Twenty minutes and $250 later, I have new tags and registration through September 2011. I had SUCH a great teller at the DMV it was amazing. A-MA-ZING! It probably also helped that that I was #4 in line and the tellers were still fresh! 😛
Category Archives: Raves & Praise
Yelp ROTD–Franco’s Cafe
Sushi Blanket!
I got the idea from a baby blanket I saw on Etsy. I had seen that sushi fabric before and LOVED it, so I went on the hunt. No local fabric stores carried it, so I had to get it from eBay. Then I had to wait for mom to come down with her sewing machine because—a) I didn’t have a sewing machine and b) I can’t sew. 😛
So she came down and it was off to JoAnns to find some backing fabric. I loved the idea of the chenille but they only had white and that didn’t seem good for my ultimate usage ideas (the park, the beach, etc.). We ended with a reddish orange denim…and I love it.
Getting Started
Finished Projects (Blanket & Bag)
Can you guess what the handles are made from?
Look closely. More closely. Yes, the handles are bra straps. :>>
Her cool sewing machine can do letters!
And look at that cool edge stitch!
The Blanket
If I remember right, it’s about 7′ x 6′.
It is SO awesome and I am SO thrilled with it! I cannot thank my mom enough!! Oh, and just so you think she did it all…she MADE ME sew the buttons on (you can’t see them in any of the pics, but they’re there!).
I love surprises!
I recently used a Groupon deal to get my hair colored and cut, and as I usually do with businesses, I wrote a Yelp review about it (see a few posts earlier). It was a VERY glowing review because my experience was pure awesome. So imagine my surprise when I received a handwritten postcard from my stylist thanking me for the awesome review, saying how much it meant to her, and offering me a 20% discount on my next service as a thank you! Woohoo!
My new color and cut!
My Yelp Review
To be upfront and honest, I only tried Flip because of their recent Groupon deal. I have a regular salon that is five convenient minutes from my house, but I just couldn’t pass up Flip’s awesome deal–color isn’t cheap, you know, and I’d never do it otherwise. So I drove the 25ish minutes there (rush hour traffic, you know) and luckily found a parking spot close to the salon. I fed the meter with two hours (maximum allotted time) and set off.
I was a bit early, and was welcomed nicely. I took a seat to wait, which only turned out to be enough time to look around, snap a few shots for Yelp, and then Chelsey was calling me back. She was really very nice and offered me a beverage, then asked me a TON of questions about what I wanted, what I liked, what my hair normally does, how I normally style it, what type of products I use, how much time I spend on my hair, etc…and was thrilled I brought my own pictures to show her what I was thinking (from past hairstyles and colors). I was really surprised at all the questions–I’ve never had a stylist ask so many questions before, but it was nice to see she was REALLY paying attention and trying to get a handle on what exactly I wanted to make sure I was satisfied. She actually suggested a bit different highlight colors than I’d had before and explained why, and I definitely agreed.
Score one for Chelsey.
I apologized that my hair was a little greasy–I’d straightened it that week and it always lasts at least 3-4 days, but since I knew I was coming to the salon, I pushed it to six days, but it was definitely past its prime. So imagine my surprise when she said it was actually GOOD that it was a little oily, because it would help during the coloring, as the oil provided more of a barrier and my hair wouldn’t dry out as much. Interesting. And definitely an interesting tip I’d never heard before.
Score two for Chelsey.
Now, admittedly, I’m not much of a small-talk person, so salon visits always make me a little anxious. You never know if the stylist is going to talk your ear off or if you’re going to sit there in silent awkwardness the entire time…but Chelsey was awesome. Nothing ever felt strained and I felt relaxed the entire time–the snippets of conversation here and there felt extremely natural and never forced.
Score three for Chelsey.
She worked consistently and quickly and I just sat and relaxed, not even reading a magazine or playing on my phone–it was nice to just be out of the house and not. have. to. do. anything. but. sit. there. (I’m a SAHM so getting out of the house ALONE is great on its own. Being pampered is another level of excitement.)
