1 Year

One year ago today we were getting ready to make this thing official.  Leading up to the day of (we had a long engagement and I'd had over two years to anticipate it) I thought that people saying their wedding day was the best day of their life was a total cliche.  Well, I've gotta say that it's definitely up there.  There's just something about having all those really important people there to watch you take that big step together as a couple.  It's hard to beat.

Brian, being married to you is everything I'd hoped it would be and more.  I can't to see what life brings us in the years ahead.

So I guess we're not newlyweds anymore, right?  Today is probably going to be pretty low-key- we're going out to dinner and we'll have a wedding cupcake, of course!  But we're gearing up for our trip to NYC next week!  How was your weekend, friends?

{Want to see more of our wedding?}

Guess what?!

{photo taken by me on this trip, which was one of my first blog posts!}

Eek!  We're going to NYC towards the end of August, and I couldn't be more excited!  Our first anniversary is on August 13th, and Brian sweetly suggested that we go to New York.  He's never been, and I've always wanted to go just the two of us.  Well, literally a couple of days after that, Alt NYC was announced.  I didn't know what to do.  It was so close to being convenient, just 10 days separated our trip.  When Brian got home we quickly talked it over and realized that I should snatch up a ticket, and if we decided that it wasn't right, I could always sell it later.

Well, it was a good thing I got that ticket, because they sold out in something like 4 hours.  We debated and thought about it for a long time, but in the end we decided to move our trip so that I could go to Alt.

But here's the thing: we're not extending our trip.  We're staying for two nights, which means that the one full day that we'll be in New York, I'll be at Alt.  And Brian will be on his own.  In New York.  On his first trip there EVER.

Brian has been a total trooper about the whole thing, ultimately giving up time for us to hang out together for me to go to Alt, which has been a goal of mine.  But because he's never been and he's being so accommodating about me turning this trip into a blogger thing, I feel like I need to plan at least a few fun things for him to do by himself on that day that I'm gone.

That's where you guys come in.  Do you have any ideas?  Any fun things that a guy who is interested in movies and comic books can do by himself in NYC, on the cheap?  I'd also love any other general NYC tips or place that you think we MUST go while we're there!  You guys are all so awesome- I know you'll have some cool things to share!

PS. This post about doing things separately on vacation was published around the time we were deciding, which I thought was so funny!  Have you ever done that?  I think it sounds fun!

shots from this weekend

This weekend was all pretty much based on our move home.  The last few weeks we've been working on eating all the food in our apartment, and I must say that we did a pretty good job.  Things were looking pretty empty in our cabinets.  On Saturday morning Brian made us a 5 egg omelet.  The photo above is just of my half.  It was ginormous.  It had ham, cheese, onions, and jalapenos.  Holy smokes.  Jalapenos are almost always featured in our omelets, but this one was hella spicy.

I'm glad he made us that omelet because it was pretty much the highlight of the move, because of course, it started to rain right before we started loading our cars.  Luckily it stopped for most of the drive.  I'm not into driving on highways in the rain.

The rest of the weekend consisted of unpacking, eating, and generally getting situated.  Yesterday I went on my long run for the week (I'm up to 6 miles!) and I'm telling you, each week I am more and more spent after the long run.  Like, ruined for the day.  Hence the time out back with my book (I'm about halfway through, and I like it but I have no clue where it's going!)  The weather on Sunday more than made up for what Saturday lacked.  It was heavenly.

How was your weekend?


P.S.  Today is the last day of April which means my swaps are getting swapped tomorrow!  Go click on the buttons in my sidebar NOW.  You won't be sorry.

Easter

Brian and I spent our first married Easter at home, just the two of us.  It didn't feel that strange not to be home with family because I actually haven't been home for Easter since I went to college.  It's just always bad timing with school, and my college roommates didn't usually go home either.

Brian and I spent most of the weekend working, but there were some highlights.  Since yesterday was Easter, I decided that was a great excuse to make mimosas.  I don't do it very often, because Brian doesn't like them, so it seems like a waste just to buy/ open everything for just me, but yesterday I was all "It's Easter and I'm working!  I'm making mimosas!"  I'm so glad I did, they're so refreshing!

