Day 45: Tony's Birthday!

Today we went out for a little drive in celebration of Tony's birthday! We went to one of our favorite spots around here, Julian, CA. I like the town because it's out away from the business/ridiculousness of San Diego, and to get there one goes through a lot of countryside.

Although I did have some photos that I liked of landscapes, the picture posted here is by far my favorite photo of the day. We are at Mom's Bakery at Julian, gloating in the fact that we got in line before about 45 other people decided they wanted pie too (the line was out the door!). Mom's is famous for their apple pie, and the last few times we came to Julian we were either 1) tricked by the po-dunk town of Santa Ysabel into thinking that they were Julian, and that they had the best pie or 2) visiting on Christmas eve when Mom's was closed.

Either way, we had a fun trip, and a really fantastic day!

Day 42-44: Eternal Catch Up.

Day 42.:

Exhaustion+Pink Drink= Happy.

Day 43:

The hubster. I like him.

Day 44:

Early Valentine's Day! Since Tony's birthday is on Valentine's Day, we decided to celebrate one day early. I took Tony out to his favorite Italian restaurant, and we had a great evening out! Tony bought me some jewelry (YAY!) for Valentine's day, even though I repeatedly asked him to not buy me anything. He gave me a sapphire and pear earring and necklace set---so lovely! Here's a picture of the earring before we went out to eat. Yes, my hair's still wet. No, I didn't take much time to style it :(. I'm pretty sure if I didn't have an unusual hair color people would be continuously saying "ugh...what is she doing with that mop on her head??"




More pictures for today to come---we're celebrating by taking a mini-road trip, and then I'm making Tony's favorite dinner (eggplant parmesan and homemade strawberry shortcake).

Happy Valentine's Day!

Day 40 and 41: Our Everyday Life is Boring. Sorry.

Day 40:

I'm learning to take joy in the small things: a conversation with a friend, having a clean house (which, um, I definitely do not have currently), making dinner, and most importantly...

FREE FROZEN YOGURT! Woo hoo! There was a coupon in an ad for 2 free frozen yogurts from the Golden Spoon--no strings attached. Last night, we decided to heal after a brutal Monday of ridiculous spectroscopy tests and evil bosses by ingesting yummy goodness. Pictured here is my cake batter yogurt (om nom nom) with frozen berries. Tony got the same thing, except with brownie bits instead. Unfortunately, I spilled 1/3 of his brownie bits in the cup holder of his car. Heh. Oops.

Day 41:

"What's up, Tater-Cakes?" 

We had leftover mashed potatoes from the pot roast dinner I cooked on Sunday, so I decided to try out a new recipe that essentially made potato pancakes. They were delicious! I'll definitely use the recipe again, and share it with y'all. 

Day 38 and 39: Hurray for the Weekend!

Day 38:

Saturday consisted of me studying for 5 hours straight in the morning, running around doing errands in the afternoon, going to church in the evening and finally...relaxing.

This is my favorite "drink" drink, the White Russian. I'll post the recipe eventually, but for now, here's the photo. I don't enjoy drinking things that taste nasty (i.e. beer and red wine), but this after-dinner drink is definitely delicious. Thankfully the alcohol content isn't high enough to send me into an embarassing giggle fit, or worse, a drawling "he-haw" laugh. That story shall be reserved for a different time...

Day 39:

Hmm...probably should be studying more. Unfortunately, I'm just not that motivated to excel in classes anymore. I'm much more interested in delving deeper in my project, and doing other things I enjoy rather than studying. 

I made light wheat bread today--yummy! I'll probably post that recipe as well, since I think I'll be sticking to following it for a while. I also made pot roast in the crockpot--a definite first for my novice meat-cooking abilities. So much to cook, so little time.

Ok, ok. Off to study spectroscopy. Happy Sunday!

Day 37: The Hubcap

This is what I deal with on a daily basis.

He's pretty great :).

Days 33-36: Playing catch up, yet again...

Day 33:

Mooonnnddaaay. I had a migraine headache from Sunday afternoon until about Monday evening, which felt grand. Thank goodness for leftovers and not having to do much of anything. Tony was really wonderful, and cleaned up the whole kitchen for me. He's completely invaluable--I'm not sure what I'd do without him.

Day 34:

Group meeting. Ugh. At least it was a total love fest since two post-docs were presenting. Normally, things get a little stressful whenever a graduate student presents, though I'm not sure why. Kettle tea fixes a long, hard day.

Day 35:

Oops. I napped, and then the next day (today) I felt bad all day. That's what I get for being a lazy bum. But look how comfortable it looks....

Day 36: 

Naner bread! We had some bananas that were getting a little too ripe, so I decided to make a quick loaf of banana bread. This is my favorite spoon. Ever. I wish every wooden spoon was like this one. I would be lost without its magical baking powers.

Day 31 and 32

Oh great, this whole counting-to-365 thing is going to be a bit harder now that we're out of January. Don't worry, I have a bachelor's degree. I can do this.

Day 31: Last Day of January

Here I am, annoying Tony. This picture is actually beginning to capture real, live irritation. Cool.

P.s I know we're wearing matching shirts, the photo is a little blurry and my hair looks orange. Whatever.

Day 32: It's February!

Today also happens to be Sunday, which means I catch up on chores, and normally cook or bake something fun. Today I made some cookies for a friend, which will be posted eventually on the other blog.

One of the ingredients was tea from a tea bag (go figure). I wanted to make sure it was finely ground, so I used my mortar and pestle to pulverize the stuff. I'm not going to lie, it was fun. I'm always for lab techniques in the kitchen :)!