Ayeayeaye

Seriously? Could I be any worse at blogging? I am really good at reading blogs, well, okay, I am really good at reading my sister's and her IRLBFF Deb's blog. (okay fart, I totally tried to link to your site, but it was not working!!) But I am totally sucky at commenting, blogging, anything active essentially.


However, since I am here and engaged (get it?!), let me give you a wedding update. Okay, so does looking at that little 37 days left make you throw up in your mouth a little? No? Just me? Okay, well, it totally freaks me out. Maybe that is why I am not blogging. It forces me to watch the second drop off, ever closer to December 6. I think what I am most afraid of is not planning anymore. I LOVE IT! I want to plan wedding for the rest of my life. I will have binders, and itineraries, and invitation proofs, and everything! So if there are any potential brides out there-call me!! I need a wedding to plan. I wish I had a friend who was getting married soon. I think I could prove myself. But in the meantime, I will relish in my own wedding planning.


So last I left you, was with my new shoes. Let's see...


I booked ceremony musicians. I finally contacted my old violin (fiddle!) instructor who told me she was available, plus a harpist and a flutist (flautist?) So the three of them will play during the ceremony. Won't that be so awesome?


And I also got the ornaments that I ordered for my favors. I begged and pleaded with my cousin to hand decorate them all, and she agreed. But since they have been in my house, I have found my crafty side and have been doing them myself. Please see below...

AH! I love them! The back has the date of our wedding. And I also got the little individual boxes that we will decorate and put under the Christmas tree in the entry way at the reception, so people can put their fun little ornament favors in their fun little boxes.

What else is going on? I am getting RSVPs in. I love that. I normally hate getting mail, but now I have to sit on my hands so I don't tackle the post-man. So far there are 115 people coming, 7 of those will be our mystery guests because they didn't put their name on the card nor did they put a return address on it. I think I will sit them at the "Idiots who didn't put their name on the card" table. =) It will certainly make the seating chart more interesting.

I have also had one of my two showers. It was co-hosted by my sister (thanks again, Fart!). it was lovely, and I got lots of good loot! I have the second shower next weekend. This is the in-law side. I am a little nervous, I am not sure I will know everyone! Oh well, thanks for coming always sounds good. The introductions to my family may get a little interesting...

Anyway, I think that is all the good stuff. And Joe is almost in with the mail! (Whoohoo). I will try to update more regularly.

Finally!

Wedding Update!

Whoohooo.

Well, my stunningly beautiful dress came in. And I made the 1567 hour drive to Cincinnati to pick it up. (it was not a pleasant drive.) But, it was the right dress and it fit! Even better.

Other wonderful wedding news? I got my wedding shoes. How awesome are they?!

They are just the right amount of sassy, pointy, high heeled, toe-cleavage-y wonderfulness I was looking for. How cute will it be to see those little red tips sticking out of my gown! In the meantime, this is how they look with my jammies.
I'm quite hot to trot in my sweats and red high heels. The look is even better when I am in my workout capris and red high heels.

Other wedding news, we had out tasting yesterday. So we drove the 345 hours down to B-town to pick out the linens and taste everything. I had asked my florist to put together a sample centerpiece so I could see how they look with the linens. And the flowers were so pretty!!

If you can't tell, it is red roses, light pink roses around the edge, bright pink roses, bright and light ranaculus in the middle. With a leaf wrap around the stems. Pretty, no? I think I will ask her for a little less light pink and a little more bright pink. But still, I love them.

So for the linens on the guest tables, we chose black table cloths, black chair covers, white chair ties, white napkins and white table runners. The white table runners look awesome- it really made the flowers pop. I can't believe I forgot to get a picture of it. Oh well- trust me, it was beautiful. For the head table we will have white tablecloth, white chair covers, white chair ties, white napkins. No table runner because we will have 24 feet of solid red roses down the center of the table. Whohoo!

As for the food that will be on these beautiful tables...

