I'm still here!

Long time, no post my friends.  Sorry!  Life has been quite crazy the past few weeks.  Here's a brief list of some of the new things in my life:

1.  I am officially off of orientation at work and flying solo as a RN!
2.  I had my first experience of a patient dying.
3.  I started studying for the GRE...AND a have a study buddy!
4.  I went 4.5 days without internet & cable (when all your friends & your hubby are busy or at work, this is a long time!)
5.  The Gators finally won a football game :)
6.  The wedding photos are here!
7.  I started my Christmas gift list.
8.  I have become re-obsessed with Little House on The Prairie - thanks to having no internet or cable as mentioned in #4.
9.  Chris are planning a trip to Orlando to visit Jennifer and possible use one of our leftover Disney tickets.  Yay for something to look forward to!
10.  We are going to see Mannheim Steamroller in concert next Thursday!
11.  I have some super fun craft ideas...thanks to Nancy & Aunt Karen for the suggestions.
12.  I am going to have next weekend off (Nov 13-14).  I can't wait to go to church again!!


Well, there's a brief update!  I have lots of posts I want to do - I just need to get around to doing them...

Happy Thursday :)

Adham's come to visit part 2 :)

See part 1 to read about what we did on Friday night of when Sarah and Michael came to visit!  We woke up Saturday morning and I started making breakfast!  Breakfast is my absolute favorite meal of the day - there's nothing better than a good breakfast to start your day.  I put my belgium waffle maker to use and we also had bacon and fruit.  We ate breakfast with College Game Day on in the background (of course!). 

Fruit & bacon

Waffles!



The spread

We relaxed the rest of the morning - watching the rest of GameDay ad we even were able to watch one of the wedding DVD my uncle made for us!  We then finished getting ready and headed out to Publix to grab some subs to eat on campus before the LSU game.  Once we made it to campus, Michael "made" us a parking spot over a sewer drain next to the apartment he lived in on campus when he was a student!  It turned out to be a great spot - thanks Michael! 



Our tailgate spot next to Keys (Michael's old apartment)





The Buick in the "parking spot"

We spent the afternoon on campus, visiting with friends and watching other football games (Alabama vs South Carolina game!).  One of Michael's friends got us into the booster's pre-game meal in the O-Dome (FREE FOOD!) for a little snack before the game! 

Sophia & Sarah

The boys

My sick hubby and I

The gang

Danny!



The group before we went into the stadium

The entire game was heartbreaking!  We had 3 drunk LSU fans sitting behind us.  They snuck beer in with them (we're thinking the put it in ziploc bags) and dumped it all over my Vera Bradley Totally Turq backpack and on both Sarah and I's jackets.  As you can imagine, I was not a happy camper.  I eventually was able to get over it and try to enjoy the rest of the game.  Even though the outcome was dissapointing, it is always fun to be in the Swamp - especially with friends!  As soon as we got home I threw everything into the washer to get the nasty beer smell out.  We didn't go to bed until late and spent the next morning sleeping in.  This whole time poor Chris caught some kind of cold from the kids at school and had lost his voice on Saturday night.  Sunday we went to lunch at Las Margaritas - one of our favorite Mexican resturants!

It was a great weekend!  Thanks for coming down Michael & Sarah!

Tragedy!

Sad news everyone...my camera is non-functioning.  Usually I am very careful when carrying a water bottle in my purse, but this time I guess the cap wasn't quite tight enough.  As I was walking to meet my parents at the UF Homecoming Parade after work on Friday, I started to feel something wet on the bottom of my purse, getting my clothes damp.  I instantly searched through my bag and found my camera case soaked.  Once I got home I put the camera in a bag of rice, but it didn't help :(  I love taking pictures to document events throughout my life, so I am going through a period of withdrawal!  Unfortunately there may be picture-free posts for a while until I get a new camera...

Well, I am off to eat some lunch but I'll be back sometime during the next few days to share part 2 of the Adham's visit!

