Back from the dead.

We're back! Well, we've been back for about 6 weeks now. But I'm back to post, which is something I haven't done in a long time. Needless to say, I miss blogging, so I'm going to try to make more of an effort to blog more often. Our lives are getting sort of interesting, so maybe I'll have more to blog about!

For some reason, it seems I'm always blogging when I'm sick. Last post, I was sick, and here I am, sick again. Much better than when it started over a week ago, but a cough is still hanging on, along with a perpetually full nose. Juan has stayed well so far, so I'm grateful for that. Hopefully he stays well!

We were up at my in-laws house last weekend for Father's Day, which was lots of fun. Of course, I was a bit under the weather, so I was happy to sit on the couch and be catered to. We barbequed some ribs, steaks, and turkey burgers, made some fun pasta salads, and had lots of good drinks. My husband loves to be bartender, and we'd recently had Happy Hour drinks at a nice bar/restaurant in Bellevue, Barrio. The bartender there was super nice and shared some of his secrets with us, so Juan was giddy to try and recreate the drinks. They were a hit! Everyone was super impressed, which Juan loves. It was also a great weekend, because we were able to introduce the second season of True Blood to my mother-in-law and brothers-in-law. We'd watched it already, but we ended up watching the first four or five episodes again with them - and we wanted to watch more! But we had to get to sleep - we stayed up until about 3am! I'm definitely getting too old to do that. I felt horrible the next morning, and was tired all day long! Anyway, it was a great weekend, and I'm glad we went up there.

We're also working on getting the house more organized. We already started on our bedroom by rearranging the furniture, which gave us so much more room! We also organized our closet, got rid of a few bags of Goodwill clothes, and now all we need is a new comfortor and new pillows for the bed. We also need new furniture in there (dresser and night tables), but they can wait a bit. We're also talking about getting rid of a lot of stuff in our office. We're thinking of going down to one computer and one desk, getting rid of a bunch of DVDs (or putting them away in the garage or something), and moving said computer and desk to our bedroom. This way we can have the office as a spare bedroom. It's going to take some doing, though, because the office has become our dumping grounds for just about everything. There will be a lot of paper, a lot of garbage, a lot of wedding presents that have yet to find a home, and just random things that need to be gotten rid of. It will feel so good once it's all done, but I think it's going to be a summer project for us. Now if only I could catch up on laundry...

Some of you are probably wondering where the recap of our Europe trip is. Well, it's still in my camera (and Juan's camera, for that matter) because I've been too lazy to sit down and get all the pictures off and talk about the trip. But I promise it's coming! Soon! (I think if I have it here that I'm going to do it, it'll motivate me to actually do it, haha.)

Until then, ta ta! :)

Recovery.

Juan successfully gave me his cold. So, as the end of last week came, down I went. Runny nose, sneezing, fatigue, headache, cough, the whole enchilada. I spent half of Thursday sick at work, the entire day Friday sick at home, and then worked half of Saturday sick as well. I rested the rest of the weekend, and now I'm finally seeing the end of it. I'm glad it didn't turn into anything more serious than just a cold. Usually when I get sick, it turns into bronchitis and a sinus infection. Lucky me. But this time, I think with the careful application of soup from Whole Foods, lots of water, the right cold meds, and lots of TLC from my hubby, I'm doing much better. Not 100%, but much better.

Now we get to focus on getting ourselves ready for our trip next month. It's almost a month away, and it feels like we have months to go! We still need to get some new clothes, I need to get new shoes (ones that are good for lots of walking but still look cute with most outfits), and make sure we have everything fit into one suitcase. That's right, we're sharing a suitcase. 2 weeks worth of stuff (not really, since we'll be going to a laundromat a couple of times on the trip), and I have to share luggage space. What's a girl to do? I get my own carry-on, though, so that'll be nice. I might get a smaller bag to keep some stuff in, and we're also packing a collapsing bag to bring stuff home in. :) Can we say real Italian balsamic vinegar, anyone? I keep trying to convince Juan that we need to bring home a giant wheel of parmigiano reggiano like Giada did, but he still thinks we don't have enough room. I told him for that cheese, we could make room.

