Oscar Party

Last night, Justin, Jen and I watched the Oscars in style with an Oscar Party with our neighbors, Erica and Derek. We went into Sunday with no intention of watching the Oscars. Jen didn't even know what exactly the Oscars were: movies? music? t.v? I think I have only actually watched the Oscars once, and that was when I was an RA. Some of my residents were watching them and I decided to be a good RA and encourage hall bonding by joining the girls and watched them.

Justin, on the other hand, is a movie buff. Being from L.A. he grew up around movies and having people constantly talk about movies. On Sunday afternoon he decided to have an Oscar party, so he texted our new BFF neighbors to see if they were in. We got the yes from them at about 6:00pm. The Oscars started at 8:30 so Jen and I quickly ran to the dollar store and grocery store to get some goods. For the party, Jen decided to create a candy bouquet centerpiece. Here is her creation:

It turned out AMAZING!

We were finally able to use my Romantica vase :) We filled the bottom with Ring Pops. The bouquet part consisted of Swedish Fish, Nerds, Bunch a Crunch, Mike n Ikes, Candy Jewelry and Popcorn, that we snacked on throughout the course of the night.

We also decided to bring some competition into the night. Justin printed out ballots for us to vote and make our predictions of who would win throughout the night. The person with the most correct predictions received a fun little prize. As I was wrapping the prize in gold paper, I thought that it would be fun to turn it into our own Oscar.


Justin and I ended up tying for 1st place with a total of 13/24 predictions correct. We decided to be nice and give the prize to Erica, who was in last place with a total of 3 (I think!) I'm sure she will have fun with her new plastic bat and ball that look like a carrot :)

Although we could really care less about which movie/actor/actress won, we had a good time snacking on sugar, watching Jen's teeth and lips turn blue from her ring pop, getting our competitive edge on and socializing with our neighbors!

Girl Scout Cookies!

Let me start off by saying, $3.50 is worth the box.

Over the past couple of days, my sister, Jen, has been visiting from Atlanta. When Jen visits, we always have a little baking party. Our project for this trip was the Homemade Girl Scout cookies I said I wanted to make about a month ago.

Cookie #1: Samoas
We made these on Wednesday night. These were a big hit. Justin said that they were the best cookie he has had in a while and Jen was impressed that you could make homemade caramel.

Cookie #2: Tagalongs
On Friday afternoon we decided to finish with the other two cookies. The Tagalongs are my favorite.

Cookie #3: Thin Mints
These ones were improvised. We had originally planned to only make Samoas and Tagalongs. However, Justin said that Thin Mints were his favorite Girl Scout cookies so we decided to make some for him. We took the same dough as the Samoas and Tagalongs, cut them into disks and baked them. We then melted chocolate chips with peppermint extract, and there you go- Thin Mints!

Here are the three different cookies!

Thin Mints-Samoas-Tagalongs

Here is our final display!

As much fun as it was to see these famous cookies be made at home, they were A LOT of work. Honestly, it is kind of worth it to pay $3.50 for a box. I really don't think I would ever make them again. Except when I said that out loud, Justin said that the Samoas were the best cookies, even better than the originals, so for him, I would make them again.

Recipes:
Samoas
Tagalongs
Thin Mints
*Our version of Thin Mints is described above.

Almost Spring?

Yesterday, I saw this for the first time this year:

Source for photograph.

Justin and I were driving to go on walk and I looked out the window and there were TWO trees blossoming with pink and white flowers! I could not believe my eyes- could this mean Spring was near? I was so excited that I actually yelled and told Justin to look out the window. So there you have it folks, February 23, 2011 was when I saw the first blossoming trees in Raleigh, NC. Sorry if I just made all you Northerners jealous ;)

The reason why I was so excited to see these trees is because Spring is my favorite season here in Raleigh. All of the trees become drenched in pink and white blossoms. It is gorgeous. I also love it because it is the perfect temperature. The Summers down here are very brutal. Last year, our heat index reached 125 degrees. It is so hot that you really can't be outside for all that long. Fall in Raleigh basically doesn't exist. The leaves don't start changing colors until November and there are barely any colors on the trees. At least not what I am used to up in Ohio. And Winter has the occasional dusting of snow with colder temperatures and blue skies.

