The Norwood Nest

Valentine's Crafting Spree

2012-01-22T16:07:00.001-05:00

1 mega-pack of Valentine scrapbook paper

+ Styrofoam wreaths & balls

+ 100 felt squares

+ 2 packages yarn

+ ribbon

+ doilies

+ 3 episodes of Biggest Loser

+ 2 episodes of The Bachelor

+ scissors, tape, glue, & pins

-----------------------------------------------

Happy Katie!

Valentine's Day has always been a favorite holiday in our family since my mama's birthday is February 14th! Growing up, Valentine's Day was a big deal, and I think that's why I like it so much now.

Last week, I went on an all-out Valentine's crafting spree. Pinterest was inspiring me left and right with Valentine's crafts, and I couldn't choose, so I made them all. Brent was out of town three nights this week on interviews. Armed with a glue gun, a glass of wine, and a full DVR, I got to crafting.

Candle Holders: mason jars, doilies, felt, & yarn

{inspiration here}

Wreath: styrofoam ring, felt, pins, & ribbon

{inspiration & tutorial here}

Felt Flowers: styrofoam balls, felt, & pins

{i loved the wreath so much, i created these flower balls using the same technique}

Valentine Frame: old frame with glass taken out, scrapbook paper, & adhesive glitter letters

{inspiration here}

Heart Banner: scrapbook paper, glue, & ribbon

{inspiration here}

Lovebird Art: cheap frame, scrapbook paper, & glue

{inspiration here}

Argyle Hearts Wreath: styrofoam wreath, yarn, pins, & felt

{inspiration here}

Heart Tree: white vase, branches, & heart ornaments (from Michaels)

{i saw these ornaments and got the idea of a rustic Valentines tree centerpiece}

Just in case you need more inspiration to decorate for Valentines Day, here's a conversation that happened at our house last night:

B: Oh, by the way... I made reservations at ____ (fave restaurant) for Valentine's Day!

K: What? Seriously?! Like you already called and made a reservation?

B: Yep.

K: That was so incredibly sweet of you. Thank you! Wow. You are like the best husband ever.

B: I know.

K: Did the Valentine's decorations make you think of it?

B: Yeah, I guess they kinda did. I was like, "Oh, I guess she wants to celebrate Valentine's this year!"

:-) Love him.

Happy early birthday, Mom! I think of you when I look at all my new Valentine's decor!

Winter Weeknight Wonder

2012-01-19T11:02:00.001-05:00

This week, I made a delicious dinner that was healthy, savory, and comforting. What a combo, right? It also has very little prep time since you get to let your oven do all the work. Not to mention, the leftovers were completely dreamy. Just because it's a weeknight doesn't mean you can't have an awesome, nice (and easy) meal.

Asian Spiced Pork Tenderloin

I know there are a lot of ingredients in the marinade, but I find that I usually have 80% of these ingredients on hand on any given day, so it's pretty easy to throw it all in a Ziplock bag. Truth be told, you don't even need to measure exactly. It's a marinade, so I just throw stuff in and approximate. The tenderloins can marinate as little as 30 minutes or as much as 12 hours. I think an hour is optimal, so throw them in the fridge to marinate when you get home from work, and they'll be ready to cook at dinnertime.

Marinate 1 or 2 pork tenderloins in a big Ziplock bag with:

3 cloves crushed garlic

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

3 tablespoons canola oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger (dried will do in a pinch)

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

pinch of salt & pepper

After tenderloins have marinated, sear them over high heat in a skillet, browning on all sides. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and roast at 405 degrees until desired doneness (totally depends on the size of your tenderloins) - It's OK to use a knife to check inside and see if it's done. Let rest on a cutting board for 3 -5 minutes, then slice.

Maple Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Growing up, I hated brussels sprouts. Just recently, they have become chic and trendy, so I decided to try them again. They are SO GOOD. I eat them right off the baking sheet like candy. I think the trick is roasting instead of boiling. These are salty, crispy, and sweet. And healthy. Love.

Bag of small organic brussels sprouts

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Maple syrup

Slice brussels sprouts in half vertically. Toss sprouts with a drizzle of olive oil, salt, and freshly ground pepper. Roast at 405 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes. Toss once with a spatula during cooking. Some little leaves will fall off and become deliciously browned and crispy. This is a good sign. When the sprouts are ready, take them out of the oven and drizzle a little maple syrup over the top (just a little!) Toss. Return to the oven and broil for about a minute. Oh, yuuuuuuuuuuuum.

Onion Rice

My mom used to make this a lot growing up, and it smells absolutely WONDERFUL in the oven - like a big pot of onion soup. I have changed the recipe a bit since the original called for a whole stick of butter and a ton of salt (Yipes!). It's just as good slimmed down.

1 cup regular white rice - not instant. (I used jasmine rice)

1 can Campbell's french onion soup

1 can water

1 tablespoon butter

In a small baking dish, stir together rice, can of soup, can of water, and butter. Cover tightly with foil and cook at 375 for 30 minutes covered and about 30 minutes uncovered. Toss and serve!

January Gems

2012-01-16T16:39:00.001-05:00

Here are some things making my cloudy, cold January a little brighter!

Coconut La Croix

I've always been one of La Croix's biggest fans: delicious sparkling water with no calories, no sugar, and no sodium. It's magic. I love all of their flavors, but they just came out with coconut, and it's to die for! It is soooo good. If you have it with a salad lunch, it feels decidedly tropical. Like a mid-day pina colada.

Illy Capsule Espresso Machine

This lovely gem was my Christmas gift to Brent. If you are a coffee lover, you will LOVE this! We went to a hotel in Miami where they had one of these in every hotel room. I immediately looked up how much they were. Usually espresso machines are easily $400 or more. Not this one... waaaaay less, and it comes with coffee capsule delivery! You don't have to do all the levers and steam and jazz like they do at Starbucks. It's a capsule system. So when you want an espresso, you simply put in an espresso capsule and press a button. It's magical. Sometimes we have coffee dates in the middle of the afternoon because, why not?

Homesick Texan Blog

I just recently discovered this blog.......oh my goodness. It's a lady who grew up in Texas, then moved to New York City and missed "Texan" food so much, she couldn't stand it. Her whole blog is how she makes Texas favorites for her NYC friends - everything from BBQ to chicken fried steak to TEX MEX!! She has recipes for fajitas, queso, puffy tacos, I mean everything. This could be dangerous.

Brights!

Apparently brights are full force in style right now. I love it! I've seen such great color combos on Pinterest. I'm really loving yellow with gray, hot pink belts, colorful jewelery, and bright denim. I really want some teal skinny jeans as shown above.

Target "Lugg" Boots

Yes, Target has a line of boots called "Lugg". I laughed out loud in the shoe aisle. Then I bought two pairs. Black and tan. Let's see........$150 for the "real deal", or $25 for just as cute and just as warm and looks exactly the same? The choice is yours... You know what I picked. Nice work, Target.

Tazo Tea

A friend gave us a Starbucks gift set around Christmas, and it had some Tazo tea bags in it. I used to be a big tea person, but I haven't been on a tea kick in a while. I am loving Tazo "zen" and "calm", and I have at least one cup a day. I read that drinking a cup of green tea increases your metabolism by 12%! Hey, it can't hurt.

Watermark Church: The Journey

I don't live in Dallas, but if I did, I'd go to Watermark Church. I like to visit when I'm home, and I love the online Bible study they are doing this year - reading through the New Testament in 2012. Each morning, a new devotional gets emailed to you so you can read and follow along no matter where you are. You can join the journey with me if you want! Click here to check it out.

Kenra Volume Spray

I got this tip from another blog - Amber Massey's blog here. She was extolling the virtues of this spray and we all know that my hair could use some volume. I picked up some at Ulta and WOW! Love it!

Nine West Yellow "Cyndi" Flats

Speaking of brights, I'm relatively sure that I need these Nine West flats ASAP. They also come in adorable bright orange and teal. I want to wear these with a navy skirt I got at Banana Republic on clearance for $15 and a coral cardigan from Target.

Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst

I just started this book yesterday, and I love it. It's not about so much about dieting but about finding peace and satisfaction with your body and learning to crave God instead of other things. It's about changing the dialogue in your mind and replacing it with scripture to battle cravings for things other than God. I'm doing an online Bible study about this book through Proverbs 31 ministries, and it's free! You can check it out here if you're so inclined.

What's brightening up your winter?

Mountain Getaway

2012-01-08T22:53:00.000-05:00

This weekend Brent and I pooled all of our Christmas money & gift cards and took a trip to Asheville, North Carolina! We've been wanting to go there for a while. We did miss the fall leaves and the Christmas decorations, but January means off-season prices and fewer people! We had a great weekend staying at a bed & breakfast, visiting the Biltmore, relaxing and reading, and eating really nice food. As a bonus, we picked a place that welcomed dogs, so little Blazer got to join us. I'd say he enjoyed himself. In other news: I discovered "Instagram" on the iPhone this weekend (as you can tell), and I'm in LOVE. All these pics were taken on my iPhone, and Instagram is a very fun app to play with. If you like pictures on blog posts... you're in luck!

Road trippin!

Blazer says, "I am smiling because I am the most spoiled dog in all of North Carolina. Make that the whole South. I stay at bed & breakfasts and ride on my daddy's lap. Whatcha gonna do about it?"

We arrived at our bed & breakfast, and it was lovely. Thanks, Julia & Darrell, for the gift card! Blazer checked it out, and it met his approval (he has high standards).

(This basket of locally made dog treats might possibly have swayed his opinion.)

But really, the room was lovely for people and dogs alike.

Yes, please.

Gotta have the front porch rocking chairs. It's pretty much required.

On Friday night, we enjoyed a wonderful meal at The Marketplace. The atmosphere was amazing - dim lighting and cozy decor with a live musician playing jazz (but not too loud!) We stayed for almost 3 hours talking and having a great time.

