February musings

Clearly, I am on track to write one post at the end of each month!  UGH!  Recapping requires so much thinking and referring to my (many) calendars, in the hope that I don't forget anything! 

Let's see...February, the month of LOVE, also happens to be the birth month of my honey!  Chris turned 43 on Valentine's Day.  But, that is the middle of the month and I have a few things before that big day!!!

Unfortunately, we lost a couple friends this month, both somewhat tragically.  Our friend, Pat, who we know from IGT (along with his wife, Wendy) committed suicide.  We don't know the "why", but we do know he left behind Wendy and 2 teenage sons, one who is autistic.  I can't wrap my brain around how a person feels there isn't one other option available.  We also lost a high school classmate of Chris's, Tina Danilaitis, with whom I became friends over Facebook.  Tina, 41, had suffered from a medical issue wherein her body wouldn't properly absorb nutrients.  It seemed that after 10 years of treatments, in & out of the hospital, her body just couldn't go on.  Sadly, she would have loved to live a longer life, alongside her daughter, with whom she shares her birthday.  Attending the memorial was akin to a bizarre high school reunion.  It was pretty wonderful, tho, to see how many former CPHS-ers' lives Tina touched.  I hope she was there taking it all in, with her mega-watt smile beaming down on us.

February is also the month for Mardi Gras, aka Fat Tuesday!  I enjoyed 2 Fresh Strawberry packzis from Beck's Crown Bakery this year!  Oh.So.Good!!!  I also wore a cute headband with the traditional green/purple/gold colors in the shape of a crown, or maybe it was a jester's hat!  This year, Chris decided to try his hand at making jambalaya and let me tell you it was, handsdown, one of the best I have tasted!  This, for sure, will be his signature dish in our house!  We complemented it with biscuits I got at Popeye's on my way home from the gym.  We spent our evening indulging in cajun fare while watching episodes of Treme.

We celebrated Chris's birthday a day early, in order to avoid the rush of Valentine diners.  I won't belabor the issue, but our dinner at Martini's wasn't up to par and we don't care to return.  I gave Chris WEN hair care products before his actual birthday and then actually surprised him with Tim Burton's book on his day.  (He said he didn't even know Burton had a book out!  Win for me!!!!)

Chris has rejoined LA Boxing...a HUGE surprise to me when he came strolling in one day while I was in class!!  He still has some yoga classes to finish, too (seriously, how does HE get to have TWO places for fitness when I only get one?!?) and one last massage from the Groupon I bought him.  (Think we might both do a little spa day soon as I have some gift cards I plan to use for a facial and chemical peel.)

We had a great time yesterday with our friends, Dave & Sandra.  It was sort of a belated celebration for Chris and an early one for Sandra.  We met up for bowling, which none of us has done in YEARS!  We bowled 3 games and it wasn't until our last one that we even hit the 100 mark!  HA!!  Dave got 101 and I got 100...he took that game, but I won the other two!  WooHoo!!!  Following bowling, we went to have dinner at one of their favorite restaurants, a Thai place, called Asparagus.  I was pleasantly surprised at how fancy the decor is inside; the outside of the place is so plain, it's very deceiving.  And the food was so good!  I got the Drunken noodles with chicken and, altho I might have been able to set my fork down to have leftovers, I couldn't stop eating!  Chris got Thai fried rice with chicken ... and he made a point of stopping so he could take some home for today's lunch!   

Also on Valentine's Day was our niece, Kennedy Harper's, first birthday.  We weren't able to join the celebration, of course, b/c they live in Florida.  Come to think of it, my sister, Kelley, hasn't even shared any photos on FB.   Hmmmmm...gonna have to check on that!

My mom's birthday is today (which is also the full moon for this month).  We called her up this morning before all of us started work.  And, even tho all of the family lives there by her, we were the first to give her birthday greetings this year!  Yay!  Our "gift" to her is for her to join us for several days during our Key West vacation that we are planning for June.  We have had to adjust our accommodations slightly b/c my mom can't do all the walking that we can, but this might be the only time just the 3 of us will vacay, so we are making it all work!

Let's see...history was made in MMA this past Saturday when the first-ever women's fight in the UFC was held.  Ronda Rousey was given the title from the outset and she was defending it from Liz Carmouche, the only fighter to want to challenge her.  The fight ended as expected, with Rousey taking the win by armbar.  Honestly, it didn't matter to me which of them won, but I wish it had gone, at least, 2 rounds.  

Still loving my gym and the workouts, especially circuits.  I know I have become stronger b/c of the exercises Nick sets forth for us to accomplish.  And I still work on my pullups, which are hard as f*ck!  

We started watching a few TV series, "Cyndi Lauper~Still So Unusual" and HBO's "Girls".  Love, love, love Cyndi!  Always have!  We watched the entire first season of Girls (b/c it was getting so much good press) one Sunday and really liked it.  It is currently in the second season and we have also been watching those episodes On Demand, but we aren't really "feeling" this season after 6 episodes. Something is off and I hope they get back to the formula from the first, and super successful, season; otherwise, it's no longer makes our list!  

Work is work....mostly slow, so I have been reading plenty of library books.  Which I secretly REALLY enjoy!