Spirals & Spatulas

Would You Rather?

2012-02-17T09:30:00.000-06:00

I saw this on a friend's blog and thought it was so fun, so I'm playing along!

Would you rather be given $5,000, no questions asked or lose 20 lbs with the guarantee of never gaining it back?
$5000 easily. Honestly, I think I'd look weird if I lost 20 pounds. And, umm, $5000 could buy a really nice master bedroom redo. :)

This is what I want our bedroom to look like.

(source)

Would you rather be poor and work in a job you absolutely love or be rich and work in a job you hate going to?
I wish I could say I'd rather be poor and love my job, but that's totally not the truth. I really kind of hate law school (my current "job") a lot of the time, and I've realized that even though I don't currently like what I do for 8+ hours a day, I still have an overall happy life. I'm still a happy person. I still have a happy marriage and I still get to do things I love doing. So I'd go for being rich and hating my job (because eventually I could save up enough to retire early and stop working altogether, right?).

Would you rather have your flight delayed by 8 hours or lose your luggage, only finding it after your trip is over?
Definitely flight delayed. I actually don't really mind hanging out in airports. There are places to buy coffee and I usually have a good book or magazine and it just doesn't bother me much. Actually, when we went on our honeymoon, our flight was overbooked and they asked for volunteers to take the next flight instead and get a $400 travel voucher, and we totally did it. We sold ourselves out to Continental Airlines and skipped five hours of our honeymoon for $800.

This is us, finally on the plane to Jamaica, looking like we got up horribly early and then sat in an airport for a long time (because we did).

Would you rather go without Internet or car for a month?
Car. I love my car, but I'd go crazy without the Internet. Law school would be impossible, the blog would be impossible, and I Google things pretty much constantly. I never drive anywhere other than school anyway, and maybe HomeGoods and Target every now and then, and I'm pretty sure I could just get Jeff to drive me around for a month.

Would you rather be a member of the cast of Friends or Sex and the City?
Friends. Is this even a valid question? Who wouldn't rather be on Friends?!?!

(source)

Would you rather date someone 20 years older or 10 years younger?
Well, considering ten years younger than me would be only TWELVE... definitely 20 years older.

Would you rather always have to say anything that comes to your mind or never be able to speak?
I'd rather never be able to speak. There are some pretty crazy things in my head sometimes. I'd learn sign language and be just fine.

Would you rather marry Kris Humphries or Scott Disick?
I had to Google this to find out who these people are. I think Kris is better looking. Apparently they're both kind of crazy. I have no idea.

Would you rather be banned from Facebook or Blogger?
Facebook, easily. I actually don't use Facebook that much. I use Blogger every single day though.

Would you rather skip Christmas or your birthday?
My birthday. I don't really like being the center of attention, so I think I could be content letting my birthday slide by. But Christmas... Christmas is the birth of Jesus! There's so much festivity and family time and I love giving presents to everyone.

A year without my Santa soap dispenser would just be sad!

Anyone else want to play along? Would you have skipped five hours of your honeymoon for $800 in airline vouchers?

Sharing My Life on the Internet

2012-02-16T09:30:00.000-06:00

The second part of the question I answered yesterday was this: Do you ever have hesitations about things you share on the blog? Here's the answer:

Yes. Of course I do. When you blog regularly, you have to decide where to draw the line between what goes on the Internet and what doesn't. Obviously, there are things that I share with my close family and friends that I would never post on the blog for everyone to see. For the most part, I try to be pretty open on Spirals & Spatulas because I think it's the personal posts that are the most interesting. I think I write better when there's some emotion behind my words. But, I do carefully evaluate everything I post.

Whenever I write anything that's personal in nature, I save it as a draft and then re-open it a few days later and read it again. Sometimes I decide I don't want a post to be published after all and I end up deleting it. Sometimes I decide to go ahead and publish it. Sometimes I decide to edit it a bit and then hit Publish. It just depends.

A few posts immediately came to mind when I first read this question. The biggest one was my post on Jeff's Confirmation story. That post felt really emotional to me, but it was really Jeff's story to tell, not mine. I usually try not to post a bunch of stuff about Jeff because it's not his blog. He's not the one that decided to share his life with the Internet, and he shouldn't have to just because I have a blog. But, I felt like that post could be really helpful to anyone in a similar situation, and I so badly wanted to document my memories from that time. So I told Jeff he had total veto power and asked him to read it and let me know what he thought. He ended up asking me to edit a couple things, and then he said to post it! I honestly thought he might just say no, don't put that on the Internet, and that would've been totally fine with me, but I'm really glad it did end up as a real post.

Every now and then I write kind of lovey-dovey stuff about Jeff that I feel a little embarrassed to post, but because I use the blog to document our life, and because I want to remember how it felt to be a newlywed, I end up sharing posts like "What Life with a Husband is Like" and "On Houses, Husbands, and Happy Faces." There's nothing wrong with people knowing that I like my husband a whole lot. :)

Another one was more recent... you know that post where I was brutally honest about how tough law school can be? That was really hard for me to write. It's hard to admit that your life isn't perfect. It shouldn't be so hard (because no one's life is perfect!), but it is. I almost didn't publish that post, but I'm so glad I did. I think a lot of people were able to relate to it (not just law students, but anyone who happens to be working through something hard to get somewhere better), and I was proud of myself for being honest and letting myself admit that law school is really, really hard sometimes.

I definitely have limits though. I obviously don't write a blog post about it every time Jeff and I have a little argument or every time I have a bad day. I don't disclose my grades on the blog (because it's likely I have classmates reading), and I've already told Jeff that when the time comes to start having kids, I will NOT be informing anyone via the blog that we're trying for a baby! Haha. I don't share how much money we have or what we paid for our house or how much I weigh or any of those things that you wouldn't tell people in real life.

Of course, there are also the personal safety concerns. I don't share our last name on the blog (and I blur it out in pictures), and I blur out our house address and license plates in any pictures that have our house or cars in them. I don't ever say the name of the company Jeff works for, and I won't be sharing the name of the law firm I'll be working for soon. It's all probably unnecessary, but you can never be too careful, right?

It's an interesting balance, I think. I've recently seen some wonderful things come out of bloggers sharing parts of their personal lives... one blogger I follow has written recently about her struggles with her husband's upcoming military deployment, and another has written a bit about her recent miscarriage. Both of them have received so many encouraging, kind comments, and they have so many people praying for them. Sure, those kind commenters may not be "real friends," but they are sending up their prayers, and that's worth a lot! The Internet can definitely be used in amazing ways.

I'd love to get some other bloggers' thoughts on this! How do y'all decide what does and doesn't get posted on your blog?

Becoming a Blogger

2012-02-15T09:30:00.000-06:00

One of the questions from my Q&A post was this: How did you get into blogging?

I started blogging in 2009. A combination of three things led me to start Spirals & Spatulas:

I took an English class on memoirs, and as part of our classwork each student had to start a little blog. Each week we had to write a post reflecting on the memoir we were reading, and then we had to read five other people's posts and leave them comments. I really enjoyed the dialogue that ended up happening through the blogs (it was way more insightful than in-class discussions tend to be), and I enjoyed the quick-and-casual writing style of my blog posts.
I got hooked on Weddingbee. I was almost engaged at the time (but knew it was coming), and I loved the daily blog posts on Weddingbee... such a wealth of creativity and ideas! I thought blogging seemed like a great creative outlet.
I was one semester away from graduating from Texas A&M, and starting a blog seemed like a great addition to my constant procrastination-of-schoolwork efforts. :)

When I first started, I had no idea what I was doing. The blog had no purpose and no direction, but I just wrote it. I didn't tell anyone other than Jeff that I was writing a blog for a while. A lot of the posts at the beginning were so ridiculous that I eventually went back and deleted them. Some of the ones that are still there are pretty ridiculous too (and now you're all going to go read them and see how awkward at blogging I used to be... don't make fun of me, okay?). It was at least a year before I really found a "blogging voice" and a niche of things I like to write about.

When Jeff and I got engaged in December 2009, I immediately started to treat Spirals & Spatulas as a wedding blog. I didn't want to be constantly talking about wedding planning all the time in real life (I didn't want my friends to get annoyed with me), so the blog became my outlet for wedding stuff. During the wedding planning phase, Spirals & Spatulas really started to get more readers. My friend Amy started sending Facebook messages to everyone she knew telling them that they should read Spirals & Spatulas, and I think my first 20 or 30 followers were all thanks to Amy. Haha! I eventually started blogging for Best Bridal Blogs, and a lot of my early readers found me through there (are any of those people still reading? I feel like my readers have changed a lot since then).

After the wedding, I didn't really know what to do with the blog. I recapped the entire wedding, which that took a couple months, and then I just kind of kept going. I never really sat down and decided that Spirals & Spatulas would become a DIY/recipe/home-decor/life-in-general blog (in fact, I think I originally intended to just stop after the wedding), but I was hooked on writing blog posts, so I just kept writing them! Eventually, blogging replaced scrapbooking for me as a way to document our lives, and now I just write about whatever's going on!

I don't know if I'll blog forever, but it's something I really enjoy and it gives me a reason to write, which I love. I sometimes think that once I get out of law school and start working full-time the blog will fade away, but who knows what will happen! For now, I sure love sharing all my DIY projects and recipes and random moments with you all!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T08:30:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day, Spirals & Spatulas readers! Because I love you so much, I got you some pretty red tulips, some cake balls, and some Valentine's M&Ms. See?

Jeffrey Sean - thanks for being my Valentine. You make me laugh harder, smile bigger, and live happier, and I feel so blessed and proud to be your wife. Thanks for loving me even though I'm always complaining about law school and I get all "chaotic and twirly" when I'm cleaning the house before we have people over for dinner. Falling in love with my best friend will always be the best thing that ever happened to me.

I hope you all have a great day full of roses and kisses (or margaritas and chick flicks, depending on your relationship status)... and maybe some raspberry white chocolate cheesecake?

Strawberries & Cream Sponge Cakes

2012-02-13T09:30:00.000-06:00

Anyone need a last-minute Valentine's Day recipe? I have the perfect dessert for you!

Recipe made up by me mostly, with the cake recipe loosely based on this.

Ingredients:
1 lb strawberries (rinsed, destemmed, and sliced)
1 1/2 cup plus 3 tbsp sugar [1 c for cake, 1/2 c for cream, 3 tbsp for strawberries]
1 pint heavy whipping cream
2 tsp vanilla [1 tsp for cake and 1 tsp for cream]
6 eggs
1/4 cup water
1 cup cake flour
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
1. In a medium-sized bowl, stir the strawberries together with 3 tbsp sugar. Set aside in the fridge to macerate (the sugar will pull the juices out of the strawberries).
2. Separate the eggs -- egg whites into a large mixing bowl (or stand mixer), and egg yolks into a separate bowl. Beat the egg yolks with a whisk until thick and lemony-colored. Gradually add 1 cup sugar to the egg yolks and mix well. Add in water and 1 tsp vanilla.
3. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until frothy. Add cream of tartar and salt. Beat mixture until egg whites are stiff, but not dry.
4. Fold the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Pour batter into a lightly-greased mini bundt pan, muffin pan, or other similar pan. Bake at 325 for 30-45 minutes (you'll have to check frequently... this varies based on what kind of pan you use), or until the tops are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into a cake comes out clean. **Note: you can also make this as one large cake - pour the batter into a 9-inch round cake pan and bake at 325 for 60 minutes.
5. While cakes are baking, beat the heavy whipping cream, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1/2 cup sugar with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Set the whipped cream aside.
6. When cakes are finished, let them cool for a few minutes, then top each individual cake with a few spoonfuls of the macerated strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream.

(macerating strawberries)

(beaten egg yolks)

(egg whites)

(egg whites+yolks mixture)

(ready for the oven!)

(cakes!)

Ta-da!

Yummy!

Mmmm!

Enjoy!

Five Years Ago Today...

2012-02-11T16:30:00.000-06:00

Five years ago today, a certain boy told me he loved me for the first time.

I still remember it like it was yesterday.

