Extreme Couponing

Over the weekend, while visiting my mom down in Eugene, we discovered a marathon of a TLC show called Extreme Couponing.

At first, my husband and I both were watching it thinking "Wow, these people are crazy. Who needs so much stuff?"

Then it turned into "There's no way this could work in Oregon. Stores don't let you double coupons like that."

Finally, it turned into "You know, maybe we need to start clipping coupons again. I know we will never save THAT kind of money, but it would be good to save some."

So when we got home yesterday, I went online and signed up for a couple of the online coupon services. I also did a little research and made a shopping list of places I wanted to go for our weekly shopping trip. I'm not extreme, but it's always good to save a little money right?

Do you coupon? Any tips of the trade for a newbie?

Dinner: Pork Milanese with Tortellini

My MIL (who happens to be an AMAZING cook and former catering business owner) is an amazing cook. Every time we go to California to visit Sean's family we are well feed. She has passed on many of her recipes to me, but I only make them occasionally because most are, to be totally blunt, not all that good for you.

Sean and I have gotten into the habit of allowing ourselves one splurge meal each week. Either we go out for dinner or I make some that would definitely not fit within the diet we have been trying to follow. Honestly, going this route has made sticking to the diet the rest of the time much easier.

I had this recipe for Chicken Milanese laying around and had been wanting to make it for awhile.  Tonight was finally the night! Only we didn't have any chicken, so I substituted pork.

First up was mixing the seasoning and breading the pork chops.

Next I cut up the veggies for the sauce (tomato and spinach).

The sauce is made of butter, garlic, cream, chicken stock, vermouth, and parmesan.

I pan friend the pork chop, cooked up the tortellini and finished it in the sauce, and we had a delicious dinner! Definitely not "low fat" by any means, but so worth the splurge!

Tomorrow its back to our diet. On the menu: chicken and spinach salad with lots of veggies

Vacation Wrap-Up

So we had a great time in California. I really wasn't ready for it to end. The weather was gorgeous pretty much the whole time we were there.

My nephew changed so much in the 2 weeks we were there. It's kind of crazy that he will be close to 2 by the next time we see him. Oh, and the big news of the trip... Sean finally held a baby! A couple of times actually. Okay, so as soon as he started crying, Sean would pass him off. But it seems like I was the only one who didn't do that. I guess that's the advantage of growing up around babies.

We got the chance to spend a few hours with Sean's best friend, Jer, which was fun. We went to see the restaurant they are having their wedding at and had a great dinner. Seriously, the food at this place was amazing. Then after dinner we went to the BEST wine bar I had ever been to. The place was called Wine Detectives in downtown Pasadena. Basically, you go in and they give you this pre-loaded card. You then walk around with the card and put it into what I can only describe as a wine vending machine. For a fixed price, you get to try about 2 ounces of some amazing wines. I actually got to try and $200 bottle of wine. I'll be honest, it wasn't that much better than the $50 bottle right next to it, but it was still fun. We kept joking about how they should franchise and start one in Oregon, especially since 4 of the 5 Pinot Noir's were from Oregon winerys (but she didn't have my personal favorite).

We also celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary while we were there. Started off the day doing pictures with the sister's in law for Sean's mom. We are making her a book for Mother's Day and since it was one of the few nice, not windy days we had, we did them then.

After that we headed down the hill to Ontario and went to the mall. Didn't buy anything exciting, but we did get to go play at Dave and Busters for a couple hours. For dinner we went to Black Angus. It wasn't anything too exciting, but not a bad day considering Sean completely forgot our anniversary (oops).

All and all a good trip, though I'm happy to be home. Sean and I are working on something pretty exciting, so I may have big news soon. In the mean time, fingers crossed for us please!

Happy Tuesday!

Throwing Money Away

Spent last night at one of our favorite places, Spirit Mountain Casino.



We got to hang out with some of our favorite people and eat some buffet. And we were up gambling until 3am. Sean spent hours playing blackjack and craps, while I found myself drawn to the penny slots.



Small public service announcement here: If you are going to gamble, do it in moderation. Set a limit, walk away when your done.

Sean and I ALWAYS have a limit on what we spend. We take however much cash we are going to play with and, when that is gone, we are done. And we only go every few months and only after we've paid all our bills.

That being said, in the end, we lost about 60 bucks. Which isn't bad for 8+ hours of playing. Especially since at one point we were down $180 total. So a decent recovery.

Then today we stopped in Newberg and this decent little BBQ place for dinner.



Doesn't that look good? Ya, I thought so too. Clearly not a vegetarian. :)

Overall it was a good night. Unfortunately, my big plans with my bff this weekend got canceled and my husband is cranky. So not sure what I am going to do the rest of the weekend.

Have a great weekend one and all!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

I hope everyone enjoyed their day of love.

Sean got me a gorgeous necklace to celebrate...



and we had a nice dinner and some wine at home.

Looking forward to the week ahead. Going to celebrate a friends anniversary with them on Thursday and then spending most of the weekend with my bff.

Wish I had more time to blog, but as usual, my life is anything but under control. I need to get the house cleaned, write 7-ish recommendation letters before tomorrow night, and I have a dinner date at 6pm.

<3 all!