Follow-Up

I mentioned money yesterday. And also that Casey and I did not win the lottery.

It's funny though cause just last week we were talking about what we would do with all our winnings if we hypothetically bought a  Power Ball ticket and happened to win. Even if they taxed us and took over half the winnings, we'd still be sitting pretty. We had seen a billboard advertising the Power Ball jackpot on the way to his parents house on Christmas Eve. Every now and then we talk about what we'd do with our money if we happened upon a large sum of money.

1. Give money to each of our brothers and sisters for their future kids to have a college fund.
2. Pay off his parent's house.
3. Pay off my parent's mountain cabin.
4. Pay off our house.
5. Maybe buy a small place at the beach.
6. Set aside money for our (future) kids to go to college.
7. Give a HUGE chunk of money to the humane society (my heart breaks for animals mistreated and without homes).
8. We have a list of different things people can do every day for a money to donate to different organizations (Kate and I found it in a magazine and want to start working on all the things on the list), so we'd donate to each organization of the month...every month. It's amazing the impact of a small donation.
9. Give lots of money to our church.
10. Go on a couple missions trips.
11. Buy people meals at Thanksgiving and families presents at Christmas.
12. Sponsor a couple families through World Vision.
13. Send our families on a couple vacays.
14. I told Casey I would want to make tons and tons of sandwiches for the homeless shelter every week.
15. Send ourselves on a couple vacays...some places we've always wanted to go.
16. Save LOTS.
17. Casey's always wanted a boat. I'd buy him a boat.
18. And some guns and a bow to add to his collection.
19. And a piece of land to hunt on.
20. And the Tag Hauer watch he's been eyeing for years, but that we're convinced we could never afford.
21. Maybe buy something fancy or go to an extra movie a month.
22. Even start in on a bucket list...skydiving, ride camels, that kind of thing.

We have lots of ideas :) We want to help people. We don't want to keep it all. We don't want to spend it all. We don't want a huge house. We don't want flashy things. Maybe a new fun dress and some new pairs of pretty shoes. Maybe some wheels a bit more reliable than what we both have (since both of our vehicles are over 10 years old. But hey, they still work, and we can still afford gas!). Nothing fancy. Just a newer version of my cute little Honda CRV. That's all.

Maybe it's time to go splurge on that lottery ticket...

$$$

Not $$$ because of a windfall or we won the lottery or anything, but because money has been on my mind alot. Worrying about it. Silly, right?

I know I should not worry about it at all. Trust in the Lord. He has blessed us, and we use our money responsibly, but still. And I know I shouldn't worry about tomorrow or what the next day or week or year will bring, but that's my nature as a sinful, sometimes-disbelieving child.

25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life^b?

28“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

--- Matthew 6:25-34 --- 

Verse 28 is my fav. "See how the lilies of the field grow." Without effort. Love that.

There are a couple things on my mind this morning, all of which come back to money. Shocking, right? I strongly dislike finances. Casey and I are pretty good at dealing with them (if I do say so myself), but partly because money and focusing on finances scares the ish out of  me. I hate money because its so dangerous and can disappear so quickly and causes many a disagreement, but also because when it comes down to it, you need money to live in this world.

Sigh.

So, I've just been thinking about expenses in the upcoming year and expenses this month, and then there's the puppy we want to get and mini trips we'd like to take. And it's just stressful even planning it all. We can do it, but to be perfectly honest, I'd much rather just throw it all into savings. No worrying, no spending, but also no enjoyment. Sure, we work to make money to live, but we also want to enjoy a few things that we are able. The joy of a little puppy! A mini 2 night trip to the beach for our first anniversary. A plane ticket to visit some friends or experience NYC at Christmas before kids come along. Time to do this stuff while we can. Together. And we know we want to go back to Alaska. So we're planning that for 2013. Time to save, save, save.

OH! And the awesome first anniversary gift I'm secretly planning and scheming. Can. Not. Wait.

Then there's also the debt (school loans!...All too familiar to some of you I'm sure) we're scraping extra money to get rid of those encumbrances quickly while still throwing bits and pieces into savings. And mostly,  there's the things we want to get other people because we love them. No, not to buy their love. Just because!

For one, I'm stoked about an impending anniversary surprise for my parents coming in the next 1-20 years (I had to give a wide range so that they wouldn't be suspicious at any particular year cause they faithfully read my blog). I am just bursting at the seams with the ideas that Kate and Dawn and I have been tossing around.  YAY. We wish upon wishes that we could more or do it this year, but it'll be more awesome when it all does come together. It is their 35th this year, so that's kind of a big deal too. 35. Does anyone stay together that long anymore? I'm happy about that. I'm even more happy that they still enjoy each other and go on dates and love on each other after 35 years. I would give them the world if I could.

Then there's Casey's parents. This year is their 25th. Another kind-of-a-big-deal year. And his brother is graduating. And the list goes on. So many things to celebrate!

It's funny because every time I feel like Casey and I are doing a good job and on top of our finances, the Lord sizes me up and hits me with whopper. A reminder that we have plenty, and He has provided and will provide. Every month it's been something. This month, so far, it was $400 on my car. Last month it was tires for Casey's truck. The month before that I believe it was nearly $400 for the dentist and before that $400 for tires for my car. Before that it was my ER bills. Why always $400? And why is it always something? Isn't God funny? I think so. Anyhow, we still have our house. We still have jobs. And we still have each other (and our fabulous families). I'd say we are definitely watched over.

Time to balance my checkbook, then stop thinking about money. And, instead, think about something worth way more of my brain waves!...at least until mine and Casey's next financial pow-wow.

