Trip to Spokane 2008

We stuffed the car full of suitcases, presents, cookies, and fudge and left for Spokane on the 19th after work. Little did we know, the drive through Northern California would be the worst part of our journey. Kevin learned to put chains on our tires and Sparty drove us nuts with his whining when Kevin would get in and out of the car. After finally arriving in Medford at 2 in the morning we crashed for a few hours to start the drive over again in the morning.
We drove all day on Friday and managed to get in at around 9:30 pm. Kevin did such a great job driving in the compact snow, especially along the Dalles. The scariest part was driving down Sunset Hill (you Spokanites know the one) into Spokane, which was coated in black ice.
We finally made it though, and kicked off our vacation with champagne at the Radeckis. I, however, was beginning to not feel well, which turned into a cold with a stomach bug on top of that! This little guy made everything better, though:
I made sure to soak in all the time I possibly could with Damien. He's grown up so fast! He has such a great personality and a laugh that gives me warm fuzzy feelings. I can't wait to see him when I fly in for his birthday in Feb!
Anywho, back to our trip. There was so much snow in Spokane that they declared a state of emergency. It was insane. We kept our chains on most of the time we were there, resulting in them breaking. This was a great source of anxiety for us as we prepared to leave for home again, as EVERYWHERE was sold out of chains.
We made it to a few functions, though. Kevin met with Seth andI went to Cassie's 21st birthday dinner at Cafe Europa (where I ate almost nothing, but what I ate was good) and hanging out with my friend Bryce at Flamin' Joes, a really great wing place on Sprague was really fun.
At this point, I was still kinda sick, but I forced down a beer, some joe-joes, and wings. It had to be done.
Christmas Eve was spent at Kayla's. We had prime rib with delicious peppercorn sauce, Kayla's yam casserole, smothered green beans, garlic mashed potatoes, and the family recipe for delicious rolls.
Then we opened presents. The only pictures worth posting are these two:
Kevin was our elf and Damien was just adorable. Damien got the most presents and we got a nice electric roaster from Mama and Papa. Thanks Mama and Papa! Due to the South Hill (where Kayla lives) getting lots of snow that evening, Kevin and I borrowed PJ's and stayed the night. We watched the saddest movie ever, Click. Don't watch it.
Christmas day was spent at the Radeckis. Bernie was called into work that morning, but the rest of us had an amazing breakfast of ham, monkey bread (I want the recipe, but I don't own a bundt pan), orange rolls, scrambled eggs, and really, really large mimosas. We took a nap afterwards.
Present opening at the Radeckis is always fun, especially when Kevin brings our video camera and inserts his fun commentary.Don't forget about Sparty! He stayed at the Radeckis too! He had lots of fun in the snow and playing with Toby (the collie) and everyone else.

I stayed at Mama and Papa's house and had the pleasure of sharing my old bedroom with it's new inhabitant, Pickles, who enjoys the pleasure of crocheting (or just my yarn) as much as I do.We got lots of wedding stuff done while we were in town, including beginning our invitations, meeting with our florist, and deciding on some gorgeous bridesmaid dresses! It was nice to have fun on vacation, but I'm glad I don't have to think about those things anymore!
Our final night in Spokane we went out to dinner to celebrate Bernie's (Kevin's father) graduation from the WSU nursing program. He's officially all done. Yay for Bernie! We went out to Black Angus, which apparently now has a corkage fee, FYI. It was a really nice meal, thanks for the treat, Francie.
Afterwards Matt, Nate, Kevin, and myself went to O'Doherty's, a pub that turned out to be better than our expectations.
I ordered a black and brown for the first time, which I think is one of my new favorites. Brian and Maggie met us there after a bit, mostly as an opportunity to say goodbye.
We left Spokane on Sunday morning. Road conditions were amazing, but we picked up chains in Kennewick anyway. We stayed the night in Eugene (and ordered AWESOME cheap Chinese food, it was called Kaloon, I think, and it was awesome. Get the Kung Pao.) and made the rest of the trip on Monday.
It was so great to visit with everyone! We loved seeing all of our friends and family. I'm personally so happy that I'm beginning to feel more and more like a Radecki everyday, the family has been super warm and inviting. I'm glad I'll be gaining two great brothers and wonderful parents when I marry Kevin in June.
And thank you to Dan and Anna for watching our apartment while we were gone and keeping my plants nice and green!

