AHHHH....Comfort Foods...

I am attempting my very first apple pie today. It's one of my favorite desserts, but for some reason I've never attempted it before. I think coring and slicing of tons of apples deterred my lazy self from the taks. But aside from the prep work, it's actually really easy. Well, except the rolling of the pie crust...i kind of sucked at that...i didnt make enough dough, so it was patchy in some parts. But I don't care, the crust is is my least favorite part of the pie for me.

I perused several recipes and finally decided on a butter-less one, per request of PB. It uses lemons to bring out the apple flavors and tons of yummy spices instead. The mix smelled sooo yummy and it's in the oven right now.

Pictures to come!!!

HAPPY BELATED VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

wow, it's been a long time since I've lasted posted (a long time for me, anyway).  We didn't really do much...we've never been big gift givers for holidays and occassions...we usually just exchange long, mushy cards, which to me is better than anything money can buy.  But since PB had the day off yesterday, he went food shopping during the day and bought a bunch of my favorite foods.  He cooked up a yummy tex mex dinner ( i love tex mex), with chili and spanish rice.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE those frozen creamed spinach that you buy in a box from the frozen food sections.  So he bought that for dinner even though he can't stand eating it.  Then since i love junk food, he bought TONS of it (we usually refrain from eating too unhealthily, so we only get that stuff on occassion)...so a big bag of Doritos, a box of soda, Klondike bars and a gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream (all my favorite snacks).  It was a yummy yummy night!  And of course, the card...both sides of the card filled to the brim with all good stuff!!!  I almost cried....but stopped myself because I'm not that kind of girl. hahahaha.

I've had so many people tell me that after you're married, everything changes.  He won't be the same anymore,  you guys will fight more, money will be a bigger issue, etc.  But so far, being married feels exactly the same as it did before.  I know, it's only been a month and a half.  But I think because we were together for so long, we were already exposed to the real us.  It's hard to hold something back for that many years.  But we do enjoy getting to hold onto our paychecks as opposed to dumping it directly into the wedding fund.  It's nice to not live paycheck to paycheck anymore...but most of it still goes into the bank for bigger and better things.  No crazy spending sprees for us....only mini ones

Towards the end of the day, I was invited to happy hour (again) and I declined (again).  I don't see how people have energy to go out after work, especially on Friday.  I am completely spent by Friday and I want nothing more than to go home and do nothing.  Just hearing some of my younger co-workers (not that much younger actually...they're all my age or around my age) talk about their friday night plans made me tired and yearn for my bed.  I don't get how they're not tired either.  I guess the crazy girl who freaks and rubs her chest to Britney's "I'm a Slave For You" has been completely domesticated!  (that is not the only song i dance to...that is just one example...don't get the wrong idea!!!)

One Month!

I can't believe we've been married a month already...time just flew by.  We're almost over the whole wedding thing....it's back to life for us.  Until we get our wedding pictures and have to make and write the thank you cards.

Anyway, I was going to write this little tidbit about Bellachek (i have no idea how his name is spelled...i just know what it sounds like).  So he ran into the locker room after Brady's last hail mary pass....the one that basically ended the game...with a second to go.  BUT, the Pats still had to play out that last 1 second.  So their defense had to come out on the field, knowing that they had already lost.  And he couldn't stay and stand by his team for that last play.  I'm sure they were all just as upset and dejected.  I just thought that was such poor sportsmanship.  Also, hearing his interviews afterwards...i'm sure he was shocked and very disappointed, but he just came across as a grumpy sore loser.  I've never heard any coach talk like that about the winning team.  Usually, they are quick to praise the winning team for outplaying them and would congratulate them....none of this mumbling nonsense.

Ugh...who voted for hillary.  She is so annoying.  I don't particularly like any candidate (as usual), but I just do not like her.  Especially after she swooped her way into the NY senator position because she knew it would be an easy win.

*see protected*

YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH GIANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I have my t-shirt that reads "It's better in New York" t-shirt all laid out for work tomorrow (even though we aren't allowed to wear t-shirts with words on them...in case people find it offensive)

Man, I really wish I was in NY now, instead of with all these freakin Eagles fans.

(btw, we can't get through to anyone back home....all circuits are busy!!!!)