Another random (but totally worth reading) post...

Who did not want to go back to work this week???

In case you don't know, my hand is raised. High.

It's kind of nice having short work weeks. I could totes get used to three day weeks. Is that not okay?

Sigh.

Anyhow, I just wanted to put up something else cute that Casey said. He is the best ever for me.

Scene: We're driving in the car. 

Not having a conversation but just listening to 

music and looking out the windows at the 

Christmas decorations on the houses. 

Then out of nowhere...

Casey: Baby, you're pretty. Very pretty. Like a goddess.


He seriously makes my heart MELT into gooey liquid all over!

Then, the next day.

Scene: Same as the previous day. 

Driving somewhere, I just can't remember where to.
And again, out of nowhere...

Casey: You are so beautiful. Like a flower. A pretty flower.


Luckiest girl in the world? Right here, folks.

Also, on a side note. We were driving to Sweet Frog last Thursday (date night in the house), and a Christmas tune came on, and all of a sudden I just yelled "Christmas 2011!!!" and gave a woohoo. Then I definitely raised my arms in the air. I had to let Casey know that that was me starting the wave. So of course cause he's awesome and wanted to totally and completely humor me for our first Christmas, he starts doing the wave too. We did that back and forth a couple of times until I was satisfied.

And Sweet Frog was yum by the way. Love that place. It's a DIY fro yo place. I always get the tart (original). It tastes like Greek yogurt to me. But with the texture of fro yo of course. And then I put fun treats on top. I love the brownie bits on top. And the chocolate covered waffle cone.

Casey's perfect for me.

Christmas post (late but not unimportant!)

First off, I legit have the most amazeballs* family EVER. I feel so special and blessed everyday to have them in my life, but holidays are just extra special. And Christmas is extra extra special.

*Amazeballs means amazing. It's an emphasis on amazing when something truly is. Like you say it, and you really mean amazing. It's from the Kardashians (Khloe and Kourtney). Don't judge me. Kate and I love it.

We went to one of the Christmas Eve Services at 1 pm with my family, then Casey and I headed over to the Krasen House for Christmas Eve dinner and presents there. We took the standard 50 family pictures before we could finally find one that was decent to everyone. Ha ha. Even better is that we're all looking in different directions because there were 4 cameras. 

Then when we got home we left out some milk (skim) and cookies for Santa. And a banana and clementine too. He needs long lasting energy (with the cookie-sugar of course). The cookies are so delicious. They were candy cane cookies. So kind of, a little bit like Oreos but had a peppermint filling. Casey hates peppermint and chocolate, so Katie and Santa and I get to eat them all.

Here are the goods:

Because I decided to leave him healthy milk (my favorite is that at the bottom of the bottle it says "Goodness to Go"...who drinks a whole quart of milk on the go?) and fruit, he decided to leave me two fabulous pairs of Brooks!!!!!!!! 

With that set up, I should work in a shoe store, I know. But it was the only appropriate way to display them. I'm prettttty stoked.

We had a nice Christmas. We opened our presents at home in the morning with our coffee and cereal, and I think Casey was pretty excited about something he got.

I love that picture. His smile is contagious. 

Then we went to the gym and showered and made some dishes to contribute to Christmas dinner and headed over to the Lambeth House with presents and food in tow. We watched Elf, made dinner, opened family presents, and then when the rest of the family arrived we had Christmas dinner. It was a busy two days, but we had an a great first married Christmas, and can't wait to keep forming our own traditions and continuing the ones of our families.

Merry Christmas, ya'll (a few days late)!

One for One

Casey got me some fabulous presents. He's the best Santa's Elf!

One of the things he got me was the cutest pair of gray TOMS. I love them because:

a) Casey gave them to me

b) they are super, super comfortable (for real, I had no idea until I put them on)...like walking on clouds...in a shoe

c) the gray ones go with everything

d) they make feet look so teeny

e) they have the One for One program.

For every pair of shoes you buy, they donate a pair of shoes to someone in need. In love with the idea and beyond happy to support them.

I need to put up a pic of the shoes. They are precious because on the inside there are pictures of buffalo and lions and other wild animals inside. Party in there.

So I wore them to my parents house for Christmas afternoon of Elf-watching, present-opening, dinner, and hang out time. I got all ready, and Casey looks at me feet and says this:

"Oh they look good on your feet.

You know for some people TOMS just don't work,

but you have good TOMS-feet."

Hahaha. He makes me laugh. Toms-feet? I've never quite heard it put that way before, but he's right, you know.  Now people's feet will forever be judged based on their ability to appropriately wear TOMS. That's okay, right?...

A Recipe for Christmas

As I mentioned in a post earlier in the week (or last week? I can't remember...), Kate and I had our Christmas with Ashley. We do this every year. Just before or just after Christmas, we meet for dinner or coffee and exchange our presents. It's fun and definitely a tradition. It's crazy to think we've been friends for 14 years (WOAH). Well, technically I've friends with Kate for 28 years (double WOAH). And I love them.

Anyhow. This year we did Christmas at our house. We had a lovely Christmas centerpiece on the kitchen table, red (Cinnamon scent) and green (Evergreen scent) candles lit, the tree lit up, Christmas tunes on, the spotlight on our wreath on the front door, and our lone-tree-in-the-front-yard lit up. Since I was first home from work, I cooked! (And completely forgot to wear my Christmas apron which was incredibly upsetting because how often can you actually wear it?) We had wine and Shepherd's Pie and a green salad with tomatoes and cucumbers. It was dee-lish. I'm legit bummed out that I don't have pictures so you can see how pretty and mouth-watering it was too.

