Holidays, Incoming!

Whew it has been a BUSY few days!!! I am now completely done with finals (thank you Jesus!!), and have been working holiday stuff in there too.... Yesterday afternoon I wrapped all of our gifts:

Made my favorite Ritz Cracker cookies:

Really simple-- make peanut butter/ ritz cracker sandwiches, then melt Almond bark in a  double boiler and dip thoroughly in the chocolate. Let harden and enjoy!

So after all of that, finals and cleaning the living room/ getting dishes done/ finally figuring out holiday travel schedule/ sending out a gift.... I feel pretty good about life. Oh! I also made my husband this collage for his Christmas gift:

I cut out the front page of a few of our wedding cards, used rubber cement to attach them to a black poster board, then bought black craft letters (secured with gift tape), and scrapbook flower/heart stickers.

Also, has anyone ever heard of "Dump" Dinner?

...My family loves it! You cook kielbasa, shrimp, corn on the cob, and pea pods together in a large pot with plenty of seasoning, then drain and dump over a news-paper covered dining table. Super easy, fun and delicious!! Each place setting also has a warm, moist hand towel, a plate with butter, a bowl with cocktail sauce and of course a drink :)

At our house, we love the classics: green bean casserole, cheesy hash brown potatoes, crescent rolls, shrimp dip, cheese balls..... and I adore shortbread! We also both love Pork Tenderloin so that's become a new holiday tradition for us (one of many I am sure, as this was our first Thanksgiving/ will be our first Christmas as a married couple). What are your favorite holiday foods/ traditions?

Well, I am off looking at Real Estate in Chicago (online of course), and then have a work meeting and birthday party to get to. Happy Christmas!

Happy! :)

Well, in the true swing of the Holiday season, we finally made the trip out to do Christmas shopping.... We pretty much got everything I think... other than a few things for my mother. I also splurged and got myself an awesome strength/cardio/ab workout DVD and two 2lb weights (I know, don't overexert myself, right??).

It is ridiculous how excited I am to light up the Christmas tree, play some holiday music (love Michael Buble CD), wrap gifts and make cookies tomorrow! I make very simple cookies-- Ritz crackers with peanut butter in between and dipped in almond bark, yum! I'm also looking forward to reading the recipe, gathering ingredients and making Julia Child's duck for mine and my husband's Christmas dinner!

Finally, in school news....it isn't going well. At least I have a back up plan AND a pretty kick-ass resume, so I may not be out of a job once we move to Chicago in the fall-- yay!!
G'night world, off to dream of holiday decorating (haha).

Just starting out.

Hello blogging world! I've tried a few times to start a blog though the years, let's see if this one sticks!

I met my husband Jesse about two and a half years ago. We met first a few times at a local salsa dancing club and then finally connected through a friend. Things started moving slowly, partially due to the fact that I was supposed to be moving to Chicago for school a few months later. When we reached mid-summer however, I gave in and cancelled my plans.

We had a pretty normal dating/ courtship... dinners, movies, etc. He stayed at my apartment so much, he started helping out with bills (a little over a year after meeting we moved in together and love it)! After about a year and a half, he let it slip that he wanted to propose. We talked about it, he asked my mother for my hand in marriage, and he officially popped the question a month and a half later.

Once we had told everyone, we somehow came to the crazy decision to have the wedding six months later.... whew! I thought it was going to be uber stressful and time consuming.... we had the wedding planned by the end of the following week. So the wedding ended up not being stressful-- actually made us a lot closer and lovey-dovey during this period. The money issue, however, was intense. The wedding cost more than I want to say (at this point I wanted to use the money to get a new car and head to the court house!). We payed about half of that cost, and our amazing parents picked up the rest.

We were married on August 28th, 2011 at Jay Cooke State Park in Carlton, MN. We did the traditional not seeing each other the day of. I was creepy-calm the day of until the ceremony, Jesse was the opposite. It sprinkled for about an hour or so right before the wedding, but cleared up about 30 minutes to the start, and the sun came out during our vows. We had our school's Lutheran minister perform the ceremony (we did pre-martial counseling with him and will do 6 months marriage counseling with him), and the guests threw daisy petals instead of rice.

While the ceremony was completely nerve-wracking for me (even though I am a performer, I hate being in front of a lot of people and hate speaking in public ten times more), we both ADORED the reception. Friends family, yummy cake (Strawberry Champagne with strawberry filling and butter cream frosting), our favorite wine (Moscato di Asti), a great DJ and fun music= best night of our lives :)

Our honeymoon was simple, we went to Minneapolis/ St.Paul area for the State fair, Ren fest and a Twin's game and stayed at an amazing resort. We only had a few days, and then I had to be back for classes starting.

The rest of September went by swimmingly, classes were good, we were so in love, and still in the "Honeymoon" stage. In October things were still good, losing the glow a bit but still going strong. In November, the bills started getting to us, and I had a nervous breakdown about all the stuff going on with bills and school.

December has been interesting for us so far. We've had some ups, but definitely a lot of downs. We are looking to move in the fall and procrastination and not knowing has been fraying my nerves. I've been in the so-called "nesting stage" for the past two or three months, but unable to make a home since we are potentially moving so soon.


Well, I have a final tomorrow I am hardly prepared for so....I should probably get to that. Ugh, I cannot wait to be graduated. I have one more year after this one and Jesse is graduated which makes it worse. He is looking for Grad schools in Chicago so keep your fingers crossed!