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.

Shiny new car

We bought a new (to us) car!

A couple of months in December I was in a car accident and totaled our car.

The plan had been that when our dear friends Bek and Simon left to go back to Australia we would buy their car as our second car. Thanks to me their car became our primary car and poor Brett still had to catch the bus or hop rides to work.

One of our biggest goals for this year is to become debt free so we knew that we wanted to pay cash for a new car.

Well about a month and a half ago we bought another car, and finally after 2 1/2 years we are a two car family!

It is a 2001 Izuzu Trooper. Brett had a 1985 Trooper when we were dating in high school and loved it, so he was all for getting another. We got an amazing deal on it (less then we got back in insurance for the totaled car) and feel so blessed.

So this is the new year...

... and I can't wait to see what adventures it brings. There is just something so inspiring about a new year. It just feels as if anything can happen and you can become whoever you want to be. One of my favorite traditions that Brett and I do is every New Years we make a list of goals and adventures. Most are things we want to try to accomplish in the following year but some are life goals as well. It is fun to sit down and dream together as well as remember the things we accomplished in the previous years. One of our unofficial mottos for our life is we want to try to have some kind of adventure every week. An adventure can be as big as visiting a new place to as small as trying a new food. I thought it would be fun to share some of the things we put on our list this year.

Sew curtains for our apartment

Become debt free

Walk across the Brooklyn bridge

Explore all the 5 NYC boroughs

DC cherry blossom festival

Go Skydiving

Read the whole bible

Visit Martha's Vineyard

Blog more

Finally see Shakespeare in the park

Be able to run 3 miles in 30 minutes

Stick to a budget

Eat vegetarian 5 days a week

Try to eat primarily organic

Go to Coney Island

Visit/explore all the states within 5 hours of us

Go to Canada

Complete the top chef cooking school

Bake almost all my own bread

Learn photography

Go to a Yankees game

Visit Lancaster

Go on more dates

Read 12 book

Learn Banjo

Get at least 70% on APFT

Hang out with guys more

Craft more

This is going to be a big year for us and I cannot wait!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is Brett and my 2nd Thanksgiving as a married couple! Today, as in everyday, I am thankful for so many things. My loving family, my cozy warm apartment, a church that has fully embraced Brett and I, a crazy cat, a full belly with plenty left to eat, my amazing husband, and wonderful friends both near and far.

Speaking of friends a couple of weekends ago my dear friend Bek and I hosted a cake pop party. What is a cake pop party you say? Well, let me tell you. There is this adorable blogger who makes the cutest little creations she calls cake pops. They are basically cake suckers that are decorated all cute for whatever season or event is close by.

For this party we didn't really have an agenda. Bek wanted to make a duck and we both knew we wanted to try the cupcakes and snowmen. The party was a success and we are going to have a Christmas cake pop party sometime in the next couple of weeks.

I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe, and loving thanksgiving. I will post cake pop picture either tonight or tomorrow - promise.

ghost and ghouls of all kinds

Last weekend Brett and I were blessed with a number of tickets to 6 flags. What better time to use them then Halloween day. Roller coaster in the morning, Fright Fest at night! It was a blast! Bek, Simon and I went earlier and rode a bunch of coasters. Then Brett, Raf, and a few of our exchange students came later just in time to ride a few rides before the Halloween festivities started. Overall a good time and hope to maybe do it again next year.

Along the same Halloween lines, I thought I would share with you all the adorable candy ghosts Brett and I made for a fall party we went to. Growing up I use to make these ghosts every year with my mom and I look forward to continuing that tradition when I have children. Here are the instructions – easiest recipe in the world.

Ingredients:

Candy/Popsicle sticks

White almond bark

Chocolate chips

Layout a sheet of wax paper spayed lightly with nonstick spray

Melt the almond bark according to the instructions on the packages.

Set down a stick and drizzle on some almond bark roughly in the shape of a ghost

Use the back of your spoon to finish shaping it.

Place 3 chocolate chips for eye

Let cool and enjoy.

See, told you it was easy!

I will also throw in a few other pictures

Brett and I with 2 of our exchange students

My man - 5am before he left for a drill weekend

autumn weekends

I must start off by saying this is pretty near the perfect autumn morning. It is cool, colorful and raining outside, which made the rare opportunity to sleep-in all the more inviting. Now I am lazily sitting here munching on breakfast, sipping coffee and smelling the chocolate biscotti I have baking in the oven. Ahhh life is good.