We were on the phone. Jeff was 19, a sophomore in college in South Carolina. I was 17, a high school senior in Texas, sitting on the floor in my bedroom at my parents' old house. I had my little silver flip phone phone cradled between my ear and my shoulder because I was using both hands to make him a Valentine's Day card. We were talking about how it was a shame we couldn't be together for Valentine's Day.

And then... he said "Katie..." and I knew exactly what was coming. I put the scissors down and my world was spinning as I said "mmhmm?" Then, just as I had imagined it, out came those three words, "I love you." Everything was moving in slow motion. The thought entered my head that I should cherish this moment and try to remember it. I didn't know then that we'd one day get married and all, but I knew something big was happening, and I remember telling myself to appreciate that moment in the milliseconds before I responded, "I love you too."

Then there was silence. Neither one of us knew what to say next. I was so overwhelmed with happiness that I started to cry a little, and then I ended up laughing at myself and ruining the silence. He told me he'd wanted to say that for a really long time. It was another few months before I found out just how long.

He had mailed me a Valentine's Day package earlier that day. He had written in the card "I <3 you" (with an actual heart shape, not a sideways <3). I finished making my card for him that night. I wrote "I love you" on the inside. Today, both cards live together in a box in our closet.

Five years later, I still love him. It's a deeper, more mature kind of love now... but there's still something so special to me about that pure, innocent love that we started with back then. It's the sort of love that comes from falling head over heels for your best friend before you're even old enough to really know what that means, and it's a beautiful thing to look back on. I love you, Jeff.

Minute Maid Park Tour

2012-02-10T09:30:00.000-06:00

Remember when I gave Jeff tickets for a behind-the-scenes tour of Minute Maid Park (Houston's baseball stadium) for our anniversary forever ago? We finally used them!

Our tour started in "Union Station." Minute Maid Park used to be a train station back in the day, and they've restored the original station building to it's original glory. Now it serves as the main entrance to the ballpark. People have weddings there sometimes too!

Old Train Ticket Booth

Union Station

Outside of Union Station, headed into the ballpark

We entered the ballpark and went straight to the top - from here you could see the whoooole stadium, and we learned all about the retractable roof!

The whole stadium!

A lovely view of the courthouse where I worked last summer. :)

Our next stop was one of the luxury suites! These things cost upwards of $2,500 for just one game. Most of them are reserved by big Houston companies for the entire season.

Next we walked down to the Club Level, where they have the team photos from every year since the Astros started playing (with the exception of one year when there was an MLB strike).

Next, we got to go inside the press area!

We saw the writers' room, which was actually smaller than I expected! I got to sit in the Associated Press seat.

The writers' room is also home to the stadium announcer and closed captioning typist. That's the microphone right there!

Also in the writers' room is the computer where the official scorekeeper sits. This was so unimpressive to me. I feel like the official scorekeeper should at least get two monitors, and maybe an office of his own. Instead he has a measly few inches of a desk he shares with a bunch of press writers.

The Writers' Room

Entrance to the TV Room

This is where the TV people are during the game!

Great view from the TV Room!

Lighting Equipment

Those rooms through the window are the radio rooms.

Next, we got to go down into the "Diamond Club," aka the place where the fancy Houstonians get to go when they go to Astros games. Here's the fancy staircase (with baseball carpet!):

Entrance to the Diamond Club

Diamond Club bar & dinner area

Diamond Club seat packages start at $40,000 for the first year, so it's safe to say we won't be back in that room anytime soon.

View from the Diamond Club seats!

Jeff in a Diamond Club seat (they have cushions!!)

Those two empty seats are where President Bush (the first one) and Barbara Bush sit!

Next, we got to go down on the field and walk around the whole thing! We weren't allowed to touch the grass, but we did get to see it all up close!

Umm... I have a really attractive husband. I go crazy for a man in cowboy boots. That's all I have to say about this photo.

We even got to go sit in the Astros' dugout! So cool!

The grass is so, so green. It's actually imported from Argentina, and there's a whole staff of people that cut it every single day to make sure it grows just right.

Here's the giant TV screen! It looks way bigger when you're standing right below it than it does when you're sitting across the stadium...

Our Tour Guide

The Minute Maid Park Train

(it moves along the tracks when someone gets a home run, or if the Astros win the game)

We got to go inside the bullpen too!

Did I mention that the grass is SO green? Haha... I must've taken a million photos of it.

My favorite part of the whole tour was when we got to go behind the manual scoreboard. Minute Maid Park has a giant scoreboard that shows all the scores for all MLB games, and it's entirely manual (guys stand behind it and hang each number as the scores change).

Here it is in action during a game!

(source)

Anyway, I've always wondered what it's like back there during the game, how they reach the high ones, how many guys operate it, if they can see out, etc. And we got to go inside and see it all!!! Here it is from the inside:

extra numbers

team names

They can see out... but only when they're switching the numbers! Pretty good view though. :)

Houston!

There are actually 4-8 guys operating the scoreboard during any game, and there's an upstairs and a downstairs behind it (so a few guys are on the top level the whole time). So cool.

Pretty scoreboard!

Another view of the whole stadium...

On our way out, we got to touch the "padding" that the outfielders run into sometimes when they're trying to catch a ball. Let me tell you... that stuff is NOT soft. I mean... it's better than a concrete wall I guess, but it was pretty hard! The kids on the tour had a blast running into it over and over again!

It was so weird being in the stadium while it was empty. So many seats!!!

It was a really fun tour, and definitely worth the few dollars I paid for the Groupon tickets! Houstonians: they actually do these every day, multiple times a day, and tickets are only $9 regularly. We both really enjoyed it!

Day in the Life: Wednesday

2012-02-09T09:30:00.000-06:00

Because my schedule varies so much throughout the week, I decided to do a Wednesday "Day in the Life" post to go with my Tuesday post.

Here's my Wednesday:

7:20 I wake up (late). It's another "good enough" hair day. I get ready for school, make my coffee, and grab my yogurt. Today I'm having strawberry yogurt.

7:58 I leave for school. Somehow I end up two minutes ahead of schedule even after waking up 20 minutes late. It's a Wednesday miracle!

8:40 I arrive at school. I'm a little early, so I sit in the car and drink coffee for five minutes and just relax for a second, then I gather up all my many textbooks and go in.

9:00 Time for Business Organizations class. We're talking about partnerships. I listen and take notes, but I also play on Pinterest a bit and go through my email inbox (how did I get so many emails overnight?).

10:30 Trusts and Wills class. It's in the same classroom as Bus Org, so I just stay put. I feel smart because we're talking about stuff that I already know from my summer job at the Probate Court last summer. Wills and Intestate Transfer = my baby lawyer area of expertise.

11:50 I'm done with class, and I head down to the basement to meet a 1L from Corporate & Taxation Law Society. He paid his dues, but somehow never got a t-shirt, so I'm meeting him to give him one.

12:00 I decide to stay in the CTLS office to study, and I start reading for my 2:30 class (Professional Responsibility). It's going to be a time crunch to get it all done before class.

12:30 I finish reading from my first Pro Res textbook, and I head out to my car (in the pouring rain and crashing thunder) to retrieve the second one from my back seat. I make the trip without getting too drenched, and I continue reading from the second Pro Res textbook.

1:00 I take a break from my Pro Res reading to meet with one of the 3L Law Review editors. All of the 2Ls have to apply for a 3L editor position for next year, so I've been meeting with the current 3Ls to learn more about the different positions and figure out which one(s) I want to apply for. The applications are due tomorrow, so I'm running out of time to decide!

1:30 I finish the meeting and go back to reading for class... I've got an hour left, and more than an hour's worth of reading.

2:10 I realize I never ate lunch, and I don't have time to eat and finish my reading for class. Reading trumps hunger.

2:20 I finish the Pro Res reading - just in the nick of time too. I say a little prayer that I don't get called on in class because I read pretty quickly and skimmed the end to finish in time.

2:30 I'm in class, and the professor announces the three "on call" students. Surprise! One of them is me. Out of a class of 75 students, I'm one of the three. Go figure. I do pretty well though. I only said "I don't know" once, and the other two people on call didn't know either.

4:00 Done with Pro Res. I'm tired and want to go home. I take a quick break to chat with some Law Review people about our Board applications (we get to nominate 5 people for something, so we're all trying to figure out who wants what so we can help out our friends!).

4:20 FINALLY time for lunch. This means I'm probably not eating dinner before my 7:30 class. Oh well. I take my food to the CTLS cubicle. Reading for Oil and Gas commences.

5:00 I'm sick of being at school. I take a quick Pinterest break. I work on my Law Review board application and realize its going to take longer than expected.

6:30 I stop working on the board application because I really have to finish reading for Oil & Gas.

7:20 It's just about time for class, and I've almost finished the reading. Close enough!

9:10 Class gets out (15 minutes late... thanks professor).

9:20 I'm on my way home!

9:45 I arrive home (late evening traffic is nonexistent, so the drive was super-quick) and reheat some of yesterday's frittata for dinner. I stand in the garage and eat while Jeff puts new windshield wiper blades on our cars (we don't get much time together on Mondays/Wednesdays, so I have to steal every second of chatting time that I can get!).

10:00 I sit down on the couch with Jeff, a glass of wine, and The Bachelor on DVR (ever since I got hooked while Jeff was on a business trip, we're watching it). Normally, I'd have to read for my Thursday morning class on Wednesday night, but my professor has cancelled it this week, so I get to relax instead!

11:40 The Bachelor finishes. We get ready for bed and go to sleep. I'm waking up at 7:00 again tomorrow (even though my 9:00am class is cancelled, parking is impossible if you get there after 9:00 am, so I still have to leave at the same time). I fall asleep VERY quickly.

Sesame Beef Stir-Fry

2012-02-08T09:30:00.000-06:00

Who wants a yummy, easy dinner recipe? Everybody likes food that's quick and delicious, right? This recipe is pretty healthy too!

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 pound sliced stir-fry meat (something like flank or boneless sirloin steak - I use flank steak)
8 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces (using only the white and light green parts, discard the dark green stalks)
4 cups baby spinach leaves
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Directions:
1. Combine the first five ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Heat a skillet over high heat. Add the sesame oil to the pan and swirl to coat. Add half the beef and cook for 3 minutes (until browned). Remove the beef and cook the other half of the beef, then remove that from the pan.
3. Add the green onions to the skillet and cook for 1 minute. Add the soy sauce mixture and cook for another minute. Return the beef to the pan and cook for 1 minute.
4. Stir in the spinach and cook for about a minute (until the spinach is wilted). Top with sesame seeds and serve (it's yummy with rice!).

(green onions)

(sliced flank steak)

(soy sauce mixture)

(baby spinach)

(half the meat, cooked)

(finishing it up in the skillet!)

(all ready!)

Ta-da!

Enjoy!

Day in the Life: Tuesday

2012-02-07T09:00:00.000-06:00

On my Q&A post, a couple people suggested that I do a sort of "Day in the Life of Katie" post, describing how I manage my time, etc. So, I kept track of what I did all day last Tuesday and Wednesday (My Mon/Wed schedule is WAY different from Tues/Thur, so I thought I'd do one of each).

I think you'll see from this hourly breakdown that I totally DO NOT have it all together all the time. I don't always manage my time really well, and my weekdays are pretty much crazy. I don't really ever work out anymore (thanks law school), and stuff like seeing family and having fun and writing blog posts usually has to wait until the weekends. Monday through Thursday are pretty much all law school (with a little time for eating and cleaning and seeing my husband thrown in). Also, I tend to not sleep as much as I should. But, it all works out somehow!

Here's my Tuesday:

7:00 My alarm goes off. I know it's too early in the semester to start pushing back my wake-up time, but I hit the snooze button anyway. I didn't go to bed until 1:30am the night before, so I figure I deserve it.

7:15 I get up (just a little late!), and start getting ready for the day.

7:50 Jeff gets up. I get a little jealous once again of his super-short 10-minute drive to work, but I remind myself that I love our house in the suburbs and it's definitely worth a little traffic in the mornings. I know I need to leave in ten minutes, so I hastily try to make my hair look presentable. It's one of those "good enough" days.