Happy [almost] Spring!

Weekend Excitement

For those of you who have not heard, we are currently car-less.

On Friday night at about 9:00, we were sitting on our couch watching a movie. Suddenly there was a loud knock on our door. We opened the door and some of our neighbors were there asking us if we owned an orange Honda Fit. After Justin slowly said yes, our neighbor told us that we might want to come outside because a lady hit our parked car. I told Justin that I wanted to go out with him, but he gave me one condition, that if I got all fired up I had to come back inside. I am a little more fiesty than Justin and he did not want me to cause a scene ;)

When we got outside, we saw a lady being escorted by the police officer into the back of his car. At first I was expecting the rear of the car to be hit, but oh no, the lady had reversed through the gate and 6 foot bushes, only to land on top of our hood. The cop came over and told us that the lady was being charged with a DUI and destruction to property. This is what our car looked like.

The right side of the gate is slanted back (where she hit it) and is off its track.
The bushes on the right should be as tall as the ones behind them.

After being outside for about 1 1/2- 2 hours we finally got our car out and towed. As unfortunate as this was, it came at the best time. It happened on a weekend and we didn't have any need for a car during the weekend. This week, I am tracked out (off) of school so I don't have to be anywhere all week. It also gave us a chance to meet some our neighbors! We actually met a young, Christian couple!

We are hoping to get a rental car today. This past weekend, we learned to slow things down a bit and also learned to get around the old-fashioned way, walking. We have had BEAUTIFUL weather here, sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s and 70s. On Saturday, we walked from our apartment to get Justin's haircut, then walked to the Borders going-out-of-business sale and then walked to lunch. Yesterday we walked to church and today we rode bikes to the grocery store to get Justin some coffee. It has been very nice to get out in the fresh air and this has allowed Justin and I to just take things slow and talk to each other :) Although, I am ready for a car. We desperately need groceries and the bike ride today showed exactly how out-of-shape I am.

Please pray that our car can be fixed quickly!

Project 2 of 2

Since we are currently car-less, we were able to finish our second project last night and hang up the rest of our frames. After dinner, which consisted of pancakes, eggs and applesauce (because we were planning on going to the grocery store yesterday morning but did not have the transportation to get there) we pulled out our tools and hung up these frames. I have had these frames sitting behind our end table since May!

I must say that I LOVE IT! I woke up this morning and walked into the living room and these pictures just brought a smile to my face. We are still in the process of fully furnishing our apartment, so having these frames on the wall definitely makes it feel more homey.

Project 1 of 2

For a very, very long time now, I have been meaning to get some of our wedding pictures printed, framed and hung on our walls. This has been a 6 month- year long project. During our recent trip to Asheville, Debbie printed some of our pictures for us on her professional printer! Last weekend, we spent time hanging the pictures.

These pictures are the ones that are currently located in our bedroom. It took us probably 2-3 hours to hang these six pictures (no joke!) When it comes to hanging pictures, Justin and I get a tad bit scared. A frame that used to be hanging up in the dining room fell and glass shattered to pieces. Ever since then, we have been afraid about other frames falling. We braved our fear last week and got one of our projects done!

In the middle of this picture is a poem that Justin wrote for me many, many years ago. For my 20th birthday, he had Joelle engrave the poem and paint it. The three pictures are from our wedding day and then the two other frames are our vows. For an anniversary present, Justin again commissioned Joelle to come up with a creative way to display our vows.

I love waking up and finally seeing some pictures on our walls! Our second project that we will hopefully complete today is to hang three more very large pictures in our living room.

7 Days of Valentine

This year for Valentine's Day, Justin surprised me by giving me a little something for 7 days. He called it the 7 Days of Valentine. I LOVED this idea! It was fun to have a little surprise to look forward to after a day of work. One of the things that I love about my husband is that he is very romantic and comes up with the best/most thoughtful/creative gifts.