I've never actually had Shepherd's Pie, but I know Kate likes it and Casey likes (he was home too), and Ash was up for it as well. To be completely straightforward, when I think of Shepherd's Pie, it makes me think of a school cafeteria or summer camp or something. I'm honestly not sure why. So as I was cooking, I decided to go all gourmet, ya'll. I added a few spontaneous twists, and it was fabulous. Healthy AND gourmet. What more could you really want? You could not find this dish in the cafeteria line. Promise.

Here's the recipe (I'll give a little * to the items I added or changed so you can see how creative I am, yes?).

Shepherd's Pie

1 pound ground beef (*lean ground turkey)

1 (14.5 oz) can green beans, drained (*french cut)

1 (10.5 oz) can cream of mushroom soup (*98% reduced fat)

1 small sweet onion, diced

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

2 cups mashed potatoes

* 2 cloves garlic

* rosemary (dusting)

* oregano (sprinkle)

* thyme (pinch)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cook and stir ground turkey in a skillet over medium-high heat until turkey is browned, about 10 minutes. Drain fat. Remove from pan.

3. In the same pan, saute diced onions in just a bit of olive oil until tender and translucent. (*The recipe said to mix in raw onion, but I wanted a more elegant dish with enhanced flavor so I sauteed them first.)

4. In a medium size bowl, mix green beans, cream of mushroom, cooked turkey, onion, rosemary, oregano, and thyme. (There are no measurements cause when I'm inspired in the kitchen, I don't measure. I just add till it looks and smells just right. The herbs and spices were a spontaneous addition to fancy it up.)

5. Make mashed potatoes. I'm going to confess, I used instant mashed potatoes (Betty Crocker Red Skin Mashed Potatoes or something), but step 6 is what makes them gourmet. When you have some cloves of garlic sitting around and get crazy, this is what happens.

6. Put two cloves garlic on a small pan and drizzle with olive oil (I used Herbs de Provence olive oil from The Art of Oil in Boone, NC. AWESOME store. But you can use the reg stuff). Put in the oven for a few minutes or until lightly browned. Mince garlic and add to mashed potatoes.

7. Pour turkey mixture into a 2 quart casserole dish (All I had was 1.5 or 2.5 quart, and I used the 2.5 because I didn't want it to be super thick, and it was perfect. If you don't have 2 quart, err on the larger size.) Top with cheddar cheese. Spread mashed potatoes on top.

8. Bake in preheated over until the pie is hot, and the mashed potatoes are golden brown, about 35 minutes.

9. Enjoy!

You can even click on the highlighted words here to visit The Art of Oil from your home!!

P.S. How appropriate is this meal for Christmas! I just made the connection...Shepherd's Pie. Noodle on that for a few. You'll get it.

Today I am humbled.

 "We must not wish for the disappearance of our 
troubles but for the grace to transform them."

-Simone Weil-

Way cool.

We all want something beautiful

 This is my favorite song lyric. OF. ALL. TIME.

"We all want something beautiful. I wish I was beautiful."

                                         -- The Counting Crows


I want a life that has a story. A life that is beautiful. A life with a purpose. I want to be able to choose joy even in struggles and difficulty. I just want something beautiful. I want to be and feel beautiful. I also think that deep down, everyone wants that whether they admit it or not.


Or maybe I already have that, and I need to clean off my glasses and give my cheek a couple slaps. I am made in His image, after all. And talk about beautiful. That's just who He is.


Hmm.

Merry Christmas!!

I completely dropped the ball on Christmas cards. The super cute ones that are actually pictures, but they say "Happy Holidays" or "Tis the Season" or "Merry Christmas"or some other clever and over-used, but always welcome, Christmas phrase. You know what I'm talking about. You probably have 54 of them on your refrigerator. Well, I had full intentions of making them and sending them out to be all cute and what not. But I didn't. So, here's the picture; you just can't hang it on your fridge:

It was taken at the cabin in the mountains of fabulous Boone, NC.

A quick year-end recap now. I worked. Casey finished school and graduated in May. We got married (most fun day ever) in May. We went on a honeymoon cruise to the Carribean (most fun vacay ever). Casey started working. We went to two outdoor concerts. We both work alot. Everyone had a birthday. Casey continues to keep up with his Air National Guard duties. We went on vacation to Hilton Head with his family. Casey played hockey. Casey hunted. We both took up yoga. We lost our bundle of joy (Patch) and began planning for our own bundle of joy. I went with Katie to see Stacie and Dave in Pittsburgh. We had two Thanksgivings: his family and mine. We went on vacation with my family on a cruise to the Bahamas. Sal Blair came to stay with us all the way from the crazy country of Canada. And now Christmas is right around the corner. Then the New Year. Welcome 2012. The New Years plans have yet to be decided. We look forward to what next year brings!

(How's that for short and to the point?) Maybe you'll find a Christmas picture in your mailbox after Christmas if I can get on that. I make no promises though.

ASU Ice Hockey Days

So, I finally got to see the BRHC Championship video where ASU won the conference title (2009-2010 season). Last night. Two (going on three) years later.

I got a little teary. I miss the Sal Blair-Casey Krasen duo. NHL, what? The pros got nothin' on them. While the quality of the video was pretty close to terrible...I think my 3 year old nephew could've done a better job...it was an awesome game, and I was so proud.