Ready to go!

8:05 I'm headed out the door. I grab my coffee (french vanilla flavored coffee with french vanilla creamer), and a Yoplait yogurt. I take the lid off the yogurt and stick in a plastic spoon. Today it's pineapple yogurt, and it'll be my breakfast in the car when I hit the traffic near Downtown.

Breakfast of champions.

8:10 Mazda's check engine light is on. I tell him to stop complaining and be a good car, but it doesn't go off. Don't things like that always happen when you really don't need one more thing to worry about?

8:40 I arrive at school. The drive went quickly today! I head to my first class, Business Organizations.

8:50 I'm in my classroom with my laptop all set up. I check my email, look at today's schedule in my planner, and get my notes ready for class.

9:00 Class starts - Business Organizations.

My Bus Org Professor

(source)

I'm paying attention and typing notes, but I've also got a few other things to get done during this hour and a half. Multi-tasking whenever possible is the key to success in law school (and probably the key to my sanity too). I make sure today's blog post went up correctly (it did), and I post the link to it on Twitter and Facebook. I answer a few e-mails from 1L (first-year) students in Corporate and Taxation Law Society (I'm on the 2L leadership board).

I also start working on this week's Law Review assignment. We're compiling a database of all the sources an author used in her article's footnotes (original copies of everything). I begin with the journal articles, which I can simply download in PDF form from a library database and then upload to the Law Review server.

10:20 Class is done, and I've succeeded in understanding the material we discussed as well as checking a few other things off my to-do list. I head down to the Law Review office. It's time for a bagel break! One of the BigLaw firms in Houston has bagels and coffee delivered to the Law Review office every Tuesday. I'm not sure if it's because they want us to want to work for them, or if they just want to be nice, but I'm not complaining! I take ten minutes to just eat a bagel and chat with some friends.

10:30 I have "Member on Duty" hours for Law Review for the next hour and a half. We each have three hours each week that we're scheduled to be in the office. It takes way more than 3 hours to get all your work done each week, but we have to be there for those three scheduled hours. I continue working on the source database, this time starting with the statutes and books, which I need to find in the Law Library.

12:00 I reach a stopping point on my Law Review stuff. It's time for a meeting with the Aggie Law Society leadership board. We plan our meeting dates for the Spring semester, schedule a Happy Hour for next Friday, and toss around a few ideas about community service events.

"The Commons" - location of the ALS meeting

12:30 The Aggie Law Society meeting is over. I head back to the Law Review office. It's not time for my scheduled hours anymore, but I still have a lot of work to do. I realize I haven't eaten my lunch, but I'm on a roll with this Law Review stuff so I decide to wait until later. I continue finding sources and scanning them into the database.

2:00 I stop working on my Law Review stuff because I have a meeting with my editor about the big paper I've been writing. We all have to write a "paper of publishable quality" for Law Review, and the best 15 or so will get published next year. I turned in my rough draft of the whole thing (78 pages!) a couple weeks ago, so this meeting is to discuss the rough draft.

2:30 I'm done meeting with my editor. She had a lot of great suggestions and caught a few typos that I missed, so it was a productive meeting! She thinks I have a great shot at being published, which was nice to hear! I start packing up my stuff to head home. I still haven't eaten lunch, but I don't want to stay at school any longer.

Leaving the Law Center - everyday, this is the best part of my day! Haha.

2:45 I'm in my car, headed home. It always takes at least fifteen minutes to actually pack everything up and tell people goodbye and find my car in the big parking lot.

Uneaten Lunch... oops.

I get stuck at a red light on the way out of campus, so I pull out my phone and pick a recipe for dinner. I decide I need to stop for a few groceries on my way home.

It's so convenient having my favorite recipes on the Internet rather than in a binder or something!

3:10 I pull into the Wal-Mart parking lot. I actually prefer Kroger, but Wal-Mart is about two minutes from our house, and Kroger is about 15. Wal-Mart doesn't go very well. They're out of shredded Swiss (I buy colby jack instead) and out of real bacon bits (I buy the turkey kind instead). However, after six months of not stocking zucchini, they do have that! I can't resist taking a couple with me (zucchini cakes! zucchini bread!).

3:37 I leave Wal-Mart and head home.

3:40 I arrive at home (told you Wal-Mart is really close to our house!). I unload the groceries and do a mini-clean-out of the fridge (throwing away some old leftovers and produce that we didn't quite finish and wiping down the shelves). I finally heat up my lunch (leftover baked pasta with chicken sausage) and watch an episode of Friends while eating.

4:30 I put a load of laundry into the washer. Another key to succeeding in law school is to divide your life into two categories: "Law school" and "Breaks from law school." Things like laundry and cleaning the house go into the "breaks" category, so they actually become pretty pleasant. Even eating lunch becomes a nice change of pace from all the reading and studying. Once my eating-lunch-and-doing-laundry break is over, it's time to start reading for tomorrow's classes. I start with Business Organizations.

5:30 Jeff gets home. I take a break for kisses and the daily "how was your day?" discussion. Today, it turns into a long conversation about my journal article. Based on my meeting with my editor, it looks like there's a pretty good chance it could get published, but I'm not sure how I feel about that. It would be a great thing for my career, except that my paper is on a pretty controversial topic. I'm not sure I want to permanently attach my name to a paper that takes a strong position on a sharply divided issue. Jeff and I discuss the pros and cons, morality vs. legality, etc. We didn't arrive at a solution, but it made me feel better to just talk it out.

6:30 Jeff takes Mazda to Advance Auto Parts to have them run a diagnostic on the check engine light. I go back to my Business Organizations reading. I take another break to fold the laundry and put it away. Then, more reading.

Laundry!

7:00 Jeff gets home. Mazda needs a new thermostat. Jeff bought the part, and he thinks he can do it himself. I tell Mazda to be a brave little car, and Jeff starts poking around under the hood. I start getting dinner ready - a frittata with spinach, mushrooms, and bacon.

7:20 The frittata goes in the oven, and I start cleaning up the kitchen.

7:30 Jeff comes inside with the final verdict - he can't fix the car himself after all. Apparently parts of the engine have to come out in order to get to the thermostat. I get a little bothered that we're going to have to spend (potentially lots) of money on something unexpected, but I accept it (that's just part of owning a car, and that's why we have a liquid savings account). Note: we later found out Mazda needed $1200 worth of repairs. Definitely one of those "isn't being a grown-up such fun?" moments.

I continue cleaning the kitchen. I can either keep cleaning or go back to reading for class, so I (of course) choose cleaning. I clean all the counters with the granite spray, start the dishwasher, clean the stovetop, wipe down the appliances with the stainless steel spray, and empty the trash. I water all the houseplants and empty the trash cans in the downstairs bathrooms. I cut some little stems off one of my house plants and put them in my newest fun vase ($3.99 at HomeGoods!).

This stuff is the BEST for cleaning stainless steel!

So cute!

I love finding stuff like this at HomeGoods!

8:00 The kitchen's clean and the frittata's done. We sit on the couch to eat and watch the last episode of Big Bang Theory from the DVR.

Yummy frittata!

Clean kitchen!

8:45 I put another load of laundry in the washer and go back to my Business Organizations reading. I'm getting really sick of that textbook.

9:30 I finish with the Bus Org stuff and take a quick break to go through my Google Reader. The Google Reader break turns into a Google Reader + Twitter + Facebook + Pinterest break. Oops.

9:50 Back to school stuff. Next up, Trusts & Wills.

10:30 The laundry's done, but Jeff folds it so I can keep reading. The load was 90% his t-shirts anyway, so this works well. Thanks husband!

11:30 I take a break for a little prayer time. I don't get very much quality Bible-reading time anymore (because usually the LAST thing I want to do in addition to all my law school reading is read another book), but I try to make room for some quiet time with God in whatever way possible. I really feel like God wants me to be doing this whole law school thing, so I think He understands when I can't read my Bible as much as I used to. Today, I'm praying St. Theresa's prayer. I try to think about each line individually and re-focus myself on my relationship with God.

(source)

12:00 Back to reading for school. I wish I could go to bed.

12:45 Trusts & Wills reading is done. I turn on the shower and pack my school stuff for tomorrow while the water's heating up (again, multitasking whenever possible!).

1:10 I'm out of the shower and ready for bed. I wake up Jeff, who's asleep in a chair in the living room. I say a quick prayer that we both make it to Friday without dying of exhaustion.

While Jeff takes a shower, I plug in my phone and computer to charge overnight. I pack a lunch and dinner to take to school the next day. I check my email one last time and reply to a couple things. I set my alarm a little early because there's supposed to be a storm coming (and traffic is always worse when it's raining).

1:30 We get into bed. Jeff falls asleep instantly. I lie awake thinking about how I have to wake up in a little over five hours. By the time I do fall asleep, I'm down to a little under five hours.

So... that's pretty much how a typical Tuesday goes. Doesn't that make you want to go to law school? Haha. Like I said, stuff like seeing family/friends, cooking fancy dinners, updating the blog, and doing DIY projects usually has to wait until the weekends. I'll post my Wednesday "day in the life" later this week (spoiler alert: it's over 12 hours spent at school)!

Mimi

2012-02-06T12:37:00.002-06:00

Over the weekend, my parents had to take our dog, Mimi, to be put down. She was very old and in a lot of pain and very confused and scared all the time, so it had to be done, but it was still sad. We've been expecting that this time would come for a while now, and I did get the chance to say goodbye and give her a hug, but I'm still feeling a sort of grief and loss.

My 17th birthday party - 2006

We got Mimi when I was in first grade. We had just moved back to Texas from England, and my little sister and I got to pick her out from the litter of puppies. She was tiny, the runt of the litter with a horrible underbite, but Kristen and I loved her instantly and we were so excited when my mom agreed that she was the one we would take home. I wish I had a photo of her from those early years on my computer... her hair was vividly colored and silky smooth, and she was all spritely and perky.

Over the years, we dressed her up in baby doll clothes, we put in our toy strollers and wagons, and she played along and loved us the entire time. Once, when Mimi was just a puppy, she peed in Kristen's bed. We didn't tell Mom because we knew Mimi would get in trouble. Instead we put a bunch of water and hand soap on Kristen's sheets and we hoped Mom wouldn't notice until after she did the laundry. Luckily, Kristen had bunk beds and slept in the other bunk for a few days. :)

When Kristen and I got older, we were given the job of making sure Mimi had food and water. We learned to give her baths and brush her fur. There's nothing like a childhood pet to teach children about responsibility! Mimi loved just being with our family. She would follow my mom around the house just so she could be with someone, and when Mom was gone she'd follow whoever happened to be home.

Easter 2007

When my littlest sister Karoline was born, Mimi was so sweet with her. Whenever baby Karoline cried, Mimi would run over as if she was trying to find out what was wrong and fix it. Once Karoline got a little older, she started carrying Mimi around the house in her arms like a baby, and Mimi just let her do it. She was an easygoing dog.

She got very old and blind and deaf and frail in the last year or so, but I'll always remember the spunky little dog we played with and loved for so many years.

Thank you, Mimi, for 15 years of love and wonderful memories!

Raspberry Chocolate Mousse Cake

2012-02-06T09:30:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday! Let's start the week off with a delicious cake recipe, shall we?

This cake easily makes my list of Top 10 favorite dessert recipes. It's absolutely delicious. It's also probably one of the toughest desserts I've ever done because each of the three layers is like an entire dessert by itself, but all the work is SO worth it!

This would be the perfect cake to make for your sweetie for Valentine's Day!

Recipe adapted from here. There are three separate parts to this recipe: a flourless chocolate cake, a chocolate mousse, and a raspberry mousse. I'll list the entire ingredients list, then divide the directions into the three layers.

Total Ingredients:
19 oz semisweet chocolate chips
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
7 eggs
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
4 tbsp water
4 tbsp sugar
1 tsp unflavored gelatin
16 oz frozen raspberries
6 oz white chocolate chips
Fresh raspberries for garnish.

