Autumn Nostalgia, Part 2

Autumn is the season for baking and for beautiful colors!  Days of reading, watching a good movie, soaking up the Indian summer sunshine, taking walks, shuffling leaves, wearing sweaters, crocheting, and snuggling with blankets on the couch with a special person.  Days of apple cider, gingersnaps, and did you know it's almost Christmas?!!?  Yes, I'm one of those crazy people that LOVES Christmas.  Plays Christmas music all year round.  Shops for presents early.  Invents new traditions.  Tries to see how long it is possible to extend Christmas.  Plans surprises galore.  This is my favorite time of year.  But I won't go into the "why's and wherefore's" right now.  More pictures:

 French Silk Pie.  This took me six hours to make.  But it was well worth it.  So was the look on my husband's face...and the dishes he washed.  :-)

 These pictures are a sampling of the colors that surround me right now.

Smiles!

Autumn Nostalgia

Just a few pictures from the last few weeks of baking.

 Breakfast for dinner: waffles, cheesy poached eggs, sausage, and blueberry sauce.  I still have not found a way to make blueberries that induces me to like them, but I eat them anyway.  I'm not fond of berries--unless it's jelly, and I can't eat much citrus because it causes mouth sores.  But I love peaches, plums, nectarines, pluots, apples, bananas, cherries, mango, papaya, kiwi, etc...

 My healthy version of pumpkin bread--whole wheat flour, flax seed, protein powder, and wheat germ.  I'm going to start experimenting again with making everything gluten free, since I've been having some trouble lately.  It's definitely more expensive and much harder to make things taste just as good--time consuming and creativity intense.  :-)

 Iced Pumpkin Cookies!

 A new recipe of pickled eggs and beets! Yum!  Brian now likes both glazed and Harvard beets, but hasn't acquired a taste for these delectable delicacies.  We are both firm believers in trying all foods with an open mind and learning to like them. 

 Pumpkin roll.  I'd never made this before because my sister wouldn't let anyone of us make cheesecake or pumpkin roll-it was her job.  Now I have my chance at last!  I put nuts in it for the first time, but Brian and I agreed we like it best without the nuts.

 Cooking lesson #1: Poached eggs.  I've always wanted to try making these, and the attempt was successful!  It's now my favorite way to eat an egg, and I keep experimenting with various ways of doing it.  It doesn't take any longer than a fried egg, and you can even fill them with cheese!  First step is the boiling process...

 The removal process...

Time to eat!  I seasoned my eggs with salt, pepper, garlic, paprika, Parmesan cheese, and sometimes dill, red pepper, and Italian seasoning.  Yes, I like my food to taste full bodied and well seasoned--with lots of variety!

Smiles

How Many Fingers Do You Have?

My husband arrived home tonight with a sad face and woeful tale.  He always manages to injure himself just before the workday ends.   I listened sympathetically and proceeded to feed him with a nice, hot dinner, and also decided that dessert was in order tonight.  The story?   He was helping a customer hitch up a trailer and the index finger of his left hand got caught in the lock latch.  The result?  A "c" shaped imprint on the front and back of his finger.  The pictures don't do it justice, though.  It is actually worse than it appears.  We cleaned it up and dressed it with a clean bandage and stint.  We are thankful that it wasn't worse, and that he still possesses all his fingers.  And, as always, a kiss makes everything better.

 Removing the bandage.  Instruments at the ready.

 The cut itself.

All better!

I thought he injured himself just to get out of dish duty for the next few days...among other things.  ;-)  Now I'm going to go read him another chapter in our new favorite book, "Dragon Spell," by Donita K. Paul.

Smiles!

Reflections on Married Life

It is now nearly two months since the declaration of two words, "I do," have created an ultimatum in my life.  Never will I be able to retract the proclamation or return to my former life--not that I desire it.  Married life thus far has been beyond my wildest dreams; truly, waiting on God's direction and timing for my life has produced unimagined blessings.  It has not been without its learning or trying moments, but it has been bliss.  I am learning every day about sacrifice, expectations, communication, respect, partnership, wifely/homemaker duties, and more.  As I am alone everyday, I have had more time than ever to pray, and that has blessed me so much.  I have discovered portions of myself that I was unaware existed.  I am learning how amazing my husband truly is!  He is always there to listen and encourage me, values my opinions and thoughts, takes such care of me--physically, emotionally, and mentally, and works so hard.  We reflected today that before we were married, we could not bear to be apart, and thought that it would lessen once married.  However, just the opposite is true.  We find ourselves struggling with being apart even for a few hours--we just genuinely enjoy each other's company, and are learning so much!  We find that we have gone into "hiding."  I think that this will balance out in time.  However, I pray that we never lose what we feel for each other now, but that it will grow and deepen, just as our love and service for Christ does.  Brian mentioned that last night, it brought tears to his eyes to think about how blessed he was.  We both remarked that it's almost impossible to describe and we have no wish to take this for granted!