Oh... just some beef tenderloin, duck fat fries, creamed spinach, and homemade thyme ketchup.

Brent's Parmesan mashed potatoes, braised greens, and glazed pork chop.

I think a little champagne with Limoncello was called for, don't you?

We managed to get up the next day and be fed a three course breakfast. Then we headed out to the Biltmore! I have been really excited about going to the Biltmore for a while now. When you live in North Carolina, there are commercials for it all the time. It was touristy, but tasteful.

I'm quite sure the gardens are beautiful anytime but January. Ooops, it's January. They were ugly, sorry. I know they can't help it. They did have the foresight to plant these "flame" plants. This is not photo-shopped - they are actual sticks that grow neon orange and yellow. It was pretty much all there was to see in the gardens.

We did find some green in the greenhouse.

Oh North Carolina, how I love thee.

The tour of the actual house was much better than the gardens. The house was pretty much amazing. It's FOUR acres under one roof - over 200 rooms. I usually get disappointed on these kinds of tours because I feel like they don't show you everything, but I really felt like I got my money's worth on this one. We walked around the house for a good 3 hours - basement, main floor, bedrooms, servant's quarters... we saw it all. I think we saw and heard about 40 rooms in all - everything from the most AMAZING library I've ever seen to the indoor swimming pool to the butlers pantry to the regal bedrooms to the laundry facility. It really was fascinating how all this was built for one man and his family back in 1895. We got pretty interested in the Vanderbilts after that and spent the rest of the day reading about them on Wikipedia. Pretty cool stuff. No photography allowed inside the house. Bummer. But the outside is pretty spectacular too!

On Saturday night we ate at Cucina 24, and I ate one of the best pasta dishes I've had in my life. Didn't take a pic - sorry! Sunday morning we came on home - relaxed and refreshed. It was just right for a getaway. All in all, it was a WONDERFUL weekend with my sweet hubby and puppy.

Salad Head

2012-01-04T17:00:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you, but about this time of year, I am completely over heavy holiday food. I start craving vegetables, and salads sound really delicious! Growing up, my Aunt Robyn was (and still is!) the salad queen. In fact, she used to call herself "Salad Head". I could eat bowls and bowls of her salad - it truly tasted better than salad made by anyone else. I still think it's magic. I found this picture from when I visited Aunt Robyn for the weekend back when I was about six. We did art together, and here you can see our creations. I made a fish in an aquarium, and she made (what else?) a "salad head" self portrait - can you see the lettuce head with the carrots hanging down?!

Aunt Robyn has always been my salad inspiration, and I've been channeling her lately since my goal has been to have a salad for lunch most days of the week. Salad making is an art, so here's what I've learned, mostly from my salad muse:

Salad Head Tips:

Always toss the salad in the dressing rather than drizzling dressing on top. This is the ORIGINAL salad head tip. My Aunt Robyn ALWAYS tosses the salad with the dressing, and it just tastes so much better. This actually allows you to use less dressing, and it ensures that all the ingredients are mixed and there is a bit of dressing on every piece. Don't be lazy. Toss it in a big mixing bowl, then put in your salad bowl.
Include some sort of protein on your salad. A little chicken, lean beef, shrimp, or chick peas is key. If I don't have protein in my salad, I'm going to be hungry in approximately ten minutes.
Be creative with lettuce. Lettuce is the common denominator in most salads. I find that I like my salads so much more if I vary my lettuce. For example, I buy romaine hearts and thinly slice them into ribbons. I also like the "butter lettuce" variety. Or.... don't use lettuce at all! Make a whole grain salad with quinoa or bulgar or use green beans instead of lettuce like I did here in my Tuscan tuna salad.
Be creative with veggies and fruit. I look around the produce section and imagine new salad ingredients. I use eggplant, zucchini, asparagus, squash, bell peppers, strawberries, raspberries, apples, pears... there's more to life than carrots and tomatoes.
Be picky about dressing. I know it's convenient to buy salad dressing, but most of it is just not that good (and not that healthy). I take the time to either make my own dressing or buy a nice, fresh, natural, and/or organic brand. (I like the ones refrigerated in the produce section.)
Mix raw and cooked; hot and cold. A salad doesn't have to be all cold and raw. Why not roast some veggies and put them, still warm, on your salad? Similarly, warm grilled shrimp goes great on a cobb salad.
Make sure every salad has something "good". Veggies are great, but I'm just going to be honest with you... I am never going to get excited about a bowl of lettuce and carrots. If I'm going to make salad eating a habit, there has to be something delicious in there. That's why all of my salads have something "good" like cheese or salami mixed with a healthier meat like turkey. It's not going to ruin the health factor. I'm still eating at least 70% veggies and 30% meat and cheese, but that small amount of "good stuff" makes the salad infinitely more appealing.

Here are three salads I've made and loved lately! Hope they inspire you!

Italian Antipasto Salad:

Thinly sliced romaine hearts (there's a bunch of lettuce under there... promise)

Sliced tomatoes
Sliced cucumbers
Chopped deli turkey
Sliced salami
Chopped provolone cheese
Spicy banana pepper rings
Hoagie hot pepper spread
Balsamic Vinaigrette

Roasted Veggie Salad:

Butter lettuce mix
Roasted asparagus
Roasted butternut squash
Roasted eggplant
Half of a sauteed chicken breast
Crumbled goat cheese
Balsamic Vinaigrette

Steak Salad: (sorry, it was so good I forgot to take a picture! Here's an example of what it might look like. Just imagine that it is not on a piece of bread and there are strawberries on top)

Romaine leaf lettuce

Sliced cucumbers

Sliced lean grilled or broiled steak

Low fat blue cheese

Sliced strawberries

Sliced pears

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Love you, Aunt Robyn! Hope you can make me a salad and maybe do art sometime soon!

December Must Haves

2011-12-21T16:25:00.002-05:00

Top ten things currently putting a smile on my face:

Clementines

My Whole Foods is selling clementines from Spain in these delightful little wooden crates. They just look so sunny and lovely on my kitchen counter! Brent has been known to eat 5 at a time, so this is my second crate.

Adele

I know I'm late to the party. I don't know what's wrong with me, and my only excuse is that I am completely out of touch. Anyway, I "discovered" ADELE this week, and I'm slightly slash highly obsessed. 1, 3, 5 and then 2, 6, and 7 are where you'll find me most of the time. Blasting on my BOSE as we speak. Can't.Get.Enough.

Sentimental Ornaments
I like uniform trees in magazines, but mine will never be that way. I love sentimental ornaments too much. We grew up with a 'hodge podge' tree of ornaments we made and collected over the years. When my mom downsized her tree a few years ago, she let us pick the ornaments we wanted to take to start our own trees. I picked a lot of my favorites, and I love that ornaments from my childhood are on my tree now. I can't wait to add ornaments that my future children will make. The ornament below is my favorite. My family makes fun of me mercilessly for it, but I just love it. I made it preschool. Who needs a fancy tree when you can have glue & glitter yarn blobs?

Christmas Cards
I kind of thought we wouldn't get a single Christmas card this year since we moved, but we have wonderful friends! Everyone seemed to find us and we have received cards in droves. I had them on the fridge when I realized that there was just not enough room, so I broke out the famous T-Rog Christmas card tree as in years past. Love looking at your smiling faces! Just so you don't think we hate you, we did not send cards this year.

Read it Later
This app is GENIUS. I get so many emails and articles and things I want to read daily, but just can't read them all at the moment I receive them. Enter: READ IT LATER. Love. It works just like Pinterest. You install a "bookmarklet" (for free) to your browser, and anytime you encounter something you don't want to read now, but want to read later, you click on "read it later", and it saves the article in your own personal reading list (you sign up for a free account). Oh... but that's not the best part. The articles you click AUTOMATICALLY sync to your iPhone and iPad (if you've installed the free apps there). THEN, you can access your reading list anywhere, anytime - even if you don't have wifi!!!! I know, it's crazy. So because I travel so much, I've been saving articles to my reading list and then reading them all on the plane on my iPad even though there is no wi-fi. When you've read it, you click "read it", and it transfers to an archive. I know. Brilliant. Do it.

Glitter Nail Polish
No, I'm not in middle school, but I do enjoy a good glitter nail polish, especially around Christmas. Nicole's "Orna-ment for each other" is my current pick. Maybe not on nails, but toes... totally acceptable, in my opinion :-)

Love to Life
I am loving the Big Daddy Weave song "Love Come to Life". I sometimes listen to this as I run on the trail (along with ADELE, duh) and I can't help praising God! My heart cries out for this song to be true in my life. It's worth a download. It reminds me of a verse in 1 Peter, which I'm studying right now. This verse always challenges me - 1 Peter 1:22: "Love one another deeply, from the heart."

They lyrics say: "Would you reignite this heart spark here in the dark? Bring your love to life inside of me. Why don't you break my heart till it moves my hands and feet? For the hopeless and the broken - for the ones that don't know that you love them - bring your love to life inside of me. Love come to life! Love come to life! Bring love to life inside of me!"

Peppermint Bark Ice Cream
I've learned the hard way not to get too attached to Haagen Dazs "Limited Edition" ice creams because they are not kidding that they are limited edition. They WILL take them away, and they will not feel bad about it. Lesson learned in the "Fleur de Sel" ice cream tragedy of 2009. Still, you won't be able to resist this peppermint bark ice cream I found at the store yesterday. Yes, please.

Big Buddha Bags
My aunt works at a showroom that sells Big Buddha, so I am lucky enough to get access to floor samples of Big Buddha bags! They are super cool, and I got two from my mom for Christmas. This one is my favorite. It's pretty big, so it's going to be my new airplane travel tote. Love!

