Valentine's Day, etc, etc, etc....

Good news!!! The women's basketball team beat San Diego 64-50! Now we're in second in the conference. We just need two more wins, and we'd be at the top!

This week I started working out for the first time since my surgery last summer. It's kinda ridiculous how difficult it is for me. And how much I hurt! lol. For some reason whenever I do something strenuous, a muscle in my leg starts doing weird things. Every time I step down, it vibrates. No idea why. Last night my muscles were so sore that every time Jeff bumped into me it hurt. But I'm doing a lot better today, so hopefully that's a good sign. :)

Last night we went out to dinner at Olive Garden. We don't usually go out to eat at such expensive places, but they had a deal where we got soup, a main course and a dessert for $13. Our waitress was awesome. :) She was a little old lady from Spain who spoke with a thick accent and called everybody "sweetheart." She also kept asking if everything was beautiful and asked us, "How are you beautiful people?" She was so sweet. :) The next time we go back to Olive Garden, I'm definitely going to request one of her tables.

She recommended the most delicious soup, too! The gnocchi soup was soooooooooooooo good. But, I don't recommend it if you're planning on having a main course, too. Jeff and I were both stuffed before our entrees even came out. :) And the entrees were really good too. I had tortellini with a delicious tomato sauce. And it was made from real tomatoes, not canned, which scores big points for me after having canned food from another restaurant.... Jeff adored his meal too. His was a lot smaller than mine and he barely finished. (He did have a second helping of my soup after eating his minestrone. Did you know you can have free refills of soup at Olive Garden? I didn't...) I think he had mozzarella chicken with a four cheese sauce on penne. Yum! And for dessert, we had chocolate mousse with a cookie crust. Yum! I had no more room, but I ate it anyway. lol. I had to take more than half of my entree home, though. I pushed it around to make it look like I ate half, because there was no way I could get any more tortellini in me. (I ate it for dinner tonight, and even after a day in the fridge it was delicious.)

Work got a little crazy by the end of the week. We got award nominations at the last minute, so I'm feverishly trying to get info back from all the SIDs. We still don't have all the nominations, and the first round of voting is supposed to take place Thursday! I'm trying to get everything together by Tuesday, but I'm not hopeful...

Tomorrow is the last episode of Downton Abbey! Ah!!! Unlike lots of people, I didn't try to find all the episodes online so I could watch it straight through. I figured I had enough stuff to keep me busy, I didn't need to spend two whole days on the couch watching a TV show. I'm so excited to see how it all turns out. After this, maybe Jeff and I will get back to watching Robin Hood. Did I tell you how cute he was during the finale of the second season? He cried. That NEVER happens. I've seen him cry three times, and the other two times were during movies/plays about the Holocaust. I probably did tell you about that.... Oh, well. It's going on my list of favorite memories because it was so cute. :)

Sunday I made pink lemonade blossoms. :) They were yummy! I used Paula Deen's recipe for lemon blossoms, but I added strawberry extract to the batter and some red food coloring. The food coloring turned it orange, so I added a lot of red sprinkles. Then it turned pink. I also added strawberry extract to the glaze, which resulted in an argument with Jeff. lol. He didn't realize that there is alcohol in most flavorings and almost wouldn't eat them because of it. Then I showed him that vanilla extract, which is in almost all frostings (which are not cooked), has more alcohol than strawberry extract. I took a big plate to my parents' house for a dinner party with my cousins and then took a container of them to work. They were gone by the time I left, which always means I did good. :)

It was my turn to do Valentine's dinner this year. I made Cornish game hens, which turned out pretty delicious. I also made asparagus and wild rice pilaf. For dessert, I made a cheesecake that looked like a conversation heart. It kind of turned out.... It tasted good, but I had a little trouble getting it out of the pan. :) We also had strawberry sparkling cider, which I loved. And a cheese course! I think I'm making that a tradition. If we have a fancy dinner, there will always be a cheese course. I just love it. It brings a little French elegance to the meal. And I love tasting different types of cheese.

For the Valentine's dinner, we had Dubliner cheese (and Irish cheese, obviously, that Jeff's parents introduced us to), shallot and chive Boursin and a German-style, herby Brie. I didn't realize it was Brie until I unwrapped it... And I remembered again why I don't like Brie. In France they leave cheese out of the fridge, and whenever I ate Brie I got soooo sick because of the unfamiliar bacteria. Now Brie tastes like a bad stomach ache to me, and my whole body tenses whenever I taste it, just waiting for the pain to spring up. I didn't get sick from this cheese, but I didn't eat much of it. Luckily, it was only 99 cents. It was probably close to its expiration date or something.

I've also decided the best real French bread around here is from Smith's. There's a kind you can bake yourself, which tastes so good and fresh. And when you bake it yourself, the crust comes out crispy and the insides thick and soft (not airy like the stuff they call French bread in the U.S.). Favorite.

Jeff was sweet and got me a picture frame with a picture of us in it for my desk at work. He also got me Charlotte's Web, only because it was the lone movie with a French language track that he could find. My sister and I used to watch that movie all the time when we were little. It's definitely a kid's movie.... (We watched it tonight with my little brother.) But I practically know the movie by heart because of how many times we watched it, so it's a good one to watch in French. AND it will be awesome for our kids to watch. :) So, kuddos to Jeff. He even outlined where it listed the French language track on the box. He also put a cute note in my lunch on the back of one of my extra Valentines.

I got him a sweater from Eddie Bauer (at 66 percent off, only $20 bucks!) and some cologne from Bath and Body Works. I really like it.... :) And I got him some milk chocolate truffles. (Lindt, of course!) Last Christmas I got him a whole bag of the big, round truffles, and he wouldn't eat them! He said he didn't like them, so I ended up eating them. Then a couple months ago we had them somewhere, and he ate a ton, saying he loved them. lol. Silly goose. So I bought him one of the truffle bars for Valentine's this year. The last thing I did for him was get a bunch of chapsticks. (He uses them all the time!) I wrote "TE AMO" on them, one letter on the top of each, and made a mini treasure hunt around the house. He had to find each of them to get a clue to find the next, then he unscrambled the message. Cheesy, I know, but I was trying. lol.

I also made him a card while I was at my grandma's last weekend. I thought it was cute, but it wasn't nearly as creative as what I used to do at Grandma's. Every time we went up there when I was in junior high and high school, I would make cards with her stamps and craft stuff. I got pretty good at it. Last weekend I was trying to remember all the tricks and cute things to do. In the end, I just stamped two figures and two words, colored the figures and glued them on sparkly paper that I glued onto the card. I need to get those skills back, because card making is so much fun!!!