The weather was gorgeous, so I took some breaks to read my book outside.  I need to do that more often.  We went on a walk, and I made the butteriest meal I've ever made or eaten in my life.  Then late at night we decided we needed dessert and embarked on our first true cooking fail as a couple... it was a disaster.  Let's just say the cake wound up in the trash.

How was your weekend, friends?

pasta with pesto, chicken sausage, and veggies

After my cry for help last week and after seeing all of your wonderful suggestions, I spent some time making a serious list of new recipes to try.  I found this one buried in my food board on Pinterest, and boy, am I glad I found it!

This recipe was just what I was looking for.  This seriously is up there with the best recipes that I've ever made.  It was really easy and perfect for spring!  It has lots of veggies and it feels pretty light because it doesn't have a sauce, and for how much pasta there is it didn't feel like you were even using that much pesto!  Brian and I both agreed that this stuff was pretty amazing.

The way the original measurements worked out, I would have had like a quarter of everything left, so I tweaked it so that everything came out evenly.  Here are the measurements I used.

• 16 oz. orechiette pasta (the pasta was awesome, but if you don't have that kind on hand I think this would be good with any short pasta!)
• 12 oz. Italian style chicken sausage (I think Johnson's was the brand we bought, and it was fully cooked like in the hot dog section of the store)
• 12 oz. fresh green beans
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 cup pesto
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Click over to the original recipe on Real Simple for the directions.  I think next time I would half the measurements above, it made A LOT.  Or not, because eating the leftovers the next day were kind of the highlight of my day.

Have you had luck with any new recipes lately?

Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

My mom recreated this recipe after buying something similar at Costco, and it has become a family favorite. It's the best meal to make ahead of time, to have leftover in your fridge, or to bring to a potluck.  It's so good!

Here's what you need:

• A box of pasta (we always eat it with Penne)
• A can of black olives (my mom likes kalamata, but I'm not into those so I always just go with black)
• Parmesan cheese, however many shakes it takes!
• Thinly sliced red onion, according to your preference (I halved this recipe, and I used less than a quarter of the onion)
• Ken's lite Caesar (not the creamy stuff)
• Rotisserie chicken

Just make the pasta according to directions, let it cool, and then throw everything together!  I don't use all of anything on here really, so just use your best judgment.  It's one of those things you can't mess up!  I usually use about half the dressing first and then add more later as the pasta absorbs some in the fridge.  It's good hot or cold! (I prefer it cold, but Brian likes it warm!)

spring updates

Our couch is the futon that my family bought when I was probably around 10.  It came to college with me, and now it lives in our apartment.  Lately I've been feeling like the futon's look wasn't doing it for me.  So we switched the futon cover that it's had for years to one that was on it for a short period of time when it was first purchased.

The cover we switched to is kinda boring and our old pillows didn't match, so I decided to go ahead and get some new pillows.  I'd been keeping an eye out for a few weeks, and yesterday I scored some at World Market.  Sorry for the weird pictures.  To give you an idea of the size of our apartment, it's too small for me to get far enough away to take a picture of the whole couch.  If you could have seen me trying to take these, I'm sure it would have been pretty funny because I kept backing up into things.

Here's the old cover (not on the couch as you can see, haha.)

... and the new/old cover with the new pillows!

Aren't those napkins pretty?  Don't worry, you be seeing more of those.

It felt so good to switch covers and get some color into our apartment!  Have you been making any changes to your home for spring?

Pizza Chicken

There is this quote from Spongebob that my brothers and I used to say all the time.  Spongebob asks Patrick what he had to eat that day, and he goes, "Roast beef, a chicken, a pizza..."  Well, too bad there's no roast beef in here, otherwise it would be just like that.  This recipe was my brainchild and Brian's labor of love. 

Brian made this recipe on Valentine's Day and it was really good.  But we didn't have any toothpicks, so he had to make it into layers which resulted in something that wasn't so delicious looking, and meant that when it came steaming out of the oven I grabbed my fork and not my camera.  But because of that dinner, I had this idea about stuffed chicken that I just couldn't get out of my head.  We had this leftover turkey pepperoni, so I voiced my thoughts to Brian and he made it a reality.  And I must say that it was pretty delicious.