Uniformly Wrapped Presents
I like my tree to be hodge-podge, but my presents have to be uniform. It's part of my OCD. All of my family's presents were wrapped in green & white print paper with red tulle bows. Brent's presents are all wrapped in red & white print paper with white tulle bows and green "B" letters (idea from Pinterest, duh). I also don't like Christmas themed paper like with Santa or something (sorry if I just offended you). I like more modern printed paper that just happens to be in Christmas colors.

And just for good measure...

My cute puppy (but you can't have him.)

Christmas Cookie Roundup

2011-12-14T17:26:00.000-05:00

This afternoon, Brent left for Houston to visit some companies and see his family. I wanted to send him off with Christmas treats for his mom, dad, sister, and brother-in-law, so I devoted early this morning to baking! I am not a huge baker, so this was an accomplishment for me. I decided to choose one cookie I've had every year since I was five and three new ones. I don't really have a sweet tooth, so whenever I bake something, I usually end up giving most of it away. Sometimes it satisfies me to just bake something, and I've been known not to eat any! Weird, I know. This round was pretty good, though, so I sent all the "pretty" cookies to Houston with strict instructions for Brent to protect them on the plane (here's hoping), and I'll happily munch on the leftovers here at home!

Peanut-Butter-Stuffed Ginger Cookies from Rachel Ray (recipe here)

Cherry Shortbread Cookies from Rachael Ray (recipe here)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ritz Sandwiches from "Spoon Fork Bacon" (recipe here)

Candy Cane Cookies from my MAMA via Betty Crocker (Recipe here - seriously, the best cookies EVER. They have Crisco in them. You won't regret it. And no, mine don't look like the Betty Crocker picture. Mine are rustic.)

What are you baking this season? And if I go on another baking spree, who will eat what I make?

DIY Nursery Art

2011-12-07T22:12:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago as I was planning Maggie's shower, I was thinking of what I would give her as a gift. She had already received a ton of things from her registries, and I knew that she was wanting some personalized wall art for the nursery. She had looked at some pieces on Etsy, so I did some browsing myself. Some of the coolest things I found were prints that had animal silhouettes and the child's name. Here was my main inspiration from Etsy:

I decided that they looked simple enough, and I could create some personalized art for Maggie in an afternoon. Maggie's son will be named Thomas Campbell. I knew he needed one canvas with a sheep since that's his nursery theme and one canvas with a deer since his daddy is a hunter. Here's how I did it:

Materials:

2 stretched canvases (I used two square canvasses because I thought they looked modern)
background color acrylic paint (I liked two shades of blue)
white acrylic paint
paintbrushes
pencil
adhesive letters (I found lots of varieties in the scrapbook aisle of Michael's)

Steps:

Search online for pictures of animal silhouettes. I just searched google images for "sheep silhouette" and "deer silhouette" and looked for the best ones.
Draw an outline of the animal on the canvas. I just looked at the picture and drew the animals freehand with pencil, but you could just as easily print out the images and use them as stencils to trace on the canvas.
Using white paint, paint the animals all white.
Using your darker background paint, paint the rest of the canvas, around the animal outlines. Depending on the colors you choose, you may need more than one coat. I did one coat of light blue and two coats of dark blue.
Go back with smaller brushes to make the animal outlines sharp - I did multiple touch ups with both the white and the color.
When it's completely dry, stick your adhesive letters on the canvas to spell out the name.

Here are the finished creations!

Blazer says, "Mama, where is the one with a doggie and it says 'Blazer'?"

Celebrating Maggie & Campbell!

2011-12-05T09:40:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to shower our friend Maggie with love in anticipation of the birth of her son, Campbell, in just a few short weeks! Maggie is such a dear friend, and I was glad we could celebrate her. I had a moment during the shower where I just looked around and felt SO GRATEFUL to the Lord for bringing me so many friends. Just a few months ago, I didn't know a single person in Durham. Not one. Now, I have a friend close enough to throw her a shower, and we have many more friends close enough to come to the shower! I am truly, wonderfully blessed, and I'm so grateful for all of the ladies you see here and for those who aren't pictured because they had to leave the shower early :-) Love you (L-R) Kelly, Aimee, Lindsay, Maggie, Lindsay, Kristi, and Emma and (not pictured) Lindsay and Brittany!

As you remember from the invitations, I went with a "banner" theme for this shower, and you could also call it a "Pinterest shower". You will recognize, um, a LOT of these ideas from Pinterest! Guests were greeted at the door with a banner of course.

My house is decorated for Christmas, so it was also a Christmas-y shower.

Hot chocolate bar

San Pellegrino... Maggie's favorite

Me with the guest of honor

Individual veggie dips (from Pinterest)

Rosemary chicken salad sandwiches with "C" flags for "Campbell" and cupcakes from a local bakery

Fruit kebabs from... you guessed it... Pinterest

The spread

Some shots of guests and gift opening

We were glad that Brittany's baby, Nolan, could make an appearance too!

Instead of my usual blessing tree, I did a blessing banner... guests wrote messages and clipped them on the banner with clothes pins.

As a party favor, each guest got a set of gift labels personalized with their family's name! I shamelessly stole this idea from Mindy's blog. Her friend Marina made gift labels for a recent shower and I thought it was such a great idea!

It was a great afternoon, and we can't wait to meet little Campbell in person!

Invasion of the English Teachers

2011-11-28T13:26:00.001-05:00

If you happened to be in Chicago the week before Thanksgiving... I'm sorry. If you were, you may have seen throngs of middle-aged women wearing seasonal sweater vests and wooden jewelry while dragging rolling crates full of books and correcting people's grammar. No, you weren't in the midst of a mom convention. You were in the midst of an English teachers convention!!! If you have ever been knocked down by a zealous teacher carrying a 100 pound book bag, I apologize on the behalf of our profession. Moving on.

Last week, thousands of English teachers descended upon Chicago for the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Annual Convention. Nerd alert!! Nothing like four days full of learning and fighting crowds of educators! This was my fourth convention, and I attended with my best buddies Emily Shisler and Jessica Cook. Emily is my better half. She manages high school English across YES Prep, and I manage middle school English. High schoolers intimidate me. Little kids terrify her. So, we're a match made in heaven. She and I are equally nerdy and love to learn about English, so she makes a good convention partner. Jess teaches high school English at NC, and she completes the group with her similar nerdy desire to learn and her dry humor that keeps us laughing. I had the BEST time with both of them. As an added bonus, Emily grew up in Chicago and went to college at Northwestern. Neither Jess nor I had ever been to the city, so Emily acted as our tour guide and made sure that in between sessions we ate the best food Chicago had to offer and saw all of the sights.

We stayed at the Palmer House which was pretty ordinary in terms of hotel rooms, but the lobby was impressive. The beautiful hand-painted ceiling and ornate furnishings made it a really cool place to hang out... except for the fact that there were approximately one thousand teachers there every night drinking after a long day of learning. Yikes!

Of course we walked through Millennium Park and took pictures at the bean. Here is Emily acting as our tour guide and telling us the notable features of many Chicago buildings.

I just wanted to show off my new hat complete with a pom-pom and mittens complete with tassels. Thanks, H&M.

We went to the 95th floor of the Hancock Tower, the Signature Lounge, at exactly the right moment. The sun was setting, there was a free table by the window, and they served excellent cosmos. Yes, please. We hadn't been to a single convention session yet, but we still needed a cosmo. Obviously.

There's the tour guide again, getting in the way of my beautiful picture (just kidding!)

Looking down the lake shore towards Northwestern, Emily's alma mater.

I think this looks like a honeymoon in Hawaii picture with the sunset. Don't you?

Here's my honeymoon pic with Emily.

After drinks, we headed to eat (what else?) deep dish pizza. It didn't disappoint. We ate half of the pizza before thinking to take a picture if that tells you anything.

The next day we had a 45 minute break for lunch in between sessions, so we hopped in a cab per Emily's suggestion and headed towards Portillo's for some Italian beef and/or Chicago hot dogs. We all opted for the Italian beef, and we weren't sorry. Until about an hour later when we wanted to nap instead of learn. But that's beside the point.

The second night we got to have dinner with my very bestest long-lost YES Prep friend Lora Knapp. She was my team teacher back in the day (good times), and now she lives a high powered life in Chicago recruiting for TFA and living in a chic high rise. We had a great time catching up!

I PROMISE that we really did go to sessions, and I really did learn a lot about teaching and supporting teachers and ideas for PD and all that jazz. Promise. It's just not really exciting to post pictures of a ballroom full of teachers watching a power point. If you're interested, email me and we'll chat. :-) Heads up.... next year NCTE is in VEGAS!!!! Clear the way for rolling crates in the casinos, 'cause we're comin' with thousands of our best teacher friends! Teachers in Vegas.... wow. That should be incentive enough to follow my blog for another year so you can see what happens.... I'll report it faithfully.

Thanksgiving for Two

2011-11-25T19:51:00.001-05:00

This year Thanksgiving was a little different. Between crazy travel, school, and work schedules, we weren't able to make it back to Texas. We saw my family last week, and we'll see Brent's in early December, but for Thanksgiving, it just worked out for us to stay in Durham. Although we really missed our families, it was nice to spend a relaxing day at home. We started the day watching the Macy's parade with a few cups of coffee. Then we took a brisk 3 mile walk on the Wa-Duke trail. We had a leisurely lunch of just appetizers - that's right - everyone loves appetizers, so we made a meal of them. We lounged around all afternoon and then ate a late Thanksgiving dinner around 8 pm. To finish off our night, we watched Home Alone, a holiday tradition. I am pretty proud that I made a whole Thanksgiving dinner by myself. It was probably best for this first time to be a "practice run" with just us because if it didn't turn out... oh well! But it did turn out, and everything was delicious. I feel confident that I can roast a turkey now (though I just made the breast for us), and now I have some "go to" recipes I could replicate. We had enough for a great dinner and a few leftover meals. Here's what I made, just in case you need some inspiration for Christmas!

