February is over in 2 hours, and my posting this month has been lackluster to say the least.  But since there is a tiny bit of time left, I’ll get one last yay/boo post in before it’s over.

• YAY!  I feel like I got a lot accomplished this weekend, even if most of it was mundane- cooking, groceries, laundry, cleaning, working out.  I live a glamorous life, yo.
• BOO!  The weekend over.  Already.  I really am missing that string of 3 and 4 day weekends I enjoyed earlier this month.
• YAY!  The past week was filled with lots of good eats- a donut sundae and fancy ding dong at Table 219 with good friends, surprisingly good deep dish pizza at Kylie’s (which was made even MORE delicious by the fact that we had a 50% coupon, so dinner was $12) and a pretty decent dinner I made for our landlord- pancetta-crusted halibut, mashed sweet potatoes with sage, roasted cauliflower with cilantro-pepita pesto and carmelized onion flatbread.  I am very full and happy.
• BOO!  I forgot to take pictures of the spread I made tonight.  Total fail.
• YAY! Even with some incongruities with the utilities (I may have forgotten one account was on auto-pay and double-paid), we successfully were able to up our savings this month.  Goal reached!
• BOO!  The trip back to California at the end of the month that I was looking forward to is looking like it’s not happening.  Utter sadness.
• YAY!  This Tuesday I get to skip out of work early because of a launch party for the new shopping experience we launched last month.
• BOO!  Tomorrow I have to skip out of work early to get a filling.  Fail.

In summary, February was stupid busy and March is promising to be even worse, but there are lots of good things coming down the pipeline.  I’ve got a new side project in the works- details coming soon- and this Friday, we have a brand new (and rather hilarious) blog-venture coming up.  I won’t share too many details now, but let’s just say it involves Lobsterfest and a very exciting first for our little blog- a real-deal giveaway!  (This is basically the blog equivalent of being able to wear big-girl panties.  We are now officially a big deal.  (Not really.))

Throughout February, Mike and I have been conducting an experiment in frugality.  If you’ve ever even talked to either one of us for about 2 miliseconds, you know that this is quite possibly the most challenging thing in the entire universe for us to do.  I mean, we are a lot more financially responsible than you’d expect- in the past year we’ve managed to eradicate credit card debt (the stuff we accumulated from fixing up our house in California and stockpiling an array of hobby-related expenses), we don’t have any student loans hanging over our head (thank god), and we do actually have a reasonable rainy day fund that will keep us covered in case of a sudden emergency- but honestly, neither of us are ever going to be poster children for the financially conservative (sorry Dad).  We like stuff- we like eating out, whether it’s the dope new hotdog place we discovered by accident last Friday night (seriously, I hate hot dogs and dug this place- it’s a total hole in wall, run by an old Asian man, decorated with random kid’s drawings and tiny plastic chairs, and they have frozen yogurt) or somewhere fancier; we like clothes and shoes; we like STUFF.  But even with those constraints, we’ve tried to be extra good this month and see if added savings can motivate us to be a little more responsible in general.

And so far so good- we have seen our savings grow, which feels good and is better for us in the long run.  And it hasn’t been TOO terribly difficult- we still ate out, though less, I concentrated on being responsible with grocery shopping (read: less “ooooh I NEED a block of pink Himalyan salt right now!” and LOTS of leftovers, which was made easier by the fact that I’m getting a whole chicken every other week from a local farm- I am getting GOOD at making that shit last); I still spent money on gym stuff, including signing up for Crossfit classes (which I need to do a post on by itself, because wow, talk about excercise that targets stuff I’m really comically bad at, like catching things and jumping), and we still saw the occasional movie and leave the house.

But sometimes when I think about ways to save money, all it does is make me think of things I want to buy.

So here is a list of stuff I’m currently obessing over.  Maybe listing it will have the opposite effect and make me hug my wallet instead.

• A good french oven.  I’ve been obsessed with braising things lately, and my craptastic stockpot isn’t thick enough to get the job done properly.  Obviously, my first choice would be an orange Le Crueset model, but I just can’t justify spending the money on it.
• Red hair.  I’m bored of being blonde again, but I’m hesitant to commit to the frequent touch-ups that dying my hair darker entails.  I’m thinking generous lowlights, but no streaks.  I’m trying to find a picture of exactly what I want, but haven’t had any success so far.
• Totally impractical, amaze-balls heels.  Like these.  Or these.  Or these.  Maybe it’s just because my google reader is jammed with fashion week slideshows, or because I’m totally obsessed with Kell on Earth right now, but my heart swoons over the though of some fantastic heels every time I walk by the display windows at Bloomie’s and Nordstroms.  Not that I would even be able to wear them anywhere ever because I walk so freaking much, but a girl can dream.
• A vacation.  This one doesn’t really fit in here because I am going to take one of these, but the details haven’t been worked out quite yet.  But come March or April, I’m going somewhere.  Maybe Iceland.  So I can sit in a hot spring, eat pickled fish and walk on a glacier.  (If anybody has any other cheap airfare/awesome vacation ideas, please share.)

