Everything is Bigger in Texas

Apparently, shifting around in the back of Chancho's car this entire week has been this big heart shaped box filled with chocolate! Just waiting to be given to me. This was the first surprise.

Step one: I was told to get in the car. We drove to the train station and caught the express train into Grand Central. It was crowded so we had to stand. Interesting conversation happened while on the train. It went something like this:

Chancho: "Do you wanna do it now?"

Me: "What? No, I don't."  Man standing next to us, glares at us.

Chancho: "Well, okay do you want to wait til the next stop, that way we can get a seat in the back?"

Me: "No. We can wait til later." Man still glaring at us, shifting slightly away.

          Chancho: "Okay, fine. I just thought it would be good to do it now."

He then pulls out his lip medication. He had apparently been wanting me to put his medication on his cut. I can only put it on while he's sitting down and figured since we were on the train it would be more convenient than trying while we were walking in the city. I of course, wasn't thinking anything near that and apparently the guy standing next to us was afraid he might get a show himself. All I could do was laugh.

From Grand Central we hopped onto the subway and got off in Times Square and there we were. We walked a few steps and found our destination. Dallas BBQ. We walked in and they wanted to put us at a table right by the front door, but we both shook our heads no. We wanted something a bit closer to the back. Instead, they told us to take the elevator upstairs. Turns out there is a huge upstairs, just filled with tables. They were a little too close for comfort. I could join in on anyone's conversations if I felt like it. 

Here's how our night went: 

Welcome! Have a ginormous drink. I chose the Blue Hawaii (pina colada)

Chancho picked the Strawberry Long Island Iced Tea

Then came my dinner. Spare ribs, Chicken, french fries and corn bread. Yes, I ate the whole plate.

Chancho's dinner arrived soon after mine. Chicken, fried shrimp, french fries and corn bread. Yep, he too finished the plate clean. 

Round two of drinks

I opted for a regular size. Still pretty large in my book. I also switched to a Strawberry Daiquiri

And here ends our dinner. This is what our table looked like 2 hours later. Oh and those blue tubes on the table...Those are the shots of vodka that came in our drinks.

After being afraid to stand up after drinking so much, we stood our ground and took off for the movie theatre. Thankfully it was right next door. Valentine's Day was the movie that he picked out. The theatre was packed. We had a guy sitting behind us that thought he was in his living room. He commented on EVERYTHING. I really could have done him harm. He didn't even have anything witty to say. There just wasn't a filter on his thinking. It was like he forgot that thinking meant to keep it inside your head. Other than that though, it was an okay movie, not the greatest and I wouldn't buy it, but it was appropriate for the date. 

From there we traveled back home. I loved it. It was perfect. A great night out with just the two of us. We were able to laugh and be ourselves, we didn't discuss anything heavy and we made it a fun night out.

I can say that this is one "holiday" that I don't mind celebrating, not on the actual day.

Listening to: "I Can't Help Falling In Love With You" by Elvis Presley

Quote of the Day: "I love every little thing about him. The good and the bad. They all make up him, and he's all I want." - Jacqueline Kelly

Well Worth The Wait

Date night went extremely well. In fact, the entire day went well. We were busy all day. Chancho had a few errands to run so we did them together. Gotta make the most out of our time. In amongst our travelings across town and back, I wound up having to drive Tank. Tank is what Chancho refers to his Honda Pilot as. I had said previously that I wouldn't drive it on the street until I felt comfortable enough to, but the occasion arose that I needed to and I managed just fine. I was being such a baby. My favorite feature, is the camera that turns on when you put the car in reverse.

But anyways onto dinner. We at Alaroma. It is a quaint little restaurant. It's a casual, but neat setting. Definitely a family restaurant. There were a lot of families there with older children. The food was delicious. It is prepared fresh just like their website said. I ordered the lasagna and it was great! I was able to bring some home for lunch today. Chancho had chicken with pasta in Alfredo sauce. For dessert, Chancho ate chocolate cake topped with vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate sauce. I had a cannoli with whipped cream. It wasn't too badly priced either, especially with our gift certificate we only spent $15 out of our own pockets or I should say Chancho's pocket. However, we both decided it wouldn't be a place that we'd go back to. We didn't like their selection of food. I'm not sure if it's just because I'm not huge fan of Italian food or if it they really didn't have that many options. Either way, it's been tried, we liked it, but on to something else.

