The Birds have flown and papers have landed!

It was a sad day Monday as I watched my Grandparents drive away. I loved having them here. We were going to go out on Mother’s Day for dinner, but the weather had gotten so bad that we decided to stay in and I made a quick decision to make chicken noodle soup. It was delicious!! My Gramma made the comment that they might have to give up a certain canned soup! lol It was most definitely an awesome visit.

My classes started while they were here and they got to see how hard I throw myself into my education. I’m seriously excited to have started! We are only in to the frist week of my two online classes and I am already having so much fun! So far I have turned almost every assignment in a day early, there has only been two that have been on time and that’s because I had to wait on the class discussions and comments on my work. I am loving this!

A couple of weeks later…

Sorry to have disappeared on you all like that lol I got really busy with classes, and the hubby, and now the daughter is out of school for summer break. Yikes! So much going on right now! I am now in the THIRD week of my classes and doing really well. I still have A’s in both classes and I have to say that I love my Management and Supervision and Career Developement Class, but my Nutrition Science class is kicking my butt!! I’ve never been very good at math and a lot of the nutrition class is math, so its more difficult for me to grasp. I think I might find a tutor for nutrition just in case. Either way I am still LOVING being in school. It makes me feel loads better about being able to contribute to my family.

Since I have started these classes my family has made some changes in their lives too! We have decided that we are going to start going to a Whole Foods Market to get our groceries, they have less of a selection of the less Healthy foods and therefore less temptations. They have many things that I would love for my daughter to beg me for lol I have also found that the hubby likes the dried fruit in trail mix and at The Whole Foods Market you can make your own trail mix, so I am going to throw a few things together so that I can get him some of the fruits that his body needs! The only problem that I have with this grocery store is the meat is so expensive! That’s going to make it pretty hard on us for a few months while we get used to it and wait for a certain promotion that’s just around the corner.

Either way the Hubby, Daughter, and I went out the other day and did recon on the Market. It seems like a nice, clean place. I’m going to have to get used to not having my regular brands around the house, but I think that this is the right  move for my family and the Hubby agrees. We both know that we need to get healthier and we know that this makes it easier on me (the one who does the shopping and most of the cooking ) to make healthier meals.

So I hope that has caught you up a little with whats going on here. School is fun and my family is wonderful! Very few things could make this life better! Talk to you soon!!

“You are what you eat, so cook happy!” – Niki

Birds and Other fantastic things!

First off I have amazing and wonderful news!!! A few weeks ago I wrote about how I had applied for a need based scholarship through “Military Families United”. Well I received a phone call on Monday May 1st that I WON!!! I am the proud recipient of a 25k scholarship to go to the International Culinary School at the Art Institute in Denver Colorado!!!!! WAHOOOOOO!!!!! I don’t think I have been this excited since I won that trip to see the Country Music Awards a couple years ago! (I took my Granpa and we spent four days in Nashville Tennessee and had the time of our life!! I’ll never forget it and I loved every second of it!) Anyway, back to my exciting news!! I don’t have a car yet, or even have my license fixed, but my Admissions Counselor has made it so that I can do the on-line classes for now!! I am so excited!! The only down side is that I actually start school on May 10th!! That I was NOT expecting and I am stressing really hard about starting so soon! I’m know that I can handle this though and I am so excited that I can barely breath when I think about it. It was a national scholarship opportunity and there were only four recipients, and I was one of them!! Its almost unbelievable!!

The next wonderful and fantastic news is that my Granpa and Gramma are here for a visit and I am able to make all of my wonderful recipes for them! Their first night I made my creamy chicken casserole. Now my Gramma doesn’t eat a lot and when she does its always pretty small portions we tend to say that she “eats like a bird”. She’d rather have lots of smaller things throughout the day than have three big meals a day. I was hardly able to conceal the glee and joy on my face as I watched my Gramma help herself to another portion. I was so pleased and proud that I had made something that she liked so much! The next night I made my Pot Roast. While it was in the oven the smells were causing all of us to sniff the air in happy expectation. I served the Roast family style and watched as everyone dug in. Again barely hiding my excitement as Gramma helped herself to another serving of the veggies and potatoes! Now last night was their anniversary and I wanted to make something really special, so I made salmon (my Gramma loves fish!), my potato and carrot casserole and some challah bread (you can find the recipe in the Betty Crocker cookbook under “Rich Egg Bread” then you braid the dough, brush with butter and sprinkle poppy and sesame seeds on top. Let it rise and pop it in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes at 375. Its delicious!!). My Gramma loved the salmon and ate almost her whole piece and then couldn’t stop picking at the bread! We’re having the potatoes and carrots again tonight with my BBQ Country Style Pork Ribs because no one really wanted to have some after the huge pieces of salmon! The country style pork ribs are already marinating in the special BBQ sauce that I mix together. We’ll see if it receives the same seal of approval! I’ll keep you posted, maybe when I come off of my happy clouds!!!

