band and I had a wonderful trip, but could not be happier that we're back. Making our way back down the coast was great. We stopped in Portland, had a show at The Buffalo Gap Saloon, which is an amazing restaurant and bar. We went to the Saturday Market in the heart of Portland, which is like an arts and wine festival, very cool.

A friend of Martin's, Julia Dawn, opened the show for them. She is an amazing artist, living in the Portland area.

Then in between shows in Portland and our last in Humboldt, we camped along the Smith River, which I think was my favorite part of the trip. The River is so gorgeous; crystal clear water surrounded by cliffs of rock, we couldn't ask for more. Martin, Daniel and I found some amazing places to jump from, and with the water being so clear and deep, it was surreal.

daniel and I making our way to the top, we managed to go much higher, and then jump, it was frightening

The last show of the trip was a second visit at Six Rivers Brewery, one of our favorite places in california. After the show we decided to drive straight through the night, arriving in Fremont around 7 in the morning. Home sweet home.

some humboldt pictures

a few days in... Seattle!!

I'm going to keep this short and sweet. My computer time is usually limited, so my blog length may start to reflect the business of our travels. We've been in Seattle the last few days and I have loved it!!!! Definitely my favorite city on the tour, although I have really loved everywhere. But it's really a gorgeous, clean, and very artsy city, with lots to do and good places to eat. Our first day we started at Pikes Fish Market, which is this amazing 3/4 level Market with just about anything you could possibly want. It was like going to an arts and wine festival, grocery store, and mall all in one; except all the stores our small and quaint. Then we made our way to the Space Needle to check out the view, which was awesome. We also self indulged in some fudge at the gift shop, which is now one of our favorite things, but flavored fudge, not tradition chocolate, like maple (Martin's favorite) or vanilla caramel (my favorite). As a group we went to dinner at the Crap Pot, my dad suggested it, and it was so great!!! Right on the wharf, so there's a great view, you order a pot of food with crab, shrimp, potatoes, corn, and other seafood goodness and they just dump it right in front of you. My favorite meal so far for sure. Right after the amazingness of dinner, Martin, Daniel, and I went to a Mariners game! It's pretty cool going to different stadiums, when you're so used to the ones close to home.

before and after..

The next day in Seattle we got a pretty late start, trying to figure out our camping situation, but it worked out great. We went to the West Seattle Festival and caught the tail end of what was going on. It was one of the best festival's I've ever been to. Great food, tons of amazing art, and all the shops on the street where it was held was open so we got to enjoy those as well. I am happy to say I found the cutest cupcake shop in the whole wide world (The Sugar Rush Baking Company). I'm now a huge fan of the mini cupcakes, which I will soon be testing out, that's for sure.

cutest little thing you've ever seen, right

Later that night the boys had their show at Egan Ballard's Jam House, which was a very classy, jazzy establishment. We showed up early enough so we could watch the previous band play and they were amazing. All classically trained musicians I'm sure, they were amazing to watch. They even invited the piano players wife on stage to sing, she chose Bye Bye Blackbird, one of my favorite songs, and very memorable of the movie Sleepless in Seattle (also one of my favorites).

To our surprise two of our good friends showed up just before the show!! They drove all the way from home (Fremont) to spend the day up in Seattle and the next day with us back in Portland. It was so awesome for me and I'm sure much more than the boys, it was a short break from being the only girl in a group of boys and it felt like home again. Rachel and Alissa, you girls are wonderful. The show went great, and late, so we headed back to camp. That concludes the Seattle part of the trip, such a great city, I would definitely recommend a visit!

a few days in... Portland!!

Portland was a short but great visit. We stayed with friends of Jeremy, Laura and Ted, who were amazing hosts for us. Not only did they offer us their house/backyard (we all decided to amp in the backyard since we keep late hours and some people actually go to work early in the morning) but they showed us around the city! Tuesday morning we woke up to some fresh blueberry pancakes whipped up by Ted (they have a wonderful garden in their backyard; blueberries, pumpkins, carrots, peas, tomatoes) and then he showed us the town. Portland has a great public transit system, at a very affordable rate, free! The four band mates, Ted, and myself, drove into the city, parked (for free) and then took a free train further into the city.

