Dinner with a friend

On Sunday, 1/25/09, my friend Vicki from Florida came into town for training. I've only met up with her 2 other times, but we used to talk on the phone almost every day when I worked with her so although I haven't spent a lot of time with her, I still feel as though she's a friend.


When she said she could meet up for dinner her only request was that we eat Mexican food (she seems to really like Tex-Mex). I suggested we eat at El Chapparal on Redland Rd. She ordered tableside guacamole (very tasty) and chicken enchiladas with cilantro cream sauce and I ordered spinach enchiladas smothered in a rich cream sauce (my all time favorite dish). It was nice to catch up with Vicki and hear how everything is going with her and some of the other people I used to work with. We both hope that she'll be scheduled for another TDY soon (maybe even with someone else from her office)!

Scrabble Date

On Saturday, 1/24/09, our friends Amanda and Daniel invited us over for Capparelli's cheese, salami, pepperoni, sausage, and mushroom pizza, Caesar salad, brownie sundaes and 2 games of Scrabble. We love getting together with them because they're great company and they always make Scrabble interesting. Daniel even teaches us new words (e.g., clumpage, innards) and this time the words were even in the dictionary we used (e.g., wizen, dram). We're always amazed at the expansiveness of Daniel's vocabulary!

Shoes

What are my favorite type of shoes?

Free shoes!

The other day, my friend Carol from work was giving away a pair of gently used tennis shoes. They weren't necessarily the style of shoe I would buy for myself but they fit, were functional, and were free so I gladly accepted them. I now have a new-to-me pair of work out shoes. :)

Good Ol' Wok Inn

Today we had lunch at the original Wok Inn on Grissom Rd. Today's all inclusive $4.75 special was Mongolian Beef, which we both ordered. So, for $10.72, we enjoyed 2 drinks, 2 bowls of unlimited, serve-your-self soup with crispy wonton strips and green onions, and 2 plates of Mongolian Beef, fried rice and egg rolls. Yep, Wok Inn truly offers a good amount of delicious and greasy Chinese food for a small price. Plus, I have left-overs for lunch tomorrow.

2 Great Movies

Since we've been married, our trips to the movie theater have dramatically slowed. We went from seeing a new movie every Friday night, to seeing a new movie about 1-2 times a year. In fact, instead of seeing movies our weekend highlights typically involve trips to the gym and HEB. Sounds exciting, doesn't it?

However, this year has been different. We've already seen 2 movies since the year began and best of all, both movies were great! The movies were Gran Torino and Marley and Me. (Don't worry, we won't spoil the movies.) We both reacted strongly to both movies and came out of the movies discussing what we saw, how we felt, and how we connected with the characters. We highly recommend both of these movies.

Food filled weekend

Jacob waiting for our main course to cook (Melting Pot)

This weekend was packed with delicious food!

It started on Friday when we ate a Rome's onion and black olive pizza. It was so delicious that we finished the whole pizza. Normally we save at least 2 slices for lunch the next day but we hadn't eaten a Rome's pizza in so long that we were unstoppable.

Then on Saturday we went to Rio Mambo with Jacob's family. Jacob had 3 brisket tacos and I had 3 crispy picadillo tacos. Everything was delicious and again, we didn't have any left-overs.

Jen enjoying the cheese fondue (Melting Pot)

Finally, on Sunday, in celebration of our 6th anniversary we (over-) indulged ourselves with a 4 course meal at the Melting Pot. First, we had the Boston Lager Cheddar Cheese Fondue with veggies, breads, and apples. Next, we both had Southwester Cobb salads. Third, we had our main course cooked Coq au Vin with veggies, salmon, filet mignon, chicken, pork tenderloin, shrimp, spinach artichoke ravioli, and lobster tail. Then, we finished off our meal with Cookies-n-Cream Marshmallow Dream chocolate fondue with strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, rice krispy treats, marshmallows, brownies, and pound cake (we even had seconds on the bananas and strawberries). The food was spectacular and we were surprisingly stuffed when we left. We'll definitely visit the Melting Pot again but to save money we think we'll only focus on the cheese, salad, and chocolate the next time around.