So there was highlighting and sitting under the dryer and washing and conditioning then adding toner then sitting under the dryer again. By the time we were ready for the haircut, I’d actually been there almost 2.5 hours–and I suddenly freaked out that my meter had run out and I was probably going to get a ticket. I asked Chelsey if the parking police were bad and she said yeah, pretty much–then OFFERED TO GO FEED THE METER FOR ME!! Wait, what? SHE was going to run out herself? Whoa. She even said she’d grab quarters if I needed them, but I had change in my pocket. But, seriously, WHOA. That is service.
Score four for Chelsey.
I was getting a little nervous because it was nearing 9:00 (closing time) and we were really no where near being done–she was still cutting my hair, and it still had to be blown out straight (and I have a thick head of hair). I made some comment to that effect, and she said if I wasn’t in a hurry, she wasn’t either. Awesome. I mean, I didn’t really expect her to cut me off mid-cut or mid-blow dry at 9 on the dot, but I was a little worried that she might rush through it and not do as good of a job. I should not have worried AT ALL. She continued to do an amazingly thorough job, and she was finishing up about 9:45! And it was GORGEOUS. Great color, great shine, and full of movement! It was one of THE best haircuts (and colors) I’ve EVER had. And you could tell she was honestly thrilled that I was thrilled.
Score five for Chelsey.
Checkout was a snap and just took moments. (Note, you CANNOT put tips on your credit card…so it was a good thing I had a stash of emergency cash in my wallet.) I also had no problems using my Groupon coupon from my iPhone (I didn’t print anything out). It was a good deal, too–I don’t get color a lot, but from prices I have seen elsewhere, it didn’t seem terribly expensive (especially for the level of service received).
Overall, I had a really great experience from start to finish, and I am so glad I tried this salon…and Chelsey was amazing. Flip definitely gets five solid stars.
Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse
This was the third steak house in the local trifecta of The Capital Grille (which we tried last year), Morton’s Steakhouse (which we tried last week), and Ruth’s Chris.
To start, we were really debating taking Owen—I mean, it’s not a place for toddlers—but we REALLY wanted to try them during the (cheaper) Restaurant Week offerings ($30pp). I posted on Facebook asking, and (without counting) it was pretty well split yes vs. no.
We went.
And he was the perfect little quiet smiling happy giggling toddler. The whole time. Everyone who walked by smiled at him and/or had to stop and say hi to him/us and/or tell us how good he was or how cute he was. Our waitress loved him (“a grandma of five” she told us). We did get desserts to go, though, because he was starting to get a little fussy, but we probably could have stayed. I’m really glad we went. (And I didn’t see a stink eye from anyone!)
He is such a good little boy!
Oh, and he ate one bite of calamari and sweet potato, but spit out the filet mignon, baked potato, and shrimp.
Our rating? Better than Morton’s but not as good as Capital Grille.
American Express Rocks!
I am signed up for paperless statements via email notification and it stays in my Inbox until I pay it. Well, I got the March statement and it says it’s 30 days past due. Huh? What? I check my email—even my deleted folder—and there’s NO email from them. I have the End of Year statement email and the January email, but no February email. So there’s a whopping $39 late fee plus interest, and you know it jacks up everything for months afterwards.
So I sent them a stern email explaining what happened, and mentioned this isn’t the first time I have missed an email—and what is the point of offering paperless statements if I don’t get the notice?—and asked to be refunded the late fee. I also told them I paid the bill in full that day and I would set my own reminder to pay the bill so this didn’t happen again.
Imagine my surprise when their reply email mentioned not only removing the late fee, but any and all interest associated with the resulting fee, AND removing ANY notation of anything being paid late so it would be as if it never happened.
So it sucks that the original mistake was made, but kudos to them for fixing it.
Yelp ROTD–Accent Eyecare
Yelp ROTD–Mon Jin Lau
Emergency Room!
Tom’s back was hurting throughout the day, and by late afternoon he could barely move. He isn’t one to complain much (or admit to being in pain) so I could tell it was serious when he was wincing and gritting his teeth. (He originally hurt his back during a workout earlier in the week, and it got progressively worse.)
