My Kevo

Since Valentine’s Day is approaching, I thought I’d fill you all in on my main man, Kevin Pino. *This is a long one, so you may want to grab a snack ;)*

I met Kevin on March 2, 2005. I was going to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and was pretty much having the best year ever. I broke up with a creepy boyfriend a few months prior, and was finally starting to really enjoy being single and talking to a few different guys, and getting my confidence back up and feeling really good about myself again.

My roommates, Maygan, Jenny and I went out to dinner to Pepe’s (best Mexican restaurant in SLO btw!) that Wednesday night to do a little pre-celebrating for Maygan’s birthday (which is on March 5th), and decided to stop by (what was then known as) Mission Grill (now known as Native). Keep in mind, it was a Wednesday night, so it was pretty much the slowest night of the week when it comes to the bar scene. So we walked in and of course there was no one else there but the bartenders. It was Dennis, Jason (aka Uncle Jay) and Kevin. Now, Uncle Jay is over six feet tall and looks like a professional football player, and there’s little Kevin, who’s like 5’7”, standing next to him. First impression: I’m not a fan of short dudes. However, as the three of us sat down and started to talk (i.e. flirt) with the bartenders I was beginning to become more and more attracted to Kevin. He had a great smile and the prettiest eyes I had/have ever seen – light green. I’m pretty much obsessed with a great smile and killer eyes. To top it all off, he was super funny. So we did a little bantering back and forth and somehow the conversation got to me and how I cut my guy friends’ hair. He said he needed a haircut (ya right!) and asked me for my number so he could give me a call and “schedule an appointment.” Ha! I immediately froze and was totally going to give him a fake number because I hadn’t had much luck with giving guys my numbers in the past – CREEPERS! But Maygan (the sweet little thing that she is) immediately grabbed a cocktail napkin and jotted my number down and handed it to Kevin. Meanwhile, I’m just staring at her in complete shock but also cracking up the whole time.

So some days go by – and I don’t exactly remember specifics because it was almost five years ago people, I barely remember yesterday! – and Kevin calls me on a Thursday night and says he has the night off and him and his roommates and some friends are all going out to Tahoe Joe’s to celebrate his roommate’s birthday. At that time I was already comfortably sprawled out on the couch in my PJ’s and just got home from a full day of classes. So I denied him. Another week goes by and he calls me again and asks if I want to do something, and I deny him for a SECOND time! Poor guy. He later told me that after that point he was pretty much done with me. Hey! I don’t blame him.

Anyways, I think another week goes by and Maygan and I go to Lake Nacimiento with her then boyfriend and his friends and do a little wakeboarding. That night one of our friends was having a HUGE party at his house for his birthday. So we show up, (and I was feeling really good because I’d just been at the lake all day and got a great tan, haha!) and low-and-behold Kevin is bartending at the party! As soon as I saw him I was a little embarrassed because I had turned him down so many times. But he was super nice and came up and said hi to us and hung out for a bit while he was taking a break. So the night goes on and the party starts to die down and I see that Kevin is getting ready to leave and I wave to him and he comes over to me, grabs my face and plants a big wet one on my lips and says “bye princess.” Um ya….I was shocked! First of all, I was kind of embarrassed because I’m not someone who is big on PDA’s, but secondly, I couldn’t believe he just did that! So he left, and I was still a little dumbfounded and he must have done something right because I made Maygan go with me to Mission that night so I could “accidentally” run into him again. As luck would have it, that’s exactly what happened!
From then on we hung out. The moment I knew he was “the one” was one weeknight I went to his house and we were laying on the couch watching “Ray” and he was behind me with his arms around me and I just thought to myself ‘I have never felt this comfortable and safe with someone in my whole life. I don’t want to be anywhere but here with him forever.’ Skip ahead about a month and a half and on May 5th (yes, Cinco de Mayo) he officially asked me if I would be his girlfriend. It was so cute, I almost cried.

So we dated for about two years. It was going okay until the end of that second year and I could tell something just wasn’t right. To sum it up, Kevin was feeling like things were moving too fast and he wanted to take a break and so we broke up in the beginning of July 2007. I was devastated, to say the least. It took me quite a while to get done with being depressed and feeling sorry for myself, and eventually I joined a gym, got in great shape and made some new, good friends. Looking back on that now, we are both so glad we did that because we were able to focus on ourselves and do what we needed to do before we really got serious.

