It's the most wonderful time of the year...

It's so hard to believe another Christmas has come and gone... Another year will soon be behind us, too. Tom turned 26 last month, and 30 is looming over us. When people ask my age, I have to stop and think. I still feel like I'm 18 and trying to figure out the world. College and especially graduate school are just tiny blips in my history now. I have tons of memories, of course, don't get me wrong - it's just that sometimes I forget that I ever lived with Jennifer or Amy... Or that I was in a sorority... Or that I did an internship in Birmingham for a summer... It's just interesting to reflect on because as I was growing up, I always had a defined plan for the foreseeable future - the progression of schools, all the milestones of growing up, high school graduation, college, graduate school, finding a job, getting married, buying a house, getting a dog... but that's about as far as it went. Now, I've done all those things, and it's a really strange feeling (wonderful! but strange) to have all that I planned for in my past. It's behind me, and I stand gazing back at it in amazement and turning to face the uncertain future in awe. I'm at a crossroads - life's moving target is moving again, recalibrating itself, and defining different goals, different milestones for my future. I'm not one of those people that longs for the good old days - whatever days those are - for some people it's high school, for some it's college. I have always enjoyed each stage of my life more than the last in some way, and I have faith that the rest of my days will be more of the same. I don't mean to be melodramatic or too heavy - I'm just marveling at this stage, this crossroads, this time of bolstering up my courage to define a new set of goals for my life, a new map. I'm excited to be embarking on it - I'm so blessed to have my sweet husband, my wonderful family, and my loving and merciful God to share it with. And all of you, of course :-)

Wow, the last few weeks have been busy! So many events for Christmas - 3 different choral concerts for my church choir, mine and Tom's Christmas work parties, Christmas shopping, our traditional bell ringing for the Salvation Army and caroling and decorating our family graves at the cemetery, as well as various and sundry Christmas get-togethers with friends and family. I've also been doing some fun cooking! Check it out -

 This is another one of my "homemade-up" meals - inspired by Tom . He loves shepherd's pie. I've always hated it, but a few weeks ago, I randomly got a craving for it. Weird, I know. No, Kim, I'm not pregnant! :-) He also loves roasted asparagus and red peppers. I had a bunch of mashed potatoes I made the night before so I decided to use them to create my own shepherd's pie recipe. I browned hamburger meat, added onions and some frozen veggies, and the spices that make up Italian Seasoning in my spice rack (parsley, garlic, basil, etc.). I put the meat mixture in the bottom of a pan, covered it with mashed potatoes, and topped with parmesan cheese and baked for 20 or 30 mins! Delish! The roasted asparagus just has olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, red peppers, and a little parm on it. The pairing turned out really well!

Next up, I had a pot-luck networking meeting at the Chamber of Commerce - I signed up to bring a breakfast casserole. Of course, I went to www.foodnetwork.com to do some research. And of course, I found a recipe by Paula Deen that turned out to be fabulous (so they tell me - I don't like french toast)! I think it's called French Toast Casserole, and it was pretty easy. Just slice french bread and line a pan with it. Pour an egg/milk mixture over it and let soak overnight. Then cover with this sinfully delicious praline topping and bake. Needless to say, it was a huge hit... with other people, not me (see above).

Every year, my family gets together to decorate our relatives' graves for Christmas. My grandfather cuts the greenery out of his own yard, and we spend several hours arranging it in the various urns. My mom and I used to make the bows, but we wised up a long time ago and starting buying them - trust me, it was a good decision. It's a really neat tradition, and we enjoy it.

 (I branched out this year - ha! branched! get it? - and made a wreath. It was pretty fun and easy and turned out much better than expected. We held it down by sitting this poinsettia and reindeer stob in the middle of it.)

This year marked a huge change for me - I spent my first Christmas away from my family. Tom's extended family lives in Kansas so we went there. He actually still has all four of his grandparents - I think this is an incredible blessing, and I want to make it possible to visit them as often as we can. I was excited but nervous about going because I didn't know how I would react. I knew I would miss my family, and I didn't want to burst into tears right in the middle of his family get-together. Thankfully, I wasn't sad or homesick too much. We had a great time, and we did Christmas with my family right after we got back. It was really neat to experience other families' traditions and get to know them better and understand their dynamic more. The older I get, the more Christmas just means being with family, with people you love, and reflecting on all our many blessings. It was just more spread out for me this year, and that's not bad at all :-)

Here's a packing tip - I have these bags my mom got me for a trip out of the country several years ago. They are amazing!!! You put your clothes in there, zip it closed, and squeeze all the air out - no vacuum required! It's so easy and makes packing a lot of stuff a lot easier! The brand I have is called Space Maker.