The next movie that we were supposed to watch from Netflix before Chancho canceled the membership was 4 Christmases. (My pick) It arrived in the mail, but he had to send it back right away before he got charged for it. I was really disappointed and made him promise that we would watch it eventually. I think he figured that he could get away with not watching it because when will there be a Christmas movie in the RedBox after Christmas? Welll we stopped by the RedBox for our movie after dinner and low and behold there was 4 Christmases. Turns out, Chancho enjoyed and I had already watched it, in theaters no less, when it had first come out. I had completely forgotten. After all that fuss about NEEDING to watch it and I had already seen it. At least it was a good one.

Tonight we have plans again, just us so far, but we're thinking of practicing our skills at Taboo. It's a fun game that we sometimes play when we get together with our friends and because there is sometimes a language barrier for Chancho, we figured we'd practice on our own time.

Listening to: "I Just Love You" by Five For Fighting

Date Night To Come

It's been a pretty hectic 2 weeks. Chancho and I haven't seen a lot of one another, except for the few precious moments here and there. Not a lot of quality time. I'm itching to have some alone time to catch up and reconnect. Perhaps tonight will satisfy that itch, but most likely, I'll have to wait til tomorrow. I've put Chancho in charge of creating this date night. He really only needs to call and make reservations, but we all know that sometimes that can be too much.
We received a gift certificate from our dear friend Zach's parents for the holidays. It's to a restaurant called Alaroma. We both have never been, but it's right down the road from Chancho's place. Figured we'd give it a shot, plus how can we pass up a free meal?? From looking at the website, it seems to be an Italian restaurant and we must have driven past it at least a hundred times. Hopefully it can turn into a good night with dressing up and ending with a movie. And on that note....Chancho did decide to delete the Netflix account. I was devastated to find this out. I watch movies online all the time from there and I am addicted to the seasons of Law and Order SVU. I had been watching it from the beginning and only made it to the end of season 2. We'll be renting from the RedBox instead now. It is a lot cheaper (dollar a night!), but not convenient. I think he secretly didn't want to watch the movies I put on the list. They'd just show up and he'd have no say in them. At least now we have to have a discussion about which movie we'll be watching or a good old fashion game of rock, paper, scissors will suffice.

I'm starting to feel a lot better. I have most of my energy back. I'm still coughing up my lungs here and there and my nose is running all over the place, but I can get out of bed and do what I need to do. I was lucky to make it to work and back again without making a mess of myself.

Listening to: "The Joker" unplugged by Steve Miller
Quote of the Day: “Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others.  If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter which fork you use.” ― Emily Post

Family Dinner

This past Saturday was my grandmother's birthday party. She turned 84 this year. We're very happy to have spent another year with her. As always, we're concerned about her health and keeping every day a cherished one that we get to have her here.
It was at my Aunt P's house and about 20 people were able to make it. We had a great lamb dinner, with mashed potatoes, peas, broccoli casserole and lasagna. It was really good and all homemade. Everyone brought a dish to contribute. My father's cousin brought his son, whom I haven't seen in about 4 years. Always nice to see family after a long absence. Found out some gossip that had been going through the grapevine, my other aunt dumped her long term boyfriend and my cousin will be dumping his girlfriend soon. Boy does the family love to gossip. What family doesn't though? It was a short party, she had to be home early for bed, but we were able to have dinner, dessert (chocolate cake), and open presents. Opening presents was pretty interesting. She got a Snuggie, which she LOVED. She said she was going to order it off of the commercial and was happy to receive one. She also got a Visa Card, one of those cards that can be used anywhere like cash. I'm not sure she understood it, but that's why she has grandkids to take her out and show her how to use it. She also got a bunch of flowers. It's getting harder and harder every year to figure out what to get her because she doesn't need anything. She's in the process of moving out of her house so she's giving everything away, she doesn't need to add anything to her house. Most of the time when you do give her something she winds up giving it back to you a year later. Hence all of the flowers she got. Those are easy and make her house a happier place for a few days.

