Crafty

I love being crafty and creative! This Saturday I am having a tea at my house for the high school girls is my group and I know it's gonna be so much fun! And I made them some little surprises to take home!

I'm hoping this year to make some really cool things! I have a lot of ideas, but I'm just not sure how to make them become a reality. I want to go to the craft store so bad to get some things to start, but right now is just not a good time!

I just entered a contest to win a starter pack of felt flowers for a bouquet that you sew together yourself! It would be so cool to win, then I can get my creative juices flowing!

Well, hopefully soon I will be able to complete some sort of project!

RJ don't read, Hahaha!

This would be soooo cool to win, every little thing would be helpful when planning a wedding! Thanks Superior Wedding Rings!!

Superior Wedding Rings is an online company that offers a HUGE selection of wedding rings. Their rings come in everything from ceramic to palladium, and in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Superior Wedding Rings is going to giveaway your choice of ring from their site (up to $120 in value).

Adventures with Kale

So I love to cook! These days I haven't had much time to cook, but I'm always thinking about it! And because I'm getting married next year I'd better get use to cooking all the time!

I've been hearing alot about the benefits of eating Kale. It has a lot of vitamins and it also helps fight off cancer! I found this on a website:

"Kale absolutely rich and abundant in calcium, lutein, iron, and Vitamins A, C, and K. Kale has seven times the beta-carotene of broccoli and ten times more lutein. Kale is rich in Vitamin C not to mention the much needed fiber so lacking in the daily diet of processed food eating Americans. The "Icing on the Kale" are the natural occurring all important phytochemicals sulforaphane and indoles which research suggests may protect against cancer. Let's not forget the all important antioxidant Vitamin E. Rest assured kale spares nothing in providing one with much needed nutrients and associated health benefits."






So needless to say I am going to start adding Kale to my diet. Last night I tried a new recipe and mmmmmm it was so good!



Zuppa Toscana

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) package smoked sausage
2 potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch slices
3/4 cup chopped onion
6 slices bacon
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 cups kale - washed, dried, and shredded
2 tablespoons chicken soup base
1 quart water
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream



Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
Place sausage links onto a sheet pan and bake for 25 minutes, or until done. Cut links in half lengthwise, then cut at an angle into 1/2-inch slices.
Place onions and bacon slices in a large saucepan and cook over medium heat until onions are almost clear. Remove bacon and crumble. Set aside.
Add garlic to the onions and cook an additional 1 minute. Add chicken soup base, water, and potatoes, simmer 15 minutes.
Add crumbled bacon, sausage, kale, and cream. Simmer 4 minutes and serve.









I can't have milk, so I just substituted the cream for plain soy milk (next time I will probably use soy cream) and I added a little extra water and Chicken soup base to make the broth go a little bit further! I also used spicy sausage for a little kick!



It came out really good! And because I added the Kale in the last couple of minutes it didn't cook out all of the nutrients! I would definitely suggest trying this!



The next thing I'm going to try is a Kale and Banana smoothie. It sounds a little scary, but it's worth a try! I will let you know how it turns out!

A La Cuisine!

We love watching the Food Network. But we especially love watching Iron Chef America. If you have never seen it, it's a really fun show. Each show has a secret ingredient that must be in every dish. The challenger picks one Iron Chef to compete against and then they battle it out in kitchen stadium.

This is from their website, "Based upon the Japanese cult sensation, Iron Chef America carries on the legend of Kitchen Stadium and the famed "secret ingredient." Each week, world-class chefs battle the legendary Iron Chefs of America: Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, Masaharu Morimoto, Cat Cora Michael Symon. Alton Brown serves as Commentator and Mark Dacascos is Chairman."

They must make a 5 course meal and the Judges choose "who's cuisine reigns supreme." The Chairman is a martial arts expert, he's always doing back flips and make cheesy facial expressions.

Our favorite part of the show is the introduction of the secret ingredient.

The start of the battle is typically announced by the Chairman in the following manner:
So now America, with an open heart and an empty stomach, I say unto you in the words of my uncle: Allez cuisine!

Wedding time!!

I am very excited to begin planning my wedding and I am determined not to get stressed out about it!! I want to be able to look back in years to come and only remember that I was cool under pressure. Of course I know that at certain times some details will be more stress filled than others, but nothing is worth losing my cool over!!

Although I'm sure theres a little bridezilla in all of us,

But I just hope that side doesn't come out in me!

Since I have more than a year to plan I should be able to keep everything organized and well planned out. But I will be on the look out for a curve ball, just in case!!

In order to keep my cool I am just going to expect a couple of things in advance:

1. Expect money to be an issue.

2. Expect not to be able to make everybody happy.

3. Expect something to go wrong.

4. Expect some people to RSVP the day before.

5. Expect to live happily every after with the one I love!!! :-)

So during this time if you see me starting to get stressed out or if you see a Bridezilla starting to emerge, please remind me that I am not the one in charge, the Lord is. He will work everything out for His glory and that is the reason for all that I do!!

Ideas

There are so many cool ideas out there for everything Wedding!! I love just researching and looking up weddings. I know what colors I want. Here is an example:

I love the Blue and the Green together. I also want little bursts of Pink, Orange and Yellow. RJ and I both love the tropical beach theme, with shells and sand.

This is cool too:

I want my cake just a little more girly, not so cut and dry, but this is a good start!!

And I love this because it's very clean and simple, yet colorful:

This is a really neat way to bring in the beach aspect in table seating cards:

Well, I think I'm off to a good start. Now I just have to pull everything together! We are trying to cut costs as much as possible and do alot of things ourselves. If you have any good ideas or cool websites to look at please let me know!!

Engagement

Wow, I think I'm still in shock!! It's taken me a week to process everything and to gather my thoughts!

My first thought was "OH MY GOSH, ARE YOU SERIOUS?" and then it was "IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING?" Then when I realized that "yes this is happening" I was instantly so excited and shocked. He really pulled one over on me!! All my life I thought for sure I would be able to figure it out!! But I guess I was wrong.

When I think back to that moment I can't even remember what I said, I must have said yes cuz there is an amazing ring on my finger (haha). What I can remember is him getting down on his knee and saying will you marry me, then, putting the ring on my finger. I can remember my eyes welling up with tears and hugging him. He had to ask me a couple of times because I guess he couldn't hear me say yes!! But I was so surprised by the whole thing I couldn't get the words out!

After that we went to dinner (I couldn't eat) and called every one!! I am so blessed how genuinely excited every one is. We went through a lot last year and to tell you the truth I was a little worried about how this year was going to go. But in thinking about Jer 29:11 I am reminded that no matter what happens, good or bad, that the Lord has a wonderful plan for my life!! I can see that now.

We are praying about the perfect date for our wedding to take place. Possibly Spring of 2010. Thank you all for sharing in our joy and our sadness these last couple of months!!