New Years and it's Resolutions!!!

 I know, for me personally, 2012 was just a crazy year. We went through the entire 9 months of pregnancy and came out with a beautiful, bouncing, baby boy. He has quickly became one of the joys of both of our lives. 

Minutes after he was born 

With a new baby though comes trials and tribulations. For us it has been a lack of sleep and also lots, and I mean LOTS of crying. For the most part Cruz is a happy baby, and to most it seems that he is a great sleeper. He tends to sleep whenever we are out of the house. From the second the car leaves the garage, or the stroller is out of the driveway he sleeps and doesn't cry. Inside the doors of our home though it's a whole different story. 

The one person who seems to calm him down, with her quirky personality and intense amount of energy is our daughter Kennidy. They right from the get go had a great bond, which for us was a HUGE relief. After being an only child for nearly 7 years, we weren't sure how she was going to take being a sibling, but she has done great!

My little Salt & Pepper babies. 

Back to the trials and tribulations of new babies and parenthood and a serious moment of raw honesty.  For us, the side affect of no sleep and crying has been arguing with each other. Not because we're mad at the other person, but,  just because we are so dang frustrated. Then that frustration leads to anger and then inevitably to a fight.  As you can probably tell from my last blog we don't get out very often, especially without the kids. So finding alone time together is super important, for our sanity and for the sake of our marriage. Something that we have been trying, is having our daily quite time with the Lord together. Joe is usually reading his Bible and me the same or reading a devotion. We came up with the same New Years resolution without even knowing it and then decided to just add the other person in to it. We are going to try to read the whole Bible in one year. 

I seriously believe that with prayer, nothing could be better for our marriage. If you are interested (and I STRONGLY encourage you to be) to read the whole Bible in a year there is a great app for it called BiOY (Bible in One Year), they also have a website, here it is. It gives you a sequential reading from the Old Testament, New Testament, then either a Psalm or Proverb. The coolest thing about this website/app is that for every section of reading there is an explanation devotional that goes with it and a prayer attached. So all in all 3 short devotions. I know you're probably thinking "Yeesh the Bible in one year, that must be a TON of reading, the Bible is a really BIG book!" but really it tally's out to about 5 chapters a day. Another cool feature about this app is that the version of the Bible is the Message! (My personal favorite). The Message provides a current translation of what the Bible is. Pretty much instead of "Your word is a lamp unto my feet" you get "Your word is a flashlight to my feet"; it just makes it easier to understand. Even if you are not a Christian, try reading it JUST so you know what it's about :) 

 I recently read a quote that said 

"God without man is still God, but a man without God is nothing" -Emerson.

I think this saying could be true for a marriage too, instead though it being a marriage without GOD is nothing. So my new years resolution is to incorporate God into our marriage way more in 2013 than in 2012. 

Christmas 2012

ON that note; I think as a wife/mother/daughter/son/father/ you get it, it is SO important that we pray for our spouse, or future spouse, or our children's future spouses, or even our children as a spouse. How many times can I fit the word "spouse" in a sentence? I think it is crucial to pray for my husband EVERY day. So with that I bring on;

 January's Challenge 

to Y-O-U! Especially you wives! Since there are 31 days in the month of January I thought that this would be perfect. It is 31 days of prayer for your husband. Everyday there is a short (like one sentence) prayer for your husband followed by 2-4 short verses to read. As wives we are encouraged to bless our husbands! And what a way to do it! Sticking with the 31 theme, I also encourage you to read Proverbs 31 and see what kind of woman we should strive to be. My favorite is Proverbs 31:11-12 "The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not harm, all the days of her life"

We wish you all a Happy New Years and a very blessed 2013!!!!

