One More To Go!!

Finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (like a week ago but let's continue)


Ohhhh Dumbledore.... *sniff* Now, let's start out by saying that I hardly remembered what happened in this book because I got it at Midnight and read through it in less than 3 tired days. I really love how JKR really shows the growth in these characters. If you remember back to the first book, they were so unaware of the world around them, but by the end of this book, they are ready to leave school to go hunt Voldemort. Poor Harry in this book. You think throughout the book that he is as alone as can be, until the second to last chapter...and then it's just devastating... stupid SNAPE. Ugh. I have such a soft spot for Draco in this book. He is simply terrified. I wish he didn't run with Snape, he coulda been so good...
I still think Fauxe should have gone with the Trio. Just sayin, it would have been cool to take on their journeys.
I wanted to point out a few things related to the movie and the book together. First, JKR does nothing but compare Professor Slughorn to a walrus. Almost every time he walks into the door. Short and fat with a huge mustache. The Slughorn in the movie is super tall and thin... so it kind of threw me off this time to try to imagine him... he kept switching back and forth for me. Also, Slughorn doesn't really remember Ron's name, and one time he calls him Rupert (which is the name of the actor who plays Ron in the movies). Harry doesn't correct him, and they kind of pretend it doesn't happen. I'm pretty sure she slipped that in for Rupert (which is pretty cool).
I'm already a good way into Deathly Hallows so I'm almost done! I also don't really remember this book, but I just saw the movie and so far into the book, they did an amazing job being just like the book.

Now to get ready to go Christmas shopping!

Winter Love!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, here's the Winter Edition of things I love!

Christmas!! (duh)

Best thing about the winter season? Easy. Christmas. The warm glow of christmas lights, christmas songs, the spirit of giving, it's all so cheerful and loving.

Christmas Cookies!

Going hand in hand with the first one, christmas baking is nothing but theraputic. What is better than mixing up holiday flavors, baking them, decorating every cookie differently while singing to christmas music and then watching everyone melt over how amazing they are? Nothing. Except maybe eating them myself.

SNOW

I really love the snow. I love how it muffles all the sounds outside. It's like dancing in the rain, but you don't get wet (unless it's really slushy snow). Sadly, down here on the beach, we hardly get anything like this picture. It's crazy how in Maryland, you can have 6-10 feet of snow (remember snOMG 2010?), and only 300 miles south, we get maybe an inch and it's such a big deal...

Scarves!!

They are so snuggly and it's so easy to have a million (so you can match). I also don't like to wear hats so this is what keeps my head/face area warm.

Ice Skating

I haven't gone in a while, but I really love to skate when I can. Between the love of dance, and the Mighty Ducks being one of my favorite movies, I couldn't get enough of ice skating when I was younger. I got pretty good for a while there, but got too busy in high school to keep up with it.

Gingerbread Lattes

Can't go wrong with ANYTHING gingerbread flavored. But only when it's cold. It just feels weird year round...

A few things I mentioned in the fall category also applies for the winter including:
Sleeping, Relaxing, Fireplaces, Eating carbs covered in cheese, and Miller's being closed.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

So we moved! I think I'll take more now that there are some christmas decorations up.

Also, we got a DOG. His name is Murray. He's two years old, we found him at a shelter. At the current moment, we are fostering him (a test drive to see how he would be with our cats and how the cats would be with him). We are really loving him and the cats seem to be warming up to him slowly but surely. We were talking about getting him a sweater (for the christmas card) and a stocking, so it seems he will be staying and we'll throw an adopting party once we sign the papers.


And instead of one of my '25 things to do' being to run the half marathon, I've decided to be a little more realistic and go with running a 5k or 8k. Theres an 8k in March, a 5k in May and another 5k in August. I'm also going to change saving $10,000 to just taking care of our student loans, because that comes first. I don't want to get my passport anymore, so I changed it to lose 10 lbs... let's see how that works... I also want to change 'Take B/W pictures of baby' to just 'take black and white pictures'. Why wait? I just want to start taking some good pictures in general. While I'm at it, instead of worrying about taking a certain class for a certain job, I'm going to take that out and just put Get a good bible and read from it. (good meaning a kind with footnotes and easy to read passages). One of my biggest problems right now is that everyday I am worried about ever getting a 'real job' and it freaks me out. So I just need to live one day at a time and stop planning ahead. I trust that something with find it's way to me somehow, but until then, I just need to enjoy having hobbies and making little things into big accomplishments.

Speaking of hobbies, I started to crochet. A friend taught me how he does it, so it might not be the best way or even the right way, but I like it. I started on a scarf, but it seems that I am pulling my knots too tight which makes things very difficult to work with. I'm gonna call the one I was working on 'finished' and start over. Maybe I'll have a scarf for NEXT winter...

Movin' On Up!

