Rachel's Got a New Job & Our Ceiling is Leaking!

We have had a wet March around here. And I don't just mean the random snow and then rain and back to snow every few days. Our downstairs bathroom has been leaking a lot as of late. In the past week & a half we have collected almost 9 1/2 quarts of water--I haven't emptied the bucket because I plan on showing our manager and the maintenance worker. Luckily, we do have a great apartment manager who has been helping us out with this. She quickly got the roofers here to get an estimate, e-mailed the bids to her supervisor and now we're just waiting for the contractors to give us a time and date--and have the weather be steadily nice, for once! There are a few leaks, and sometimes near the bottom of the surrounding walls will leak. It could be worse, like when we had the apartment kind of flood about a year & a half ago. It is mostly just inconvenient and frustrating. The manager still has to get it approved, but she said we most likely won't have to pay rent this month, as a way to help us out.

But now for the exciting news: I got a new job! It's at a local, small law firm downtown. And I'll be working 9 - 5, Monday - Friday, with a good starting pay rate & promises for raises once my probationary period ends. Zak sent me the ad he saw on craigslist about a week ago, so I wrote up a cover letter (the ladies said it was the best one they had read for the job!) and sent off my resume. About a day or two later, I got an e-mail back asking for a good time to schedule an interview. On Monday I had my first interview, with the gals who held the position previously. It went really well, we had a good back & forth and it felt very natural. I convinced them I could definitely get the job done and be a great fit for the office. An hour after the interview, they called to set up an interview for Tuesday.

When I got there, the two ladies in charge were still interviewing the only other person for the job. So I sat and chatted with the girl I met the previous day for a bit. When I was called in, I knew I had a good chance of getting the job, they responded really well to my humor, personality and there was very comfortable feeling in the room. We mostly just chatted, they told me I got a glowing report from the other ladies and complimented my cover letter and resume. And told me they thought I'd be a great fit for the office, and how important it is to have personalities that work well in such a small office. So we talked for about 30 minutes and then they asked when I could start! I told them I'd talk to my current manager and then call them back. I could not stop smiling as I drove to the mall to tell Zak. And then I recapped everything that happened. I walked down to Smoky Mountain and told my manager that I got a new job and asked what the procedure was for leaving--I just had to fill out a form that said when my last day would be. He's hiring some new servers and wanted me to help train them this weekend, so I will work this weekend but that's it. I am starting my new job on Monday!

We are so excited. It's pretty much a perfect fit for me. It's a small, quiet office and I actually like office work. I'm only a little bit nervous that I won't live up to the expectations, but Zak has reassured me I will because I am awesome. So now we will be doubling our income, so I can justify buying some new work clothes!

On not-as-exciting-but-still-good-news, Zak is on the reserve list for fire crew. We're not exactly sure how big the list is or how big a possibility of him getting on the crew is, but he'll find out soon. I'm pretty sure training starts in May, so we have about a month to find out, I think. It was a pretty big blow to find that out, especially since Zak did everything in his power to make a good impression and talk to the guy in charge. But it's almost certain that they picked the guys with experience first. So that's been hard to let sink in. But it's not a definite no, Zak still has a chance. He's trying to get some other things in motion, back-up plans and the like. Hopefully he'll be able to find something that will be related to his field.

We've started to look at other apartments. It's not solely because of the recent leak problems, but we feel it might be time to move. We've lived here for 2 years and while we have liked it, we feel like we should let someone else who needs the nice, government-subsidized place have it. My biggest priority is having a washer & dryer, I've gotten really frustrated with the laundry facility here. There are a few places that we would like to move into, so we are putting out feelers for them. We have to give our apartment manager a month's notice, so we are trying to figure something out soon and hopefully move mid-May. At least we have a truck now, so it'll make things easier!

So, a mixture of good and bad news for us. School is still going well for Zak, he is doing great in his classes and all that jazz. I've been good about working out 3 - 4 times a week and eating better. I'm almost to the point where the next size down in clothes will be comfortable and not as tight. So close! And I've gotten a lot tanner, so hopefully by the time I head to California, I'll be brown Rachel again! That's all I have for now, I'll try to write a new post soon--about my first week of work and whatever happens with the roof.

Pretzels & Crafts

Welcome to March!  Today it briefly snowed and hailed and it has been cold and windy all day.  So much for spring!