Last but not least, tonight I made one of my favorite homemade-up recipes - ranch pork chops with sauteed onions! My mom and dad gave us a big box of goodies from Omaha Steaks for Christmas this year - perhaps the best gift ever. Included were 4 pork chops. I began by thawing them in cool water for about 20 mins (since I can't ever remember to put them in the fridge the night before). 

 While they were thawing, I got all my other ingredients ready - not a very tough line up as you can see. One small onion sliced, pepper (I've gotten on a seasoned pepper kick lately), seasoning salt, ranch mix, frozen chopped red peppers, chicken broth (not pictured), and sherry. I LOVE to cook with sherry - it adds such a great flavor.

 Optional - One small dog to oversee the operation :-)

 First, I trimmed some of the fat from around the edges of each chop. Then, I heated up my frying pan to medium high and plopped them in. I poured in a little sherry while they were cooking and sprinkled them with the seasonings (salt, pepper, ranch mix). Let them cook a little on the first side, then flip. Rinse and repeat. (Not really - just a metaphor!)

 After cooked almost through (the meat is white looking), add some chicken broth (enough to cover the bottom of the pan about 1/4 in. thick) and some more sherry. Add the onions and the peppers and sprinkle some more ranch on top. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 10 mins or so, until onions are translucent. NOTE:  I do not advocate using a whole ranch packet. I use about half and save the rest for some other concoction down the road :-)

While it was cooking, I was donning my new silver, flower clip for my hair. I never in a million years thought I would like something like this - I tried it on as a joke. To my surprise, I loved it! What do you think?

Add a side salad with bacon bits, croutons, cheese, chopped pecans, red wine vinegar, and the dressing of your choice and voila! Dinner :-)

A very Happy New Year to you and yours!

Happy Holidays

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've written. Life happens - Tom and I have often said things like, after college, things will slow down. Or after our wedding, things will slow down. Or after we move into the house, after we get settled, when Daisy grows up a little bit... the list goes on and on. I'm beginning to believe everyone who keeps telling me life doesn't slow down. That's okay - I think that's the way I like it. As my uncle says, you can sleep when you're dead. This was my motto in college, and I must say that I've fallen off the wagon a little bit with it lately. I've just been so tired for some reason! But, I have decided to start anew - no matter what time I go to bed, I'm going to get up at 7 every day except Saturday! There's just so many things I want to do that I don't have time for so I'm going to make time. I see this as another step in my adulthood, and I'm going to embrace it. For those of you who don't know me very well, I'm a very mind over matter kind of person. When I was in middle school, my allergies got really bad - almost to the point of surgery. Thankfully, we were able to avoid that (after seeing a string of doctors, taking a slew of medicine, and having 2 CT scans). However, I was told I would have to take allergy medicine for the rest of my life - every day. At 13, I just couldn't fathom taking a pill EVERY day for the REST of my life! I mean, that seemed completely absurd. So I quit taking them and haven't looked back. Before you start thinking I'm too much of a whacko, at the ripe old age of 26 (twice what I was when I started putting this philosophy into place), I have realized that some things you just can't will yourself to get over. I have problem feet. They've always been hard to fit in terms of finding shoes, but as I get older, I have find them more and more unwieldy. This, I have tried to ignore for some time, but I admit publicly to you today - I have a problem. After seeing a podiatrist who recommended surgery as soon as I could, I have put away my love for high heels and have started ridding my closet of them in favor of comfort and lifelong health (I kind of want to be able to walk when I'm 50... and 80 for that matter!). Who has time for a recovery period of 4-8 weeks?! I certainly don't so I will bow to his recommedations to prolong what he sees is the inevitable.

Now, for the fun stuff! I've been doing some cooking and a lot of decorating since I last wrote. Enjoy!

