dreaming about coffee and bananas

Another month has gone by! Quite scary if you really think about how time gets away from you. And now for some more random things that have been going on or that I have been thinking about.

1) I don't wear makeup very much at all but I want an excuse to wear this stuff. I love looking at all the bright colors, and will have to decide what would look best on me, and maybe plan next Halloween around it. XD

2) My parents finally met Ty's mom a couple of weekends ago when she was in my hometown for a seminar she was teaching. Unfortunately, she got a less than friendly welcome from my dog. Cooper thinks he owns the place, and is very protective of it, so he jumped all over her and tried to bite her a few times. It didn't help that she's afraid of dogs to begin with...sigh. She was perfectly happy to spend time with us anywhere but the house, and we'll have to put him away if she comes back. Had I known she was going to try to come in the house when she did, I definitely would have put him on a leash. Dinner was really nice! We went to a Mongolian-style barbecue much like the Flat Top Grill here, but it was a lot more casual (and less expensive). I want to know where they get yakisoba noodles in this neck of the woods.

3) Tristan and Reese got different jobs. I miss them, but I know they're doing great in their new places. Guess I'll just have to eat at the Great Dane sometime soon. I figured out exactly how much time I have left there (8 weeks + a few hours), and that's only if they can find enough work for me to do. There's usually something, though. Yay. I got recruited for a state job at the university, and there's one that opened up where I used to work! Surprise! I am definitely applying. I have super awesome references for that one, too.

4) We had an unconventionally romantic Valentine's Day :) We went out on a date earlier in the week and I got surprised with anemone flowers (MY FAVORITE ♥) when I came home from work, and then went out for pizza, and it was the most delicious I've had in a LONG time. I also finally got to try Schlitz beer...it's pretty smooth but bites you at the end with the aftertaste, like PBR (the best shitty beer there is). On Valentine's Day we went rollerskating at this rink with really retro lamps on the ceiling that looked cool, but otherwise was kind of run down and shitty (but that's part of the charm and nostalgia) and the driveway was practically impossible to find. On the way in, I was laughing at these two ladies that were sloooooooowly making their way around the rink, hanging onto the side for dear life, but when I put on my roller skates and began stumbling around I felt bad about it. Then I cautiously entered the rink, got more and more comfortable with going normal speed while keeping balance, and in about five minutes I was laughing at them again. There was also a creepy guy with a Hawaiian shirt that was in the middle skating backwards and dancing to every song all by himself and looking at all the ladies who went by...we're pretty sure he's a 'regular.' XD We went to the mall and bought a Classic controller for the Wii, then went home and bought Super Mario RPG from the Wii Shop Channel. I made some pasta dough for homemade bowtie noodles, and played while it rested. Man, fresh pasta is such a lot of work, but still pretty tasty. If I had a pasta roller I would definitely make it again. I made this sauce to go with it, and it was soooooo good. ^^ Then we played some more video games, and called it a night.

5) I am WAY too excited for it to get warm again so I can start growing plants, especially herbs for cooking. I also want to see if the sundrops will recover from my planting them too deep last year. Apparently they spread really quickly.

6) We hosted a potluck last weekend for Ty's tae kwon do club, and had some friends over for dinner last night. We had enough food from the potluck for a whole week of lunches. But only for me, because Ty doesn't like beans or chili. XD I made chicken cordon bleu and these potatoes and an apple-toasted walnut-blue cheese spinach salad for the dinner party and I loved every bite of it, except for when I forgot to take the toothpicks out of the chicken and chomped down on one. Also, Whole Foods has the most delicious (and cute) cakes, and they brought a flourless chocolate one for dessert. mmm ♥ I have been trying a LOT of new recipes lately. Next on my list is pumpkin muffins and toasted coconut shortbread cookies, once the chocolate mint ones I made are gone. I'm surprised I'm not gaining any more weight with how much I've been dealing with food these days and not exercising. Since we moved to a new work building, my access card to the old one that had an exercise room in it got taken away. The day after we moved, someone was bugging my supervisor for the card because it's technically his, so I had to give it back. :(

The last couple of days I have been thinking about the coffee smoothie Molly and I concocted one rainy day with a banana in it, and finally made one for breakfast today, but it wasn't quite as good. I need to have her over again so we can make the good ones.