I miss hockey games, I miss cheering, I miss the burst of pride whenever Casey would score a goal or skate flawlessly or speed to the puck and out-skate the other team (HA, take that, UNCC), I even miss getting back to my apartment at 4 am after a late hockey game across the state. For real though. He scores or body checks some guy or does some fancy pants footwork or stick handling. So you give the nod and smile to the other hockey moms and girlfriends like "Yeah, he's mine. And that just happened. And he's awesome. No big."

Here's a couple pics of my Hottie McTottie #22.

(Good gracious, that's a look of fierce determination.)

Anyhow it made me realize, not only how much I miss ASU Ice Hockey, but how much I miss ASU and the fact that hockey was one of my favorite things about going to school there.

So here is my list of top 5 favorite things about ASU:

1. Meeting my Casey
2. Graduating with my Masters
3. ASU Ice Hockey (this includes hockey players, hockey games, and, of course, hockey football tailgating)
4. Boone
5. Momma coming to visit me often during school to work on building the cabin in Deep Gap

I could totes live there one day. Dreamy sigh.

O Christmas Tree

The bare-naked version of our tree (Well, with the lights. I didn't remember the camera until after the lights.):

And our fancy pants tree:

And the complete set-up:

Perfect! We are officially ready so bring it on, Christmas. But not quite yet. Since we were gone for a week, we need time to soak in the Christmas spirit around town and listen to some more Christmas music.

Happy Holidays!

A December Update

I know I've been gone. Many apologies. We were sailing the (cold) Atlantic seas.  On the upside, I got a sneak peek of one of my Christmas presents from Casey that he bought while we were there. I love it, but now I'm going to try to forget it for the next week and a half. Also, my parents gave me one of my Christmas presents early because I ran out of books to read. I got a NOOK! I love it. It's so awesome. I love reading and learning. We didn't get to do any excursions cause it was chilly and frankly, nothing really struck our fancy. The two stops were in the Bahamas which wasn't that great, and while it was not warm enough to lay out in a skimpy little bikini, we still braved the water slide a couple times. Cannot go on a boat without going on the water slides. And yes, I had chocolate melting cake...almost every night. Do not judge me.

But we're back and back to work and back to good coffee. It's going to be a whirlwind next couple of weeks though!

Decorate our Christmas tree tonight! Date night (coffee shop) with Casey. And possibly yoga too?

Sal Blair comes to town tomorrow for the weekend. Woot woot!!

Christmas with Kate and Ashley on Monday night.

Yoga Tuesday with Casey.

Christmas Eve service with my family at 1 pm (Jimmy is speaking along with the little kiddies super cute nativity play) then all of Christmas Eve with Casey's family. Dinner, presents, the works.

Christmas morning at our house with our own traditions (we don't have them set yet so they'll be a surprise to everyone!). Then to mom and dad's after lunch to help mom make dinner and we'll do presents with my family and all the kids and watch Elf and have Christmas dinner.

Of course we have to fit in the rest of our Christmas movies in there with work and some running and biking too. And some gourmet-meal-making. Well, it'll be faux gourmet. I did go to the store last night, but we realize we'll busy, so the fancier meals will wait until after the holidays. Which is fine. I love soup when it's cold out. You absolutely can't go wrong. And progresso soup was on sale this week. Awesome. Even though we all know that homemade is better. At some point, I'll have to share my recipes for:

• Turkey Meatball, Escarole, and Orzo Soup
• Chicken n Dumplings (healthy version)
• White Bean and Chicken soup
• Casey's secret chili (since it's secret, there may not be too much sharing with this one)
• Chicken-Corn Chowder

Then back to work and New Years and meeting with some people or some person regarding the anniversary present I'm planning for Casey in May. I'm SO STOKED. I love secrets (especially ones like this), but I just want to tell him what it is. And I can't. And I'm pretty sure I talk about it everyday, telling him how excited I am about it.

Anyways, to hold you over, here is our VERY FIRST  {live} Christmas tree. We love it. Here's Casey setting it up...attempt to get it straight.

Good thing I've wrapped all the presents. We'll move them back under the tree once we get all the lights and 10 ornaments on the tree. OH. We also bought a new Christmas ornament in the Bahamas last week. We didn't have an angel to go on the tree, so that's what we got. It's made from seashells, and it's beautiful. I need to take a picture so you can see it up close.

And here we are putting the star on top. We obviously dressed up for the occasion and the picture...

It's a short little tree. Just our size, and it's perfect. We got it from the lot up the street from our house. And from the same people we bought our front door wreath from. I like them. When we can't get to the mountains to get our own tree, I'm totally set on using this family. They are so nice! Anyways, we're letting the branches "fall" before we decorate tonight.

On another note, the coffee we made at home this morning was way better than any coffee I've had in the last week. THANK GOODNESS for that!

The gift of self-forgetfulness

How refreshing is this quote?

"Because Jesus was someone, you're free to be no one."

              - Tchividjian

He is amazing so I don't have to be. Especially on days when I feel like I have no purpose or can't see what that purpose is. My job is to believe in a purpose that He hasn't revealed to me yet. My job is to believe He is greater than my insecurities. My job is to live up to His expectations as His child. Ultimately, my only job is to be who He created me to be.  I should live and give my life to bring glory to Him. I should be starstruck over Him.

"Many pulpits across the land consistently preach the Christian and not the Christ."

             - Todd Wilken

This is the gift of self-forgetfulness.

"True faith gets a man out of himself and into Christ."

              - Sinclair Ferguson 

My sister said, "Who says you have to be famous to leave a legacy? That's not what's most important, and we should get over ourselves!" It's so true too. Dawn's a smarty-pants, and I love her.