I told him I’d much rather go to the ER at dinnertime than having him wait and decide he wants to go at 3am…so we waited for the boy to get up from his nap (only about 15 minutes), fed him, and we were on our way shortly after 6. Of course, I had packed a crapload of stuff, assuming we’d be waiting in the ER forever (all I know from past experiences). Imagine my surprise when I dropped Tom off—and by the time I had parked (about 40′ away), loaded the baby, and walked inside, he was already being triaged!
After the entrance info was taken care of, we only had to wait about two minutes for him to be called in to see the doctor! I couldn’t go with him because I had the baby, so I waited for him. Owen did really well—I only had to push him around the waiting room a few times to keep him happy! Then Tom texted me from across the hospital, giving me status updates!
I wasn’t really watching the clock, but was amazed at how quickly everything was happening! Then he was texting the diagnosis (“Ligament injury they said it is swollen”) and then he said he was done and just waiting for drugs!
All in all, we were in and out in just about an hour. AN HOUR!! We got there about 6:15ish and were walking out about 7:20! AMAZING! (I guess that new multi-million dollar Emergency Center Expansion was worthwhile after all!) 🙂
The sad part? They can’t fill prescriptions there, so we had to find a 24-hour pharmacy (since it was 7:30 on a Sunday night)! Our normal Walgreens isn’t 24-hour, and we wanted to keep all our scripts there, so we had to drive to Royal Oak. It’s only a few extra miles, but around here that takes some time. So, it took us longer to drive there, wait, and drive home than it did for the entire ER visit!
Tom was loving the drugs (Vicodin and Percoset). He was eventually feeling REALLY good (pain, what pain?) and I made him an ice pack when we got home. I asked if he was going to stay home and of course, he wasn’t. (You know the drill, the recruiting office will go up in flames if he isn’t there, LOL.) He did promise that if the pain got unbearable he’d come home.
Ironically, it was almost six months to the day of the last time we were at the hospital—for the birth of the boy!
I finally did it!
So I’ve been planning on cutting my hair and donating it to either Locks of Love or Pantene Beautiful Lengths…but was leaning towards Pantene because the minimum donation length was 8″ as opposed to 10″ for Locks of Love. (I had enough to donate 10″ but I just didn’t want to go THAT short.) And if you remember from a few months or so ago, I was debating over about 10 different hairstyles. But new hairstyles scare me so I just kind of put it out of my mind.
Fast forward to our upcoming vacation, and I knew I really REALLY needed a haircut before we left. Well, it was getting really scraggly so I at least needed a trim. I wasn’t quite sure I was ready to donate it yet, so I was leaning towards a trim…and then in a few more months when it needed another trim I would cut the length and donate it. Except that Owen has become MUCH more grabby lately. And I am sick to death of wearing my hair in Pippi Longstocking braids or a pony tail. So I was actually leaning more towards a full chop.
So today, just for the heck of it, I took these two pictures to show just how long it was getting. Ironically, the back didn’t look NEARLY as bad/scraggly as I assumed it did.
I even put it in a pony tail and measured it, to make sure I had enough—and to make sure I’d still have some hair left afterwards! But, remember, I still wasn’t planning on getting anything but a trim…although I was CONTEMPLATING getting it chopped.
So I was planning on going to the salon on Friday, the day before we leave for vacation—because a professionally-styled hairdo will last a long time and I could probably avoid doing anything with my hair the entire time we were gone. 😛 So I talked to my mom about what time they were going to be arriving (because she was going to be my babysitter) and…she said she had no idea. EEK! Which means I had to go Thursday. So I called the salon and my stylist wasn’t available Thursday! 88| So I desperately asked if she happened to be available now—and she was! She asked what I needed to have done, and I briefly told her a trim OR I was cutting it all off to donate it—and I was VERY nervous. She said they would take care of me—and then I was literally out the door in less than two minutes.
I was VERY nervous when I walked in, but the two women there were VERY nice and VERY welcoming and VERY understanding with what I was about to do. Yes, I had decided to chop. it. all. off. 88| It was off to get washed, then get it combed out—and I told her she had to take pictures. Of course, she was totally game for it, and was excited that I was donating it!
