Mail & News

Yesterday, a package arrived in the mail and this is what was inside!!

My Graduate Diploma!

Master of Arts in Teaching!

I am officially done with school! No more teachers, no more books! This was a very intense program with lots and lots of papers, studying, reading, lectures and collaboration with colleagues. During this program, I was able to teach lessons to second, fourth and fifth graders, ending with my student teaching in first grade. It was a great program and I am very thankful that I was able to complete it (despite mono) and even more thankful that it is over! I must say that it is nice to not have to write papers and have mandatory reading anymore!

In other news...

I got a job! Before you get too excited, it is not a teaching job. I have been hired as a Teacher Assistant for 3rd and 4th grade. It has been difficult finding a full-time teaching job during this time of the year and this allows me an 'in' with the school system. The Assistant Principal sees that as a great opportunity to get my foot in the door and is hopeful that he can help me get a teaching job in the future.

In all, I have applied for around 30+ jobs. Justin and I have been praying for the Lord to open the right doors and close all the wrong ones. This is one door that He has opened, and I am very thankful. This job will help cure my boredom, give me more experience in the classroom, and provide a little more income. Another answer to prayer is that this job provides benefits! Praise the Lord! He has been good to us lately and I am so grateful for all the prayers that He has answered. Although we are still praying for a door to open in terms of teaching next year, I trust that the Lord has something great planned for me!

I have orientation on Monday and start on Tuesday! So if my blogging slows down a bit, it is because I am now employed full-time!

Congratulatory Flowers from my Hubs.

For My Husband

"God Gave Me You" by Dave Barnes

I’ve been a walking heartache
I’ve made a mess of me
The person that I’ve been lately
Ain’t who I wanna be

But you stay here right beside me
Watch as the storm goes through
And I need you

God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
For when I think I’ve lost my way
There are no words here left to say, it’s true
God gave me you

There’s more here than what were seeing
A divine conspiracy
That you, an angel lovely
Could somehow fall for me
You’ll always be love’s great martyr
Ill be the flattered fool
& I need you

God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
For when I think I’ve lost my way
There are no words here left to say, it’s true
God gave me you

On my own I’m only
Half of what I could be
I can’t do without you
We are stitched together
And what love has tethered
I could baby, never undo

God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
For when I think I’ve lost my way
There are no words here left to say, it’s true
God gave me you, gave me you.
Gave me you.

Thank you Justin for all that you do. You are truly the greatest gift that I have received from the Lord and I am so very thankful for you. I love you!

Hobby Help!

The other night, Justin got to thinking that there really aren't any hobbies that we do together as a couple. We both have our own hobbies that we enjoy. He likes to write, read, and play music. I like to bake and scrapbook. We realized that there are hobbies we both enjoy in the spring and summer months, when the weather is nicer. Some of our 'nice-weather' hobbies are letterboxing, checking out new parks and outdoor areas and watching Top Chef together. For those of you who don't know, letterboxing is a lot like geo-caching. In parks, people hide a box with a notebook, stamp and ink pad. There are very specific directions for how to find the box. For example, start of by taking a left down the path, at the second bridge turn right, walk 15 steps and it will be in the Y-shaped tree on your left. Get the idea? It is geo-caching but without the coordinates and no GPS. Once you find the box, you stamp their stamp in your booklet and if you have a stamp, you can stamp it in theirs. For a much easier description and how to get started, click here.

Our letterboxing booklet.

Cupcake and Coffee- Our letterboxing stamps.
Can you guess which one is mine? (Totally the coffee ;)

One of the stamps from an excursion.
The park was Fred Bond Metropark; hence the 007 theme!

Ok, so back to my hobby help! We were talking about how we don't have any winter hobbies and were trying to think of things we can do together in the cold weather. Some of our ideas were to take up ballroom dancing or learning a foreign language. Fast forward to last night. Justin came home from work with a big pile of books on tape/cd. In fact, they were cds for learning a foreign language. He told me to take my pick, Chinese, Japanese or Vietnamese. Oh boy. He ended up choosing Japanese (he loves Japan) and we started listening to it on our way to meet up with some of our friends. In the car ride, we learned how to say: Excuse me, Do you understand English, and No. Quite honestly, I don't remember any of the words except English, "Eh-go-gah" (phonemic spelling). Japanese is a difficult language! I was very impressed with how fast Justin was picking it up and how well he was speaking! We'll have to see how long this hobby lasts ;)

So this is where I need your help. Do you have any ideas or suggestions that we can do as a couple? What are some of your hobbies? All ideas are welcome :)

Compromise

Well, folks, it finally happened. After 1 1/2 years of marriage, Justin and I have finally come to a compromise on a very important matter- 1% milk. I grew up drinking skim milk and Justin grew up drinking 2% milk. He refused to drink skim. I refused to drink 2%. Up until now, we would buy two milk cartons: a one gallon cartoon of 2% and a 1/2 gallon carton of skim (I got the smaller amount because I am not a big fan of milk and have to force myself to drink it). For a couple of weeks now, we have been buying a one gallon carton of 1%, at it seems to be working for the two of us!

