To relaxing nights at home...

Last night was a pretty mellow night, when I got home Dan told me he was starving so I starting on dinner right away. He loves this turkey meatball stew that I make and its so easy. I take about 1/2 lb of ground turkey, make small meatballs and cook those on the stove. In another pot I saute chopped onion. Add the cooked meatballs, carrots (I already steamed in microwave), and potatoes (peeled and chopped). I put in about 3 cups of water and this McCormick package that says 'beef stew' on it. Simmer it for about 20 minutes (or until potatoes are done) and its ready to eat. I usually make double the recipe because Dan likes to eat it for lunch but last night I didnt have many carrots or potatoes so I made just enough.

Theres a picture of it, top right. Sorry but Im OBSESSED with pictures of food.. I think its because I have a food function on my camara so its really easy to get clear pictures of food close up. And I love food so thats probably the main reason.. :)

After dinner, we watched How I met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, and caught up on Heroes.. We went to bed around 11 and journaled for a bit.. then fell asleep to Dan playing guitar.

I know I may be boring but I looove it. :)

To friends..

Normally I like to have nice relaxing weeks with not much planned.. However for some reason they never turn out that way! Maybe its for the best, I get to do a lot, have fun, see friends, and if I stayed at home all the time I probably wouldnt. :)

Lets see..last Monday I got home from work and Dan told me that we were going out to celebrate Scotts bday. I figured we would meet Scott up for a drink or two and then go home... well didnt turn out that way. Me and Dan arent really the partying type, (any one that knows us will tell you that) but Im okay with that, I like being like that haha but yeah.. So we started out at Esquire and then Scott convinced to check out 80s night at the High Dive. Once Dan started dancing I knew we were gonna be there till close. After that we went to Marys Anns to eat breakfast, so needless to say, my quiet night at home ended up being a crazy night out till 3 am. Whatever, it was fun. Not the waking up at 7 am part, but hanging out with Scott on his bday was WELL worth it. Esp watching his dance moves! lol Love them!

Tuesday night.. me and Journey met up for dinner at Olive Garden and had a nice talk. I try to get with girl friends twice a month at least, its nice to just go to dinner and talk for an hour or two then head home. (Ugg. I miss Renee! I havent seen her in about 3 weeks, that reminds me to call her and meet up with her! )

On Wednesday I decided to check out a small group that I found on the Vineyards website. I found one with all married women (4 total + me). It was great and it was easy to connect with them, pretty much all on the same page. Im going back this Wednesday, Im looking forward to it. I was actually pleasently surprised with this group because last time I tried a small group it wasnt small, for one lol, and almost all the girls were in college so I was definitely in a different chapter in my life then them. This small group was a much better fit and the women have such good hearts and relationships with God, I feel like I can learn a lot from them. Im excited to see what kind of journey this takes me on and how much I grow from it. Hopefully build life long friendships in the process! :)

Thursday night, JJ (one of my reps from work) wanted to take me and Dan out to dinner since Im so awesome and do so much for him. haha We went to Dos Reales and it was delicious... Normally we go to El Toro by my house so it was nice to go to Dos since I havent been there in forever! I got their fajitas and I got so much that me and Dan made a meal out of the leftovers. I love it when that happens!!

Friday night, Dan and I decided to use our Yellowfin gift certificate that I won from Champaign Taste Blog (http://champaign-taste.blogspot.com/) a while ago. It was for $50 so I knew me and Dan would probably be splurging haha. Its easy to do with sushi!! We always get chicken katsu with extra rice and split it. Its so perfectly fried with delicious vegetables. After that we got our sushi. We ordered 2 orders of crunch shrimp (my fav), Illini roll (has 3 different kinds of raw tuna), we got a lobster one (the one baked in the tin foil, and then another one that has scallops on top of shrimp. Omgosh it was soooo good. By the time we were done, fighting over who HAD to eat the last pieces because we were soo stuffed, the waitress brought over an order of the sushi with scallops on top of shrimp. We are like whats this? Shes like its your last order. Omgosh me and Dan looked at each other like wow we have to eat this now!? She laid it down and Im like this cant be right. We examined it and realized we already ate it so we told the waitress and I guess it was for another table. That seriously freaked us out haha. We dont like to waste food so its like alright, we gotta suck it up and finish this. haha. The picture at the top is our sushi that night. Almost 40 pieces of sushi. Really, I dont know how we finished that. That explains the crazy dreams I had that night lol.

Saturday, I hung out at my parents house before Ambers bridal shower in St. Joe. It was really good to see Amber and she looks so happy. Im so happy for her, cant wait for her wedding!! Around 3 I went home to Dan and I cleaned the kitchen out while he did homework. I made dinner and we watched a movie.. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. It was a cute movie, we liked it.

Sunday, I went to church with Elizabeth and then me and Dan went to Fiesta Cafe. I had found a gift certificate from 2007 when I was cleaning on Saturday so we used that. Dan got an enchilada and a burrito, I got fish tacos. I wasnt really impressed with mine, but Dan loooved his. After that, I did laundry, cooking, and cleaned around the house and then we got caught up on Heroes. I love Sundays like that!

Soooo the goal for this week (and next!) is NOT to eat out for a long long time! I cant believe I ate out at restaraunts so much, I try to limit myself once a week or less.. I was bad. very very bad. But I enjoyed it so what the heck! haha We will see how good I am in the weeks to come..