And then she offered me a glass of wine to calm my nerves. And I eagerly accepted! :>>
So, here is my hair “before” completely combed out. It touched the top of the chair!
We discussed how much to cut—enough to make sure we got the required eight inches, but not so much that I wouldn’t have my own ponytail left. And then we measured twice, cut once. (Just like woodworking, dad!) Except we actually cut twice, because there were two ponytails! Here is the first one gone:
And then here are both ponytails…and my glass of wine! 🙂 I think the ponytails were about 9″ all said and done…and it was definitely a lot of hair…but just sitting on the counter they looked so small and pathetic.
And then here I am minus 9″ of hair!
And the final product!! I love it!!
Now, of course, the challenge will be if I can replicate how it looks!! And if I can make it do something in its wavy form.
The ponytails just need to dry now (which will take at least a day) and then I can mail them off! YAY!
Facebook Updates
- Jennifer Hudson really wants a squarespace website, but just can’t afford the version I want. Oh well. Life goes on.
- Jennifer Hudson just got attacked by a tray of brownies. For realz.
- Jennifer Hudson was slacking at the computer and missed the Vine newsletter when it arrived…so got squat this month. Boo hiss.
- Jennifer Hudson liked Bert & Ernie better as puppets, not claymation.
- Jennifer Hudson thinks maybe she will make brownies when the kid goes down for a nap. Which should be momentarily.
- Jennifer Hudson loves a strawberry smoothie on a hot day.
- Jennifer Hudson says “Seriously, ThinkGeek? You call THIS a women’s 2X? It’s waaaay smaller than my husband’s Large tee-shirts.” Booooooooo!
- Jennifer Hudson really needs the boy to take a longer nap. None of this 30 minute BS. 🙂
- Jennifer Hudson has a smart dog. I started taking away pieces that she had chewed off, and she grabbed the toy and ran into the other room!
- Jennifer Hudson finds it hilarious that the boy loves to turn on his mobiles himself by rolling down the crib and kicking the buttons with his feet. Swear to god he looks like he’s aiming. 🙂
- Jennifer Hudson should have napped with the boy, but I never would have guessed he’d be out for going on 2.5 hours. The story of my life.
- Jennifer Hudson is trying to figure out the fun that is RTM—syncing, gmail, bookmarklets, firefox addons, etc.
- Jennifer Hudson hates driving anywhere anymore because of all the freaking idiots and douchebags on the road. Everyone seem to think they’re the ONLY car on the road. Grrrr.
- Jennifer Hudson really wishes she had chips to go with her sandwich. Yes, I’m eating lunch at 10:40.
- Jennifer Hudson loves when the boy falls asleep on her…sooo sweet. Now off to shower and start laundry! YAY!
- Jennifer Hudson says YAY! We can to go Kentucky with the fam! It’s a good day!
- Jennifer Hudson wishes mint.com would actually update/refresh.
- Jennifer Hudson loves a sleeping baby. So cute. So quiet. So peaceful. So needed. 🙂
- Jennifer Hudson says Owen either needs to nap, eat more, or poop, because mom is tiiiiired of the cranky.
- Jennifer Hudson is getting closer to getting her hair cut. I think I might get it trimmed one more time, then chopped. So maybe in a few more months?
- Jennifer Hudson just fed the boy a teaspoon of oatmeal cereal! He’s getting better!
- Jennifer Hudson woke up to check the monitor and see…Owen on his stomach! OMG!
- Jennifer Hudson wonders who the #$%@ thinks it’s a good idea to cut down a tree and shoot fireworks at 8:30 on a Sunday night? Seriously. GET OFF MY LAWN!
ThinkGeek sizes: Booooo!
Seriously, ThinkGeek? You call THIS a women’s 2X? It’s waaaay smaller than my husband’s Large tee-shirts.
>:XX
UPDATE 6/28/09
I emailed them about it and they are willing to take it back and give me a store credit! YAY!
My five seconds of fame, circa 1996.
It seems every now and again I have the need (or want) to show someone this, and I always have to dig it out of the archives (i.e. try to find it in the file cabinet)…so I figured I would scan it and post it. Yeah, I should have done it 13 years ago when it first happened, LOL.
