I love... (part 14)

I love how I felt yesterday when I received a gift ticket to see WICKED.
I love how much fun I had at the special Valentine's Dinner from Saturday night.
I love my husband and how much time we spent together last weekend.

I loathe... (part 8)

I loathe songs that are played over and over again on the radio.
I loathe a huge bag of candy containing no chocolate (such a waste).
I loathe clutter.

Feelin' Nostalgic Are We?

The other day my nostalgia was triggered. It happens. I thought it might be fun to list some of my triggers and ask all the readers to leave at least one as a comment. I may add to this list as I think of more.

• The taste of a doughnut on a moving day.
• The smell of a dewy softball field.
• The sound Belle and Sebastian while cooking or doing dishes with David.
• The smell of sawdust.

I love... (part 10)

I love avocado.
I love my new Bodum coffee press.
I love eating with chopsticks.

Traditions in Daba Town (part 1)

We have a lot of traditions in Daba Town. Some we established as early as December 2006 (when David and I became an official couple). There are some we try very hard to keep and some we have missed a few times, yet it is still in the back of my mind. We made a rule when we got married: "We're our own family now! We get to make our own traditions!"

Since we have just experienced the massive celebratory season (middle November to middle January) and since we have a couple celebrations coming up, I thought it would be fun to list some of our non-traditional traditions.

• Birthdays- David's birthday is coming up: Birthdays begin with sparkling Welch's grape juice at midnight. They are spent with spouse = slave of birthday spouse. Usually this day includes an expensive restaurant meal (on top of family home-made, birthday person's requested meal some day after actual birthday). Since we are impatient people here in Daba Town, we usually buy expensive presents "for each other" in mid November and call them our "Christmas/Birthday" gifts. By the time birthdays come around, we always like to spend a little more on a small token-ish present, usually a video game.
  
• Valentine's Day- We were very poor for our first couple of Valentine's Days, so we began the $5 limit rule. For Valentine's Day we exchange gifts worth $5 or less. We've decided that after every 5 years of marriage we will add $5 to our gift limit. (David wanted us to start at $50 and work our way down, but he knows we can't afford THAT every year.)
• Thanksgiving- When on our own in Kentucky and working at the movie theater on Thanksgiving, we made the traditional mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, deviled eggs, and pumpkin pie. We also included egg rolls and jalapeno poppers.
  
• Daba Day- January 26th, the average of our two birthdays. We didn't do anything special for Daba Day this year because on that particular day we were really busy with school. This day came about because of the Wii. We thought it would be fun to make a "Mii" character who was the average of both our features. It was just a joke. When they asked for the name, of course we put Daba, but then it asked the birthday and we realized Daba needed a special day! Why put our anniversary when we can come up with another day to make special- another "excuse" to have fun? Thus the average of our birthday became a Daba Town holiday. Sometimes it is celebrated with a date or just making time to spend together at home, but we always say "Happy Daba Day!"

To be continued... but... What are some of your non-traditional traditions?

Lessons Learned

Today I learned or was reminded of the following lessons... some are good, some are bad:

1. Fresh-fallen snow is beautiful.
2. Falling snow makes the world quieter.
3. Buses run late when it is snowing.
4. Walking for thirty minutes in the snow causes one's face to freeze if not properly covered.
5. Walking for thirty minutes in the snow causes one's legs to freeze if not properly covered (more than normally covered).
6. Walking like one would ice skate causes friction in one's shoes resulting in a happy warmth.
7. A stainless steel Starbuck's travel mug will protect coffee from freezing temperatures for longer than thirty minutes.

I love... (part 5)

I love crossing items off lists.
I love fleece blankets (my new Snuggie).
I love crackers with tomato, Brie cheese, and basil.

I loathe... (part 3)

I loathe cilantro.
I loathe seeing purple with yellow.
I loathe seeing red with green.

I love... (part 2)

I love coffee, especially on a chilly morning.
I love cold weather because of the comfy clothes, shoes, and blankets that get used.
I love pumpkin.

Ignored, Insulted, and Entertained

Results of our date night:

We went to the Vietnamese Pho Nouveau Bistro in downtown Boise last night. We'd been there before at lunch, but never for dinner. When we got there we were happy and excited about a date. It's been awhile since we've had one and a really long time since we've done something besides a movie. Things started to go downhill about two minutes after we sat down. The waitress seemed distracted and uninterested in serving us. After the initial taking of the order we had to stop her to ask her for something ... every ... single ... time. We ordered the spring roll appetizer, the chicken pho (pronounced fuh), the clear noodle soup (VERY clear noodles in purple-tinted liquid with various sea foods and veggies).On top of bad service, she took our food to be boxed, forgot about it till we asked for the bill, let it sit next to the bin of dirty dishes (20 minutes?), and boxed it after dessert but before bringing our bill. She didn't say goodbye or thanks or anything. The only redeeming quality of the experience was the amazing French press coffee and homemade tiramisu with coconut cream on the side. We walked out the door and trashed the leftovers at the first available bin. Talk about a $45 waste of a meal.

The opening band for the Killers' concert insulted the audience by discussing the Boise renown "right wing" majority. They said we were all right wing compared to them being left wing... ummm... at a ROCK CONCERT don't you think many people might be middle of the road or left wing even in a city like Boise? For the people who are right wing: who wants to be stereotyped anyway? They didn't get much enthusiasm from the crowd. The second band was an English-speaking mariachi band. They seemed to be mellow and glad to play for us and we enjoyed their music.

The Killers were AMAZING. We overheard 10-20 people saying this was the best show they'd ever been to or that the show was much better than they expected. I've experienced the Killers before and they did not disappoint. Since this venue was larger than the last, we got to see an excellent light show with confetti on top of the high-energy entertainment that is typical of the Killers. I guess they can still be my favorite band.

I loathe... (part 1)

I loathe bacon.
I loathe stale cigarette-scented clothes.
I loathe wet spots on tile floors while wearing flip-flops.

I love... (part 1)

I love the word "Tuesday."
I love hidden public bathrooms that hardly ever get used.
I love cinnamon.