Fifth one down! Two more to go!
Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix

By far my favorite book cover. It's so blue and swirly....
Anyway! I remember loving and hating this book, but I didn't remember much about the details. I'm glad I took my time to read it for comprehension this time instead of plowing through in two straight days to see what happened. This is one of the biggest books I've read (weight and page number wise) coming in at a whopping 870 pages and it's also one of my very favorites. I did indeed love it and hate it again this time around. We go through a whirlwind of emotions in this one. Harry is really going through his grumpy teenage phase and she writes it so well. Umbridge is difficult to read without wanting to throw the book out of a window... she is so horrible. However, the flasback moments were really wonderful to read and so many great things happen in this book to outweigh the bad. Weasley is our King!! Again, if you haven't read them. DO. IT.

In other news! Moving this week!! I'm so excited. I cleaned my ass off at the new house scrubbing the entire downstairs, wall to wall, every crumb in the kitchen, every corner of the bathrooms, and we painted our bedroom a really peacrful light blue. Today is scrubbing the walls upstairs and working on vaccuming the floors (if we get the power going today). Taking pictures! I will put them up as soon as I can.
(the computer is being packed up today so when we unpack it, I will upload!)

New Me November!

It's November! Which means Miller's closed yesterday and I now have 4 months to recharge and relax and enjoy my life!
It is also MOVING MONTH! We got the keys yesterday! The place looks great inside (will take pictures on moving day). We can't wait to get in there and start painting and moving stuff in! With all this free time we will surely get it done lickty split!

Ok, now for some winter goals:

Starting Yoga!!

I'm really excited for it. I've been once and it was amazing. My first class is on Wednesday. I'll let you know how it went.

Reading ALOT MORE!

I have to finish Harry Potter (almost done with 5 right now) and I have 4 more books on my list of MUST READS!

Working Out!

Gym three times a week! Get that running back up to where it was last winter before work started up again. Lose a few pounds? Sounds good to me.


Eating Healthy(-er)!!

I've been doing an ok job making healthy choices, but it's time to re-crack down! Although the more I think about it... the more I want candy... we need to go healthy grocery shopping!

Manage Money!

With all this free time, all we want to do is go out and spend money. It's a very bad habbit. We need to learn to budget, save, buy store brands, use coupons and enjoy what we have.

If I even do these things half-way, I'll be better than I was, but hopefully, I'll stick to it!

Sneek Peek!

Here's a picture of the front of the house we're moving into!




There are alot of trees over the kitchen window, which is nice for privacy, but we can see out of it pretty well. The old tennant is moving out on the first, so as soon as we can, I'll snap pictures and put them up.
Also, to add to another thing that broke in our current house, the water heater went last week, we've been driving across the street to Matt's Nana's to shower every morning... at least we are only working Saturday and Sunday and then MILLERS CLOSES!!

We've already started packing up the bathrooms (since we can't shower there), our bedroom and the spare rooms. We have alot of boxes sitting around waiting for the first chance we have to start putting stuff in the new place.
Offical Move In Day is the 15th, but we can start moving stuff as soon as it's empty. I can't wait. I'm over the hardwood floors and between them and dusting everything before packing it is getting WAY too much junk in the air... my allergies are killing me...
I really want some panera... but sadly, we live no where near anything good... so I'm just gonna pretend...



Mmmm... broccoli cheddar soup and a ceaser salad.......

For The First Time, I Feel, Wicked!

A Little Bit Wicked by: Kristen Chenoweth



Before I go and talk about this book, if you don't know who Kristin is.... you have to find out. She was in Pushing Daisies, a few episodes of Glee and The West Wing, she was the lead in Wicked and You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, she has like 3 CD's and she's won an Emmy. She's kind of the most amazing person ever.
Watch this and then we'll continue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBJn4BHtqqY

It's ok. I'll wait...


Did you watch it? Is she not a freaking power house for such a tiny lady?!

Ok, so this book. I feel like I just sat down with her and she just talked to me girl to girl about her life. The style is so easy to read and so friendly. I loved reading it. She adds her faith in the Lord and life lessons all into an amazing hilarious tumble through Oklahoma, Broadway and Hollywood and everywhere in between. I recommend it to anyone who loves show biz, Kristin, laughing or learning (or all of them like me!). This was so inspirational and fun to read, I'm so glad I read it.

Would I recommend this book: If you love Kristin, absolutely. If you love Broadway, southern girls or believing that there's good in everyone most definitely. If you want something spunky and easy to read, for sure. Do it.

I also made some muffins!!!

Banana Nut Muffins, a classic.




Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

They turned out really well! Nice and soft and a perfect crumbly topping. I added about a cup and a half of walnuts even though it didn't call for them, and it almost doubled the amount of muffins it called for, which is a good thing!

Reading and Baking. Always makes for a productive, yet relaxing afternoon.

The Pie Maker!

