Christmas happened. It was awesome. You can see pics from the last post. I ate a lot. And relaxed a lot. It was wonderful. I laid by the fire. I read a book. I got to spend time with Caleb. Caleb got to relax from school. Christmas is great as always.
We spent New Year's Eve back home in Michigan. Our neighbors invited us over for fondue. This was the first time I had ever had cheese and chocolate fondue in a home setting. It was mind-blowingly awesome.
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| Karissa holding Addy. I made that blanket! |
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| Chelsey and Jason, friends from church. They're cool people. |
We all ate a ton. We watched the ball drop in NYC from Jon's ipad, perched on the baby carrier, which was perched on a bar stool. That's how we do things.
After Christmas I started working more at Curves, the womens-only gym. I started working there back in October just to help them out cover one shift a week. Some things happened over the holidays and then when we got back they asked if I could pick up some more shifts. I agreed and it's been going well. It's pretty much all these old ladies who come in to work out, but I admire them for there dedication and consistency. Now if I can just do that for myself...
I also set some goals for the new year and one of them was to launch a nutrition website. This project has been taking most of my time and is the main reason I haven't blogged on here. I've had this idea for a long time, but just never had the courage to go for it. So now I'm going for it. It's A LOT of work, but I'm loving it. I won't be working at Curves much longer so when that job ends, I will be dedicating more time to this project. I feel like I have all these ideas in my head that I want to get out there! Anyway, that's something new and exciting going on with me personally.
One of Caleb's research buddies lives in a scholarship house and he invited us to their annual gala. It was basically a fancy party. It was fun since it gave me a chance to dress up. We just chatted and ate nice refreshments. They had a drink bar where you could order any drink you wanted. Oh and they had chocolate fondue...:) Loving the fondue.
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| Me, Caleb, Panda (lives at the scholarship house), and Xiao (another research buddy) |
The one on the left was a hearty beef stew with pho noodles in it. It was good, but I still prefer the normal soup on the right. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
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| We invited our neighbors to go. They had never had it before. |
Let's see...what else? Oh yes, Valentine's Day! It was fabulous! Well, we were originally planning on going to the temple in Detroit, but we got really bad weather. It was going to be negative twenty that evening, and we got snow. We decided to stay local. First, we went to the library. I had to return some books and get some new ones. Caleb browsed the novels and chose one to check out. This was the best decision ever. Why? Because he had that book with him while I dragged him to three different places so I could go shopping (and he wasn't cranky by the end of it. That's a miracle.). I'm okay with going shopping by myself but it's way better if Caleb is with me; not because he's the best shopping buddy, but I just find comfort in having him with me. I just love being with him. Okay, I'll stop being gushy. Moving on. :)
I went shopping at the fabric store and bought myself a bunch of material for baby blankets. I'm still in this baby blanket phase. Have you seen those super expensive baby blankets made from minky material? Well, it was on sale. So I will be making some of those. After my purchase there I decided I wouldn't buy any more fabric until I've used up all that material and have given those away as gifts. I will need to do several sewing days in order to get them all done. And then I bought myself a couple tops at Marshall's. I can't wait until the weather gets warmer. Actually, I didn't wait. I've worn both of these already. I love the prints on both of these. The print on the white top are little black bows. I'm in love with bows and polka dot patterns.
My mother sent me a package recently and she sent me a new scarf. And guess what? It had polka dots and bows! It's crazy how much I am like my mother. I love that woman.
We finished our day-long date with Five Guys the burger joint (after we had recently decided to eat more vegetarian). Great huh? Well we never make burgers at home. I don't think I've ever made burgers since being married. It's just not something I like to make I guess. When we go out to eat, which is not often, we usually get something we wouldn't normally eat at home like burgers, anything with beef, seafood, sushi, or pho. I'm sure there are others. Anyway, I'm not trying to justify my food choices. I loved my burger, and the greasy fries that went with it.
Chinese New Year was in February and so we had our annual Chinese meal. We had chinese pork buns, dumplings, steamed eggplant with ground pork, white turnip cake, creamed corn chicken, and store-bought pineapple cakes as a small dessert. Oh and broccoli, we needed something green. :)
And then of course I sent "red envelopes" of money to my nephews and niece.
My siblings won't understand why I folded the dollar bills into fish, but it does have a symbolic meaning. There is a Chinese saying that is said during the new year that means "year after year have surplus" (年年有餘). Well, the chinese character for "surplus" has the same sound as the chinese character for "fish." I'll have to remember to explain that to them. They probably think it's just something cute for the kids to have fun with.
I trimmed my own hair. It doesn't look any different because it was only a trim, but it was badly needed. That was kind of fun. And then I styled it. It will never look like this again, but it was fun.
I got that top for Christmas. I'm in love with it!
Here are some tofu "meatballs" Caleb made. They were actually really good. Caleb was a little disappointed in them. I'm actually going to eat the rest of the leftovers today.
Homemade falafel from ohsheglows.com
These were to die for! I'm definitely making these again.
A friend from church gave me a bread-making lesson. Actually, I learned how to make bread from two different friends in the same week. Breadmaking is something I aspire to be good at.
Caleb loves holding Addy. We all do. She is so cute!
Well, that's it for now, just wanted to get you all caught up on what's going on. Life has been good to us. Real good.
Hugs, Jessie
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