Goodbye-Hello

Goodbye Matt's 12 year old Nissan Pickup, that we went on our first date in.

HELLO! Nissan Versa.

We have added a new family member to the Allen Fam. After the disappointing news that Matt's truck didn't qualify for the Cash for Clunkers, which originally we were told that it did, it has been a bother thinking about what we could have had. So after talking about how much money we will actually be saving on gas every month, we decided that it was time to get a new car and donate the truck by the end of the year. So we went with the Versa. It can get up to 40 mpg, even though the stickers say 34 in big lettering, but that is an average on how well you drive. (Matt drives like an old man and gets killer gas milage, so he will probably get close to 45 mpg.)

Anyhew, we were going to get used, but found a base model cheeper than the used which had 50,000 miles on it already, can we say rent a car. So we are getting AC installed this week and my anniversary gift to Matt is a radio system so the car will be perfect for commuting. Needless to say I was ready to get rid of that truck since the AC died, a few months ago. I'm just glad that I don't have to drive that thing in the afternoon with 95% humidity and in the 90's. Matt is pretty excited too that he doesn't have to do that anymore.

Garden

Two really interesting things happened this week in the garden. First of all, the gardenia bush that we just bought has finally started to bloom. We have 2 open buds on there right now and the smell is intoxicatingly beautiful! There are many non-open buds still on the bush and it will be covered with blooms very soon, I hope. That bush is only about 1 foot tall and wide now and is supposed to get about 5x5 feet. I can't wait.


The second, something has gotten to one of my tomatoes. It is the first animal attack on my veggie garden. I just hope that they don't go after my carrots next cause I have been waiting forever to pick them. Hopefully this hurricane will dump some much needed water in our yard to help my babies grow.

Other little tidbits: I have been experimenting on Matt again with new recipes. So far I am 1:1. I made baked chicken the other night and he loved it. Last night I made chicken chili rellenos, and he didn't like it so much, he didn't like the pepper in the middle. Tonight is chicken cordon bleu. I am pretty sure he won't like it but it is one of my favs and I am making it from scratch. So wish me luck.

Also I am busy teaching my students, practicing for my own lessons, and another completely different creative activity. I even had one of my students give me a thumbs up on my projects I have been working on since last December. I started having major doubts on it yesterday so I asked her to help boost my moral on my project. More on what that project is later, but it has been very interesting and somewhat time consuming. (if you know what the project is, please don't post a comment about it, I am being mysterious for now.) Anyhew that's all here on the front. Today is a baby shower for my friend Kimberly and I am excited to see her. I haven't seen her in months.

Congrats to Nat and Brendon on their new baby girl Vivian. (Can't wait to see how much of a curly top that kid will be.)

Us.

So you are probably wondering, "What happened to the Allen's? Did Becky not make it through the Star Trek date night?" I survived, don't worry. It was actually a lot of fun. I now have a killer homemade marinara sauce that it amazing, and even though I fell asleep during the episodes, sorry Matt, we did have fun and Matt really like me customizing the date to his likes as well. The next week we had a Pirates of the Caribbean theme, we had Pineapple and Rum chicken and then we were supposed to watch the first Pirates movie, but the Home Teachers showed up. That kind of killed the night. I don't know what theme to do this week. Anyone have any ideas?

Anyhew, I am just getting slammed with students this week. I have 27 students now, 26 piano and 1 horn student and I have a waiting list. I can't believe I have a waiting list. It is so amazing how much I have been blessed with this business. I love teaching my little musicians. In a few weeks the piano studio will be 2 years old. I can't believe that my little idea has blossomed into this successful business.

Matt is staying busy at his work plus doing extra military duty on the weekends. He hasn't had a weekend off since Seven Springs and won't get another weekend off for another 2 weeks. He has to make up all the drills he missed when he was over seas, I know it doesn't make sense, but he was not over there for the military, so technically he has to make them up.

Matt and I are in the process of re-financing our home. We found a killer APR that we couldn't resist, and the stupid county taxes were going to kill us with their hike this year so we decided to just get a lower rate and reduce our amount. We are excited for that but just want the process to be done and over. We had the appraisal guy over yesterday and he gave us major kudos on our backyard transformation. He said that it looked really good and was a huge plus for us. So we will see. The whole goal is to get higher than what we had when we moved in 2 years ago, but with the market the way it is we don't know. The good thing, a house in our neighborhood that is the same model sold 6 months ago for WAY over what we bought our house at and even higher than our original appraisal amount, so that is a good thing, hopefully.

That's about all on the Allen front. Matt works, and I teach and read a ton of books. Oh, and I finally figured out what to get my mom for Christmas. For 27 years I have never known the perfect gift for my mom and always questioned if what I got her would be good, but this year I finally figured it out and hopefully I will finish it in time to give to her for Christmas. So I am really proud of that. Alright, thanks everyone for reading. Hopefully I will have an interesting blog someday, but my life is pretty much the same day to day.

To Boldly Go...

Where no wife has gone before! When Matt and I were in PA at our Couples Retreat we were advised to have a date night every week. So this week Matt and I decided to have a Star Trek Themed Date Night. We just bought the original series of Star Trek remastered so to go along with that we are going to have a theme dinner too. Here is on the meal plan:

Ghagh with Tribbles-Spaghetti with Meatballs

Blood Wine-Red Grape Sparkling Cider

Vulcan Fire Sandwiches-S'mores

Nelix's mystery toast-garlic toast

Troy's obsession-double chocolate fudge Ghirardelli Brownies with vanilla ice cream and fudge topping.

Risa's frozen cocktail-Pina Colada

I really must love my husband!

What's Yours is Mine...

Mine is yours. Well Matt was sick with something on Saturday, than I was sick with something yesterday and Matt is sick with something again today. He had to call in from work and now I have to cancel my lessons cause I have an active flu bug in my house and I don't want to get my kids sick. Funny thing that happened yesterday. I was sick as a dog yesterday morning and couldn't get a replacement for piano for sacrament. So I went but I had to leave during one of the speakers and had to laterally run out of the auditorium so that I didn't upchuck in front of the whole church, so I run out. By at the end of sacrament I got asked if I was preggers. NO I AM NOT PREGNANT. MATT GAVE ME THE BUG NOT A BUN IN THE OVEN.

Seven Springs, PA

After we got back from being gone a week in NYC we were home for 4 days then left again to go to Seven Springs Resort in Pennsylvania. We were there for military duty, and I was even on orders. It was for a couples retreat. The resort was pretty cool. It was so beautiful and it is a full fledged ski resort in the winter. We felt like we were eating on a Cruise cause they had very fancy food there. Anyhew here are a couple of pix from our balcony suite! There was an alpine slide and I was so mad, Matt and I were racing and this one girl in front of me decided to CRAWL down the mountain. Which made me crawl and Matt kicked my butt. He also kicked my butt at bowling the night prior. We had a ton of fun at the resort. Thank you military for sending us!

NYC Post 2

Ok next set of pix:

~Little Italy, Nolita~

~Piano Heaven~

~Chocolate Heaven~

~On our way out for a night on the town~

~Museum of Natural History. I loved it. There was a cool Journey to the Starts exhibit that was a movie on the ceiling. Totally awesome!~

~I thought this was the funniest scene.~

~Central Park~

~The fireworks from our Hotel Room on July 4th. We turned on the TV and watched them out our window.~

So that's all folks. Actually I took over 400 pix while we were there and these are some of the best ones. Enjoy.