Jacob enjoying the chocolate fondue (Melting Pot)

I married a younger man!

A few weeks ago Jacob and I took the real age test. Considering that we both eat healthy foods, we exercise, and we don't experience too much stress in our lives, we expected our real ages to be younger than our calendar ages.

Jacob took the test first and sure enough he was younger (by 5.3 years).

Then I took the test and I turned out to be older (by 1.5 years)!

I was shocked! Sure, I complain about the disgusting double fiber bread that Jacob buys, I sometimes choose to eat the easy to open candy bar over the pain in the rear to peel orange, and I usually stay home when it's too cold to walk but I had no idea that these few decisions would impact my age by so much. As result, I started drinking more water, choking down more double fiber bread, stocking our house with more convenient fruits (it helped that cherries were on sale last week), and exercising more by incorporating weight training and more rigorous cardio back into my workout.

Today, I modified the responses to my real age test and based on my improved healthy lifestyle, my age went down (a little). My real age is now 28.1. Yep, I'm still married to a younger man.

Norman

We've been adopted.

Sometime last Spring, we started noticing that a lonely bird would hide in the corner of our back patio. He tends to arrive around dusk, depart around dawn, and is always alone. We think it is quite sad that a bird would sleep in our patio corner all by himself. Something that made him look even more pathetic was the way he would tuck himself into the corner with his back and tail facing our back window. Yes, it's a very pitiful sight (see for yourself in the picture below). As a result, we've welcomed him to our home and done our best to keep curious cats, an oblivious dog, and our noisy selves out of his way. We named him Norman because, well, he looks like a Norman.We've come to accept that Norman's schedule is unpredictable; sometimes we'll look out the window and he won't be there and other times he'll surprise us and appear again. We look forward to seeing him because when we see him we know he's okay, but it also saddens us a little because it means he hasn't found a long-term nest mate, yet.

Norman

A Day at the Park

On Saturday (Jan. 3) Jacob and I hit the trails at Friedrich Park. Since my lung capacity was still low from the flu, we decided to "take it easy." However, because we hadn't been to the park for a year or so, we ended up taking a pretty good hike up and down several steep and winding trails. As a way to casually catch my breath, I would pull out the camera and suggest that we take a few pictures. Unfortunately, Jacob caught on to what I was doing and became a little annoyed that I kept stalling. However, because I had insisted that I was healthy enough to take a hike, I tried to hide my exhaustion as much as possible.

Jacob making the steep climb while I took a short break. :)

Friday Fun

On Friday (1-2-09), my sister, my brother, Michelle and I went out to shop for bridesmaid dresses. Before our shoping began, my sister treated us to a refreshing snack at Orange Cup. It's a lighter and healthier alternative to Marble Slab. :)

Brittany

Manuel & Michelle

We explored phase II of La Cantera, picked up glasses for my brother, then headed to the dress shop. We tried on several dresses in many different colors. Michelle is armed with information to coordinate with her sisters and decide on final colors.



Next, we headed to Kona Grill for another snack. We split tacos, pizza, and sushi (I didn't have any sushi).

It was a fun Friday!


ps
It turns out that my sister really is a good driver (most of the time).

:-)

M&M Visit

Today I was finally well enough to see my brother and Michelle (a.k.a., M&M).


This evening we went to my mom's house for dinner and games with M&M. It was nice to see both of them and to hear about how their wedding plans were coming along. We enjoyed dinner; however, it did get a little tense when I asked my brother about his visit with my dad and my dad's family...I know it's a sensitive subject but they are still my family and yes, I'm just plain nosy at times.


After dinner we played the game "Hear Me Out" which my mom and my sister had given us 3-4 Christmases ago. This was the first time we actually played the game and when my brother informed us that it was a drinking game we finally realized why the game didn't make much sense the last time we tried reading the instructions. So, with bottles of water, cups of cocoa, and glasses of tea in hand, we started playing the game. It is quite a fun game (even when alcohol is not involved) and we're looking forward to playing it again sometime.