I. Flourless Chocolate Cake Layer
7 oz semisweet chocolate chips
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, separated into yolks and whites
pinch of salt
1/3 cup brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 325. Prepare a 9" springform pan by turning the base upside down and clamping it into the pan. Grease the sides and bottom of the pan with Crisco or butter.
2. Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over VERY low heat, stirring constantly. When completely melted, remove from stove and cool for 5 minutes. After cooling, stir in the vanilla and egg yolks ONLY.
3. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites and salt until foam forms. Add in half the brown sugar and whisk until combined, then add the rest of the brown sugar and beat until soft peaks form.
4. Fold the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture little by little, being careful not to deflate the egg whites. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 15-18 minutes at 325 degrees. When done, the edges will be set and the center will spring back when touched.
5. Set cake aside to cool for at least one hours. The cake will sink in the center as it cools.

(melting chocolate and butter, stirring constantly)

(all melted!)

(egg whites and salt beaten)

(soft peaks in egg whites + brown sugar)

(egg whites folded into chocolate mixture)

(flourless cake pre-baking)

II. Chocolate Mousse Layer
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
12 oz semisweet chocolate chips
3 tbsp water
3 tbsp sugar
3 egg yolks

1. Beat whipping cream until soft peaks form. Set aside.
2. Melt the chocolate in a saucepan over very low heat.
3. In a separate saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil over medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves and a simple syrup is created.
4. In another bowl, whisk egg yolks. While continuing to whisk eggs, add in the simple syrup little by little.
5. Combine the egg/syrup mixture with the melted chocolate, stirring until well-incorporated. Heat this mixture in the microwave for 15 seconds and then stir.
6. Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture little by little and mix until incorporated to create a mousse. Pour mousse over the chocolate cake layer and spread evenly.
7. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

(egg/syrup mixture combined with melted chocolate)

(whipped cream folded in = mousse!)

III. White Chocolate Raspberry Mousse
1 tbsp water
1 tsp unflavored gelatin
16 oz frozen raspberries, thawed
1 tbsp sugar
6 oz white chocolate chips
1 cup heavy whipping cream

1. Pour water into a small bowl and sprinkle gelatin over top. Set aside for 5 minutes to bloom.
2. Pour raspberries into a food processor and puree. Pour puree into a fine mesh strainer and set over a bowl. All the raspberry juice to drip into the bowl, pressing on the solids to get as much juice out of the puree as possible. Throw away the solids and pour the juice into a small saucepan.
3. Add sugar into the raspberry juice saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Continue to boil, stirring often for about 5 minutes (juice should reduce to about 1/2 cups).
4. Remove from heat and add the bloomed gelatin. Stir until the gelatin is dissolved.
5. Put white chocolate into a large bowl, and pour the hot juice mixture over the chocolate. Allow to sit for 2 minutes. Stir until melted and smooth.
6. Beat whipping cream until soft peaks form. Gently fold the whipped cream into the white chocolate mixture to form a light, fluffy mousse. Pour over the chocolate mousse layer and spread evenly.

(reduced juice + bloomed gelatin + white chocolate)

(whipped cream folded in = mousse!)

In the fridge!

Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Garnish with fresh raspberries, rinsed and patted dry. Remove rim of springform pan before serving.

Ta-da!

Enjoy!

Mini Caprese Bites

2012-02-03T09:30:00.000-06:00

Thank goodness it's finally Friday. I needed Friday this week.

Here's another yummy recipe that would be fun to munch on at a Super Bowl party! They look fancy, and they're so easy to make!

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:

1 pint cherry tomatoes

1 bunch fresh basil leaves

8 oz fresh mozzarella

Olive oil, for drizzling

Balsamic vinegar, for drizzling

Directions:

1. Cube the mozzarella (or cut the spheres into quarters). Halve the cherry tomatoes. Tear the basil into small pieces.

2. On each toothpick, put a piece of mozzarella, then basil, then a tomato. You want the flat side of the tomato to be even with the end of the toothpick so it will stand up straight.

3. Before serving, drizzle them with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

(fresh mozzarella)

(fresh basil)

(cherry tomatoes)

Easy-peasy.

SO MANY! They all got gobbled up though!

Note: this was before they were drizzled with the oil and vinegar... I didn't get a chance to take photos when they were totally done!

Enjoy!

A Power Tool of My Own!

2012-02-02T09:30:00.000-06:00

Number Six on my 30 Before 30 List was to own a power tool of my very own.

For Christmas, Santa brought me a pneumatic nail gun with an accompanying air compressor. SO COOL! I've wanted a nail gun forever (to use for upholstery projects and hanging crown molding), so I was pretty excited.

(Check out the excited look on my face!)

A few days ago, we finally got it all unpacked and tried it out. I practiced using it on some scrap wood, and I think I'm ready for real projects now!

Here's my first nail gun "masterpiece," two attached pieces of wood!!

I also used it to help Jeff build a work bench for the garage. I can't wait to hang some crown molding in the house!

I'm making progress on my 30 Before 30 list already!

Toasted Ravioli

2012-02-01T09:00:00.000-06:00

First of all, I'm loving all the insightful questions on the Q&A post! I promise I haven't forgotten about it, and I intend to answer all of them one way or another (via individual blog posts, or vlogs, or large "answers" posts).

Here's another yummy recipe to munch on during the Super Bowl! I love these, and they look so cute on a tray with some marinara sauce!

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp milk
1 egg
3/4 cup Italian style bread crumbs
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 package frozen cheese or beef ravioli, thawed
vegetable oil for frying
marinara sauce for dipping

Directions:
1. Combine milk and egg in a small bowl. In a second bowl, combine breadcrumbs and seasoning. Dip each ravioli into the milk mixture, then coat with breadcrumbs.
2. In a large pan, pour oil to depth of 2 inches. Heat oil over medium heat. Fry ravioli, a few at a time until golden brown (about 1 minute on each side). Drain on paper towels. Serve with marinara sauce.

(breadcrumb mixture)

(the dipping and frying process was messy and fast-paced, so I don't have any photos of that!)

Ta-da!

Enjoy!

New Orleans Trip - Day Three

2012-01-31T09:00:00.000-06:00

On our third day in New Orleans (see the first two days here and here), we woke up on Sunday and got ready for church. We went to Mass at the St. Louis Cathedral, which is just beautiful!

The Cathedral is right on Jackson Square, so we walked around for a while after church to see everything on the square.

There were so many artists selling their work!

We had brunch reservations for Muriel's on Jackson Square. "Sunday jazz brunch" is a thing in New Orleans, so we were excited to eat yummy food while being serenaded by jazz musicians!

The food was delicious. As always, Jeff was adventurous (he ordered the "alligator hash") and I was more boring (an omelette with chicken andouille sausage), but we both really enjoyed our brunch! The music was delightful as well!

The Muriel's Jazz Musicians

(source)

After brunch, we drove over toward the Tulane and Loyola campuses, which are in a beautiful part of town. It was fun to see the campuses, and there were so many gorgeous, mansion-sized, French-style houses around there! After that, our trip came to an end and we made the drive back to Houston.

Thanks for a wonderful three days, New Orleans!!

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

2012-01-30T10:00:00.000-06:00

How is it Monday already? I mean really. Why do weekend days go by a gazillion times faster than weekdays? Our weekend was wonderful though! On Friday, my sweet husband took me out on a date to see Beauty and the Beast 3D and eat dinner at Amazon Grill (my favorite!). I had such a lovely time. Beauty and the Beast is amazing in 3D. The castle's library was just soooo big, and the wilting rose petals were so lifelike, and the little footstool puppy is so much cuter in 3D! Haha. It was like I was a little girl all over again. I might have cried a bit at the part where the Beast turns back into a prince and Belle says "It is you!" Sigh. Such a great movie. We've been walking around the house singing Beauty and the Beast songs since Friday.

On Saturday we finally used our tickets for a tour of Minute Maid Park (our baseball stadium), which was such fun! And then we painted the laundry room! Busy busy busy. Anyway... let's try to not focus on the weekdays and think about next weekend instead, okay?

Anyone having a Super Bowl party this weekend? This is a great recipe to munch on during the game! I made these for our New Year's party and they disappeared very quickly from their tray! I couldn't even snap a photo of them before they were devoured!

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 oz mini turkey pepperoni
pizza sauce for dipping

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 and grease a 24-cup mini muffin pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, garlic powder, and baking powder. Then, whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella and pepperoni. Let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Stir the batter lightly and divide evenly among the 24 mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20-25 minutes.
4. Serve with pizza sauce for dipping.

(batter)

(mini muffin pan, all ready to make pizza puffs!)

Ta-da!

Enjoy!

New Orleans Trip - Day Two

2012-01-27T16:06:00.001-06:00

After a busy first day in New Orleans, we turned off the cell phone alarms and slept in late. SUCH a luxury! I can't even remember the last time I didn't have an alarm go off in the morning!

By the time we got up and got ready to go, it was time for lunch! We decided to buy day passes for the cable cars on Saturday, so we rode a cable car over to the French Market!

The cable cars run back and forth on their tracks without turning around, so there are two driver's seats, one at the front and one at the back. The passenger seats have nifty backs that slide back and forth to face either way!

Now we're going forward...

...and now we're going backwards!!

For lunch, we went to Central Grocery, a place that claims to have the "original muffuletta!"

It's a cute little store with a deli counter in the back that's been around for over 100 years.

We ordered a full muffuletta and split it, and it was really yummy!

You can't go to New Orleans without getting some beignets, so we walked over to Cafe du Monde for dessert!

We got an order of beignets and a cafe au lait... look how delicious they look!

We shook off most of the powdered sugar (there was so much!!), and they were so good! Next, we walked over to catch the cable car to take us to the National World War II Museum!

Goodbye, Cafe du Monde!

Pretty cathedral in New Orleans

The World War II Museum was really great. We could've spent all day in there. This is President Roosevelt's speech about Pearl Harbor:

It was originally written to say "a date which will live in world history," but he scratched it out and changed "world history" to "infamy." So interesting!

Here's a model of some Army barracks:

I wish I would've taken more photos... there were tanks and cannons and planes, along with lots of old uniforms and weapons and stuff. They had a particularly great exhibit on D-Day... I learned so much! We also saw a 45-minute film produced by Tom Hanks about WWII. The theater had those seats that vibrate, and there was smoke and mist and stuff, so it was pretty cool. It was like being at Disney World, but informative and educational!

We stayed at the museum until they closed, then headed back to the hotel to get ready for a fancy night out. Our first stop was the Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone. Hotel Monteleone also has a travel deal through Jeff's company, but we ended up picking the Ritz Carlton instead. I had looked at the Monteleone's website though and saw this awesome bar that they have, so we decided to stop by for pre-dinner drinks. It's designed like a carousel, with seats that slowly revolve around the bar - so fun!

It was a lovely place to sit and chill. Apparently authors like Hemmingway and Faulkner used to come here to hang out! So cool.

We had 8:30 dinner reservations at Mr. B's bistro, which was right across the street.

(source)

They had delicious bread, and we split a bottle of wine. Jeff ordered their "specialty," the barbecue shrimp. People all over the restaurant were wearing "bibs" and eating those shrimp! I had honey ginger pork tenderloin, and we both really enjoyed our food!

(source)

Barbecue Shrimp!

(source)

We split the bread pudding for dessert... delicious!

(source)

Can you tell there's a lot of good food in New Orleans? I'd say about 90% of the "tourist attractions" are food/drink related. It was all so good! We left Mr. B's around 10:00 and had a lovely cable car ride back to the hotel. Up next, our last day in NoLa!

House Tour Video

2012-01-25T08:00:00.000-06:00

Jeff bought me a Flip video camera for Christmas, and one of the first things I did with it was take a video tour of the house! I figured it would be fun for all of our family and friends who haven't been able to see it in person yet to see a video (and for all of you blog friends to see it too!).

I actually took the video right after Christmas, so the house is still decorated for the holidays in the videos. It took me forever to figure out how to upload large videos into Blogger (hence the long delay between taking the video and actually posting it), and in the end I had to split the video in half to get it to work (hence the "Part One" and "Part Two").