We ended up getting back together on March 8, 2008. Almost exactly three years after we first met. Isn’t it amazing how things come full-circle like that and how God works? I sure think it is! So we got back together in March, in May Kevin started talking about how when he graduates he’d like us to live together. Now, most people would think this was crazy of me to even consider since he broke up with me and we had just gotten back together, but I just knew in my heart that it was right. So of course I said I’d be up for it. Not long after that he started interviewing for a job and the first week of June he landed the job and quickly found out that he’d have to graduate, have all his family in town, move out of his house and into my condo and then leave for Chicago to train for his new job for two months. Talk about stressful! But we made it work.

Kevin got back from Chicago in August of 2008, we had found an apartment in Walnut Creek and we lived there for about nine months until we couldn’t take it anymore. It was on the top floor, and it was just too small for us. We found the house that we’re renting now and we LOVE it. It’s super spacious, Kahlua has a backyard to run around in and it’s made things much less stressful.

Why I love Kevo? For the following reasons:

1. He puts up with my whining on a daily basis, and never throws it back in my face. He probably just tunes me out the whole time, but he doesn’t ever let on ;)

2. He has never once lost his temper with me. He is literally the most patient person I have ever met. I on the other hand am the most impatient person I know.

3. He adores my dog almost as much as he adores me. The two of them together is pretty hysterical. The only way to sum up the dog’s and Kevin’s relationship is that he refers to her as his “daughter.” Ya…

4. He cleans up after himself. Granted, he tends to not put the clothes inside the hamper, but rather, on top of it, and he does leave his shoes in the living room all the time, but for the most part he’s a clean guy. He cleans the kitchen, he doesn’t leave pee around the toilets, and he wipes the counters down in the bathroom (that took some training though ;)).

5. I LOVE his family.

6. He LOVES my family.

7. He always makes me laugh. Kevin is very quick-whitted and comes up with pretty funny comebacks all the time. It definitely brightens my day.

8. He appreciates my honesty. He is well aware that I want to get married and have kids, sooner rather than later. He’s even told me he’s grateful that I’ve made it abundantly clear to him, otherwise it would probably take him a lot longer to get the ball rolling. In his words “guys just don’t get stuff like that!” 

9. He takes care of me.

10. He tells me he loves me at least once a day.

Okay, I’m done with the mushy stuff for now. But I just wanted to shed a little light on our history and how truly blessed I feel that God brought us together, not once, but twice. Kevin keeps me sane, and reminds me that things really aren’t as dramatic as I think they are. He’s my rock, and I hope he’ll propose to me soon so we can get on with spending the rest of our lives together. LOL! But seriously, I appreciate him, and love him, more and more each day.

 The costume I made by hand for Halloween one year. It was his favorite :)

Kevin and his “daughter”

Out on the town one night

Beerfest 2008 

The day we got back together :)

Me visiting Kevin while he was in Chicago for training. 

 The night of Kevin’s graduation (he doesn’t really look like himself here, but I like this picture of me so I’m posting it!)

My graduation party for getting my MBA

NYE 2009 in San Francisco

Recipes

Sausage Breakfast Pie

I don’t really know if this is the name of this recipe or not, but it’s the best name I can think of. This is great if you’re going to a breakfast/brunch and need to take something, or if you just want something different for breakfast. You can prep it the night before and just pop it in the oven the next morning. It’s super easy – which I love.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pkg. of sausage

1 pkg. of crescent rolls

4 oz. of cream cheese

 

• Let the cream cheese sit out for a bit so that it softens.
• Brown the sausage, and drain any grease.

• Mix cream cheese and cooked sausage in a bowl.

• Roll out half of the crescent dough and spread on bottom of pan/dish.
• Spread the sausage mixture on top of the crescent dough.

• Roll out the other half of crescent dough and lay on top of the sausage mixture. Pinch around the sides to seal the mixture inside the dough.

• Bake in pre-heated 375 degree oven until dough turns a light golden color.

• Serve with eggs (or by itself), and enjoy!

NOTES:

The recipe I was going off of said it only needs to bake for 12 minutes, and that was not the case for me. I had to leave it in for at least 30 minutes – and my oven cooks fast. I think it may have to do with the fact that I prepped it the night before, and my dish was really cold when I put it in the oven.

This could be a lot healthier if you used light or fat free cream cheese, and Jimmy Dean also sells this “natural” sausage too, that I’m sure is less fattening and lower calories.

