love list

Happy lover's day. Bring on the red and pink. This year feels special. It feels more like a day to remember all the love that I feel, and all the people and things that I love. I LOVE love. and have decided to make a love list…

I LOVE Bear. I love that he is sweet, kind, and gentle. I love that he is patient with me and holds me tight when I need it most. I love that he makes me laugh. I love that together, we are a family. 

I love Shento. I love that he loves to cuddle. I love that he gets so excited when Bear and I get home (he actually misses us). I love that he is adorable. I love that his favorite thing is to chew on a bone when we are watching a movie. I love that he has taught Bear and I so much patients and has made it so we are never actually alone, we always have a third wheel. 

I love my parents, and absolutely love that we are within driving distance from them. I love that they listen and care. They give advice and tell great stories. They have accepted Bear as their own son and I love that. 

I love New Jersey. I love thinking back on all the memories that were created in that state. I love the beautiful nature that surrounds that area. I love all the many friends that we made. I love the attitude. I love the culture and diversity. I love (love/hate relationship) Rutgers.

I love sunshine. I love the warm air on my face. I love the happiness that it brings. I love that it is a great excuse to hang out outside. I love the color and the freshness it brings after a long winter. 

I love walks. I love the freedom you feel. I love watching Shento run around. I love the talks that Bear and I have. I love seeing what surrounds us. I love the beauty that you can find. I love the smell. I love watching my feet move back and forth. I love that walks are something special for our little family. 

the old fashioned kind

Ingredients

1 cup sugar 

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoons nutmeg

2 eggs

1/4 cup melted butter ( i used smart balance, but eliminated the salt that the recipe calls for). 

1 cup milk

4 cups flour ( i used whole wheat flour and it worked great).

oil for frying

Step one

In a large bowl mix the sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.

Step two

Add eggs, milk and melted butter. Beat well.

Step three

Add 3 cups of the flour, beating until blended. Add one more cup of flour and beat well. The dough should be soft and sticky but firm enough to handle.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.


Step four

2 hours later 

Remove your dough from the fridge and begin heating the oil to 360F in a large metal skillet.

Working with half the dough at a time, roll it out on a floured surface to about 1/2" thickness. Cut out circles using a doughnut cutter (I used the top of a glass).

Step five

Gently drop the doughnuts in the hot oil. Flip them over as they puff and turn then a couple more times as they cook. They will take about 2-3 minutes in total and will be lovely and golden brown. 

Step six

Remove from oil and set them on paper towels or a brown bag.

Step seven 

enjoy them. 


P.S  I was intimidated to make doughnuts. the dough, the frying... too much. I had put it off for sometime. But to my surprise, these were super easy and took very time. plus, they were delicious. it helped with my dunkin doughnut craving. 

Lover's Day is almost here

I am off to have a girls day with my Mom.  But before I go and enjoy a day of girl talk, shopping, and fun, I wanted to share some of my favorite LOVEr's day finds.

From right to left.
1. A beautiful hanging heart garland. Found here
2. what could be more perfect for lover's day than a you are LUVD t-shirt. Go here to purchase yours.
3. Stunning pictures of the un-seen nature.
4. These look sensational. Pink Grapefruit Margaritas. Go here for the recipe.
5. How romantic would it be to write secret love messages on your lovers tea bags. Picture found here.
6. An adorable foxy Valentine box. What would you put inside? Go here for the full tutorial and free pdf.

today

today has been slightly over-cast. it looks like the mountains are getting snow. i hope the snowflakes make their way to our house. i am ready for a little snow. it makes everything white and glisten with freshness. I could use some freshness in my life. 

Yesterday was the most upsetting and frustrating day i've had in a while. everything seemed to be going wrong. I paced around the house anxious and grumpy. and please, don't get me started on the electric company turning off our electric. Somehow they mixed our account with another house who just happened to be 5 months past due. Needless to say, we did not have power for most of the day. 

I was so thankful to be able to go over to our sweet neighbors house for a delicious taco dinner and wonderful conversation. At least for the four hours that we were there, I forgot about my miserable day. 

this morning when I awoke to my husband kissing my forehead i knew it was going to be a new day. A fresh start. everything that has happened in the past couple months needs to be pushed out of our memory (at least for now). today was the first day of a new outlook on our life. Bear was in a great mood and that ultimately rubbed off on on me very quickly. I took advantage of shento wanting to snuggle before our day begin and enjoyed laying in bed listening to the robins chirp outside the window.  i felt good. ready for the day. I stayed in my pajamas for most of it. and that was lovely. bear and i took a walk to the local gas station to get a soda. we played with the pup at the park. and i jammed out to  'everythings'll be all right' by joshua radian. 

when all is said and done, today was great. and I am so thankful for my morning kisses from my husband bear, snuggles with shento, the soothing sound of birds happily enjoying the morning sun, neighbors who happen to invite you over when you need it most, music that warms your heart, and for my life and everything that I have been blessed to have. 

