The minutes, the hours, the days...

It is so amazing to me how quickly each year goes by. Even high school, nearly ten years ago, seems like just yesterday. This past year was full of events and memories that are unforgettable. There have been happy and sad times, and everything else in between. I find myself anxious for the coming year, to improve myself as a wife, perhaps as a mother, and as a daughter of God.

This past December was quite eventful. It was our first full month in our new home, and we had our first snow here. It was beautiful, AND we got to shovel a driveway. Which is, of course, just awesome.

Actually, I really like shoveling. Even though it took us a full hour to do it together, it's fun to be working at a task that shows immediate results, and then have delicious hot chocolate. Plus, it was enough snow to keep Ryan working at home, which was even more awesome!



My sister and her family came to Colorado to visit! It was so great to see them.  Her daughters have hilarious personalities. I can only hope that my future kids are as fun as hers!

It was Christmas!!

We made kaesespaetzle for Christmas Eve dinner. It is a German dish of homemade noodles and cheese. Does it get much better? I am aiming for that to become a new tradition of ours...

I am definitely starting to learn that Ryan is a stinker spoiler. I got him Rummikub (a fun tile game) and a few other whatsits. He got me a heavenly food processor. Who do you think exceeded our "price limit"? I must say, however, that I do not mind being spoiled. 

I have already put that puppy to good use: it helped
to make some amazing pie crust for Christmas dessert.

We made wassail again this year. I love that new tradition. The smell in the house and the taste in my mouth are both to die for.

I "started" my career as a personal chef. Right now I have a guinea pig client - my dentist's wife. The first time I went there was very quite fun. I think that I will greatly enjoy this new job, assuming that it takes off the way that I want it to. I have spoken with somebody who is going to allow me to advertise on her website (she provides nannies, and it seems like a pretty good fit for families who might also need somebody to cook for them), and am in the process of getting a business license.
I just need a catchy name...

I hope that you all had a great Christmas and New Years, and here's to a great 2012! (I, for one, am excited to see the hoopla that ensues on December 21st.)

Wedding!!

This past weekend Ryan and I were privileged to attend the wedding of a dear friend of mine, Anna. She and I met in Grand Junction, where we were both attending Mesa State College. We hit it off pretty fast, and there was never a time that I didn't have a blast hanging out with her. We did lots of crazy and stupid stuff, but it has made for some fun memories.

One night, we exclaimed to each other that whenever we got married, we would be each other's bridesmaid. That was five or six years ago. After I graduated from Mesa, I moved away. Anna stayed in Grand Junction with her boyfriend, Jordan, and I saw her once or twice when I went back to visit. We weren't the best at staying in touch, but our friendship did not fade. When I got engaged, I knew right away that I wanted her to be one of my bridesmaids. She happily accepted the invitation, and she and Jordan attended my wedding. That was the first time I had seen her in at least two years. She was getting married in December of 2011 (she was engaged at the time of my wedding), and she asked me to be a bridesmaid for her as well. Of course I was honored!!

When we got to the bed and breakfast where the festivities were being prepared for, it was like not a moment had passed. I was with a best friend again. That is, after all, how you tell a true friend, right?

The day was lots of fun, and the ceremony was lovely. It was held in Manitou Springs in a darling part of town. It was very picturesque.

check our her fun socks!

the beautiful bride and myself

We laughed, we cried, we ate, and we danced. They had an awesome cake decorated in silver and blue snowflakes. It had a blueberry filling that was to die for!! And the groom's cake was an old school Nintendo console, and was an amazingly moist carrot cake. The music they played was really fun and interactive, like the Electric Slide and Hokey Pokey.

this meant me!

:)

I loved seeing Anna marry her best friend, and I wish them the best for their life together! Congratulations Jordan and Anna!!

Just one of those days

Buns In My Oven

Yesterday I spent all day putting together a recipe bank for my new business venture. That involved going through everyone of my cookbooks and filing all the recipes I had made and liked. It seriously took forever, and I wish that I could have gotten paid for it.

Anyway, as I was looking at recipes, I decided I should probably make something too. We had some cow milk in the fridge (which we don't drink) leftover from making mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving that was on the day of expiration. Since I did not have a plethora of time to sit and knead dough and such, I used a recipe out of my bread machine cookbook for some rolls.