Another way to make this is instead of putting it in a pan/dish, you roll all of the dough in a rectangular shape, spread the sausage mixture on it, and then roll the whole thing up (like a jelly roll). From there you can bake it, and then slice the roll so you have little sausage breakfast pinwheels. I think I might try that the next time I make this. But this was a hit and it’s so tasty!!!

 

Easy Four-Layer Bean Dip

Now I know there are tons of different ways to make bean dip, but this is the one I like best and it’s super easy and it keeps in the refrigerator for at least a good five days. Whenever my girlfriends and I get together we always make sure to have a batch of this around to munch on while we have our cocktails (most likely margaritas) and gossip. My best friend Maygan started this whole tradition :)

INGREDIENTS:

1 can of refried beans

1 container (or 2 pouches) of guacamole

1 container of sour cream

1 packet of taco seasoning

1 packet of Mexican shredded cheese

• Spread the can of refried beans on bottom of the dish.

• Spread the guacamole on top of the refried beans.

• Mix the entire package of taco seasoning in with the sour cream (I just mix it right in the sour cream container).

• Spread the sour cream on top of the guacamole.

• Sprinkle a good amount of the cheese on top of the sour cream.
• Let set in the refrigerator for a good two hours so all ingredients can set.
• Serve and enjoy with tortilla chips and/or Fritos!

NOTES:

Again, you can make it a little less fattening by using the fat-free ingredients instead.

 

Pull Pork Sandwiches

This is pretty much the only meal I don’t screw up, and I even enjoy eating it too (I usually don’t like eating anything I make)! Pretty much the best way to make this is in the crock pot. It’s great to have cooking all day while you’re at work or getting stuff done around the house, and/or running errands. It’s super nice to make if you have company over because then you’re not stuck in the kitchen while everyone else is out in the living room having a good time!

INGREDIENTS:

2-3 lbs. pork loin or pork roast

1 pkg. McCormick's Slow-Cook Pull Pork Seasoning

1/4 c. ketchup

1/4 c. BBQ sauce

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. red wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)

1 container of fresh salsa

1/2 of an onion

2 handfuls of sliced mushrooms

• Trim the fat off of the pork and place in the bottom of the crock pot.

• Mix together in a small bowl, all of the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the salsa.

• Pour the entire container of salsa over the pork that’s in the crock pot.
• Pour the mixture of ingredients over the salsa and pork.

• Cover and cook on low for approximately 6 1/2 hours. It’s best if the cover is not opened while cooking.
• After, take pork out and shred with two forks.

• Place shredded pork back into the crock pot and mix well with the juices.
• Cover and let stand for five minutes.
• Meanwhile, slice up the onion and sauté it with the mushrooms over a little olive oil.

• Toast the rolls.
• Serve the pork on the rolls with the sautéed onions and mushrooms and whatever other condiments you like, and enjoy!

NOTES:

I prefer to use the fresh salsa that you can find in the grocery store. You can usually find it where the hummus is, next to the bread area. By using fresh salsa, you have the nice chopped ingredients. Whereas, salsa like Pace is more like a paste, and I don’t think it’s as good.

Weekend Wrap Up

First off, in case you haven't heard, the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl! Woot woot! And my man Reggie Bush was as hot as ever! ;)

Okay...

Friday: Kevin left for Sacramento that night with a friend to go hang out with the guys for the weekend. Some girls may think "how can you let him do that!?" but I honestly look forward to those weekends so I can have some 'Kaysie time' and Kevin can go do his guy thing. He'll usually make a Sacramento trip about once or twice a month. Sometimes I'll go with him if it's someone's birthday or something, but when he's able to get away for the weekend, I think it keeps our relationship stronger. So that night I pretty much sat in front of the new TV and caught up on a lot of my shows that were piling up in the TiVo. My favorite shows are Fringe, House, Big Love, Keeping up with the Kardashians, Paranormal State and The Office. I used to watch a lot of other shows too, but there were so many I couldn't keep up with them all! So I had to cut back on some.

