I miss you Grandma Clem!!!

So since I can't seem to find a job, and am bored a lot during the day. I decided to try my hands at becoming Miss Domestic. I cleaned the apartment (which I do everyday) but I also spent hours making dinner and dessert. I never make a dessert with dinner. I found out that being domestic is the hardest job out there. I now know why women used to not work.

I had to make 3 trips to the food lion because I kept forgetting ingredients. The second trip I came home and found out my ricotta cheese was spoiled (It wasn't a pretty sight.) Finally in the third trip, I had everything I needed. I started with dinner which was a baked ziti. Dinner was a success. Desert though was my Grandma Clem's peach pie. The dough was the hardest part to make. It doesn't taste exactly like hers yet but I'll work on it. Also I used store bought filling, eventually I want to make my own filling. Dennis really loved the pie, he had 2 pieces so I know he wasn't just saying it. I on the other hand know it's just not the same. It was still a good pie...just not hers.

When my Grandma passed away I used to tell myself that I didn't spend enough time asking her questions, or cooking with her. Honestly I could have cared less about cooking, now that I'm married it's a passion of mine. My favorite part of the day is dinner, because I get to see Den's reaction to my meals. He loves my cooking, I guess I can say he's my biggest fan. :)

I have forgiven myself for not visiting my Grandma that much, It was a huge weight on me after she died. The most amazing thing happened to me after I forgave myself. I went to her tombstone and talked to her and explained to her how if she was still around I would have talked to her more about food and get the recipe for her pie that we miss so much. At Christmas 2009 Peggy just happened to look into her recipe box and inside was the recipe for pie crust, on the recipe it said that it was for me in memory of Grandma Clem. I still get goosebumps from it. It was like she was there listening to me. Of course I cried my eyes out at Christmas, and now I'm so happy to have that recipe.

I miss you Grandma and thanks for the recipe. :)

I hate coming up with titles.....

I haven't been in the writing mood lately. That's why you haven't heard from me. I come home exhausted, or when I am home I just don't feel like doing it. Sorry about that. I am hear to assure you that I am alive and well. We did have a rather busy weekend so at least I have something to talk about. :)

On Friday Dennis and I decided to go down to Wilmington for a date night. For Den's birthday last year he got a gift card from his sister to Chili's and we finally decided to use it. Instead of going to Chili's we used it at the Macaroni grill. We had an amazing dinner. Dennis had baked ziti, and I had mushroom ravioli. I recommend that place, I pretty much liked everything on the menu.

Saturday we went to a friend Birthday party. The party was Hollywood themed. I went dressed as Posh Spice, and Dennis was my paparazzi. We didn't go all out like everyone else. At the party there was Bond with his Bond girlfriend, Audrey Hepburn, Liza Minnelli, Gilligan, and Skipper. I think our favorite was the girl dressed as Angelina Jolie. I liked her because she actually took the time to write out the tattoos on her skin. We thought they were real tattoos.

Today we went with a friend to see Alice and Wonderland. It's a pretty good movie. I have to say that I hate 3D movies though. I wish they would just have normal movies. It also angers me that I have to pay $2 extra to see this movie. If they are going to do that then they should have the option of 3D or not. Or they should have the option of buying the glasses or not. I mean they have the stupid recycle your glasses box....Where are they recycling to if I have to just buy them all over again? I think it's stupid.

better get going. Talk to you later.

Taking it easy...

I woke up to a rainy day and not feeling well. I actually love not feeling well on rainy days, it gives me an excuse to be lazy. I would rather be sick today than if it was beautiful outside. Today Den's parents left so we went out for breakfast. I took them to a place called the Kettle Diner. It's a cute diner that sells home cooked food. I got a mound of biscuits and gravy. It's probably my favorite breakfast. Afterwards they took off for their long journey to Illinois.

Right now I'm on the job hunt. Since it's freezing outside I decided to put on my snuggie, make some hot chai, and search for jobs all day long. I'm thankful for technology because I don't even have to leave my house to get a job these days. It helps me out a lot. Since it's so hard to find a job in a Military town I've decided to just apply anywhere and everywhere. I will only be working for about 4 months so I can't be to picky. The money would really help though, so I hope I find something.

Well my chai is done and I need to stop procrastinating. talk to you later.

A day in Wilmington

Hello All,

Today we took Den's parents to Wilmington for the third time on their trip. Honestly there is nothing to do in Jacksonville, so this is the highlight of their entertainment. Today Dennis took his dad on the Battleship of North Carolina (A very boring tour, but the men enjoy it.) Roe and I went to an outdoor shopping center. It would have been nice if it was summer, but it was 40 degrees today so a little bit cold. I hate having to walk outside to each shop. I wish all shopping malls were indoors.