The Graduate Student's Wife: the beginning

This is a three part story about the feelings that I have gone through as a Grad Student's Wife.  What you read now is the beginning of the journey.

it all started when we were sitting on the corner of our bed in Gainesville, Florida.  Bear brought up the idea of going to study in China and then applying to grad school. I remember being excited for him. I also don't think that I really grasp what it all meant. After his mind was made up that he was going to china and applying to grad school, everything seemed to happen very quickly. Bear applied to a school in China where he would learn mandarin; he got excepted, he applied for a loan, a visa, got lots of shots, we moved to Utah, we got engaged, and within a couple months he left. Roughly 10,379 miles away.

Fast forward through lots of email communications between the two of us, me spending countless hours on Bear's grad school applications,  talking to Bear's past professors on the phone to get letters of recommendation, mailing numerous graduate school applications, and planning a wedding… Bear came home.

throughout the next 6 months a lot happened. Bear was rejected from a lot of the schools that he had applied to. We had no back up plan. Bear got a call from University of Virginia asking for an interview. How perfect, we thought. Bear's best friend (more like a brother) was in grad school at UVA and it would be wonderful to be in Virginia with him. We got our hopes up. The interview process was good. Everything looked and seemed like it was moving along nicely. Until the phone rang a couple weeks later. It was UVA, they were incredibly sorry but they had chosen someone else. I remember my heart sinking.

After getting over the rejection of UVA, Bear had a couple early morning phone interviews with Rutgers University. A week after his phone interview he got a letter in the mail. I was the one who found the letter in the mailbox.  Bear was working at a sandwich shop at the time and I sped over as fast as I could. He wanted me to open it. I was shaking… I saw the first word congratulations and I started hugging Bear. I gave him the letter and he said, are you ready to be an east coaster?

I graduated from college, Bear and I got married, we packed up all of our belongings and took a two week camping excursion across the U.S until we made it to our new home on the East Coast.

left to right: Putting the final touches on some of Bear's grad school applications, Bear in China, Bear celebrating because he got accepted into Rutgers, Me graduating from college.


Left to Right: Bear and I on our honeymoon, traveling across the country, the day after we arrived in New Jersey... Go Rutgers

over the weekend

 hope your weekend was just lovely. 

Ours was filled with lots of celebrating, enjoying each others company,

and eating lots of good food. 

Some highlights were: 

going for a walk; but it turned out to be way too cold, 

so we decided to go eat a delicious fruit tart at la jolla bakery instead.  

we bought some house plants to bring color to our home,

 we stuffed ourselves with indian food, 

and then cuddled on the couch and watched some law and order. 

yeah, it was a great weekend. 

now onto a wonderful week! 

colorado

remember when i said that we rang the new year in while visiting family in Colorado. 

yes, we did ring the new year in; 

we always went on beautiful walks, and a snowshoeing adventure.

i just have yet to post anything about it. 

it was fun watching the heard of deer. 

drinking homemade eggnog.

snowshoeing for hours in the beautiful mountains.

relaxing by the fire.

and best of all, visiting and spending time with family. 

Quote

I love quotes. Always have and probably always will. When I was younger I would read quotes when I was feeling down. I kept a journal of quotes that I really loved, when I go back and read them I know exactly what was happening in that stage of my life. I found that journal last week while cleaning and it was exactly what I needed. Last week was a difficult one. Reading the quotes that I had written down long ago put life into perspective and gave me the inspiration to go out and find a couple new quotes. Enjoy

metal filing cabinet

Here's the deal... when we moved into our new home I made a vow to create a home that both Bear and I really enjoy. No more hanging a picture up just because it is all you have. The only things going on my wall are pieces we are in love with. I also wanted to create and find pieces that were original and unique. But I am on a huge budget. So with all those promises in mind, it has taken a little more time to get settled into our new home. Since I am trying to decorate on a budget and the thrift store has become my good friend, I thought I would share with you some of my projects. Most all of my projects have been cheep and easy. I have realized that you can do anything with a little creativity and spray paint! 

We needed some type of storage/cabinet in our office. I had looked all over and nothing had caught my eye. Until I received a magazine in the mail that had a beautiful colored metal cabinet. $800 was way out of my budget. So I thought about it, did a little research, and headed to the thrift store. I found this perfect metal cabinet for $4.00. Tip: when searching for a metal cabinet make sure that the drawers open and close smoothly. I then proceeded to the craft store with a couple 40% off coupons and bought three cans of spray paint. A total of $9.00.  With my research I found that it is best to use a spray paint primer on metal. That you can only get at a hardware store and runs around $5.00.

With all my paints in hand, I went to the front yard and spray painted away. It took a couple coats of paint, a couple hours for drying, and a second to carry it into our office.  It turned out perfect. Exactly how I had imagined it. The whole thing cost me about  $18.00.

Now go out and find yourself a lovely metal cabinet and get to work!

a few awesome things from this weekend...

1. Seeing Joshua James perform... Magical! 

2. Pizza night, a couple episodes of madman, and cuddling on the couch with Bear. 

3. Spending a Saturday morning enjoying all the wonderful treasures at fleaology.  I walked away with the best find - that amazing blue bench. 

4. Taking Shento on a walk long enough to make him tired. That's hard to do. 

5. Finding a fun bakery within walking distance from our house. 

6. It snowed. 

7. Drinking lots of hot beverages to stay warm. 

8. Decorating for lover's day.