• Our friend Ben sent me this picture because he knows how much I love fat Asian kids.  Seriously, I cannot look at this picture without squealing.
• A professional chef to come and teach me how to hack up a chicken.  You know how I said I’m getting whole chickens from a local farm every other week as part of a CSA?  Well, I totally love the chickens- this week I even got positive reviews from the boy when I used it to make a psuedo-chicken masala- but cutting them up into 8 or 10 pieces when you don’t want a whole roast chicken all at once is hard!  I’ve watched about 50 videos on YouTube telling me how easy and quick it is, but I still always end up in a full-on wrestling match at some point with one stupid joint or another.  If ONLY I had had some interest in this when we lived down the street from Mike’s mom, who can disassmble an entire chicken in about 30 seconds while wearing platform stilettos and telling you which plastic surgery procedure would make you look way more attractive.  Then the only cost would have been my self-esteem.

That’s everything I can think of at the moment.  There’s more, but I need to get back to work.  *Muah.

There is a vital question weighing heavily on Mike’s shoulders.  One that he’s been carrying around for weeks now.

Tucked?

or Untucked?

(Note that his head is not included in this picture.  Because nobody reading this blog knows what Mike looks like, right?)

I think the pressure of his upcoming birthday (we’re about 5 weeks out from the big 2-9) has him questioning if he’s ready to make this big, very symbolic step.

Discuss.

How do you say Happy Valentine’s Day to your one true love?

I know, you’re jealous.

But yeah, this year I decided to take charge of Valentine’s Day plans.  Considering how low the bar is usually set, it’s not that hard to do exceed expectations.  We just aren’t Valentine’s Day people- I don’t have an actual vase for flowers (those are still in storage in our house in California), Mike doesn’t like chocolate and I lack the self-control to keep it around the house. As for restaurants, those usually scare me on Valentine’s Day- too many people, too much waiting, too much planning required for Mike.

But this year, I decided to break my rule and tried to really surprise Mike with a trip to a very special restaurant he’s been talking about going to for like, years.

(Mike refused to pose in front of the sign and only let me take this picture if he could pretend to be nonchalantly talking on his phone.  Because that makes the whole scene normal.)

Some background on how we ended up at a Red Lobster 25 miles from our house on Valentine’s Day: Mike calls me a food snob- this is mostly true.  He, unlike myself, appreciates chain restaurants in a way that makes my skin crawl.  He talks about burgers at Rubys with an enthusiasm that makes you almost want to eat there.  Most of his family’s most important meals took place at Black Angus.  It’s really entertaining, but kind of terrifying when you realize that he’s not joking.

But one chain restaurant he’s never been to is Red Lobster.  For whatever reason, Mike has never partaken in Lobsterfest or All You Can Eat Shrimp-o-Rama (or whatever it’s called).  But he HAS  seen the commercials, and he really wants to believe that the commercials tell the truth.  He’s spent the last 2 years trying to talk somebody, anybody really, into going there with him, but nobody will ever go.  So this year, to express my love, I decided to suck it up and surprise him with a trip to Red Lobster.

We left the house at 4:30 and proceeded to drive 30 minutes to Lynwood, home of the nearest Red Lobster.  I hadn’t told Mike where we were going until we drove up to the restaurant (which, unsurprisingly, shared a parking lot with an Olive Garden).  As soon as we drove up, he started claiming that he totally knew what the surprise was going to be.  Lies.

What did surprise us, but probably shouldn’t have, was that there was a 2 hour wait for a table for 2!  Evidently Red Lobster is the very definition of romance in Lynwood.  I mean, with signage like this, who could resist?

Seriously?  Zagat, we need to talk.

Unfortunately, even Mike couldn’t hold out for 2 hours, even if it would have meant a giant bowl of cheddar biscuits as a reward.  I promised him that we would return one day (hopefully a LONG time from now), and we headed back to the city for another super romantic dining option- hole in the wall Chinese food.

Nothing says love like an empty Chinese restaurant!   Especially one with a really strange name- Jack’s Tapas Cafe.  I still have no idea why they even put the word “tapas” in the name, but their hand-shaved noodles and scallion pancakes are so super delicious that I don’t really care.  I was soon full and happy, and I was with a guy I kind of dig.  Even if he sometimes has truly terrible taste in food.

