The Dish....

I'm about to DISH on one of my absolute FAVORITE THINGS TO DO.... EATING OUT.

Most of the time our greatest temptations are the things we know we're not supposed to do but desire so badly. Mark and I have just established a new budget for this year. That new budget includes a nice little "cap" on our expenses for eating out & entertainment. Since I can't actually "dish" all I want, I figured I'd go ahead & blog about all my favorite restaurants. At least give you a little list of my fav's and also give some props to some that are on the "wish list" to visit. Where are your favorite places to go out to eat?

Favorite Restaurants in Fairfield/Vacaville:

FAST FOOD:

In & Out Burger

Panda Express

Chick Filet

CHAIN

BJ's -they have a "to die for" Buffalo Ranch Chicken Pizza & Bruschetta Appetizer

PLACE FOR A ROMANTIC DINNER

Merchant & Main

Sticky Rice

BREAKFAST

Crepes & More - "off the chain!!!"

Favorite Restauranst in Neighbhoring Cities

BURGERS

Taylor's Refresher - Napa, CA

GRILLS

Rutherford Grill - Rutherford, CA

Bistro 33 - Davis, CA

PASTA

Buca di Beppo - Sacramento, CA

THAI FOOD

Amarian Thai Cuisuine - Lafayette, CA

DESSERT

E Tutto Qua - San Francisco, CA

PIZZA

Zac's - Berkley, CA

Paxti's - San Fransisco, CA

ROMANCE/VIEW

Skates on the Bay - Berkley, CA

Osteria Fasulo - Davis, CA

BREAKFAST

Buschon Bakery - Yountville, CA

Stacks - San Francisco, CA

SALAD

Pluto's - Davis, CA

PRICEY BUT OH...SO GOOD

Buschon - Yountville, CA

Skates on the Bay - Berkely, CA

BEST GARLIC

Stinking Rose - San Fransisco, CA

We'll that should be enough to get your palette wet. Let's eat! :)

BEST MEXICAN

Blue Agave - Pleasanton, CA

WISH LIST:

The Dead Fish - Crockett, CA

The Lone Survivor

Okay, ya'll. The BIGGEST season of Survivor EVER is getting ready to premiere Thursday night! The only problem, I feel like I'm the only one excited about it! I feel like the lone survivor! It seems that none of my closest friends, co-workers and/or family has ever gotten into watching Survivor like myself. This will be Survivor's 20th season. I'm proud to say... that out of the 19 past seasons, I've only missed 1. I wonder what was happening in my life in that time that would make me abandon my beloved Survivor.??

Anyways, Survivor Heroes vs. Villians is going to feature the best of the best. The toughest, meanest, sweetest, rudest (is that a word), most skilled players that the game has ever known. Can we call it a come back! Can't wait to watch some of most favorite players battle it out.

It all starts this Thursday, February 11th at 8 pm ET. Can't somebody join me this season so I can have someone to gab to on Friday mornings?

Snuggle Green Burst

Snuggle Green Burst

Okay, so I have a new obsession!! SNUGGLE, "GREEN BURST". Often times I'll just try to buy the cheapest off brand fabric softner, because hey it's expensive stuff ya know.... but the other day I just picked up this Snuggle because it was on sale or something... and oh, my gosh... the scent is to die for! I cannot quit smelling my towels & clothes that come out of the dryer. I put a shirt on that I had washed and was sitting on the couch and kept saying to myself, wow, what is smell....well...it was the fabric softner. Incredible! Pick some up today!

PS. I must note.... I found this at Winco. Wal-Mart does NOT carry this scent.

McGovern Party of Four

McGovern, Party of Four.....

Big News in the McGovern clan...... Baby #2 is on's it way! We are very excited to announce that we will be adding a beautiful new addition to our family this August. I have just finished my 1st trimester and now I no longer have to keep it a secret.

A couple of weeks ago I had my first doctor's visit and we got to see our new little friend on the ultrasound. Very squirmy..moving all around. Absolutely amazing!

We will not be finding out the sex of the baby so we will be in for a huge surprise! I'll keep you up-to-date with how things are progressing as we approach the big date.

MaMa McGovern

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year....

As I can remembered I've never really been so excited for the Spirit of Christmas. In years past I typically wait until the day after Thanksgiving to start decorating, listening to Christmas music and shopping, however this year I've kicked things off early. It's the middle of November and I cannot stop listening to Christmas tunes and I have begun planning all of our Christmas events/activities for the month of Dec. One thing for sure is living in California I'm not going to miss the heavy snow fall that we usually experience around this time of year. Here's a pic of my dad and our dog, Oodles and an image of what kind of snow we normally experience during the winter months. Looks brutally cold doesn't it. It sure is, however I will say it is amazingly beautiful!