Thanksgiving Lunch:

1: Roasted Shrimp Cocktail from Ina Garten

2: Risotto Stuffed Mushrooms (I improvised this recipe - I made the risotto from this post and then stuffed it in baby bella mushroom caps, topped with Parmesan cheese, and roasted in the oven.)

3: Caramelized Onion, Bacon, & Gruyere Spread on a baguette from Cooking Light

4: Cold Duck (my family's Thanksgiving tradition)

Thanksgiving Dinner:

1: Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes from Ina Garten

2: Sausage and Herb Stuffing from Ina Garten

3: Perfect Cranberry Sauce from Food Network Kitchens

4: Herb Roasted Turkey Breast with Pan Gravy from Rachel Ray

5: Roasted Asparagus from Cooking Light (Not pictured)

Ginger Pumpkin Cheesecake with homemade whipped cream from Cooking Light (A new all-time Brent favorite! This stuff is crazy-good and made with low fat ingredients!)

We hope you had a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving! It's officially Christmastime in our house since all of our decorations went up today. It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Dr. Halterman, I Presume?

2011-11-19T18:14:00.001-05:00

My sister is officially a DOCTOR!! Last week, she defended her dissertation and got her PhD in Pharmacology from UVA. Just in case you can't read the title of her dissertation, I'll type it here for you, though I can't pronounce it or explain it, mind you: "NFAT5-Dependent Regulation of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Phenotypic Modulation and Atherosclerosis". YEP. She's smart. She defended her dissertation in the Rotunda at the University of Virginia where she's been for the last 5 years. To celebrate the occasion, the whole fam came to town! Julia and I now live less than 4 hours away from each other, so we all started out in Durham for the weekend and then drove to Charlottesville to see Julia's presentation on Monday. We had a GREAT time!

We started with a tour of the Duke campus and the Fuqua School of Business so the fam could see where Brent spends all of his time. We were laughing and having a great time, and my mom even requested to see Brent's locker at business school. ...Kind of like showing your mom your desk at elementary school open house. Brent, being the wonderful son-in-law he is, obliged. Julia snapped my pic in front of the "Fuqua Partners" board since that's pretty much my only connection to Fuqua. Thankfully, the fall leaves held on until my parents visited, and campus was beautiful. We walked through the Duke Chapel and the Duke Gardens.

Back at home, Aunt Julia played with her nephew Blazer, who was SUPER hyped to have everyone here. Lots of people to play with! We spent some quality time by the fire pit. (I like to wear snow boots by the fire pit.)

On Sunday, we headed to Charlottesville to enjoy a nice evening at Julia's house. Then Monday was the big day! Here is Julia with her husband, Darrell, prior to her presentation, a shot of the room she presented in, and a family pic.

I understood about 20 - 30% of Julia's presentation, and that's probably being generous. Research science is a WHOLE other world from middle school English! But I was glad to be there and proud of how hard my sister has worked to become a PhD at the age of 27. I mean... really... who does that??

Congrats, Dr. Halterman!

Chirping Copycat

2011-11-15T14:34:00.001-05:00

In New York City, the Upper West Side is my neighborhood of choice. That's where I usually stay and frequent. Ever since I started going to NYC, I would always see this little place called "Chirping Chicken" on the corner of Amsterdam & 77th. Their specialty is charcoal broiled chicken amongst other delicious things. The place is always packed, and there are always about 25 delivery bikes parked outside, ready to whisk off a chicken dinner to the next lucky caller. For some reason, I waited until last summer to try it. WOW now I know why people are lined up in there. That stuff is amazing!!! I ordered the souvlaki which was a feast consisting of char-grilled chicken, Greek salad, warm pita bread, tzatziki sauce, and french fries. It was DELICIOUS. I went back like three more times after that before my time in NYC was up. Ever since then, I have been CRAVING that chicken, and if they delivered to Durham, I would be willing to pay a hefty delivery charge! But, since they don't deliver to Durham, I went on a mission to create a meal similar to the one I get there. I made chicken souvlaki with tzatziki sauce, french fries, and Greek salad. I would have added warm pita, but I forgot it at the grocery. Feel free to add pita when you make it! It was really easy with a lot of store-bought ingredients, and this "chirping copycat" is now one of our weekday faves.

Chicken Souvlaki (serves 2 - easy doubles for 4)

2 chicken breasts

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 garlic cloves, minced

Pound chicken breasts to 1/4 inch thickness. Marinate in a Ziploc bag with next 5 ingredients (lemon juice through garlic). Let marinate for about 30 minutes to an hour - not too much longer because the lemon juice starts to break down the chicken. Then, "grill" on a grill pan or large skillet (or a grill if you actually have one!!) until crispy on both sides and cooked through. Remove to cutting board to rest for a few minutes and then slice.

Tzatziki Sauce: This is an amazing sauce made with Greek yogurt, garlic, and cucumber. You can make your own, but I did not make my sauce. The fine people at "Cedars" made my sauce and Whole Foods kindly sold it to me.

French Fries: I bought the Ore Ida Shoestring Fries - super easy - and taste like restaurant fries but from the oven! Halfway through cooking, I took them out of the oven and tossed them with Cajun seasoning before returning to oven. This made the fries seasoned and delicious!

Greek Salad: In a bowl, toss together chopped romaine lettuce, halved grape tomatoes, sliced Kalamata olives, sliced baby cucumber, and low fat crumbled feta. Toss with a balsamic vinaigrette or Greek salad dressing.

Pretty similar to "chirping" without the 7 hour drive!

Everyday Friends

2011-11-10T08:44:00.000-05:00

Life is funny sometimes in the sense that sometimes the best things come in places where you least expect them. When Brent & I moved to Durham, I was worried about making friends. We did not know one single person here, and it seemed overwhelming. Also, being here for just two years, I thought it would be difficult to form deep friendships since everyone would be looking ahead and scattering in two years - moving again! But I was wrong. God has blessed me more than I could ask or imagine with friends here.

The kind of friend I desire most is an "everyday friend" - a friend who you want to see everyday - a friend who you can hang out with to go for a walk, go shopping, get your nails done, or have lunch. To be honest, it was hard to find those kinds of friends in Houston. I had tons of friends at work. YES Prep is a super fun place! But we saw each other for 10+ hours every day, and I was so exhausted when I got home, I didn't really want to hang out outside of school. Also, living way out in the suburbs precluded us from being "everyday friends" with people in our church or people who lived in central Houston. I just found myself longing for what I had in college - living in the same house with "everyday friends" and never being without a bestie for more than 5 minutes.

Fast forward to April 2011. New Duke students and their families descended on campus for "Blue Devil Weekend" - kind of a new student orientation. While Brent went to sessions for students, I went to sessions for "partners" (wives, husbands, fiancees of students). In the first session I attended, I sat next to Maggie, a girl who seemed pretty nice! Oh, I'm so grateful to God that he orchestrated our seating that day and had us meet. I friended her on Facebook and kept up with her that way last Spring. When we moved to Durham in July, I asked her if she wanted to have lunch. I assured her I wasn't a stalker, and I hoped she remembered me from Blue Devil weekend.

Fast forward to today. I feel like I've known Maggie forever! She is a true woman of God and a wonderful friend - a true "everyday friend"! While I would be grateful to just have Maggie as a friend, God has blessed me with SO MANY everyday friends here - I'm so grateful for Kristi, Lindsay, Lindsay, Lindsay (Yes, three Lindsays), Mary Elizabeth, and Patty. So grateful!

Miss Maggie is having her first baby in January, and I can't wait to meet sweet Campbell. You can read about Maggie and her family on her cute blog: Supermom With Southern Charm. You'll notice her adorable "banner" design. I was inspired by her blog to create a theme for a baby shower I'm hosting for her. The theme is going to be "banners", and I won't tell you the details, but I have a ton of fun ideas ready to go for her shower. I'll do a post on it later! For now I'll give you a sneak peek of the invitations I made this week. I can't think of a better way to honor my first "everyday friend" here in Durham. Love ya Maggie!

The Good Life

2011-11-08T18:25:00.000-05:00

Where have you been all my life, Durham?? I LOVE IT HERE. The last few days have been so good. I was in Houston all last week, which was exhausting but necessary for my job. It's always good to see friends and family there, but coming home to Durham is the best. It's like slipping away to this quiet, cozy little corner of the world where everything is a little bit simpler. Who would have ever thought I'd be a small town girl? The weather is beautiful right now, and the trees are breathtaking. In Texas, the leaves change from green to dead, so this is a new experience for me. My iPhone camera doesn't do it justice. There are really no billboards here on the highway - just forests. So even driving to Target, I see the most breathtaking colors on the trees that I just have to praise God in my car. I've been praising God a lot lately for simple things - for my house which I love, for my husband who is doing so well in school, for my job which I adore, for my flexible schedule which has literally changed my life, for my friends here in Durham that God has blessed me with so richly, for the scenery, for the smell of fall, for apple cider, for my Bible study, for our church, for my sweet puppy I get to love on all day, and for this awesome town he brought us to. Even my run today felt good - light and cool. These are some pictures I snapped as I ran.

