Monday, October 31, 2011

Alan



Alan.... I almost don't know where to begin. At the beginning?? NO that is too hard. How about the end? Wait I don't like the ending.. :( NO matter how I slice it this is  hard thing for me.

Alan was so strong and he fought so hard. I am SO glad I got to see him before he left us.

...


It was really hard seeing him in the hospital struggling with his health.


...

I wish I new he was sick before I went to Europe, I would have given him huge hug. I know he knows that now.

....

I am proud to say that I was there for him in him in his time of need I stood by that bed and held his hand.

....

I was there

....


Some days are hard for me and I just cry for him. but there have been blessings from this.
I know how can she say that?? Well trust me I know Alan fulfilled his purpose on this earth. Do I like it?? NO

.....

My husband is being my rock and my foundation to lean on. My family has gotten stronger because our trials. But I still want it to go away....

...

It won't!

Alan I love you.

....

This is too hard for me.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Summer in Europe!

Summer has finally come!

     I have officially been out of school for 1 1/2 weeks. It has been so nice to sleep in and relax. Although, there hasn't been too much relaxing going on because Spencer and I are trying to get ready for your bog summer trip to Europe. There is so much stuff to think about and remember to do before we leave, and to remember to pack. We will be gone for 2 weeks and we will be visiting 6 different countries( Belgium, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Italy)! I am so excited. I have been trying to work as much as I can at the restaurant before our 2 weeks off and we have been trying to clean the house so we can come home with ease. My in-laws are already in Europe and I got to Facetime with them on our Ipad last Monday. It was so cool and it made me even more ready to go. Here are the things I am really excited about. ( not in any particular order)

1. Being in Paris
2. The mona Lisa/ Louvre
3. Eiffel Tower pictures with my Love
4. Crepes!!
5. German castles
6. Belgium chocolates
7. awesome architecture
8. Swiss fondue
9. Swiss alps
10. Rome/ colosseum/Vatican
11. Venice
12. Authentic Italian food
13. Being in Europe with my handsome husband

There are some things I am not really excited about ( also not in ay particular order).
1. The long flight
2. getting pick- pocketed on the train( i really hope this doesn't happen but I am worried)
3. The over night train to Italy
4. Waiting in long lines
5. getting lost

Well when I type it all out it doesn't seem so bad, lol.
This is going to be the trip of a lifetime and I am so grateful to mu in-laws for helping us be able to go on such an amazing trip. I know I will remember this for the rest of my life and it will totally be worth the money. Get ready Europe Mr and Mrs. Relitz are headed your way Monday June 27!!!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Mega Allergies

I have lived in the Central Valley my entire life and had never had any allergies until the last year and a half. Tons of people in the Valley suffer from allergies and I had always enjoyed NOT being one of those people.

Last spring i started showing signs of allergies so I stated taking an allergy pill and everything was fine. This spring things are not working out for me so far. I have been taking an allergy pill every day but it seems to be doing nothing. The sneezing, the runny/ stuffy nose, the ITCHY eyes, I just can't take it. All the while my husband is having no allergy problems. Great! I talked with my school nurse about what else I can do to help my allergies so I recently bought some over the counter eye drops for itchy eyes. They clear up the redness in my eyes a little but they are still itchy!

This morning I woke up and was convinced I had pink eye now because some people from work had it and it is very contagious. My eyes were so itchy, red, and there was goopy in my eyes. I called in sick to work and headed over to urgent care ( ya for having insurance now!) I saw the doctor and she said it was just allergies!

I Hate Allergies!

She wrote me some different prescriptions for a nasal spray and some other eye drops that should help a little but she didn't' give me any guarantee. When I went to wallgreens to pick up my medications the pharmacist said, " O you have allergies? You must not be from the valley." Weird because I am from the valley! I also decided to buy allergra. I am hoping this allergy pill will work better. It was a much higher dosage of antihistamines.

I told Spencer I am done with Fresno and I want to move ASAP to get out of this crappy air. December can;t come soon enough ( the month were are planing on moving out of this place to who knows where. maybe NY?? I hope)

Friday, April 22, 2011

Napa and the CIA

          Spencer and I just got back from a quick trip to Napa. NO we were not wine tasting but this was a very food related trip. The reason for the trip was so Spencer could attend an open house for the Culinary Institute of America (CIA).