Sickness and other disturbing things…

So last week on Thursday I had to go to the hospital due to having a horrible head cold. Normally I can handle a cold. This one made me feel like there were razor blades in my throat and someone was squeezing my head in a vice. It was awful. The doctor gave me medicine that didn’t do anything and I was just utterly miserable for about five days. Even honey and lemon tea did nothing for me! During these five days was my daughter’s birthday. I felt horrible but we had to cancel her party (it was going to be a surprise so she didn’t know) and my darling husband had to cook dinners.

Normally my husband cooking isn’t really a bad thing. The first night he cooked me hade Yakisoba. It’s a pretty good dish with noodles, beef, and mixed veggies in butter and soy sauce. The next night I helped him make a chicken soup by telling him what wet in it and how much he should use, that turned out very good. So all in all he’s a decent cook. Now on my daughter’s birthday though, something went horribly wrong! We asked her what she wanted for her birthday dinner and she decided she wanted “Granpa’s Chicken!” This is one of my own recipes where the chicken is covered in crackers and fried in peanut oil. It’s not terribly hard to do and when made right its absolutely wonderful! Well I talked the hubby through it and the first two pieces of chicken he burned. The third and final piece came out the golden brown we were looking for and that was the piece the daughter got. It was her birthday after all. As we were all sitting down at the table the hubby looked at me with sad eyes and said “Don’t make me ruin this ever again.” Poor guy, he tried so hard to make it right.

The daughter still had a good birthday. She got presents of course and we did lots of fun things in the house. Mostly played video games, but that’s what she wanted. The hubby made a cake and he and I decorated it with fun, cute little things like peace signs and hearts. Squiggles and dots and just lots of cute things. All in all it was a pretty good day.

Cleaning, cooking, and internet!

Sorry that I haven’t been online for a short while. We lost internet in our house and have decided to drop Comcast! So I haven’t had internet except on my phone. Now I find out that we can use our phones for about 30$ a month as portable “hotspots” and spend MUCH LESS on internet which is great news!! I’m rather excited about this!! lol I can get online again without having to pay an arm and a leg!! YIPPEE!!!

So while the internet was down, and along with all of the cleaning I have been doing around the house, I was able to finish the pot and pan rack that I had been building out of pallet wood. Its beautiful and soon it will be hung in my kitchen for the whole world to see!! It has that aged, scarred look with a touch of country home. I love it!! Now to just get the hubby to help me hang it so that it stays even and level lol. Maybe one day this week…

I’m also working on my herb garden which is taking longer than expected because the pallets I got last week are really falling apart. I was trying to pry up a piece of the wood and my screwdriver broke, which is ok because it was a cheap thing anyways but it made it difficult to pry up anymore of the wood. Then I was taking nails out of the two-by-fours that I had already cleared of wood and I BENT MY HAMMER!!! The nose of the hammer is touching the bar just above the handle!!! It’s crazy! So now I have to wait to get either a pry bar or a chisel. Hopefully that will be soon as my herbs are already growing!! I have eight out of the twelve that I planted already growing splendidly! I’m so proud! Now just keep your fingers crossed that I can keep them alive lol!! Also I have thought of an adorable way to use that bent hammer! I’m going to attach it to a piece of wood and write “Don’t mess with the O’Briens!” around the hammer lol I think it will give people a nice giggle.

I went to the grocery part of Wal-Mart the other day and picked up some country-style pork ribs. I was going to make my Baked BBQ  Pork Ribs. They are delicious!! The meat literally falls apart, but stays juicy and tender!! When I got home I put the ribs in the fridge and actually forgot about them because I was so busy that afternoon we just had a quick dinner. The next day I took them out to use them and what do I find when I open the wrapper? The area under where the sticker had been was RANCID!!! I was so upset and angry! I had picked out these ribs special and they had to have been half rotten when I bought them!! I wanted to take them back to the store but I misplaced my receipt and I was sure they would listen to me if I didn’t have it. So I threw them out and we had a quick dinner for the second day in a row. I really need to find a real butcher in town. One that I can get to on my own without having to have the hubby drive me over there. Tonight I am playing it safe and we’re going to have chicken! I’m thinking like a chicken alfredo or something along those lines. Haven’t really decided, but I’ll let you know when I do.  Anyway I am off to do more cleaning (did you know that cascade makes a great kitchen sink cleaner?) and think more about dinner. Have fun folks!