 This is a ham and broccoli quiche I made from a recipe I found on foodnetwork.com. I love that site! I had some broccoli leftover from a shower that I needed to do something with (same as the broccoli cheese soup from last post). As you can see, it was pretty good - it didn't last very long :-)

 Tom and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year. His parents came to stay with us, and we had 8 people eat Thanksgiving lunch. Tom and I cooked the turkey on our new grill - it was delicious, but it had to cook 12 hours so poor Tom stayed up most of the night basting and adding coals every few hours. What a wonderful husband I have!

 We enjoyed decorating our house for the first time for Thanksgiving.

 Mom and I found most of these things for our table at Kohl's - that store has the best sales!

Here's our bird - finally done! It was delicious - we were so impressed with how well it turned out!

 Here's Tom's parents. We had quite a spread of food, as you can see - turkey, ham, dressing, sweet potato casserole, asparragus casserole, spaghetti and cheese, gravy, rolls. My mom came over and helped us cook everything. It was neat to see how it's all done and participate more than I ever have.

The cold stuff table - cranberry jelly, whole cranberries, cranberry relish, pickled peaches, lime jello delight, and homemade mayonaise. It was a feast for sure! We have so much to be thankul for...

 These beautiful leaf placemats are from our Rehearsal Dinner. LOVE them.

 We've really enjoyed decorating for Christmas - we've been looking forward to that since we moved in in June.

 This is our little Auburn ornament tree that sits in our Auburn room - can you tell we're Auburn fans?

 Tom and I tried to go cut our own Christmas tree this year like my family used to do when I was younger. Apparently, Christmas trees don't grow in the wild like I thought, but we had a good time walking around in the woods. We supported our local economy by buying this one the next day. It's so pretty without anything on it... every year my dad says he wants to just have the tree the way it is. Maybe we'll do that some day.

Here is it decorated in all it's glory! It smells so wonderful, too. Daisy's not quite sure what to make of it, but right now, I'm just glad she hasn't eaten any ornaments or pulled it over! I hope each of you has a wonderful Christmas with your families - don't forget the reason we celebrate. God sent his only son, Jesus, to die for us and save us from our sins. Christmas is about love and family and faith - hard to remember sometimes when you're speeding to get to the stores for the killer sales - but very important. Merry Christmas!

Our First Anniversary

I really can't believe it's been a year since our wedding, October 30, 2010. It's been so wonderful - married life is even better than I ever dreamed. Tom and I have had such a good time, and we are looking forward to all the experiences to come that God has in store for us. In honor of our anniversary, I'll devote this blog post to our story. I'm sure some of you have heard this a million times while for others, it's the first. Either way, I hope you enjoy :-)

How we met...

Tom and I came from different high schools to start as college freshman in August of 2004. We met in an Engineering Physics lab the second week of school. I got lost finding the room (it was our first lab) and came in late to find only one or two seats empty. I went to sit down, and this guy next to me turned to let me know that stool was broken. He got up and got me a different stool, and flustered, I sat down. Next, we had to get into groups. As I looked around totally lost, he asked me to join his group. The rest, they say, is history...

I took notice of Tom for several reasons that night - As we were working on our lab, it became abuntantly clear that I had no idea what I was doing, and he was right at home. As we answered the questions, I had to totally rely on him because I had no clue. We got to this particularly long, wordy question in the form of a paragraph that began with "Explain how the ..." I read the question, turned to see Tom skim it, and then write simply "Yes" and move on. I was met with a predicament - I knew I knew nothing about Physics, but I was fairly sure the answer wasn't yes. So, I tried to very politely say - Umm... I don't think yes is the answer to that one... He read it again and laughed out loud and started over. I was flabbergasted! I mean, here we are - the new kids at a very big school trying to fit in and make friends! I would have been so embarrassed, and he just laughed at himself and went on like nothing happened. I took a liking to Tom right then.

As we finished lab, I said I was going to a block party to meet up with some friends from high school. He said he'd come, too. I was glad to have someone to walk with me as it was about 8 pm and very dark. We chatted for a while, and I mentioned that my computer had somehow gotten a virus and wasn't working. Tom offered to come look at it for me which I gladly agreed to! As we were walking to my dorm, I started thinking - are you crazy? what are you doing? you don't know this guy, and you know your roommate isn't home! what if he's an axe murderer?! So I called my friend, Cliff, who also lived at the same dorm and asked him to meet us there. Long story short, Tom, bless his sweet heart, spent two hours fixing not just my computer but my roommate, Jennifer's, too. After that, we became the best of friends and spent a lot of time together studying, going to games and events, and just enjoying college life. We started dating January 7, 2005, and it's been so amazing sharing life with him ever since. Here's the first digital picture I have of us - taken at the end of freshman year.