Song bird

When Casey and I were first friends and probably even 2 years into our dating life, I'm pretty sure I would not sing along with the radio. I mean, I would, but quietly. You know, so the person who is actually paid to sing the song is the one you can hear.

But, now? Now is a different story. I will totally belt out whatever song it is even if I don't know the exact words.

Tuesday night for example, we were driving home from yoga, and Clay Walker was on the Kat singing "She Won't Be Lonely Long." I even threw in my country twang, cause well, it's country music.

Casey's only comment, 

"You sound like a mix between Fergie and Jesus." 

I love. He told me this last year too when we were talking about my singing, and he is so dead serious when he says it.

Thank you for humoring me, my love. And I will try to work on my singing skills...when I'm by myself.

Water

As I've noted recently, I've made a conscious effort to up my daily water consumption. Drastically. I make time even when I'm busy at work. It seems like alot of things in life are about making time because we are all so darn busy.

Let's talk about a few things I've noticed since.

1) My skin looks better- good
2) I feel better- good
3) My workouts do not dehydrate me (mostly because I'm not already dehydrated before I start...I know common sense)- good
4) I know I'm healthier and my body loves me for it and that makes me happy- good
5) I pee. Alot.- good/bad

Now, let's talk about number 5. I've literally peed 18 times today. Okay, maybe not, but certainly closer to 10 times. And it's just now hitting noon time. Lately, I feel like I'm getting paid to walk back and forth to the bathroom when I'm at work. And I think I've nearly wet my pants 3 times today. It's kinda ridiculous. Yet good because I feel thoroughly cleansed.

So then I started thinking about all the jobs that it's probably best that I never have if I keep this up: nursing, teaching, retail/cashier, pilot, bartender, skyscraper construction worker when it's almost done (a long way up and down to get to the port-a-jon on the ground), window washer, surgeon, judge in a murder trial or any trial where they are in the courtroom for hours on end, mailman, truck driver. And I'm sure there are more.

Now it's time to refill my water bottle.

Curls

So, I'm sure you've all heard of the make-curls-with-a-sock method. Far out, right? I think so. Easy. No heat. You know.

I haven't tried it yet, but will next. Here's the instructional in case you're interested though. It's my next endeavor. The still shot of this girl's video makes me look like a super creepy person, so please just click on "play" to see the tutorial. It'll make me feel better that you don't think I'm that person.

BUT...Katie and I tried the method below. It really really works. Katie's hair looked fantastic. So the cool thing about this method is that you can prep the day of and walk around for the day without looking silly with a sock in your hair like the first method. Or you can just sleep on it overnight and be ready for the next day. Even with Katie's hair down to her belly button (lots of hair), this method worked. She did hers overnight. I did mine yesterday, and put it up for just 2 hours and I had pretty curls. I mainly took it out early because my hair is too soft to stay, and it kept falling out (but I was also walking around and doing stuff to jostle the style, so maybe that's why). I'll either have to improvise or definitely use the hairspray for overnight. Anyhow, see for yourself. It's so great though. So easy, no heat damage, and barely takes any time at all! (Unfortunately, I did not even think to take a picture of hers or my hair.)

Rock on with the easy up-dos and curls.

I love my life with this man.

I told myself I wasn't going to post anything else today, but I just cannot help this one.

A text I got from Casey this morning:

"Hey baby, I love you! I love my wife! That's me yelling it from a mountaintop to tell everyone."

He's the best husband ever. He makes me laugh everyday. When I read this I smiled cause I can imagine him saying this. And my eyes sparkled. I absolutely love my life with this man.

Deck The Halls

In my world, the day after Thanksgiving is permission to decorate for Christmas. No Christmas music or wrapping or decorating or whatev before Thanksgiving though.

The day after Thanksgiving, I let myself notice the decorated street lights and neighborhood entrances, turn the radio to 102.9, and break out the cinnamon scented pine cones and Mistletoe Car Jar.

So of course the day after Thanksgiving, we also bought our wreath, put lights on the tree in the yard (yes, our one tree), decorated the house, made some Vanilla Nut holiday special blend Dunkin coffee, and I started wrapping presents.

We lit our Christmas candles, played some Tony Bennett and Mariah Carey Christmas music, and drank coffee from our adorable Christmas mugs. From Starbucks. Not a fan of Starbucks coffee, big fan of Starbucks paraphernalia. It's always so cute. Thinking of getting a little Starbucks cup Christmas ornament for our tree. Cause I do like their Skinny Vanilla Lattes. Yum. Just not their coffee blends (barf). Someone at the Starbucks plant needs to go back to coffee-bean-roasting-school.

Here's our wreath. Decorated by yours truly (and her assistant Katie):

Here are the cute mugs:

I told Casey it looked like the silhouette of him and the lab he wants one day. I thought that way it'd be cooler for him to drink out of it.

Here are all the presents: (!)

Sorry it was dark in the room when I took the picture.

We are waiting to get our little Christmas tree cause we want a real one and will be out of town for a week in early December. We don't want it to kick the bucket without water while we are gone. Unfortunately, we won't have our tree until December 14th. Then we will decorate with our 9 little ornaments. I cannot wait! It will be in that corner where the presents are. Yay.

And then we went to a Christmas party for Casey's guard unit on Saturday. I made red velvet cake balls and craisin-white chocolate chip oatmeal bars to take. I took a picture as I was baking, but then totally slacked on  the finished product along with the cake ball pictures. They were adorable. Many apologies. I'm so new at this! (any recipes can be provided at request)

                                                             
                                    

                            
                                    (pre-oven stage...they look way better after baking!)