So, even though it's only Tuesday, I'm yearning for the weekend. I can't wait to spend it with my amazing husband. :)

Sick puppy!

Well, we don't have a dog. We're not really dog people (except my doggie-niece Sophie, she's the best). But my husband was so sick the last 4 days, he was acting like a whiny puppy (don't tell him I said that!). No, he really was a trooper, and even though he had fevers, a cough, a clogged up nose... he made it through, and is now on the other side feeling much better. We're now well stocked with cold meds, so in case I happen to come down with it any time soon, I'm set. I hope that doesn't happen though, I need all my PTO hours for the vacation! Anyway, I'm just so glad he's feeling better, because we'd stopped kissing each other so he wouldn't get me sick. So yesterday, after he'd been fever free for 24 hours, it was so nice to be able to smooch my hubby again! ;) I never thought I could miss smooching him so much, especially since he was right there the whole time!

Anyway, I get to work this Saturday (again), which is fine with me. But then Hubby and I get to go hang out with my cousin Addy and her boyfriend Teal! We're going to attempt to get the Giada de Laurentiis-approved doughnuts at Lola, but it might be too late... Keep your fingers crossed for us!

By the way, Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

Someone got a promotion!

... Not me. Again. BUT! My husband did!! I'm so proud of him! Juan got promoted, and also got a raise! This is so great for us, and I know it's wonderful for his self esteem! :) He's so capable, and I know he will do so well in his new position. He's looking forward to the challenge, and hopes to move up from there in the future. We had some bubbly last night to celebrate, and it was also a great coincidence that I'd been home yesterday, so I had made dinner (sautéed chicken breast, wild rice, and baked sweet potato - yum!), and it was great to not have leftovers on a night we were celebrating! :) I'm just so proud of him, and can't wait to see how far he can go! Way to go, babe, I love you!

Guess who turned 35!

...Not me. Thank goodness. LOL But Juan turned 35 on Sunday, so we spent the entire weekend celebrating! We started off on Friday evening with his family, heading to Purple in Bellevue for drinks and appetizers (a usual), and then moved over to Barrio, which is right next door to Purple and owned by the same people. It has a more Mexican flair, and the food is amazing! It's a little on the spicy side, which is a bit of a hazard for me, but since Juan and his family are full-blooded Mexican, they absolutely loved it! I was able to navigate the menu and find something I liked, too, so I didn't feel left out. I got the mushroom tacos (minus the salsa verde), which were really good! I never would have thought to put sautéed mushrooms as taco filling, but they worked out well. Their drunken beans are great, too. I think they're made with beer, and they tasted so good!

Saturday was also fun, because we went and hung out on Capitol Hill in Seattle. We had coffee/pastries (I had a fabulous spinach and feta croissant) at Victrola Coffee, and then had lunch at Six Arms, which is a great pub-type restaurant and bar that serves McMenamin's Brewery stuff. Juan's favorite beer is the Ruby Ale, and the family must have gone through 5 pitchers of the stuff. We also had their famous tater tots, mini corn dogs, and Juan and I shared an order of their fish and chips. As you can tell, we were under the whole It's-Juan's-Birthday-So-Calories-Don't-Count umbrella all weekend. :) For dinner, we went to a place called Tango, and the food there was also tremendously delicious! I had pork with a side of mashed yams with roasted corn. Wow, talk about great! It was a little on the spicy side, but the flavor profile was so good, it wasn't really about the heat, but about how it tasted.

Which brings us to Sunday, when it was just Juan and I left to spend the day together. We drove to Bellevue, and went to Belle Pastry in Bellevue to have coffee and (you guessed it) pastries! I had their amazing ham and cheese croissant, and Juan had a slice of their bread pudding cake. :) It was his birthday, how could I tell him no? Then, we took a nice long walk, and went to Blue C Sushi for a quick, very yummy lunch before going to see Alice in Wonderland in IMAX 3D. :) I highly recommend it! It'd be great for older kids (probably 12 or older, there's some pretty violent/scary scenes), and it was just very entertaining. And of course, it was a classic Tim Burton-ized fairy tale with Johnny Depp at the helm. The new Alice was great, although I'd have loved to see her with some blush on. The story was great, and I loved Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway!! They were spectacularly well-done with their makeup and characters. Very enjoyable! Then we headed to Crate and Barrel for some retail therapy, then we went to El Gaucho's for their Sunday Happy Hour. All of the bar bites were half off, and the drinks were about half as well. We had a $75 gift card that Juan and received when he got my engagement ring a year and a half ago, so we decided this was a perfect opportunity to use it! We shared the mushroom/marsala flatbread, the mac and cheese (OMG SO GOOD), and a burger. We also splurged and got a couple glasses of champagne. We ended up only paying about $11 for dinner, minus the gift card of course.

