In my family, one way we celebrate birthdays is by going out to dinner. And as the birthday girl or boy, you got to pick the restaurant. Red Lobster was a popular choice in my family: good food, reasonably priced and the best cheddar biscuits.
As Lucas and I were walking through Walmart one day (we try not to do this very often but needed to purchase a gift that was there), I stopped dead in my tracks. A box of Red Lobster biscuit mix was staring me down. I had no idea this existed! I picked up a box to see if they are as good as the real deal at the restaurant. I baked them up for the New Year's Eve shindig we were attending. Everyone was impressed that they tasted pretty darn good. Thank you Red Lobster for spreading
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I'm so excited to help not one, not two, but four couples dear to me celebrate their nuptials in 2014. This weekend I did double duty with Lucas' family spending time together for Christmas and wedding planning. You see, both his sister and brother are getting married this year. Seeing that I just planned my own wedding, I wasted no time offering my knowledge and services.
I've been pondering centerpiece ideas for Dane and Jordan's wedding. The colors are navy blue and coral, and the date is set for December. Dane is quite the hunter and outdoorsman so, with the help of pinterest and my mother-in-law, we are trying to find a balance of feminine and masculine. We headed out to the store and found some great lace fabric and little coral and natural-colored twine balls. We have access to lots of round glass vases for floating candles and deer antlers. It was a ton of work, and mostly fun, planning my own wedding. This is really the first time I get to be hands on for someone else's wedding. I'm ecstatic Jordan and Dane are allowing me to help out. I'm also excited to help in any way I can for Tessa and Brett's wedding. My mom swears I should be a wedding planner... When you're a kid, your options for play time are endless. You got video games, board games, dolls, figurines, swing sets, trampolines, sports, and the list never ends. As adults, we're a bit more limited. I tried to be a good girl all year long so Santa would bring me some fun games to play with family and friends. It worked! Santa (aka my brother) brought me and Lucas Loaded Questions Adult and Cards Against Humanity. I'd never played either game but heard they were a bit more exciting than PG13.
Friday night we played Loaded Questions for the first time. It was definitely pushing rated R. You ask a question and everyone writes down their answer. One person reads them all aloud while another player guesses who said what. The tricky part is that your answers don't have to be truthful. So this is really a game about how well you know each person's personality. I'm not sure everyone could play it with their parents or grandparents, but it's definitely gonna bring a lot of laughs with a group of friends. This was the best season of True Blood since seasons 1 and 2. After watching the season 4 finale, I was drawn in enough to see what season 5 was all about. With a 12-day hiatus from work during the holiday stretch, it wasn't hard to knock out the 12 episodes quite quickly.
I will say I wasn't a huge fan of the witch plot line in season 4 but loved Eric and Sookie being together, even though he was under a spell. I also appreciated her saying goodbye to both of them. I really liked that season 5 did not bring in another "sup" like were-pandas. Then it would have been plain ridiculous. Instead, they had a very interesting plot ending in the demise of the Vampire Authority and the rise of Bill as, well, as something probably pretty powerful. I really liked learning more about the fairies and finding out Sookie's parents were actually murdered by a vampire and didn't drown in a flood. The subplot of Terry's curse was forgettable. Give Arlene a break. Turning Tara into a vampire was a good twist. It's about time she has an outlet for her rage. I'm glad Hoyt has gone north to Alaska. He's a weak man and was annoying me. Oh, and the hate group killing "sups" made sense. It was about time something like that happened. Overall, great season. Now just to wait for season 6 to come out on DVD, and the final season, 7, to start this summer. One month anniversary. One year of knowing each other. First kiss. First time to say, "I love you." First Christmas as a married couple. You can make a milestone out of just about anything. While Lucas may tell you I'm guilty of that, I truly believe having your first Christmas as a married couple is one to note. There's just something about the holidays and Christmas especially that feel a little different when you are sharing it as a married person rather than just as a daughter, sister, aunt, or cousin.
I guess it's the idea of becoming your own family and making your own traditions. It's trying to squeeze in both sides of the families within a few days just because you can. It's about wanting to give your spouse something special, not about spending a gazillion dollars on them. It's about being thankful we found each other. It's about celebrating our faith. We had a really great, married Christmas, and I'm excited to spend every future Christmas with the fun, loving, crazy, strong-willed man I call my husband. Oh, married life without children. You think date nights would be easy to come by, but somehow, it just doesn't happen that often. Saturday evening Lucas and I went ice skating for the first time together. We hit up the outdoor Brenton Skating Plaza in downtown Des Moines on the banks of the Des Moines River. We paid $19 for admission and skate rental. That's about the cost of going to the movies without getting any treats. I consider that a good deal.
