The Free Carnation from Fry’s

Me and my DH went to Fry’s on Mother’s Day. They have a lot of things going on there since it was also their 25th anniversary. They have free tasting of Belgian chocolates, free taste of energy drinks and they are giving a stem of Carnation to mothers and saying “Happy Mother’s Day”. Guess what? They gave me one.

Do I look pregnant? Am I that fat? Me and my DH don’t think so.  Maybe the guy who gave the carnation was just being nice and he wants to make sure that he don’t waste any of those nice flowers.

It was really nice indeed! The Carnation is still alive! No sign of wilting. Not one bit. I never replenished the water ever since I put it in the vase.
 
My brother-in-law and his wife gave us a visit last week. He  saw the the flower and thought  it was fake! He was funny coz he bit one of the leaves just to make sure its real!

So if you’re planning to give someone a bouquet if flowers, give them Carnations.

Newmans Own Ranch Dressing and my home made sweet tea

I can't think of anything to eat for lunch today so I just grabbed the lettuce, sliced a tomato and drizzled it with my favorite ranch dressing. For my drink- home made Sweet Tea.


I was never a fan of the ranch dressing. I was a Caesar salad girl. I try other vinaigrettes but if Caesar is available it will always be my first pick. 


It was just about three weeks ago when I first tried the ranch dressing. It was the day when went shopping at Big Lots. It was just a 15 minute walk from our place so I didn't bother to take the bus. BUT man! It was sunny that afternoon and I was carrying 3 heavy bags! I was also so hungry so I decided to stop by McDonald's. 


I can't spend too much no more because I already charged $100 that day to my gold card I can only order from the dollar meal---sweet tea and salad with a ranch dressing. 


Then there it was, the Newman's Own Ranch Dressing pack. It was soooo good! I really can't describe how it taste. If you're not a fan of sour dressings, this the the dressing for you! 


I told my DH we need to buy a bottle of that yummy dressing when we were shopping for groceries but it was hard to find! It was sad but a couple of weeks after we were able to get it from Walmart. It was the last bottle! 


I'm sure you all have tried or tasted a ranch dressing but if you haven't tried this particular brand, YOU SHOULD! You can get the dollar meal from McDo or just find the dressing from your local stores.

Now let me tell you about my Sweet Tea. I love McDonald's Sweet Tea. It is really sweet though. It doesn't taste like tea anymore! After that day, I've been making my own sweet tea at home. I have two pitchers ready everyday. 


Its just really easy and cheap to make! Three bags of Black tea can make 4 liters of Sweet tea.  The good thing in making your own sweet tea is you can control its sweetness. I put honey to my tea coz its healthier. It also  adds flavor to it. 


Now, let me finish my lunch! :)

3rd Decade Celebration and the almost forgotten 10th month

My DH celebrated his 3rd decade the same day as our 10th month as a married couple (Yup! May 17!). We totally forgot that it was our 10th month. I forgot all about it because I was too busy thinking about what to do and what gift to give him. I was a bit sad because I couldn't do much. I've thought of preparing a surprise dinner. I also thought it would be nice to send him a cake at work. BUT...I got so stressed that I really didn't get to plan anything!

So what I did was surprise him by going to the city. PLAN: Dupe him by asking him to go to Sephora to request for some free samples . It was a last minute decision so I just rushed to the door, waited for the bus hoping he's not on his way home. I was thinking he might go home early since its his birthday. I had to call him just to make sure he is still in the office. I wanted to get there by 4pm but the bus I was waiting for came 30 minutes late! I was in a bit of a panic mode but still hopeful. I got to the BART station 5 minutes before 4pm and waited for the next train for 10 minutes.

I sent him text message while I was on the train asking him what time he will come home. It was 4:15 pm when he said he was just going to finish one more thing then he's going to be on his way. Tic tac... tic tac... how I wish i could speed the train up and get to Powell station in 10 seconds! As soon as I stepped out of the train I called him and ask where he was. He was just grabbing his bag and on his way out. Then I asked him to stop by Sephora at Powell street to ask for a sample of the Shiseido SPF 60 Sunblock. I told him to call me once he got there so I can tell him which particular brand. He fell for it!

10 minutes later my phone rang and there he was! YEAH!!!! My plan worked! I was laughing so hard that in just 10 seconds of the call I revealed my self!