Oh hey! Here’s some food for thought!!

“It is said, without  the culinary arts the crudeness of reality would be unbearable.” – Leopold from “Kate and Leopold” one of my favorite romantic comedies!!

Seriously? Sorry about typos!

Ok to let everyone know I don’t have internet right now. I am writing this on my phone which is really weird because I can’t really see what I’m typing all that well. It’s not that the letters are small, but that the buttons are small and the phone doesn’t scroll very well. I am going to do my best to keep blogging here, but it may be slow going.

I haven’t yet decided for sure if I want to go to the Art Institute. They seem to be a little full of themselves and are threatening to take away my acceptance because I don’t have a way to take the accuplacer test right now. I’m not even supposed to start school until July and they are already getting mad at me. But right now there’s just no way. The money I had for the test has to go to pay a ticket the hubby got. Not that it was his fault but there are many things making this more difficult. The bus takes forever and I have to be sure I can get me daughter from school, I don’t have a car that I can drive right now much less a valid license since mine expired and there’s been no time to get it fixed, and the hubby hasn’t the time to help they’re working him like a dog. Its ridiculous!! But aside from their threats it takes forever to get a hold of anybody
there! I tried for at least two weeks just so I could ask a question! Its pretty bad. I know and I certainly understand they are busy. They did just start a new term, but how hard is it to listen to a voicemail and drop a quick e-mail? Not very hard by my estimation. I guess I’m just frustrated in how they handle themselves and their enrollment process . I understand I need to get that test done soon but it’s not very easy to do when it feels like there is so much against you.

On a brighter note since the hubby has been busy for the last week I started getting projects done! The pot and pan hanger just needs a few finishing touches and I have started on the herb garden!! I have twelve mason jars with twelve different herbs planted in them! Now I just need more pallets! Lol We tried to get some more today but the hubby got frustrated so we went home instead. Now I’m pallet-less and he leaves again tomorrow to go do more training. I have no idea what I’m going to do to finish my projects. Maybe I’ll find some help somewhere. Perhaps my neighbor won’t mind take me around a little.

One more thing. You should try out me new recipe idea! Teriyaki fried chicken! It’s really tasty and the added crunch makes it that much better!! I marinate mine in a teryaki and egg bath and then flour and fry as normal! There are of course several other ingredients in my recipe but I don’t share. Sorry guys. But please feel free to make your own recipe and share in the comments below!! Happy cooking!!

Another Day Another Essay

I have applied for a need based scholarship to be able to go to school. I had to write a very difficult essay and this is what I came up with. Let me know what you guys think in the comments! I have already turned in the application (which is why I feel that it’s safe to post this now because its been about a week since I applied and if they look at time stamps they’ll know that I didn’t copy and paste my own essay) along with the essay, so I can’t make anymore changes, but this version may not have all of the changes that I have already made. Any advice for future essays would be helpful!!

” For the last eight years I have been an Army Wife. There is an unspoken duty that military wives have. Not just to their families, but to their country. Being a soldier’s wife means taking care of everything else for the family so that our soldiers can be soldiers. Taking care of the home, caring for the children, being on call to look up information for your soldier, bills, shopping, it all takes its toll. Over the years I have been able to find little time for a career or to go to school and I have no community involvement or volunteer work to write about. I have been a full-time wife and stay at home mother with a few part-time jobs thrown in when  I have the time.