I know Lucas has a past in snowboarding so I figured he'd be pretty good at ice skating. While he definitely wasn't bad, he wasn't as comfortable as I expected. On the other hand, he was surprised at how good (not great) I was. I filled him in on how ice skating was the cool thing to do in junior high on Wednesday nights. We also took ice skating in gym class in high school. Clearly, my skills stayed with me. I really got with him my pirouette and arabesque. We had a blast until Lucas' ankles started hurting. Those skates don't provide the best support ever. After about an hour and a half and one zamboni break, we called it a night. Without one crash and burn, our first ice skating experience together was a success. If you live in the Des Moines metro area, there's a good chance you've heard of Tacopocalypse. For at least a couple years, I knew this as part of a weekly Tuesday night bike ride to the small town of Cumming south of Des Moines. Bicyclists would arrive at the Cumming Tap and gorge on amazing tacos (and a beer or two) before making the return trip home. I never participated in this myself, but as of a few months ago, you no longer have to go to Cumming to get a taste of those tacos. Tacopocalypse is now a brick and mortar restaurant in the East Village. It's a cute little hole in the wall that I would have honestly driven right past had I not known it was there. Lucas and I walked in Friday night at 5:30pm to an empty room. We went to the counter to order - he got a curry burrito and I got the Korean beef nachos. Nothing on the menu cost more than $8, which is pretty impressive. My nachos were amazing. Homemade chips with a white queso sauce and great flavor. We walked away stuffed and satisfied. Oh, and two other couples came in while we were there.
Billy, Bobby, Lucy, Lilly, Tommy, Timmy, Katie, Kelly… I’m sure the list of people you are buying gifts for is almost as long as Santa Claus’. It’s easy to get caught up in what type of toy Tyler will like and what pants Patsy will want. I’m guilty myself. As I’m contemplating which gifts everyone will like best, it’s very obvious to me that no one on my Christmas List needs anything. I’m sure you’re thinking that what they need is not the purpose of giving a gift but rather what they want.
I consider myself a practical gift giver. I don’t like spending money, so giving you a gift you won’t like or don’t need is hard for me. I do get joy out of giving something useful though – whether it’s a movie you love or a set of tools. Part of that is to giving to people who do need things. One of the organizations I volunteer for, Everybody Wins! Iowa, partnered with Barnes and Noble to receive a portion of every customer’s bill who mentioned them at the cash register for one day. The organization improves children literacy through caring mentors. They even give the kids, which often are part of low-income families, a gift of three books at Christmas. My student loved his and asked me how I knew exactly what he wanted. I stopped by the store during the book fair and picked out a few things for those on my list and helped give the gift of reading to children in central Iowa. Another organization I donated to is the Urbandale Public Library. They are doing a fundraising campaign to better serve their community. As someone who is there a lot checking out books, audio books, CDs, movies and TV shows and using their Internet, it only made sense I support them financially. Libraries are a key necessity to any community, and I’m glad my small donation will join a bunch of other donations to make a positive impact in my community. There are so many wonderful ways to give to those who need things. I plan on giving in more ways throughout this season and the entire year. As I finish up buying Christmas gifts, I stopped by Allspice in the East Village to pick up some spices and rubs for my sister and brother-in-law. While I've never tasted any of there spices, they look amazing, can't be bought in Chicago (where they live), and are original. With so many to choose from, I based my decision on what they like to eat. That led me to go with the Thai rub, Cheddarhead, wasabi, and Gusto Pizza Co. pizza seasoning blend. Hope they like em!
It’s always a great day when I can check off another local restaurant from my To Eat At List. This time Mi Mexico was my victim. Some friends and I got together for a cookie exchange, and in order to stop gorging on the cookies, we decided to head out to dinner. I named off a few restaurants I’d been to that I really like, but when Mi Mexico in West Des Moines was mentioned, I was ready to try someplace new.
The brick square building next to Baker’s Square and McDonald’s doesn’t look like much, but colors and culture explode once you open the doors. Vibrant paintings are splashed on the walls and chairs. The staff was quick and courteous. The Original Margarita comes in the shaker, and the enchiladas suizas were delicious. The server brought me a massive plate over half full of beans and rice with my enchiladas taking up the remainder. I can’t say there was anything special or unique about my meal compared to other Mexican restaurants but tasty nonetheless. The meals started at about $9 and went up from there. Had I wanted to splurge, the fajitas would have been my pick. |