I wrote a letter to Entertainment Weekly and it was published! The very first letter on the page, even! This is from August 23/30, 1996:
Bite Guard
I picked up my night (bite) guard today. Blech. I hope it works wonders, because it’s going to be a pain in the you know what.
You can’t just insert it like I thought—you need to run it under HOT tap water to soften it a bit. Which doesn’t sound too bad, except it takes FOREVER and a freaking day to get hot tap water in our bathroom.
And then I have to brush it each morning when I take it out. And after a few weeks, I have to start soaking it daily (similar to dentures).
And it’s bigger (thicker) than I thought.
And I can’t really talk with it in.
And it makes me drool.
So let’s everyone keep our fingers crossed that this REALLY helps with my TMD issues…because, let’s face it, I like being able to chew my food. 🙂
OH! And I almost forgot! A big HURRAY for our dental insurance after all!! Turns out they cover 50% of the bite guard cost! So we only have to pay $250 out-of-pocket! YAY!
Secretary of State, Part 2
So I went to get Tom’s plate taken care of and change our addresses. I was there five minutes before they opened and was third in line. By the time they opened, there were about 15 people waiting!
I got waited on right away (they had about five people behind the counter) and boy, was it eye-opening. :crazy:
Basically, Tom wanted to go back to using his MSU-themed license plate. He had it on his previous car, but then switched to a North Carolina plate because it was cheaper than registering the new car in Michigan. Fine. I didn’t think there would be any issue at all.
I was wrong.
The lady was VERY nice, and told me that “Yeah, you don’t want to use this plate.” Um, okay, why not? Basically, to use the same plate, we would have had to pay for the entire time it was UNUSED in order to “bring it up to date.” Michigan is one of those states where you apparently can’t let the plate lapse for any reason. Ugh. It was a matter of like $260 vs. $140 or something crazy like that. Yeah, um, give us a regular plate. 🙄 She said if we really wanted the MSU plate, we could try again in a few months, or just get a new one entirely. At least she was very nice about it, but what a strange thing. Even if we could prove the plate was unused during that time…we’d still have to pay. Oh well.
Then I changed our addresses and I was out of there in under 15 minutes. YAY!
Yelp ROTD–Apple Fritter
Dental is expensive, too!
Yeah, so I went to the dentist today. Love love love the hygienist and the dentist…but not what they recommended. XX(
Yeah, I need a $500 bite guard. Because I grind my teeth and clench my jaw. This I know because previous dentists have told me.
However.
Not a single one of them ever showed me just what was happening…the ridges along the bottom of my top front teeth? From grinding. My shorter teeth? From grinding. (I know, I never even thought about some of my teeth being shorter than others! She said she saw a 2mm loss on a few of them! HOLY WAH!)
She also wondered if I had TMJ issues and I said yes, I can’t chew gum, anything really chewy hurts, my jaw clicks and pops—and she piped up, yep, I have TMD:
WHAT ARE TMJ / TMD’s?
Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) occur as a result of problems with the jaw, jaw joint and surrounding facial muscles that control chewing and moving the jaw. These disorders are often incorrectly called TMJ, which stands for temporomandibular joint.
And a bite guard (to be worn mostly at night) should help with all of that. They sent it in to insurance to see if it would be covered, but we aren’t holding out hope.
After I had my mouth open for the x-rays and the cleaning and the exam, my jaw was about dead. The dentist then said “This will hurt a bit now, but should help later” and then stuck her fingers in my mouth and massaged the tendon around the jaw. Egads, that was painful.
They also saw some groundwork for cavities, so now I have this special paste (at $16/tube) that I have to apply to my teeth every night to try and stop the process. (I think she called it recalcifying.)
And I do have one cavity that needs work soon (the appointment is next week).
But my gums look good!
Lordy.
At least this one was only $64 out-of-pocket today. But that damn bite guard…
>:XX
What a weekend!
What an amazing weekend this has been…
Why, you ask? What could have happened to make it so amazing?
Well, Tom had most of it off!! Yes, the guy who typically works six days a week, up to 12 hours a day, and who rarely gets weekends off…got Friday off, most of Saturday off (he worked until about 10am), Sunday off, and Monday off!!