Overall the night was great. It seemed an early Thanksgiving dinner. We all won't be together for Thanksgiving, we all will be going separate ways with our other families so it was even better to get together then.

Listening to: "Blue Christmas" by Elivs Presley

Surprise Party

Today is a good friend's birthday, tomorrow is the actual get together to celebrate, but his loving girlfriend decided to have a surprise party tonight so that Chancho could make it! I'm very happy that he gets to celebrate with everyone. I can't wait to see the look on his face. He gets out of class and has to take the train home, so we'll all be able to be at his house without him knowing. I love surprising other people! It does however mess up our plans, but at least it's for a good cause.

We were supposed to do a dinner and a movie courtesy of Applebees. I'm not sure if other cities do this, but if you eat at Applebees they give you a discount on movie tickets. Normally, we wouldn't need to do that, but recently the movie theater we go to hasn't been honoring the $1 movie tickets with a NYC police badge. Which really is a bummer, it was such a great deal. The only catch is that you have to wait 2 weeks before getting the discount. It is good for the LEO and a guest. We've been to two movie theaters now and they both denied us. They're saying that it's only good for the local departments. I think all LEOs should be honored. They're doing the same thing as the local departments. Plus, I don't want to go to a movie theater in the Bronx.

Anyways, we'll be doing dinner and shopping for a birthday present instead. Hope you all have a great night!

Quote of the Day: "If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't do it any differently." – Playing by Heart

Chancho in a poncho

It's raining, or rather misting out in the Bronx, but the game is still being played, with an hour delay. Chancho is doing a paid detail, standing out in the bleacher section while he gets to watch a Yankees/Red Sox game. However, he gets to wear a NYPD rain coat. I'm upset that it's not a bright orange or yellow one, but it still isn't a pleasant one to wear. He has to wear his hat today too. He normally doesn't wear it, but sits on it while driving around during his shifts. Tomorrow we're going to be sitting in Yankee stadium together watching the Yankees/Kansas City game along the first baseline, field level. I'm pretty pumped for it. I hope that it's not the last one of the season that I get to, but if it is, I picked out some good seats to make it worth it. Chancho and I have decided that we will go to a Playoff game no matter how much they cost. (My birthday present in advance) I've never been to a Playoff game and I can only imagine what it would be like. I have a good feeling about this year so hopefully it will be worth it.

A few more hours and Chancho will be home, changed and ready for us to go to dinner. I already spoke to my parents about the language barrier at the restaurant. My dad seems a little worried about it, just as I had predicted, but I reassured him that Chancho will be right there to translate for him. It turns out that the building that the restaurant is in, was the jewelers where my dad had gone for many years while he was growing up.

Starting to think about Halloween. Hoping that my old roommate will be able to fly down and visit for it. It would be great if she did, to continue our tradition of being together for Halloween. We've done something for 3 years in a row now. Last year she stayed at school with me while everyone else went home. Hopefully we will be able to see each other again this year.

Dinner Date

Tomorrow is the dinner date. From the beginning of the summer my parents and I have been discussing about having dinner together, including Chancho. Now that the summer is over and Chancho has been banned from doing anymore overtime, we've picked a date. That date is tomorrow. I'm a little nervous, but more excited. This will be the first dinner that we'll have out in public and in Chancho's "territory". We're going to a Peruvian restaurant and they rarely speak English there. I'm not sure how my parents will react to that, but I do know that the food there is great. Chancho and I have gone a few times already and have even ordered take out from there. It's in the town of Portchester, the town where my father grew up. I'm hoping he isn't disappointed, because the town has changed a lot since he grew up. It is now a predominant Spanish speaking town with the majority being Mexicans. Oh well no use in worrying about it, it will all work out somehow. Fingers are crossed and time to go watch the Yankees vs the Red Sox. Hopefully win #2 coming our way!!