home decor eye candy

i shouldn't even be throwing this out there, because everything shown is beyond expensive.

plus, i adore our bedroom set and don't want to change it. it's a great combination of masculine/feminine. the comforter is super soft. we got it using wedding gift cards. and it matches our elephant gray walls perfectly...

B.U.T. please feast your eyes on these:


if you have hundreds of dollars to spend, check out this new line. it's completely gorgeous. if only they would sell their fabric remnants to me, i would happily purchase them to make millions of decorative pillows. ohhhhh~!

(p.s. in a couple weeks our two extra bedrooms should be completely done. i'm SO happy about them both and can't wait to see the finished products!)

oh, how darling

i wish i could sew like this.

actually, considering i can't sew at all due to an ancient machine that apparently hates my guts, i wish i could just sew something.

anything. valances? pillow covers?

[i discovered this blog yesterday and book marked it so i could scroll through the old entries this morning.]

2nd snow day: done and to do

since awaking with my hard working husband at 6:15 am, i have done the following:
run the dishwasher, watched half an episode of this show, called the thrift store & carpet estimate guys, installed our wii fit, worked out for 28 minutes using the wii fit, swept up dirt on floor due to running in place (in the living room) wearing outdoor sneakers, showered, searched two websites for cheap workout pants, avoided grading my kids' social studies tests from tuesday, slammed my front bumper into a curb because it was covered w/ snow, looked with disappointment at the curtain options at BBB, brainstormed this delicious lunch:

still to do: take my ancient sewing machine to the store in hopes that they can tell me what i'm doing wrong, sprinkle salt on our very snow-free but icy driveway, explore curtain options at target, find some bargains using my gift card at TJ maxx, drop off something at the post office, read the book J. got for a quarter a few weeks ago, unload the dishwasher, choose a restaurant for our dinner out tonight.

t-t-t-tasty tasty

tonight i made this recipe. from one of my new favorite blogs! holy cow they were sooooooooo yummy!

i was hesitant to try it at first because the first step is cooking/shredding the chicken, which sounds so time consuming. but it wasn't. i boiled the chicken on the stove while i checked email, putzed around the house, etc. then i took it out to cool right before J. came home.

closer to dinner time, i shredded it and put everything together. they cooked for 25 minutes while i cleaned up and J. made spanish rice from a box.
we both LOVED them! plus, the recipe makes 10 so we'll each have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
this adorable dish saved me from a near miss. i loaned my 9x13 pan to someone on saturday, thinking i wouldn't need it any time soon. fortunately, this baby was a wedding gift i hadn't used yet and found just in the nick of time!

be my guest! (or rather, i'll be yours)

i'm a guest blogger!!

long before i was even dating, i stumbled across this: a wedding for under $2000!!

i was addicted to reading the blog and practically memorized every single post: the community focus. fun touches to make it unique. their emphasis on making the day personal. the idea of marriage-based conversations, as opposed to wedding-based conversations. the do-it-yourself-ness. mexican food. the fact that the flowers came from a nearby field. all = awesome!

sooooooo i randomly checked the blog again for updates right before we got married and noticed that the author was soon to have a new baby & wanted guest bloggers. i figured she already had plenty, but emailed just to see...

and she invited me to blog! and today it got posted. hooray :)

you can read my post here.

thanksgiving in january!

last night marked my first ever turkey baking experience. it turned out to be a roaring success!

it was also our first time hosting a crowd since being married. 7 of our good friends joined us for a feast, then everyone played wii or board games. oh, what joy~

my mother in law suggested i use these when cooking turkey:boy am i glad for that piece of advice... the turkey tasted uh-may-zing~! the clean-up was totally easy. and i didn't have to go buy one of those "roasting pans" which would take up far too much space in my cupboards for the little it would get used...

my mom suggested making mashed potatoes ahead of time and keeping them warm in the crock pot. i did. they were awesome. my friends brought green beans, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. my part of the meal required a little bit of prep time and about 10 bucks.

(we never ate a "thanksgiving" meal because we were on our honeymoon. plus, i got a free turkey from the grocery store for having a lot of bonus points. hence thanksgiving in january)

annapolis, here we come!

right after we got married (or maybe even before?!) i told j. all i wanted for christmas was to go away together for a weekend in the winter. i wanted to go somewhere we'd never been before and j. came up with the idea of annapolis.

we soon decided it shouldn't be a christmas gift because we wanted to plan it together. so then we thought we might as well spend some wedding money to take a trip!

there are TONS of things to do & see in Annapolis, including the naval academy. i've started researching and compiling a list of places to go and food to eat (i DO have my priorities after all...)the trickiest thing at this point is deciding where to stay. i found one place that will only cost 85 bucks per night. it has a double bed and most likely a shared bathroom. the other place costs 130, which is still way less than any hotels in the area. hm... decisions, decisions.

[edit: we're staying here!! ooooooooh i can't wait. it looks amazing!]

(something awesome that we won't be able to do this trip because it's winter is take a sunset cruise. check it out!)

two months=

best of my life, i'd wager.

living with my love makes me incredibly happy. i love being together & sharing & talking.

he's so patient and so encouraging.

he's wicked kind. and hilarious.

(and just look what he bought me on his way home from work today!!)
on another note, here are a few small house changes: guest room= blue & not so smelly now!

(OH and we printed/hung some wedding photos in the dining room! hooray!)

thank you, MLK, for being great...