The main reason we went to Wilmington was for the food. We went to dinner at our favorite Asian restaurant called Indochine. Amazing food, probably my favorite Asian restaurant. I ordered dumplings. and had rice on the side. I loved the ginger soy sauce they give you for the dumplings, it tastes good on everything.

Tomorrow Den's parents are staying with us until Tuesday. They decided to tack on a couple more days to their trip. It will be exciting to have them over, we're usually by ourselves so this will be new. We only have a little bed though so his dad will have to sleep on the couch. Just a couple nights though, so that's not to bad. It beats paying for hotels. I can't wait till we have a house and we can actually have company stay over all the time.

Off to bed, I'm so tired from all that spending. ;)

It's been forever!

Hello everyone! Sorry it's been so long since I've last wrote. I was in New York for four days and now Den's parents are visiting so I've been pretty busy. I promise you I'll post tons of photos from New York in about a week. Right now there just seems to be no time. I can't wait to share with you our trip to New York. We had a blast and our pictures turned out great. :)

Yesterday was an exciting day too. We drove down to Wilmington to take Den's parents to the aquarium from Valentines day. I love aquariums so much, I have to say my favorite one is Shedds in Chicago, then Monterey Bay (California), and this one (Fort Fisher in North Carolina)

After the Aquarium we had tickets to an event called the Taste of Wilmington. It's where 15 restaurants let you sample some of their food. Sounds fun right? You wouldn't believe how full we were! I had to walk tilted forward because my stomach was so heavy! In the beginning you think, this sample is so small how am I going to get filled up?!? Believe you do! My favorite place was the first restaurant (Elijah's) They sampled Clam chowder, and their world famous crab dip. Both were fantastic, the most amazing clam chowder I have ever tasted. The best part about this event is that we've found so many new restaurants that we would like to try. I grabbed a menu from each place and am excited to try them on date nights. :) Wilmington is about an hour away from us, but there is nothing to do in Jacksonville so we tend to spend most our time down there.

Hopefully I will write to you soon. :)

Valentines Day

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Before I forget, look at the Chocolate festival post I added a picture of Dennis at the demonstration. You would think I've been very busy, but actually I've been sitting around the house. I haven't been lazy or anything, I just have been spending a lot of time with Dennis lately. It's so good to have him home.

Sunday was Valentines day. We had so much fun. That morning Dennis made me a Valentines breakfast. He told me I could pick whatever I wanted to eat. I chose his scrambled eggs since they're so good. He also made me skillet potatoes. Here's a picture.

For lunch I decided to get a little taste of home, so I made Dennis hot dogs Chicago style. :)

Then for dinner we drove down to Wilmington for a Valentines dinner. We decided to treat ourselves since we haven't had a Valentines day together for a long time. We reserved a table at the Fort Fisher Aquarium. This event was an exclusive event where only 26 couples could get a table. It was after hours at the Aquarium, so each couple had their own private tour of the fish. Dennis reserved a table in front of the jelly fish for us. My opinion is that we had the best table in the house. Our room was called the Open Oceans Gallery, from where we sat I could see the Jelly fish behind Dennis, our table was in front of a big fish tank, behind me was the Octopus tank, and several more fish tanks around us. It was amazing! Also the presentation of everything was nice. They had a cute table for two set up with a rose and candle in the middle, a DJ for dancing. 4 course meal starting with a cheese and fruit plate, followed by a cesar salad. For the main course, I had chicken and Dennis had beef. We shared a cake for dessert. Here are some pictures from the event.

feeling puzzled...

I haven't wrote in a couple days because i've been sitting around the house all week. We decided to stay in the apartment a lot since Dennis hasn't really had a lazy day in 6 months. It's been pretty fun.

We did however make it down to Wilmington on Thursday. It was fun, we drove down for lunch and to do some shopping at the mall. The mall in Jacksonville is kind of terrible. This mall is bigger and has a lot more choices. Dennis needed to buy a couple dress shirts for New York and a scarf. Would you believe this weather? New York is supposed to be freezing during our trip and it snowed today in North Carolina. Not just a little snow, snowman kind of snow.

Also Den's sister (Melissa) gave him a 2000 piece Times Square puzzle for Christmas. So we've been working on that while we've been stuck in the house. We've got all but one piece done on the edges and are slowly working on the inside. We spent all day yesterday on it, and decided on ordering a pizza for dinner. I have to say Domino's did fulfil their promise on the new recipe. It was fantastic! The alfredo pizza is the best.

I'll try to write tomorrow about Valentines day if I have time. :)