The 7 Days of Valentine began on Friday night when he got home from work.

Day #1: Cute cupcake card with a sweet note and an explanation of the 7 days.


Day #2: Chocolate truffles from a chocolate shop in town.


Day #3: Beautiful red roses.


Day #4 (Valentine's Day): Homemade romantic dinner.
He made me my favorite meal (kind of). My favorite dinner is called Chicken Supreme and is a recipe that my mom and dad make for special occasions. Justin told me that he was going to make it for me! I asked him if he had called my mom to get the recipe and he said no and that he found it online. I told him that it was most likely not the right recipe because it is a recipe that my dad has. Although it was not exactly the right meal, it was very delicious and extremely thoughtful of him!


Day #5: Song on his guitar.
Justin proposed to me by singing me a song that he wrote about us and our relationship. For the past year and a half I have asked him numerous times to sing the song to me again. On day #5 he was planning on singing me a different song that he had written for me. However, since we have both been sick and with his sore throat he was not able to play and sing it. I am still waiting for day #5 to take place!


Day #6: Dinner at Bogart's.
We went out to dinner at one of my favorite steak places in down town Raleigh, Bogart's. It is a fun restaurant with a Humphrey Bogart theme that plays old movies and Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble type music. We were able to get 2 salads, 2 entrees (me: Filet Mignon, him: Rainbow Trout) and a bottle of wine for $40!!


Day #7: Salsa dancing at the Red Room.
For a little while now, we have been talking about how it would be fun to go salsa dancing. Red Room, a tapas restaurant in down town Raleigh, has salsa lessons every Thursday night, followed by salsa dancing. For my last day of celebrating Valentine's day, we were going to go salsa dancing. We ended up not going last night because we are both recovering from being sick and it was really late at night. We are planning on going next week or the following week on a Thursday when I don't have to work the next day. I also need to mentally prepare myself for this! I am NOT a dancer at all and I need to get myself ready. I'm excited to try it out though!!


I loved this past week! I loved being surprised and wooed by my husband. I am so thankful for him and all that he does for me. He makes me feel very special and I love his creativity when it comes to planning things for me!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is what I gave my Valentine on the 14th! When I asked Justin what he wanted for Valentine's Day he said that he wanted a cookie cake or something with peanut M&M's. Here is a picture of how I combined the two. I made him a heart-shaped cookie cake (heart pan from Target) and decorated it with his 2nd favorite candy, peanut M&M's. The cookie cake is simply the same recipe for chocolate chip cookies, spread in a greased pan and bake for 15 mins. (depending on the size of the pan). I decided to be a little creative and turn the cookie cake into his card/love note. I love greeting cards. When we were dating I would always buy him cards and send them to him in the mail. The cake says, "How do I love thee? Let me Count the ways?" (Elizabeth Barrett Browning poem). I then wrote (in frosting) different things that I love about him.

We are still celebrating Valentine's Day. Justin's gift(s) to me is 7 DAYS of Valentine! He started it on Friday and it will end on Thursday. Once it is over I will post about the romantic things he did for me throughout the week :) Although we are a little sickly couple :( There has been some sickness going around my school and I caught it last Thursday and am still recovering. I then passed it to Justin on Sunday and he has spent the past two days home from work.

Looks like we are living out what we vowed, "In sickness and in health!"

Saturday Walk

Today has turned out to be a very nice and relaxing Saturday. We were able to sleep in, although Justin slept in more than I did. I usually wake up around 9:00 and Justin can sleep for a very loooong time, so I like to give him a few more winks before I wake him up. I woke up with a craving for pancakes so I made some and brought Justin breakfast in bed, along with FRESH coffee. Yep, that's right. I don't drink coffee but I sure do know how to make it (in the French press that is, I have no idea how to make it in a regular machine).

After eating our breakfast and just laying around and talking we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and go for a walk. It is a beautiful day with blue skies, sun shining and mid-50 degree weather. We headed to the Historic Yates Mill County Park to take a walk.