Many of you know that in the past I have NOT been an outdoor person. Give me a Tempurpedic bed and a bubble bath and a glass of wine, and NO outdoors, thankyouverymuch. However, I must say my position has changed somewhat (slash a lot). Cool weather, nice scenery, and no mosquitoes sweetens the deal quite a bit! I haven't worked out in a gym since July, and I find myself finding more opportunities to be outside. For example, it's been my dream since moving here to get a fire pit. This weekend, it became a reality! We hosted a football and chili party on Saturday (sadly, no pictures. oops.) For the occasion, we splurged for a $50 fire pit from Target. Best.$50.Ever. It's not fancy, but it does the job. I am now obsessed with it. We put it in the middle of our backyard surrounded by our oh-so-comfy (seriously!) plastic Adirondack chairs from Home Depot. We throw two self-starting logs in the pit and light 'er up. It is SO NICE. That thing is so warm that even if it's in the 40s, you're toasty. On Sunday, we cracked open a bottle of wine I bought on my Virginia winery trip with my sister. We enjoyed a bottle of 2008 Cabernet from Pollak Vineyards - so good! We sat by the fire and talked for like 2 hours. Simple and wonderful. Our neighbors came out to chat for a bit and said they thought we were on a date on the Bachelorette! Mom, dad, and Julia are coming this weekend, and I can hardly wait to show them around. The fire pit is waiting, y'all!

Paul & Justin's Story

2011-10-27T16:14:00.002-04:00

When I was in college at Texas A&M, I attended Breakaway for four years, and it literally changed my life. Breakaway is a nondenominational, weekly Bible study on Texas A&M's campus. It started in the '80s with just a few students in an apartment, and now it is held in Reed Arena (Texas A&M's basketball stadium!) where as many as 8,000 students gather every Tuesday to "break away" from college life to worship and meet with the Lord. Breakaway has incubated a few worship stars - Chris Tomlin himself used to lead worship, and my freshman year we sang along with Shane & Shane. Crazy! The founding director of Breakaway, Gregg Matte, is such a faithful man of God who had a clear vision for just what God could do on A&M's campus.

Breakaway has a huge team of volunteers that work through the campus and community on different projects. As a student, I worked in the Breakaway office and volunteered on several teams. Breakaway is one of the biggest things I miss about college, and I try to live vicariously through the newsletters and email updates I still get about the ministry. Whenever I'm in College Station on a Tuesday night for recruiting or some other random reason, I always to to Breakaway, and I'm always overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement and praise for God's glory and the way he has moved so mightily on that campus to the degree that you can FEEL his presence when you arrive there.

I finally live in a college town again, and I'm so excited to be here in a place where I have the opportunity to interact with college students and feel a bit of that old spark. Last week, I got an email update about Breakaway, and it contained a link to this video: Paul & Justin's Story. I don't know if I was especially missing College Station or just needing some encouragement about how the Lord uses small acts for big purposes, but this video spoke directly to my heart. I felt inspired and so grateful for the Lord's faithfulness in answering us when we desire to be used for his glory. It's not a sad video, don't worry! I was smiling and had tears rolling down my face at the same time. But that's typical of me.

If you have 3 minutes and 54 seconds to spare, it's worth a watch. It will do you good. ...and if you're an Aggie and have a sudden urge to hop in the car and drive as fast as you can to Texas A&M, well - you can't blame me!!

City of Contradictions

2011-10-25T19:14:00.002-04:00

This weekend, I got the chance to spend time in one of my favorite cities - New York City. Brent was in the city for 5 days visiting companies on his Duke Fall Break. He was leading the General Management Club's trip and coordinating visits for other students. They had Saturday & Sunday off, so I was able to visit and just hang out.

For me, New York is such a city of contradictions. I just am not sure how I feel about it, even after all these years. Just when you think you know something about the city or you have mastered it in some way, you find out that you really don't know anything. I've been to New York at least ten times that I can remember, but I'm still not really an insider. Back in college, I naively sent my resume to Kate Spade, thinking I would go live in the city and live a glamorous life working in marketing. Do I even need to tell you how that turned out? Not-so-shockingly, Ms. Spade did not acknowledge my inquiry, and it was just as well... the city would have eaten me alive. So although I didn't end up with a high fashion career, I smile and praise God when I think of how many times he has brought me back to the city that so fascinated me even then. Brent and I got engaged in New York City. My teaching life changed forever when I began attending institutes at Teachers College in NYC. Right now, I'm living my lifelong dream of getting my masters from Columbia, and Brent is exploring job opportunities there. I just love how God has worked it all out for good and has been so kind to us by entwining our lives with NYC.

In the last 7 years, God has both softened my heart to the city, making me love it even more AND opened my eyes to the stark reality that is living there. Right now Brent is exploring internship opportunities and the sky is the limit. We could be, well..... anywhere!! Obviously there are lots of opportunities in NYC for him now and in the future, and we're trying to decide: Could we do it? Is this where the Lord would have us? It certainly would be fun and adventurous and after all we've been through with the city it would seem fitting that God would bring us full circle. But can we do it... really? Can we forget our big, luxurious, cheap housing in Texas? Can we someday lug a stroller onto the subway? Can we survive the winter? It kind of makes me shudder to think of it. See what I mean? There's a contradiction around every corner.

Here's a few:

There is always something to explore, but you can NEVER, ever own the city or see it all.
I love eating out and the restaurants are so fantastic, but how can anyone afford to live here and eat out? And how can regular people cook dinner in tiny little kitchens with daily stops to the grocery store? I'm spoiled by my big kitchen and SUV.
I feel safer every time I'm in the city, but there is always a moment where I feel like an outsider sticking out like a sore thumb and everyone knows it and someone is going to mug me if I don't look like I know what I'm doing.
There are so many people around that it can feel exhilarating, yet isolating at the same time. Full of life, yet impersonal.
The subway can be charming, but I've been in there in the dead of summer. NOT FUN.
I love walking. I really do. But my ankles, feet, and legs ache after a few days. This summer I would just eat whatever I had in my fridge to avoid walking to get something else.

So maybe I have a love/hate relationship with NYC, and that is just the way it is! I do know that I had a blast there this weekend, but (of course) I was kind of ready to come home to Durham. Man I love Durham. Have I said that yet? Here's a recap of my NYC weekend even though my camera died right in the middle of it. (sorry)

On Saturday, we walked the park and visited the Met (which I've done, but Brent has not). We stuck to the Egyptian collection and the European painters. Fun fact: Did you know that I've been obsessed with Monet ever since I was 6 when I read the book "Linea in Monet's Garden"? Yep, I have. Now you know.

We also finally went to Chelsea Market, home of the Food Network. I know.... isn't it crazy that I've never been there?! Well you can't really take a tour of the Food Network, but you better believe I kept my eyes open for Bobby Flay. We loved looking in all of the specialty food shops and had an amazing lunch of a fresh lobster roll.

Then we walked the Chelsea Pier, which was super beautiful and fun. Finally we walked the High Line Park, a relatively new park that spans many, many blocks. Basically they took an old raised railroad line and made it into a long walking path suspended over the street. It's very lush with greenery and beautifully planned with modern sculpture and art everywhere. It was packed on a Sunday afternoon, but we really enjoyed walking the trail. If you've ever been to the Katy Trail in Dallas, it's like that but, um, cooler. :-)

We stayed in our favorite neighborhood - Upper West Side - and ate at our favorite UWS restaurants - La Vela, La Boite en Bois, and Arte Cafe. It felt comforting and new all at the same time, which is kind of fitting. We love you, NYC, and you have been good to us. So who knows what might come of our growing relationship!

The Nest Has a New Look!!!

2011-10-20T16:09:00.003-04:00

When I started blogging, it was mostly becuase all the cool kids were doing it, and I was pretty sure I would keep it up for a few months and then quit. But here I am... more than three years later... loving it and still going strong. I'm so thankful for my faithful friends and readers. That you would want to read my random thoughts or try my recipes or see pictures of my family humbles me. Although I absolutely ADORED my last blog look and never got tired of it for three years, I felt it was time for an update. Perhaps a reward for keeping this little blog going waaaaay longer than I ever thought I would. I've published exactly 200 posts - a nice round number for a new look, don't ya think? Here's to the next 200!

Many thanks to Lauren over at Designer Blogs who made my vision come to life and added her amazing designer touch. She's completely awesome if your blog needs a little spicing up!

So, what do you think?!

Guiltless Mini-Quiches

2011-10-18T10:47:00.000-04:00

I don't know what my deal is with mini things lately - mini apple pies and now mini quiches! I saw this recipe a while ago in Cooking Light, but it was for a whole quiche made in a pie pan. I got the idea this week to make mini-quiches in a muffin pan. The muffin pan was a bit hard to scrub afterwards, but other than that, they turned out AWESOME. I love these quiches because they are made will all veggies and low-fat ingredients, and they do not have a pastry crust, so they are 100% healthy. They are so tiny and cute you can even have two and not feel guilty. They would be great for a brunch or shower, but I love them just for a regular weekday breakfast since you can make them ahead. They keep in the fridge for at least 2 or 3 days, so you can just heat up what you want to eat each morning. The eggs are filling and full of protein, so they will definitely keep you full until lunch. I've been enjoying mine with a slice or two of cranberry walnut bread and a handful of fruit. Delicious!

Broccoli Cheese Crust-less Quiche (Adapted from Cooking Light)
olive oil
cooking spray
1/2 c. vertically sliced yellow onion
1 chopped garlic clove
3-4 cups chopped broccoli florets (don't chop too tiny, though)
1 1/4 c. skim milk
1 c. reduced fat shredded Swiss cheese (I can never find this shredded, so I just chopped up reduced fat deli sliced Swiss)
2 T. chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
2 t. Dijon mustard
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1/8 t. ground nutmeg
2 T. Parmesan cheese
4 eggs
2 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute onions and garlic in olive oil until soft.

Add broccoli florets and saute another 4 minutes. Broccoli will not be completely cooked. It will continue to cook in the oven.

Spray 12 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray. Place onion, garlic, and broccoli mixture in the bottoms of 12 muffin cups.

In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, parsley, salt, pepper, nutmeg, mustard, Parmesan, Swiss, and eggs.

