9.29.2012

who needs a reason for a party?

I adore parties. Not necessarily the wild, loud music, jump-up-and-down in a drunken orgy type of party but the let's decorate, drink a glass of wine, and socialize type of party. Some of you are probably thinking, "that's a party?". But, that's my kind of party! Can you tell I'm not in college anymore?

A couple months ago, I was desperately itching to throw a party. The husband and I had plans to have a few friends over for dinner. Much to his surprise, I transformed our casual "have friends over" into a themed dinner party. Yes, I said, themed. It was very slight and hardly tacky. You probably won't even notice it in the pictures. The friends were coming over the day after the opening ceremony for the summer Olympics. This meant red, white, and blue were running through my veins. I didn't want the potentially tacky summer BBQ look. I wanted something elegant and classy, yet still showing a hint of American pride.


Side note, the chairs on the right hand side of the table were a side of the road gem. Completely free and a perfect addition for our table. I'm planning on sprucing them up with a coat of paint! I can't wait to do the project and I promise, I'll post pictures of the final outcome.

Now, back on topic. The dinner party was a great success. Our friends, the Hutchins and the Mengels, came over for a kabob and appetizer feast.

I am absolutely obsessed with caprese, so that was an appetizer must. I also fell in love with these cucumber boats, found on susie freaking homemaker's blog. 




The food was delicious and the company was amazing. Now it's time for me to plan my next dinner party!

p.s. this is way late post so all pictures are from our old house -- I promise to get some pictures up soon of our new place.

9.27.2012

quinoa + quesadilla

I haven't really been cooking lately. Or baking. In fact, I think I'm losing my touch. The few recipes I've tried out recently, have somehow managed to be utter disasters. Despite my never-ending to-do list, I keep longing to be in the kitchen. Yet, whenever I squeeze in the time, I fail miserably. So until I have enough time to give my kitchen the proper attention again, you'll have to deal with recipes I tried out over the summer -- like this one:



There's so much goodness going on in this meal that I don't even know what to call it. The name would be really long...something like Quinoa, Black Bean, Feta & Peach Salsa Quesadilla. Whoa. Too many words for a title. Especially a food title. But, that's what it is.

This recipe was inspired by a couple cooks. You can check out their page for detailed instructions. I didn't modify it much - basically just added crumbled feta cheese and placed it in a tortilla.

But here's the basic rundown of ingredients:

  • 2 cups quinoa
  • 2 cans black beans
  • 6-8 green onions
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • 4 ripe peaches
  • 1/2 red onion
  • 1/2 jalapeƱo pepper
  • 1 lime
  • handful of cilantro
  • crumbled feta
  • tortillas

Try it out - it was delish! 

9.22.2012

celebrate good times

This summer hasn't been much of a summer for the husband and me.

100 degree weather and 100 hours/week of surgery work didn't make for a great combination.

After a month delay, the husband and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary by taking a trip into the mountains.

Typically, our mountain getaways are filled with activities - such as hiking, skiing, camping, etc. We weren't quite as lucky this go round. The husband has had a bad hamstring all summer making hiking an improbable adventure. When we first moved to Colorado, we committed to conquering a 14er every year. This year's 14er goes under the questionable category of "conquering". Instead of hiking it - we drove almost all the way to the top of it. It sounds lazy, I know. But give us a break! I would say we made the most of our circumstances.




The sweet husband also surprised me with a great Pinterest idea. He bought me a chalkboard and chalk and told me we had to take a photo every year marking our anniversary. Note: Please forgive the out of focus pictures - the camera was on the hood of our car!



And we topped the weekend off with some amazing dessert at a sweet cafe in Eagle, CO. 



Do you do anything special to celebrate wedding anniversaries? Any traditions? Even if it's small, you got to go out and celebrate the good times!

9.17.2012

an abstract of my life








This is the abstract of my life. The full article will come later.

Important things to note:

  • We moved. The first picture is the staged version of our new condo. I will post pictures soon of what our place actually looks like. We're almost fully settled. Almost.
  • Just got home from two weekends away. One in Steamboat Springs with Mackenzie. One in Fraser at Crooked Creek Younglife Camp.
  • Younglife is in full swing - the picture above is my team of leaders. They're great. I love them.
  • I'm the new pitching coach for the Arapahoe High School JV Softball team. It's a blast being "on" the field again.
  • But most of my time is spent at school. Studying away. Got to get back to that now.
I can't wait to write more about my life but right now I'm a little carried away with living my life! :)