They are called Butter Rolls. They were quite tasty and fluffy and made our tummies happy. In fact, half of the batch was gone by the end of the night. Don't judge.

Here is the wonderful recipe:

Butter Rolls (no Delay Timer)

All ingredients at room temp, except milk

2 T sugar

1 tsp salt

2 3/4 C bread flour

2 tsp active dry yeast

1/4 C water

1 egg

7/8 C milk (measure 1 C and take out 2 T)

1/4 C butter

1) Measure all ingredients into bread pan, starting with liquids and finishing with yeast. Be sure that yeast does not touch any liquid (make a well in the flour to be sure).

2) Select Dough setting

3) Press Start

4) When signal goes off, remove dough and knead once or twice to release air. Shape into 12 rolls.

5) Place on a greased baking sheet (I used an ungreased pizza stone), cover with a clean kitchen towel, and allow to double in size, about one hour. **For fast rising, preheat oven to 200 degrees F for 5 minutes and then turn the oven off. Place the rolls covered with a towel in the oven; this will cut rising time in half.**

6) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (be sure to remove the rolls first if you had them in the oven to rise). Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown and give a hollow sound when tapped.

Craft Bug Strikes Again!

Foreword: I love Pinterest. It gives me ideas for many things that I would never think of on my own. It might be addicting, but I am eating some delicious meals and crafting some cute stuff because of it.

Holly and I decided to make our own wreaths out of Christmas ornaments this year. We had a Christmas candle burning, Christmas music playing (which was later replaced by the movie Hook), and Cinnamon Streusel muffins in the oven. The atmosphere was perfection.

We both went to Target and picked out some cheap plastic ornaments. 8 for $1 - not too bad! I think we both ended up using 72 ornaments on our wreaths.

We used old wire hangers to make the circle for the wreath.

(Can you see the wire?) :)

After hot-gluing the tops on the ornaments for a more secure hold, we simply threaded them onto the wire, "squishing" them together as we went to get a full look.

We used 3" wired ribbon to make our bows. She went for a more frilly look, and I did mine with long tails.

Total cost: $12ish. Hardest part: Wrapping the wire back around itself to hold the wreath together - pliers were exceedingly helpful.

It was a great way to spend my Saturday afternoon! Now I have to go start pinning again...

Giving Thanks

This year we hosted Thanksgiving for both sides of our families at our house. 3 weeks after we moved in. Can I just tell you - it was awesome? We loved having everybody here! And nothing broke! (yay!)

I prepared 2 turkeys, stuffing, gravy, and mashed potatoes, and everything else on the menu was provided by other family members. Everybody was very willing to pitch in and bring something. The turkey recipe I chose to try was quite a hit. I can't take all the credit though - it is an Alton Brown recipe, has nearly 4000 reviews, and 5 stars. So I figured it was going to be awesome! It will probably be the one that I make for ever and ever.

I enjoy having had the experience of hosting such a large gathering, because now I know that I can do it without going crazy!

New Explorations

In a moment of ponderment that has lasted for oh.... a few weeks, I have begun seriously considering trying my hand at being a personal chef. If I cannot find some company to start out with, I would try it on my own. Basically I have decided that, for several reasons, being a banquet server is not for me. At all. Not even a little bit. But pursuing something else is something I want to do. Although the relaxation can be nice, I am not all for having close to nothing to do all day every day. I yearn for the feeling of accomplishment.

I have searched for other jobs, but there is nothing that I can find in this area that will suit my needs and wants. Mainly because I am not okay with stupidly inconsistent and sporadic hours. (Shifts until later than midnight every night? No thank you.) Also, I did not go to and graduate from college to brew endless amounts of coffee, set and clear tables, count soda cans, starve myself because there just is "not enough time" to stop and eat, throw away gargantuan amounts of edible food, clean walk-in coolers, or listen to higher-ups who think they know everything because they work so hard that their children hardly know them. (I do not find that commendable in the least.) You might say that I feel a little over qualified.

I would like opinions. If I were to start such a business, do you have any suggestions on how to spread the word (for free)? Is it something that people would even want to use?

Hopefully I can use my culinary skills soon!