P.S. The cake balls could not have been completed without Kate. Thank you.

Casey said we can't watch Christmas movies until halfway through December though. When we can, the following will be on our list:

Christmas Vacation
Elf
Home Alone
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
and I think that's it.

Get out the popcorn and Christmas mugs!

Family night!

On Sunday, we grilled out and invited my parents over to eat and watch a redbox (with a little football and financial talk thrown in). All we needed to add for family night was a game!

We made these awesome turkey burgers. Casey found the recipe a while ago from Men's Health, and we've made them at his parents house twice. Then last time, his dad meshed two turkey burger recipes to give the burgers more flavor (with added spices and herbs). And this is what we got!

 (Top Left: whole wheat buns, Bottom Left: Grilled red onions, Center: Turkey burgers with mozz and grilled pineapple, Far Right: Casey's turkey burger with mozz and grilled pineapple and jalepenos)

Here's the recipe:

Serves: 4
1 pound lean ground turkey, divided into 4 patties
chopped red onion (a little more than a smidge)
chopped cilantro (a little more than a smidge)
garlic powder (smidge)
onion powder (smidge)
black pepper (smidge)
seasoned salt (smidge)
4 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
4 slices pineapple (fresh or canned works)
4 thick slices red onion
4 slices swiss or mozzarella cheese
4 whole wheat buns

Place ground turkey in bowl and mix with all spices (amounts as desired). Divide into 4 patties. Cook the turkey patties on high heat, 4 to 5 minutes per side (or until cooked through), basting with the teriyaki sauce as you go. While the burgers cook, grill the pineapple and onion until lightly charred. Toast buns over the grill or in the oven as desired. Put each burger on a bun and layer on onion, pineapple, and cheese; top with more sauce.
Please note: We used canned pineapple because of the season, but fresh tastes way better. Use fresh if you can! The cilantro adds a world of flavor; spring for it. And we used mozzarella cheese because I'm not a big fan of swiss. Buns are optional. Also, we made smaller burgers to make 5 rather than 4. It still works! 

We also made sweet potato fries and broccoli salad (fresh broccoli, red onion, sunflower seeds, golden raisins, etc). And Mom brought over an apple crisp that is mainly apples with oats on top and very, very little sugar added (only a matter of tablespoons in the entire recipe). So we got a fiber, quercetin boost from our apples (totally trying to justify it).

(It tastes way better than it looks there. haha.)

                           (Left: sweet potato fries- baked and Right: low-sugar apple crisp)

P.S. Kate picked out the Redbox movie earlier on Sunday. She was pretty excited about it because it had Bruce Willis in it (great actor), and we'd never heard of it. Jackpot. So once the meal was ready, we all went upstairs to eat and watch the movie. Casey put it in and got it ready, and then as the movie was starting, he comments, "You know this was made in 1993." We all started laughing. It was funny cause Kate thought the movie had just come out or something. Ha ha. But it was actually a good movie! Young Bruce Willis and SJP before her Sex and the City days.

Anyways, I love family nights. Always a good close to the weekend.

Generations

So, my grandpa found this picture of when my grandma was younger and made copies to send to all the grand kids. I love it.

And then there's my momma, who's freakin adorable. And beautiful to boot.

                                           (pictured here with my daddy)

And then there's me (and my sisters of course, but this blog is about me, right??) That was a joke. I mean it's true, but I wasn't trying to sound harsh. My sisters are beautiful. I wanted to find a really good picture of myself that my parents would be proud of.

                                  (I did NOT drink all that. It was for the camera.)


Anyhow, I love the picture my grandpa sent. I love all pictures. I love remembering the Groton seashore and my grandma. And I love my family. Photos are THE best.

Speaking of pictures...we get our wedding photo album back from Italy this month. STOKED!

Scarves galore.

I MAY have stolen this video from another blog. But, it's such an awesome video that it makes it okay. I'm going to memorize it.

If you love scarves like I do, then you will love this tutorial. Scout's honor.

My fav chapstick ever.

I'm addicted to chapstick. I am my father's daughter. I have a tube pretty much anywhere you can think of, and I really don't go anywhere without it. You never know when you'll need some chapstick at a moments notice or what random boy (Casey for me...not so random I guess) wants to kiss you and when.

When we went to Alaska for the first time in 2005, Katie and I discovered this blueberry chapstick made by Alaska Wild Teas.

Here it is:

It is my favorite. We have ordered a couple times since and bought a new stash when we went back to Alaska in 2009, and then ordered again.

I am officially on my last tube. Christmas is right around the corner though, so perhaps Santa will drop some in my stocking. Or maybe we'll just have to cruise back to Alaska.

You can order your own tube of the most amazing chapstick in the world at http://www.alaskaherbtea.com/lip_balm.htm

It's only $3.95 a tube. Practically giving it away, right? AND they have other flavors, but blueberry is THE absolute best. Just FYI.

Broken

I know most of you will laugh at me when I say this, but I wouldn't say it if I didn't truly believe it. I. FEEL. SO. OLD.

Seriously, in the last couple years, I've felt wayyyy older than I am. My knees hurt when I stand up, my joints crack, my back hurts after a hard run, bike, or weight session, even my toes hurt. Let alone my accident prone self and all the "self-inflicted" injuries, my joints and bones just aren't what they used to be. This includes fractures, broken bones, torn cartilage, surgeries, stitches. The works. If I were a pizza, I would be a supreme. Everything. All right here. Sometimes I just shake my head at myself...sometimes I can come up with no other word to describe myself but a mess. I even have borderline high cholesterol. I'm so ashamed! I'm 28! It runs in the family, but it still freaks me out. Even more because that means, I can't a whole lot about it. Especially cause I already eat healthy and exercise. Check. And check.