Come Monday, both of us were so glad that we'd taken the day off! We were so tired from all the running around and celebrating! Unfortunately, Juan's driver's license had expired on his birthday, so we had to drive to downtown Seattle to go get it renewed! But we were able to go get coffee at a great place downtown afterwards, and then we went to have breakfast at a place called Brief Encounter Café in Bellevue. After that, we went to Fred Meyer for some essentials, and then to Whole Foods as our last stop of the morning to get food for the rest of the day.

It really was a great weekend, and I'm so happy that I was able to spend it all with my amazing husband. He really is the light of my life, and I'm so happy to have married him. I hope he had a great birthday, because he deserved it! :)

Valentine's Madness!

Since it was our first Valentine's Day as a married couple, Hubby and I decided to do a few things for each other. We said we'd buy each other a card, as well as make each other a card. We also said we'd cook for each other. I made Alton Brown's Overnight Cinnamon Rolls on Friday night, and baked them Saturday morning. So. GOOD. I also made Giada de Laurentiis' Mini Mascarpone Cupcakes with Strawberry Glaze. These were so fun and easy to make! She uses cake mix in a box (which sort of felt like cheating, but I was grateful for the break from making things from scratch), but adds a couple of things to make them work. We used our mini muffin tins to make them, and I wanted to have mini cupcake papers too, but couldn't find any. We also had cheese fondue (we kind of cheated and got an "instant" kind from Trader Joe's) with mushrooms, red and yellow bell peppers, broccoli, and bread for lunch, and to go light for dinner, we had a roasted beet and greens salad with goat cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette. We were going to have veal madeira (Hubby's idea), but postponed that to the next day so we wouldn't be stuffed (which we were anyway).

We watched romantic movies (Princess Bride, Hope Floats, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Umbrellas of Cherbourg), and enjoyed each other's company. When we opened each other's cards, I was really hoping that he'd like the one I did for him, since I worked really hard on it, and had put a lot of thought into it. I'd gotten papers and a stamp at Impress, and glued them together to make a card, and used the stamp, and I think it turned out really well. Juan said he was really impressed, and I was really proud of myself for being so crafty. :) It really got my creativity going, and I may have to invest more later in stamps and stuff to make homemade cards. :) Maybe that will be another hobby of mine, along with my non-existent knitting that I'm also doing.

Anyway, it was a great Valentine's Day! And in case you didn't know, I have the best husband ever. :)

Who's ready for LOST?!

I AM!!! I'm so excited for this season to finally start! It feels like forever since I've seen a new episode! Oh wait, it has been forever. Anyway, Hubby and I have tried to catch up, but watching 5 seasons of Lost in 2 weeks doesn't really work, especially with us needing to sleep and all. We're about halfway through Season 1 right now, so I doubt we'll make it. LOL But we're definitely going to watch 3 certain episodes tonight before the season premiere: The Constant (the Desmond/Faraday episode with all the time jumping), the season 5 finale, and I can't remember what other one we're supposed to watch. Hubby knows that one, I'll have to check later. Either way, we're going to be completely overwhelmed with Lost! :)

I hope Damon and Carlton (the writers/producers) are able to really pull out all the stops for us this season, especially since it's the last! Having watched a lot of the first season again, there are a lot of questions that I want answered that still haven't been answered! Most notably, the skeletons in the caves, Adam and Eve. I'm wondering if it'll be Jack and Kate, or Sun and Jin, or... well, anyone we already know. I'm sure there are other pressing questions (like the whole four-toed statue, the man in black/Jacob thing, etc), but for now that's all I can think of.

Happy Lost watching! :)