When he first told me (Thursday night), I was just stunned into silence. What were we going to do? We hadn’t had that much time off together…since Owen was born! Of course all our to-do lists popped into mind, but mostly I just wanted to have family time—time for daddy and Owen to spend together!
After the first day (Friday) it already felt like we had had a week off! It was that amazing! I didn’t even mind him going into work on Saturday because I knew we still had lots of time left together! We also had lunch with cousin Lori at a new restaurant (for us) and had a very enjoyable time! When we got home, Michaels called and said our photo was done. I love love love how it turned out:
At this point I can’t even remember all that we did, but I know we all had fun! Of course we did get to some of the to-dos (the garage is now mostly organized) but those weren’t our main focus! Daddy and Owen played quite a bit, and daddy even took over most of the feedings so mommy could have a break! And mommy got to sleep in three mornings instead of just her normal one (Sunday)! (It would have been four mornings, but all of us were actually awake, so we all sat and played in bed!)
The weather was gorgeous, so we grilled each night and ate most of our dinners outside (when dad and Lin were here last week, we got the patio furniture cleaned and ready to go). Tom was able to mow the lawn. We went to the park and played on the swings (see this post on the Baby Blog).
In short, it was heaven…or, for most people, what a normal life must be like.
I wish it could be like this every weekend, but I will take what I can get!!
Swoon!
I love my husband soooooooooooooooooooooo much. :yes:
As you may or may not know, I love lilacs—and for the past five years in NC we never saw any. But in Michigan? They are ALL over and they are now in bloom.
Of course, we don’t have any in our yard…so I keep seeing them all over the place and keep wishing I could go steal some from somewhere. I keep trying to remind myself to throw some scissors in the car so I could make a quick cut and run getaway…but I never get to it.
So what happened this morning?
Hubby came back from the gym…and brought me a huge vase of purple and white lilacs!!!!! So now I have the lovely scent of lilacs wafting through the house!
/swoon
Yelp ROTD–Jade Tiki
Mmmmmm, sushi!
I love my husband.
I have been craving sushi but we just haven’t had the time or energy to go to a restaurant to have it.
So Tuesday he told me he would have a surprise for me today. Of course, I had no idea what it could be.
So he came home tonight with a takeout bag…of sushi!
😀
He saw the sushi place a few doors down from our drycleaning place when he dropped his uniform off Tuesday…and the rest is history!
We weren’t expecting much from a strip mall-type place, but it was YUMMY!
Ahhhhhhh, relaxation.
I have the best husband.
He scheduled a 3-hour spa session at Nordstrom for me today…because he knew how exhausted and stressed I’ve been. :.
So I left Owen with the grandparents and fully enjoyed my salt-scrub massage and facial. The only thing that would have made it more perfect is if I would have been able to stay there on the table and sleep for about 12 hours.
Date night at The Capital Grille
Tom and I wanted to celebrate two things: the rental of our house and the birth of our baby…and we wanted to celebrate in style. We had thought about going to Ruths Chris or Morton’s, but Tivo friends recommended another steak place, The Capital Grille, instead—so that’s where we went. Dad and Linda were here so they babysat while we went to dinner. What follows is the online review I wrote for our experience.
This is what 5-star dining is all about.
We went here for our celebratory “we just had our first baby and this is our first night out alone dinner” and it could not have been better!
Our night started with valet parking (why not?). We entered and the Maître d’ took our coats and seated us. Our waitress greeted us by name and spent quite a bit of time explaining the wine list and the menu (since we had never been there before). We probably could have saved her some time by saying we weren’t interested in any wine, but she was very nice and knowledgeable and it was interesting to hear everything. She then left us alone to agonize over all the delicious menu items.
When she came back to take our order, she also brought over a tiny shaker of their signature drink, the Stolli Doli (sp?), a pineapple-infused vodka, to try and tempt us into a real drink. We just enjoyed the delicious sample.