The Mendoza Family 2012

   As a new again mommy I don't get much of an opportunity to go out sans baby, especially with the hubby, so when an opportunity for date night, free of children, came around we snagged it.
   Recently somebody told me about a place in town called the Snugbar. Living in the small, college town of Corvallis, I thought I had heard of everyplace around here, but, alas, no I hadn't. Snugbar is not your typical college town bar, as a matter of fact it purposely strives to be the complete opposite of that. It's next door neighbor is the Peacock, and to keep that crowd out and to keep them from ordering PBR or using the bathroom they developed a little system. Curious? Keep reading on.
   Cloaked in the entrance of Magenta on 3rd street, hides a concealed staircase, at the bottom of that staircase is an obscure door and nothing else. If tried to open, the door is locked. To the unknowing patron this door may seem to lead to a storage room in the bowels of the building, but to the knowing it leads to an enchanted place; a bona fide, 1920's style speak easy. The secret to getting in, a particular knock and that nights secret password. For us it was "ninja science". The key to getting that nights password is to "like" them on facebook. You can like them here. You're welcome in advance.
  After our charade with the door and password we were greeted by our garcon for the evening. A dapper young man by the name of either Andrew or Robbie, I'm not sure which. We were granted our pick of the place, as we were the first people there, and a choice it was. We could choose to sit in one of the many plush, swanky couches, at the bar counter were we could watch the "tender" perform, or at an intimate table for two with cozy chairs and a candlelite. Seeing as how it was our first date in a loooonnnggg time, we opted for the latter.
   We were then presented with one of the most vast, all-encompassing cocktail menus I have ever seen.   There were sections in this menu for pre-prohibition drinks, post-prohibition drinks, signature drinks, seasonal drinks, featured drinks, and then pricey drinks, and of course the liquor list. It was almost overwhelming, almost.
   Confession: I am quite the novice when it comes to cocktails, typically limiting myself to lemondrops, mojitos, or a cosmo (none of which were on the cocktail menu). So I had to drill the waiter and the tender for what was 1. not too strong and 2. good. I think those are pretty easy rules. After much deliberation, my wishy washy self came up with a choice. A shot in the heart. Yep, that's the name of the martini.

It was a mix of some kind of brandy (don't judge, I don't know the name), grenadine and a cherry flavored liquor. It was a wee bit strong in the brandy department for me, but like I mentioned I am a weenie. It was shaken so hard it was slushy like. 

  

    Joe's first drink was titled a Rugger, and it was delicious. I know it had ginger beer (which is pretty much just ginger ale) as it's mixer, beyond that I am completely at a loss for what was in it. But it was pretty, so here is a picture. 

   After getting our drinks, we took a peek at their tapas menu, which is fare from Magenta. There are only about 10 things on the tapas menu, but that really is plenty. We started out with; cheese and shrimp wontons, shrimp lettuce rolls in a peanut sauce, and yukon fries with a sesame sauce. It was all delicious and the best part is....every tapas on the menu is only $4. What a steal. 

   After eating up all that and literally licking our fingers we decided to go for round 2 on drinks. This time I took the tenders advice and ordered a Moscow Mule. It is ginger beer, vodka and lime juice served in a copper mug. So cute. So refreshing. So good. 

After further inspection I notice the mug tells you what the drink is, just in case you forget. (Sorry about the flash, hopefully you get the gyst of it though. 

Joe decided to just stick with water this round since he was driving us home. Instead he focused on round 2 of tapas. This time opting for a bacon wrapped pork bao and a gluten free pork egg roll.  Again tasty tasty. A couple other things on the menu that we did not try were a steamed rice bao, coconut prawns, and a yellowfin tare tare, and a few other things. Seriously though, everything is SO good. 

The last drink of the night, which we agreed to spit, was something I have never tried, but always wanted too; absinthe. Before you judge I will spill the facts, as notated by our waiter, Andrew/Robbie, 1. the prohibition on absinthe was lifted in the US a few years back because 2. there are only minute trace amounts of wormwood in absinthe. (For those of you who don't know, worm wood when concentrated is not only a hallucinogen, but also toxic, yikes) Snugbar has Oregon's largest selection of absinthe ranging from a California made one (cost about $12) to one made in the Absinthe region of France (cost about $16). Supposedly the cheaper you pay the stronger the anise (black licorice-like) flavor and the more spendy the more of an herbal flavor. We were living large so we went with the legit one, and I think it still tasted a whole lot like anise. Now that I can say I've tried it, I never really want to again, not because it was gross or anything, just because I don't really care for black licorice.

Now that I've touched on the food and drink aspect of this vintage speak easy, I have to fill you in on the ambiance. The music playing was 1920's jazz, Andrew/ Robbie was adorned in a waistcoat and tie and the lighting was subtle and romantic. It time warped me back to an era where this little date of mine would have put us in the slammer, where moonshine was a delicacy, where guys called gals "dames and sweethearts". It was all very "Great Gatspy". I loved it. 

There was no shortage on attention to detail here. The tender was literally hand carving ice blocks for the whisky and every drink had a dazzling glass. The variety of bottles behind the bar was so exclusive, I could have stared for hours.  This place carries everything from mid shelf to top top shelf inebriants. Drinks range from $7-$120, but have no fear you can try a quarter of a shot of anything for a quarter of the price (so $30 for some crazy expensive stuff) . Heres a picture of our water pitcher, every table had a different, detailed one on it. 

This place was superb! The staff was friendly, the food & drink spectacular, the atmosphere was antique with a modern flare. All in all I was impressed! I will be back....often,  and I encourage you to give it a try too.