$10 Restaurant Coupons

I am minus my camera for a few days (I do need to pull out the big one) but I just thought I'd mention that I've received two $10 off coupons at restaurants in the past month!

How did I get these?  A long time ago I signed up to receive their emails (also called e-club) so I could get coupons and updates.  Then I got an email asking me to update my profile and for doing that I would receive a $10 coupon. 

Two seconds of time = FREE MONEY!  We're all about free in this house!

The restaurants:

Maggiano's and Uncle Julio's

Date Night

Korey and I hoard gift cards. We are hoarders. There I said it. We have been saving a Maggiano's gift card since probably Christmas to use. Well this past weekend we got to use it for a fancy date night in addition to a $10 coupon I got over email from them. We were set. We even got a little dressed up. It was nice to go to a place that didn't involve someone calling your name over a loud speaker to come and pick up your order.

Korey got his favorite appetizer - Calamari - and I/we ordered our favorite dish which is Rigatoni D. You know you think too much about your food budget and how much food costs when you start calculating the cost of the ingredients in the dish and figuring out how you can make it for much cheaper. Hello? Chicken, pasta, button mushrooms, cream, and some white wine. Not expensive! Stay tuned. I will conquer making it.

Our date night pic: This got taken in our car because I have a husband who shys away from making a scene in public. The car was our compromise.

Next time I won't wear my skinny pants. We did enjoy the leftovers for lunch AND dinner the next day. Now that's a yummy bargain.

Austin

We spent Valentine's weekend in Austin to see a friend of Korey's who had a baby in Oct. Here was my date for the weekend. He inadvertently scratched himself across the face and looked like he just needed a patch over his eye to complete the pirate look. We are sitting at the counter of the Magnolia Cafe to eat lunch in downtown Austin.

Here I am getting ready for our dinner double date. Korey stole my camera...

and he made me pose for pictures. P.S. I found this shirt at a consignment shop in the maternity section for only $3 and change!!

I am officially 17 weeks here in these pictures and I feel like I'm looking so big!

Here I am with the hubby at the Clay Pit in downtown Austin. Love the tandoori chicken and naan!

Here are Esme (short for Esmerelda) and Javier. Javier and Korey grew up together and Javier was a groomsman in our wedding. Esme is always laughing so she's always fun to be around.

After dinner they took us to a place somewhere in a shopping center in Austin called Viva Chocolato. We sat outside because there was a guy singing opera inside and the place was small so it was LOUD. They sell lots of truffles and they average $3 each! Crazy for a tiny piece of chocolate.

Here is Javier and Esme splitting a dessert. Korey and I got one and it was so moist and chocolatey!

Here is baby Carolina with her daddy and Korey. Can you tell she has her dad's hair?

On our way home from Austin we stopped in Cedar Hill to see my old college roommates because my friend Jayme had driven in with her family from Bryan. So the three of us got to reunite for a couple of hours.

Here is Jayme, her husband Israel, and Carleigh.

My other roommate Jennifer and her husband Glen.

The three of us! We all went to high school together and both of these girls talked me into going to A&M since they were already going. I don't regret it at all!

I'm sure we were laughing at one of the guys in this picture.

Funny, but I don't remember doing this but it's the Aggie thing to do when you're a senior. Ooohh baby bump is showing. Am I really going to get bigger? Yikes.

Celebrations

Last week Korey and I celebrated the completion of one of his art projects. I realized after our celebration that we are now growing a small collection of cups. I asked the counter girl when we were there if they had a thing where if you brought back in your cup you could get a free drink. Hey, I like to recycle! Don't you remember the Mazzio's days when you would take your cups into the restaurant?

Tuesday Night Lights

On Tuesday of this week we ventured off to The Shops at Legacy for a girlfriend's bday. We ate at Fireside Pies and then stopped by at Pacuigo and then sat around this fountain while the bday girl opened her gifts. Here's Korey...probably contemplating how awesome I am!

I took this one without the flash.

Me and my friend Janai (not the bday girl)

I've never been to Vegas but a friend said the fountain reminded them of the Belaggio's. As the fountain shot up water, the colors would change. We ran into some friends who live over there and their 1 yr old LOVED this fountain. FYI if you need a source of entertainment for your little ones.

In other news we have recently taught our dogs NOT to jump on the couch...and hang out there...and sleep there...and declare that the spot they are in is THEIR spot. I armed myself with treats one afternoon and 24 hours later Korey and I were amazed that they picked up on it so fast after we had let them get away with it for over a year. Of course, we still have random incidences where they think they just have to jump on the couch or they look at you with a puppy dog face and one paw on the couch, sweetly trying to convince you that they belong there. But overall, so far so good. I told my mom and she wanted to know if I could teach them not to lick her feet when she came over.

Choo Shoe

In honor of Korey's help in getting ready for my sister's lingerie shower, I took him out for a date night. He paid of course!!

We headed to Dallas where I took him to Who's Who Burgers in Highland Park Village. I'd been there before since I used to live in Dallas so I figured he would like it since hamburgers have become his recent favorite food.

Here he is eating the 1/2 pound Kobe beef burger.

This burger is HUGE!! And there wasn't a bite left over afterwards.

After we ate we walked over to the movie theater to see The Proposal. And then we passed these on the way. HP Village has many higher end stores and these caught my eye as we walked by so I made him stop so I could take a picture. Aren't these absolutely gorgeous?! I looked them up online later and they are only a mere $1,295. I can't believe someone would put that much money on their feet! But hey they are adorable.