See...marriage is about compromise :)

Menu Planning

Let me start off by saying, I DO NOT like menu planning. Every week, the day (usually Saturday) rolls around when it is time for us to do our grocery shopping. Grocery shopping means that you need to have food on your list. And you don't know what to put on your list if you don't know what you are going to eat. Which means, you have to plan. I don't know why I have such a dislike for it, but I just don't like roaming through cookbooks, blogs and websites to try to find good meals. My wonderful husband usually assumes this responsibility and comes up the a lot of the meals, leaving me one or two. Cooking in our house usually goes this way: Justin cooks two meals, I will cook two meals and then encore/going out nights.

This week, however, Justin challenged me to plan the menu for the ENTIRE WEEK! At first I was completely opposed to it. However, once I started finding fun recipes, I got into it and I'm rather excited about our meals this week.

Here is what is on the menu:
Monday- Lemon Pasta with zucchini, feta & chicken. Recipe here.
We actually had this for dinner last night and Justin loved it! He sounded like Bob! (What about Bob? movie reference).

Our dinner last night.

Tuesday- Sweet Potato Pancakes topped with Cinnamon Honey Butter and Pecans
Wednesday- Encore Night. (Fancy name for Leftovers).
Thursday- Four Cheese Stuffed Shells
Friday- Chicken Madeira with Smashed Potatoes. (This is a Cheesecake Factory dish that I am attempting to make).

I will probably blog about some of these dishes, so stay tuned!

Brunsviger

In the summer of 2006, Justin had the opportunity to travel to Sweden and Denmark. Ever since then, he has had a a deep appreciation/love/obsession with Scandinavia, specifically Sweden. He always talks about how great it would be to own a summer home in Sweden. Last year for his birthday I got him The Scandinavian Cookbook that he had been wanting for a while. It is a very neat cookbook filled with authentic recipes from Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The cookbook also has amazing photographs of the Scandinavian countryside, cities, as well as the food.

Over the past year we have tried some of the recipes, including Biff Lindstrom with fried potatoes, Meatballs with thyme, green cabbage and lingonsylt (lingonberries), and Layer Cake with strawberries. The other night I decided to tackle another recipe: Brunsviger. This is a bread with a sweet and buttery glaze from Denmark. The recipe called for fresh yeast, and while I was out grocery shopping and couldn't find it, I knew the perfect woman to call- my sister-in-law Sarah. I call Sarah the "Yeast Beast" because she has become an avid baker, specifically with bread. I knew that she could help me out. FYI- if a recipe calls for fresh yeast, you can use active dry yeast, just use roughly 1/2 of what the recipe calls for. Here is the finished product!


The cookbook suggested eating the Brunsviger with a cup of coffee, which Justin for sure did! I decided to have it with a nice cup of English Afternoon Tea (Oh No! Do they make Scandinavian tea?) I thought it was the perfect time to pull out my teapot and cup and saucer. The cup and saucer was a wedding present from my Mumsie. The teapot was a gift from Nathanael and Emmy from London.

The Brunsviger was very good. Very soft and doughy. The only thing that I would change in the future is the glaze. The glaze was very buttery (1 cup of butter and 3/4 cup brown sugar). Next time I would cut it back. There are some other recipes for danishes and cakes that I would like to try out soon!

New Lamps

In our apartment, the living room and bedroom have no overhead light. During the daytime it is not such a problem because we have beautiful bay windows that allow a lot of natural sunlight to shine through. However, in the evening, it can be pretty dark. We have to turn on all the lights in the kitchen and dining room to make up the lack of light in the other rooms. For a couple months now I have been unofficially on the search for lamps. By unofficially I mean that whenever I am at a home decorating store I look at the lamps, but never intend to buy.

My unofficial search ended this past weekend! While taking our walking tour at Ikea, I found lamps that I loved, and at a really good price! I decided not to buy them right then because I needed to run them by my husband. Although I really liked the lamps, I had no idea what Justin was going to say. Justin either agrees with my decorative sense or thinks that it is way too girly. I did not know what way he was going to sway on these lamps. I took a picture of them and showed him that night. The verdict- He liked them!