Saturday: I woke up at 8am this day! Crazy! I laid in bed for about an hour though and watched some more TV (Say Yes to the Dress, to be exact - love that show!). Then I finally got up and headed to the gym. I had a great workout! I was there for about an hour and a half (that's long for me). Usually, I'm only able to get in a 40-45 minute workout in the mornings before work, so I was glad to get that long workout in that day. Afterwards, I headed home, showered, got ready, made a grocery list, got all of Kahlua's shot records in order and headed to a pet store in Walnut Creek to get her shots taken care of. I got her yearly shots and a six-month supply of heartworm medicine all for $37!! If I took her to the vet, it would have cost me about $200. I was quite proud of myself. I took her home, had a quick snack and kept an eye on her for about an hour to make sure she didn't have any reactions to her shots, then I headed to the grocery store to stock up on some Super Bowl necessities. That night I had a quick dinner, finished watching the rest of my shows and then prepped a breakfast meal for the next day. I'll post this recipe later tonight - it was delicious!

Sunday: Woke up a little later that morning since I stayed up late Saturday night prepping the breakfast recipe. Once I was up I made an easy five-layer bean dip (which I'll also post the recipe) and got everything done and in the crock pot for the pulled pork we would be having for dinner that night. Turned the crock pot on and then headed to the gym. Got back, put the breakfast recipe in the oven, took my shower and then Kevin was home by that time. He went to pick up some wings from this place called Wing Stop and surprised me by filling my gas tank up (so sweet!). Haha. It's the little things that count, right? I finished getting ready and then my brother showed up and we all proceeded to eat and watch the great game. I didn't eat any of the wings - I just wasn't feeling them. Plus, I wanted to have an appetite for dinner. Everything turned out great though and it was a nice, relaxing weekend. I ended up cooking quite a bit on Sunday. I told Kevin I reached my cooking quota for the month of February ;)

I'm going to go ahead and post recipes for the things I made on Sunday. They're nothing special, but I thought it might be a good, quick reference for some people.

Amen!

I'm in the blogging mood today, so just go with it ;)

I've become quite the blog-stalker ever since I've started this whole blog thing. I'm fascinated with peoples' lives, and I will even go back to the very beginning of when they started their blogs so I can get a sense of things that are going on in their lives. Ya...think what you want, but it helps to pass my days at work when I have nothing to do :)~

So anyways, I've come across a few blogs of mothers/parents who have lost their children and it's really affected me on a few different levels. First, I could NEVER imagine the pain and struggle that these parents must go through when they lose their child/ren. The stories are so heartbreaking, and I'll be crying for them as I read their struggles to cope with such a loss. I cannot even fathom what they're going through. It reminds me that my problems really aren't so bad, while these people are tyring to cope with the greatest loss they'll ever experience. At the same time I admire their incredible strength to go on with their lives and the dignity in which they're able to express their grief and remember their children. It's just heartbreaking, and amazing to me, both at the same time.

Secondly, I've noticed that many of these parents are very spiritual. Maybe it's because they've turned to God for guidance during such a difficult time, or maybe they've always been spiritual. But one thing I realized is that I think it's about time I start looking to join a church again. I'm not a very religious person, and I don't feel like I'm someone who needs to go out and preach to everyone about how great God is (because I feel people should want to do that on their own), but I've started feeling like that's something that is missing in my life right now. I would like Kevin and I to start checking out some churches in our area and see what feels right. It will not only give us a community to join, but I think in a way it may bring us closer together as a couple, and it's definitely something we'd like to instill in our future children.

So anyways, I think there's a reason why I've come across these various blogs about the loss of children and the strength in spirituatlity that these parents are dealing with. I think that it's to show me how much to cherish my future children and not take for granted the fact that I will be getting up at all hours of the night, that I will constantly have to pick up after my child, or be irritated with them when they don't want to go down for a nap or eat certain foods. These parents would give ANYTHING to get these things back with the children they lost, and it's something I have to always keep in mind when I have my kids. Another reason I think these blogs are important to me is beause I think it's a little message from the Man upstairs that it's time I start turning to him for the good and bad things in my life, and to not forget that He's always there for Kevin and I.

Amen! :)

Gossip is Hard Work!

Today, our self-assessment for our annual reviews are due for work. I have been dreading this self-assessment for the past two weeks, and I think the reason why is because part of me just wants to lie and say everything is great with my job and just "let dead dogs lie," but the other part of me really wants to be honest so that hopefully some changes will be made to make this working environment more constructive and enjoyable.