Here are the ingredients:

• Chicken breast
• Turkey pepperoni
• Cheese (we used mozzarella and an Italian cheese blend of pre-grated cheese, like from a bag)
• Egg
• Water
• Seasoned breadcrumbs
• Salt
• Spray-oil
• Toothpicks

I'm not going to copy the recipe, but he basically followed the steps from the Skinnytaste recipe, substituting the cheeses and the pepperoni for the broccoli.  We ate it with steamed broccoli and angel hair and our favorite spaghetti sauce.  This is a good thing to make if you're looking for something that feels a little fancier, but not expensive or super difficult to make.

I make a mean cheese sauce

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I FREAKIN' LOVE MAC AND CHEESE.  I pretty much adore all varieties, but I've become pretty adept at making it with a cheese sauce and just combining it with the pasta.  No baking required.  Simple and delicious.  When I've had a bad day, this is what I want.

I started making cheese sauce in college.  I stumbled upon this tutorial one day, and was completely fascinated.  I made (and continue to make) A LOT of cheese sauce.  I remember that it was the first time I really felt like I could cook.  It wasn't some unreachable thing, because I COULD DO IT.  I mean I made this stuff, and it beats the socks off of any box mac and cheese any day, which is saying a lot.

Here's the thing: this is not foolproof.  I've had to throw it out and start over at least 3 times.  Either I would burn the butter, or one time I was using this weird whisk and got bits of pan in the sauce, or sometimes it just goes wrong.  It's not that it's hard, it's just kind of temperamental.  So when I get it right, it feels like I've performed some sort of magic art.

Here is what I use:

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 cup of milk (I use either skim or 1%, depending on who got to the milk first at the grocery store that week)
• 1/2 cup of grated cheese (any kind really... cheddar, pepper jack, colby, it's all good!)
• About 1/2 lb (box) of pasta, (Cellentani is my FAVORITE mac and cheese shape, I think it's made by Barilla?)

Then I follow these directions.  That's it!  Brian and I have talked about how it would be good with broccoli, but it never gets that far.  Onto the pasta it goes.  Maybe some day?

our space

Since business has picked up, I'm working from home 90% of the time.  It's pretty awesome.  I get to wear yoga pants every day.  I wake up when I want (within reason) and I can eat lunch, workout, or shower whenever I like.  Working from home has it's charms, but it's not perfect.

This is where I work.  As you can see, I didn't pretty this up for you.  This is real.  Including my former dead cell phone and my twenty million rolls of tape (why do I have so much tape?)  Direct quote from Brian as I was taking this picture: "Why are you photographing our squalor?"  We both got a good chuckle out of that, but you get the point.

Brian is a law student.  He doesn't have class on Mondays and he prefers to study at home.  To give you an idea of my proximity to Brian while I'm working, I took this picture while standing over his shoulder.

Obviously the camera zooms a little, but you get the picture.  It's close quarters up in here.  Again, let me remind you that I'm well aware that this set up is awesome.  This time last year we were rounding out year five of our long distance relationship, and I now couldn't be more grateful that we get to be together so much.  BUT some conflicts have come up as a result of our small working space.

Here are some examples:

• I like the curtains open.  Sunlight is important to me.  Brian doesn't like the glare on his computer screen or computer screen.
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is too loud and conflicting with the Glee Pandora station playing in my headphones.
• I absentmindedly hum along to said Pandora station. (Don't worry when Brian is in class, I'm full out belting those tunes.  Especially if Celine Dion or that song from Walk to Remember comes on.)
• Brian interrupts me while I'm coding something tell me the latest thing he's read on Cracked, or to show me things of the hilarious nature like this.
• Brian says that my typing sounds like this:

I feel like this whole post could have a great big #firstworldproblems.  Don't worry, I'll be sure to enjoy our impromptu snuggle session a little extra today.

Do any of you work at home?

6 months

Six months ago today Brian and I tied the knot.  I have to say that in our six months of marriage, it isn't just what I thought it would be: it's better.