During the cocktail hour (hour one of the SEVEN hours open bar), we will have red pepper hummus on pita chips, mini crab cakes, grilled shrimp skewers, and cheese for the hor derves. The salad will be served and will be endive with dried cherries and a balsamic vinaigrette. Dinner will be buffet style, with tilapia with a scampi sauce, chicken stuffed with spinach and cheese topped with a sun dried tomato sauce, a penne pasta with tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and feta cheese, and a prime rib carving station. The sides will be cubed roasted red potatoes and green beans. The cake will have fondant icing, and will have a layer of red velvet, a layer of cherry, a layer of white, and a layer of white with key lime filling. We will also have petit fours, chocolate dipped strawberries and truffles. YUM! And don't forget the seven hours of open bar.

And now I am going to drop off the planet earth again.

Ack!

Has it really been over a week since I blogged last? There goes my commitment to blogging. Stupid work. It really has been keeping me way too busy.

So what's new with you all?

My weekly update was a little long, how about I try a weekend update?

Friday evening, Joe and I loaded up and drove the 3+ hours to B-town to see his fam. His sister's family was coming in town, complete with twin 8 year olds and one sassy three year old. We got into town before them- they were stuck in traffic. So we said a quick hello to the parents and headed off to pick up me newly re-minted Hoosier friend and her boyfriend. Colleen just moved back to Indiana to go back to school at IU. Unfortunately, since I have moved as well, Colleen is still a few hours away. It was very nice to see her.

We grabbed a late dinner and a few drinks. I had coddle. Do you know what coddle is? It is soooo delicious. I don't think I new what it was until I went to this Irish restaurant. It is like a good super duper thick stew/soup, with lots of bacon. MMmmm bacon soup. Maybe I should try to make coddle. Hmm, maybe so.

Anyway, the rest of the family showed up shortly after we got home. It's amazing how loud a house gets when you add 5 more people. =)

Saturday morning we got up early (9:00!!) and had some Mimi breakfast. Essentially whenever anyone comes over, all Mimi does is cook, and all the rest of us do is eat. And if you start eating, it just encourages her. Her thinking goes like this, I'm pretty sure. Oh, if you are eating club crackers, you probably want wheat thins. And if you are eating crackers and wheat thins, you probably want Cheetos. And if you are eating all those things, you probably want chips. And if you want chips, you probably want dip. And if you want dip, you probably want cottage cheese. And if you want cottage cheese, you might want Colby cheese. And if you want Colby cheese you might want a lunch meat sandwich. And on and on it goes. No wonder Joe was fat when he lived there. I can't get out of there without gaining 5 pounds over a weekend.

Anyway, so after a breakfast of pancakes, strawberries, bacon, cottage cheese, Cheetos, etc, Joe and I escaped the house for the bar. Yes, for the bar. Yes, it was 10:30. But we had a football game to go to, so we needed to get drinking. Joe had a Hairy Bear (of the Hairy Bear fame- see number 10). I downgraded so I wouldn't puke on my shirt and got a Skip and Go Naked instead. (Really that's what it is called.)

We didn't dilly dally there so we drank those, had some toast, and were off to the tailgate. Now if Joe and I were living in Bloomington, rather than this god-forsaken place, we would be inheriting the family tailgate. We would be arriving early in the morning with a trunk full of booze to entertain the masses. Instead, we still just get to show up, drink for free, and get loved on by family that didn't expect us to make it down for the game. Going to the game is not an important part of IU football, so Joe and I wondered through the various tailgates during the first half and then went back to hang out with family over half-time. It was nice. Everyone is so excited about the wedding. We headed back home after tailgating and spent the rest of the day hanging around, watching movies, and playing with the kids.

Sunday morning we slept in and pretty much went right to the lunch table when we got up. It was the twins birthday lunch, although they pretty much just pouted the whole way through lunch because they wanted to open their gamillion presents. So, right after lunch, the kids got down to business. There were tons of presents to open, and the three year old was taking it all pretty well. She was opening all their presents, but not taking any for herself. Pretty good for a three year old.

We escaped their house before we could eat anything else and headed over to my parents house. So much driving!! When we got there, Mom, Dad, Ang and the kiddos and my aunts and uncle were there, and my cousins got there shortly after we did. it was nice to see everyone. The kids were so funny. They are pretty much terrified of Uncle Joe most of the time. We didn't stay long since we had a ridiculous drive home ahead of us. We got in the car around 6:00 I think. We decided to stop for dinner. At White Castle. Seriously.