One of the main points I'm having trouble putting into writing on my self-assessment is that I don't have enough work to do at this job. I honestly can finish all my work within the first two hours of the day. It drives me crazy! I'm one of those people that need to have a lot of things going on with my job, and I work best under pressure; and this job is definitely not that. I try to drag my work out for the remaining six hours of the day, so I don't look bored when my boss or co-workers come around. But honestly, I spend most of my day reading blogs (I've become quite the blog-stalker!) and check my personal email and Facebook. The main reason I'm sketchy about putting this in my assessment is I don't want my boss to think that since I don't have enough work to do, and since they don't have enough extra work to give me, that I should be laid off! Even though there are things that aren't ideal about this job, I still need this job until I find one that's a better fit for me. So that's a major concern of mine.

Another issue I'm having is that there is A LOT of gossip going on in this office, and I feel like the negativity brings me down, and I honestly don't like being a part of it. One of my co-workers feels the need to come up to me at least once a day to gossip about one (or two) of our co-workers, and she'll begin by whispering and eventually end up talking loud enough so people at the end of the hall can hear her! For one, it's embarrassing. And two, I don't want other people to think I feel the same way. A different co-worker likes to gossip to me the second I walk in the door in the morning. It's just not the way I'd like to start off my day.

With that said, I think I still have a lot of thinking to do about this self-assessment that's due today. My boss hasn't been in all week, and I don't think he's going to be in today either. So I'm not sure if I'm going to rush and try to finish it, just to finish it today. I may try and think about it more over the weekend and submit it on Monday.

Any suggestions about how to approach these subjects with my boss during the review would be appreciated!

Much Improved

Today has been much improved since yesterday. Whew! Poor Kevin had to deal with a pretty bitchy girlfriend last night. Awww, poor guy. He sure puts up with a lot of complaining and irritation from me. That's why I love him! I've felt so out of whack lately since I was off my pill for a while due to my pharmacy's screw-up (grrr!), so I just feel like taking it easy tonight, resting up and starting my workouts tomorrow. Hopefully this pain in my left ovary and these headaches will ease up once my pills kick in!

I had a phone interview this morning with a company that I'm pretty excited about. I thought it went really well. I've had my fair share of interviews within the last couple years, since I moved to the Bay Area and had to look for a new job at that time. Now I'm in the job market once again, so it's always a little nerve-wracking no matter how many times you've been interviewed. But, I always go into an interview thinking about it as more of a conversation about what I have to offer and what the company has to offer, instead of it being like a grilling session; and it usually turns out pretty well. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get another interview request. I currently have a job now, but I'm looking for something better (aren't we all!?).

I took a nice leisurely lunch today and stopped by the card store and decided that I'm going to try and mail my friends a birthday card on their birthdays from now on. I always love to get cards in the mail, and I have a feeling other people do too, so I'm going to try and start a tradition of doing that. There were some that I found that were absolutely PERFECT for a few of my friends, that I just had to get them, and save them for later! ;)

I can't wait to go home after work and relax in front of our big, new TV. It does feel pretty gigantic at the moment, but I think it's just going to take some getting used to.

Kaysie and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

So this morning, I get up and step on the scale, and after a week of intense working out and staying within my calories, I have not lost a single pound! What is with that!? I didn't even have any alcohol last week except three shots of sake on Saturday night. On one hand it makes me want to give up, but on the other it just pisses me off so much I want to get in the gym and sweat to death! Great way to start out the week.

Today I have a dentist appointment (which I'm dreading) so I had to get to work by 8, so I could leave by 2 and only take two hours of PTO. I get on the train and there's a 10 minute delay due to a problem with a train in Oakland. Okay, no biggy, I can still make it to work by 8:05. Slowly the train creeps past each stop and there's yet ANOTHER delay. It took me 35 minutes longer to get to work than it was normally supposed to! So instead of getting to work at 7:55, I got to work at 8:30. Ya...not too happy by the time I walked in the door. Now I have to take another 30 minutes of PTO. I'm slim on PTO for this year as it is, so the least amount I can use the better.

As soon as I get to the office I get pounced on by a co-worker so she can start gossiping about another co-worker. Ever since I started this job I have always been put in the middle by my co-workers' drama, when it comes to all the gossip in this office. I try to stay in between and don't comment either way because I don't want to start anything here, and honestly I could care less about gossip and the people here. I think it just got to me today because of everything else.

On a better note, we're getting our new TV today and I have a phone interview with a potential company tomorrow morning, so my fingers are crossed for that.

My life isn't bad at all, but I just feel like complaining today. It was just one of those days where it starts out all wrong and you feel like you should just stay in bed all day and not deal with any of it. Here's hoping tomorrow goes a lot better.