I worked at McDonald’s when I was a teen, I lost my job the night my husband (at that time my fiance)  left for Basic Training, that same afternoon I had found out I was pregnant with our daughter. I was just starting my senior year in High School. My Fiancee came home during Exodus and we got married December 23rd, 2003. I dropped out of school for about two years to take care of my new little family. I went back to High School and obtained a High School diploma in four months online, while working full-time as a dispatch for ABC Cab Company.  They didn’t pay very well, but they let me bring my daughter to work with me.  After I graduated I started working at American Express Membership Rewards. They let me work at night so that we still didn’t have to pay for child care. I decided to try going to school, but the only real option had been online because child care was so expensive. I chose Everest Online, and enrolled in their Criminal Investigations course. During that time we moved from Arizona to Hawaii. I did fairly well until my husband deployed for the first time. I worked at Burger King, then changed over to the Sears Portrait Studio trying to find something I could stick with so that I could start saving money for a culinary program in Honolulu. The job at Sears was a seasonal position and I was let go the day before Christmas Eve. I tried to start my own home based business about a year later, Bordering Life LLC.  After almost a year I had to close down. No one was buying and the move to Colorado really hurt our bottom line. We couldn’t afford the thirty-six dollars a month to keep the website open, but you can still find me on Facebook that’s still free.

Now we overdraw our account every two weeks to keep gas in the car and the bills are barely being kept up. There is very little hope of me being able to actually pay to go to school. While our debt isn’t as high as some, it isn’t small either, but having no real work skills or experience makes it difficult to find a job in the current economy. I know that going to school is my best option for helping my family get out of the financial mess we are in, and now that we are close enough to an Art Institute I have applied for the Culinary Arts Associates program. There are classes that I can take while my daughter is in school which minimizes the need for after school childcare. I know that its going to be hard, but I have to try.

Have you ever looked around a restaurant you were dining in and thought “This is where I belong”? I have, and one day I will get there. My goal in life is to open up my own restaurant called “Niki’s House”. Niki is my nickname and what everyone calls me. I love food and I love to cook. My favorite part of cooking is watching people enjoy the foods that I make, knowing that I put that smile on their face when they lift their fork to their mouths. Niki’s House will have a menu that changes nightly, and a webpage where you can check what is being served over the next week. The menu will consist only of recipes that I have made myself.

This scholarship will help me achieve this dream. It will give me the opportunity to finally begin. I will be able to travel the road from education to experience with less personal and financial stress. I will be able to show my daughter that no matter what happens, no matter how old or young you are, your dream can come true if you want it bad enough and work hard enough for it. ”

Well that’s it. This essay was seriously difficult to write. The guildlines requested certain things that normally you wouldn’t want others to know, but I guess it being a “need based” scholarship means that they need to ask you these things. I know winning this scholarship is a long shot but really anything would help right now. My education is going to cost about 50k and thats just for an AAS. The BA is another 15-25k on top!! For now I just want the AAS, I can always go back later for the BA.

On another note, I made tha recipe card holder!! It came out beautifully! Instead of using a plate holder I instead used the ribbon at the top to hang it on the wall next to where I am going to be putting my new kitchen counter. That way its not taking up room on the counter and its just a quick turn of the head. Now to just get the new counter and the pot and pan hanger done!! I’ll get there eventually I know, but its just slow going. I’m just glad that I got at least ONE project done! Only about 500 left to go!! lol

Just Updates

A little warning before reading this post… Its going to jump around!! This is just to update everyone on whats going on with everything!! lol Just a few quick topics before I am off to work on everything lol. Enjoy this adventure in ADD lol

I have been working on making that pot and pan hanger for my kitchen and ,while its going to be awesome!!, it’s taking a lot longer to finish than I expected. Not to mention I bought the wrong screws and cut the wood so that its too long. At least that last one is an easy fix. Just another couple cuts. I also got the wire hangers cut and ready to attach to the top of it. Those are what I am going to hang the s hooks on and hang my pots from that. It’s amazing how beautiful the wood looks with the stain on it. I was actually a little worried how things would turn out considering I was using pallets, but I am pleased with the results so far. I still have some staining to do, and some cutting to do, but hopefully I should have it together in a couple of days. Wish me luck!

Also I have a “conditional acceptance” from the Art Institutes. Which is a little exciting. I’d rather it be a full acceptance but that’s just going to have to wait a few. I still have to take the Accuplacer Test. I have until the 6th to do that but I am scared. I’m not really sure what to study still and i probably should have been studying for this a long time ago. I’ve looked at the math portion and there is no way I can solve those problems!!