Our engagement...
So fast forward to Friday, March 26, 2010. We had both graduated from college and were working. Tom was living in another state but was coming into town that night to spend the weekend with me. I got off work at 2 to go to the grocery store and finish getting ready for his visit. When I walked out to my car, this is what I found...

I was really confused.... I called Tom immediately and started looking all around. When he answered, I said, "Someone left a rose on my car - do you know anything about that?" Basically, he responded with, "I might... Why don't you come to your apartment to find out?" And I must admit, dear readers - I had been hoping Tom would propose for months, but somehow, I didn't see it coming. The thought didn't even enter my head. I was just excited he was in town already! Dense, I know. When I arrived at my apartment, the door was cracked, and when I opened it, here's what I saw...

Now, here's my favorite part of the story (which Tom vehemently denies, but I know the truth) - I ran in and got down on my knees to hug him. When I pulled away, he said, "Can I change knees?" Lol - apparently, he'd been on that one knee for 10 mins waiting on me to get there. His proposal was so beautiful and heartfelt. It was a great day. Here's one of my favorite engagement pictures...

I really enjoyed wedding planning - some people may think I'm crazy, and maybe I am - but it was just right down my alley. Our October wedding was just fabulous - the colors were so rich and beautiful, the weather was perfect, the trees were changing - God really gave me a perfect day to marry my best friend. Here's some of my favorite wedding pictures...

 (this crazy look on my face is because I literally could not see through all the bubbles!)

We honeymooned in a little cabin outside of Pigeon Forge, TN - it was exactly what we wanted! Here's the view from the cabin so you can see what I mean.

For our anniversary, we went to Pine Mountain, GA, to stay in a little Bed and Breakfast, which I'd never done before. It was really neat! We enjoyed it a lot, and I'm sure we'll be doing a lot more of that in the future. We spent one beautiful day at Callaway Gardens including doing their new Tree Top Adventure obstacle course. It was awesome, and we had such a great time! Pictures of that in my next post :-) We spent our second day at FDR State Park canoeing and then at the Little White House. This little getaway was just what we needed.

I will admit I spent a large part of our canoe trip taking pictures and yelling "Row! Row!" (Geico commercial anyone? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU6hmgTY76M) Lol - but I really did do a lot of rowing, too. It was so peaceful out there on the lake. I hope we start doing a lot more stuff like this.

Lastly, I'll leave you with some tasty tidbits - my wonderful husband makes the best omelets around! He made me this one when we got home from our anniversary trip - ham, cheese, onions, and red peppers with salsa on the side. Yum!

That last picture is some home-made-up broccoli cheese soup Tom and I created the other night - I had a bunch of excess broccoli from a baby shower I hosted that I had to do something with so we got creative. It actually turned out very well! Just cream of mushroom soup, steamed broccoli (that I put in the food processor), sherry, milk, chicken broth, salt, seasoned pepper, and a little flour - oh, plus a ton of shredded cheddar cheese :-) Bon appetit!







Pumpkin time!

Tom and I finally got around to carving our pumpkins this past weekend! Here's the progression -

 (the line up before!)

 (tools of the trade - thankfully, mom got us a pumpkin carving kit; I thought it was cheap looking at first but that green scoop and tiny saw were great - could't have done it without them!)

 (step one - cut the top off - make sure to cut at an angle so the top won't fall in when you sit it back on top)

(Tom hard at work on his - I love this face he's making!)

 (pretty good job cleaning out my pumpkin, I'd say...)

 (my first one - a flower)

 (my second one - a B)

 (Tom's - looks like Doug Funny to me)

 (the final lineup!)

 (lol - love this one with his 1 question mark ear - I envision Doug Funny saying, "Huh?")

(hot chicken salad and roasted asparagus that I made for dinner - I can't leave y'all without at least one food picture :-) It was really good! Let me know if you want the recipe!)

Can't wait for our anniversary this weekend - so hard to believe it's been a year, and I so look forward to celebrating one of the best years of my life with my wonderful, loving husband :-) Stay tuned for pictures from our trip!