But we have been making the best of it all.  Zak has been doing well in school; midterms are next week and spring break is the following week.  I have been doing my best to keep busy and have been pretty successful this week.  I created a new weights routine and have done it the past few days.  It takes about an hour to do it all, but I put on a few episodes on Netflix and it flies by.  I find myself even enjoying it!  I don't even mind waking up sore!

On Monday night, we both had the hankerin' for soft pretzels.  But it was about 8 at night and we weren't feeling up to going outside, so I looked for a good recipe online to make our own.  It actually was a pretty fun experiment, and we will probably make them again.  I got the dough ready, and Zak formed them into their pretzel shape.  It was pretty cute to watch him, he had some good moves!  Together it went really smoothly and we devoured the pretzels once they came out of the oven.  They were so yummy and we have been brainstorming ways to make different varieties of pretzels.  Here is the recipe entry on it: http://rachelrecipelover.blogspot.com/2012/02/homemade-soft-pretzels.html

look at the beautiful pretzels Zak formed!

you knew this picture was coming, right?

delicious, perfect pretzels

My latest accomplishment has been planning our entire month's meals.  With our new car payments factored into our budget, I decided I needed to take some time to really budget our finances.  I don't mind, it's actually kind of fun for me, which is weird.  Once I picked about a dozen recipes I wanted to try or make again, I wrote down all the ingredients needed for the recipes and figured out what I'd need to buy and what we already have.  Today I went and bought all the ingredients we need for the month and came in under budget!  The second half of my accomplishment was to make a 'meal calendar'.  I've been doing some art stuff with paint chip samples I've scored from Wal-mart (once they're all done, pictures and a blog entry will go up), and had some leftover.  I've seen some cute ideas online and just went for it today.  I am actually really pleased with the result, but I need to invest in a good, fine-tipped dry erase marker.

my calendar!

with flash

yes, two calendars but: 1 is for work & school

That's all of the news for this week!

Winter

Last week winter hit us, and it hit us hard.  In the period of like, twelve hours, we got at least a foot of snow.  Last Wednesday Zak ended up walking to and from school because we could not get the car out of our parking spot, let alone the parking lot.  The roads had not been touched since it has been snowing constantly, and it was still snowing hard.  Zak had quite the walk to school, as he had to forge the way most of the time.  I thought by the time it came for me to pick him up, the roads would be better or it would stop snowing, but I was wrong!  So Zak walked home and enjoyed the rest of his afternoon with me, snowed in.  U of I cancelled classes on Thursday, so Zak and I had a lazy, snuggly Thursday.  The snow had slowed down, but it was still snowing most of the time.  Zak ended up going into work for a few hours, by came home early.  I drank lots of cocoa and was grateful that our power only flickered a few times, and not go out, like some of our friends' had.

Friday it continued snowing hard, and it took us about 20 minutes to get the car out of its spot.  It had only moved once, when Zak went to work, and it was a difficult situation.  The guy plowing the snow had created a pretty big hill for me to back up over.  So we had to shovel and salt and shovel some more, and eventually, Zak helped push the car out!  It was scary getting out of the parking lot (why is it that parking lots are always, no matter what, awful? I don't understand why it's so difficult to keep them decent), but the rest of the roads were ok.

 A week later and almost everything has melted!  It feels almost too good to be true, as I'm sure it is.  But it's nice to drive places normally again.  Now we have rain, so whatever!

Other than that, our lives have been about the same.  We're getting adjusted to Zak's new school and work schedule.  At least his earliest class is at 8:30 and not at 8, like last semester!  His labs are in the morning or early afternoon, which is a nice improvement from his 7-10pm lab from last semester.  This weekend we are pig-sitting again for our friends, yay!  Chad will often bring him over when he comes to hang out.  We love having Hampton around!!

In other news, I am going to California in June for about a week!  Zak most likely won't be able to make it, especially if he gets this fire crew job--we have no idea what his schedule would be like.  If he can make it work, he'll come with me.  But we're both ok with me going by myself.  Plus, I get to fly out of Pullman, which will make it easier on Zak, not having to drive to and from Spokane twice.  I get to be in L.A. with my family, and my dad on Father's Day!  I'm excited--we couldn't make it to CA last year and I'm still having a bit of a hard time transitioning from that vacation.  And it'll be Kenny's first trip since he's been home from Sweden.  It's going to be a good trip.