So that was the BIG surprise. I still am pretty sad because I didn't get to give him a present or give him a better surprise. I just hope he was happy... I think he was and he is happy that we got to celebrate his birthday together. Last year I was miles away so celebrate it via web (special thanks to SKYPE!)

So we had dinner at Green Papaya,a Vietnamese restaurant we love in San Francisco. Took the BART going home and bought a Mango Cheesecake at Red Ribbon. When we got home we called his family on Skype so they can join us when he blow the candles on his cake. It was a simple celebration but I was just glad that we are together and I got to greet him in person and give him kisses and hugs.

My birthday boy enjoying his Pork and Egg Roll Vermicelli.

His birthday cake. 1 candle per decade :)

I forgot to mention we also had wine. Yellow Tail Shiraz

This was his request. It was so funny! Of course I gave him his request!

In about a week its my turn to add another candle to my cake. We will be driving down to L.A. to spend the holiday weekend with his family. I was calculating and found out that next year my birthday will again fall on the 3-day weekend again! I'm so excited! We're going to Disneyland!!! I'm so like a kid! I've never been to Disney! A dream come true I guess. I just wish my brothers and sister are here so we can be kids again and enjoy the rides. I miss my family.

I'm sure my birthday this year will be fun but its still different celebrating it with all the people you love. Half of the people I love are half way around the globe. Sad but I won;t let it ruin my year. Anyway we might go home next year or they might visit my next year. Who knows? All I know is we will still see each other and be together soon!

The New Place

It's been almost four weeks or almost a month since I last posted something here. I didn't forget about this page! I was just busy I guess. I mentioned we are moving to Concord, CA right?

We're done moving and now I will give you a tour of our new place. It's still pretty bare but we already have a bed frame and a futon for our living room. It still needs decors but its not that important now. We can do that little by little.

Let me first tell how different the place is. Its so peaceful at night. I can go out for a walk by myself. There are trees everywhere. And the best thing about our new place is its just walking distance from groceries/Mercado, malls and dozens of restaurants. Mexican, American, Asian, Mediterranean etc...

Its a Latino area unlike our old place. I feel safer here. I think I have to learn how to speak in Spanish again!

Now, lets start the tour!

I already gave you a sneak peek of our patio a few weeks ago. It still looks the same. No lamps or other stuff there yet. I'm planning to plant potted herbs though. I will surely blog about it since I have no idea how to do it! I'm still researching about gardening.

Next is the Living room.

During our first week in the new place we bought extra large toss/throw pillows from BIG Lots which are 75% off. I'm big on SALE items. If I see a CLEARANCE or any % sign, I go running towards that shelf. We don't have enough budget for our sofa during that time since we had to give a big deposit for our new place.

We ordered a futon from Walmart last week. It was scheduled to be delivered yesterday but it arrived Tuesday morning which was two days early! YEY!!! I didn't tell my DH that they already delivered it. I wanted to surprise him so I assembled it by myself. It wasn't hard because its not heavy! It only took me 10 minutes to assemble it. By the way, HE got really surprised! When he opened the door he didn't noticed it. He even asked me " So whats your surprise?". I told him "What? Can't you see it?". It was so funny. We laughed all night!

I know the pillows are huge but we will get smaller ones soon.You have to try sitting here with those pillows! Its so comfy!

Now the bedroom:

We bought the mattress the day after I arrived here in the United States but since we were planning to move out of Vallejo, we didn't buy those big furnitures so we wont have a hard time moving them.

We got this really cute bed frame from IKEA. We had a budget so this one is perfect.(and so girlie! :))

We still need another night stand. BTW, we got that Oak night stand from Craigslist FREE!!! :)

Next, the office.

Its messy as always. A lot of papers and computer stuff. Again, there are a lot of stuff we need buy. For this room I think we need drawers for our documents and office supplies. We have a tiny book shelf but it looks weird and is wiggly so we have to find a replacement for that too.

The left side is HIS and the right is MINE! :)

The last thing is the bathroom/laundry room.

I love the idea that the washer and dryer is inside the bathroom. You can put your dirty/used clothes straight to the laundry bin right before you take a bath! I also love the big vanity counter and nice lighting.

I have a lot of make up brushes so I used my brush belt to organize and hang it.

I don't have a picture of the kitchen coz I'll do that on a separate blog as an introduction to my RECIPE blogs :)

So, that's our place. I'll update you of any changes that we will be doing in the future!

Thanks for reading!

Watch out for my Recipe blog!