Decking the Halls

To begin our festivities, I put on some mulled wine.
It was delicious. Anywho, we then put on our all-time favorite Christmas movie: Love Actually. I highly recommend it. And then we got to decking the halls.
Lights on:
Lights off:
It looks really nice. We even went out and bought a wreath yesterday while we were out and about with Spartacus. He really loved going into Home Depot, there were a whole bunch of new smells.
Our apartment building was painted recently but they have neglected to get to our door done. It's supposed to be black
Anywho, I hope everyone else is getting in the Christmas spirit! We can't wait to see everyone in Spokane over the holiday!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Oh man, are we full. No one had better expect us to get up off the couch for the next couple hours. It won't happen. So, where to begin...?
This is Hank. Ahhh, he's naked!
I put him in at about 10, stuffed full of orange, celery, onion, and a whole head of garlic. A whole stick of butter made it under his skin. Throughout the roasting process I brushed him with a mixture of pinot grigio, veg oil, soy sauce, cayenne, and garlic powder. We'll come back to him later.
Kevin wouldn't let me buy the prepeeled, pre chopped sweet potatoes, so I told him it was up to him to peel them. What a great fiance :).
I used a recipe from the Crockpot Lady and had it getting all happy while the turkey was in the oven. I waited to put on the marshmallows until the potatoes were about done, then switched the crock to warm.
This is Sparty sitting for the turkey heart I cooked for him. He gets the heart from most birds I cook.
Around noon I made my clam stuffed mushrooms. I made some variations from the recipe, adding a bit of cream cheese to the mix. Very tasty, Kevin loved them.
Remember Hank? Well he turned out gorgeous. Perfectly cooked and very moist.
We got everything out on the table, which seems a bit silly now since we didn't sit down for very long. But it looked nice. It was quite the spread. Note how we have very little serving dishes. I bet we have a few on our wedding registry. *hint* *hint*
My candied yams were sooooo delicious. I'm never using canned ones again. Our wine, the Malbec, was pretty good. Kevin didn't care for it much so he stuck to the Pinot Grigio. The turkey was tasty, especially the skin. Even though we had the wine we still got a bottle of sparkling cider, which was gone very quickly.
Oh, and let's not forget Sparty's dinner! Pardon the picture of our embarrassing carpet held together with duct tape.
Then we took a big nap. Then we ate our pumpkin bars with some cool whip. There won't be a picture of that, due to the camera's batteries dying and the choice between getting new batteries or chowing down on the delicious slice of home-baked numminess in front of me. Guess which option I chose.
We hope our family and friends are having a good Thankgiving, we're so thankful for all of you and we can't wait to see you at Christmas.
Now, off for more wine and turkey sandwiches!

Happy Updates

We got our car back on Friday! Yay! It's cleaner than I have ever seen it. It probably looks about brand new. The only thing that I don't like is that everything in the car smells like leather polish and it's all slippery. We took Sparty to the dog park on Saturday and he immediately got snot all over the back window, but it's still pretty on the outside!
We also registered at Macy's on Saturday. Feel free to check out our registry and then purchase things!
Thanksgiving preparations are underway. We went shopping last night for all of the fixin's. And Kevin said I could get some pretty flowers for our table. I love snapdragons...
Not very Thanksgiving-y, but whatever. And I did it all by myself. Maybe I can really pull off doing our wedding centerpieces...
Oh, and the last piece of good news. I registered for my final classes as an undergrad, and I won't have to be gone three evenings out of the week. I'll have one night class once a week on Thursdays and a once a month class on the last Saturday of each month. Kevin and I are both super happy that I'll be home more.
Maybe I'll post again tomorrow when I make my pumpkin bars. Have a super Tuesday!

Thanksgiving Plans

So I've been trying to plan out our meal for this Thanksgiving. I just LOVE an excuse to be in the kitchen all day. Here's what I have to far:

Appetizers
Clam Stuffed Mushrooms (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bobs-Stuffed-Mushrooms/Detail.aspx)
Olives (which Kev won't be eating, weirdo)
Crackers
Main Meal
Slow baked Turkey (My secret recipe, heh)
Stuffing (Stove Top with some add-ins)
Mashed Potatoes (Not sure if they are going to be real or not)
Candied Yams (complete with Marshmellows!)
Kev's mom's rolls or Crescent rolls, if hers don't arrive on time
Cranberry sauce
Beverages
Sparkling cider (of course!)
Cameron Hughes Lot 52 2006 Malbec
Dessert
Pumpkin Bars with Strudel Topping (if I can find my old recipe)

Additionally, we may be getting our car back either today or Monday. Cross your fingers with me for today! If that happens we can actually leave the apartment this weekend! Yay!
We're going to miss our family and friends in Washington but we'll be thinking of you while we stuff our faces this Thanksgiving!
More to come soon...

Birthday Weekend!

Kayla and I turned 21 on November 7th. She and her husband flew down that day (they had to wake up pretty darn early) and the partying began. We started out the day with just some sammiches and some shopping. After stopping by Toys that Teach and buying some toys to spoil Damien with we went to Bevmo. They were having their five cent sale (buy one bottle of wine, get one for five cents). It was like destiny. 46 bucks later I was a happy camper and we headed home for wine and cheese.
Finally, it was time to get ready to go out! Our night was going to begin at Islands (burgers are a good food to begin a night of partying on), where we were meeting Dan and Anna. But first, we had to dress!
Yes, we decided to dress the same. As Cassie told me, she has never seen us dressed the same. Mama will love this, as she used to force this on us all the time when we were little. I think we looked good. We thought it would get us more free drinks (it didn't).

