Full Circle & Recipe

Last week I got my first Full Circle box. I still haven't decided if I like it or not. There are Pros and Cons so I don't know If I will continue getting it. 

I woke up Tuesday Morning to this box sitting on my front porch. Pro: Its always fun to get a package...no matter what it is. 

What was in my box? a small bunch of carrots, green leaf lettuce, a red cabbage, 2 gala apples, 1 cucumber, & 2 blood oranges. ( I ordered the smallest box meant for 1-2 people). This box is $22.95 a week. Con: That's a little spendy for veggies, I know they're all organic but I don't always buy organic, I try to but it doesn't always happen. 

Pro: My box was delivered Tuesday, and I had from the previous Wednesday-Saturday to change out anything I didn't like in my box. There was nothing outrageous in mine so I made it a point not to change it so I was forced to use what I was given. Pro: (well it was a pro for me) I was given veggies I wouldn't normally buy. I'm a creature of habbit and for the most part buy the same fruits and veggies every week. I got a red cabbage, carrots, and blood oranges, I would never usually buy those things. I googled recipes with Red cabbage and found this awesome slaw recipe from the food network that called for orange juice. Perfect! I could use the blood oranges also!

Recipe: Red Cabbage Slaw (Modified from Bobby Flay)

Ingredients

1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1/2 small red onion, coarsely chopped

2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves

1 teaspoon honey

1/3 cup olive oil

 Pepper

3/4-Whole head red cabbage, finely shredded

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/red-cabbage-slaw-recipe.html?oc=linkback

Combine all ingredients besides cabbage in blender ( I used a Kitchen Aid Food Chopper). Blend until it is the consistence of a vinaigrette. Stir in withe the cabbage and refrigerate for 30 min. I ate mine with chicken and asparagus and it was so yummy . 

(Food Networks Picture..not mine lol)

Pro: The recipe turned out awesome and I don't think I would have came across it without my Full Circle Box. 

Con: I didn't eat all the lettuce and carrots which felt like a waste of money. 

Con: Spring and Summer means cheap veggies at the grocery store. I walked in the other day and asparagus avocados and watermelon were already on sale.  

You can decide for yourself if full circle is for you. There is a Groupon for half off right now I believe so you can at least try it. 

Also If you use Promo code: FCREFER and type my name: Rachael Hernandez you get 40% off your first box! 

50th Birthday Weekend Fun

Michael's Dad turned 50 this last Saturday so off to Hood Canal we went for a birthday weekend getaway. His whole intermediate family was able to come except for his nephew Ayden. His sister Sarah rented a 4 bedroom house right on the canal. It was really charming and the view was gorgeous. We drank wine, ate delicious food, played board games, went canoeing & clam digging all weekend. There were a list of different hikes in the area, we drove a few miles down the road, and a 500 foot walk down the trail was a huge beautiful waterfall.

Standing on the Balcony, it was low tide but the water came right up to the house

Board games 

Pretty Waterfall at the end of the trail

Me and the kids

Michael & his siblings

Birthday Boy and his Kids

Michael and Chris carrying the Canoe to the water

The canoe was a little tippy for my liking but we eventually got the hang of it. 

The house was from 1920 and had a weird little ceiling closet in our room. So naturally me and Michael stuck Caleb up there to hangout, he loved it. He was just chillin drinking a chocolate milk for awhile. 

It was a really fun weekend. The water was so pretty and every morning you could see seals out swimming around. We had to be out of the house by 11 Sunday Morning, We were doing great and were pretty much  ready to lock up at 10:30 when Michael locked the keys in his truck! Him and Jalen finally got in using the antenna just a few minutes after 11. only one little hiccup but everything else was perfect!

After unloading the truck when we got home we finished the weekend off with Drinks and some March Madness 

Lemme Upgrade Ya

"partner lemme upgrade ya" Beyoncé reference anyone?!....

Anyway we decided it was time to upgrade to a King size bed, a queen size just wasn't very comfortable...Michael is kinda a large person. The King size mattress led to thinking about bedroom sets, which led to shopping at many furniture stores one Saturday afternoon. We ended up getting a very pretty set from Mor Furniture. We paid a little extra to have it delivered, I'm sooooo glad we did because boy that furniture is heavy, getting it up the stairs to our room looked tricky (I'm NOT looking forward to having to move it when we move out of this rental). I found a super nice new King Size Matress on 'Buy Sell Trade'(kinda like Craigslist) that was a reject from Costco due to some scratches and what not. $300 sure beats $1100.