We ended the night at Starbucks for some coffee.

Thanks to my hubby for all of his hard work!

Me and the Hubby

Here we are at a friend's wedding in May...check out the scruff he's been sporting in this hot weather!

Celebrations

Korey and I celebrated our 6 month anniversary at Maggiano's earlier this month.

This is Korey protecting our leftovers of Rigatoni D.
For Mother's Day I made my mom a photo book on snapfish that had pics from the wedding in it plus some pics from way back when. This is the front cover.

This is the pic on the last page.For my bday my sister gave my dad some camo flip flops. He likes anything that is camo.

Since asparagus is in season I gave it a try by roasting it in the oven. This isn't really a celebration but I wanted to show off that I actually attempted a vegetable other than broccoli or green beans.

The card I made for my mom's bday.

Lee and Tera's Wedding

Fellow GC'er Lee, got married this past weekend to an old-school FBC Euless friend of mine (I used to go there). The church and reception were both at FBC Euless. Here are some pics that I took while Korey was over filling up his plate at the chocolate fountain:

The getaway car...

The happy couple (the lighting wasn't good)

The candy/favor table!

My Birthday

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of celebrating another 30-something birthday. Birthdays are best when you get to spread them out. I celebrated first with my family the weekend before my birthday. Every year I ask for only one thing (to eat that is!). It's my mom's Italian Cream Cake which is what I'm hovering over below.

On my actual birthday Korey surprised me by taking me to Fearing's, the restaurant I've been mentioning ever so much. It was located in the Ritz Carlton in Dallas. I don't think I've ever been in a Ritz Carlton, but first things first, I made sure to check out the bathroom!
See all the little rolled-up white hand towels?

These flower arrangements are in the front lobby.

A waitress offered to take our pics for us. I have some where I held the camera out but our facial expressions aren't good!


Here's a recap of our time there... I will say that he and I both agreed that we felt like we were in another world at this restaurant where people are speaking a language you don't know and people are expecting you to understand what's going on. At one point they served us something in a shot glass. We didn't order it. We didn't hear what exactly it was so we kept looking around the room to see what other people were doing with it. We finally figured out we were supposed to drink it. At one point I mentioned to the waiter that I had read an article in Texas Monthly magazine about the restaurant so that's what brought us here. His reply, "Well that's more than I've read about it." Umm...aren't you a waiter at this classy joint? When Korey and I were trying to decide what to eat we read through the menu trying to find words we recognized. When I came across the word "filet" my eyes lit up. Yet it said pan-seared filet and lobster. So I just assumed it meant fish and seafood. I don't do seafood so I passed on that. Korey decided to order it not really knowing what the filet mean either. Did it mean filet 'o fish or filet mignon? Korey ordered it and then the waiter asked him how he wanted it cooked. Ummm...don't you want fish to be well-done? When he walked away Korey and I looked at each other and realized that we didn't know what it meant so I asked the waiter over. I laid my dumb card on the table. "Sir, did that mean filet of fish or filet mignon?" I smiled. He looked at me and replied, "Filet mignon." I smiled again. "Can I change my order?" So Korey and I ended up completely changing our order and I think they had to hustle it out to the kitchen. Who knows what the waiter thought of us!
The filet mignon was the most tender piece of meat I've ever eaten. Absolutely divine. I let Korey eat my lobster. I did take a bite though. When it came time for dessert the waiter asked us if we'd like some coffee. Sure, we thought. Why not? The dessert menu didn't have any kind of coffee or specialty coffee drinks on it so we assumed it was free. Yeah right! When the bill came and we realized it wasn't we started to hurriedly drink down this large pot of coffee they had given us. But wait...the dessert! I'm a chocolate girl but tonight I didn't want to stay in my box. So we chose a dessert plate that consisted of butterscotch custard, apple fritters, and pecan toffee ice cream. Let me just say that our serving of the ice cream was the size of a Tablespoon and we fought over the whole thing. I was trying to draw a line in it. I wonder if it's bad manners to fight with spoons in a nice restaurant. Thanks Korey for such an awesome time!
And finally I celebrated my bday a few days later with my friends from the Grub Club. The Grub Club members originate from a co-ed Bible study that met in my home back when I lived in Dallas. After a year or so members of the group moved away to different areas of the metroplex so our study disbanded but I decided it would be fun to get together with just the girls every once in awhile. The premise was that you had to host us in your home and you had to cook! The goal was once a month. And I wanted to do it because since we were single we really didn't have anyone to cook for so it made good use of the casserole recipes we had that served more than 1. Soon the guys found out what we were doing and didn't want to be left out. As GC has evolved we have added members due to marriages and engagements. To become an offical member you have to cook so your skills can be proven. Even the guys in the group have stepped up to the challenge. Can anyone say Chad's awesome peach cobbler - yum! One of our members moved off to Colorado this past year but she was in town for a wedding just in time for my bday so we all got together. Here's a pic of me blowing out a cake made by fellow GC'er Melissa. I think it's called Raspberry Cream Cake.



Thanks to everyone for helping me celebrate my birthday!!

February Recap

For Valentine's Day I made Korey heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast. For dinner he took me to Cuba Libre in Dallas, a favorite of mine.

I helped to host a baby shower in March so my sister helped me make this diaper cake. It was super-easy to do!

At the end of February my sister got engaged. Korey and I helped set up the proposal at my parent's house. Here is Korey and my dad "helping."


I'll do a separate post in honor of her engagement!