Spartacus loved having his Aunt and Uncle here. He especially loved David, who kept feeding him string cheese. We dropped him off at the Petshotel for a night of his own fun and a day of doggy day camp the next day. He had a good weekend as well.

So, Islands. Our hamburgers were delicious and we met our friends Dan and Anna there. Doesn't Anna look cute? Kayla and I enjoyed our first drinks of the evening. Mine tasted like a strawberry milkshake.
Dan and Anna got me a great set of silicon muffin pans. Thanks Dan and Anna!
After a couple bumps in the road, such as needing to get gas and having the GPS give us really bad directions, we arrived at our hotel... the Delta King!
After checking out our teeny tiny rooms and our cute little bathrooms we went up to the lounge on the upper deck. It was mostly full of older people, but the bartenders were really nice and they gave us our first free shot of the night. And I finally got my first drink with a sugared rim.
Our first bar after that was horrid. It was a packed Irish pub with this woman who was gyrating. The bouncer told us we would get free drinks there since it was our birthday, but then this woman was shaking her groove thing so hard that we couldn't even make it to the bar. She was really trying to catch the attention of the guy next to her. So, we got annoyed and went to a sports bar across the street which was much better, but didn't give us any free drinks. So we ordered cake shots, which are delicious. After that bar we wandered around Old Sac until we found a basement bar that was COMPLETELY empty except for us. We ordered a pitcher of beer and got some free drinks as well (it comes in handy being a good looking girl on your 21st birthday) and played some pool. Kevin and I won both times, suck it Kayla and David!
Finally, my friend Ricky and his wife showed up and we went to Fannie Anne's, which was a four level bar with a dance floor. Another free drink and a Guiness, we rocked out quite a bit, then posed for another shot.
We ended our evening not long after that, much to the dismay of Kayla, but I was quite ready for bed. Dancing makes you tired. After a night of horrid sleep (boats have thin walls and we were right next to the lobby) we woke up and searched out some breakfast at a snoodie place called Ambrosia Cafe in Sac. DON'T EAT THERE. They are rude and accuse you of not being able to handle Caesar salad. Rude.
Next came wine tasting at the Boeger Winery. It was fun, but after I tried a certain wine my hangover instantly began. Here's some pictures of Kayla and David (he doesn't drink wine) and one of the yuppies there. How long until you learn to swirl wine like the yuppies?
After a few hours of a nice break from drinking and eating the birthday cake Kevin made me (FUNFETTI!), we decided to spend a quiet evening at the Streets of London Pub in Folsom. We ordered lots of appetizers, including deep fried dill pickles, yum! I also attempted to play darts, which went not well. We've decided to make the pub our bar. 11 bucks for a pitcher is not bad at all. :)
All in all, it was a really good weekend. We ended it with brunch this morning. I made my world famous French toast and Kevin handled the bacon and Mimosas. There are no pictures because I was busy cooking and stuffing my face.
Thanks for flying down, Kayla and David! We really enjoyed having you! And thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes and presents!

Hit and Run

As a few of you know, either from calls or my lovely facebook status, I was involved in a hit and run accident yesterday on my way home from CPS. I stopped for a crosswalk and was rear-ended by a yellow older pickup truck. He signaled that he was going to find a place to pull over, then drove off. They most likely won't catch him.
So, here's some great pictures of the car. It looks slightly worse in person. I took the car to a couple body shops and they are giving me estimates in the ballpark of 2500 bucks. Additionally, there may be 500-1000 more in damages that they can't see. Super, right? Plus, we'll have to rent a car for a few days. Add an extra hundred bucks or so.
I'm mostly fine, as is my passenger. I'm having some neck pain, though, so the insurance company is going to taking care of some massage therapy. I have my first appointment tonight. Mostly I'm just angry at the dude for driving off and angry at myself for not looking at his license plate.
Thanks for everyone's concern. I love you all.

Getting ready for Halloween!

As many of you know, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Look at what happens when I get sent to Safeway without Kevin: I buy mini pumpkins and a cute leaf bowl. And of course, candy corn to fill the bowl with. The books in the background are the books I've been using for my HUGE research paper for my Social Work Research and Methods class. Yeah, feel sorry for me.
Heck, I just love that Halloween means the beginning of my favorite three months. October- Halloween. November- Birthday and Thankgiving. December- CHRISTMAS and New Years Eve. The trifecta of awesome holiday months. Anywho, so we carved pumpkins tonight. And, according to tradition (meaning we did this last year, too) we made mojitos.
These are our pumpkins TK-421 and Emotie. The names will make sense when you see how they are carved.
Mine is the one on the right, the bigger, awesome one.
One and a half hours later, here they are! Do you get why the one on the left is called Emotie? Anna didn't get why it was sideways, but she's not a huge nerd.
Bonus points if you can tell what Kevin's pumpkin is.
We ended the night with another round of mojitos when Anna came over to let Dex and Sparty play (Man, Sparty is spoiled.). Dexter wanted to check out the new pictures of Damien on Facebook, so he borrowed my computer...