Here are some pictures of the snow.  Blah.

from our bedroom

same location

our car on the right, after we failed to get it anywhere

the parking lot during a brief lull in the storm

while Zak was at work

Busy Bees

Well we have survived Zak's first week back to school after a two-year absence. So far, so good. This semester he is taking Stats, Chemistry (with a lab), Econ, and Forestry (with a lab as well). His schedule is a little irregular, but I made up calendars and all kinds of useful reminders so we can get into some sort of rhythm. He says classes are going fine, they're not super exciting, but he's happy to be in school and all of that. It looks like his work schedule will be closing Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and either opening or closing on Saturdays. His labs are Thursday and Friday and so far we have been able to get everywhere we need to with one car and/or walking. Once it's not 100 degrees every day for a week, I'm sure he'll be much more up to walking or riding his bike. And once I'm working more, he'll be doing the same as well.

Work for me has been ok. The back-to-school rush was...alright. I had one night (a Monday, I believe) were I was the only hostess, so I was running around for 4 hours seating people, busing tables, etc. It's a lot less crazy when there is another hostess or a busboy, so that made the weekend nights tolerable. I'm hoping to get more hours soon, but there have been a bunch of new hires, so scheduling is up in the air. But everyone is really nice and fun to work with. And I'm getting the hang of almost everything, so I'm feeling pretty confident. We found me a clear, thin nose ring I can use on the days I work, so I don't have to put a band-aid over the piercing or take it out. Since it's been so sensitive to change, I'd rather have something in the hole than not, and no one has said a thing about the new clear one. So that's good.

Yes, it's been about 100 degrees every day for the past week and a half. We finally got a break last night we a major thunderstorm, but it didn't rain as much as we hoped. This has been the only week where I've seriously considered air conditioning, because the two fans have been going almost non-stop and it's been just miserable. It's supposed to cool off in the next few days, but it has been rough the last week or so. We are super ready for fall already!

That's been our life for the past few weeks. We're doing alright with the school adjustment, I'm trying my best to not be a nag about Zak and his homework, but he has a good work ethic and gets what he needs to done. Zak's birthday is in a few weeks, we are getting ready for that. I'm just trying to finalize on a gift idea for him, he is a very practical guy who doesn't want or need a lot of things, so I get to be creative with my presents for him. Unfortunately, his birthday is on a Thursday, and he has a late lab that night (7-9:50), but we'll try to make it a good day for him.

I came home from a really exhausting day at work to these beautiful flowers from Zak!

I'm not really a huge fan of dyed/weird color daises, but this arrangement was really beautiful and cheered me up! Plus, those big orange flowers that I don't know the name of? Gorgeous, they're my new favorites! I love the color gradient

We had our friends, Chad & Bryan over for dinner and I thought it was so cute that the silly dollar store place mats I got matched the flowers!

Other Things that Happen + Pictures

May has been super quick, it's hard to believe it's almost June! The weather certainly doesn't feel very summer-y, we have had thunderstorms, hail, and massive amounts of rain this past month. It's frustrating, because all we want to do is enjoy the windows being opened, the sun and warm weather, and not using the heat until the fall. As far as job hunting goes for me, it is still rough. I had some interviews that sounded promising, only to get our dreams crushed a few days later. Some days it's definitely hard to stay positive, but I keep trying and trying. Zak has been great at supporting me and motivating me to keep trying. Hopefully I'll get something soon and life will be a bit easier.

One morning Zak woke up very early, which in turn woke me up. We couldn't go back to bed, so I suggested we go for a walk. We didn't go as far as I would've liked, because it was actually quite chilly. But I took some pictures so you can see the trail we walk on. Also, there were some beautiful tulips and some cute bunnies along the way!

a river

down the hill from our place

Zak thought it was cute that I was ecstatic to see wild baby bunnies! They were so cute!!

pretty tulips

sorry it's blurry; you get the gist of it, though, right?

walking back from Safeway trail

One major complication that happened with me this week involved not only a job, but my nose and its ring. I had an interview at the Best Western last week about a busing/cashier job that sounded decent enough. Their policy is no piercings except for ears, and I figured, ok no problem. I had the second out of a possible three interviews a few days later and Zak suggested that since I knew the policy, I should show up without my nose ring in. I took it without any problems and went about my interview, and the following one I had at a daycare place. Zak talked me into getting a small hoop for my nose, with the idea that it would be easier to take out and put back in if I got the job at the hotel, and plus, he thought it'd be really cute for me. We got a decent one and came back home after all our errands.