There are few things in the world that make me as happy as visitors, especially really old friends whom I love bunches and bunches.  And bunches.  So when Elizabeth emailed me last week saying her husband had a job interview in Tacoma and she was going to be tagging along, I immediately made plans to hang out.  Well, first I squealed and clapped (yes, I’m part seal), and then started making plans.

Elizabeth and John arrived yesterday afternoon.  As a bonus, Shaina (Elizabeth’s childhood friend and my birthday twin), drove down from Vancouver with her brand-new fiance, Kevin.  It was like getting a two-for-one coupon for chocolate or something.

As usual, I had spent hours thinking of ways to entertain everybody and had made absolutely no actual decisions.  Thankfully, Shaina had told them about the Experience Music Project.  John and Elizabeth are both music nerds (back in California, John was in a punk band and played at their wedding reception last year), so the decision was made.  (I LOVE visitors who come armed with interests.)

We found street parking (VERY valuable anywhere near Seattle Center) and wandered around.  We were able to point out all the major attractions, like the Space Needle, the Key Arena and the giant fountain where crazy Seattlites let their children play in whenever the temperature is above freezing.

This time though, besides the normal teenage skateboarders and precious toddlers risking pneumonia, there was also this chick:

Evidently, she was in the middle of her very own photo shoot.  And she was workin’ it.

Keep in mind, we may be in the middle of a “warm spell” up here, but for Seattle in January, that means it’s about 55 degrees outside.

Mike was obviously more than a little amused by the show.  The rest of us..  well, I think our faces say it best.

Yeah.

We finally made it to the EMP.

Bad news: It was 4:15 and the place was closing at 5:00- not nearly enough time to make it worth the cost of admission.

Good news: The staff took pity on us and let us check out some of the exhibits for free.  Score!

(Yeah, I look cross-eyed in this picture, but Elizabeth looks cute, so what the hell.)

Once we got kicked out of the museum, we headed to Green Leaf for some pho and further catching up.  I ADORE Elizabeth and John and was super happy to see them again- keep your fingers crossed that the interview goes well and they end up in Tacoma.  It’s not quite as good as them being our neighbors or anything, but it would be really nice to have some old friends near by.  (Actually, the idea of Elizabeth living 40 miles away from me in a slightly more industrial and smelly town will be extra comforting, considering that pretty much describes exactly how it was back in high school, when she made the commute to Orange County every day from Chino Hills.)

- Alain de Button, Author and Philosopher

Ever since Christmas and the apparently cursed trip back, I’ve felt out of sorts.  I’m not good with change in general (it’s something I’m trying to get better at), but ever since that trip, I’ve felt like there have been too many things flying at me all at once and I hadn’t been able to catch a single one of them.  (This is a particularly good metaphor if you’ve ever actually seen me try to catch something- my lack of hand-eye coordination is not exaggerated.)

But then this weekend, sometime around Saturday evening/late afternoon, I suddenly felt like things were starting to get back to normal.  It was one of those odd moments when the tiny voice inside of me suddenly said “ah.”  Maybe it was the fact Mike, who had just picked up a book on mountain biking trails in Western Washington (at the LIBRARY no less- yes, we finally got freaking library books), was setting up the indoor bike trainer thing I got him for Christmas and I find something comforting in watching him tinker around with bikes, or maybe it was the fact that both of us had some actual free time during the past weekend thanks to some big projects at work finally wrapping up, but I finally felt like the universe was giving me a brief whisper of reassurance again.

It’s not that I think that everything is suddenly going to be easy from here on out- I’m never that optimistic.  (And truth be told, shortly after I had this nice sunny moment, we futilely tried to go see Avatar, which we didn’t know was sold out until after we had paid for parking.  Ugh.)  But I’m starting to feel on kilter again, and that says a lot.

And since I’m in such a fuzzy wuzzy mood tonight, here are some other things that make me happy.

Met a friend for breakfast on Saturday at Homegrown, where they give you a mini cup of oatmeal with every breakfast sandwich.  Mini!  Oatmeal!  What could be better?

Mike complimented my cooking.  In a public forum.  WTF.  (And in case you’re wondering what goes into these inspirational tacos, it’s leftover roast chicken simmered in store-bought salsa thrown in a corn tortilla with cheddar cheese and some so-old-they-might-have-been-icky leftover beans and grilled onions and pepper.  Yup, that’s what I have to do to get positive feedback around here.)

This graffiti by my bus stop makes me immeasurably happy.