Weekending it

Where do the weekends go?

Dan and I hosted another couple from church for dinner at our place on Friday.  I made chicken noodle soup and we played Five Crowns.  We are enjoying the ease of hosting and the opportunity to hang out and interact with friends.  Neither of us were able to invite over friends for a nice dinner to our old studios because of the lack of space.  Now we can do it often and we are finding that we enjoy it a lot!

On Saturday we maintained our laziness until it was absolutely necessary to go out.  We went into the city and met up with one of my friends for an afternoon treat.  That night I made Swedish meatballs (forgot to take pics otherwise I would share the recipe - next time).  Dan is always so generous in helping with the dishes on the nights when I do the cooking.

After dinner Dan practiced his sermon on me since I wasn't going to be able to hear it on Sunday.  He did a great jobby during his practice and many people told me he did great on Sunday too.

Sunday was a crazy crazy day.  Dan was preaching and I was in the pre-k/kindergarten classroom and on the hospitality table (bring treats and set-up coffee and tea).  Dan and I collapsed in a heap of exhaustion after church and lounged around until early evening when my Momma and Poppa arrived for the holiday week! 

It is super nice to have a big enough apartment where everyone can have a seat around the table and an actual bed to sleep on.  There will be five of us in the apartment by the end of the week and still room to spare.  Come on over!

Brudders

Growing up I never had brothers.  And Dan never had sisters.  From what I can tell, brother and sister bonds are quite different - the drama level between sisters being quite a bit higher than it is for brothers.

One fantastic thing about marriage, though, is getting to acquire brothers later in life.  When my older sister married Josh, Mandy and I gained a super fun and goofy brother that we adore. 

And now that I married Dan, Mandy and Jessy gained a sweet and thoughtful and oh so playful brother as well. 

And I gained a sophisticated "little" brother in Sam (unfortunately we didn't get a picture of the three of us - apparently)

Yay for brudders!!

Tidi-bits

I'm getting really excited for Thanksgiving.  My parents and Mandy are coming sooooonnn and it will be like a real holiday to host.  Mandy is staying the weekend after Thanksgiving too and is going to help us deck out the apartment for Christmas!  Squeee!!  I know a lot of people decorate for Christmas at the start of November but I think you have to wait a bit more...don't squeeze out the turkey!  In the meantime I am collecting holiday decorations we need.  Know what's sad?  A hedgehog nativity set doesn't exist.  There are like a bazillion black bear sets but no hedgehogs.  Bummer.  Would someone whittle one for me out of pine?  Cool, thanks.

Speaking of nativity sets, the one my parents had when we were little plugged in and lit up.  There was a little wind-up music box on the side that played "Silent Night."  The thing was pretty old and the music squeaked a little.  Mandy and I always attributed the squeak to baby Jesus crying. Naturally.

Anyways, I hope everyone is feeling a bit warmer today.  We've had 30 degree weather here the last few days and today it is in the 40s and let me tell you that feels like beach weather compared to yesterday.

Yay turkey in exactly one week!  This is the extent of our Thanksgiving decorations. 

Recipe: Terri Mom's Vegetable Soup

When Dan and I started dating I asked him what some of his favorite dishes from childhood were so I could try and make them.  His mom passed along a few recipes and we've made the vegetable soup a couple of times.  Now that our kitchen is bigger and the cupboards can accommodate more canned goods we have room for the ingredients to make this dish more often!  Enjoy    

The stuff
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 cups of beef broth (one 15 oz can or dissolve two packets of beef bouillon granules in 2 cups boiling water)
- 1/4 cup chopped onions
- 1 can green beans (drained)
- 1 can corn (drained)
- 1 can peas (drained)
- 1 can diced tomatoes (undrained)
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 6-8 potatoes (peeled and diced)
- 5-7 carrots (peeled and chopped)
- salt and pepper

Get cookin'
- In a large stock pot add the broth plus enough water to bring the level three inches deep in the pot
- Add the onions to the pot and heat until boiling
- While the water is boiling, season the ground beef with salt and pepper and roll the meat into small meatballs
- Add the meatballs to the boiling water and cook for 20 minutes - DO NOT STIR
- While the meatballs are cooking, wash, peel, and chop the carrots and potatoes  
- When the meatballs are cooked add all the remaining ingredients and stir
- Bring everything back to a boil and cook until the potatoes and carrots are tender
- Serve with biscuits or dumplings

Terri Mom makes great dumplings with this soup and gave me the recipe to try it but as you can see from the photos my pot is not big enough and the soup is practically about to spill over the edge and dumplings would have pushed it over.  I made a box of Red Lobster cheddar biscuits this weekend to serve with the soup and they were delicious too.  

This recipe makes a lot of soup. It served the two of us for dinner Saturday and Sunday with hearty portions and seconds both nights.  Great for a cold and blustery day. 

The original source for this recipe is, of course, Terri Mom!

Jumping photos

Clearly we had coordination issues...and look at the intensity on Sam's face!