Happy Monday, friends!

You can find more pictures of from our big day in the Wedding Week posts!  Photo by JMK Photos.

coma bars

Normally my desire to eat baked goods precedes the desire to bake them.  This last week, the opposite happened.  I kept passing my mixer in the kitchen thinking that it looked lonely and needed to be put to work.  I knew my friend Hannah was coming over last night, so yesterday I started looking on Pinterest for something for us to bake.  That's how I came across this dangerous dessert.

Brian is a total chocolate and peanut butter junkie.  When I showed him these there was pretty much no going back.  Hannah and I had lots of fun making them... except I when misread the recipe.  You make them by layering a peanut butter/ cake mix mixture with a chocolate and coconut mixture.  Well, I saw stick of butter on the recipe and put the whole stick in with the peanut butter part, not realizing that I only needed two of the eight tablespoons in that portion!  I figured "oh well, what's a little extra butter?" and kept on going, and adjusted by adding only about three tablespoons to the chocolate part, netting only an extra 3 tablespoons of butter.  That's not so bad.

Well, after dinner and two of these bars, this happened:

Brian and I were both falling asleep at our computers.  I'm blaming it on the butter.

Clearly I'm not too worried about it, because you better believe that after a long day at school I made a beeline for that 9 x 13.  If you're looking for a sweet fix, I highly recommend these babies (originally called Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars.)  Just maybe use the recommended amount of butter.

big thoughts about little stuff

I've come to the conclusion that I really hate stuff.  Brian and I have been working on that whole "clean apartment and SIMPLIFY" resolution for the last 48 hours or so.  We took everything out of our closets and produced two boxes for Goodwill and lots of stuff for the dumpster.  And we're still not done.

Source: piccsy.com via Kate on Pinterest

It's enough to make me want to convert to some minimalist religion (which one is that again?) and forgo all things.  And this year in particular we've acquired lots and lots of things.  Which we are beyond grateful for.  Truly.

But, it does make you think about gifts.  And why we give them.  And should we give them?

Not to give you the impression that we were entirely blameless in acquiring all this stuff.  Heck no.  Brian and I have purchased our fair share.  Which brings about a different set of questions about our culture and how we live.

Thanks for reading this edition of "big questions with no answers."  Better luck with closure and conclusions next time.

But seriously, do you have any solutions for organizing and purging your stuff?

Dusting

Brian and I got back to Lexington this aftenoon.  We scurried around trying to organize and unpack ourstuff... we didn't even bother to open the curtains.  As it was getting dark Brian said, "Kate, have you looked outside?"

I peeked out and saw snow!  It was kind of funny that after two weeks of mild weather we come back to our apartment and saw SNOW!  Of course I grabbed my camera and dashed out onto the balcony.  The best part?  I took these babies on FULL MANUAL.  Yippee!

Check back tomorrow for my New Years Resolutions post.  Finally!

There are more balcony shots where those came from.

our first christmas

Brian and I decided on Saturday that we would do our mini-Christmas on Sunday so that we could leave on Monday!  We had such a fun day.  We got up and opened our stockings and presents, and then Brian made a us a HUGE breakfast.  Waffles and eggs and bacon... yum!  We just kinda hung out all day and then for dinner we went on a little date to our favorite Chinese buffet and came home and watched Love Actually.  It was perfect.

I thought I would share these photos of when we put up our little tree.  I've been calling it our Charlie Brown tree because it's so little.  We bought a strand of lights and put on our ornaments that our families sent with us.  It's been so much fun having a little tree, it makes me excited to have a big one of our own some day!

Posting around here is going to be a little sparse since we are out of town.

I'm planning on widening my blog when we get back, so in the meantime some of these pictures may be a little cut off.  Click to see them full size!


Also, I've decided to start uploading all my pictures to my Sketch and Wash Facebook page.  Check them out!

what a week.