3. If r = 5 z then 15 z = 3 y, then r =

A. y

B. 2 y

C. 5 y

D. 10 y

E. 15 y

4. What is 35% of a number if 12 is 15% of a number?

A. 5

B. 12

C. 28

D. 33

E. 62

I mean LOOK at those!!!! That’s only two of the EXAMPLE problems!!! I’m going to need major help to learn this and I hope that the school will still accept me if I don’t pass. I know that I need basic math for cooking but seriously this stuff is a different language!!! I mean I THINK the answer to 4. is 28 but I could totally be wrong and the only way I got that is because I added 12+12 and of course got 24 and then added a couple more to get to the 35% requirement. I am so lost! Thank goodness the Art Institute offers tutoring! I am going to be taking them up on that ALL the time!! Hopefully they’ll be able to get me tutoring here in the Springs instead of in Denver because that’s a LOOONG drive and I really don’t want to be driving it really late at night.

The other night the Hubs and I decided we were going to make dinner together. We got chicken and fresh broccoli and some penne pasta and made a delicious chicken and broccoli alfredo. I think it was more a gravy than an alfredo sauce but it ROCKED!! And the time spent making dinner together was wonderful and full of giggles, smiles,  inside jokes, conversation and teasing with the daughter. It was one of those nights that you just know you’re going to look back on and remember with warmth and happiness in your heart. Thank you my love for that wonderful and fun-filled evening, and thank you to my wonderful and beautiful daughter who made the laughter that much sweeter!

Menus and other helpful ideas

With things getting hectic around the house, I have decided to start making actual menus for the house. Its not easy to do because I want to have one done for the whole month. I also have to make sure that the items on the menu have recipes with them so that if I am unable to be home to start dinner my husband can. Making sure that I have a place to keep the recipe next to the ingredients that I have set out is also a must. I found this picture on Pinterest the other day of a Cookie sheet that had been made into a board for magnets to hold recipes while you are cooking. I am definitly goign to do this! Not only will it be pretty but it will be very helpful in making my house more manageable when I can’t be here all the time.

A house menu needs to have a lot of variety, but each meal has to be seriously easy to make. The best set up is prepping everything and sticking it in the freezer. That way all you have to do is take it out and pop it in the oven or start heating up a pan. Really good ones for this are your casseroles. But you can’t always do this. If you want to make a pot roast it’s not an easy dish to prep. Freezing the fresh veggies is not really an option unless you have a way to flash freeze them. A good way to fix this is to prep everything the night before and stick it in the fridge. Not only will this make it easier the next day to get dinner on the table in a decent timeframe, but it will also let the flavors marry and your meal will be just a little bit tastier.

There are many places where you can find sample menus for your home. The internet is an awesome place for such information. Just make sure that the menu you make is easy to keep up with and that you can switch it up if you feel like. Maybe you decided to go out instead of eating in, make sure that your menu can pick up where you left off. If you’re like me and you only do your grocery shopping once a month make sure the that meals that use fresh veggies are in the first week of the month so that your veggies don’t spoil before you can use them. Or if you’re like me you can start a fresh veggie bank. Take a canister and keep it in a special place in your kitchen. Every time you get paid put anywhere from 5-15 dollars in the canister and use that money for trips to the store to get fresh veggies which are healthier and have more taste than frozen or canned vegetables. Even better you can have your own garden of organic  veggies!! Thats definitley something I am going to look into. A vegetable garden would be a great thing to have this summer and it would give me a wonderful excuse to spend time with my daughter outside!! Not to mention the sense of accomplishment when I can just go out to the backyard and pluck fresh carrots from the ground and grab a bushel of green beans from the vine. Maybe even grab a few potatoes in the fall. This all sounds amazing! I can’t wait to get started!! Let me know how you keep your garden or schedule your dinner menu in the comments below!!

P.S. This is where you can find that cookie sheet recipe card holder!! I’m starting mine today, I let you know how it turns out!! 😀

 

http://cinnaberry-suite.blogspot.com/2010/05/magnet-board-cuteness.html

Essays and other distractions…

I had to write an essay to the school explaining why they should accept me. it had to be about 150 words and explain why I chose culinary school and why I thought this particular school could help me achieve my goals. This is what I came up with…

“I chose Culinary School because I love food, it’s really that simple. The tastes, the smells, the textures, it’s all incredibly intoxicating. I have to say that my favorite part of cooking is watching others enjoy the food that I have made. I love to eat, but I love sharing my passion with others.

I chose The Art Institute because I have heard many good things about the programs. I like the fast pace, and the short course time. I’d like to get in to school, and get out quickly so that I can start working and gaining more experience as soon as possible. Eventually I want to open my own restaurant, serving all of my own recipes.