Weekending it - the boring edition

Hey! Do you like the new blog look?  I think it's pretty simple yet fun and looks way more professional.  My favorite is the little picture and welcome on the right side.  So friendly!  At first I thought I would attempt to redesign the blog myself but let's face it I'd gladly pay an expert $40 for a great job instead of pulling my hair out for a crappy one.  Yay for Etsy!

So this weekend we had romantic plans to ice skate at Bryant Park in our winter coats and gloves.  It was a grand idea based on the fact that it was the anniversary of our engagement and that was the plan Dan originally had last year.  But then I decided that sometimes it's just too exhausting to go into the city and there were lots of little things we needed to take care of at home.  In other words, I'm a boring party pooper.  So instead we spent a good two hours closing our bank accounts at TD and opening new ones at Bank of America.  Why you ask?  Because TD is America's most INconvenient bank...and they lost our marriage certificate. 

We did go out for lunch at Panera and I got to go baby clothes shopping at the Gap for a friend's baby shower.  People, you cannot imagine the joy I got from looking at and purchasing baby clothes.

That night we did laundry and made Terri Mom's vegetable soup (recipe soon) and burrowed in to watch psychological thrillers on Netflix.  We watched "Domestic Disturbance" with John Travolta which was okay but what we really loved was "Kiss the Girls" with Morgan Freeman.  I love crime/suspense/mystery/twisted endings.

Sunday was church and I got my baby fix volunteering in the Nursery and afterwards two people got baptized in the kiddie pool at the Storefront.  So exciting. 

Then I went to a baby shower which was fun since it was my first one and I love baby clothes.

We also got a new video game that is much easier for me to play.  I don't remember the name but it is some Sonic the Hedgehog racing game like Mario Kart.  I actually won first place a couple of times.  Great fun - although I still have issues with the controller. 

One year ago

This was supposed to be posted yesterday - oops

November 16, 2013

So one year ago today was one of my sweatiest, nerve wrenching days of my life.  I thought I had it all figured out but in the end my plans were turned upside down for the day.  However despite things not going exactly to my plan it was a life changing day.

It was a crispy and sunny autumn afternoon in Bay Ridge when I got to ask the love of my life to marry me and she said yes!!!  Read all about it here.  I love her so much she makes me a better man, husband, and servant.  

Happy engagement-versary!  Sweetie, one year ago today I got to place a ring on your finger.  I love you so much.

We celebrated simply - made homemade creations with colored card stock and scissors.   Since it was our proposal anniversary that also meant it was Philbin's birthday.  We love that bear. 

Shout-out

Saturday was Grandma Wilson's birthday.  Hippo Birdie Grandma!  We hope you had a great day and we are so so sorry we didn't get a card in the mail on time.  We're sorta failing at a lot of things right now.  But don't worry, we'll get it together.  We promise.

Big New York sized hugs from Daniel and Stephanie!

Black and white

In my opinion, black and white photographs are the best.  They are classic and everyone looks better in black and white.  Amy edited some of the wedding photos in black and white and they are definitely among my favorites.  Even in 20-40 years when the style of the wedding will look so dated you won't be able to tell because black and white is timeless.

Our Veterans Day

Our Veterans Day off didn't go exactly to plan and was mildly stressful but we still enjoyed a mid-week day off together.

And a little kudos and hats off to all the servicemen and women who risk their lives to keep our country safe and to all the veterans who sacrificed so much in the past.  Dan and I both have family members who are active or retired from the military and there is nothing that can truly compensate them for their sacrifice.  Our gratitude seems to small in comparison.    

Thank you

Our day broke down like this: We slept in.  Ate banana bread in our pjs.  I scrubbed the bathroom (ugh, hate that), and we made shopping lists.  Then we headed to downtown Brooklyn to try the Chip Shop which is a British fish and chips place.  When we got there it was super crowded because there was a little kid's birthday party.  There was only one waitress/bartender and it was really loud.  We were both distracted and overwhelmed by the chaos which made the trip not very enjoyable.  BUT we both gobbled-up our fish and chips.  Yumm

Then we headed to Trader Joes to stock-up on goodies.  We signed up for Cars 2 Go last week which is sort of like zip car except you can just find a car in the area, hop in, go anywhere in Brooklyn, park the car and be done.  They are tiny smart cars so it took a little bit of time to figure things out.  We got a little flustered because the car wouldn't sync with the internet to approve the parking spot we were in so we kept driving around (wasting time).  We tried three different spots before calling the company to figure out what the issue was.  Finally, we ended up at Target and stocked-up on household needs.  We took Cars 2 Go back to Bay Ridge and collapsed in the apartment completely exhausted from crowds and over stimulation.

We just hung-out the rest of the night frustrated from the needless stress of the day and kind of bored.

But today is Wednesday and that means we are almost to the weekend!! Woot!

The First Look

Love this series of photos when Dan and I got to see each other just before the Wedding ceremony.  So glad Amy and Tim caught this moment perfectly.

Mmmm, cake

Gosh that was great cake!