yummm

Welcome to my new obsession... making my own frappuccinos! I got the idea from a website that I subscribe to, it gives great money saving tips, and other stuff. It isn't exactly her recipe, but it tastes fabulous. I guess "the bucks" actually sells their syrups, but I just use French Vanilla coffee, and a nice splash of vanilla flavored creamer. Plus milk and choc syrup. That's all!

I make the coffee double-strength, and then freeze it in ice cube trays. That way when I blend it, I don't use ice and it doesn't get all watered down.
I blend it all up and enjoy it with a straw of course :) Everything tastes better when drank through a straw! The best thing is that I can make them decaf!! That's not an option when you're paying $4 for a glass.

And Steve calls them "Frappemochachinos" or something similar, lots of words smushed into one :) He says they're just as good as a store bought one though he isn't quite as obsessed as I am.

how we spent our v-day

We normally don't really go all out on these types of holidays. We're not really big on giving each other gifts, or surprises like that. My idea of the perfect way to spend it is if we can spend some time together. But since we had a busy weekend planned, I thought it'd be great if we went out to breakfast. I wanted to go someplace we hadn't been before, and someplace relatively cheap. So I found a diner downtown that seemed like just the place. We invited some friends and had a great time. What we didn't count on was the hour and a half wait for our food! That part we could have done without. And even though we were there forever and I had brought my camera along with, I never did get a picture.

Then we chilled at home for a bit before Steve had to be on campus to begin recording. He spent the afternoon setting up and recording tracks for the band's new ep we're hoping to get out this spring.


Here's what I did in betewI listened and snapped pix :)

new kit

Steve has wanted a new drum kit for several years now. He's priced brand new kits several times and we were both astounded at how much it'd cost to get what he wanted. So he's been watching e bay and craigs list for a while, halfway thinking that it'd be impossible for him to actually find something second-hand that he'd be happy with.

Then a few weeks ago he announced that he thought that he'd found the one. It was priced fairly low even for a used kit, but there was no 'buy it now' price (you had to bid along with everyone else) so that could change quickly. He decided to watch it and bid late in the auction. The auction ended around half time of the superbowl, so we watched, and refreshed, and watched some more. Then he won the auction, and was the only bidder on it! Yay! So all that to say, here's Steve's 'new' kit!!!

Pictures the day it arrived:


Pictures of it set up in our basement:
Oh, and he's pretty excited-- he loves it. That kind of goes without saying :)

I finally just went ahead and did it

I bought tickets today for me and Steve to see Stomp on April 1st. I've been thinking about it since Thanksgiving or something, but hesitant because our schedules are sometimes so last-minute that I'd really hate it if a bunch of stuff came up and we were so busy wished we didn't buy them. I thought of surprising Steve like he did for me last Valentine's with Annie tix, but I'm really bad with surprises... not being surprised, I love that, just bad with keeping exciting stuff from Steve I guess :) Anyway, we're 15 rows from the front! I am pretty pumped to see it! I've heard that it's a great show, especially for someone who appreciates percussion (that would be my husband and not myself).

remember this?

Last Christmas (as in '07, over a year ago) I got a very strange string of phone calls.

I'm still pretty hesitant to answer out of state area codes from phone numbers that I don't recognize, usually it's just a sales call anyway so I just let it go to voicemail. Well, on Christmas day, I got such a phone call and didn't think much of it as I let it ring and let voicemail pick up. A while later I saw that the person had left a message, and wondered who it was. A familiar voice was on the other line... "Hey Jack and Judy, it's Tom. I wanted to catch you before you guys left for Florida, but you might have left already. I was just calling to wish you a Merry Christmas." He rattled on for a few more minutes. Seriously? Steve thought that it's a prank, but seriously? Who has the time to call again a year later and relive the prank. Poor guy, he probably thinks that Jack and Judy are neglecting him. :)