I go on random tangents about Christmas cards and pillows and things, so bear with me. :o)

Part One:

entryway, piano room, dining room, half bathroom, laundry room, living room, kitchen

Part Two:

master bedroom and bath, game room, craft room, guest bedrooms and bathroom

New Orleans Trip - Day One

2012-01-24T09:30:00.000-06:00

Suprise! We went to New Orleans last weekend! Haha. I try not to advertise on the blog when we're going to be out of town (I guess I'm afraid one of you will somehow figure out where my house is and come steal our televisions while we're gone), but I always feel so weird keeping secrets from y'all!

Anyway, I just completed a very large writing assignment for Law Review (the rough draft of an 80-page academic journal article), so we celebrated with a little weekend trip to New Orleans! Jeff took a day off on Friday, and we left bright and early for Louisiana! The drive from Houston to New Orleans is about six hours... I slept for about 5 and a half of them. It's an amazing thing to marry a guy who doesn't mind driving long distances!

We made it into the city around 12:30, and our first stop was a highly-recommended local restaurant called Dooky Chase's. From the outside, it honestly looks a little sketchy, but the inside was pretty with tall ceilings and lovely table settings... such a surprise!

It's owned by Dooky and Leah Chase, and Leah Chase was the inspiration behind the princess character in Disney's The Princess and the Frog. They had this drawing from the folks at Disney displayed in the entryway:

"Thank you so very much, Mrs. Chase, for all your inspiration. You are the real princess of New Orleans!"

Anyway, they have a regular menu, but everyone had suggested that we just go with the buffet, so we did! They bring you a bowl of okra gumbo to start off, and then you're on your own with the buffet line. Okra gumbo = DELICIOUS.

We filled our plates with cauliflower casserole, fried chicken, rice and some sort of lima bean stuff, some sort of crawfish-corn dish that had a French name I can't pronounce, and yummy sausage! It was all great, Southern cooking, and it was so, so good.

Even though we were so, so full of yummy food, we made a little bit of room for the peach cobbler (also completely delicious!). We left Dooky Chase's feeling very full, and liking New Orleans already. :o)

The next stop was to drop off our stuff at the hotel. We took advantage of a great travel deal through Jeff's company and managed to stay at the Ritz Carlton on Canal Street - so fancy!

I don't think I've ever stayed in such a fancy hotel. The room was just lovely, with a beautiful shining marble bathroom complete with soft bathrobes.

The view from our window, looking down at Canal Street

I took a bajillion pictures of the way they did the crown molding in the bedroom... I'm thinking about duplicating it in our bedroom at home!

But seriously... so fancy! The thermostat in our room actually went down by half degrees. Because when 72 is just a teensy bit too hot, they apparently want you to be able to be comfy at 71 and a half. The lobby and common areas were full of antique furniture and beautiful rugs and huge flower arrangements.

Anyway, we did eventually stop marveling at the fanciness of the hotel and head back out into the city. We walked a few blocks to an old convent of Ursuline nuns, which is now a sort of historical museum that people can go walk through. On the way, we saw lots of pretty New Orleans buildings, many of which were already decorated for Mardi Gras!

The old Ursuline convent is a registered historic landmark and the oldest building in the French Quarter. It was used as a convent and hospital, then as the Bishop's home, then later as a school. Now it's open for tourists to walk through. The entrance is just lovely!

Inside the building, we saw the nuns' Chapel, which was beautiful.

We walked through the gardens, the former school infirmary, the cafeteria, and some old classrooms. So much history in one building!

Cool lights and old ceiling beams!

Fancy hand-made iron hinges

Really, really old chairs.

After the convent, we walked a few blocks to the French Market, where all sorts of fun things were found! There were paintings and jewelry and food and purses... not to mention the alligator heads!

We tried to have some fun with the Mardi Gras masks, but we were quickly instructed that no photography is allowed unless you purchase them. I did manage to snap this one of Jeff though before we were reprimanded:

Oh, and ladies - take a look at this genius product:

"Treat him like a King - Train him like a puppy"

We strolled down a few streets near the French Market and found a statue of Joan of Arc.

The streets in New Orleans are all quite picturesque... I wanted to pull out my camera and capture them all!

We stopped in a few shops along the way and ended up purchasing two little souvenirs. The first: a Christmas ornament depicting a crawfish playing the trumpet. Most of what we did in New Orleans was somehow related to food or jazz music, so it seemed fitting!

(it says New Orleans on the base)

We also found this little clarinet-playing wire figurine and took him home with us. Jeff has a French horn-playing version (Jeff plays the French horn) that lives in our piano room, and I've always been a little jealous that we didn't have one for me (I play the clarinet). When we found an exact match to Jeff's little wire guy, we knew we had to have it!

After our leisurely stroll through the French Market and surrounding shops, we headed over to the river to walk back to the hotel that way. The river isn't anything particularly pretty, but it was still nice to have a nice long walk along the water!

We quickly changed into warmer clothes (and comfier shoes after all that walking!) and hurried off toward Bourbon Street for the evening! We walked along Bourbon Street (so weird that you can just carry drinks in and out of bars there... people were just walking around with daiquiris and hand grenades and beers!), and arrived at Yo Mama's Bar & Grill, which apparently has "the best burgers in New Orleans!"

I had a regular old cheeseburger (which was very good), but Jeff was brave and ordered their "peanut butter burger!" He said it was delicious. I was too scared to try it.

Peanut butter burger (Pardon the weird camera lighting... it was the best I could do with the weird combo of red lights and black UV lights in that place!)

Regular cheese burger

After dinner, we went across the street to stand in line for Preservation Hall, which supposedly has the best jazz music in New Orleans! The jazz band starts at 8:15, but the place isn't very big, so we got in line around 7:00 to make sure we got in. Luckily, Pat O' Briens was right next door, so I held our spot in line while Jeff ran over to grab a couple hurricanes. We spent the next hour enjoying our yummy drinks and playing Hanging with Friends on my phone, and the wait went by very quickly!

When we finally got into Preservation Hall, I was surprised at just how small it really was! The whole place had such an authentic feel, and there were just two benches in the middle of the room (which were totally full by the time we got in). Most of us were just standing in the empty back half of the room. The place has no bar, no bathrooms, no restored floors or walls... it's just a room, and a band. It felt so artsy.

The band played for 45-minute sets with 15-minute breaks in between, and we ended up staying through two of them. I was pretty tired of standing by the end, but it was a really lovely way to spend an evening! We headed back to the hotel after that and fell asleep in our fancy Ritz Carlton bed. Up next... Saturday in New Orleans!

Strawberry Cheesecake Bites

2012-01-23T09:30:00.001-06:00

These are absolutely delicious (and they'd be perfect for Valentine's Day!). They're everything you could ever want in a dessert, plus they're bite-sized! They get gobbled up pretty quickly whenever I make them. I'd recommend making a double batch. :o)

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
1 lb large strawberries
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
graham cracker crumbs (about 4 whole crackers, crushed)

Directions:
1. Rinse strawberries and hollow out the insides.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Put cream cheese mixture into a piping bag, or a Ziploc with the corner snipped off. Fill strawberries with the cheesecake mixture.
3. Once strawberries are filled, dip the top of each one in graham cracker crumbs. If not serving immediately, skip the graham cracker crumbs for now and refrigerate filled strawberries. Dip in graham cracker crumbs right before serving.

(hollowed strawberries)

(cheesecake mixture in a Ziploc with the corner snipped off)

(filled strawberries)

(I found it was easiest to rest them on a plate like this so they didn't fall over and get ruined!)

(with graham cracker crumbs on top -- DELICIOUS!)

Enjoy!

Q&A

2012-01-18T09:30:00.000-06:00

So let's be honest... I'm running low on spare time these days (you know, back to school for another semester and all), which means I'm running low on things to blog about (and time to dream up genius blog post ideas).

So I was thinking, what if I hand it over to you guys? I'm sure some of you have questions for me or things you'd like to see me blog about, right? So here's what we're going to do:

Y'all can leave me questions or thoughts or whatever in the comments section on this post.
Once I get a bunch of them, I'll sort through them and do some sort of big blog post (Maybe a vlog! And maybe a few additional posts if I get questions that need a post of their own) to give you some answers!

I'm going to ask Jeff to help me on this one, so if you have questions for him (anyone wondering what he thinks about being married to someone who broadcasts his life on the Internet?) you should leave those too!

Feel free to comment anonymously if you feel like it!

So, ask away! Any topic is fair game! Anyone wondering why we haven't painted the piano room yet like we said we would? Want to know what's going on with all those rooms upstairs that I never blog about? Any pressing questions about law school? Are you curious about how we both ended up living in London as young children? Want to know where I get my recipes? If you ask it, I'll answer it! Random suggestions on blog topics are okay too. :)

Can't wait to hear what you guys want to hear about!!

Zuppa Toscana

2012-01-17T09:30:00.000-06:00

I think "Zuppa Toscana" is Italian for "Tuscan Soup." Or something like that. Anyway, this recipe was supposed to be a copycat version of Olive Garden's zuppa toscana. I've never actually had the zuppa toscana at Olive Garden, so I can't say whether or not this is a good copycat recipe, but I can tell you that it's delicious and perfect for a chilly evening!

Also, I have to tell y'all... this recipe was the first time I ever cooked with kale. I thought I was all hip and healthy putting "kale" on my shopping list. Then, when I found it at the grocery store, I was so surprised. Do y'all know what kale is? It's the stuff they put in little rows as decoration at the fish/meat counter! It's a green leafy garnish that apparently is now for eating too.

(source)

Anyway, my first kale-eating experience wasn't particularly exciting. I didn't really think it tasted like anything. But it made the soup look pretty with the green color, and the texture was nice I suppose. Haha.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:

1 lb Italian sausage

2 large russet potatoes, sliced in quarters length-wise, then cut into 1/4-inch slices

1 large onion, chopped

1 bag real bacon bits

1 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups chopped kale

2 cans chicken broth

4 cups water

1 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:

1. Cook sausage in a 300 degree oven for 30 minutes. Drain on paper towels and cut into slices.

2. Place onions, potatoes, chicken broth, water, and garlic in a pot, and cook on medium heat until potatoes are done.

3. Add in sausage, bacon, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for another 10 minutes.

4. Turn heat down to low and add kale and cream. Heat through and serve.

(sausages out of the oven)

(draining)

(onions, potatoes, and garlic in chicken broth and water)

(sausage chopped up + the bacon bits)

(after adding sausage and bacon bits)

(chopped kale + heavy cream)

(just about finished!)

YUMMM!

Ta-da!

Enjoy!

When Jeff Goes on Business Trips...

2012-01-16T09:30:00.001-06:00

Sometimes Jeff goes out of town for work. Usually, I'm really productive when he's gone. I use that time to do things like paint bathrooms and study for law school and organize closets.

In the midst of all the productivity, I sometimes catch myself doing things I'd never do if Jeff were home. I've never lived totally on my own, so it's kind of funny to me that I act a bit differently when I'm here by myself for a few days.

For example, Jeff was gone for three days recently. During those three days, the following happened:

I ate a large bowl of ice cream every day. I like ice cream, but normally I eat a reasonable-sized portion maybe once every week or two. I know Jeff is constantly watching his weight, and I don't want him to judge me for having an unhealthy diet, so I restrain myself. When he's gone, I apparently just pig out.

I watched two episodes of The Bachelor. I've never watched The Bachelor in my life other than a couple episodes here and there years ago. I actually think it's kind of ridiculous and scripted and trashy and all that. If Jeff was home, I'd NEVER select The Bachelor from the cable guide. First of all, I know he wouldn't want to watch it, and secondly, I don't want him to think of me as a girl that likes that sort of show. But you know what? I watched two episodes, and I actually enjoyed them. It was entertaining. It was funny and sweet and interesting. And there's an Aggie on there this season. And she's adorable.

I left the bathroom door open. We close the bathroom door religiously if one of us is going to the bathroom. I know some couples don't even worry about that, but we're more modest, I suppose. Gotta keep the romance alive, right? Anyway, having never lived alone, I don't think I'd ever gone to the bathroom with the door open during the first 21 years of my life. But when Jeff's gone, and it's just me... I just don't bother closing it. Actually, to be completely honest, I do close it at least halfway because it's just weird to be able to see everything. But I don't worry about it being totally shut.