Adhams come to visit part 1 :)

This past weekend was very exciting because our good friends Sarah and Michael came to visit and go to the Gator football game!  Sarah and I were college roommates and we were all in each other's weddings.  After they got married they moved up to Atlanta, so it's always great when we get to see each other.  They came into town Friday afternoon and after a few hours of blabbing (what do you except?!), we finally got ourselves ready to go out for dinner. 

When we all lived in Gainesville we pretty much went out to eat at the same places over and over again (Moes, Outback, Chick-Fil-A, Chipotle, etc) - don't get me wrong, we love those places! - but I thought it would be fun if we went someplace new and different.  I had heard awesome things about The Ivy House, so I suggested we go there!



The Ivy House, Alachua FL

 When we got there, it was just a 10-15 minute wait so we chatted some more out on the porch :)



Sarah, Michael, and Chris




Me, Sarah, and Michael




Sarah & Michael



Chris & I

I loved the cute, homey feel of the place.  It was a nice change compared to most of the restaurants that we've gone to recently.  Of course we had to take pictures of the food...

Delicious house salad

Baked Crispy Chicken 

Not pictured are the cheese fritters!  They were AWESOME - definitely one of the best parts of the meal!

After dinner we went back to the apartment and watched Date Night (it seems that whenever we have people over that haven't seen that movie, we must show it to them!).  It was a fun and relaxing way to end the evening.


You'll have to wait for part 2 :)

Kitchen Adventures #1

I love spending time in the kitchen cooking, baking, trying new things, etc.  It can be a big stress reliever...and fun!  For Christmas last year my Aunt Karen got me this awesome cookbook - "More Super Secret Restaurant Recipes" by Todd Wilbur.  It has fun recipes - everything from restaurant entree clones, to low fat clones, to drinks, and fast food clones.  There is a little bit of everything!  A few weeks ago I decided to make the reduced fat version of Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana - one of our favorites!  It is very simple and quite tasty. 

Ingredients
.5 lb lean hot turkey Italian sausage
3 c fat-free chicken broth
3 c fat-free milk
2 T minced onion
1 T Hormel Real Bacon Pieces
1/4 t salt
pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1 med russet potato, peeled
2 c chopped kale

1.  Grill or saute the sausage until cooked.
2. Combine the chicken broth, milk, onion, bacon, salt, and pepper flakes in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
3.  Quarter the potato lengthwise, then cut into 1/4-inch slices.  Add to the saucepan.  When mixture begins to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
4.  Cut the sausage at an angle into 1/4-inch thick slices.  Add the sausage to the saucepan.  Simmer for 1 hour or until potato slices begin to soften.
5.  Add the kale to the soup and simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes until potatoes are soft.



In the midst of cooking!

In addition to the soup, I also tried out my Oster Breadmaker (a wedding gift) for the first time!  I tried out the recipe for French Bread, since I thought it would got well with the soup - and it did.



Final product!



It was a lovely meal - that served as leftovers for the next day :)  If you try out the recipe, let me know how you like it!

COUCHES!!

YAY!  I am excited that we FINALLY have a normal living room :)  We spent our first almost 3 months of marriage with a "bachelor pad living room" with 2 recliners.  We wanted to get nice furniture before we got married, but we didn't want to go into debt setting up our first apartment.  Our bedroom set was the priority - so we purchased that before the wedding, and then started saving for couches.  A few weeks ago we started looking for living room furniture and we found a perfect set.  It was little bit more expensive than what we had saved up so far, but we were able to talk them down to the amount :)

Now...what you have all been waiting for...PICTURES!



Before



After




After

 I took these pictures right before I started posting this blog, hence the laptops are out :)

Let me know what y'all think!!  I still have some little things I want to do to finish the living room but it already feels more homey.

Anxiously Awaiting!

Well, we purchased a new living room furniture set and I am anxiously awaiting its delivery any time now!  We found a set that would be perfect for us - it was on sale AND we were able to talk them down in price to the exact amount that we had set aside for furniture!  I have LOTS to update yall on (recipes and fun weekends with friends) - I'm hoping to get some of those posts out today....with a picture of the furniture of course!