Using a ladle, add some egg mixture on top of the veggies in each muffin cup. My Swiss cheese stayed on top of each cup making for a lovely cheesy crust. You can sprinkle the tops with additional Parmesan if you'd like.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes, until tops are golden and a knife or toothpick comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes, then serve warm or let cool and refrigerate for tomorrow's breakfast!

Grammy Pies

2011-10-08T16:14:00.000-04:00

When I was little, I used to look forward to Thanksgiving at Grammy's house for many reasons: watching the Macy's parade, making forts with my cousins, hiking Buckhorn trail, sausage at cocktail time, and PIE. Grammy would make between 4 and 6 homemade pies each Thanksgiving (and still does!). If you arrived the day before Thanksgiving, you got to participate in the pie making. She would peel the apples like magic, getting the entire peel off in one piece with her paring knife. And then she would let you eat the peel. Of course she made homemade crust, and there was always some left over after she trimmed the edges. She would give us the trimmed edges and let us make "pies" by sprinkling sugar and cinnamon on the dough, folding it over, and baking it. Those little mini-pies always tasted the best!

Today I decided to make a spin on the Grammy pie. Since making apple pie is on my fall bucket list and I just picked apples off the tree last weekend, I decided my mini-pies should have sugar and cinnamon AND apples. They turned out so cute and made the house smell lovely. No need to use a fork on these babies - just pick them up and devour!

Rinse off four medium apples. I used five, and it was too many. Learn from my mistakes.

Peel the apples with a paring knife. Extra points if you can do it without breaking the peel like Grammy. I lost.

Use an apple corer/slicer thingy to get even slices. Yes, there's still a bit of skin on my apples. Deal with it. Extra fiber.

Chop your apples into little pieces. About like this:

Add the following (and add however much you want - I totally guessed).

1/2 cup sugar

2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. nutmeg

1/2 t. allspice

1/4 t. salt

2 T. flour

zest and juice of 1 lemon

Mix it all up. And you'll need to taste a few apples, of course. Quality control.

Unroll a store bought pie crust. I used the Pillsbury pack with two crusts in a box from the refrigerated section. Perfect. Use a cereal bowl or something similar and cut around the circle with a sharp knife. I got three circles easily out of one pie crust. Then I re-rolled the scraps and got one more circle. They don't have to be perfect. So if you have 2 crusts, you'll make 8 mini-pies.

Pretend like you're making a taco - a delicious cinnamon apple taco. At least that worked for me. Put the filling in the pie dough circle like this. Don't overfill!

Put two small cubes of butter on the apples and brush the edge of one side of the circle with an egg white & water mixture.

Fold the dough over, press it down, and use a fork to seal it up. Place your mini-pies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. I heart parchment paper.

Repeat times eight. No, they're not perfect, but I like to think of them as RUSTIC. Brush each mini-pie top with more egg white & water mixture. Then sprinkle with sugar.

Bake in a 450 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Watch them, and don't let them burn! The apples are cut small, so they don't take long to cook. You just want to pull them out when they are golden brown on top. Let them cool (or eat them hot). I won't tell. These would probably be good with vanilla ice cream, but I was good with just pie!

Blazer says, "Mmmmm those pies looks delicious. I take some, mama. I been very good boy."

Love you Grammy!

Virginia Is For Sisters

2011-10-05T15:32:00.000-04:00

This is my new favorite pic and now resides on my desktop so I can smile every time I see it and remember the FABULOUS weekend I spent with my sister in Virginia! Julia has lived in Charlottesville, Virginia for a long time now, and with the exception of her wedding, I have not been able to visit her and spend time really enjoying the area. Now that I live only 3.5 hours away from her (Can you believe it?!), I couldn't pass up the opportunity to hang with my salsa last weekend. Knowing my penchant for all things fall, Julia planned and executed an amazing, whirlwind fall-fest just for the two of us. I had the MOST FUN seeing why Julia loves Virginia so much. Texas peeps........ GET OVER HERE!! It's so awesome I can't really even explain it.

I have for you a mostly pictorial overview of our sisters weekend. I hope you like big pictures (of me and my sister... we're so modest!) because I went extra-large on these babies. (I am in love with the new Blogger platform that makes big pictures so easy!!)

I drove to Charlottesville Friday evening (got totally lost... but that's a story for another day). Julia & I had a lovely dinner out and then saw the Charlottesville Symphony. Saturday morning we picked up a picnic lunch of gourmet sandwiches and headed out for our hike! We hiked the humpback rocks off the Blue Ridge Parkway. The hike was pretty steep, but it was a perfect length (40 minutes) and led to an AMAZING view!!! It was in the 40s in the mountains and I was loving it. That's right folks... I like the outdoors! Who knew? Turns out, I just hate being hot :-)

After hiking, we decided that we should have a little reward. Namely, wine. At three different vineyards. Don't judge. When in Virginia... do as the Virginians, right?

We had so much fun doing a tasting at each vineyard, and at each one I bought a bottle of my favorite wine to take home to Brent. Each vineyard was tucked away in some cute little valley, and they were all beautiful!

Julia may or may not have had one too many tastings. Good thing they put out that warning sign!

Sunday morning, we went to church and then got our farm on. This was one particular instance where I wished there was a service where you could rent-a-child. Farms and pumpkin patches just aren't as fun if you don't have a child, but we did our best!

At the farm, we picked our own apples - Gala and Jonagold. I've always wanted to pick apples in the fall, and this experience did not disappoint. I brought home a whole bag.

After picking apples, we ate the BEST homemade doughnuts ever. I NEVER eat doughnuts, but these were to die for. Apple doughnuts fried fresh in front of you and served hot with hot apple cider. And you eat them in the crisp wind on a deck overlooking the mountains. Yes, please.

After leaving the farm, we took a lovely tour of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. It was pretty cool to see the house and brush up on our history.

So as you can see, we thoroughly made the Charlottesville rounds!! I drove home Sunday night through some adorable small towns back to my hubby & puppy.

Toby says bye-bye Aunt Katie! Hug my cousin Blazer for me!

Thanks, Salsa! It was the best weekend ever!! It was a fall bucket list extravaganza!!

Super Chic Gift Ideas

2011-09-30T08:44:00.004-04:00

There is a place here in Durham that has quickly become one of my favorite spots: Parker & Otis. There is nothing not to love about this place - they have EXCELLENT food for breakfast & lunch, and it's a combo store / pantry / restaurant. The store is unbelievably cute with all the best gift-y things under the sun - stuff for home, kitchen, bath, and baby. Yes, please.

To give you an idea of how "me" this store is, the first time we went into Parker & Otis, Brent stopped in his tracks and had a horrified look on his face. He said simply, "Oh, crap." haha! That's how worried he was that I would go on a spending spree. {You'll be happy to know that I didn't spend a dime that first time I was there. I know you're as proud of me as I was.}

Today I went in to buy a birthday gift, and I had to literally pull myself away from the displays. Then I got a great idea - what if I went on a pretend shopping spree and shared my finds with you, dear reader? If you need a gift for anyone this fall, I'm pretty sure one of these items will be a hit. I know you don't have Parker & Otis where you live (poor you!), so I've linked you directly to the source of the cuteness. And if anyone wants to buy me a gift, well...

To start, let's talk about how much we love these vintage/modern bird print melamine plates. I am just smitten with this print, and I especially would love the big oval platter in the upper left corner. How great would that be to serve family-style dinners? And p.s. don't even get me started on those little plates with the eggs on them.

There is nothing quite like a good thank you card. My mama taught me well, and I have written a thank you note for most gifts I've received in my life. Writing thank yous is easier when there is cute stationary involved! I just about died over this collection of embossed thank you cards from Smock. OMG. Wait till you click on that link. You're going to want them all. Sorry... it's not my fault they are so darn cute!!

Do I need baby clothes? Absolutely not. Do I want to buy them? Yes. I just think this owl print playsuit from Dwell Studio is adorable. If you are a Chi-O and your baby doesn't have this, I think you should probably resolve that ASAP :-)

These Le Cruset mini-gratin dishes are just begging to be taken home to live in my cabinet. I'm not entirely sure what I would make to put in here, but I assure you I would figure it out. They are sized for individual dinner guests, go straight from the oven to the table, and let's chat about how stinkin' cute these fall colors are. I'm thinking two of each color? Let me know if you agree.

There is a company called Apple & Bee, and they make the most precious environmentally sustainable bags. I am in love with this lovehearts cosmetic bag!

... Speaking of cute bags... If I'm going to shop Apple & Bee, I'm going to go ahead and pick up this precious lovebirds tote as well. I would be the most stylish chica at the grocery store, no?

Every time I go to Parker & Otis, I admire these clay cheese markers. How chic would these look on your next cheese plate? They are handmade and hand painted with cute polka dots and stripes on the back. They are made by a clay artist named Rae Dunn, and he has some super cute stuff on his website. Check it out!

I am obsessed with beautiful, graphic, modern fabric. If only I could sew.... I'd have my whole house covered in this stuff. The next best thing is these darling dish towels and napkins from Hen House Linens. I wouldn't mind a few of these hanging off my oven just about now.

Thanks for pretend shopping with me!!

Through the Fire

2011-09-27T19:11:00.000-04:00

I'm currently in a Bible study with wives of business school students. I love being able to have community with them and share similar struggles and highlights. We are doing a Beth Moore study on Daniel, which seems like a strange choice, but it has been AMAZING. Last night we studied Daniel 3, and it just overwhelmed me. God's word is so rich and full of application for us, even in the Old Testament!