On our drive back to Raleigh, we made a pit stop at the Ikea in Charlotte and bought the lamps. We really have the L'Heureuxs to thank for these lamps as to their Christmas present to us is what made it possible for use to buy these beauties. Thanks L'Heureuxs! The next day, I took them out of their boxes and assembled them. Although they will probably both go in the living room someday, we only have one end table in the living room and one nightstand (the second end table) in our bedroom, so each lamp found its way in one of the rooms. I love seeing them in our home. Although it is a small touch, it adds just a little bit more!

Lamp #1- short and fat (my favorite)

Lamp #2- tall and skinny (Justin's favorite)

Hotlanta

Our weekend was action packed! There was lots of game playing, socializing and adventures into the city. While Jen and I were away on our Saturday for Southern Sisters, the L'Heureuxs took Justin out for a fun packed day. The whole family got Atlanta City passes, which gets you into any museum in Atlanta and is good for couple of days.

Their first stop was for a tour at CNN. Then they made their way over to the Coke Museum where Justin sampled all 300 flavors of Coke throughout the world. Justin's favorite flavors were the ones in Asia. He was even nice enough to bring his wife back a glass bottled Coke that was bottled that day. After their tours, the family also went to Flip Burger!

On Sunday night we had a little girls night out. Emmy, Jen, Hannah and I went took a horse drawn carriage ride through downtown Atlanta and then finally went to the outdoor ice skating rink. After that, we drove over to Ikea and had a nice little walking tour through the store and admired the new room layouts and got ideas for our own homes.




On Monday, while Jen and I went out to find an outfit for my interviews this week, Emmy, Justin, Hannah and the kids went to the Georgia Aquarium. The aquarium opened in 2005 and is one of the largest aquariums in the world!

In the evenings we were busy playing games. We played the New York Cartoon Caption Game. In this game, a person flips over a card which has a picture of a cartoon on it. All the other players must write a caption for the cartoon. The person who flipped the card over has to pick their favorite caption and then guess who wrote which caption. We also played Argue and Loaded Questions. These games were filled with lots of laughs and allowed us to get to know each other just a little bit better :)

Aunt Becky with Sarah and Angelina

We had a wonderful weekend in Atlanta! It was great to chat with the L'Heureuxs, see Jen and Hannah and play with our nieces and nephews. And, as a bonus, little Sarah even said my name this weekend :)

Homemade Girl Scout Cookies?!?

I just ran across this article and I HAD to post it. It is four girl scout recipes that you can make at home all by yourself!! There are recipes for Trefoils, Samoas, Thin Mints and Tagalongs!! I have not had girl scout cookies in a couple years now because 1. I haven't known a girl scout in quite a long time and 2. They are just soo expensive. Personally, Samoas and Tagalongs are my favorite, although Thin Mints are a staple. I am excited to try some of these recipes out in the first week of February!!

Here is the link to the article and recipes!
Girl Scout Cookies

Let me know if you try to make any yourself :)

Saturday for Southern Sisters

Sorry about the delay in this new post. I have been busy (surprise!) over the past few days. I have had a couple of interviews for various jobs and have been volunteering some more in my first grade class. I actually just received an email from my mom (hi mom!) asking where my new post was. Well... here it is!

This past weekend Justin and I made the trek down to Atlanta to visit Jen and the L'Heureuxs. My Christmas present to Jen was called, "Saturday for Southern Sisters" (Justin came up with the title.) I told Jen that I would come out to Atlanta and take her out for the day. My sister in-law, Kim, started this 101 in 1001 days list. A bunch of other people jumped on the bandwagon and made their own 101 list. For Jen's day out, I decided that we were going to cross items off her list!!

Stop #1 (which was not on her list): Paint-Your-Own-Pottery

Jen and I started our day of by being artsy and painting our own pottery. Here is what we ended up picking to paint.


Jen picked a swoop bowl to hold her jewelry and I picked an owl for my classroom (the owl is an inside joke that will maybe be a blog post soon).

Working away on her zebra stripes (I drew them for her!)

The artists with our finished products!

#54

The next stop on our day was Flip Burger. The chef of this restaurant is Richard Blais, one of our favorite contestants on the show, Top Chef. The restaurant reminded us of a modern diner. There was red carpet, white booths and white tables. Everything in the restaurant was flipped, giving the restaurant a mirror-image feel. The silverware and glasses were set so that they mirrored each other and the booths were even flipped. If you looked above you, there was another booth and table above! Jen and I were so excited to be there! We were like giddy kids in a candy shop :) We started our meal off with two liquid nitrogen milkshakes: Krispy Kreme and Nutella + Burnt Marshmallow.