I stayed up until 4am. Being a student, I obviously have a more flexible schedule than Jeff. He has to be up for work at a normal waking up time. I, on the other hand, am currently at home for winter break, and although I have a journal article I'm working on... I can do it any time I like. Including at 3am. Normally, I try to go to sleep whenever Jeff goes to sleep so we can be together. But when he's gone... Katie the Night Owl comes out!

I read baby blogs. Sometimes it just makes a girl's heart happy to read about people who are having babies. Motherhood is beautiful, and I kind of really like blogs written by pregnant women or women with babies. When Jeff's home I don't really read them because I don't want Jeff to look over at my computer screen and think I'm silly. It's like the equivalent of a girl who isn't engaged buying bridal magazines. But when he's gone... I read about the tiny humans as much as I want, and I marvel in amazement over growing pregnancy bellies.

I left dishes in the sink. Normally, we/I clean our dishes right after we use them. Even if I'm at home by myself for lunch, I put my dishes in the dishwasher immediately because I don't want Jeff to come home to a messy kitchen. But when it's just me at home... sometimes those lunch dishes can just hang out for a bit, and I'll wash them with the dinner dishes. One time I even left it all sitting there overnight because I didn't feel like doing it. I mean... it's not like they were bothering anyone but me!

Overall, I think it's good that Jeff's home most of the time. I probably shouldn't eat a ton of ice cream and stay up until 4am and leave dishes in the sink on a regular basis. I guess it's a good thing I have a husband! Haha!

Do any of y'all live alone? What would you do differently if you had roommates/a husband/whatever? Do y'all act differently when your husband is out of town?

Fightin' Texas Aggie Yell Practice!

2012-01-13T09:30:00.000-06:00

This post is a little outdated because it took me a while to figure out the software for my new Flip camera, but let's talk about Texas A&M for a bit!

The Aggies came to Houston for their bowl game on New Year's Eve, so they had a Midnight Yell Practice the night before the game in Houston! I hadn't been to a Midnight Yell since I graduated, so I was pretty excited to go to the Houston one before the bowl game.

It was so fun to go with my parents (Dad's a fellow A&M alum) and Karoline (it was her first-ever Yell Practice, and she was pretty excited!).

Jeff proudly puts on his maroon shirt every now and then for me. He's pretty good at being married to an Aggie... he even knows the words to the War Hymn and most of the yells!

Yell Practice is an A&M tradition - the night before every football game, Aggies gather at midnight to practice all the yells (like coordinated cheers) that they'll do the next day at the game.

The Yell Leaders (juniors and seniors who are elected to the position) lead all the yells with hand motions so the whole crowd is synchronized. At Yell Practice, they tell funny little stories (centering around how awful the other team is). Then, we practice all the yells, we take a minute to turn the lights off and kiss our dates (Jeff's favorite part), we sing the War Hymn and the Spirit of Aggieland, and we go home.

I took a couple videos of it... the first one is one of the Yell Leaders doing a sort of introduction to get the whole thing kicked off:

Here we are practicing one of the simpler yells - Gig 'em Aggies!

Here's a video of everyone singing Spirit of Aggieland... a great way to end an evening!

Apple Cranberry Strudel

2012-01-12T09:30:00.000-06:00

I made this strudel for the first time for our Family Christmas Dinner, and it was a big hit! It's pretty simple too... it's definitely a go-to recipe for me now!

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
1 egg
1 tbsp water
4 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp flour + extra for rolling out the puff pastry
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and very thinly sliced into 1-inch long pieces
2 tbsp sweetened dried cranberries (like Craisins)
1 sheet Puff Pastry (half of a 17.3 oz package of Puff Pastry sheets), thawed
powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:
1. Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork to form an egg wash. Set aside.
2. Stir the granulated sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add the apples and cranberries and toss thoroughly to coat.
3. Sprinkle flour on a work surface, and unfold the puff pastry sheet. Using a rolling pin, roll the pastry sheet out into a 16-12 inch rectangle.
4. With the short side of the pastry facing you, spoon the apple mixture onto the bottom half of the sheet, leaving 1 inch of the pastry clear on each edge. Roll the pastry sheet up like a jelly roll and tuck the ends under to seal. Place seam-side down onto a baking sheet.
5. Brush the top of the pastry with the egg wash and cut several slits in the top of the pastry to vent.
6. Bake at 375 for 35 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown. Let the strudel cool on a baking sheet on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, slice, and serve!

(going into the oven...)

(sprinkled with powdered sugar)

Ta-da!

Enjoy!

The Guest Room

2012-01-11T10:00:00.000-06:00

This is an important post. Well, it is to me at least. It's important because today, I'm going to show you the first room in the new house that is done. The whole house is decorated to the point of looking presentable and being livable and all that, but there's only one room that really feels done to me, and it's the guest room.

The curtains have been hemmed, things are hung on the walls... it's done. Finally having one room in the house done just feels SO good! Of course, there may be crown molding or other such updates down the road, but otherwise... it's finished. One down, fifteen to go!

Here it is... welcome to the guest room!

Okay, now you've got the big picture. Let's talk details.

The bedding is from Ikea, and I love love love it. The aqua pillow was just the perfect thing to soften up all the red (I looked long and hard before finding that perfect pillow!).

One of my favorite things is the wedding photo wall. It includes wedding photos from our parents, our grandparents, and us, and I plan to add more photos when/if our siblings get married. Really it's more of a "when" than an "if," because I'm pretty sure they all will tie the knot at some point. Hopefully they marry people I like. ;o) Then they can come visit and stay in the guest room and see themselves on the wall. Anyway... where was I? Photo wall?

I just realized I gave the ugliest frame to Jeff and me. I should fix that. You know, since it's our house and all.

I think little details turn a room from a bunch of square feet into a livable space. This little vignette on the nightstand does it perfectly for me!

Oh, little clock. You're just adorable and I just love you.

We had a pair of these curtains from our old apartment, but the window in this room just seemed too petite for more than one panel. So, I hemmed up just one and hung it from a curtain rod with dainty spiral finials. [Behind-the-scenes sidenote: we now use the other curtain panel to cover the backyard plants when it freezes. Betcha that guy's jealous of his twin brother all winter long!]

I love how the thin black stripes on the curtains tie into the furniture!

Circle-shaped mirrors seem to be an above-the-bed trend right now, but I don't mind jumping on the bandwagon. There's something about a mirror that brightens up a room, and a circle is the perfect shape in a room full of furniture with sharp 90 degree angles. I love it!

The only thing in the room that I don't like is that old TV. But, we figured guests might appreciate having it (and our other option was to basically throw it away, so for now it's staying in here).

I tried to make up for the ugly TV by putting cute things next to it.

Across from the bed, there's a little desk.

Again, I love the little details. That aqua hourglass just makes me love the entire desk area 100% more. And I like the little red vase too. It's the little things...

These are vintage records from the University of South Carolina band (which Jeff was part of in college). I think they're cute, and Jeff likes that his alma mater is subtlely represented in the room. Win win. Marital bliss, I tell ya.

That's it! I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out, and it feels good to officially cross at least one room off my to-do list. Now if I could just get around to doing all the other rooms...

Wanna come be our guest? :)

New Year's Eve Party!

2012-01-10T10:30:00.000-06:00

In the 30 Before 30 list I posted yesterday, "host a New Year's Eve party" was #1. I've actually been working on the list for a while, so as NYE approached I started thinking... why should I wait until closer to thirty when we could just do it now?

So we did! We hosted a NYE party at our house complete with food and drinks and party hats and fun. I loved it. Added bonus: a large number of people (many of whom have never seen the new house) coming over is a GREAT motivator to make you really clean the entire house!

For drinks, we had beer, wine, soda, champagne for toasting at midnight, and a yummy champagne punch that will now be added to my "hosting bridal showers" go-to list (recipe to come!).

The food lineup included the following: pizza puffs with pizza sauce, toasted ravioli with marinara sauce, potato chips and french onion dip, tortilla chips and salsa, mini caprese bites, veggies and garlic ranch dressing, baked brie with green pepper jelly and apple slices and crackers, red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, and strawberry cheesecake bites!

(pizza puffs - these were the last thing to come out of the oven, so I didn't get a photo of them on the table!)

(veggies and garlic ranch)

(toasted raviolis with marinara sauce)

(strawberry cheesecake bites)

(red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting)

(I love the silver decorating sugar... perfect for NYE!)

(caprese bites - cherry tomatoes, basil, and fresh mozzarella drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar)

(potato chips and french onion dip)

(baked brie, apples, and crackers)

(Jeff actually made this... baked brie is becoming a specialty of his!)

We put all the food in the dining room (with little black cardstock labels) and decorated with a package of NYE decorations from Party City - a 2012 centerpiece, hanging black and gold spheres, and big "2012" numbers on the wall.

We put the beer and soda on the back patio in coolers, and used a counter in the kitchen for the punch, wine, and glasses. We decorated with the rest of the Party City decorations here (another centerpiece, a 2012 sign, and a gold star garland hung along the backsplash).

(Jeff's Grandma gave me this milk glass punch bowl... isn't it just lovely? I love it because it's beautiful and useful, but even more because of all the family history behind it. It has a set of 12 matching cups too, but I figured plastic was better for a NYE shindig.)

Haha... when I look at this photo it just looks to me like a battle between the champagne glasses and the wine glasses. May the best stemware win!

We bought a "party pack" of hats and necklaces and noise-makers and set them all out on the coffee table. There were two kinds of hats (the cone-shaped kind, and the tiara kind)... they were supposed to be for guys and girls, respectively... but for some reason the tiaras ended up being popular with everyone, male and female. Haha!

This is the only photo I took after people started arriving... it's my sister, me, and my friend Emily (who also happens to be Jeff's little brother's girlfriend).

We're already talking about what we'll do next year... I'm a big fan of hosting NYE! It was great to have something to plan/do/look forward to after all the Christmas festivities were over, and it was really nice to not worry about driving across Houston and being places on time and such on New Year's Eve. We did have quite a bit of clean-up after everyone left, but it was really fun! I'm hoping for a bigger and better party next year!

30 Before 30

2012-01-09T09:30:00.000-06:00

I've seen a lot of young bloggers lately who have a "30 Before 30" list... a sort of Bucket List for their twenties of things that they want to do before turning thirty. I loved the idea right away, and I've been working on my own 30 Before 30 List for quite some time.

The start of 2012 motivated me to finish it up and publish it ~~for the world to see~~ to keep myself accountable. Of course, I won't turn 30 until 2019, and who knows if I'll still have this blog at that point (I guess it's fully possible that the "Internet" as we know it will be something totally different by then!), but here it is anyway, in random order:

Host a New Year's Eve party. (completed 12/31/2011)
Pay off our mortgage.
Go on a spontaneous vacation.
Get Lasik surgery.
Drink champagne even though there's nothing in particular to celebrate.
Own a power tool of my very own. (completed 12/25/2011)
Give a large sum of money to someone that isn't at all expecting it.
Get a DSLR camera and figure out how to use it.
Re-read the Bible. Every page of it.
Become a mother.
Have a master bedroom that feels cozy and luxurious.
Learn all the lyrics to Ice, Ice Baby.
Finish law school.
Get a library card and use it.
Get a new car and bid a fair adieu to Mazda.
Finish scrapbooking my high school photos.
Decorate our second guest bedroom.
Find the perfect pie crust recipe.
Go wine tasting in actual wine country.
Pass the Bar exam.
Make creme brulee.
Visit Alaska.
See a beautiful, natural waterfall.
Take a weekend trip to a Texas town I've never seen before.
Raise a basil plant and stop paying for fresh basil at the grocery store.
Learn to like drinking water.
Re-read at least three Jane Austen books.
Go to a restaurant and order dessert instead of dinner.
See the Grand Canyon.
Do something really special for our 5-year anniversary.

I think it's a good assortment... if I do all of it, I'll definitely have a lot of wonderful memories and experiences to look back on after I turn 30!