Too bad the next several hours were awful. I can't remember exactly what happened, in the correct order, but there was a lot of blood and pain on my end. For starters, the hoop was a little bit thicker than my stud with the screw end. For second, the inside hole in my nose had more or less closed up. I had never taken out my ring just for fun, a few times it's been yanked out (OW), but I don't play with it because I'm nervous about it closing up. And putting in the screw end ring is difficult, because it feels different than it looks in the mirror and after 30 minutes of me getting frustrated and convincing myself to just let my holes close up permanently, Zak stepped in. He sterilized a safety pin so we could 're-pierce' the inside hole in my nose. We let that sit for a few hours and then we tried again. It appeared that I would not be the one to do it, so Zak bravely got the hoop through my nose.

yes, we only had GIANT safety pins...good times...

my poor, sad, little red nose :(

And then to my utter & total frustration, I didn't get the stupid job where I'd have to take out my nose ring. Thanks! So for now I have the hoop in my nose, and I clean it at least twice a day and try to move it around so it won't get super gross. It sure doesn't help to blow my nose with a sore nose, but that's life. I'm still not 100% sold on the hoop, but people tell me it's cute, so go figure.

Oh, I also cut some of our lovely tulips and brought them inside to cheer me up. I had always thought they were red, and they kind of are, when they're really open in the sunlight. But inside and closed up, they are pink, and that makes me even happier! Our pretty blue hyacinths are dead, but what can you do.

Other news includes how much we love the bread machine. It is so easy and I have found a great basic, white bread recipe for it. I need to try a few others to compare for wheat, or specialty breads, so if anyone has some good ones to contribute, please e-mail me! And we continually enjoy our hamsters and how cute they are. They hardly fight anymore, and we catch them doing cute things, like sleeping on top of each other in a random corner in their cage.

Vlad very much enjoyed being in Zak's pocket

hello!

...normal Zak

these guys LOVE the colored pellet pieces, he was chewing on this forever!

hehehehe they are sooo cute :)

Next weekend Zak has shows up in Spokane and Coeur d'Alene. I will most likely go with him, so that will be fun for us. His first round of the custom design shows didn't go well, which was really hard on him. :( No one showed up in Moscow or Lewiston, but at least that's better than people showing up and leaving without purchasing anything. He's trying to stay positive, but this is a test to prove that not only can he do it, but be the best at it. There are 3 computers and 4 people qualified to do this job, and he wants to be one who gets to keep the computer locally. I know he will do great at these next shows because they are bigger volume stores with clients that have more money. Moscow is more or less a college town, with humbler folk around here, and kind of the same story for Lewiston. Spokane and Coeur d'Alene have nicer stores, products and richer customers. Plus, the weekend after this round of shows, Zak will fly out to Oregon to do shows at the top stores in the company, so he will kick butt at that. It has been fun to watch him create and design things, even silly ideas I suggests, he'll make look nice. He has a good eye for design and I just want him to be successful, because he can definitely do this--it's not his fault customers haven't shown up. So it's just hard to prove himself without an opportunity. So think of Zak and wish him luck these next few weeks!

Easters

We had a nice Easter. Zak's grandparents invited us over, so we left mid-morning to arrive for the feast. Our drive was mostly uneventful, the weather was beautiful and calm. There was a really obnoxious/dangerous driver that tailed us for about 10 minutes. She was even given half a dozen opportunities to pass us, but didn't take them. I was driving and trying not to hit the car in front of us or have a collision with the moron behind us. Eventually, she passed us, and then tailed the car in front of us. We watched them do that to a few cars, and almost get into an accident. A+!

I brought a cake to contribute. I got the recipe from my mom, who had made it a few weeks previous. It was a very delicious white cake, with strawberries mixed in with whipped cream for the filling and topping (the recipe is posted on my recipe blog, here is the direct link). I made the cakes the night before, and mixed us the whipped cream and cut the strawberries that morning. We filled an ice bag and put the whipped cream in there, and when we arrived, it was not as stiff as I had hoped it would be. I threw it altogether and put it in the fridge to set up for a few hours.

not as pretty as I hoped, as I was a bit rushed, next time it will be prettier!