After doing laundry yesterday, I decided to make an Apple Crisp (one of Matt's favorite desserts)or otherwise known as:

Dutch Apple Pie


1 ready made grahm cracker pie crust
1 egg yolk beaten
5 1/2 cups cooking apples peeled, sliced
1 Tbls lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 Tbls flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Topping (in recipe)

Preheat oven to 375, brush bottom of crust evenly with egg yolk; bake on baking sheet until light brown, about 5 minutes. Combine remaining ingredients, mix well and spoon into crust.
Topping:
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter.
Combine with fork until crumbly. Sprinkle topping over apples. Bake on baking sheet until topping is golden and filling is bubbling.
Prep: 30 min Baking 55 minutes

And as I'm typing this, I realize that I only cooked my pie for 30 minutes (I guess I was reading the prep minutes and not the bake time...) but it was still great and my family went back for seconds! So you can't really mess this up...

And my final bottle to complete my 10/10!!

Gallo White Zin!
Ok, this is by far the best. It is so very sweet and delicious. I can only imagine if this was all you drank at a party all night- the hangover would be horrible, but this would be a great girls night wine because it's so easy to drink (also because it's pink).

We are waiting to hear about a townhouse we might move into. I'll post about it should we be moving into it. We should know by the end of the day.

I never did give myself that pedicure... I believe I will finish this wine, eat some pie, and do just that while I wait for the house call.

Thankful Thursday

Make it a habit to tell people thank you.
To express your appreciation,
sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return.
Truly appreciate those around you,
and you'll soon find many others around you.
Truly appreciate life, and you'll find that you have more of it.
Ralph Marston

I am thankful for my H today because he made me breakfast.



I am thankful for one door closing and another door opening. We want to move out of the house we have now, to a smaller place. We've been looking and almost had a condo until yesterday it went to someone else instead. Later at dinner, I was telling this to my friends who then remembered that the townhouse her parents (who we LOVE) own is available next month!! Its 99.9% a sure thing that we'll be the ones to move in.

[pictures and more info to come when we are 100%]

So then I am thankful for my wonderful friends who know when something is wrong and then fix it!



I am thankful for days off! I plan on doing my laundry, finish one of the 6 books I am reading curently, and giving myself a pedicure. Ah relaxing.

Things I Love About Fall

Fall Colors!!



I'm not a big fan of orange, except in October, there's no excaping it and it really puts everyone in the fall mood!

Soups!!



Nothing like delicious soup and bread to warm you up in the breezy fall afternoons.

Thanksgiving! (Duh)



Let's all eat a rediculous amount of cheese and butter covered carbs until we pop. Yes please!

Miller's CLOSES!!



Which means sleeping in past 6:30! Love it.

Pumpkin Spice Lattes...



'Nuff said.

Baking Pies!!



I love baking in general, but I love the fall because I bake PIES! Everyone loves pies... and they are so pretty and delicious.


Fireplaces!



I love cuddling and reading by the fire. So warm and peacful.


So let's review: food and relaxing are my favorite parts about fall!

Beverly Hills, That's Where I Want To Be

So, we went on our honeymoon!! It actually crossed of two of my lists at once!
It was alot of public transportation because we didn't rent a car (not the best idea, but most likely just as pricey in the end.)
Here are some pics!


The actual Batmobile!


Giant WB sign used to show off to Universal whose studio was bigger.


The view from our hotel.


Waiting to board the plane in Washington D.C. at 5:30am.


Eating our year old wedding cake on our anniversary!!



Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center, better known as Seattle Grace Hospital from Grey's Anatomy!!!


My hands on Judy Garlands handprints outside of the Chinese Theatre Show on Hollywood Ave.


Universal Studio's back lots!


My Harry Potter shirt!! "I solemly swear I am up to no good"....


Us on the actual Friends couch in Central Perk!!!


Pan seered tuna steak and mixed greens with an amazing sauce from Huston's restaurant.


Matt and I at the hotel.


Matt and I on the ferris wheel at the Santa Monica Pier!!


On a bus


Me outside the Grey's Anatomy Hospital!!

Yup- that's right, that's Central Perk the ACTUAL set of Friends that we are sitting on and YES that is the ACTUAL hospital where they film Grey's Anatomy. We didn't see anyone famous and we didn't see the Hollywood sign (we honestly looked all over the place and never saw it). But we did spend alot of much needed time together, we got tan, ate well, spent leisurely and didn't wait on anyone for 15 wonderful days. That food picture is a pan seared tuns steak and salad- and it was absolutely delish. We went to the WB studios, Universal Studios, the Grey's hospital, walked down the Walk of Fame, saw a taping of a show (Better With You- it was really funny), went to Santa Monica pier and watched two movies (Going the Distance and Easy A- both hilarious). We had a great time and already want to go back again.

So we are back on the beach and we only have 5 more weeks left of work before they close for the season. I'm STILL reading HP5, but I plan to (re)finish up all of them before the movie comes out.

Two more down, quite a few more to go!