Things have continued to move forward with Brett and the National Guard. A couple of Wednesday ago he passed all his tests and then was sworn in the next day. Two days later, on Saturday, he left again for his first weekend of drills. He will continue doing drill weekends once a month until he leaves for basic at the end of February. In the last post I said he would be gone 9 weeks for basic. Well, that is true, but then a few days after basic he starts his music school, so all in all he will be gone about 4 months. To break up that time for me I hope to make a trip to the midwest to visit family and friends, and also open my house to anyone who wants to come visit me or NYC. I will take either, just as long as there are other people in the house or I may go crazy. :)

My brother and his girlfriend came and visited us a couple of weekends ago. It was great to see my brother and meet the wonderful lady he is so infatuated with. We got to hang out with them in the city Friday night, enjoy the delights of apple picking and then cooking an elaborate dinner with the previously picked apples on Saturday, and worship with them at our church Sunday before seeing them off. It was a lovely weekend.

Other then NG and a weekend visit, life has been pretty consistent. I am loving fall and all the wonderfulness that comes with it. Now it is time to go make some mac and cheese to take to a fall party tonight, and then Brett and I are going to make these little almond-bark ghosts I grew up making with my mom every Halloween. Ahhh the perfect day.

link love

We have stayed busy with trying to get this apartment all set-up to fit our lives. I promise to post pictures soon - just a few more details left.

As if we didn't already have enough going on right now Brett and I have been working through some big changes in our lives. I have been tossing around the idea of making a job change. Not exactly sure what I want to do yet and it probably won't happen in the near future but the idea is out there. I want to have more free time and my long commute everyday sucks away so much of my evenings. Meanwhile, I want to start making jewelry again. It will probably be bead type work at first, until I can gather up the supply and equipment to make more intricate pieces.

Even bigger news though is Brett is going to join the Army National Guard. Right out of high school he looked into joining and playing in the army band. He is a fantastic musician and since we live in an apartment he hasn't gotten to play since we got married. This is the perfect opportunity for him. He will have to go away to basic training for 9 weeks :( and afterward he will go to the Military School of Music where he will have personalized lessons and take classes such as music theory. I will miss him terrible while he is gone, but to keep myself busy I have already said that I will have 2 months of craft night. I plan to sew curtains, re-upholster furniture, bake until I have no-one left to feed, and anything else I can do to stay busy. He has his audition on Wednesday, and will probably leave for basic in January or February.

Now I move onto what my title is all about. I want to share some of my favorite bloggers with all you dear people. May you get as much enjoyment out of them as I do.

Some favorite bloggers:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/ - I posted this last week but just in case you missed it. She posts wonderful recipes and stories of her life, all accompanied by beautiful photos.
http://mattbites.com/ - This was the first food blog I really started to follow. He is a food photographer who will occasionally post a recipe - they are always delicious.
http://www.101cookbooks.com/ - This is a fairly new discovery for me. She only posts vegetarian dishes, but they have always been fantastic and have introduced Brett and me to so many new combinations and dishes.

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

moving in fast forward

Hi there!

Life has been so busy lately and full of changes. Good changes though.
We are moving to a new apartment in 2 weeks. We thought we were moving the last weekend in September but do to a miscommunication, I found out this morning that we are moving the last weekend in August. So these next two weekends will be busy with packing and miscellaneous moving stuff, then the next weekend is moving weekend, and the weekend after that my parents will be here.

I am excited about this new place! I will finally get to decorate my "home". The place we are living now, we knew it was temporary when we moved in. We thought we would only be here a few months but a year later we are finally moving on. The new place is slightly smaller but is also cheaper and much closer to our friends. I have so many decorating ideas and can't wait to see the place become our own.

Another big part of my life lately has been training to run a 5k. This may not seem like such a bit deal to some but for me it is huge. I have always said how much I hate to run. I would pick swimming or biking over running any day. I have also said I would like to do a sprint triathlon someday. The only thing holding me back, has been the running part. I would start to run and then would quickly give up. This time I have a great friend to run with and challenge me, and I have a goal. My church is doing a 5k fundraiser run to raise money for building wells in Africa. Bek and I started on a program that is supposed to take you from the couch, or doing nothing, to running a 5k in 9 weeks. Together Bek and I have been running 3 times a week and are just finishing up our 9 weeks. I'm pretty proud of us!