The appetizers came out very quickly and I was impressed. (I had for some unknown reason imagined that the food would take longer.) I had ordered the calamari (on the waitresses recommendation) and hubby ordered the lobster and crab cakes. We could have made do with just one of the orders, as the calamari was enough for probably four people! One neat thing was that the waitress had stopped by and asked if we wanted her to split/serve the appetizers—putting them on separate plates if we were going to share. We said sure! So when she delivered them, we each had two plates. Very cool. The calamari was a bit spicy but not too bad, and it was very good. I highly recommend those. The lobster and crab cakes were good, but I think I enjoyed the calamari more. (It was so good, we dove in and ate most of it before remembering to take a picture.)
It was about this time that I mentioned why we were there celebrating…and the waitress got very excited! Turns out she was pregnant and loved kids and wanted to hear more about us and our baby, then said she’d have a surprise for us. She came back with two glasses of wine! Then she asked if we had a baby scrapbook and we said yes, so she asked if she could take our picture. We said sure, thinking she would email it to us or something. But she said she would print it out and give it to us! She was back within a few minutes with the picture printed and placed in a Capital Grille cardboard matte. Wow! She also took a picture with our camera (when she noticed it on the table).
The next course was french onion soup, which came out in a crock about the size of your head. And it was absolutely, hands down, the best french onion soup we’ve ever had. It was AMAZING. Unfortunately, we didn’t eat much of it since we figured that would do well reheating at home…and we knew we still had huge steaks coming! Before we could even think twice, it was boxed up and brought to our table in a bag.
Then, the steaks and sides. Wow, the steaks. I had ordered the Filet Oscar and wow, was it buttery. Cooked perfectly medium rare. The bearnaise was smooth and delicious, and the crab–oh, the crab! I have never seen such huge lumps of crabmeat on Oscar-anything, anywhere.
Hubby’s Porcini Rubbed Delmonico was also to-die-for. Sweet and savory, buttery, cooked perfectly rare. He barely made a dent in it, unfortunately, with all the food we’d already eaten plus the sides.
Oh, yes, the sides. The waitress had told us that all the sides were family style (and large portions) so if we wanted, she could do half portions. So we chose to do a half order each of lobster mac and cheese and augratin potatoes? The mac and cheese was so creamy and cheesy and filled with HUGE lobster chunks… I would definitely order that again. The AuGratin potatoes were good, too – but with all the other buttery cheesy food, I think some of the taste was lost on me. We took home leftovers of it all (except my filet, which hubby helped me finish).
Then, another on-the-house celebration surprise! Ricotta cheescake with a creme brulee topping and fresh fruit that was soooooo good. Wow was it good. Hubby, who doesn’t even really like cheesecake, liked it! I would definitely order that one again, as well.
Our waitress gave us her card and said to make sure we ask for her if and when we come in again…and she would love an update on our new baby!
So, overall, 5 stars for the atmosphere, 5 stars for the service, and 5 stars for the food. We just wish it wasn’t quite so expensive so we could go back more often!
Turkey Noodle Soup
I have only made chicken noodle soup once in my life, so when mom and David were here and cooked a turkey, and then simmered the bones for me to make soup…well, I was a bit overwhelmed thinking about it.
Mom assured me it would be easy.
Ha, I thought, easy for her to say, since she makes soup all the time.
So we picked the meat off the bones and set the broth/meat mixture in the refrigerator overnight so I could skim off the fat.
And then it was up to me. 88|
So today I skimmed the fat and started it heating.
Then I sweated a mirepoix (yeah, it sounds fancy, but all I did was fry some onions, carrots, and celery) with a heavy dose of salt and pepper, then added that.
After a quick taste, I added four bouillon cubes and two cups of water to the broth.
Then I added some thyme and poultry seasoning.
Then I cooked some egg noodles and added them.
I left it simmer for about 20 minutes.
The end result?
YUM.
I would probably skip the thyme in the future, but it’s still good.
Wheeeeeeee! I did it!
Haircut!
I have been looking for a new salon since we moved here three months ago, but have just been hesitant because, well, if you are a woman, you know how important and scary finding a good salon is, especially after you have been going to the same person for a few years.
But today I took a chance.