I love walking and I probably got it from my mom. I used to always go walking with my mom, either around Hudson Springs Park or throughout downtown Hudson. The summer that I got married we went walking together almost every day. I use walking as a form of exercise and to help me stay in shape. Well, not too much walking has been happening since I got married. Our apartment is located between two busy streets, and I really don't feel comfortable walking by myself. In the evenings or on the weekends, Justin and I will go on a walk and check out some of the parks around our house

This was our second time to the Yates Mill Park. It is a very quaint park with a lake and the historic mill. We like this park because it is secluded and not busy, like a lot of other parks in the area. We had a very nice time talking, soaking in our Vitamin D and getting a little bit of exercise.

Uh-Oh!

Our lease is up in July and we are planning on moving. We aren't sure where yet, but one thing that we do know is that we will be looking for a good location. I would like to live somewhere where I would feel comfortable taking an afternoon stroll and get back into my routine of walking [almost] every day.

Hope you all are having a nice and relaxing Saturday (with some sunshine you Ohioans!)

Fad of 2011?

There is a new fad for the year 2011 here in Raleigh, NC.

Self-Serve Frozen Yogurt

In the past couple months, FOUR of these frozen yogurt bars have appeared in a 5 mile radius from our house. Justin and I discovered the first one, Marmalade Skies, at the beginning of January. This was my first trip to a self-serve place. You literally serve yourself from getting the yogurt out of the machine, to scooping out your own toppings. It was fun because you could mix and match your flavors and add whatever toppings you want. It is kind of like Cold Stone, but you do everything yourself. The first time we went I got 1/2 cake batter and 1/2 chocolate with strawberries, raspberries, oreo and some chocolate syrup (and some strawberry pearls on the side- just to try!)

Last night we used our BOGO coupon at the second location, Pink Spoon. We decided to get a sweet treat before we started our grocery shopping at 8:30 pm. Although this was a very trendy place it did not live up to Marmalade Skies. We did not like how the toppings were not labeled and there was not as good of a selection of toppings. Justin was happy because at Marmalade Skies they had gummy worms, peanut M&Ms and crushed sugar cone. Other toppings include several kinds of fruit, any sugary cereal, tons of candy, nuts, chocolate chips, marshmallow fluff, caramel etc.

The other two locations that we have not been to are FreshBerry and The Skinny Dip. FreshBerry is right across the street from NC State (formerly Justin's Boba place, so sad it closed) and The Skinny Dip has two locations, one near Trader Joe's in Cary and one on Falls of the Neuse Rd. We are excited to check these two places out to see how they rate to the other places.

I was so surprised to see SO many of these fro-yo bars just pop up. It must be the new rave!

Best Sport on Ice

Two weekends ago, Justin and I had the opportunity to witness the best sport on ice.... the U.S. Figure Skating Championships! Although on the same exact day the All-Star NHL game was being played in Raleigh. Justin is a 'Canes fan this just shows how such a wonderful husband he is. Instead of watching hard-core hockey, he sat through 4 1/2 hours of figure skating with me :) True love. The tickets to this event were actually a Christmas present to me! You see, I secretly wanted to be a figure skater when I was younger. Yes, I know, so girly, but I love the sport! I loved watching figure skating during the Olympic games: Nancy Kerrigan, Kristi Yamaguchi, Michelle Kwan, Sasha Cohen. This was my first time ever seeing a live competition!

I had been looking forward to this day for weeks! I was so excited because the Olympic Gold Medalist, Evan Lysacek was scheduled to compete. We got the the coliseum early and as I was flipping through the program I realized that Evan was in fact not competing :( In fact, he was performing in an evening event that we did not have tickets to! Oh well! We still had a fun time watching the other 22 competitors.

Putting the Gorillapod to good use!

The top competitors warming up.

My favorite part of the day was watching the sport that I had long admired. It was fun to watch all the jumps [and falls!] and see the stuffed animals and flowers being thrown onto the ice after each performance. My favorite performance was by the guy who came in second place, his performance was to the music from Sherlock Holmes. I also loved when the 1st place guy did a back flip as he was exiting the ice. Justin's favorite part was watching the 'sweepers.' The sweepers are the little girls who collect the flowers and stuffed animals. He called them little robots because they were all matching and were trained to skate with their arms out to their sides.