Dinner/lunch was yummy. Ham, potatoes, even jello salad! It was nice to be around Zak's family and share the holiday with them. We stuffed ourselves and then relaxed for awhile, while waiting to enjoy the cake. The cake was indeed, delicious. And worth every bite! I quickly made sure a piece would be saved for Jenna, and stored it away. Everyone loved the cake and we ate the whole thing up!

yum!

Zak and I stayed the night, so we wouldn't be driving so much; Jenna was arriving in Spokane the following night. It was nice to relax, talk to his grandparents and walk around their property. It was fun to listen to Zak's stories of his childhood, running around with his cousin, all of the animals and machines they'd play with. Zak's uncle Rick has a chicken coop, along with some other animals. There were some rabbits, baby chicks, a few chickens, a turkey, and a peacock, that had apparently just wandered onto their land! He let the turkey out, and although it was supposedly friendly, it got a bit too close for comfort for me. I admired the animals from afar. Their cat followed us around like a puppy, it was very funny. He loved having some attention. We also wandered around the orchard and took some pictures of the pretty cherry and peach tree blossoms. Too bad there were no fresh fruit to pick just yet! Hopefully we'll be back later for some peaches and cherries.

two chickens & a peacock
stare-off with the turkey
our new 'pet'
mrow

peach tree blossoms

The next morning we left for Spokane. The weather had turned fairly nasty, but the driving to Spokane wasn't horrendous. It was pretty easy to get there, though, so that's something. We had a few hours to kill, so we wandered around Northtown Mall. It was nice to be in a mall with more than one story? We did a bit of light shopping, lots of window shopping, and spent some time in our favorite store: the reptile store. It is awesome. We spent forever in it last time we were in Spokane, back in the fall. I just love looking at the huge pythons and boas! I want to have enough money to buy one of those $600+ snakes, along with a feeder for it. That'd be pretty sweet.

Zak's newest animal friend; if it wasn't $70, we would've come home with it

We quickly grabbed some dinner and headed to the airport to pick up Jenna. The drive home turned out to be pretty scary about halfway home. The weather just got horrible, with heavy, rapid rain and low visibility. Plus, we were in the middle of the Palouse, so the roads are windy and unlit. We had to slow down a lot, have the wipers on full blast, and turn the hi-beams on just to make sure we wouldn't crash. It was definitely the scariest weather I've ever witnessed inside of a car. Thankfully, it only last about 10-15 minutes, but those were the longest, most silent minutes of the drive. Zak did an excellent job and didn't allow anything bad to happen to us, the car, or anyone else. It was a relief to be back home safe.

There are a lot more pictures from our trip that I uploaded to my Picasa account. I just figured it out (kind of) and you can view those pictures by clicking on these words, or by cutting and pasting this URL into your address bar: https://picasaweb.google.com/rozeharten/Easter?authkey=Gv1sRgCNOY0-i_1-_1iQE&feat=directlink

this was taken after I realized I needed to 'un-zoom', so it's the best we could do after 4 pictures

Life

Well, for awhile there, we thought spring was coming any moment. Then we woke up to a bit of snow on the ground yesterday. Sad face. I was soooo ready for spring and the sunshine and flowers! But of course, Idaho has to ruin my hopes and dreams. The snow then melted away until about 5 PM, when it started to hail, sleet and snow a bit more again. It's mostly all gone today, but it's cold and overcast. :(

For those of you who don't know, I was let go from Macy's a few weeks ago. Basically, there was some miscommunication between me and my manager regarding sick days, leaving work early due to sickness, etc. I had a meeting with my manager & the store manager a few months ago that was basically a 'shape up or ship out' kind of meeting, at which point, I told them it wouldn't be a problem, etc. A few weeks later, Zak and I were both sick. But I went to work, talked to my manager about what would happen if I were to go home (since I was throwing up and it was a blizzard outside), since I didn't want to get in trouble, etc., etc. He said everything would be fine. So I went on my sick little way and lo and behold, a week later I was called in to talk to the regional HR gal. Who promptly told me I was being let go, despite me telling her how my manager had ok'd me to go home and all of that. Oh, and my manager just 'happened' to be out of town that week anyways.