          We left Tuesday late afternoon when Spencer got off of work and drove to his grandparents house in the bay area. We made  aside trip to Gilroy and bought a few things, of course! WE then drove to the grandparents house and slept on a twin air mattress together.
** Funny side note. - Spencer rold me to pick up the air mattress from his parents house before we left. I went over there and his mom handed me a mattress in a bag. when we got there and filled it with air it was so small. We laughed about it and AFTER the trip we asked his mom why she gave us the small one. She didn't know it was the small one but his dad told us that the large one was already at Grandma's house in the same room we slept in. haha O well


          The next morning we had to be at the open house at 9:30 and it was still another hour drive from the bay area.  The school was so beautiful.



The school was an old winery.

WE then  got a complimentary breakfast of muffins and fruit and we we went into a large conference room/ kitchen demo area.
WE got front row seats

a view at the other seats looking up

Spencer watching the intro video about the CIA 

In this room an admin person gave us the background information about the school and it was opened for questions. then we had to chefs, one from the culinary side and one from the baking and pastry side, give us some demos. 

The first chef gave us a mini class on taste vs flavor. How taste is just what your taste buds do and how flovor is more of an experience on taste and smell and the combination of different things together. She said there are 4 basic tastes; sweet, sour, bitter, salty. We all had a mat in front of us with a cantaloupe wedge and a red lettuce leaf called redicio. Then we had on the side some sugar, salt, lime, and cayenne pepper. 

She had us add different combinations of these things to see hoe it affected the flavor.

After her mini class we had another chef come out and make peanut brittle and answer questions about the pastry bakery program. He talked about his life in this career. It was  cool. We all got some samples of the brittle too. Amazing!


These Tv allowed us to watch what he was doing

He is stretching the candy

After this we went on a guided tour of the school with a current student.

This was the view right when you entered the school.

This was a classroom where we saw students studying different types of lettuce leafs. So cool


Those white trays had the different lettuce leafs on them 

This was one of the student kitchens

another view of the same kitchen

The chocolate room where they make cakes and chocolates

The student store

A hall where they hold events

The large Student kitxchen. They said they can have up to 4 classes going on in here at the same time



The bakery kitchen

The student herb garden

It was so cool!
They even have a student run restaurant where the student spend 12 weeks  doing all of the jobs in a restaurant including designing and king the menu. 

After the tour we went to italian cafe in the town and split a yummy panini and fries ( the fries came with a delicious basil pesto to dip it in...yummmmmy) and then we had some gillato. We hit the road back home and came across the Jelly Belly factory!


So we had to stop and go on the free tour! It was really cool to see such a huge factory for something so small like a jelly bean!


As we were leaving the factory we saw a sign that said Olive Oil Tasting, so we followed the signs until we found a small shop near the Jelly Belly factory they sold fancy olive oils and balsamic vintagers. We talked with the owner and told her how Spencer is planning on going to culinary school and she pulled out this large tray with tons of different grades and flavors of olive oil. They talked to us about the different health benefits while we sampled the oils and then the vinegars. yummy. 
It was a lot of fun. Then we headed home through the rolling hills of Napa! Beautiful. 





It was such a fun trip.We loved the school we HOPE he can be accepted. The application is done and the transcripts are sent. Now we wait.






  



Thursday, April 14, 2011

Tipping

          I don't understand why some people go out to eat when they can't afford to tip, or for that matter afford to pay for their bill. I have been working in a restaurant for over 3 years now and I just don't understand some of these people sometimes.

          What is with the $5 tip people? I understand if your bill is under $30 but really if your bill is $80 or $100, $5 is no way to say thank you. People are so frustrating. Or the way people just tip you with their words. They say, " O great job, you were awesome tonight!" and then you get like a $3 tip??? There are also those Lovely's who leave a fat 0 tip! 
          This is just so frustrating because when i get a 0 tip it means I am paying money because the restaurant expects me to tip the people help me because they expect me to get a tip. 
          I am not taling bad service here, i'm talking about cheap people, and there are plenty of them. It is also frustrating when the restaurant I work at does not add Gratuity to large parties. WE always get a ton of large parties on the weekend 15+ people and it is usually separate checks ( a huge pain). Although you always say, "O it's no problem." Its hard and annoying to do, not to mention it takes longer. 
          There are those nice tables or large parties who will leave a fair or even generous tip which will sometimes make up for the slackers. But what I'm trying to say is if you don't have the money to tip, DONT GO OUT! It's  easy.  or order to-go. 
  


Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Sick and Just Sick of It!

          

          Today I am sadly home sick. Yesterday I had terrible allergies which I am now starting to think maybe I was just coming down with something. I woke up this morning feeling so heavy, stuffy, and with a huge headache. I decided to call in sick from work. I then didn't wake up until 11:00 am! Spencer has been taking care of me and now he is at work! ( so proud of him by the way). I am sick and tired of blowing my nose and feeling awful! I haven't been sick for a while and my o my this is draining on my body. It's rough when it is such a beautiful day outside to sick. :(

     Yesterday before i was 100% miserable Spencer and I had the night off together so we made dinner and had the Tatums over for Family Home Evening. Spencer made grilled buffalo steaks we bought from Whole Foods ( just for fun) and I made baked potatoes! The buffalo tasted funny to me so he made me a NY steak instead (much better). Our spiritual thought was on Conference and then we played a game show game called Buzz Quiz! It was a lot of fun. Spencer and I went to bed around 11 ( or I fell asleep around then. He usually stays awake longer).

     It was a pretty fun evening ( minus the fact that I was getting sick).

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Bacon and Chocolate?


Last month Spencer and I sold a ton of homemade chocolate covered strawberries and we had some left over chocolate. I saw on a food network show that there was a candy store that sold chocolate covered bacon. It looked weird but at the same time very interesting. I wanted to try it so we used some of our extra chocolate to dip some bacon. yummm..

Sadly the flavors did NOT mix well. In case you want to know what it tastes like ill tell you: First it is sweet, smooth, and rich, followed by a Super salty bacon taste. Yuck. I was sadly disappointed. For some reason I was leaning toward really like this and honestly I am a little sad it was a flop. Maybe it wasn't us though. Maybe we just didn't have to right bacon or the right chocolate. Either way. :(


Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Birthday on it's way



Tomorrow is Saint Patricks day which is no big holiday for me but it does mean that 1 week from tomorrow I will be turning 22! I guess you can say I am a little excited for my Birthday but. there is no particular reason. Although I am perfectly content staying 21 for the rest of my life, but I'm sure my birthday will come whether i'm ready or not.

I dont have any plans ( at least that I know about), but I am alright with that.  Spencer and I have been very spoiled lately buying lots of really cool toys..namely



(Ordered but not here yet)

and then this summer we are going on a huge trip with the Relitz family




These are all of the reasons I don't want anything for my birthday. I am perfectly content with what I have. All I want is to have a night off with my husband, Ithink this might come true! :)






Saturday, March 12, 2011

ICE CREAM!

A few weeks ago we went with some friends to Hanford. WHY Hanford?? Let me show you.

It was so huge

This sunday is called the SOS

The battle begins.

The end! Yumm



After the ice cream, We walked around the old town area and let our stomaches settle. It was a lot of fun. Thank you to Kevin and Ashley for inviting us on this fun ice cream adventure. We shall do it again. :) soon.




Tuesday, February 1, 2011

MAC

Last week Spencer and I bought..

I LOVE it!

Honestly I dont know how to use everything yet, but I do know the essentials.
We have been going back and forth about buying an Apple and it was mostly me telling my husband that I should get some say in the matter and this is what I wanted.  He has never really liked Apple, so this took some convincing. Now I am happy to say we are both very happy with our decision and are enjoying our new computer. We are finally using our office!

I am excited to start using the cool video features and slideshow features the MAC offers! Now I can be like my sister-in-law and make amazing home videos ( P.s You are my roll model)! I can;t wait to get started. 

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Disneyland+California Adventures.

Last week Spencer and I went with his family to Disneyland and California Adventures


. It was really crowded 2 days and one day it was pouring rain so it wasn't too bad.


We got to go on all of our favorite rides
Jungle criuse

haunted mansion

Mr. Toads

Space Mtn.

Small world

Toy Story

CA screamin

Mickey's wheel

plus tons more.
We stayed for 3 days, while the other family only stayed for 2. It was so magical. Spencer and I even bought one of those turkey legs to split.

It was tasty!

What I'm trying to say is.
I miss you Disneyland! You were so good to me. 

p.s Thanks to Adam and Karen for giving us a place to stay.