The Sweepers.

I am very thankful that I got to experience this event! I am even more thankful that my loving husband endured 4 1/2 hours of pure excitement, just so that I could have this experience.

Look who made an appearance!

Yep that is Evan handing 1st place his trophy.

Bakabecca

One of my favorite blogs is Bakerella. Seriously, this lady's blog is so fun to look at. Bakerella is so creative and talented and every Monday I rush to her site to see what fun things she cooked up in the kitchen the week before.

This past year, thanks to Bakerella, I have ventured into the cake pop world. In fact, I got her Cake Pop Book for Christmas! The first time that I made cake pops was with my sister, Jen. When Jen visits us in North Carolina we always have a day of baking. We have made pumpkin whoopie pies, caramel apples, apple crisp, sugar cookies, Valentine's Day cupcakes and cake pops. During our first cake pop extravaganza, Jen gave me the nickname, Bakabecca. To this day I still live up to that name. Last week I had some more fun baking in the kitchen. Here is a peek at what I made.

Sweet Potato Pancakes (More like YAM cakes!)

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

The Sweet Potato Pancakes were for dinner one night and the Cinnamon Raisin Bread gave us plenty days worth of breakfast. Jen is [hopefully] coming to visit us again at the end of this month and I am sure I may have to make this Cinnamon Raisin Bread for her, since it is a favorite of her's. We also have another fun day planned of making the Homemade Girl Scout Cookies! I'm excited to have her come visit for a couple of days, and even more excited that I don't have to work! I work at a year-round school, which means that the students are in school for 9 weeks and then get 3 weeks off. I am on a slightly different track and I have random days and weeks off throughout the year. It turns out that I have the last full week in February off! What a perfect chunk of time for my sister to come visit :)

Recipes:
Sweet Potato Pancakes
Honey Cinnamon Butter
Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Cheesecake Factory at Home!

I am currently sitting on the couch after my first day of work, watching Justin cook away in the kitchen :) I have forgotten what it feels like to stand on your feet for 8 hours a day with no sitting down! I know I shouldn't be complaining because there are nurses reading this who stand on their feet for 12 hours a day!

My first day of work was crazy, but good! I got there and immediately the assistant principal told me it was the perfect day for me to be there because two second grade teachers were out sick, making their TA's the subs and they needed my help in second grade. Let me remind you, I was hired for 3rd and 4th grade. I didn't really get trained in anything, they just pushed me right in there! However, the people that I met and worked with today were WONDERFUL! The ladies in second grade were so sweet and helpful. They made me feel very comfortable and answered any questions I had. My day was busy running all around the second grade classrooms and helping out any way I could. I led 2 guided reading groups, helped the students write fairy tales (Which included helping a little boy add more details to his story. How did I do this? In his fairy tale there was a dragon and he and his brother were defeating the dragon. I asked him how he could add more details? What did the dragon look like? What color? Why was he so bad? What did this boy come up with? The dragon was a tap-dancing dragon that squashed people while he danced- oh the things kids come up with!) I led some small groups with counting money and telling time and of course, lunch duty. It was a very tiring but good day!

A random, small world event happened at work. While I was sitting awkwardly in the teacher's lounge eating lunch and not knowing anyone, I started a conversation with another TA. Through our conversation we learned that she lived in Hudson, OH (my hometown) for a couple years and her daughter probably went to the same schools I did! Small world!

Ok... this post was suppose to be about food, I'll stop talking about my day.

Last week I made this for dinner!

Chicken Madeira! This is the most popular dish at the Cheesecake Factory. I decided to replicate the dish with the the chicken recipe and smashed potatoes! The verdict- it was so DELICIOUS! Here are the recipes for the two dishes:
Chicken Madeira
* I used the cornstarch to thicken the sauce.
Smashed Potatoes with Roasted Garlic

So what do you think? Does it look like the original? ;)