Belle, It's Me!

these are some photos of one of my favorite meals - falafel and tabbouleh, yum! the tabbouleh and hummus is homemade and the falafel is from a mix. healthy and delicious.

we also made a maybe not as healthy mexican casserole that i might post the recipe for soon. it is SO YUMMY. anyway, tonight i'm thinking of that old english favorite, beans on toast. double yum. if only i had some strongbow to go with it.

i am watching beauty and the beast and i'm at the part where the beast transforms back into the handsome prince. such a great movie. and all in preparation for a day trip to disney in a week and a half. yay!

happy leap day, doing anything special for it?

I'm Looking Through You

it's been a week at least, but i am not giving up on my blog! promise. so these are pictures of my new craft venture - pop up cards. i have only made 5 so far and probably spent about $35 on paper and cutting supplies, but i figure i can at least save money on buying cards for occasions by making them myself. i made an early mother and father's day card, a thank you card, a card for andrew's mom's 60th birthday, and the first was a card for andrew for valentine's day. i like it because while it is creative, it is also structured. not to mention how thoughtful it is!

SO, this week. andrew and i booked plane tickets from toronto to venice, italy in june. we are going to croatia for two weeks and it was about $400 cheaper to fly out of toronto than detroit or chicago. we are going to spend our last couple of days of the trip in venice, since we have all been to italy, but not to venice. exciting! i am so ready for gelato, gondolas, exploring a country up until now i knew absolutely nothing about, and just traveling in general.

florida is in a week and two days! we pretty much have our itinerary set - a day in miami, a day at disney's magic kingdom, and some other excursions like a detroit tiger's spring training game. it will be a nice low budget get away since we didn't get to go anywhere last year (if i haven't already mentioned that).

other than that we have just been busy working and trip planning. andrew needs to get everything set up to start taking classes at ferris GR to get his degree after all these years. i have found a mentor at steelcase who is trying to help me find a job more suited to my skill set. i am really appreciative for her help and hoping for an exciting opportunity here in grand rapids. i was so ready to up and move to chicago (but andrew can't join right now so that's not ideal) but if i can find something here, that'd be great! i will keep you updated.

happy oscars! who do you think will take home that golden man tonight?

Comeback Kid

I tested out the panoramic function on my new digital camera at the msu basketball game we attended on thursday. we won, btw. and we had pretty good seats! it was the first msu game of any kind i've ever been to and it did not disappoint. i was especially impressed by the izzone. it made me wish i had went to a school where we got that excited about anything. see; ferris state bulldogs hockey team ranked first in nation. see; angela never did make it to one of those games. see; i don't really like hockey anyway.


anyway, this morning andrew and i went to TIM HORTONS!!! there is finally one in grand rapids. it's not really conveniently located to where i live, but it was well worth the commute for a lovely breakfast. man, i love that place. we got a coffee, hash brown, breakfast sandwich, cinnamon roll, donut, and a cafe mocha for $7. then i bought a pound of coffee for $8 - that's a great deal. it took everything i had not to steal the plates our food was on. i could just stock my kitchen with their mugs and cute little plates. afterward we stopped at ghetto meijer (kalamazoo and 28th) to pick up some vitamins. for those of you who don't know, i have very fine hair and i'm very afraid of balding, so i'm trying out some hair, skin, & nails pills. i got a 40 day supply for $5. i will update you on my hair growth progress. please cross your fingers: )

later on tonight, andrew and i are helping cater an event at steelcase town hall for the urban institute of contemporary arts (uica). it should be interesting to see and at least we'll make makin those dolla billz y'all.

florida is in 2.5 weeks! can't wait to hit up miami will smith style. and disney world eli manning style.

Don't Stop Imagining

today i ate a delicious cupcake, which is so against my diet, but i haven't eaten anything that decadent in at least a week. then just now i checked the mail to discover a package sent to both andrew and myself, but i couldn't resist temptation so i opened it without waiting. it's a valentine package full of candy and treats from his parents, so i will try not to eat any before i see him!

yesterday's happy hour at mangiamo was as fulfilling as expected. i had a glass of sangria and two glasses of chardonnay, andrew had a sangria and a beer, and then we each had a crab cake slider, split the goat cheese fondue dip and a green olive pizza, and everything was just $25! a much better deal than going out for valentine's dinner. i'd highly recommend their happy hour! we then stopped at uncle cheetah's soup shop for some ice cream, which as i suspected they didn't actually have. they had malted ice cream though, so we had a honey/caramel/coffee creation which was delicious. also a great place in grand rapids to check out! a good v-day on a budget!

today is a pretty standard day; work and errands, but tomorrow our boss is taking us to the MSU vs Wisconsin basketball game in east lansing! i have never been to a game there, so i'm excited! it's always nice to work for someone that likes and appreciates you: )

this whole pop-up card thing might be a more daunting task than i had originally planned on... i will post some pictures of the few that i have made soon. not that i have any followers, but if you happen to read this, please let me know what you think!

happy hump day!

Okay, It's Never Too Late To Save a Blog, Right?

if i can't be interesting in real life, i can at least be interesting on the internet, right? and yes, there's facebook, but usually going on facebook makes me feel bad about myself, so i try to post only important things, like online petitions and the fact that pinterest removed this picture of an elephant because of "nudity." bogus, man!

anyway, i think i should blog because i'm not good at saying the things i mean out loud. plus, i want to remember what i did on this day, valentine's day, 2012 and all the days after. so far i have mostly just gotten mad at facebook posts even though i have a valentine. but some people just overdo it and i'm annoyed. i also made a pop up card, which is like, my new craft. i invested $25 in it so far, so at least all my friends and family can expect some sweet pop up cards if i don't end up selling any. idk, i think it could be a thing!

i have also been listening to the beatles allllll morning. because i love them. cliché, but it cannot be helped. HELP!

so here i sit. i'm flying to florida in three weeks with my honey pie and i just got my j. crew swimsuit. it's super cute and i've been sort of eating lighter to compensate for my pale skin. i don't want to be chunky AND pale. andrew and i are also planning to go to croatia with the rest of his family this june. i didn't know a lot about croatia until we talked about going there. it should be an amazing trip! and they are filming game of thrones there, so that makes it extra worth it.

this evening andrew and i are going to happy hour at mangiamo. they have the BEST happy hour and it's seven days a week, which is great because one of us is always working during it on the weekdays. with some exceptions like today! i can't wait for sangria and goat cheese dip. then i'm hoping to persuade him to take me out to coldstone for some love it size scoops. yum, muah, all you need is love.

bonus points if you can figure out how many times i inserted a beatles song up there; )