I don't know what it's from, but what I do know is that it's dejecting. It's frustrating. And honestly, it drives me to do more. More! More? How does that even help?

If I feel this way at 28, what in the world am I going to feel like at 58? I just cannot even fathom. Will I even be able to walk? Am I going to be able to play with my kids? Or even see them? This isn't dramatic, is it?

Here are the precautions I've adopted or considered in effort to combat the woes:

Vit D supplement
Multivitamin supplement
Calcium supplement
Yoga
Foam Rolling
Stretching
Sadly less running (More recovery time...insert more cross training here.)
Contemplating a conversion to Vegan lifestyle (I'm not sure I could actually do it though. But I do contemplate.)
Increased fiber (upped the fruits and veggie consumption)
Increased water
Increased coffee (I've heard it fights cancer. And I love coffee. Win-win...Right?)
More flossing

So with all these changes, I expect to be health as a horse in about 8 months. And to stay that way. Deal?

(I just picked 8 months cause it sounded good.)

I would like to close by saying that I am absolutely more than thankful for the health I do have and my abilities and passions. I do not take any of it for granted. I do get a little frustrated at the things I can't fix, but no one is perfect, right? It's okay to complain just a tiny little bit, huh? You know, venting...while it may not seem so, I know that I am beyond blessed.

Thankfulness

Thankfulness: gratitude; a positive emotion or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive.

In some people you see thankfulness is very hard to come by. In others, you see it constantly. Mostly, you see it in people who get something back they thought they lost...love, abilities, things, etc. Other times, it takes a holiday to remind people to appreciate things and think about what they are thankful for. Why can't we be thankful everyday? Is that too much to ask? It seems like the world is just too full of busy these days.

I'm thankful for so many things.

My job, my husband, my family, my house, the ability to run (even when I'm hurt), freedom, happiness, joy, memories, apples, time, the puppy we have yet to get, coffee with peppermint mocha creamer. And so many other things. Really, everything. Cause none of us really deserve any of the things we are given. Only by grace do we even have this life. That's another thing I'm thankful for: Grace.

Casey and I have two thanksgivings to go to this year. I'm a little overwhelmed by the thought to be honest. That's a lot of food. And yeah, I get it, don't eat it all. That's a given. Just seeing it scares me! I don't even eat anymore at Thanksgiving than I usually eat. So I really don't know why.

Things I am super excited about making an appearance though:

Homemade applesauce
Turkey
Sweet Potato Casserole (LOVE! come on...ONCE a year...live a little)

And I don't even have cute clothes picked out yet. Sigh.

Okay, off to the gym so we can have two delicious Thanksgivings!

Oh, I'm also thankful for turkeys and days off work.

Aaand one more...

Yes, I know, ANOTHER happy birthday!! This time to my daddy. Best dad in the world.

I brought him a balloon today. And now we're off to Barnes and Noble for a coffee date. Birthdays are fun!

This is what we got him.

Vibram 5 fingers:

He's so funny with them. And so glad he likes them. I think Casey is jealous. He really wants some now. There's always more occasions for presents!

Belated Birthday Dinner

Casey's birthday was November 5th. He had guard duties (by the way, since he's an officer now, he's going to officer training school in Alabama. For 6 weeks. He's leaving me. For 6 weeks. Sigh. I'm sad and will miss him something serious). So I was going to make him a special birthday dinner on Friday, November 4th. That's the day we found out we had to say goodbye to Patch. So the dinner I had planned that would take 3 hours to make (I must realllly love him) definitely did not happen. I decided that I was going to make it when we were at the cabin this past Saturday. Yay!

On the menu:
Beef Wellington (Complete with sauteed mushrooms and onions and wrapped in a pastry)
Creamy Bacon Risotto
Crusty Broiled Tomatoes (Tastes and looks WAY better than it sounds. Trust me.)

We already had his special birthday dessert: Key Lime Pie.

I know, right. Did I miss my calling as a chef?

So, earlier last week I went grocery shopping for all the ingredients. I have to say, I was a little taken aback by the fact that beef tenderloins only come in like 30 pound pieces. Seriously? $113.00? For a piece of meat. I only needed 2 pounds. So I asked the meat guy if tenderloin came any smaller. He looked at me like I was dumb. Sorry, I'm not a meat connoisseur. Sheesh. There was no way I was going to pay 113 bucks for some meat mixed with some fat. I love Casey, but that is just a poor financial choice. I was so upset...no beef wellington. But I would improvise. Flank steak marinated with a special rub and broiled in the oven. It would do.

So I moved on to get the risotto ingredients. Risotto calls for Arborio rice. Apparently this rice is extra fancy cause it's EIGHT DOLLARS a bag. It's rice! Whatevs. Scratch that idea too.

It was getting quite ridiculous, and I was getting dejected. Instead, I decided I'd make quartered red skinned potatoes with a olive oil, rosemary, thyme, pepper, salt drizzling and roasted in oven. Casey loves these. I just don't ever make them anymore cause we try to use healthier sweet potatoes.

Sigh. The only thing that would work out about this birthday dinner was the crusty broiled tomatoes, and they don't even sound good. But here they are. Delicious. If I could just eat tomatoes for dinner, I would. I love tomatoes. They are so yummy.