The milkshakes were SOO GOOD. The krispy kreme one tasted like you were actually drinking a krispy kreme donut and the nutella + burnt marshmallow had mini marshmallows burnt on top. For dinner we had two different types of burgers. I got the turkey burger with avocado, tomato, alfalfa sprout, and pomegranate ketchup. Jen got another burger (I forgot the name!) that had a piece of flank steak on top of the hamburger. They were both very delicious and moist and filled with great flavor.

I would DEFINITELY recommend Flip Burger to anyone living or visiting the Atlanta area. The atmosphere is so fun and the food is delicious (and cheap too!)

#84

#84 was a surprise for Jen. On her list she stated that she wanted to receive flowers for no reason. After dinner, I took her to Whole Foods and she picked out a bouquet of flowers.

#75

Our last activity for the night was to go outdoor ice skating in Centennial Olympic Park. Once we got into downtown Atlanta it was non-stop traffic because of a Falcon's playoff game. It took us forty minutes to travel .3 miles. Because of the traffic and the ridiculous parking prices we decided to pass up the ice skating and actually went on Sunday night.

Jen and I had a great day together :) We had fun talking while doing our various activities. An advantage about living in North Carolina is that I am able to see Jen on a more regular basis!

Raspberry-Swirl Sweet Rolls

This past year, Justin and I subscribed to FOOD & WINE magazine in an effort to support one of our nephews in a fund raising event for his school. We decided on FOOD & WINE magazine because we have become fans of the t.v. show Top Chef. Well, the other night I finally had a chance to test out one of the recipes from the magazine. For a couple weeks now, I've had my eye on this Raspberry-Swirl Sweet Roll recipe. I decided to make these the other night and have them ready for breakfast the next morning!

The recipe is pretty easy. It is just a long process waiting for dough to rise. Overall, it took me about 4 1/2 hours to make. Here are a few pictures of my finished breakfast rolls!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

Dough

1. 1 cup milk
2. 2/3 cup sugar
3. 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
4. 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
5. 2 large eggs
6. 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
7. 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
8. 4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

Filling

1. One 10-ounce package IQF (Individually Quick Frozen) raspberries, not thawed
2. 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3. 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Glaze

1. 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2. 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3. 1 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions

1. MAKE THE DOUGH: In a small saucepan, warm the milk over moderately low heat until it's 95°. Pour the warm milk into the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the dough hook and stir in the sugar and yeast. Let stand until the yeast is foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the softened butter, eggs, grated lemon zest and sea salt. Add the flour and beat at medium speed until a soft dough forms, about 3 minutes. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the dough is soft and supple, about 10 minutes longer.
2. Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it with your hands 2 or 3 times. Form the dough into a ball and transfer it to a lightly buttered bowl. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.
3. Line the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, allowing the paper to extend up the short sides. Butter the paper and sides of the pan. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and, using a rolling pin, roll it into a 10-by-24-inch rectangle.
4. MAKE THE FILLING: In a medium bowl, toss the frozen raspberries with the sugar and cornstarch. Spread the raspberry filling evenly over the dough. Tightly roll up the dough to form a 24-inch-long log. Working quickly, cut the log into quarters. Cut each quarter into 4 slices and arrange them in the baking pan, cut sides up. Scrape any berries and juice from the work surface into the baking pan between the rolls. Cover the rolls and let them rise in a warm place until they are puffy and have filled the baking pan, about 2 hours.
5. Preheat the oven to 425°. Bake the rolls for about 25 minutes, until they are golden and the berries are bubbling. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for 30 minutes.
6. MEANWHILE, MAKE THE GLAZE: In a small bowl, whisk the confectioners' sugar with the butter and heavy cream until the glaze is thick and spreadable.
7. Invert the rolls onto the rack and peel off the parchment paper. Invert the rolls onto a platter. Dollop glaze over each roll and spread with an offset spatula. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Make Ahead

The recipe can be prepared through Step 4. Cover the rolls, refrigerate overnight and then return to room temperature before baking.

Variation
The sweet rolls can be filled with a variety of frozen fruit. Try blackberries, strawberries, blueberries or chopped sweet cherries.

Since the recipe made a total of 16 rolls, Justin and I have been enjoying them ALL week for breakfast. In a few hours we are off to Hot err... more like Frozenlanta for the weekend. We are every excited to spend time with our family and see our beautiful and fun nieces and nephews. Stay tuned next week for an update on our trip!