Our Castle and Our Keep

Things are settling in quite nicely around here. There are still some lovely odds and ends that have yet to be settled, but I would say our home is very livable these days. We have one more week until we have company for the first time here - so hopefully things will come together with more completeness this weekend.

I did, however, feel comfortable taking some pictures so that the small group of you who are curious as to what it looks like can be satisfied. I left out the 2 spare bedrooms that are either bare or filled with boxes, guest and main floor bathroom, and the basement. Somehow I think that is okay.

Starting from upstairs... we have the master bedroom. We were excited to be able to fit our larger dresser in it.

Master bath: We are still trying to figure out where exactly to put the towels for easy access. Right now they hang above the tub... on the opposite wall from the shower.

Guest bedroom:

Formal living room: we bought this set from a catalog without actually seeing it. Luckily, it looks great. Except for that crazy accent chair. We didn't order that - they gave us the wrong one and it should be rectified shortly.

Dining Room:

My Kitchen: Excuse the mail being sorted on the island :)

Darling Kitchen Nook:

Family Room:

And last but certainly not least: The washer and dryer. This is the first time we used it. We were mesmerized by it, and actually stood and watched it for about 5 minutes! The best part: the cute song they sing at the end of their cycles. I hope I never get tired of it!

Ryan watching the clothes being washed:

So there it is! I am already feeling like this place is home. We have gone back to the townhouse twice to clean it and get it looking nice for the next tenants, and I can't help but feel like that is not our house anymore. Which it isn't. I just thought that feeling would take longer to come I guess.

Quick sidenote: In case you were wondering how my super long shift went last Friday (you know, the one that I was dreading to no end), it was fine. I actually had fun because my coworkers were cool. And the event we were running was a lesbian wedding. So that made it just a little more interesting.

Life Stuff

So. We have moved. Our house is beautiful and I love it, but it is hardly put together so pictures will have to wait for just a little while longer. Additionally, we don't have internet yet so posting pictures wouldn't be as easy. Hopefully by this weekend I'll feel like the inside of this abode is worthy of some still frames.

In the meantime, I have been up to some stuff. I started a new job on Monday at the Westin Hotel in Westminster as a banquet server. I'm a full-time employee. Can I just tell you that I have never before worked "full time" hours?? I have worked 24 hours so far this week. And the rest of those full time hours will be completed on Friday during an 11-hour shift. Yay. It wouldn't be THAT bad (I have worked 13 hours straight at Outback before), but this shift ends at 2 AM and I'm going to be outside a lot of it. Yay again. Okay so I'm not trying to make my new job sound totally awful. I don't mind the duties I have to perform, my feet aren't doing too badly with the constant walking, my coworkers are pleasant, and I get free food. But I am beyond dreading this shift. I hope that the next time I post something I can tell you it was better than I thought it would be. At any rate, I'm glad to be broadening my horizons by getting hotel experience.

I have tomorrow off work, and I can't tell you how excited I am to relax.

Today

Today is a special day for us. It is the last full day we will be living in this townhouse. Tonight we will finish packing up all of our treasures. And tomorrow we will load as many boxes as we can into our cars and go to Erie. To our new house. We will close on it at 12:30, and be official homeowners.

I have very much enjoyed our townhouse. I loved converting it from a bachelor pad to a cozy home for newlyweds. I loved painting the walls to our very own specifications. I loved having fires in our wood-burning fireplace.

But in our new house we will BOTH get to park in the garage. We will have the experience of landscaping our own backyard (next spring). I will be able to host large gatherings and not freak about oven/counter/living space. We will have plenty of room for a family someday. We can have overnight guests and not make them have to walk up the stairs to use the bathroom. And we still get to paint the walls to our very own specifications.

The only downfall to this? It is supposed to snow 4-8 inches tomorrow. And again on Saturday - our big move day. Pray for our safe travels!

S-N-O-W!!!

We have been hearing **Winter Storm Warning** on television... the radio... the internet.

Ever-ry-where.

Some might be upset by this news. End to WARM weather, less than awesome roads to drive on, etc, etc.