Tomatoes:

Are you salivating? I thought so. I know you love tomatoes as much as I do. Might want to grab a napkin to wipe the drool off your mouth. And please understand that while I do like tomatoes, I do NOT understand the people who eat them like apples. No. Way. You will never catch me doing that.

On Saturday afternoon, Kate, Mom, and I went into Boone to see the bulldog puppies at Bulldog Beer and Wine. Last time Casey and I went there were two bulldogs. This time--THREE! What a surprise! We played with them for a good 30 minutes. My heart melted at least 82 times.
If you go to Boone, NC, please support Bulldog Beer and Wine. You can see their selection (and the adorable puppies!) at:

http://www.bulldogbeerandwine.com/

We got some good birthday beer for Dad and Casey. Lost Coast Raspberry Brown Ale. Sounds yummy. Here it is:

Casey's:

Dad's: In a coozie. Cause he loves coozies. It's funny.

The pink elephant glasses were my great grandfather's. They're beer glasses. The pink elephants are cause they used to say if you drink too much you'll start to see pink elephants. Haha. People were funny about their alcohol even a hundred years ago!

And then we made oatmeal chocolate chip bars (like a cookie but not, cause it was a bar) for dessert. So all in all I think it ended up to be a good birthday dinner. Even if it was late.

Cheers!

OCC in the House

Katie, Casey, and I put together two Operation Christmas Child boxes. We decided the hardest to pick things out for would be boy 10-14 years old. So that's what we chose. Up for the challenge. I certainly don't know what a 10-14 year old boy likes. And Casey doesn't even know. Growing up in these grief-stricken countries where luxuries don't exist is not exactly the same as growing up in America. And it's tough because they don't exactly envy each other for video games and fancy-pants-clothes and being allowed to have pizza for dinner. They get excited about the little things. Being given something. Or anything for that matter. Even just a box in pretty Christmas paper, not to mention what's inside.

So, we had some fun. We went to Wal-Mart and picked out some pret-ty awesome things. It's so fun to get stuff for other people. I wish we had a million boxes we could fill. And the shoe boxes just never seem big enough. I'm going to have to start buying some thigh high boots every year just to have a bigger box for our OCC peeps. I took some pictures of the stash below:

I hope they think we're cool.

An Important Discovery

Who here knew that Target sells peppermint whipped cream? The kind in the squirt can. Show of hands? Yeah, didn't think so. Completely new news to me! Dustin told me this at work yesterday, and I was just enthralled with the idea. It sounds so delightful that I want to go buy some! I have no idea what I would put it on. But it would be good to have in case I find something. In case you don't have a Target near you, you can make your own! I found this recipe:

Peppermint Whipped Cream Recipe:
5 peppermint candy canes – or spearmint candies work too
16 oz. heavy whipping cream – or 16 oz of frozen whipped cream
blender
hot cocoa

Simply crush your candy canes in a blender, whip up your whipping cream (it says you don’t need to add any sweetener to it, since you’ve got the candy canes! but who knows), and then stir in your crushed candy canes (once your whipping cream is whipped). Dollop on something.

AND a picture!

Yum! Ho Cho time. With extra whipped please.

'Tis the season!

Mountain Goat

So this weekend is our first weekend to the cabin without our little mountain goat. She LOVED the hills in Boone. It was so funny. I feel like she'd be walking perpendicular to the flat ground going up a hill, and she'd just scamper on up! We're talking legit mountain goat material here. I think her little legs and tight core musculature (she worked out alot) gave her an advantage. And the natural grace she had.

Now Who's going to sit on the porch and watch for deer?

Who's going to play scrabble with us?

Who's going to shine in the mountain sunlight like an angel?

Who's going to enjoy the car ride like this little face did (especially in Mr. CTS)?

Who's going to breath in the clean mountain air with us (in the driveway)?

Who's going to guard the basement like she does?

Here's a couple other things Patch enjoyed doing in the mountains:

How could you not love this angel? She's so adorable. We'll definitely miss her up there. Sitting on the porch and looking out was seriously one of her favorite things. It was just so incredibly precious.

"God brings man into deep waters, not to drown him, but to cleanse him and prepare him for a greater usefulness."

Dr. Paul Chappell

Vinyasa it up

Okay, kids. Casey and I went to our second awesome yoga class last night.

We love it.

I'm so on board with it, that I've already added yoga mats for us to the Christmas list. Here are the ones we both like.

Pam (Prosperity):


Casey (Karmic Bliss):


We decided if we're gonna really get into this, then we don't want to get a disease from communal yoga mats. Am I right or am I right?

And then I spent an hour looking up yoga mat bags online. I found an AWESOME one on Etsy. Unfortunately, it was $120. Seriously? For a bag. For a yoga mat bag. Yes, seriously. I love it. But I would never pay that. There were others that were cute, but this one was beautiful. Actually, here it is:





Yeah, how beautiful is this bag?

Then, I found these (below) and thought, this could totally be a mother-daughter project (momma?)! We could make our own. I can finally learn to sew more than a button! This doesn't look that hard. And as a bonus, they would be totally unique. And I could make a manly one for Casey. Hopefully I can learn to sew well enough to make it look as good as the one above. That's the one I reallly love. No? We'll see. Here are the simpler ones that made me think, pssht. Can totally do that.



I like how this bag's strap is an old necktie. LOVE! How creative!



So after I finally stopped looking up yoga mat bags, Katie comments from down the hall at the laundry room, "You would think you guys had been to more than two yoga classes the way you are looking at those bags and mats" Hahaha. She's so funny. And so right. But we've found a new hobby and we need to look super cool, and our muscles thank us for it too.