First Grade Smiles

Today was my first day going back into my first grade class since I had completed my student teaching in December. Oh- how I have missed those kids! I got to the school before the bell rang. When I first walked in all the kids were happy to see me but were a little unsure how to act around me. Then all of a sudden a group of them ran over to me and gave me a big group hug. Sigh! I just love those kiddos :)

After the big welcome the kids' first big question for me was, "You got your hair cut?" They then proceeded to ask me if I cut it myself, why I got it cut and when it happened. I was able to stay in the class for the morning centers. I read with several students, helped with word work and with writing. While I was student teaching one of my biggest joys was seeing students grow and learn. Today, I was able to witness that again. One of the students comes from a household that speaks Spanish and he is still learning to read and write in English. While I was teaching him, he needed someone right by his side to help sound out words and write. Today during writing, I went and had a seat next to him and was amazed at what I saw. All by himself, this amazing little boy was writing away. He wrote THREE whole sentences by himself about his skateboard. After he was done writing, he read to me what he wrote and I helped him think of more things to write about.

Going back to that first grade class today is just another reassurance of how much I am looking forward to having my own classroom. Teaching is such a rewarding profession. I love watching kids grow and seeing the light bulb go off in their head once something clicks for them. Since I have been out of the classroom for about a month I have begun to fear that I would lose my rhythm of being a teacher. I felt like I was getting a little rusty. However, once I got into the class today, things just snapped right into place and I was in my element!

I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for me in terms of teaching and what doors He will open for me.

Student Teaching.
Leading a Guided Reading Group.

The classroom.

Ornaments

Today was a sad day. Today we took down our Christmas tree, which means Christmas is officially over. It also means that there is a barren area in our living room once again, that needs to be filled. You may think that we had our tree up for a very long time, and you are right. We got our tree on December 4th and took it down on January 12th! The reason why we had our tree up for so long is because this year Justin and I spent Christmas in Ohio. We were there for about 2 weeks! We decided to celebrate our own Christmas once we got back. However, once we got back from Ohio we still had to buy gifts for each other and wait for those gifts to arrive. So, at last we celebrated our own Christmas this past Monday and decided to take down all our decorations today.

As I was taking ornaments off the tree, wrapping them in tissue and storing them in their proper places, I decided to snap a few pictures of some of my favorite ornaments.

This is my favorite ornament!
Justin and I were married in Savannah :)

Columbines are my favorite flower.
I got this ornament in Breckenridge, CO at David and Kim's wedding.

This one just makes me smile :)
I found it last year and Justin came home one night with it as a surprise!

Here are an assortment of Justin's ornaments.
A. The Jeweled Crab- He picked this out last year at a craft fair.
B. Carolina Panthers football.
C. Sushi and Chopsticks.


I started a new tradition where every year I pick out a new Christmas ornament for Justin and give it to him the night we decorate the Christmas tree. This year my ornament for him was the sushi one :)

I love how each year I find new ornaments to add to our little tree. It is always fun pulling them out each year and seeing them hang on the tree. I look forward to adding many more next year!

A Bored Becky

Yes. It is true. I finally gave in and started my 'first' official blog. When Justin and I first got married, Justin suggested that I start a blog. I was completely opposed to the idea. This was around the time that the movie, "Julie and Julia," hit theaters and everyone on earth was creating their own blog. I did not want to be one of those followers, so I turned down the idea immediately.

However, as time has passed, many of my friends and family members have created blogs. I find that I go on their blogs everyday and love reading what they have posted. I love knowing what is going on in their lives. The real reason why I have given-in and started a blog is because I have completed my Masters in Teaching program and am job hunting. While I am unemployed, I have been pretty bored just sitting around the house with nothing to do. In the past few weeks, Justin has yet again mentioned that I should start my own blog. Again, I was opposed to the idea because I thought that I would have nothing to write about or nothing interesting to share. So here we have it, I am creating my own blog and it just a space for me to share what is going on in my life here in the South and my sweet creations that I make in the kitchen.

In high school, my first job was at Cold Stone Creamery. While I worked there, I became the cake decorator. That job started a hobby of mine that has grown throughout the years. I love baking, decorating cakes and cupcakes, and my latest obsession- cake pops! When I am bored I love to bake. My brother, David, would always say, "A bored Becky is a good Becky!" Growing up in a family with eight other siblings who all had sweet tusks (as David would put it) baked goods would get devoured in a day. I could bake as much as a want and the little creations would always be gobbled up in one day. Being married, and having it just be me and Justin, things don't disappear quite as fast as I'm used to. It doesn't stop me from baking away though :)

So this blog is for me to document my sweet creations in the kitchen and allow my family and friends to know a little bit more about our life down here in Raleigh, North Carolina. Enjoy!