The Day After

Valentine's Day was a lot of fun, despite the fact that I had classes all morning and was up at 7:15 for that.  Shawn and I decided to start something new.  Since I love flowers, and have always known the names to most flowers since I was a little girl (thanks to my dad!), I get to pick the flowers that I want whenever I get any. I'm very particular when it comes to flowers. I don't like roses, because they don't last and well... everyone always gets them.  Carnations just remind me of, well, funerals. Those are my two flowers I just do not like at all. Oh, and I guess Calla Lilies too. They're just... weird.

Roses

Carnations

Calla Lilies

So, since I get to pick out my flowers, I chose a white phalaenopsis orchid! I love these flowers because I grew up having them always at my house and they're just so happy and elegant.  The one that Shawn got me has two branches, full of flowers and a couple buds which means more flowers will come in eventually! I'm going to try to get it to bloom again once it dies.

After the flower adventure, we headed out to Santa Anita Mall and went to The Cheesecake Factory! This is definitely one of my favorite places to eat. My favorite thing to get, and probably now the only thing I will eat there, is their miso salmon. Seriously, it's amazing. I'm so excited that I have left overs because that's what I'll be having for lunch today! If you like salmon, you MUST try it. The flavors and the salmon just melt in your mouth. Shawn got a rib-eye steak with french fries and onion rings. He said it was delicious too. Oh, and for an appetizer, we ordered a fire grilled artichoke which came with garlic mayo, I think. It was so yummy! I love artichokes. Weird vegetable to like, I know. But I just loved the garlic mayo. I know I had bad breath after eating that... Oh, and did I mention that they told us the wait would be 40ish minutes, but we only had to wait 20?! That was sure nice. My feet were hurting after awhile from standing in heels.

After finishing dinner around 8, we decided to wander through the mall.  We went into a sporting store and walked around that and looked at fun stuff there.  We wandered in and out of a few shops. Shawn told me if I bought a SF Giants hat, he would have to hurt me. So I didn't buy one... yet. ;) 

We decided to take a break to rest our feet while walking around the mall and found a comfy couch with a place to rest our feet. My toes hurt from wearing heels all night and oh, did I mention Shawn was just on crutches a few days ago?!

Long story short, while playing basketball on Monday at an intramural game,  he rolled his ankle and it got to be twice the size with some lovely coloring with some touches of back, blue, and purple. Luckily, it's slowly getting better and he doesn't have to use his crutches! 

Anyway, we came back to school, stopped by Yogurtland first, and watched The Incredibles. I've been wanting to watch the movie all year long and finally got the chance to do so! 

So overall, a great Valentine's Day, ended of course, with a phone call from Annie!!! With lots of laughs of course, too.  

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day, whether you were celebrating with someone, your friends, your family, or enjoying the day by yourself knowing that you're loved by many people!

                                       

Crock Pot Meals

As a college student, I find it so hard to find time to go to the grocery store and actually cook my own meals.  I would eat on campus, but I don't have a big meal plan and after awhile, I get tired of eating the same food, over and over again.

My mom has always made crock pot meals, and I think they're perfect on cold nights! Today, I had a good amount of homework to do and I also had a choir concert this evening.  That makes it hard for me to prepare dinner for my friends who come over every Sunday night for dinner. So, tonight I made one of my mom's crock pot meals. It's super easy to prepare too!

What you need:
1 Chuck Roast
1 bag of mini carrots
3 sticks of celery
1 package of French Onion Dry Soup Mix
2 Large cans and 1 Small can of Cream of Mushroom Soup (More or less depending on the size of your crock pot)

Preparing it:

1. Place the chuck roast flat on the bottom of the crock pot.
2. Sprinkle the French Onion Dry Soup Mix on top of the chuck roast.
3. Thinly slice the celery and throw it into the crock pot.
4. Add half of the bag of mini carrots, or enough to cover the majority of the meat.
5. Put the Cream of Mushroom soup to the top of the crock pot. 
6. Set to cook for 6 hours

I personally like eating this stew over white rice.  Here's a picture tos how what it looks like. It tastes better than it looks.