I am going to name my first son Eli.  HAHAHAHAHA!

The world's most fickle couple....

We changed our minds about the honeymoon....AGAIN.  Well, there is sort of a reason this time.  We got a save-the-date for a friend's wedding in Oahu, Hawaii (her hometown) which happens to be on May 10, the first day of our planned honeymoon.  So even though, we were thinking Greece, we watched in dismay as the value of the dollar kept dropping over the course of a week.  It made us kind of upset that we were not paying about 1.5 times the actual cost of stuff....and who knows by May how much we'd be paying.

So we thought, well, if we leave the night of May 9th, we can get to Hawaii by the morning of May 10th thanks to the crossing of the date line....and we can make the wedding.  And since we'll be there anyway, we might as well make a honeymoon out of it.  We started looking at prices and it made such a big difference paying for stuff in US dollars...i think our cost of living for the same amount of time came out to almost 50% the cost of going to Greece.  I guess that also depends on where you stay....we are HUGE bed & breakfast type vacationers, so the prices are lower than those big resort type places (but we were also looking at B&B type places in Greece and it was still twice the price).

But then we started looking at plane tickets and there were no flights leaving the night of the 9th...all the flights left in the early AM (I couldn't get that day off).  So we would have to leave on the 10th, and we'd miss the wedding by a few hours.  But since we had already done research on places to stay (we were planning to go to several islands), we were like, screw it, we'll just go to hawaii.  It's so much cheaper!  So with the help of my Hawaian friend, we are now going to..........................

KAUAI!!!! for just under 2 weeks.  I hate tourists (I know...even though I'll be one)...and I hate touristy places, so I asked where which islands are the LEAST touristy, with the most activities.  And she suggested Kauai for it's green-ness and beauty.  So we are going there for the whole time....no island hopping...we hear there's enough stuff to do in Kauai alone. So we are all booked now...no more changing our minds.

We're staying at Marjorie's Kauai Inn for 10 nights.  Okay, this is what I love about B&B's...i feel like you get SOOOO much more for your money.  We're staying in their largest room (there are only 3 rooms, so it's really private)...with our own huge, PRIVATE balcony with a great view, WITH our OWN PRIVATE hot tub on the balcony.  The place also has kayaks, snorkel gear, bikes, BBQ grill, coolers, etc. that we can use free of charge for our activities.  We get served a home cooked breakfast every morning as well.  Now tell me, what hotel chain would provide that?! 

The hotel is in the middle of a mountain valley

Our room...you can sort of see the balcony and hot tub in the background

Aerial view of our balcony

Hello hot tub!!!

The path to the pool (look at the surroundings!!!!).  I doubt I'll be here much, since we have the hot tub!

We weren't able to book Marjorie's for longer because they only had availabilities for 10 nights...so they suggested a B&B on the north shore (marjorie's is on the south).  So we'll spend another 2 nights at Hale Ho'o Maha B&B.  It's not as nice, but it's about 100 yards from the beach and it overlooks a waterfall. Since Marjorie's is in the mountains, we thought it would be nice to be by the water for a few days. And it's only for 2 nights, so we're okay with the more basic accomodations. We chose a smaller room only because the balcony overlooks the waterfall. But we still get the kayaks, snorkel gear, home cooked breakfasts!

This building is built on stilts, so you're almost at treetop level.  It also has a hot tub, but it's communal (BOO!).

It's a pretty simple room

You can't see the waterfalls from this pic, but you can see the mountains in the distance.

I can't wait!!!! I spent the last week looking at pics of Kauai and it is absolutely gorgeous. (jurassic park was filmed there if you can remember the landscape from the movie).  I already have a couple of hikes planned...we were going to do the ULTIMATE 11 mile (one way) hike that every says is a MUST DO.  But after looking at people's pictures, i am NOT going to do it.  I am afraid of heights and part of that hike is 1 mile of trail the is pretty much a 5 inch ledge carved in the mountain wall.  You can't even walk normally on it...you have to hug the mountain in order not to die.  No thanks.  I can't even walk along the subway platforms without fearing that I'll fall over (yes, I always stay behind the yellow line).  We're going to cheat and take a boat tour instead.  I'll post more on all the stuff I plan/want to do later this week!