The race is Labor Day weekend and my parents are coming to visit that same weekend. I can't wait. My dad has never been here and my mom was only here briefly. I am excite to get to show them around where we live and take them to the city. My mom may even run with me.

So there is a brief catchup with what is happening in our lives. I have been cooking up a storm and promise to start posting recipes again. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

1st year anniversary and getting in shape

Hello out there I am posting from Virginia. We are traveling down to a family reunion for Brett's side of the family.

Life has been pretty good for us lately. Last weekend was our 1 year anniversary. We had a completely unplanned but fantastic day to celebrate last Saturday. The plan was to visit a vineyard in NY but last minute that morning a friend of Brett's told us to switch our plans and go to this one in west/middle NJ. It ended up being a really fun tour and tasting and we bought a bottle of their famous and fantastic blueberry wine.
As we were leaving we GPSed looking for a place to grab a bite to eat and saw there was a Sonic about 20 minutes away in PA. Now we would usually not get so excited about Sonic but there are none around where we live and we had really been missing it. Sonic became our anniversary dinner and we finally were able to use a gift card a friend had given us a year ago for our wedding.
While eating Brett started messing with the GPS and found that the oldest drive movie theater in America was only 20 more minutes away. Of course we had to go. That evening it was showing UP and The Proposal. We had already seen UP but it is such an amazing movie, I had no problem seeing it again and The Proposal was not bad either.
Overall it was a great day spent having a carefree and wonderful road-trip with my husband and I don't think I could have asked for a better anniversary day or 1st year.

So what else has been happening?
Our garden is growing wonderfully. We have one tiny bell pepper, the carrots are about 2" long, and the squash have tons of blossoms all over them. Looks like we should get a pretty good crop this year.

I have started running and actually enjoy it. Something I thought would never happen. My mom had told me about this program, couch to 5k, and then about a week later my church organized a charity run to purchase a rig in Africa. We are currently involved in building wells but by getting this rig we will be able to drill a well a week! I told my friend Bek about the program and together we are training for the run. What is pretty cool is from my mom telling me about the program, and Bek and I telling everyone else, there are now people all over the world doing the couch to 5k program and encouraging each other.

Along with getting myself in shape our life group is all doing the Financial Peace University together. It is a program by Dave Ramsey that teaches you how to handle your money. He is big on getting out of debt and then never getting in debt every again. He teaches about using cash for most of your spending and never using credit cards or loans again. It should be a good class and I have already learned a lot in just our first week.

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July!

taking pictures of myself in the rear view mirror

the scary 1 lane road we took to get the vineyard

tasting some wine

who knew our trip would be so biblical

our view of the movie

the first bits of summer

Many things have happened since I last posted

* Summer is in full swing here but it has rained too much for us to completely appreciate it.

*We traveled to Orlando for Memorial Day weekend to see Brett's brother graduate and as a nice little trip for Brett's birthday. He loved seeing all his friends and I even was able to surprise him by getting them all together for a rock climbing day at a place he use to go to when he lived down there.

*My dear old Dell laptop finally crashed. This was both a pro and con - I used that laptop for everything including my job. Luckily I had backed up all work files just the day before, unfortunately I hadn't backed up my personal files in a really long time. I was very sad to say goodbye to my Dell but we decided to go ahead and get me a MacBook. So I am typing this from my beautiful new laptop and couldn't be happier.

* Our garden is growing wonderfully. We finished planting the tomatoes and peppers. I can't wait for everything to grow, then I can eat fresh salsa and fresh produce.

* We got to see Hillsong United preform in NYC.

* Pasta party part 3 was had at our apartment last night. We had great food, great friends, and a new fun game that Bek taught us. Overall I think it was a success and I am sure there will be many more to come.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

* And probably my favorite thing is the new (to us) bikes that Brett and I got last weekend. A local elementary school was doing a fundraiser where people donate bikes. They then sell them all for $10, regardless or size, age, or condition. Brett and I managed to acquire two vintage road bikes for $20! They both need a tiny bit of work, but for not much more money we are going to have some amazing bikes to cruise around the lake. I absolutely adore mine. It is from Nottingham, England, and based on my research is from the 60s or 70s. I think it is actually worth something like $300. One brake line is stuck and it needs new tires since they are all dried out but other than that is great. Here are a couple photos from the day we bought them. I will post more after I get her all cleaned up.

city and shore

Rich and Katie, a couple in our lifegroup moved to Buffalo last week, so before thy left we all headed to the city for one last hooray. Rich's grandma has an apartment in midtown with an amazing roof top garden. His Nana entertained us with wonderful stories and we had a hard time leaving the roof top. After Nana's apartment we grabbed dinner and then wondered around the city for a while.