Now....to prove my holiday spirit is in full gear, I've done my research and listed below some upcoming Christmas TV Specials that I tend to think are some of the most popular hits of the season. Tune in and tell me what you think.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas - TBS - Nov. 21, 8 pm

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas - ABC - Nov. 30, 8 pm

A Charlie Brown Christmas - ABC - Dec. 1, 8 pm

Christmas in Rockafeller Center - NBC - Dec. 2, 7 pm

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - CBS - Dec. 2, 8 pm

The Polar Express - ABCFAM - Dec. 3, 6 pm, 8:30 pm

Carrie Underwood an All Star Christmas Special - FOX - Dec. 7, 8 pm

Santa Clause 2 - ABCFAM - Dec. 12, 6 pm

It's a Wonderful Life - NBC - Dec. 12, 8 pm

Shrek the Halls - ABC - Dec. 14, 8 pm

Saturday Night Live Christmas 2009 - NBC - Dec. 17, 8 pm

Frosty the Snowman - CBS - Dec. 18, 8 pm

Miracle on 34th Street - ABCFAM - Dec. 23, 7:30 pm

A Christmas Story Marathon - TBS - Dec. 24, 8 pm

These movies are all wonderfu, however my 2 VERY favorite Christmas movies are not listed. I'm know they'll be airing sometime this season, just not sure what channel and/or date. To me these are the best Christmas movies of all time. They are...........

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

and.... Home Alone

Well I guess that's all now for my holiday spirit.... I will soon be sharing with you some of my favorite holiday recipes & memories. Until then jingle, jingle. :)

You MUST Snag a Snuggie!

So it's true. I'm clearly not embarassed to say that my favorite new thing is my SNUGGIE! I always laughed when I saw those commercials for Snuggies...and thought to myself.. "who would actually buy one of those things!" One day I got home from work and my hubby had me a very special surprise, my very own HOT PINK, might I add, SNUGGIE.

And............ I LOVE IT! The only issue is almost every night when I put it on and lay on the couch, it makes me fall asleep. No joke, ask my husband he finds me asleep every night on the couch curled up in my snuggle sometimes only at 9 pm! It has sedative like powers...!!

Well, if I don't say anything else, go grab yourself one! You can get them at Wal-Mart and/or Walgreens for around $14.99. Let me know what you think!

Fall Times...

It's official, I'm back. I was almost ready to quite and shut down my blog because of my inconsistency... however, I did not throw in the towel... and I'm committed to keep blogging.

So since I've kept you all out of the loop for so long, I'll give you a quick run down of the last few months!

Most recently, we've been enjoying our 2nd fall in California. It has been absolutely gorgeous...about 70-80 degrees in November! Unbelievable! I sure don't miss that cool bite of the Indiana wind.

So we've been out and about a lot lately. We've been doing a lot of pumpkin carving, partaking of all the fine fall delictable foods and out sight seeing in the vineyards and wine country.

Here are some recent pics of our trip over to Napa. I absolutely love that we live so close to Napa. Right now is the peak season to visit all the wineries as you can see the grapes are full on the vine.

We visited 2 wineries that particular day, Franks Family Vineyard was our first. Here is a pic of Mark & Max outside Franks..

We also finally made it a point to visit this "castle" winery that I'd heard of. It's called Castello di Amrosa. It was gorgeous! It truly is a castle with hidden tunnels, a huge courtyard in the center, a drop down plank bridge entrance... very, very cool. Can't wait to go back to this one!

There were absolutely gorgeous views from every tower overlooking all the vineyards. Speaking of views, last weekend Mark, Max & I ventured over to Walnut Creek (about 30-40 mins away) to visit Mt. Diablo. This is one of the highest points/altitudes in the Bay Area.

Before we embarked on all of our fall ventures, we celebrated Max's 1st B-day! Boy did we have a "BALL". We hosted him a "BALL" themed party at our house, on his b-day, Sat., Oct. 10th.

Max's first word was BALL and he has always been fascinated with balls more than any other toy. Enough said. Here are some pics of his party.

Max also had a birthday party back in Indiana during September. He got sooo messy we had to give him a bath in roaster after he messed in his cake!

Lastly, I leave you with a cute pic of Max & PaPaw when they were out on the boat during that same trip. What a cute pic!

Well, toodles! Gotta run now! I will try to give you some more daily updates!