So now I am collecting unemployment and taking some time for myself, which I haven't had in awhile. I've been applying for jobs every week, and even had an interview the other week (it didn't work out, oh well). But now I spend my days reading, playing video games or watching t.v., and trying not to cook or eat everything in the house. I'm looking forward to when it warms up, so I can go on walks. I'll be receiving unemployment for up to four months, so I have some time to find a job I'll like.

With that in mind, I had some kind of 24 hour flu or something on Friday. Zak had a little bug and has been fairly congested all week. Whatever he had must've transferred to me and kind of destroyed me by Friday afternoon. I ended up sleeping for 2 and a half hours until Zak got back from work. I was freezing cold and had a temperature of 101! I don't remember the last time I had such a high fever. I normally run a little lower than average as it is. My entire body ached and hurt to be touched, I had a nasty sore throat, coughs and sniffles and was so tired. After a few hours of slumping on the couch, expressionless and lifeless, Zak convinced me to take a shower while he went to get me some medicine. He got me some aspirin and theraflu, and a few more hours later, I wasn't freezing and my temperature had gone done a degree or two. He sent me off to bed and I woke up feeling a fair amount better the next day.

Now I just have a nasty cough and congestion headaches. Hooray.

Our St. Patrick's Day was nice. Zak had to close, so we got up and had breakfast. I made my family's buttermilk pancake recipe (yum) and turned them green because: 1. it's fun, 2. it's tradition in my family, and 3. it's FUN. So we had green pancakes, bacon and green-tinted limeade for breakfast. Then Zak went off to work and I got dinner started. I just cut up some scrubbed red potatoes and dumped them and some baby carrots into the crock pot. I added the corn beef with its spice packet, added in some water and let it cook on high until Zak got home. Easiest meal of all-time. Zak invited our friends Mat & Erika over after I got it started, so I fretted that there wouldn't be enough food, but there was. And everything was just delicious. They were so impressed, they asked me how I made it all so tasty. I just credited our lovely crockpot, hehe.

That is about all I can think of that has been going on in our lives for us. We have started to think about our summer plans. It basically starts next month, when my sister is coming to visit us. Then Zak's mom will be staying with us for a few days before his cousin's wedding in May. He also has another cousin getting married this summer, but I can't remember the date at the moment. We are planning on spending about a week in CA with my family when Kenny gets back from Sweden in July (!). There is also our anniversary in August, followed by Mat & Erika's wedding the next day in Seattle. Looks like we'll be spending our anniversary in Seattle, but that's just fine because neither of us have been there yet. We're hoping to be able to see Zak's sister Delaney when she comes out to Rexburg for school in later August/early September in order to help get her set up, etc. And even now as I'm writing this, my head is spinning with all of these plans! I need to pace myself. It looks like we are going to have a fun summer. But first we have to get to spring!

The hamsters are doing well. We are planning on getting some new fish soon. Zak isn't entirely convinced that he shouldn't get me a companion kitty ;) (We'd really love one, but we're not supposed to have one....but I think I qualify as someone who needs a companion kitty, right?). That's all for now, folks!

Date Night!

We have just had the crummiest week, weather-wise. Snow and snow and snow and ice and freezing cold and snow. Oh, and snow is in the forecast for the next week or two. Apparently, the end of February is typically like this: stupid and deceiving. Here we were, getting excited for spring, what with the weather being sunny, clear and in the 50s almost every day. But no.

So yesterday we decided to have a Date Night, since we rarely do that, especially with our crazy schedules. We needed a break from being inside and ventured out into the cold Idaho weather. We are definitely thankful to not be walking around in such awful cold, like the 'good old days' in Rexburg.

We picked the place we went to for our anniversary/Valentine's Day dinner a few weeks back: Sangria Grille. This time we didn't have to worry about being back for work, so we were able to enjoy ourselves. And, randomly, we were seated at the table we had previously dined at. Next time, I guess we have to demand 'our' table. I noticed there were sweet corn tamale cakes on the menu for an appetizer, and asked Zak if it'd be alright to get them. I have something of an obsession with the Cheesecake Factory's sweet corn tamale cakes. All other appetizers fail in comparison, in my opinion. So we got them and boy, were they a good choice. The cakes were a little bigger and denser than I expected, but every bit delicious. [Side note: I found a recipe for them that I guess is a copy-cat version of the C.F.'s dish, and I am excited to try it. Will write a review with the recipe when I try it.]