Today Brett did his first duathlon. He had to run 2 miles, bike 10 miles, and then run 3 more miles. Yesterday at the last minute Mark, Brett's dad, decided to do it too. We dragged ourselves out of bed at 4 am so we could meet Mark and Jacki, get everything loaded, and leave by 5:00 to head to Long Branch at the shore. It was a nasty morning; cold and rainy. We were pretty miserable just watching so I am sure the boys had to be having a hard time. They both finished and I am so proud of them. Now it is time for a relaxing evening and early to bed.

rooftop view

the boys just hanging out

3 of the girls
bek, me, katie

the group


the boys before their run

brett coming back from the bike part

and he finished!

(once again NYC pictures borrowed from Sim and Katie)

april showers

Spring is slowly beginning to creep in up here. Yesterday and today will be around 70° before the rain brings it back down for a bit. We are taking full advantage of these two beautiful days and spending as much time outside as we can. Yesterday after work we grilled dinner and today when Brett gets home we are going on a hike!

So far the month of April has been wonderful, a bit soggy but wonderful. We are starting a community garden with a few other couples in our life group. We tried to get a plot at an already established community garden but it was full. Brett’s parents are letting us use a bit of their backyard, so a couple of weekends ago Sim, Bek, Brett, and I started getting it all set up and ready to plant. Since it was jus grass before, we had to start from scratch. We rented a tiller and picked up all the necessaries - soil, fertilizer, seeds, etc. – and got to work. We now have a garden or at least a big mud pit with a fence around it. There are tons of deer around here, which are gorgeous to watch but not so good for a garden. It is crazy what all you have to do to try to keep deer away. Along with our fence, we also got some deer repellant, let’s hope they work. We are waiting until it stays warmer and stops raining for a couple of days to begin planting. I am so excited to have fresh produce this summer.

As I mentioned in my previous blog last weekend we flew to the Midwest to visit family and friends. It was great to be “home” and wished I could have had a few more days. I loved seeing everyone in Oklahoma. Rebecca made me an apron that she copied from one that used to belong to her grandma. It is so fun and will surely make my heart happy every time I wear it to bake. I received a whole collection of fantastic new-to-me music and am slowly working my way through it all. Being in Lawrence with my family was amazing as well. I love my husband, life, and friends here in NJ but hate being so far away from my parents. It was great to cook Easter dinner with them, hang out and watch movies in the evenings, drink lots of tea and coffee, and listen to my mom play the piano. :) Between times with my family, we had the opportunity to spend some time with local friends and see Brett’s grandparents.

Overall, it was an amazing trip and so far has been a wonderful month of April.
(Garden photos barrowed from Sim, Oklahoma pictures from Amanda.)

Very start of the garden.
While the boys were renting the tiller Bek and I started getting the grass up.

It was so muddy

Building the fence to keep the deer out.

Rebecca blowing bubbles

Trying to teach Brett how to play the piano

Cooking with my mom

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

celebrations

Our lives have been beyond busy lately. Among all the craziness that comes with getting a business on it feet, Brett and I have been having fun every minute we can.

We were able to help two friends celebrate their birthdays. We ate way too much food while watching the Superbowl. And this past Friday we had fun getting together with friends to celebrate the recent engagement of a couple who is part of our life group. I am so excited for them and can’t wait to see where life takes them.

Along with all the festivities, we also learned that the couple from Australia who were only supposed to be here for 3 months are coming back for two more years. We really enjoy hanging out with them and are so excited that they will be back.

Other than all that, not much has been happening with us. Brett’s parents are going to Germany on Thursday for 10 days. While they are gone, we will be staying with the exchange girls so they have rides to school and all that. That should make for an interesting couple weeks.

Hope you all are enjoying the first bits of spring and have a great week.

pasta night

I has been snowing a bunch here and I love it. This past Friday night we had two couples join us for dinner at our house. We all made ravioli. Most of the following pictures are from Marje.Rafael working hard on the ravioli

Matt decided that the pasta need to be crimped

our yummy home-made ravioli

our cat is very social and loved having everyone over