I haven't had a White Castle in about 6 years. But we chose well. Apparently this is the best White Castle in the land, considering we waited 45 minutes for our sliders. Seriously. Nearly an hour. We should have stopped at Morton's or something. There were tons of rednecks either heading to or from the lakes up north and they were ALL at White Castle. I swear each person waiting ahead of us ordered 30 burgers. It was ridiculous. But they were sooooooo good. Yum. All 6 of them. Plus fries. And onion chips. Ugh. How soon is it that I need to fit into my wedding dress?

Weekly Update

Hello patiently waiting readers! I mean, hi mom and Deb. =)

I have felt extremely busy, but I am not quite sure what I have been up to. Let's try to do a recap.

Since my last post, Joe and I ate all the pie. You may have thought I would have to be in the hospital since this time with the sugar diabetes, but we managed to stay out of a coma.

Last Friday, I went down to babysit for my favorite rug rats. I got to meet the famous Jesus Fandango Rodrigo Luiz Ortega, who is just a little bit funnier and cuter than the pictures. I also got to see my folks, and we got a cute picture from the top of a hay wagon.

Please note my crown. Little Miss put that on me when I first got there. And she TOTALLY forced me to where it all night. Seriously, I hate being a princess.

Saturday, Joe's parents came up to the Fort. They were our first overnight visitors. They even slept on an air mattress!! We are that awesome. Mimi brought us a present! In a Crate and Barrel box! My favorite kind! (Well, expect for presents that come in pretty little velvet lined boxes.) So she got us the green charges we registered for. They are so pretty!

It's hard to get a good picture, but the very pretty dessert plate on top is what my mom got me! I can't wait for my shower! Keep the Crate and Barrel boxes a'comin!

Back to the update... I had unexpectedly been given the chance to go to a conference in Chicago so Sunday night I packed up and drove to Chicago. I pretty much ditched all the conference sponsored socializing events and went about my way in Chicago. I ate at my favorite pizza place and got to poke around the Magnificent Mile.

I have since been working entirely too much. I thought this whole work from home thing was going to be a piece of cake, but goodness sakes- it is easy to get sucked into work till 10pm when it is in your living room.

This last weekend Joe and I went to a state park about 20 minutes from our house. It has 11 small lakes formed by a glacier, and 8 are connected by little channels. Joe and I hiked for 3 hours on Sunday!! Ugh! My butt is still sore. But it was nice. It is so shaded that it wasn't even too bad to walk that long in 80 degree weather. We are going to try to kayak through all 8 lakes at some point, but I think we will wait till it is cooler. I don't think there is too much shade in the middle of a lake.

Welp, I must be off (to work). I must start blogging more regularly. It is harder to even write one when you haven't for so long. So I make this promise to you, I will stop working so much and start blogging!

Happy Happy Birthday

Today is Doctor Joe's 31st birthday. Dude, he's so old. Like as old as my sister.
Last year for Joe's 30th birthday, I surprised him with a trip to New York. I packed his bags for him, made him get in the car, and he didn't know where we were going until we got to the airport. I am still paying off that birthday present. (Thank goodness for 0% APR credit cards). Since I am still paying on that one, this one was a bit more low key.
We went out for a very fancy dinner in the smallest town up here over the weekend. It is such an odd place, the town is maybe a few hundred, and there is this phenomenal four star restaurant. We had fois gras (which is freaky but really good); Joe had lamb and I had fish. And then we had four desserts.
Today for his real birthday, Joe had to work, but he requested a few pies for his present. So I spent all afternoon baking up a storm. He wanted a key lime pie, a cheesecake, and a blueberry pie. So he got...

The key lime pie was the most time intensive. I used actual Key Limes, not regular limes. I felt like I was in some reality show competition while I was squeezing all those tiny little limes. Do you know how many of these

it takes to get 2/3 cup?! Well, I don't either, but it felt like a lot.