For those of you out there who are still waiting for "something" to happen in your life, take heart!  And, take advantage of every moment.  Get active.  Explore the possibilities.  Make things happen.  Rejoice in the Lord our God and live free and victoriously!

Smiles!

Honeymoon Pictures

Brian has uploaded a Honeymoon album on Facebook.  Check out his recent album for our photos.

Smiles!

Cunningham Falls

 Monkey Bread for breakfast.  Ok, fine.  There were scrambled eggs as well.

 We found these vibrant orange mushrooms on our hike.  When I first noticed them from a distance, I thought it was a tree with lovely leaves; however, upon closer examination, they turned out to be mushrooms.

 I'm not sure what tree this was, but there were so many of them!  The trunks varied in size, but they were all a slate gray color, with lovely green leaves.  Some of them were so feathery.  The forest looked like an enchanted fairy land.  I was reflecting on this when Brian decided to tell me there was an orc peering at me from around that tree.  It did in fact look like it was the forest from LOTR.

 It wasn't supposed to rain, but part way through our hike we found a little cove to wait til the rain passed.  The walk became fairly slippery.

 I love how the sun is shining!  Light paths are so much fun!

 The falls!  You can't see them very well from where we were, but they had it all fenced off so this was as close as you could get.

 The stream from the falls.

We thought it rather ironic that every bridge was filled with water, but the streams underneath the bridges were dry.

And thus concludes our first hiking adventure as a married couple.  I have more trips planned so as to take advantage of this lovely weather!

Smiles!

Recent Happenings

This was our first dinner after our honeymoon.  We didn't have anything in the house but beef jerky, cereal, sardines, cheese, bagels, and crackers, so we made a meal out of it.  Definitely memorable.

This is just before Brian forced me to my doom, er, that is, learning to cut his hair.  He helped me quite a bit, but I'm so glad I'm not making a career out of this!  He is often more confident in my abilities than I am!

Our bed for the first few weeks.  We've never before been so thankful for a bed!

Our first dinner after Brian went back to work.  I've had plenty to keep me busy, and have enjoyed being on my own, but have started to feel pretty lonely.  He works all day and I don't have anywhere to go and limited places to walk.  My mom and grandmothers have had a tradition of setting the table this way, lighting candles, playing nice music, and dressing up a bit for their husbands, and while I have the time, I really enjoy making things fun.  Brian seems to enjoy it as well.  Life is all about taking pleasure in the simple things and making the most of everything!  We are both perfectionists, so it's been interesting to work out our "particular" ways of doing things.  Or, "well, we've always done it that way!"  It's made for some fun eye openers and interesting laughs.

We grilled one night at a local park, but it was so windy and chilly that we ended up eating in the truck.

The view from our balcony!  I am so thankful for trees and mountains!  I do miss flowers and gardening some, though.

The other side of the balcony view...

Baking day!  Iced tea, Cream of Tomato Soup, Peanut Butter Blossoms (gluten and dairy free!), Banana Nut Muffins (with wheat germ, flax seed, and protein powder!), and Smoked Gouda Croissant Sandwiches (thanks to Sharon Sunday!).  I so enjoy cooking and baking and really feel alive and inspired when doing so.  I could do it all day--experimenting, etc, if I didn't have other things to do.  Someday, I'm going to be a really good cook (Brian says I do splendidly now) and take gourmet cooking classes.  Two of my favorite cooking movies: No Reservations and Julie and Julia (minus a few scenes) inspire me.  I also found a few of my favorite, but out of print, cookbooks on amazon for $0.47!  I was so happy because I've been borrowing my mom's indefinitely...

More baking!  Clone of a Cinnabon!  I've had a hard time learning to cook for two people and it helps to keep me busy all day.  Thus, the guys at Brian's work end up with the leftovers and it makes them rather happy fellows.

Pizza crust!

Brian and I have called this dear little friend our "baby."  It has truly been a blessing!  I like this model the best of the ones I have used--it has all metal gears, matches my kitchen Tuscan theme, and latches on the bottom instead of that nasty lever for the bowl.

Brian is such a sweet guy!  He washed the dishes for me after baking all day, and I was really tired, and had a hard time standing.  He does things like this rather frequently.  I reciprocate with a backrub.  The only thing lacking right now is a piano....but I have a keyboard that I'm keeping my eye on for right now.  I very much miss playing.

Married life is incredible!  I had no idea it could be this good or just get better and better!  We both aren't sure how we could possibly have ever been happy or content with singleness.  Definitely an adventure!  We're on the hunt right now for a good church in our area.  This Tuesday we will celebrate our one month anniversary.  Hard to believe it's been that long already.  It seems so short and yet like it has been this way for years.  We believe that celebrating things often is such fun.  Brian is working on honeymoon pictures, and should have them up soon.

Smiles!

A + B