I feel that an education from the Art Institute will help me achieve my goals. The skills, techniques, and disciplines that I will learn will get e a long way toward my goals and the passion and perseverance that I have will get me even farther.”

I am not going to post this until after I have figured out how to actually e-mail this in the right form to the school. I don’t want them to think that I didn’t write this essay or that I got help, because if I get help that is grounds for rejection!! But I at least have this post ready and waiting for you to be able to join me in this step too 🙂 Let me know what you think of my essay in the comments!!! Thanks guys!!

2 days later… So I talked to my admissions counselor. So far things are looking great!! She has recommended me for acceptance!!!!!!! I can’t describe how excited I am about all of this. There are no words!! I feel like I have taken that first small step toward my dreams and it feels so exhilarating! I’ll find out later next week (probably) if I have been accepted. I am trying to find a place to take the accuplacer test. That’s a test that all new students have to take. I hope that I do well on that. I just looked it up and it seems pretty straight forward, but there are a few concerns I have. Mainly the math I’m not very good after algebra and precalculus? Forget it! I am hoping to do well on the English though. Fingers crossed!

Today I have to talk to my financial aid officer. I’m worried because we are going to be using the GI bill and the plan that the financial officer sent doesn’t include that.  He wants me to pay 33 thousand out-of-pocket!! OUCH!!! I’m sure there is a way that I can cover the entire cost of school without having to pay out-of-pocket. I’m searching for grants and scholarships that will help me. There has to be more out there somewhere!!!

3 days later… Ok I know that I haven’t posted in a few days. Things have been hectic with the house. I reminded my financial aid officer that I wanted to use the Hubby’s GI bill and he said that the GI bill should cover everything except the “Starter Kit” which is fine because I can make payment arrangements to pay that off really quickly. Also there is talk about a book stipend from the GI bill so that should help out too!! Things are starting to look up!! Also we are looking at getting a new car (or rather “New to us”) so that I can get back and forth to the school. I will get there!! Basically there hasn’t been much going on around here to blog about just housework and things. I haven’t even really made anything new in the kitchen. I am working on re-purposing an old dresser to make a new counter for the kitchen, and I got a pallet to make a pot and pan holder to hang in the kitchen. But due to funds and the weather, those things have been put on hold. I’ll keep you all up to date as things progress 😀

 

 

Saturday

So just a little cute back up to Friday then on to Saturday! Friday night I was sitting around and decided to open up a fortune cookie. We have a few on the house from when we went to Panda a few days ago. I opened the fortune after making my wish (its something I always do when I open a fortune cookie, I’m not sure why…) and the fortune I received blew my mind!! “YOU WILL SOON BE CONFRONTED WITH UNLIMITED OPPORTUNITIES” Now remember this is the night BEFORE I go take a tour at the Culinary School I am applying to. It was just so coincidental!! It literally had me gaping at the little fortune paper! lol

Saturday was amazing!! We had so much fun touring the Art Institute’s Culinary School and learning about their programs! They even let me take pics of all of their kitchens!! Soo awesome!! They let me turn in my application and I have started doing all of the little things that I need to do to be able to go. I still have to be accepted, but I hope that’s just a matter of time. I’m afraid of how I would feel if I got rejected. I would be devastated, depressed, disappointed, and so many other things. I don’t think it would be very healthy. But I am NOT going to think about that. Not now. I’m going to think about how much fun I had on Saturday and how much I WANT this.

I found out that 100% of my education would be at the school!! They won’t send me out to be an apprentice and then make me pay them for it! I think that’s so awesome!! They have a restaurant that the students run! Its called Assignments!! I think that is so awesome!! They said that no matter who you are if you are a front of the house person or a back of the house person you are going to work every job in the kitchen and the front of the house! That makes me so nervous! But whats so cool is I WON a coupon to go to the restaurant for 20% off!! I’m going to save it for when someone very close to me comes and visits I want to see fi they want to go down to the school and see where I am going to be going to school. Or at least I’m going to do that if I get accepted lol. I don’t want to go down there to eat if I’m not going to attend their school, it would hurt too much you know? I am all for supporting the students, don’t get me wrong. I’ll give the coupon to someone who goes down there a lot. That way I am still supporting the students and I don’t have to go down there and get upset… BUT I am NOT going to think about not getting accepted. I am going to be POSITIVE for once in my life! I am GOING to go to CULINARY SCHOOL!!!