Chair 3!

Us headed up Chair 3!

So if you are going to marry a skier, you must become a skier. It's basically the law. And before dating Jeff, and having lived in the PNW for more than ten years, I could count the number of times I had strapped some sort of plastic to my feet and tried to go down a snowy mountain on one hand. But Jeff is determined. So this year we went to the Mt Spokane Ski Swap, hosted by the Mt Spokane Ski Patrol, waded through the throngs of people also looking for good deals, and got me some skis, boots, helmet, and gloves. And then we went and bought ourselves the Mt Spokane Stocking Stuffer pack of tickets, which is 3 lift tickets for $100, which is a good deal.

So we went Night Skiing yesterday to see how many times I can fall on my butt, and amazingly, it wasn't that many. Having skis that actually fit the size of your body (the two times I went last season, I used Jeff's mom's skis, which fit in the boots but were about 4 inches taller than me, which is bad) make things much easier. Jeff's other goal of this mission was to get me down Chair 3 (see map here). And he succeeded!! We stayed on the Northwest Passage, which is the easiest of the runs off Chair 3, but I still made it down...until I would get to the Cat Track. Then I would fall. And falling on the Cat Track is a no-no because it's basically the interstate highway of the mountain. But luckily it was night skiing, and by the time we headed up Chair 3, it was late into night skiing and most people were in the lodge having a beer. So we did Chair 3 three times, and by the end I couldn't really put any weight on my left leg because it was working so hard, but I was still standing. Barely.

A Mt Spokane employee photo-bombing

After that, Jeff had the need for speed and I had the need for hot chocolate, so I headed for the lodge and Jeff did a few runs by himself. Jeff actually used to teach at the ski school at Mt Spokane, so he's a good skier and was being an amazing boyfriend and not leaving me in the dust. Then he joined me for hot chocolate, and we went home. It was fun and a great way to start the ski season.

You can over-salt things

This is what I learned last night.

Story: A few weeks ago, Jeff decided that we eat enough couscous that we should just buy plain couscous rather than the boxes that are pre-seasoned. So we bought the plain couscous and since have been playing with seasoning it. Last week we made a lemon chicken couscous salad, and Jeff thought it wasn't seasoned enough (I thought it was good). So last night I made chicken and couscous and Jeff was at work, so I had to do the salt and pepper myself, which I usually leave up to Jeff because I'm not that good at it. And I'm not because I over-salted the couscous. But I fixed it by just mixing the chicken and veggies into the couscous...which might mean that I didn't salt something else that I should have.

Salsa Cookbook + Jeff = A Match Made in Heaven

So on our Thanksgiving adventure, we supported Small Business Saturday and bought a cookbook in Anacortes, WA's local bookstore called Salsas of the World. And since Saturday, we are now on the fourth salsa. We made two that night with the family and turned it into taco night since everyone was sick of turkey and leftovers. And as I sit here and type, Jeff is making two more so he is fully supplied for the week. But something that caught my eye was a salsa called Romesco. This is apparently a staple Spanish salsa and has almonds in it. But the thing I found most interesting was the spices it called for: pimenton de la vera - picante, and pimenton de la vera - verde. So I looked it up and found out it's a "better paprika" made from a chili from the La Vera region of Spain. I now need to order some, thanks to this New York Times article about using it as a better paprika.

Wedding Planning might kill me

Did you know that the only venues in Spokane either are community centers for $600 but look like a community center; or are nice looking rustic country Greenbluff things and cost $3000 but are rustic country that really isn't my thing; or the fancy places in town like the Convention Center of the Masonic Center and they cost $3000 and you have cater through them at $20 bucks a head??

Or the other option is pitching a tent in a backyard. But that cost $1500 (for the tent alone!). And it might rain.

In other news, I've decided on a loose theme: the universe has a plan. I decided on this because that's what I always say about me and Jeff not meeting in college and then meeting years later. But I like this theme because check out the awesome color palate:

That's pretty much awesomeness squared. And it's nerdy without being extremely nerdy. And we can now do black suits for the guys (I was trying to figure out how I was going to do a brown wedding without putting the guys in brown).

Also, I'm starting to design the wedding invitation and I'm super nervous because I've never done this style of design before and it's kinda hard to pull off. Jeff is excited to program it (we're being nerdy and it's going to be a website).

Forever and Ever

Besides the fact that I'm getting engaged in this picture,
my favorite part is Kathleen freaking out in the
background.

So the whole story goes like this:

Since the Hoopfest flashmob, they've been asked to do it at multiple other events, and I've never done it because it was silly and really not my thing. But a month ago, my tap Ladies Line teacher Kathleen came up to me and said "I signed up for the flashmob they're doing at the Bark Walk. If I'm doing it, you're doing it!" So I reluctantly signed up. 

Flashforward to the day of the Bark Walk. It was cold and raining and seriously the only reason I was showing up was the fact that I said I would (and Spokane is notorious for people saying they're going to come and then don't. I swear, drives me crazy. People here dont RSVP for weddings!!!). So we do the flashmob, and the one thing that was changed about the flashmob was that at the end, we all drop down to the ground instead of just walking off. So I drop down at the end and suddenly I hear Jeff's voice over the speakers. And he called me over and told me he loved me and he would love me "forever and ever" (he always just says "forever" because "it's not logical to say 'and ever'" even though I always say "forever and ever") and then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

But the part of the story that is crazy is the backstory. Jeff apparently called Kathleen in like August and told her what he wanted to do, and then she coordinated with the lady in charge of the flashmob. And everyone in the flashmob knew (and practically the whole dance studio). And Jeff has finally felt stress (because of his Addisons disease, he doesn't get stressed ever); he practically didn't eat anything last week.

And one of the best parts was he was able to keep it a secret from me. I was completely surprised. And we all know that once I want to know what you know, you aren't getting away without telling me. So the fact that everyone was able to not let on was amazing.

And even though Jeff has since analyzed it death (his logical brain can't turn off) and has decided it was a complete disaster, I think it was perfect and amazing. 

Anyway, pictures! Jeff even thought that far ahead and had one of his coworkers who takes great pictures come and record the whole thing. Link.

Really Good Greek Salad

This is delicious. The only thing to add to the recipe is to not make just the amount the recipe says to. I about tripled it and it made an excellent 2 dinner servings for us. And I heated up some peta bread to go with.

Link: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2012/08/mediterranean-baked-feta-with-tomatoes/

Camels!

This weekend at TJ Maxx:

me [looking at something that I can't even remember anymore because of what's about to happen]: maybe I should get this.

jeff [holds up a small camel]: or you should get this. It's only 4 bucks.

me: *gasp* that's amazingly adorable. [looks down and sees there is another bigger camel that matches; swoops down and picks it up] And I would have to get the mommy camel too. 

jeff: now wait a minute, that thing is huge. just get the small one

me: No. [holds the camels apart] Look at how sad they look apart. [holds camels close] Now look how happy they are. [holds camels aparts] Sad. [holds camels close] Happy.

jeff: what have I started?

I won.

(although I will admit that the big mommy camel is slightly larger than I thought it was and only fits on top of the bookshelf and not in the shelves like I thought it would)