Belated Valentine's Day Post

I know this is a week late, but I still wanted to write it.

Our Valentine's Day

I woke up early last Monday and starting work on breakfast. Since Zak didn't have to go in until 1, I thought we could have a nice, leisurely breakfast together. I started frying up bacon (splurge, yes), and cutting up strawberries (splurge number two, couldn't say no) and then got to the crepes. As I was about to get Zak up and start making them, I decided that I should make them pink. My family has a history of adding food dye to many holiday meals. Well, initially it started out as you know, green milk for St. Patrick's Day or pastel colored something for Easter. But then it got weirder and weirder and there have been reports of purple tuna sandwiches my father has made for Jenna. So I am just used to that and thought it would be fun. It was fun and breakfast was delicious. Especially considering the fact that strawberries, bananas and nutella make the ultimate crepe. Perfect.

Zak went into work at 1, at which point, I cleaned up a bit. For his gift, I got him some neat posters that I thought he'd like. And I had the cute idea of putting them up along the kitchen/dining room wall while he was at work, and taking down the previous pictures I had put up when we moved in. After that, I lazed around for a bit, got all pretty, and then started in on dinner. We decided on salmon, and the package for it had a recipe for honey-mustard sauce that I thought would be good. Except that the salmon was supposed to be broiled and the skin was still on half of it, so needless to say, I was a bit freaked out that it wouldn't work out right. The potatoes and broccoli were fine, but I was most worried about the fish, because I've only cooked fish like, one way before: on top of the stove, not in it.

Well, once Zak came home, we had a lovely candlelight dinner, on our traditional heart plates I've had for a few years. The fish was great, as was everything else. For dessert I tried a recipe that was like simplified bananas foster. It was essentially bananas caramelized in butter and brown sugar, drizzled with caramel sauce and topped with coconut flavored whipped cream. It was delicious but so, so rich. It was like, a once a year kind of dessert.

Zak got me a cute plush talking doll from Hallmark (Yoyo, of Hoops & Yoyo farme. They are brilliant). And this awesome print from the comic I love. It's called Extra Ordinary Comics, and it's just the cutest comic ever. I really love it. So I was thrilled, and put the print over the hamster cage so I can admire it all the day long. So we had a great Valentine's Day together, despite it being awful and snowy outside and Zak having to work. :)

all three posters

the print Zak got me, 'SPACE SHARK'

this is Yoyo :)

Four Years

Yesterday Zak and I celebrated being a couple for 4 years. It's strange to think how quickly the time has gone, we certainly don't feel four years older or different. But so much has changed and happened in those years. To celebrate, we both worked the closing shifts at work, hooray! But on our lunch break, we went to the restaurant that's in the mall parking lot, called Sangria. It was a cute little place with really neat wood and leaf decor. It was basically how I'd decorate my porch, with vines and lights. Anyways, it was nice. And affordable, and surprisingly very good. There was lots to choose from, and I thought I read that the cuisine was like Peruvian fusion? Well, Zak had a delicious steak with some fabulous sauce and...plantains? It was amazing. I had a breaded chicken cutlet over spinach basil pasta. I had my leftovers for dinner tonight. So that as a nice way to celebrate, and it kind of counts for Valentine's Day, since Zak has to work.

Last year for our anniversary, we went to that wonderful concert on campus with a genius pianist playing one of my favorite pieces by Rachmaninov. Then we had dinner in Idaho Falls. While it was a nice night, even though I forgot our leftovers, I have to say I really enjoyed this year's celebration. The weather was better and we didn't have to drive half an hour to get to dinner! But last year we had the top tier of our wedding cake, which was nice. It was nice to celebrate a little, even though our new anniversary is in August.

Two years ago, we got engaged. It was a Thursday, because I had to go to my stupid art seminar, and I dragged Zak along with me. Beforehand, I surprised him with his mom's recipe of chicken pot pie, his favorite. After we ditched out of the seminar early, he surprised me by proposing in "our" building on campus, by the famous poster of the elephant periodic table. That was a wonderful night, and even though I suspected the proposal, it still caught me by surprise. I think we hardly slept that night.

Three years ago, Zak was working in Connecticut and I was at school. It was a crappy winter and although I had great roommates, being all by myself for our first anniversary and Valentine's was hard. But Zak found a way to make it better. I remember coming home from a particularly grueling drawing class, feeling hopelessly depressed and frustrated at my lack of artistic talent. It was freezing and there was just so much snow and I was tired and hungry...but I remember coming home and my roommates were all excited and giggling as I saw the beautiful bouquet of red roses Zak had ordered online for me. I pretty much lost it and we spent the evening on the phone. I had sent him a box with homemade candies and chocolates and all kinds of cute things, and he sent me a cute little box as well. So that made our separation less difficult.

