A moment

I just wanted to share a little scene from my Saturday morning. Brett was gone for an army drill weekend and before I got into cleaning and other responsibilities for the day I enjoyed a nice breakfast while doing my homework work for a bible study I am in right now.

cool weather and warm kitchens

It is starting to feel like fall around here. The weather is cooling off - though we didn't have much of a summer - and I am in the mood to start cooking again. While I love the warmth and adventures that summer brings there is nothing like cooking a warm meal when it is cool outside. Fall is my favorite season with all the beautiful colors and abundance of food. I plan to make the most of it, picking apples and pumpkins and whatever else I can find to pick. I also want to learn how to bake. I feel fairly confident in the kitchen when it come to cooking. Not afraid to try a new recipe or add a little of this or that, but baking is a whole different game. With baking you have to be precise, no just throwing things together - at least not at first. So expect some more baking recipes on here.

To start the season, I made a Tres Leche Cake (a spanish 3-milk cake). Brett has been asking for one and while browsing a new blog I found a delicious recipe for it. As I have never had Tres Leche before I am not sure if mine tasted right, but I thought it was good and everyone who tried it said it was authentic. Check out this blog for the recipe and if you have some time (it's long), read her story of how she meet her husband. I have never been one to read romance novels but I was completly enthraled in her story. I started reading it durning my lunch break and had trouble staying on task at work because I wanted to keep reading.

So other than baking and reading blogs what have I been up to?... Oh yea, we moved into our new apartment, my parents came to visit, and I ran my first 5k! As you can tell, life has been slow at the Hartford's :) The apartment is great and I will post picture soon, but right now it is still a disaster and we are slowing getting the apartment set-up to fit our life.

Having my parents here was wonderful. We were tourist for the weekend and completely wore ourselves out. We visited a vineyard, tasted chocolate in Hershey, PA, saw the statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, ran a 5k for Africa, accessorized and worked on the apartment a bit, and ventured all around NYC. Not bad for a 4 day weekend.

Now it is time to get ready to go on a hike with some friends from our life group. I will leave you with some pictures of our recent adventures.

My wonderful parents

Brett in Hershey

The wall of names at Ellis Island

Exchange students with Elvis

My running buddy

Team Hartford

Life group + Nate

in like a lion

Wow, it has been a while since I last posted. Our time of staying with the girls went well but I am very glad it is over. Since Mark was out of town, Brett had to cover all his building and so was gone every night. We basically had opposite schedules and I barely got to see him. It is nice to have to have my husband back.

Since then life has only slightly slowed down. I have started volunteering every other Sunday with the new iCampus at our church. Our church services are available on iTunes and podcasts through the websites but 4 times a week we have a chatroom open so people who watch the podcast can be part of a community. We are available for them to ask questions, receive prayer, or just be able to converse about the message. It has been fun and I have enjoyed being able to have even the smallest part in someone else’s life.

Last weekend Brett and I invited out life group over for pasta party part 2. It was a blast. We once again made ravioli and just had the opportunity to hang out with friends. The next day Brett and I made fettuccine with the leftover dough. I am becoming a firm believer in fresh pasta. I honestly think it tastes better and it is so simple to make that I want to try to make it more often. I will post a recipe for pasta dough on my other blog for anyone interested in trying it themselves.

This past weekend was a treat as well. Awhile back Brett and I had been given a gift certificate to a local restaurant and movie tickets for a date night. We used it this past Friday and enjoyed a lovely evening out. I finally got to see Slumdog Millionaire and loved it. I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t yet seen it. Then Saturday we went over to Brett’s parent’s house for a cookout and to watch the KU game. The food was fantastic and my Jayhawks won.

So that is what all has been going on with us. I want to wish my Dad and Brett’s brother Cameron very happy birthdays. We love you guys and wish we could be there to celebrate with you.

The group making ravioli

Hard at work

Our dinner

Jen enjoying her food

serving and snow

Brett and I have had a lot of fun these past two weekends. Last weekend we volunteered as leaders for an outreach thing that Liquid, our church, was doing. They are opening a new campus in New Brunswick and as a way to reach out to the community, they gave away coats to the homeless and underprivileged of that city. They ended up giving away over a thousand coats that day and there were still people waiting in line. The groups that Brett and I helped lead went to different neighborhoods around the church location and handed out backs with info about the church and encouraging notes. We had a blast and got to serve with another young couple here for a few months from Australia.

This weekend was another great weekend. Bek and Sim, the Australian couple, joined us Friday night and we all went to a Christmas light display. It was one of those drive through things and at the end had a light show set to Christmas songs. They also had a little shop where we picked up some Christmas ornaments and found some candles with funny names.

Saturday was a gloriously lazy day. I made banana bread, adding the coconut and pecans left over from a pie I made for Thanksgiving, watched a couple of movies, and had the rare opportunity to just relax. That evening we went over to some friends' apartment for Chinese food, a movie, and good conversation. Then to top everything off it snowed last night and everything was wonderfully white this morning.

the group that led bag distribution


coats

me - trying to stay warm

brett with the funny candle

smell my nuts?

you have to start somewhere

Since we are so far away from many of our friends and family, I decided a blog may be a good idea. This way we have a place to update everyone on what we are up to, or any random thoughts we care to share. :P

Since this is the first blog, I should probably just get everyone up to date with what is happening with us.

We got married almost 6 months ago, which just seems crazy! It doesn't feel like it has been that long. We were blessed with the opportunity to go to Italy for out honeymoon. It was beyond amazing. We got to see all of the sights, go on a wine tour in Tuscany, and take a cooking class.
After Italy, we moved into our apartment in New Jersey. Brett had a job lined up working with his dad on property management, but it took me a couple of weeks to find a job as well. I now work for an online picture frame company doing graphic design work as well as other random tasks.

We were able to find a church right away that we both really like and have started connecting with people and making friends. That was probably what was hardest about moving up here was not really knowing anyone. Brett and I both really missed our friends and having people to hang out with. Through our church, we were able to join a small group of other young couples and have really started connecting with them.

We have added another member to our family in the form of a (not so little anymore) kitten named Snooks. I love cuddly cats and since our apartment wouldn't allow dogs for Brett, Snooks has been a great compromise. He is currently curled at my feet while I type this but loves to play as well. Brett has taught him many tricks and even gets him to play fetch. It is crazy because we will actually throw a toy and Snooks loves to go get it and bring it back for us to throw again.

So with work, small group, friends, and a cat we have been enjoying our new life together. I have been teaching Brett how to cook and he has even found some new foods that he had never tried or liked before. As anyone who knows me knows I love to cook, so even when Brett is not cooking with me I have been enjoying cooking new things and having someone who loves to eat around.

So yea, that is our life so far in a nutshell. Hopefully we will both be more disciplined to maintain this blog than I am with my other one.