I tried to fill the list with things that will challenge me, but are also realistic. I don't want to turn 30 and only have half of it done... I really want to finish the whole thing. I've actually already begun a few of them, so I'm off to a good start!

Do any of y'all have a 30 Before 30 list? I'd love to see yours - share your link!

Five Things

2012-01-06T09:30:00.001-06:00

Today's post is full of random thoughts. 'Cause that's what's on my mind today.

1. Why I Hate Couponing

I don't like couponing. I try, and it just makes me mad. It turns out that it's not at all like it looks on Extreme Couponing on TV. First of all, I usually buy store-brand groceries, but the coupons are usually for name brand groceries. And even with the coupon, the name brand stuff is still more expensive. Also, it frustrates me that there are no coupons for fresh fruits and veggies and meat. That's what I probably spend the most money on.

Also, what's with the "$1 off when you buy four" sorts of coupons? As if I need four giant packs of toilet paper?!?! There are only two of us, and we spend the majority of our waking hours at school/work, and we just don't pee enough at home to go through a giant package very quickly.

Sometimes I do clip coupons for cleaning stuff or shampoo or something... but then I take them to Wal-Mart and 4 times out of 5 the cashier forgets to scan them before completing the transaction, and then I have to go stand in the Customer Service line for 25 minutes next to a smelly man just to get my three dollars or whatever. SO annoying. I'm giving up.

2. The Blog Would be Weird if I Died

I usually write a few blog posts at a time, and then I schedule them to post over the next few days (Ahh! I just let y'all in on a big secret!). Sometimes, I write posts a month or so in advance and schedule them to post in a few weeks (especially for things like New Year's Eve, or our anniversary, or other special days). I wrote a TON of scheduled posts in November so that y'all would have something to read in December while I was studying for finals and not blogging (it turns out I'm not some sort of Superwoman who can blog and study and cook and stay sane all at the same time).

Lately, I've been writing some Christmas-related posts that I didn't have a chance to finish pre-Christmas (recipes and DIY projects mostly), and I'm scheduling them for next December, so they'll be seasonally-appropriate when they go live in eleven months. But all the scheduling way in advance has me thinking... what if I were to die unexpectedly in 2012? I mean... you'd all be shocked and my family would be sad and all... and the blog would just fade away... and for a few months there would be nothing coming out of Spirals and Spatulas. And then, in December 2012... all of the sudden posts would start getting published, and I'd re-appear on all your Google Readers, and you'd all be like Oh my goodness... she's posting from the grave! Is that a totally weird thought? Probably.

3. Chickening Out

When we moved into the house, I was all "I want to paint the guest room aqua!" and "Let's paint the piano room green!" Then I changed my mind, and I decided I actually like the neutrals + black look of the piano room, and I like the creamy tan walls in the guest room. It's not that I don't want to paint... I actually find painting to be pretty enjoyable and rewarding, but I just like the tan. Does this mean I'm growing up and becoming boring? Am I afraid of ruining my pretty house? Maybe I'm just discovering ways to personalize it without painting bold colors? Maybe I'm growing up? I don't know. I mean... the apartment had a bright red wall that I loved... but now I'm Mrs. Beige all the sudden. What's up with that?

4. Wedding Withdrawals

I'm having wedding withdrawals. I loved planning our wedding, and then the next year I was a bridesmaid and got to help plan other people's weddings, but now... I just miss it. I'm craving color-coordinated DIY projects and flowers and romance. I miss designing save-the-dates and ceremony programs and day-of timelines. I miss searching Etsy for the perfect earrings, or the perfect birdcage veil, or the perfect garter.

I'm strongly considering volunteering to help with wedding coordination at church. It wouldn't be any DIY or decor or anything, but I'd at least get to do the ceremony-organizing stuff and see a marriage be born every now and then (and seriously, Catholic churches could use a few more friendly, accommodating wedding coordinators). But really, can someone please get engaged and let me plan your wedding? I'd totally be a free day-of coordinator or something. Not even joking.

5. Law School Grades

I finally got my grades from last semester (yes, law school grades take forever to get posted). After all that worrying and stress, my GPA ended up staying exactly the same as it was before this semester. Praise God (because seriously, there's no way I pulled that off without a large amount of heaven-sent help). This means BigLawFirm will probably still like me. Potential full-time job = safe for now.

Of course, because this is law school, I got A's in (1) the class I didn't really care about because "I'll never use this in real life" and only started studying for the day before the exam, staying up all night before taking the final [aka Evidence], and (2) the class I was confused in all semester and said "Woah, what the heck was that?!? I don't think I've ever written anything so incoherent and crazy" after I finished the exam [aka Federal Income Tax]. My lowest grade was in the class that I worked really hard at all semester and told Jeff, "I SO rocked that test" after finishing the final. Silly law school.

Can anyone relate to any of that? Am I crazy for hating coupons and missing weddings and contemplating my own untimely demise? Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks these things...

Rosemary Olive Oil Bread

2012-01-05T09:00:00.000-06:00

This was part of our little Christmas dinner for two. It's delicious, and it makes the kitchen smell delightful!

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water (100-110 degrees F)
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp dried rosemary (plus extra for sprinkling on top of the loaf)
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup bread flour (plus an extra 1/4 cup or so for kneading)
1 egg,
1 tbsp water
Cornmeal for dusting

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine the warm water, sugar, and yeast. Let sit 10 minutes to proof.
2. Stir in the salt, 2 tsp rosemary, Italian seasoning, black pepper, olive oil, and white whole wheat flour. Add the bread flour and stir until dough forms a ball.
3. Knead the dough ball on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes (until smooth), adding more flour as necessary to prevent sticking.
4. Place the dough in a lightly-greased bowl and cover with a tea towel (not the terry kind). Let rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
5. Punch down the dough and form it into a round loaf. Place it on a cornmeal-dusted piece of parchment paper, cover, and let it rise until doubled in size again (about 45 minutes).
6. Preheat oven and pizza stone to 400 degrees. Whisk the egg and 1 tbsp water together to make an egg wash. Once the dough has risen, gently brush the top with egg wash and sprinkle with some rosemary.
7. Set the parchment paper on the heated pizza stone, and bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped.

(water + sugar + yeast)

(after sitting 10 minutes to proof)

(adding dry ingredients)

(dough ball after kneading)

(covered with a tea towel)

(after first rise)

(after being punched down and put on parchment paper)

(after second rise)

(fresh from the oven!)

Ta-da!

Enjoy!

College Colors Argyle Yarn Wreath

2012-01-04T13:30:00.000-06:00

When I saw this wreath on Pinterest, I just LOVED it! An argyle wreath? Adorable!

(source)

Then I saw this one:

(source)

A school-spirited argyle wreath? Even MORE adorable!

When it came time to come up with a Christmas gift idea for my cousin and her husband (big Baylor University fans), I immediately thought of these cute wreaths and set out to make one myself! Here's the Baylor University wreath that I ended up with:

I was really happy with how it turned out, and I think they liked it to! Here's the how-to:

First, I started with an 18-inch straw wreath form (I just left the plastic wrapping on to keep the straw pieces from escaping!). I hot glued the end of a skein of white yarn to the wreath form, and started wrapping it around and around (over and over and over again).

The yarn-wrapping is BY FAR the worst part of this project. I really underestimated how long it would take to finish. I wrapped the entire wreath three times (because the coverage wasn't even enough for my liking after the first two times around), and it took me all of one skein and part of a second skein of white yarn.

It's really not so bad if you sit in front of the TV and do it... it took me two movies and three episodes of Big Bang Theory to finish (but I was being pretty perfectionistic about the yarn placement).

Once the wreath was completely covered in white yarn, I hot glued the end of the yarn to the back of the wreath. Then, I started cutting out my felt diamonds. I made a template out of paper, and cut a bunch of them with my rotary cutter and self-healing mat. I think I used about 4 sheets each of green and gold for the entire project (including the flowers and BU letters you see when you scroll down).

I positioned all of the diamonds on the wreath to make sure they were evenly spaced (and I didn't end of with two of the same color next to each other), and then I just hot glued each diamond down.

After all the diamonds were glued down, I started the argyle criss-cross stripes with black yarn. To do this, you have to go completely around in one direction, then completely around in the other direction. For each direction, I hot glued the ends of the black yard at the start and finish (on the back of the wreath). Here it is after one direction was finished:

I cut the Baylor University logo out of felt by printing it out and tracing it, then cutting with a craft knife.

I made two types of felt flowers to adorn the wreath. The first kind (like the yellow flower below) were made by cutting spirals of felt, then just rolling them up from the inside like a spool of ribbon (and covering the back in hot glue to hold it together).

The second kind of flowers (the ruffly ones) were made by cutting out lots of little circles and gluing them together (a la this tutorial).

Here's the finished product!

I pinned a ribbon loop onto the back of the wreath using pearl-headed straight pins so it could be hung easily on a wreath hook.

I had a couple extra flowers, so I glued them onto a barrette clip for my cousin's daughter:

Teehee... so cute!

I kind of want to make a Texas A&M version for myself, but the thought of doing all that yarn-wrapping again isn't really very appealing... haha! Still, I loved how it turned out, so I might have to make another one one day!

PS - I have to show you another wreath I did for Christmas as well (this one's a TCU wreath!)... I'm not going to do a tutorial (because it was just hot glue and sticking stuff onto a wreath), but I love how it turned out so I just have to share! This one was for my sister, a student at Texas Christian University.

Hehe! I love it!

Did anyone else make some wreaths this Christmas? I think they're so fun!

Ring Photo Scavenger Hunt

2012-01-03T14:49:00.000-06:00

I saw this going around, and I just had to do it. I mean... you all know how much I love taking pictures of my wedding rings (or really, of anything little zoomed in with a macro setting. Like bumblebees. Or Christmas ornaments). I think girls should celebrate pretty, romantic things... even after they've been married for quite a while. :o)

Here are my Ring Scavenger Hunt photos (all taken with my Canon point-and-shoot -- you don't need a fancy DSLR to do this!):

1. A picture of your ring on a piece of food.

(on an egg!)

2. A picture of your ring with a piece of jewelry.

(with a pearl necklace, a gift from Jeff for Christmas 2008)

3. A picture of your ring on a fork.

(this was so hard to take a photo of... there was so much light reflecting from the fork and the ring!)

4. A picture of your ring on a tree.

5. A picture of your ring on a light switch.

6. A picture of your ring on a pillow.

(on a pillow on a chair in our living room)

7. A picture of your ring on an instrument.

(I got my clarinet out just to take this photo!)

8. A picture of your ring on a piece of paper that says "I love you."

(our our "I love you because _____" frame in our closet)

9. A picture of your ring on your finger.

10. A picture of your ring on a shoelace.

(on my beloved Sperrys!)

11. A picture of your ring on your favorite purse.

(Does a Coach wristlet count as a "purse?" Either way, it's my favorite!)

12. A creative picture of your ring.

(Not really creative, but I just think it's pretty.)

I think you should all play along! It doesn't have to be a wedding/engagement ring... promise rings and James Avery rings and Aggie rings (or other college rings) and just-plain-pretty rings are all good too (in fact, I might re-do this with my Aggie ring sometime... so fun!). Just put your camera on it's macro setting and shoot away! Leave me a link so I can see yours!

Parmesan Roasted Broccoli

2012-01-02T19:19:00.000-06:00

This is a delicious recipe! I've made it a few times in the last couple of weeks (first at our "Jeff & Katie Christmas Dinner") because it's just that good! I've always liked broccoli, but roasting it just brings out the flavor in a whole new way! It's almost sweeter... and definitely more flavorful!

If you're serving this broccoli with a main dish that needs to go in the oven as well (and you're like me and don't have a double oven), you can cook the broccoli first, then just stick it back in the oven (covered with foil) for the last 15 minutes of whatever main dish you're cooking to warm it up. I've done this a couple times now and it works great! It's also easy to halve the recipe if you're just cooking for two!

