Dinner at Jeff Ruby's

Here are the pics I promised from our "dress up date night" dinner at Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse. We went on 02/02/08, and considered that our Valentine Dinner.

Chris & I at the house dressed up and ready to go. Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse
I know this is kind of a gross picture, but this is the meat that they prepare. The cooler is just inside the door, and they have this window so you can see the meat.

At the restaurant, with our appetizer of 4 jumbo shrimp, 2 Alaskan King Crab legs, and an oyster on the half shell. Chris ate the oyster because I didn't really want to try it! My Alaskan King Crab leg... that thing is HUGE!

After we finished the appetizer, they brought us warm moist washcloths to wipe our fingers. I was very thankful for that, since my hands were FREEZING!
My Kentucky Bleu Bibb salad. All of those things on top are shreds of green apple.
It's all about PRESENTATION! The salad was surrounded by a cucumber sliced very thin lengthwise. When I removed the cucumber, the salad kind of popped out! It was so yummy!
(Chris just had a Ceasar salad... no special presentation there!) :-)
Here we are again with our meals.
Here is my meal... a little "surf and turf"... 21 ounce Cowboy steak on the bone (that's a ribeye) and an 11 ounce lobster tail. They served it with lemon in a little mesh thing, and you can see the pot with the melted butter at the top.
Our side dishes... MacDaddy and cheese (made with 7 different cheeses) and lobster mashed potatoes. They had two 4 ounce lobster tails on top, and the red you see on either side of the lobster was caviar. They were SO DELICIOUS!
Dessert... Dutch Apple Cobbler a la mode. Again, the presentation was pretty cool, but I could have had another scoop of ice cream!
Chris outside after eating. It was cold out there, and I was shaking so much I almost couldn't take the picture!
We had a delightful time, enjoyed the wonderful food, and I enjoyed having 2&1/2 hours with my hubby! It was a wonderful experience!

Valentine's Day

I know this is a little late for Valentine's Day, but I wanted to post it anyway. I had a pretty good day. My husband sent me an e-card from work because he didn't have a chance to get to the store. It was really cute and sweet. After Chris got off work, we met at Fazoli's for dinner (this was about 8:30 pm). Chris promised me a "rain check" for a good dinner at a nicer restaurant later when we could enjoy it more.

One of my favorite things about Valentine's Day is my annual gift from my father-in-law. Ever since the year that Chris and I were dating, Chris' dad has sent me a box of Lindt chocolates. (Chris' mom, all of his sisters, sisters-in-law, and granddaughters get boxes of chocolate, too.) They are wonderful, and I only allow myself to eat one a day until the box is gone. The best part is that Chris' dad reminds me every year that I AM NOT SUPPOSED TO SHARE WITH CHRIS!!! I enjoy that part! :*) Chris gets a gift from his mom every year for Valentine's Day, so I don't feel bad about not sharing... at all! I am so thankful for wonderful in-laws.

I received another surprise for Valentine's Day this year. My grandma sent me a hand stamped Valentine's Day card.

My grandma has never stamped before this. They had a ladies' fellowship at her church that was a "cruise" theme. On this "cruise" they had different stations that you could do different things, and one of them was stamping. My grandma made the card above on this "cruise" and sent it to me. I was very honored! :-) I told her that I was very impressed, and we determined that it goes to show you that you CAN "teach an old dog new tricks" (Grandma is almost 79 years old) as long as they still want to learn!

All in all, it was a pretty good day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Did you know that Valentine's Day is not just another holiday schemed up by chocolate makers and card creating businesses? Valentine's Day actually started on February 14, 269AD. Pastor Valentine was martyred on this day. While he was imprisoned, awaiting his death, he sent notes of encouragement to the Christians in his church. Valentine's Day is actually a CHRISTIAN holiday and was used as a day to send notes of encouragement to other Christians to remain faithful to our GREAT GOD!
So, for those of you who do not do much in the way of "celebrating" Valentine's Day, it might be a good way to start sending notes of encouragement and love to others around you. Now, of course, as all holidays, it has been way commercialized. However, it's not ever a bad thing to let those you love know that you love them.
Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Stamped Valentines

Love U Valentine card (outside)

Love U Valentine opened
(inside: "Happy Valentine's Day")

Monkey Valentine (inside: "Love ya bunches!")

Last night I went to a stamping party, and these are the cards that we made. I love stamping! Chris was a sweetheart and let me have money to buy 2 more new sets of stamps (and I get an additional one for free!) I always am so excited to get new stamps!

Chris and I don't usually do much for Valentine's Day - he is of the belief that it is just a holiday that the card & candy companies made up to get more money (in spite of my attempts to change his mind!) However, my father-in-law always sends me a box of chocolates... the good kind that I savor and eat one-a-day until they're gone! My father-in-law also makes sure to tell me every year that Chris can't have any of MY chocolate! His dad does this every year for his wife, all of his daughters, daughters-in-law, and granddaughters. I received my first box from him the year that Chris and I were dating. I remember thinking that it was such a sweet gesture for my boyfriend's father to do that for me. Now I look forward to it. Chris' mom usually sends him a card with a little gift in it, as well. What a great tradition!

One of these cards will go to my hubby for V-day. The monkey one, I think, I will send to my dad. He, for some reason, has a monkey collection. I think it fits (the card, not the monkey collection)!

I'm hoping that I get my family picture calendars back in time to send them out to our families for Valentine's Day (they are really Christmas presents!) Our church has a small printing press that is going to do them for me, but they got pushed back a little bit due to a big job that needed to be done for PNC Bank ASAP. I will post those pages as soon as I get them back.

We should have a new niece arriving in time for Valentine's Day. (Chris' sister, Kim, is due on the 12th.) Her mommy&daddy are praying that she comes before Monday b/c her uncle, Burt, is going into the Marines on Monday and mommy wants to call her brother and tell him about his new niece before she is 8 weeks old! (I don't think they are allowed to have contact with anyone until they are done with basic training.) Her daddy is starting a new job (he got out of the Air Force in December) on February 19th. He is going to be a police officer in North Las Vegas. He is very excited about this new job opportunity.