You've probably heard the story of Daniel 3. I know I last thought about it in Sunday school as a kid, and I'm pretty sure there was a song about it. It's a good story, but it didn't really sink in with me until yesterday. I was thinking maybe it's the same with you, so I wanted to share. It's the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego escaping the fiery furnace. You should really go read Daniel 3 for yourself here, but I'll give you the basic overview:

King Nebuchadnezzar (king of Babylon) has a 90 foot high golden statue made and orders all of Babylon to fall down and worship the statue. Anyone who does not bow down and worship the statue will be thrown into the fiery furnace, already raging. At the king's command, every person in Babylon from the lowliest citizen to the highest official bows down to the statue - except for three men of God - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They refuse to bow down. Nebuchadnezzar gives them a second chance, but they boldly proclaim that they will NEVER bow down. They proclaim that their God is able to deliver them from the furnace, but even if He doesn't, they still won't bow down. Infuriated, the king orders the fires to be heated 7 times hotter, has the three men tied up, and orders them thrown into the fire. The fire is so hot that the soldiers who throw them in are immediately burned to death. Once Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are in the furnace, the crowd notices something disturbing - they see four men walking around in the fire. Sure enough, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego plus a fourth man are walking around, unharmed and unbound in the fire. The fourth person turns out to be the son of God - a preincarnate Jesus, right there in the fire with them. A terribly frightened king calls the men out of the furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego emerge completely unharmed - nothing has been singed or burned except their bonds. The Bible even says they did not even smell like smoke. And King Nebuchadnezzar believed and praised God and declared that everyone in Babylon should praise God. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are promoted in the kingdom and are never mentioned again.

Take-Away 1: I don't want to bow down.
I can think of so many things in our culture that everyone bows down to - money, fame, celebrities, beauty, power, jobs ... the list goes on. Even if everyone else around me is bowing down, I want to actively resist the things of this world that can so easily defile. That image of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego standing tall while everyone else had their face to the ground worshipping an idol is seared in my mind. Let that be me standing, Lord. Let me care more about your fame than about what other people think. In the passage, the king's men say of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: "They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up." (v. 11) Oh Lord, let that be said of me!

Take-Away 2: I want faith like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
In the study, Beth challenged us to really wrap our minds around what was going on there. These three men resisted the king on principle. They refused to conform to the culture and blaspheme God. But at what cost? The cost was DEATH. Immediate, certain, painful death. And yet they did not waver. Even when given a second chance, they boldly stood up and declared their faith, no matter the cost. They could have "pretended" to bow down or rationalized why they were going along with everyone else. But they didn't. They expressed certainty that God was ABLE to save them, but also acknowledged that he might choose not to save them. Either way, they weren't going to break. They said, "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (v. 17-18) Do I have faith like that?

Take-Away 3: God doesn't always deliver us from the fire.
I'm sure that the three men hoped God would completely deliver them from the fire. Maybe they wished the fire would just go out. But it didn't. They were bound and they were thrown IN THE FIRE. Although God didn't deliver them FROM the fire, he delivered them THROUGH the fire. This speaks to my heart so clearly. Often, we wish for God to take away our trials. But we are guaranteed trials as Christians. It's a certainty. Often, God will have us go into the fire and he will bring us through it. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego emerged from the fire, "They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them." (v. 27) This brings tears to my eyes. They were IN the fire, but they were not harmed. They didn't even smell like smoke. I believe that God does this all the time with situations in our lives. And guess what Beth pointed out: What was the ONLY thing that burned up? Their bonds - the ropes that had held them captive. What if we come out the other side of the fire FREER than we were before? There is one more option - it's possible that God will not deliver us from or even through the fire. It's possible that the fire will consume us. But we will be consumed for God's glory and it will be because of his great love and sovereign plan for us. I want to remember that we should always pray to be delivered from the fire because God can deliver us. But sometimes we will be delivered through the fire or not delivered at all. God's will be done.

Take-Away 4: God is with us in the fire.
One of the most amazing parts of this story and one that I think I missed as a kid is that THREE men went into the fire, but FOUR men were walking around in there, unharmed. It was so troubling that the king and his men started to freak out a little bit. The king says, "“Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” (v. 25) Well he looked like a son of the gods because he WAS the son of God. Many scholars believe that the pre-incarnate Christ himself was in the fire with them. God was so gracious to give us this picture. Yes, he allowed them to be thrown into the fire, but HE WAS WITH THEM. Literally! When we are in the fire, God is literally with us. Weather he brings me around the fire, takes me through the fire, or consumes me in the fire, he will be with me.

Take-Away 5: I want to live for God's fame.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were so bold with their faith that their faith spurred a ruthless king and pagan kingdom to praise God. These three men are never heard of again in the Bible... but what better way to go out than proclaiming the Lord and living for his fame? Talk about lives well lived!

Dainel. Good stuff. Check it out.

Wreath Roundup

2011-09-24T14:14:00.000-04:00

It's just about time to put out a wreath! I love wreaths, and I think they are perfectly acceptable year-round, but now is the time to pull out all the stops with fantastic fall & holiday wreaths. I always put a wreath up in October, change it out for Christmas, and take it down around New Years. I even put a wreath on our apartment door in Dallas, only to have it stolen. Freaking Dallas! Anyway...You only need to do a quick search on blogs or Pinterest to find that there are literally a zillion wreath options out there - almost all are DIY. I thought I'd do a little web surfing for you, and I found my favorite fall options for your viewing and crafting pleasure. I divided them into categories so you can pick one to suit your fancy, and if you want to know how to make it yourself, there are links below each picture to take you there!

I have to say... Brent knows me pretty well. Last night I asked him to look at all the wreaths and tell me which one he thought was my favorite. He hardly hesitated at all, and he picked my #2 fave. Not bad! So how well do you know me, blogger friend? If you're the first person to correctly guess my first OR second fave in the comment section, I'll email you a $5 Starbucks e-gift card to enjoy a pumpkin spice latte on me.

Modern Wreaths

Pretty Pearls * Pom Pom Power * Modern Felt * Styrofoam Surprise!

Nontraditional Wreaths

The Monogram * The Rafia * Birds of a Feather * Yesterday's News

Crafty Wreaths

Yarn Snowballs * Beautiful Burlap * Felt Flowers * Lunch Sack Surprise!

Under $5 Wreaths

Leaves * Coffee Filters * Cotton Balls * Clothespins * Candy Corn

Happy crafting! What's your fave?

Fall Bucket List!

2011-09-22T10:36:00.002-04:00

I've been seeing a lot of "fall bucket lists" on Pinterest lately, and this idea had me at hello. The fall bucket list combines three of my most favorite things in life:

1. Planning

2. Holidays

3. LISTS

Check, check, and check! I decided right then and there that I needed a fall bucket list of my very own. Seeing as how fall starts tomorrow, I needed to get on it. Yesterday I took a mental break from work to research & create my own list. I have to say it was the most enjoyable 30 minutes I've spent in a while. I am SO EXCITED about my list and can hardly wait to start checking things off!

Katie's Fall Bucket List 2011:

I copied another blog I saw by printing out my list and putting it in a frame. Now I can check things off using a dry erase marker as we do them! It looks quite adorable on my kitchen counter if I do say so myself, and it reminds me all day of the fun things I have to look forward to. (FYI - The list was approved by Brent before it was printed. I'd recommend husband approval before committing to the cute list and frame.)

Here's a sneak peak of some things on my list that I'm most excited about:

Visiting the Biltmore in Asheville, NC:

Afternoon tea at the Carolina Inn:

Fire pit s'mores - I want a fire pit so badly for our back yard! I like this one.

What's on YOUR fall bucket list? You should make one and play along.

Falling for Fall

2011-09-20T17:48:00.003-04:00

The official start of fall is this Friday, and I couldn't be more excited! In Texas, fall is really what I like to call summer/winter. It's an approximately nine minute span of time between summer and winter. If you blink, you will miss it. I mean, we usually decorate the Christmas tree in shorts and then go directly into wet, freezing cold. It's odd. However, despite the Texas weather, fall is always my favorite season of all. There is so much to look forward to - Thanksgiving and Christmas, namely, and lots of good comfort food to begin cooking again.

Enter North Carolina. How I love thee, North Carolina. Last Sunday, Brent and I ate lunch at a restaurant outside on the patio, and I was perplexed / flabbergasted / overjoyed to find that I needed a fleece! An honest-to-goodness, zip-it-on-up fleece. I was nearly giddy with excitement. I'm finally going to experience FALL in all its fall-y goodness.

Here's what I'm looking forward to this fall:

#1: Comfort Food
I am looking forward to chili, baked pasta, and roasts. There is nothing better than a Sunday afternoon at home with the aroma of a slow cooked meal in the oven or crock pot. I'm going to try this Rachael Ray Tex-Mex Corn Chip Chili and this Autumn Mac & Cheese I found on Pinterest. You should also try my mom's roast pork loin. Yummmmm!

#2: Scarves
I am in love with infinity scarves. I don't know about you, but I can never seem to tie a scarf so that it looks good. With an infinity scarf, you just put in on, and it looks perfect every.single.time. Good thing they are cool right now because you can get one in every color and print under the sun in just about any store. I snagged this one from Urban Outfitters, and I am obsessed with it. It matches, like, everything. I think this exact one is sold out now (sorry) but they still have lots of cute ones!

#3: Tights & Leggings
I am a huge fan of tights & leggings!! I personally think leggings feel like pjs which is A-OK with me. They are warm & cozy as well as fashionable, so who can argue with that? I love this look from Pinterest with the purple tights, yellow skirt, and black top. Not sure if I'm brave enough to wear it, but maybe- just maybe.

#4: Boots & Booties
Last year I fell in love with the bootie, and I'm delighted to know they are still around. I just bought these adorable booties from Target - the Verana - for $29! Love.