Four years ago we became a couple. I had to ask him, since he wasn't sure that I liked him in that way. Well, he was wrong. And yeah, two days later it was Valentine's, but it really wasn't that awkward. I do remember my roommates being mad at me for getting a boyfriend right before Valentine's, and they wouldn't let me come to some Singles Only party or whatever, but I didn't care. Zak wrote me a sweet song and played it on his guitar, in the freezing cold. It was a great night.

I'm so glad to have such a fun, smart, wonderful guy in my life who plays with me and pampers me with pretty things. He is a great husband and friend and I am happy to be his other half. :)

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 Car.

Like I wrote on the last entry, we took out our power steering over Thanksgiving break. On Thursday we took the car in for a look-over. They seemed nice enough, and even had a shuttle waiting to take us home and pick us up when it was finished. With all the estimates in (sometimes our brake light doesn't work, sometimes it does, and something to do with the alignment...?), the total came to just under $2,000. And we paid $1,600 for the car. Oh, and we need new tires as well, so there's $400-$500 as well. So all the way home, we brainstormed what we were going to do-and even with our parents' and/or grandparents' help, it was still going to be a lot of money. We thought maybe we could sell it for parts and get a new used car.

Well, on the highway back to Moscow (Pullman is only 10 minutes away), Zak noticed the engine temperature gauge was close to overheating. So he pulled over to let it cool down, and called the mechanics. They said something might have fallen off or something, but they basically just didn't take responsibility for anything. Weird, since we have been driving it just fine the last two months, and then we leave it with the mechanics for six hours and...the engine is running super hot, and there are new noises coming from the hood; it sounded like there were loose bits rumbling around.

Long story short, it took us like, half and hour to get home (a drive that normally takes ten minutes), because we had to pull over every two minutes or so to let the car cool down. Zak's friend Mat came over to look it over. He told us we drove home using the battery's power, which is kind of a miracle that we made it home in the first place. The guys looked online to see if there was a way to get the power steering parts needed; Mat figured he could fix it with Zak's help. They discovered they could get all the parts needed for under $200, and decided to work on it on their mutual day off, Sunday (yesterday). Oh, and to be an even better friend, Mat lent us one of his spare cars until they get ours fixed.

So after a few stressful hours, everything turned out for us. Yesterday the guys spent a good couple of hours working on the car. They got about 80% done before I made them take a lunch break (I made them enchiladas). They had to go get a part ordered that should get here by the weekend, so once it gets in, we should have a running car again! We are so grateful to have a friend like Mat! He is really a great guy and I'm so happy that he and Zak get along so well. They were awful cute yesterday, working with all the tools and the car, Zak seemed to enjoy learning about everything.

working hard

I also decided to make some kind of delicious dessert for Mat as a thank you gift. I settled on a 'tuxedo chocolate' cake, that was absolutely fabulous. The recipe can be found by clicking on these words (I posted it on my recipe blog).

worth every bite

So all in all, we learned to not really trust mechanics (they really did seem like nice guys, but oh well), and that Mat is a really great friend, and that I can make a killer cake! Thanks again to Mat and our family who have offered their financial help. We really appreciate it.

Little Blurbs

Sorry it's been awhile since I've written. We have been figuring out work schedules and getting back into the rhythm of life post-holiday. The weather has been up and down; last week we had a huge blizzard storm that gave us a lot of snow, although since Thursday afternoon, we have seen nothing but rain and sunshine, alternating throughout the day. Now we have no more snow on the ground, and I for one am happy, because it feels almost like California winter to me!

Zak's boss from work was fired the week of Christmas. It's a pretty long and complicated story. The timing wasn't the best (not just for him, but for everyone, who had to move their Christmas plans around), and has made life pretty crazy. So Zak has been working more hours, but it hasn't been awful. I've been picking up more hours, now with school back in, I am splitting one girl's shift every Wednesday, so I'm happy to have a short little four hour shift every week. This week I had an inventory shift, which wouldn't have been SO bad, if I hadn't have been there from 9 PM to 2:20 AM. At first, it wasn't so bad, scanning labels and counting them. But then around 1, they let a fair amount of people go home, leaving the rest of us to pull off all the labeling stickers. It was frustrating, and I was working with some frustrating people, but it got done and at least I only had one of those shifts (there were three nights total of inventory).

Zak recently purchased a fantastic sweater/cardigan. Practically the best $20 impulse buy from Old Navy. It reminds me of Mr. Rogers, but it's SO Zak. He almost lives in it, when he's not at work. It's very comfortable, and now and then, he persuades me to let him wear it to work with a shirt and tie. How can I tell him no? He's too cute in it.
I recently bought an ugly/awesome velour track suit from work, because it was 10 freaking dollars. Obviously, I am never wearing it in public (because Zak won't let me, and because I think it's trashy to wear sweats outside), but I will tell you that it is dang comfy inside the house. So we have comfy clothes to lounge about it, and are happy about it.