I forgot to take before pictures mid way of moving everything out of the room, but basically our room before was a Bunch of random cheap furniture.

Bed Before ( I already took the bedding off) Just a mattress and box spring on a frame.

Bed After: Nice big King bed

Before: Michael's make shift dresser, and picture on the empty wall



After: Michael's huge pretty dresser

Before: My dresser

After: my pretty matching dresser. Its so big, almost as tall as me!

Before: Ghetto side tables, I think they were seriously like $15 from Walmart.

After: Big side tables with drawers!

I LOVE our new bedroom furniture. We still need matching lamps, some more decorations and some wall art or pictures but its looking pretty grown up! 

Plumbing Problems

So... a few months ago the garbage disposal started leaking, since we live in a rental this means calling the landlord and setting up a time to get it fixed. Sometimes this is such a hassle I would honestly just rather have Michael or my Step-dad fix it. After months of having a broken disposal the landlord never called me back so Jim (Step-dad) came over to fix the problem. There ended up being a dime size hole in the back of the disposal, obviously causing all the leaking. He happened to have a new garbage disposal laying around from their old house so he just replaced it.

Good to go right...nope, I started to do all the dishes that had stacked up and about 10 min later water started to trickle on my feet. Sure enough there was a good inch or so of water under the sink! Called Jim up to figure out there was a missing plug that water was just poring out of. Michael didn't have time to buy a plug before he left on his trip so It now became my responsibility. Last night when I got off work, I didn't stop at the store to buy the plug I went straight home to eat a snack and watch Scandal (my latest Netflix obsession). Bad decision...As I was sitting on the couch I could hear water running...except I wasn't running any water. I ran to the kitchen to find water pouring out of the pipe I was supposed to buy a plug for...Oppsies! I turned all three water shut offs off under the sick but the water just kept coming. I was freaking out at this point on the phone with my mom and Jim, filling up bowls of water and then dumping that into the trash can. It finally stopped but then started up again 3 min later. My parents came over and tightened a couple screws on the water shut off and so far there hasn't been any leaking.... I have lots of dishes to do and I really hope the plumbing problems are over!

Decisions Decisions...

Its no secret that I can't wait for all the next big things that are going to happen in my life. I can't wait to have lots and lots of babies, buy a house and fill it with beautiful furniture, and of course get married! Not in that particular order....however what order should I do all of these things in!? The so called normal order would be to get married, buy a house then have kids.

A few months ago Michael asked me what I wanted first, I'm constantly talking about all three but lets be honest, all of these things are pretty expensive! Uhhh I have to decide?!?! Haha I actually had to put some serious thought into this...babies got ruled as last right off the bat but what did I want first...a wedding or a house. I have zero doubt that Michael and me will be married someday, I was ready for a marriage yesterday so that's not really the question, its what we want to spend our money on first. We both want to throw a big wedding with all our family and friends celebrating well into the night and that is nothing we would ever compromise. But logically renting is SUCH a waste of money and it kills us both to be giving away our hard earned money in a rental every month.

So the decision is...Buy a house first! Now that we have decided what comes first, I'm not going to lie, I'm a little sad I have to wait and marry my best friend but I know its all worth it in the end. Unfortunatly I don't have a super large income where I could just save to put money down on a house. So it was perfect timing that a Red Robin was opening in Bonney Lake. I stopped working at the one in Renton last summer because it was too much driving, almost an hour away but this new one is literally next store to my house! I got the call for an interview, went in the next day and pretty much had the job the second I walked in. I used to look at Red Robin as a stressful thing that took me away from Michael but I will only be working a few days a week and will be saving ALL of the money I make to put in savings. I am looking at this second job as more of a blessing then anything, I get the opportunity to have a fun second job, that's super close to home, and that helps me save for all the big things I want to happen. The restaurant opens in a month, let the busy schedule begin!

My Favorite Things

So I'm sure everyone has a list of things they couldn't live without. These are things I use subconsciously everyday, or they just fit into my routine.

1. Babyliss Pro Straightener...I seriously don't know what I would do without this thing! I straighten my hair pretty much everyday...unless its in a messy bun. This is such a great straightener. Its definitely comparable to a GHD and its much less expensive, $140 compared to $250. Iv had it for almost 5 years now and it works just as great as it did when I pulled it out of the box.

2. Make-up Remover is always essential and I feel a little bit better using a more natural choice. 'Yes to' is one of my favorite brands and the make-up removing wipes smell like your putting cucumbers on your eyes and they are cool and soothing.

