Yay, Thursday!

This has been quite a good day and its not even half over! Woke up early to go with Pancho to finally get everything with the car and parking decals sorted out. Having had horrible and painful experiences at home with the DMV, the Maryland Vehicles Auth. was a breeze. Competant workers, hardly any wait, nice nice nice. Then back downtown to switch the temporary card to a permanent decal. Yay, now I can park in Oakenshawe, District 1 until December without worrying about a ticket. Ha, except after I dropped Pancho back off at school, I'm still looking for shortcuts on parallel parking. I've been lucky to week to have been able to just drive into a wide enough gap normally and then just correct it. Eventually I will learn. eventually.

I will be in Boca from Thursday, March 12 through Tuesday, March 24. Airfare surprisingly normal considering its Spring Break time. Pancho is going to Europe with his parents and I really didnt want to stay here alone for over a week, I get freaked out enough by all the noises on a regular night if no one is home. Since the rowhouses are all connected and share walls, a lot of times I can't tell if a noise is our house or the neighbors. Then, given the area, there really is no way I would stay here alone. Dog or no dog. Pops does look menacing even though he's just a cute furry ball of energy (You should see him attack his stuffed duck. well, it used to be stuffed until one of the boys put a treat inside and Pops tore all the stuffing out to get the treat. sigh.)

Gossip Girl was so deliciously scandalous at the end. Although I'm worried about no upcoming sneak previews... 24 was also good. And now that Bravo is available to me again, I can soak up the awfulness of OC Housewives. Although I will confess (for him) that Pancho is looking forward to the Millionaire Matchmaker next week. I just love the advice that Patti tells these guys. Some people just don't deserve their money if they are going to act completely self-centered and pretty much ridiculous.

Some great recipes to share. We made tilapia with roasted red potatoes on Monday, stromboli with a hodge podge salad of lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, mushrooms, gorgonzola crumbly cheese, and balsalmic viniagrette dressing (so yummy!) on Tuesday, did a Trader Joe's frozen penne mix yesterday with fresh tomatoes, cucumber, and green peppers drizzled with balsalmic, and tonight is beef burgundy soup. All of these were new dishes for me and I have to say that the tilapia and stromboli were absolutely fantastic. Warm, flavorful, and filling. I discovered Pillsbury's online recipes and coupons (!) early this week and got the stromboli and beef burgundy recipes. Its also nice because they have a cooking for two section so I dont have to make monstrous portions that we end up having all week for leftovers.

And! For my afternoon project, I'm going to make red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting from this cute mix I got for Christmas. Trying to get this house into a festive Valentinesy spirit. Last week I put up the gel heart window clings, most on our 3 bedroom windows but I did put some on the front door to which Housemate S declared they had to go (they are still up.) But I more excited about the fact that I have a banister to work with now. That cheesy red sequin and hearts garland? Wrapped around the handrail. It's so cute!! Then I had the leftover paper cutouts from last year and those are on the bedroom door. So today is the start to Valentines baking. Attempting cheesecake next week with red and pink sprinkles. I also picked up (on sale for $1!!) a funfetti hearts version.