Me? The excitement was hardly contained. Ryan came home from work last night and suggested I make/warm up Tortilla Soup while he constructed a nice toasty fire. I squealed with such delight that my dear husband looked at me like a crazy person. But I kind of really love fires (the pops, the smell, the warmth!), and the tortilla soup from my work is pretty stellar. So it was win-win... can you blame me for the excitedness?

Then my mom called me at 8 PMish to tell me it was snowing. It wasn't here yet, but I knew it would be soon!!

When we went to bed it was little flurries of snow. In the night I got up to get a drink, and the sky was orange. I love how the lights reflect on a winter night sky. Then this morning I looked out the window... and this is what I beheld:

B-E-A-utiful! It was really heavy, wet snow. Our parking lot was covered in branches. Kind of sad, but hey, that's nature. And lucky for us, we had scheduled the walkthrough at our new house for today weeks ago. So we got to drive in the snow! What a thrill.

By the way, our house looks amazing. I did not take any pictures because...um. I don't know why. But I didn't. Perhaps I will post some when we go back next week to close.

P.S. My nose is super congested and I suppose it is making me think a little bit goofy. Hope you enjoyed it.

Sneak Peek

My lovely gourmet kitchen, sans appliances. I would have stayed there and slept on the island if I could have.

Feeling A Little Crafty

Holly and I hadn't seen each other in a few weeks, which was unacceptable since we live in the same town. Time really gets away from me sometimes. Anyway, I suggested to her that we get together and do something crafty since we are both wives now, and I am desperately trying to find the craftiness in me.

So we went to Hobby Lobby and picked out some cute stuff to make shadow box things with scrapbooking paper and other fun treats. We got our inspiration from our friend Whitney's blog. Check it out!

I wanted to do something Halloween themed, and Holly went for a more generic Fall theme.

Here is what I started with:

And with the different papers cut and put it in the holes (this board was called a scrapbooking frame I think):

My finished product:

Holly's finished product:

Are they not so cute and fun?? We bought stands to put them on so that they would be leaning back a little. This allows us to leave the papers unglued from the back of the board so we can make new ones for each season or holiday. I can't wait to make a Christmas one!

Chocolate Marble Bread

Have you ever looked at a picture of a recipe and thought it looked just beautiful? That was what I thought when I saw this bread. (Yes. Bread. Again.) Yesterday the weather was cold and dreary so it was basically mandatory that I bake something. I found this recipe and had everything I needed for it, so I decided to give it a go. I had never made bread this "fancy" before, but was excited for the challenge.

It is called Chocolate Marble Bread and you can find the recipe by clicking here.

The only additional tip I have is take make sure that the top layer of circles are level. I had 3 that were just kind of hanging out on top, and they exploded all over the place (not literally) and made the finished product a little Quasimodo-ish. It still tasted delicious though, so don't worry about it if you're not going for beauty.

This is the bottom of the bread when it came out of the oven (it is baked in a tube pan) - I thought it was pretty!

And here it is, in all its sliced and glazed glory:

Happy Fall Baking!

Broadening My Horizons

Tonight Ryan and I took our taste buds on an adventure. He bought a German cookbook while on his mission and had yet to actually make anything out of it. I looked through it yesterday and picked something out that I wanted to make. There were many things in it that I will never make. Like stuffed pig stomach. I didn't even know what it was at first, but the picture was not very appetizing.

I decided on Semmelknödel mit Pilzen. This means something with mushrooms. Maybe eggy boiled bread balls? Okay, so that sounds kind of gross, but it was quite delicious. Here's the recipe and picture in the book:

What? Can't you read it?? Besides the fact that the print is small on your computer screen, it's in German. So Ryan helped me make it! I enjoyed having him there as my translator.

I'm not going to translate it all for you (unless you BEG me to... which most of you will not), but basically it is day-old cubed bread soaked in milk, mixed with parsley, salt/pepper, nutmeg, onions, and 2-3 eggs. Then shaped into balls and boiled for 20 minutes. It is served with a mushroom cream sauce on top. And oh my. We were both raving about it. It turned out perfectly!! I was pretty excited about that, since I could not even read the recipe.

Here's the bread balls before being boiled:

And after:

And with the cream sauce:

The only thing we regretted was that we did not think to invite anybody over to share them with us. I think we should all give ethnic food a try more often!