3. Netflix...do I even need to explain why this is one of my favorite things! For $7.99 a month you can stream so much stuff. I can see why some people wouldn't want it because they don't always have the greatest movies, but wow do they have alot of TV series. They are really great about updating new seasons as well. I have spent probably too much time in front of my TV getting lost in different Series.

4. Method Cleaning products...specifically the Tomato Vine Dish Soap. I learned about the brand Method more in my Sustainable Marketing class and now I won't use anything other then it. My absolute Favorite smell is the Tomato Vine, they only make dish and hand soap in this scent but it is seriously so great. Who would have thought that tomatoes would smell so amazing?!

5. My Wallet. I don't think I have ever gotten so many compliments on something in my entire life. Every time I pull out my wallet there is a 75% chance the cashier will comment on how great it is! I got my Kate Spade wallet super on Sale during Memorial Day weekend at the outlets. It was still pretty spendy but its by far one of my favorite things, It keeps me so organized and I use the little loop in the middle to put my chapstick in instead of a pen. It pretty big so I can pull it out and use it as a clutch as well.

6. Iced Coffee, specifically an iced Grande two pump vanilla Americano with a splash of milk and a sprinkle of cinnamon. It could be -10 degrees outside and I would still prefer an iced coffee over a hot one. I really try to limit my Starbucks visits to the weekends but sometimes that doesn't always happen. I do think its ridiculous that people spend so much money on coffee everyday...but come on, its Seattle...its basically required!

I'm positive that I have many more favorite things but today these are things I could think of. 

14 things about Michael

How did it get to be February already!? Since Valentines Day is this Friday I thought I would write a post about my amazing boyfriend Michael. For those of you that don't really know Michael I will start with a little background update. About 4 years ago I was sophomore in college home for winter break just hanging out with my friends. Almost all of my best friends from High School went to middle school together along with Michael and all of his best friends. Over break I was hanging out with my best friend Bianca and we found ourselves at our friend John's house all the time. Michael is John's bet friend and that's were I really started to to talk to him. I wish our story was more romantic but really it started out with us texting for a few months and one drunken night later I made out with him. We went backwards a little bit from there and started dating, finally made it official in July 2010. Michael works out of town on the east coast most of the time but we managed to get through college and his crazy travel schedule for the last 4 years and I am just as in love with him now I was then. Since Valentines falls on the 14th Here is 14 random facts about Michael.

1. He is the hardest worker, even if it means he has to be away from me he gives his work 100% 

2. He is very sarcastic, this little quality used to annoy me but now I know how to respond, I usually just go along with his sarcasm even though I know he is kidding. 

3. He will always help me when I'm stressed out and I need to calm down...which is often. Whether its cleaning the house or going grocery shopping etc. he will always make sure I get done what I'm stressing about.

4. He is so giving, he always wants to help others out whether its his family, friends or even strangers.

5. If there is a car broken down in the middle of the road he will always get out and help the person push their car or hook up a tow strap, etc. I have never seen him drive by someone in need. Just the other day he saw a boy get in a crash on his motorcycle so he stopped, loaded up the boys motorcycle in the back of his truck and then drove him home. 

6. He can not stand still when he is on the phone, he will walk in circles around the house, up and down the stairs etc. If hes is on the phone while driving he will drive around in circles in a parking lot. so weird lol

7. His favorite place in the whole world is his garage. I couldn't tell you what he does out there, I swear he spends more time organizing it then he actually does on projects..but oh well its his thing I guess.

8. His dream vacation is to go back-packing through Ireland. He has a million frequent flyer miles racked up and he won't touch them because they are reserved for Ireland.

9. He doesn't like sweets very much....This is something I have trouble with because I crave them and he could care less about them. He will go get ice cream or frozen yogurt with me though.

10. He loves sports, he talks about them all the time with his friends I wonder how he knows so much because I never see him watching ESPN.

11. His favorite Restaurant was this little Ghetto Burger/Teriyaki place in Auburn that closed down last year. We have yet to find Spicy Teriyaki as good as it was at Chuby's!

12. He falls asleep on the couch 75% of the time he is home. I usually go to bed alot earlier then him and most mornings I wake up and Michael isn't there. I walk down the stairs and sure enough he is asleep on the couch without a pillow or blanket. I used to take offense to this but I know he doesn't do it on purpose.

13. He puts hot sauce on EVERYTHING! I should get him a little belt loop holster for hot sauce, and he would probably wear it.  

14. I'm Michael's first real girlfriend (besides those 2 weeks middle school relationships), I guess he chose right because we are coming up on 4 years together!