Zak is getting his paperwork done for school and financial aid, and should have those done within the next week. We are getting together our paperwork for our complex, so that we can hopefully still live here once our lease is up in April. So, just lots of paperwork going on for us. We are taking the car in on Thursday to get it checked out. We had an accident coming home on Thanksgiving, and ended up knocking the power steering out of whack. So we have been driving around without power steering for the past two months. We've gotten used to it, so it'll be strange to have it back soon. Our tires need to be replaced, and our back lights go from working to not working, depending on what it feels like. We just need to coordinate our days off so we can get it fixed and budget accordingly.

Our good friends from Zak's work, Mat & Erika, got engaged on Christmas Eve. So I am loving helping Erika with wedding details. Much to Zak's horror, I've gotten addicted to TLC's Say Yes to the Dress show. I try to watch it when he's not around, but now and then he'll put up watching an episode with me. They are planning for an August wedding, but no concrete details as of yet. I am going dress shopping with her sometime in the next month of so, and I'm getting excited! We are so happy for them; they are the cutest couple and their wedding will be awesome.

Other than that, we are just having fun together. :)

Jenna got me this AWESOME dinosaur encyclopedia for my birthday. I spent an hour reading it.

It's been awhile since we've made pizza, and we wanted to try out my new French rolling pin Zak's family got me (it was amazing). Zak is the dough king.

our delicious pizza, with the spur-of-the-moment bread sticks Zak threw together; one side is like Italian spices, the other is a cinnamon sugar dessert, both were delicious

Enter Year 23

I had a great birthday yesterday. For starters, we both had the day off and I got to sleep in! For breakfast, we made blintzes, since we didn't get around to it on Christmas. They were sure tasty! I wanted to watch Beauty & the Beast, so Zak obliged, because he is a great husband. After that, I opened my presents, and got some great things! My parents got me a like, deluxe Bath & Body Works set, some warm red slippers, the Lego Harry Potter game, and a few other things. Zak's parents got me a French (tapered) rolling pin, along with some other gifts that are in the mail at the moment.

Zak got me a beautiful new ring...with blue diamonds, my favorite! He was great about not telling me about my presents for Christmas or my birthday (he usually can't wait, and will tell me or show me, even if I don't ask), so I was surprised. Although, about a week before Christmas, he had me close my eyes and look away and he slipped on the ring just to be sure it fit! Well, it fits and I love it. I am a very lucky girl, I have so many nice pieces of jewelry; he is so sweet to me. Whenever I protest, he tells me that he gets good deals on them, and he likes seeing me with pretty sparkly things on. So how can I complain after that?

love love love this ring

We went out to dinner at a local restaurant called the Red Door. It's a small place that uses local food, with a menu that rotates every month or so. Everything was fantastic! We split an appetizer of 'spicy firecracker balls', which were 6 balls of tuna and salmon done almost like tempura, with three different sauces, and one I think was real wasabi. Now, I am not a sushi or spicy type of girl, but I absolutely loved them. They were just incredible. For entrees, Zak got pasta with a garlic cream sauce and sausage; the sausage was very tasty. I had thai coconut ginger shrimp with rice noodles, which was also good. There was so much that I had to take it home, darn! But it was just a wonderful dinner, and we will definitely be going back for more.

We then came home and played some video games and just relaxed. It was a great birthday, and I was happy to spend it with the one I love. I'm a bit 'weirded out' by being 23 already, but it's also kind of neat. I've survived this long without any major problems, and I am pretty happy. Thank you to everyone for all the birthday wishes (email, texts...facebook, haha), I had a great day! And thank you to you, Zakky, for making it wonderful! :)

(my new favorite picture)

Our Not-So-White Christmas

Merry Hamster Christmas!

Yes, there was no snow on Christmas, but there was..rain. It was just like my California Christmases back home! There was a little snow on the ground, but none on the actual DAY; it waited until we had to be at work the next day.

he didn't really love the tree

Anyways, we had a lovely Christmas with just us and the hamsters. Without any parents or siblings to dictate when we opened presents, we did it when we first got up. Zak got another giant tool set, so he is pretty much set. We each got some nice clothing items; Zak got a much needed white shirt and three new ties, whoo! I got some fun baking/kitchen items and some nice Christmas display plates. My parents got us some green fleece sheets, and Zak received a box set of the latest Coheed & Cambria album with the novel it matches. He was completely surprised, and I had forgotten Jenna had asked my opinion about it weeks ago. I got Beauty & the Beast; when it came out last time on DVD, we didn't get it because DVDs weren't very popular, and I will admit, I haven't really let my mother forget it. But now I have it, along with lots of bonus features, and I am happy (it is one of my all-time favorites, sometime I'll have to tell you about my awesome 5th birthday Beauty & the Beast birthday party...)