I was going to Target and saw that the Indulge Salon marquee sign had a “Now Open” sign! Since just that very morning I had been contemplating (again) how badly I needed my hair cut (especially since my baby is due in three weeks and I know I won’t get a chance after that), I thought it was an omen.
So I pulled into their parking lot and went in, thinking I would just get prices—I wasn’t sure if I was feeling bold enough to actually get it cut on a whim. The salon was NOT busy—I saw one stylist and a receptionist—but then again, we had just gotten 4″ of snow and the city was moving at a snail’s pace.
They welcomed me very warmly and I asked for prices. They seemed VERY reasonable (the stylist looked at me and quoted me $35 for a cut and dry/style, which is a great deal since I have somewhat long hair that I would need blown straight). Since it was a good deal and I really needed it cut, I asked if they could do it right then, and she said yes! Wonderful!
Christine, my stylist, was very nice, with just enough chatting for me—not too much to make me feel like I had to keep up a full conversation, but not too little that it felt like she didn’t care at all.
The only thing I was contemplating complaining about in this review was that the radio and TV were competing for each other, and both were loud, and it was somewhat distracting. And honest to god, not 10 seconds after I thought that, she yelled for the TV to be turned off if no one was watching it (which they did turn it off). Eerie. But cool.
The hair wash was great, the haircut (okay, trim) was great, and the blow-dry style (straight) was awesome! I am not sure how long I was there, but it was certainly over an hour…drying my hair does take some time as it’s long and thick–and she even commented that she probably should have charged me more. (At that point I decided to tip a bit more than I typically would have, and she definitely deserved it.)
Overall I was very happy with my experience, and I will surely go back. So my on-a-whim haircut at a completely new and untested place worked out! I also want to go back for a meni/pedi before the baby comes, so I will hopefully have an update for that as well.
YAY!
And trying to get a pic with my belly in it:
OUR HOUSE IS RENTED!!!
I could barely make it through the email without crying—and before calling Tom!
Our new tenants are moving in next week, and he is a 2nd Lt. fresh out of TBS and they have two small dogs.
So, even though we are still losing money (losing, but not hemorrhaging!) it’s such a HUGE relief…
Pesto Sausage Walnut Lasagna
I still can’t believe I created my own lasagna. 88|
Well, to be fair, I got the idea from a frozen lasagna I bought at Target…but I still had to figure out how to make it myself!
I made homemade pesto with basil, walnuts, garlic, spinach (to keep it green), and olive oil. I fried a combination of regular pork sausage and hot italian sausage then added some chopped walnuts. I cheated a bit with the sauce and combined a jar of Four Cheese Alfredo, a dry packet mix of Creamy Basil Pesto (prepared), and the homemade pesto. I bought fresh mozzarella and fresh ricotta (which I mixed with shredded mozzarella, grated Romano, and an egg).
It took me a good 30 minutes to do the prep work and about 15 minutes to put it together, then 45 minutes in a 375° oven (which was either too high or too long, the top-most cheese layer was too brown).
And man was it yummy! WOW! Most of it went in the freezer (we are stocking up for when the baby comes) but we’re having it for dinner again tonight! (I had some extra filling so I made a side dish of it.)
The snow is gone!
Well, after that huge storm we had that dropped about 8-10″ on us…it’s now gone! YAY!
While we were up north for Christmas, there was a day or two of warm weather (in the mid to high 50s), so we came home to just a few tiny piles of snow! Maggie is thrilled. 🙂
General Tso’s in a packet?
This was one of those Big Lots finds that I just HAD to try. I mean, we LOVE General Tso’s chicken, so why not take a chance on a 50c packet and $2 worth of chicken?
Well, honestly, it sat in the pantry for a good year or so—and recently made the move to Michigan—so I finally decided to try it.
And you know what? It wasn’t half bad! Meaning…it was better than some actual Chinese restaurant General Tso’s I’ve had!
I would definitely buy this again (it’s available at regular stores, so it wasn’t just a closeout at Big Lots—in Michigan it’s available at D&W, Farmer Jack, Felpausch, Kessel, Kroger, Meijer, Spartan, and Wal-Mart) and now I am more willing to try the other packet mixes they have!