lately

So this summer has proved to be quite the busy one.  We just returned last night (after a 14 hour drive!) from Wisconsin.  Why were we there, you might ask?  Well we were able to witness the marriage of our sweet friends Anna and Matthew.  We had a fantastic time and boy do those Irish/Catholic/Midwesterners know how to put on a good party!  Thank you guys for having us, we feel blessed to have been part of your big day! 

But that's only the first part...I don't know if you've noticed but THE OLYMPICS ARE ON!  And yes, I'm an Olympic fanatic.  In that, I really enjoy watching them.  I honestly don't know anything about the Olympians (except Michael Phelps, because come on, I don't actually live under a rock) but I really love watching any event.  So yeah, any time I can, I'm catching up on the Olympics.  And it should surprise no one that I tear up during any given event because I get super emotional about all of the hard work each person has done to get to this point and I'm really proud of them, even though I don't know them.  Yeah, it's kinda weird.

Annnnnd....I'm gearing up to take another trip!!!  I leave on Friday, so I better start packing now!  I will try and post pics from our Wisconsin trip (we were able to stop in Chicago on the way there) this week before I up and leave y'all again.  Thank you if you actually still read this blog, I know it isn't consistent and probably not very interesting but thanks for being patient :)

lately (with katie)

I haven't posted in awhile (minus the quote post) because my sister was here for a WHOLE WEEK!  Oh, we were busy doing this stuff:

1. Attending a Death Cab for Cutie concert
2. Getting manis/pedis
3. Eating LOTS of Mexican food
4. Watching movies
5. Attending cookouts 
6. Attending John's softball game
7. Going to the pool
8. Working (loose term)
9. Going to a dueling pianos bar
10. Drinking beer
11. Drinking champagne
12. Drinking margaritas
13. Shopping
14. Walking
15. Hiking (yes! hiking...I know...)
16. Watching Pretty Little Liars
17. Watching Toddlers and Tiaras (And noooo don't worry my future unborn child will not be debuting in this...I'd like to not win Worst Parent of the Year Award.  But man, is this show entertaining.)
18. Watching YouTube videos
19. Dancing to anything on Katie's Pandora station of choice
20. Discussing important life decisions and all that adult-like stuff
21. Making/eating cookies
22. Celebrating Christmas in July, holler!

We had a wonderful time together and I'd like to thank my sweet sister for making the trek up here!  It really brightened my scorching hot, dry summer.  Sank you!  I love you sooooooo much!!!

 Death Cab for Cutie concert

Drinking beer and eating french fries.  It's the life, really.

John's softball game.  We were totally cheering him on/taking pics with Katie's iPhone.

(All photos were graciously taken from Katie's Facebook account :)

your daily quote

I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can be together all the time.

Calvin and Hobbes

dixie cups

love it! i found it over at peaceloveandwolfpack

ginny + riley (the video)

Remember the time I posted about Ginny's wedding here, here, here, and here?  This is probably one of the last things I'll post about Ginny's wedding but I wanted to share her wedding video highlights!  They hired an awesome videographer who basically followed us around like paparazzi all weekend (it was pretty amazing).  I feel like you really get to experience the wedding weekend when you see this sweet video.  And don't worry, that's yours truly speaking during the introduction.  My debut in the film industry :)  Enjoy!!

your daily quote

And so castles made of sand slips into the sea, eventually...

Jimi Hendrix

food for thought

I'm currently reading The Reason for God by Timothy Keller.  It's a great book and I wanted to share a quote I read in it the other day.  The quote is actually from C.S. Lewis and Keller was using it to demonstrate a point.

Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken.  If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal.  Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.  But in that casket--safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change.  It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.  The alternative to tragedy, or at least the risk of tragedy, is damnation.

your daily quote

You know that place between sleep and awake, the place where you can still remember dreaming? That’s where I’ll always love you. That’s where I’ll be waiting.

J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

(I'm pretty sure I've shared this quote before but I love it and think it's precious so I just wanted to post it again.) 

more cooking with strange vegetables

So like I said, I was sick for awhile.  Which means that I was eating toast, crackers and ramen.  Not the vegetables we were receiving from our CSA.  Once my stomach grew a little stronger (around Friday/Saturday of last week) I began to panic because I did NOT want those vegetables to go to waste!  Not when we paid good money for them!  (I'm a bit frugal) So I went into overdrive cooking about two weeks worth of veggies in one night (thank God they were all still in good condition).  And here's what I came up with:

for Swiss Chard: 

Risotto with Swiss Chard

Comments: Super tasty!! A little salty, which I think is great but if you're not that into salt it may be a bit much for you.  I guess Swiss chard is salty?  Because I didn't add any salt to the risotto.  John's comment: "I like it but not as much as some of the other risotto you've fixed".  Fair enough.  I definitely recommend it.

for beets:

I had some recommendations to pickle the beets but the recipe I found for that used canned beets.  I wanted one for fresh beets so I used some helpful hints from my mother in law and I also found this helpful tutorial on how to roast them online.

Comments: We loved them!  Surprisingly so!  John and I were both shocked that we actually liked them.  I would definitely cook them again this way.  AND now I think I can use the pickled beets recipe with the fresh beets, all I would have to do is roast them first (they seem like they are the same consistency of canned beets at that point).  Apparently beets are loaded in iron, so that's good too.  Hopefully we'll receive more beets soon.

for rutabagas:

Rutabaga and Potato Casserole

Comments: John preferred this dish to the first rutabaga dish.  I liked it and thought it was really good (for a rutabaga dish) but I'm still not in looove with rutabagas.  Oh well.  At least this is a decent way to prepare and eat them.  I also made darn sure when I was peeling them that I didn't leave any peel on it and they turned out well.

The fact that I'm posting about cooking weird vegetables is a testament to how exciting my life is right now.  At least we're going out tonight to celebrate our anniversary (the actual date is next week), so that counts for something, right?  Oh yeah, I bought new heels for this dinner.  Of course I did.  Anything I can use as an excuse to buy cute stuff is always welcome.  I'll post pics later (maybe).

Lucky for you, I just found a picture of them online.  Love them!

more ginny pictures!

So I know I haven't posted in awhile, I've been pretty sick/recovering and that's why.  BUT I came across a link of Ginny's wedding pictures and knew that I had to post them!! A sneak peek from her photographer (my old YoungLife leader!).  She is so beautiful and the pictures turned out great (maybe I teared up a little while looking at them)!  So with no further ado, here you go...Ginny and Riley's sneak peek wedding pics!