with most of his loot

super psyched about the tools

new dress clothes

the mustache tie clip

my pile

And we got a TON of chocolate. There is no end to it. I had gotten us each a box of Moose Munch from work a month ago, for our stockings. My parents sent us a bag of 50 assorted Ghiradelli squares (I had been missing them and SF, so I requested some), Zak's parents sent us a bag of Ghiradelli mint chocolate squares, Zak got me a smaller assorted Ghiradelli squares, we got another chocolate orange, a bag of Lindt truffles, and our friends Mat & Erika got us some of the local gourmet chocolates, Cowgirl Chocolates (they are divine, they are 'spicy' chocolates, so far I've had the spicy hazelnut milk and a regular spicy milk, it burns but so good). (Also, website can be accessed by clicking on THESE WORDS). So we are set as far as candy goes, oh wait, Zak got me an entire box of candy canes, because I love them. We are being good to not eat them all at once, but goodness, there is a lot to conquer!

I got Zak some nice things for his 'professional' side: a nice black leather belt, a money clip with a slot for his I.D., and a really nice hammered finish sterling silver tie clip from Etsy. I also got him a funny tie clip with a mustache on it. He was also wanting some nice soaps, so I found a neat website that's based out of Raleigh and got him four. But I cleverly wrapped two in a box, one in its own, and put one in his stocking, so he was surprised to get four of them. Zak was sweet and got me some awesome gifts. He bought me this necklace from work that is really neat. It has garnet, amethyst, citrine, peridot, and aquamarine stones set in yellow gold, hanging in three rows. It's pretty. He also got me some adorable elephant glass earrings from the local glass blowers who set up a kiosk in the mall between Black Friday and New Year's. He also also got me some raw peridot dangling earrings from there. They are all awesome. And he got me this really neat food scale I had been eyeing from Bed, Bath & Beyond. It is super high-tech and will take me awhile to figure out. It was really nice of him to get it for me, I wasn't expecting it.

he let me open this one early (I love peridot!)

the cutest earrings

My grandparents got me an iPad for my combined birthday & Christmas present. I wasn't really expecting them to get it for me, I had told my parents that I certainly wouldn't say no, but my computer has been driving me crazy, and I was hoping for a small netbook or something to replace it. But then my grandparents had to go be all awesome and get me the iPad. It is my first Apple product, and needless to say, I love it. We both do. It is so awesome, words just can't explain it. I am having a blast with all of the 'nerdy' apps; there is one called Art HD, with information and paintings from a lot of different artists, so I am happy with that. I love having virtual books, it is just awesome! I am enjoying discovering all the apps, and am pretty satisfied, because there are a lot of amazing ones for free. Zak really likes playing games on it (specifically, 'Fruit Ninja'). We are both enjoying playing with it.

our sofffft fleece sheets
Christmas plates

Our friends had also gotten us some brie (double cream & triple cream) and crackers, so along with our sausage & cheese ball we got for ourselves from Hickory Farms, we ate the goodies and watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

OH, I completely forgot to mention that I absolutely loved being able to talk to my brother Kenny in Sweden for a few hours on Christmas Eve. It was so much fun being able to talk to him and my family at the same time. He is so cute, and so happy with everything, it never ceases to amaze me. Our favorite part (my family & I took a vote) was when he would talk to his companion in Swedish. It was more fun to hear the conversation than a line or two we asked him to learn for us, although it was fun to hear him say, 'I'd like the fish pie' or something silly. Anyways, it was a real blessing to be able to talk to him and my family. It made me a little teary, since I couldn't be home for Christmas, but being on the phone with everyone, it sure felt like it.

For Christmas dinner, we had a honey glazed ham, that was wonderful. And so simple, I was worried it'd be difficult, but nope! I also made roasted red potatoes with rosemary and oil. Zak helped me make a dish with sweet potatoes & apples (& marshmallows, of course), which turned out well. We had some pillsbury rolls, because I couldn't swing making those since we were working practically night and day for two straight weeks. I did manage to make chocolate mousse, which was almost perfect. I was thrilled. So we had a nice dinner and then watched our Christmas present from Santa: Inception on Blu-Ray. So overall, a very nice Christmas. It was nice to be able to sleep in, not have to worry about work or anything, and be able to talk to our families.

yum!

We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and families, and we are truly thankful for all of the wonderful gifts we received this year. Thank you so much, everyone! We wished we could have been with everyone this year, but stupid jobs in retail making us work to the bone! Maybe next year we will be able to go somewhere, we shall see. Thanks again for all of the love, support and gifts. We really appreciate everything!