Should Joe and I consume all the desserts I made tonight, we would eat 3.3 pounds of sugar, 1.33 pounds of graham cracker, 1 pound of cream cheese, 1 pound of butter, 5 eggs, and 3 egg yolks.
Now I am going to go lay on the couch and watch the Olympics, I mean, go burn off some calories.

Ratatouille

I'm excited to share my first recipe! Although I am very bummed it is not "Ellen's super awesome black bean salsa." Joe's camera is holding those pictures hostage until we find the battery charger. It will come though, I promise.

Anyway, on to Ratatouille. Now, if you are like me, you had no idea what Ratatouille was until you saw the very adorable Pixar/Disney movie. I love it. However, since Remy didn't post a recipe at the end of the movie, I had to ask Mimi. (Remy is the little rat in the movie, Mimi is the soon to be mother-in-law)

So, this is what you need, more or less.

The recipe calls for:

1 eggplant, cubed

1 large zucchini, cubed (I used two small ones)

2 medium yellow squash, cubed (the grocery didn't have any, so I had to use one, slightly old, leprosy ridden squash)

1/4 cup olive oil

1 small green pepper, coarsely chopped (mine was not so small)

1 small sweet yellow pepper, coarsely chopped (again, not so small)

1 small red pepper, coarsely chopped (kind of small)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 (14.5 oz) cans of fancy tomato wedges, undrained (I don't have a clue what these are, so I used two cans of peeled, diced tomatoes)

1/2 cup of dry white wine (I don't drink white wine, so I don't know what kind is dry- I used Riesling)

1/3 cup small pitted olives

1 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons of dried Italian seasoning

1 bay leaf

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I used the stuff out of the green can)

If you have these totally awesome bowls from William-Sonoma, you can do this with all your chopped, cubed, and minced veggies.

Saute the eggplant zucchini and yellow squash in hot oil in a large Dutch oven (giggle) over medium-high heat for 6-8 minutes (We don't have a Dutch oven yet- it's on the registry!- so I just used the biggest pan we have, which wasn't big enough)

Add the peppers, onions, and garlic and saute for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Look at the pretty colors!

Add the tomatoes, wine, olives, salt, Italian seasoning, and the bay leaf. Stir, cover, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 15 minutes or until tender. (I don't have a picture of this step because my pan was overflowing and I had to divide it between two pans.)

After the 15 minutes, discard the bay leaf and transfer the ratatouille to a large serving dish. (Or keep it in the pan)

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if desired.

It may look a little bit like throw up, but it is so good!! I sauteed some ground turkey and added it before I served it. I hadn't done that before, but it was very good and I will do it again.

I feel so healthy eating it- I was getting about 98 servings of veggies!

I heart Fort Wayne

I have been delinquent in my blogging, but I think this story is worth a week's worth! This is an excerpt from the Fort Wayne news.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - A Fort Wayne man was arrested Monday for felony Public Indecency after police saw him standing naked in the window of his home.
Around 10:30 p.m. Monday evening, a Fort Wayne officer was driving in the 4500 block of S. Hanna St. when he noticed a naked man standing in front of a large picture window of his home with his genital region clearly visible to those on the street.
According to the officer, the blinds were not pulled shut and the front door was wide open, giving a clear view inside the home.
Together, with another responding officer, the two walked up to the home and found the naked man, then on the couch, conducting a lewd act with a claw hammer, plastic bag and motor oil.
The man, Ronald Miller, did not acknowledge the officer's presence until they addressed him and still did not say anything.
Officers arrested Miller for felony Public Indecency, at which time Miller asked the officer for another chance. Officers declined and took Miller in double-locked handcuffs to the Allen County Lock-up instead.
Mr. Miller had a previous conviction for an unrelated public nudity incident.
A neighbor watching the scene, who wished to remain confidential, told police she had seen Miller walk around naked in his home with the front window and door open on several occasions. She said, "He does it 24/24. He's not right."
The neighbor also told police she doesn't appreciate that he walks around naked for all to see in her neighborhood.

Okay, so the hilarity about the claw hammer, plastic bag and motor oil is almost too much.

Until you read the comment by the neighbor who says he does it "24/24", you know, like 24 hours a day, 24 days a week.

How is it possible I live here?