I won't be sad to wave a cheerful g'bye to this week, my friends.  Too much to do and too little time.  Also, somehow it seemed like all the things about being a grown-up that I have been blissfully avoiding decided to hit the fan of life.  Student loans, insurance companies, switching doctors... let me just say that being a grown-up sucks.  Today alone featured an unexpected half day of work (resulting in a ten minute lunch break where I inhaled some leftover pizza), failed trips to the DMV and the pharmacy, and horrendous cold and rainy weather.   That last one just made everything worse.

Source: Uploaded by user via Kate on Pinterest

Tomorrow is Brian's final final (hooray!)  On Tuesday we head north for an undetermined length of time to spend the holidays with our families and friends.  I've been trying to wrap everything up before we leave, because I don't take my files with me.  We'll see.  On Monday Brian and I are planning on having "mini Christmas," which hopefully doesn't wind up being way lamer than we initially intended.  I'll keep you posted.

What's lifting your spirits this week, friends?  I came back from Thanksgiving break so excited for the holidays but I feel like this last week or so has kind of crushed my Christmas spirit.  What's putting you in the mood for a festive weekend?

Christmas Card 2011

Christmas cards are one of my favorite things about the Christmas season (duh, I LOVE mail!)  I knew that as soon as Brian and I got married, Christmas cards would be forthcoming.  Designing them this year was easy.  I just used one of our wedding pictures, and added the text I wanted.  I was going for simple and classic.

I designed them myself and then had them printed at Vistaprint.  I've ordered things from there before and I like it a lot.  It's so easy and the quality is pretty good.  But you just can't beat the price!  They have such good deals.  I was really pleased with how they turned out.

Did you send Christmas cards this year?

I waited to post these so that most people would have gotten them (except for my love Julie in Macedonia!) Law school friends got kinda screwed in the Christmas card mailing, so if that's you holler at me and I will give you one!

Stockings!

I have the cutest husband. Today he took a break from studying to surprise me with these stockings that he bought for our first Christmas. He picked them out all by himself! Isn't that so cute? He did such a good job!

I love them!  Now I just have to find things to put in Brian's stocking.  Since we will be at our families' houses at Christmas, we have decided to celebrate our own mini Christmas here in our apartment before we head north.

We are still working on how we are going to split the holidays once we get there.  In the past, Brian and I always just made sure that we saw each other, but for the most part stuck with our respective families.  It was so much easier!  If you have a significant other, how do you split your holiday?

kitchen escapades vol. 3

Brian and I made a pact to do our best to eat healthier between Thanksgiving and Christmas (although I must admit that my trip to Wal-Mart last night might have set us back a bit!)  I know I already said we were doing that, but to be honest, we fell off the bandwagon, for a number of reasons.  As you can see we're not exactly nibbling on celery, but we have gone quite some time without cheesy pasta.

Chicken Sausage and Onions and Red Grape Salad

I have to give Brian all the credit for the sausages.  He sautees them in a cast iron skillet (but I think any skillet would do) with the onions.  Then we eat them on buns with ketchup (like brats!)  Well, that's not true, Brian actually eats his with Miracle Whip, but I think that's weird so I treat mine like brats.

The salad is a salad that is very common at my family's house.  Our next door neighbors always used to make this, and we started making it too.  It's just lettuce with red grapes, feta cheese, cucumber, and balsamic vinaigrette dressing.  We use Paul Newman Light Balsamic Vinaigrette, and I also bought reduced fat feta cheese, and you can't taste the difference!

Baked Chicken, Red Potatoes, and Salad

This is my mom's go-to weight watchers meal (except they have a grill so they have grilled chicken- lucky!)  We just marinate the chicken in a store bought marinade (I think tonight was Ken's Caribbean Jerk Chicken) and bake it or broil it (this chicken was baked).  Then you boil the potatoes for about 20 minutes, and I like mine with a dollop of light sour cream and lots of salt and pepper.  The salad is the same as above!

Chicken Taco Chili

This is one of our favorite things that we make!  It's seriously SO GOOD.  It's a crockpot recipe and it's so easy.  And it's from Skinnytaste!  Of course, I make it a little worse for you by eating it over brown rice, and topping it with cheese and light sour cream.  I leave out the cilantro just because I don't care enough to get it at the store.

Thanks for following along!  You can check out Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 for more meals!