The actual downtown Portland is very similar to towns you would see around the bay area; like Palo Alto, or something to that effect. The buildings are just a little bigger, and most likely older; a very classy and quant downtown. The group stopped off at Powell’s Books, the legendary independent bookstore, Martin and I both made a good purchase. For lunch Ted suggested a brewery/pub named McMenamins, I believe is a northwest chain, which was by far our favorite stop yet! The food was so amazing and such a good price. $2.50, anything on the happy hour menu! With hummus, artichoke dip, 3 bean chowder, a loaded cheeseburger, and more, we were more than happy. After the walk back to the train and a short drive back home, we relaxed for a few and headed to the show!
The band played their Tuesday night show at the Mississippi Pizza Pub, a small pizza restaurant on the outskirts of Portland. Free pizza and drinks made it quite enjoyable, but even without, it was a great night. Chris, a friend of Jeremy, and our hosts Laura and Ted made it to the show, and with some help from the local kickball teams (apparently it’s a big thing out there), so we had a decent audience. The boys played late into the evening, enjoyed another slice or two and we packed up for the eve. Definitely a venue worth playing again, or at least to stop by for some delicious pizza.
Today we took our time packing up and enjoying the morning. Ted took us to a wonderful Mexican food restaurant with breakfast burritos, we did some laundry, and a little grocery shopping at the local Safeway (which always makes you feel a little more at home). I’m writing this as we make our way in to Washington, Seattle is just a few hours away!!

I've had problems with video, but hopefully I'll get a few up soon!!

a few days in... humboldt!

July 3rd, Martin, the band (Jeremy, Daniel, newest edition Dave) and myself got a late start on the day, left around 3 pm, and started our drive up the coast of beautiful california. Unfortunately got a flat, about 3 hours north in Laytonville. A friend of ours, Ben, who was joining us for the weekend in Humboldt, just happened to be a few minutes behind and stopped to help. Unable to lift the van with our small jack, we managed to use a large rock to prop up the jack giving us enough height. Thank goodness for dave, who knows more about changing tires than the rest of us combined. Still waiting for AAA to get back to us, who initially said that they wouldn't be able to lift the van because of it's large size, we attempted to take the spare off the back of the van. Of course we didn't have any tools, so with a small vice grip, and hand pliers (supplied by our local handyman ben) the boys gave it their best effort. I eventually called back the tow truck guy and talked him in to meeting us out there. I said that we would get the van up but we would need some kind of help in getting off the spare tire. He agreed and eventually came out to help. So he pretty much saved the day. He took off the spare, replaced the bad tire, and pumped up the spare, which somehow had not crossed our mind that we would need to do that. 1 1/2 hours later, we were back on the road. Thank you tow truck driver, ben, and dave, and martin (who found the rock and carried it back to the van). Note: Dan and Jeremy were playing on a nearby tractor. Also, we parked right next to what looked like a dead eagle or turkey (a large bird of some kind) gross...

We camped at Patricks Point, definitely a place worth visiting. The campground is right along the coast and just a short walk away from the beach, and several gorgeous hikes.

6 Rivers Brewery, where they played their show, is in McKineleyville, and just about 15 miles away from our campsite. I came up with the band last year to play up here and it is really an awesome venue. The Restaurant owner, Meredith, makes our trip so worth while. With a free meal (an amazing meal at that) and paying the band, it's a great time. Lucky for us we have a lot of amazing friends who traveled up to see the first show. Hopefully the rest of the trip will continue on just as great!

Pause music at the bottom of the blog to play video!! A song from The 4th of July show!

Now on to Portland Oregon!!

a few weeks on tour..

Martin and the band are going on a short Northwestern tour, and I get to go with them!! We're leaving Friday and driving up the coast, through northern california, oregon, and washington (unfortunately, no longer to Canada).

The dates of the shows are as follows...

Saturday, July 4th @ 8 pm
Six Rivers Brewery
Mckinleyville California

Tuesday, July 7th @ 9 pm
Mississippi Pizza Pub
Portland Oregon

Friday, July 10th @ 11 pm
Egan's Ballard Jam House
Seattle Washington

Saturday, July 11th @ 10 pm
The Buffalo Gap Saloon
Portland Oregon

Wednesday, July 15th @ 8 pm
Six Rivers Brewery
Mckinleyville California

And to kick of the tour we're having a fundraiser lunch at Outback Steakhouse tomorrow, Thursday, at 12 pm!!! The band will be playing a show, and lunch will be served. Tickets can be bought at the door for 12$.



Sorry for the last minute invite to the Outback show, but we would love to see you there!! Kids under 4 are free!!

And if you have ANY suggestions for where to eat or visit or camp in any of the cities we're travelling to, please let me know!!!

I'll miss you friends and family!!

xoxo
Kristin :)