Last time we ate there, Zak got this amazing skirt steak with fried bananas, that was just incredible. I could not resist and opted to get it this time. It did not disappoint. I normally don't order steak, I think the last time I got it at a restaurant was over a year ago, but I made the right decision this time. I couldn't eat it all (darn!), so I plan on having it for leftovers later today. Zak debated between a few options and finally chose to order the half-rack of ribs. He hasn't really had experience with such an order, so I walked him through it. My brother Kenny is like a ribs
connoisseur, so I have plenty of knowledge about them. The ribs were very tender and had just the right amount of sauce. We were both too full to try for dessert, but that was just fine with us.

We quickly grabbed some groceries (and candy) from Winco and headed to the movie theater. There weren't a lot of options to choose from, but The King's Speech with Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush was playing, and I persuaded Zak to go see that with me. I had heard rave reviews about it, and I love Colin Firth (duh), so I knew it'd be good. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and thought it was just beautiful to watch. It was a bit too slow for Zak's taste, but he appreciated it as a good film and that I liked it. I was just happy that he came with me and had a good time being with me.

We came home and quickly ran inside to escape the clear, cold -9 degree air and snuggled up in blankets and turned on the t.v. It was so nice to go out and do something other than be at work or getting groceries! Of course, no pictures because I ran out of the house without the camera! Oh well, maybe next time!

Things that are Happening Currently.

So far, so good. Our life has been going well the last few weeks, despite some scheduling frustration. However, the weather has been splendid; it is like California in winter, but a little bit colder. Lots of rain, then sun, and the snow that comes every two weeks is gone in a day or so. It's probably a fluke that it's so nice right now, but we'll take it!

Zak has had some great success at work. Not only did the store make its period goal, but so did every employee, so that's two bonuses for Zak on his next check! The store had a good 'remount' show (kind of like a custom design show, lots of loose stones and settings, etc.), and is on its way to making its next goal. Zak is about halfway to his next goal, and it's only been a week. So that is great news, and we're sure he'll make it, what with Valentine's Day coming up and all.

Work has been about the same for me. Our fiscal year is over, so now we are onto new scorecards, etc. Every day is different, sometimes it's crazy busy (like on Saturday) vs. the super slow days where only old ladies come in the morning (Tuesdays, usually). I'm currently looking for other jobs that won't involve retail, so hopefully I'll have some good news to report soon...

Today we had a bit of a cleaning spree and went through our dresser and closet and sorted clothes. Our bedroom is beautiful now, whereas the second bedroom...well, we'll just say that we love having it as a 'storage room', because that's what it is for now. I don't think we'll ever more somewhere without it being a two-bedroom from now on, because it is wonderful to have that second bedroom.

I have been doing yoga for the past few weeks. I downloaded this really neat app on my iPad and just love it. I can custom-make my own routines or use the pre-made ones. I can definitely feel my muscles getting stronger and when I'm doing a certain pose or whatever, I can now identify which muscle I'm using and how to stretch it, etc. It's been pretty good so far. I did about an hour of it one morning and woke up sore for the next two days. My biggest hangup is my wrists. They are so small and weak, so some of the poses are very difficult for me. I'm taking it easy, but would like to find someway to make them stronger, or to alter some of the poses so as to take some of the pressure off my wrists.

Oh, and I decorated a little for Valentine's Day. Zak brought home my early Valentine's Day flowers: a potted hyacinth plant in a cute tin. It smells wonderful and I love the purple color! He is sweet and I'm glad to have him as my valentine. We don't really have plans yet for V-Day, since we don't know when/if Zak has to work. I don't, so the chances of me making some romantic dinner or something...are probably high. We'll see. You'll get an update.

Here are a few pictures :)

look how cute the pot is!

The First Snow!

We've had our first real snow! Zak is pretty excited, and I will admit that I am, too. It is so beautiful! And I enjoy having windows with which to admire it from. It's a lot easier planning clothes when you can see out the window, rather than walking down the stairs (like we had to do in our windowless, Rexburg apartment). Last night it started snowing, and has continued through this morning. We estimate about 2 - 3 inches of snow have fallen, which is the perfect amount. I think Zak will have to teach me how to drive again. But here are some pictures so you can see how pretty it is here!

right side of garden

left side of garden

holiday pumpkin is snowy

from our doorway, car is on the right

from our bedroom right, to the left

outside our bedroom window

taken from upstairs, that is our car, completely covered, on the right