... so we could have an extra day off of school!

we spent the weekend in providence/ boston with my fam. a good time was had by all.

my bro bought us lunch at the boston college caf and gave us a tour of campus. then we trekked all over the north shore & took a tour of the uss constitution (really cool! and freezing!)



as we took the T back to campus, it was snowing and the city lights were all around us. i was completely happy to be with some of my absolute favorite people on the planet.

the night ended on a slightly sour note as the brand new tire on my parents' car had popped and we had to stand in the BC parking garage for a wicked long time waiting for roadside assistance.

married routines

we DID get a snow day on wednesday. it was pure delight as the roads were clear by mid-morning so we had a good time running errands together. i made major headway on my name change paperwork AND got a new library card!


i've been struggling lately to establish a workout routine. i had been running pretty consistently before the wedding and before i lived here with joel. since then, not so much. i'm still sorting out the kinks of getting home from school in time to run while it's still light. and still get all my work done. and still spend as much time with my husband as is humanly possible.

however, one routine that i've gotten used to quite quickly is our mornings:
5:45 alarm wakes up & we usually snuggle/stretch for 2 minutes before one of us decides we better get right out of bed before we decide it's not worth it and roll over to fall asleep again
5:50 j. makes coffee, we pour cereal, my english muffin goes in the toaster
6:05 j. goes upstairs to take a shower while i pack lunches
6:25ish j. gets out of the shower. i come in the bathroom to brush my teeth or straighten my hair (not that often.) and we chat briefly about our days ahead
between 6:30 and 6:45 i go back in to kiss him goodbye and head out the door

even though saying "see ya later" in the mornings isn't nearly as brutal as it used to be to say goodbye before i drove away each night, it's still crappy. we'd much rather be spending our days together instead of apart. this is newlywed bliss, i guess~

we're counting on a snow day...

... want proof?

1. i just baked chocolate chip cookies simply because i wanted them (& used this recipe!)
2. we played a LOT of Wii tonight & didn't do a lick of school work
3. my PJs were on by 7:30 pm
4. J. is playing some shoot-em-up game on the Wii
5. i didn't clean up the cookie baking dishes. i thought to myself: "i can do 'em tomorrow"
6. my phone is out of my bag and on the coffee table, just waiting to be answered if the "school's canceled" call comes!
7. we keep checking our school websites

lasagna in the crock pot: take 2

meliss sent me this recipe a couple months ago, knowing that j. loves lasagna and that i hate the long process of cooking the noodles...

i made it once but the crockpot automatically goes on the "warm" setting when it's done cooking, so it was "warming" all day while i was at work. it ended up kinda gross because the cheese was burnt.

i'm giving it another try today while i'm home and can monitor its progress. we'll see how it turns out. i'm optimistic~

(note: it turned out MUCH better this time! it's getting added to the meals rotation at the alberts house)

new years resolutions

here are mine:
-cook something new once a week, as i blogged about a few days ago
-work out (run or use our new wii fit) 3 times a week
-love my husband a little better each day
-do sit ups/upper arm exercises as much as possible (i know, i know. this isn't measurable or specific enough to qualify as a good goal...)

on a similar note, i made what i think is a super adorable bulletin board outside my classroom this week. the title is "a great bunch of resolutions". i had the kiddos write their new years resolutions on a small piece of white paper, then they each glued the white paper to a colorful balloon i cut from construction paper. i stapled the balloons in a messy line across the board, then added curling ribbon to each. i collected the strings into three bunches and stapled them together. maybe i'll remember to take a photo this week!

(btw: the kids basically had NO idea what a resolution was... one wrote "my new years resolution is to go to new york." another said they wanted to play Wii more often... haha)

what i've been cooking

one of my new years resolutions is to make one new meal each week. this week it'll be "zesty turkey soup" (with a substitution of chicken instead of turkey, because we'll have it left over from the rotisserie i bought last night).

BUT even before trying something new, our house has been full of delicious smells and tastes. tonight i made pizza using this pesto recipe, leftover sauce/pepperoni, and 99 cent dough balls from trader joe's.

while the pizza was cooking, i made toll house chocolate chip pie (without nuts!), which we enjoyed warm with ice cream when it came out of the oven after one hour. holy yumminess!(note: this is not my photo. i could not pause to take a photo before i ate my slice. duh.)

PHOTOS!!!

we got a sampling of wedding photos from our photographer! i used a few as Christmas presents and will print some to frame some day soon.

these are my favorites so far...

catching up!

i was going to blog about being married for one month. then i was going to blog about christmas. then i was going to blog about new years.

and today i'm blogging about all of the above!

our one-month-iversary came and went without much fanfare. we did normal stuff and gave extra kisses to celebrate.

we had a whirlwind christmas trip to grand rapids where we spent lots of time with J's family. we also participated in the wedding of one of his friends. that night is the.only.night i took any pictures. out of a 10 day vacation! unbelievable! during our stay we both caught a 24-hour stomach bug which was completely miserable. it delayed our departure to Rhode Island and made me a very unhappy camper.

on new years eve we got up before 6 and drove 13 hours straight to visit my mom, dad, and allen. it was a super short visit but i'm thrilled we had a chance to see them. before we fell asleep that night (at 11pm. yes, we went to bed before midnight on new years eve), J. whispered to me, "happy end of 2010. pretty big year for ya... new ring, new house, new job, new husband"

ahhhhhhh. sweet bliss.