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
8 cups broccoli florets (the florets from about 4-5 stalks)
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
7 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest (from about 2 lemons)
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted (I toast mine in the toaster oven for a few minutes)
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp thinly chopped fresh basil leaves (about 12 leaves)

Directions:
1. Snap the broccoli florets off the stalks, and discard the stalks. Cut larger florets in half. Place the florets in a single layer on a rimmed cookie sheet.
2. Sprinkle the garlic over the broccoli florets, then drizzle with 5 tbsp of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Roast for 20-25 minutes at 425 degrees, until the broccoli is tender and some of the edges are browned.
4. Remove broccoli from the oven and toss immediately with 2 tbsp olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, pine nuts, Parmesan, and basil. Serve hot.

Broccoli florets (Note: I took these photos using a half recipe... I use a large rimmed cookie sheet when making a full batch).

With garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper!

After coming out of the oven!

(I usually mix the tossing ingredients while the broccoli is in the oven)

Mixing the roasted broccoli...

Ta-da!

Enjoy!

Goodbye, 2011!

2011-12-31T10:39:00.000-06:00

I thought it would be fun to take a look back at 2011 and all of the wonderful things we've experienced this year.

First, let's take a look at this quote from my "Goodbye, 2010" post last year:

I have a feeling 2011 won't be nearly as exciting (no graduating, no moving, no marrying), but I'm hoping it will be an equally wonderful year!

Ha. No moving? What happened to that?! It just goes to show that no matter what plans I've made, God always has something better in store!

So back to 2011. We'll start at the begining...

JANUARY
We finally got the apartment looking nice and decorated.

I started my second law school semester, and I did a bunch of interviews to get my very first legal internships!

FEBRUARY
I checked the last thing off our wedding to-do list when I finished our wedding album!

We celebrated our first married Valentine's Day!

MARCH
We went to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo!

We attended Jeff's cousin's wedding.

We took a Spring Break trip to Washington, D.C., Williamsburg, VA, and Maryland!

APRIL
We bought our house!

I finished a giant appellate brief assignment for law school.

We celebrated Jeff's birthday.

MAY
I took my second set of law school finals and finished my first year of law school!

We celebrated Jeff's Confirmation!

We got our guestbook quilt from the wedding!

JUNE
We spent a weekend at Lake Palestine for a family reunion with my extended family on my dad's side.

We attended the wedding of our friends Brianne and Kevin.

We moved out of our apartment and into the house.

I got to be the Maid of Honor in Kristen & Dan's wedding.

JULY
We went to our first furniture auction!

We polka danced at a family reunion in Ennis, TX!

I took a tour of the Houston Ship Channel!

We celebrated our first anniversary and ate our wedding cake!

We attended the wedding of Katie and Alan:

AUGUST

I took you on a photo tour of our new house.

We went on my family's annual South Padre Island trip and played with the leftover sparklers from our wedding.

SEPTEMBER
We did some nesting in the kitchen and the half-bathroom.

OCTOBER
We took a trip to South Carolina to visit Jeff's family and go to a University of South Carolina football game.

We went to the pumpkin patch.

We completed our big backyard flower bed project!

We went to College Station for my sorority's alumni tailgate!

NOVEMBER
We took a quick trip to Fort Worth to watch my sister's dance performance.

I discovered a bunch of old photos at Jeff's grandparents' house.

We met Laura and David of The Luckiest in Love.

We camouflaged our air conditioning unit to make the Homeowners' Association happy.

We made it through yet another "Triple Thanksgiving." One day, three families, three dinners!

DECEMBER
I studied for finals a LOT, and officially made it to the halfway point of my time in law school!

We celebrated our engage-iversary. :)

We decorated for Christmas. And then we decorated a little more. And then we decorated some more again. :)

I took some silly Christmas photos of my wedding rings.

We celebrated my mom's birthday in Galveston, attended Jeff's dad's anniversary luncheon for 30 years of working for his company, and had our own little Jeff & Katie Christmas dinner.

We celebrated Christmas in Houston, in McKinney and Plano, and in Houston again!

Whew. What a year! We've certainly been busy, but we've made a lot of memories. I'm excited for 2012... it'll be our first full calendar year in the new house, I'll work for a law firm for the first time, I'll finish my second year of law school, we'll go on at least one exciting vacation (maybe more... we'll see!), we're planning to totally redecorate our bedroom and the empty guest room... it's going to be a big year! I'm pretty sure there really will be "no graduating, no moving, no marrying" in 2012 though!

Christmas 2011 - Christmas Day!

2011-12-30T15:30:00.000-06:00

We woke up on Christmas morning at my aunt and uncle's house, and went downstairs to do Christmas morning with my parents and sisters, my aunt and uncle and two cousins, and my grandparents (who live in an apartment over the garage at my aunt and uncle's).

Look! Santa came! :)

Kristen & Karoline bringing gifts down from Gran-mom's house!

With my cousin (excuse my awful haven't-had-my-coffee-yet face!)

Ready to open gifts!

One of the first gifts that was opened was for Oscar the dog... a RUN DMC shirt! He loved it (and he looks SO CUTE in it!).

My cousins

Opening gifts from Santa!

Santa brought lots of stuff!

Karoline got cowboy boots!

Kristen got a pearl necklace and earrings!

Jeff got a circular saw!

I got a nail gun and air compressor (note the excitement on my face... haha)!! I wanted one SO BAD. Haha!

Now we can hang crown molding in the house!!

Dad got a new suit, shirt, and tie!

Merry Christmas!

We also exchanged gifts with my grandparents and aunt and uncle (a pretty Katie Daisy print, a Penguin classics book, some cash (woohoo!), and a World Market gift card!). Then, we hurried upstairs to get dressed, and we headed off to see my extended family on my dad's side!

When we were growing up, all of us grandkids on my dad's side drew names and we each bought a Christmas gift for one of our cousins. When Jeff & I got married, I was pulled out of the "kids" exchange. My cousin Allison has been married for a few years, so she's been out of the exchange for a while too. This year, we decided to do a little married couples' exchange, which was so fun! Allison and Cason got us a cute Christmas doormat (which is now proudly adorning our front porch!), and Allison painted us this cute "house divided" plaque to celebrate A&M's move to the SEC.

Part of our gift to them was a Baylor University yarn wreath, which I had such fun making! I really want to make an A&M one for myself now, but the yarn-wrapping takes SO LONG... haha.

We also got some great gifts from my grandparents - homemade salsa and a Lowe's gift card so we can buy the barstools we've been wanting! Thanks Gran & Grandpa!

With all my cousins on my dad's side (8 girls, no boys!). It's always so special to have everyone together!

Of course, there was plenty of fun and being silly at this gathering as well... I believe this picture was my mom and uncle "hiding" so they'd be out of the way for all the kitchen clean-up. :)

After a delicious Christmas lunch that Gran worked really hard to finish before Jeff & I had to leave (thanks Gran!), we got back in the car and started the drive back to Houston (yep, we drove back in the middle of the day on Christmas)!

Driving on Christmas Day is actually a pretty good choice. There's zero traffic, and we made it from driveway to driveway in under four hours (a Christmas miracle!). A lot of people think we're crazy for doing the Christmas Day drive, but it gives us time to talk and just be with each other, which is kind of nice in the middle of a big whirlwind of family gatherings!

We made it to Jeff's parents' house by 5pm or so, and I was happy to finally be at our final destination and have a glass of wine and relax. Here's the pretty Christmas tree at Jeff's parents':

Jeff's brother was born on Christmas, so there's always time set aside specifically to celebrate his birthday. Happy Birthday Tim!

Tim and his girlfriend, Emily, who wrapped his gift in half-Christmas/half-birthday paper!

Jeff's middle brother Matt never cooperates when I'm trying to take a photo... haha!

Here's a behind-the-scenes shot: this is me trying to take the photo above of Matt, Tim, and Emily. I love it when Grandma's around to take pictures like this! Haha!

We had another yummy meal with Jeff's family, and then we got to open Christmas crackers again (Jeff's family lived in England when he was a kid as well!). Of course, we had to wear our paper crowns...

Then, it was time for another round of gift-opening! At this point, Jeff was like "Wow... I already have a trunk stuffed full of presents, and I haven't even started to open the presents I would've got before we were married!" It's true... being married means more gifts!

Tim got a remote control car as a joke gift, but we all had fun playing with it, especially Grandaddy!

Jeff's parents

Me & Jeff

Jeff's brothers gave me some great kitchen things and a HomeGoods gift card (yay!), and they bought Jeff a home beer-brewing kit (we'll see how that goes... haha!). We got lots of wonderful things from Jeff's parents and grandparents as well... to name a few: a set of white dishes for me (for those times when my brown everyday dishes just won't match my Easter/Valentine's/whatever table setting), a Black & Decker work table for Jeff, a beautiful milk glass candy dish from Grandma & Grandaddy, some books for Jeff, etc...

We made a total mess of the living room by covering it in wrapping paper and ribbons!

Overall, we had a really wonderful Christmas. We got to spend quality time with each branch of the family, we got to sincerely celebrate the birth of Jesus, we got to see the people we love open the gifts we picked out for them (my favorite part of Christmas!), and we were overwhelmed by the thoughtful gifts people gave to us.

We spent the night with Jeff's parents on the 25th, and on the 26th we got to sleep late and then lounge around watching a movie (The Help - not as good as the book, but good nonetheless). We really enjoyed the relaxation time!

We arrived back at our house on the evening of the 26th, and it's good to be home! We're still catching up with laundry, putting away Christmas gifts, thank you notes, cleaning the house, etc., but I'm SO enjoying the time off from law school (although I did have to go in to work on Law Review stuff all day on Wednesday... and I should be working on that paper...).

It seems like as soon as the Christmas excitement dies down, it's already time for New Year's! How time flies!

Christmas 2011 - the 23rd and 24th

2011-12-30T08:00:00.000-06:00

On the 23rd of December, we loaded up the car and made the 5-hour drive up north to the Dallas area, home of my grandparents and many aunts/uncles/cousins.

We made it there just in time for the late-December/early-January birthday celebration for my mom's side of the family. Five birthdays in a short span of time means we have one big party! There was cake and yummy Texas barbecue and lots of family to see!

The birthday people!

On Christmas Eve, we all drove to Plano, TX to see my dad's side of the family. Gran made a delicious chicken tortilla soup for lunch, and we really enjoyed seeing everyone (so much that I didn't even get a chance to take pictures!).

Then, we met my mom's parents at their church for Christmas Eve Mass.

The whole family, all dressed up for Christmas church!

After church, we went back to McKinney (home of my mom's family) for a big Christmas Eve seafood boil! We had shrimp, mussels, sausage, and potatoes... all cooked with cajun spices and DELICIOUS!

With my sisters!

Karoline playing with some of our cousins

More cousins with Karoline!

My aunt, uncle, and cousin (my uncle had just had major spinal surgery, so he had to be in that awful brace the whole time!).

Mom & Dad

After dinner, it was time for pajamas & Christmas carols! My mom's family (consisting of my grandparents, their five kids and five spouses, and 14 grandkids + significant others) has been doing this every year since before I was born. I'm the oldest grandchild on that side of the family, so ALL of us grandkids have grown up singing carols with our family every Christmas Eve. It started years ago with just my dad playing his guitar and everyone singing, but now it's progressed to include fancy spiral-bound songbooks with a complete collection of Christmas song lyrics, a bunch of smaller instruments for the kids to play, a couple of silly "warm up songs" that my dad wrote himself, and an organized system where every person gets a turn to pick a song (we don't stop until everyone has picked one!).

With a bunch of my cousins

One of my aunt/uncle couples...

Karoline with my littlest cousins

Another aunt/uncle couple...

Gran-mom and Gran-dad!

Another aunt/uncle couple with their three little girls...

Karoline singing with more of my cousins...

Dad on the guitar, and Jeff on the didgeridoo (he's the only one who can get it to make a sound, so he's the didgeridoo guy for Christmas Eve!).

Rockin' out to "Mister Grinch"

(look closely... you can see Jeff in the background playing the didgeridoo! Haha!)

We had to get one last matching-pajamas photo before heading off to bed...

Up next, Christmas Day!