If I had an unlimited budget, I'd buy both colors of these:

But since I don't (have an unlimited budget) I've got my eye on these:

#5: Fall Candles
I have a small obsession with Slatkin candles from Bath & Body Works. Well, I have a large obsession with Bath and Body Works in general, but that's neither here nor there. Anyway, when the three wick candles go on sale 2 for $20, I go into a candle ordering frenzy. They are quality, people - it's worth it. I just purchased my fall candles (2 for $20 sale, obviously) and I am enjoying them every day. My very favorite is "Autumn", but as soon as October hits, I'll be busting out "Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin" as well.

#6: Fall Leaves
I'm not sure I totally believe it, but I've heard tell that leaves actually CHANGE COLORS in the fall. I know... crazy talk. Still, I see pictures like these of the Duke Gardens on the Duke campus in the fall, and I can hardly wait. If there's a pile of colorful leaves, I may jump into it. Just saying.

What are you looking forward to this fall?

Psalm 37

2011-09-11T15:03:00.000-04:00

On this anniversary of 9/11, I wanted to share a Psalm that I read over and over in the weeks that followed 9/11 when I was a sophomore in college. This Psalm was my lifeline in one of the most confusing weeks I've experienced. It was the first time in my sheltered little life that I really, truly felt scared and in danger. I saw and felt evil and wickedness, and I was tempted to despair or, more truthfully, "freak out". In the years that have followed 9/11, we may have killed Bin Laden, but the evil hasn't gone away. We are still living in a world racked with sin and wickedness, and this Psalm gives me hope that our God is still on his throne. Our God still reigns. He is VICTORIOUS and he is JUST. We need only trust in him as our refuge. It's a long Psalm, but I didn't want to leave out one word. It's almost like God included this in his word to encourage us in these very moments: "Do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.... The Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming." The few minutes it will take to read it are worth it. If you are feeling overwhelmed from all of the 9/11 media coverage today, maybe you need a minute to take a long, refreshing drink of God's love and glory.

Psalm 37

Do not fret because of those who are evil

or be envious of those who do wrong;
for like the grass they will soon wither,
like green plants they will soon die away.

Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Take delight in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.

Be still before the LORD
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look for them, they will not be found.
But the meek will inherit the land
and enjoy peace and prosperity.

The wicked plot against the righteous
and gnash their teeth at them;
but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
for he knows their day is coming.

The wicked draw the sword
and bend the bow
to bring down the poor and needy,
to slay those whose ways are upright.
But their swords will pierce their own hearts,
and their bows will be broken.

Better the little that the righteous have
than the wealth of many wicked;
for the power of the wicked will be broken,
but the LORD upholds the righteous.

The blameless spend their days under the LORD’s care,
and their inheritance will endure forever.
In times of disaster they will not wither;
in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.

But the wicked will perish:
Though the LORD’s enemies are like the flowers of the field,
they will be consumed, they will go up in smoke.

The wicked borrow and do not repay,
but the righteous give generously;
those the LORD blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be destroyed.

The LORD makes firm the steps
of the one who delights in him;
though he may stumble, he will not fall,
for the LORD upholds him with his hand.

I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.
They are always generous and lend freely;
their children will be a blessing.

Turn from evil and do good;
then you will dwell in the land forever.
For the LORD loves the just
and will not forsake his faithful ones.

Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed
the offspring of the wicked will perish.
The righteous will inherit the land
and dwell in it forever.

The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,
and their tongues speak what is just.
The law of their God is in their hearts;
their feet do not slip.

The wicked lie in wait for the righteous,
intent on putting them to death;
but the LORD will not leave them in the power of the wicked
or let them be condemned when brought to trial.

Hope in the LORD
and keep his way.
He will exalt you to inherit the land;
when the wicked are destroyed, you will see it.

I have seen a wicked and ruthless man
flourishing like a luxuriant native tree,
but he soon passed away and was no more;
though I looked for him, he could not be found.

Consider the blameless, observe the upright;
a future awaits those who seek peace.
But all sinners will be destroyed;
there will be no future for the wicked.

The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD;
he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
The LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.

Study Snacks: Remix

2011-08-24T19:13:00.017-04:00

Flashback: 2002. Pi Beta Phi house.
The week before finals in December, you would find me, Reams, TRog, TheLoj, Braids, L-Merc, April, and all the rest of my Pi Phi sorority sisters sitting in the dining room of the Pi Phi house in our flannel pj bottoms, long sleeve Songfest t-shirts, and slippers. We'd be surrounded by stacks of books and we'd be studying. Maybe. Or more likely, we'd be eating study snacks. Study snacks was a time-honored sorority tradition where our house mom made us a bunch of junk food and set it all out on the counter to eat while studying. I think the real reason why they did it was because it drew boys from all over the neighborhood. They came to "study" too.

Flashforward: 2011. Norwood house.
This last Sunday, we hosted dinner for Brent's study group here at Duke. Every MBA student is put in a study group of six people. This is the group the study with, work with, and do all assignments with. Let's just say they are going to get to know each other really well! Brent has really liked his group, and he wanted to have them over for dinner. I did the calculations in my head: six people, two wives, that makes 8 people total including two vegetarians. Issue: our dining room table only seats 6, and what could I make that would satisfy both meat eaters and vegetarians? I pondered it for a few days, and then it hit me: Tapas. Kind of an all-grown-up version of study snacks!

Now if you know me, you know I'm a little crazy. I tend to take things to the extreme. So what began as a harmless tapas party turned into a full blown, all day Sunday prep, eight dish meal. Somehow, we pulled it off.

Now this study snacks session did not have "puppy chow", slice & bake cookies, pretzels, giant bags of potato chips, or ranch dressing. It did, however, have mushroom Gruyere tarts, bacon wrapped jalapeno shrimp, bite size caprese salads, summer fruit salad, Greek quinoa, crab cakes, apple & pancetta pizza, and turkey meatball sliders.

My, how times have changed...

Mushroom Gruyere Tarts (vegetarian) - Recipe found from "Everyday Food" here.

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Shrimp: Peel & de-vein shrimp and season with salt & pepper. Place a sliver of jalapeno against the back of the shrimp, wrap with bacon, and cook in a skillet.
Bite Sized Caprese Salads (vegetarian): Thread a cherry tomato, marinated mini mozzarella ball, and basil leaf on a toothpick. Drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt.

Summer Fruit Salad (vegetarian): Watermelon, blueberry, strawberry, & pineapple

Greek Quinoa (vegetarian): Cook 2 cups of quinoa according to box directions. Add chopped feta, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, sun dried tomatoes, and kalamata olives. Dress with olive oil & white wine vinegar.
Crab Cakes: Purchase from Whole Foods. Cook in a skillet :-)
Apple Pancetta Pizza - so good! A Sandra Lee recipe. Pre-bake a thin pizza crust until lightly browned. Top with apple butter (found on the jam aisle), mozzarella, thinly sliced apple, sliced pancetta, and thinly sliced sweet onion. Yep, you read that correctly. Bake at 400 until cheese is melted and toppings are browned and crispy.
Turkey Meatball Sliders: Make my turkey meatball recipe found here. Simmer meatballs in store bought marinara for 10-15 minutes. Place each meatball in a mini potato roll.
Here's the spread! It was quite a lot of prep work, but the last dish went on the counter as the first guest arrived, so it was nice that I didn't have to do ANY cooking while people were here. People just ate in the living room and at our breakfast table - very casual. Fun times!

So-Good Soba

2011-08-18T09:18:00.007-04:00

Rachel Ray has a bunch of recipes called "MYOTO" (Make Your Own Take-Out). I've tried a few, but I think I just made one that would give her a run for her money. I find myself making up a lot of recipes lately, and believe me... they do not always turn out good. In fact, sometimes I take pictures of the process with the intention of posting it for you, only to decide it's not good at ALL. However, yesterday I had an Asian food craving, and I made this soba noodle bowl. Whoa, mamacita!! It was good!! I'd say that this is one of the most tasty dishes I've made in a long while.

Katie's Shrimp & Veggie Noodle Bowl

You'll need the following ingredients. I just eyeballed enough for one portion. I didn't measure. I use terms like "splash" and "pinch". Sorry 'bout that. Consider it creative licence - you can put in however much you want!

- Cut up veggies: I used asparagus, shiitake mushrooms, and snow peas.
- Protein: I used small fresh shrimp.
- Soba noodles (buckwheat noodles - found on the international aisle at the grocery store)
- Olive oil
- Low sodium soy sauce
- Sesame oil
- Crushed red pepper

1. Heat up a bit of olive oil in a small skillet on medium high heat. Add asparagus and a dash of crushed red pepper. Saute 3-4 minutes.

2. Add in mushrooms. Saute for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add in snow peas. Add a pinch of salt. Saute for 3-5 minutes until all veggies are tender. About this time, boil the water for your soba noodles. When water boils, add soba noodles and cook for 4-5 minutes. Check package directions, and do not overcook.
4. Remove veggies to a bowl. Peel & devein shrimp. Season with salt & pepper. Throw in the same pan in which you cooked the veggies with a bit of olive oil.
5. In the last 30 seconds of cooking the shrimp, add a few splashes of soy sauce. This was a great addition that made the shrimp sizzle and taste like Benihana. Add cooked shrimp to reserved veggie bowl.
6. Drain soba noodles thoroughly and add to bowl. Add a splash of sesame oil (a little goes a long way) and a few splashes of soy sauce. Toss to combine.
7. Top with sliced green onions. Enjoy. Take my word for it - you will.

August Obsessions

2011-08-15T10:52:00.017-04:00

Top ten things I currently can't live without:

1. NYC Eyeshadow in "Chelsea Chic"
I am loving this eyeshadow I picked up at Target. It's perfect for summer since all the shades are light and shimmery. I'm usually not a fan of colored eyeshadow, but the light green in this set is lovely! It's not 80s at all and looks good with brown eyes. At less than $3, it's a deal.
2. Pantry Door Organization
I attached some thin cork boards to the inside of our pantry door to serve as an organization station. The door contains: exercise calendars, restaurant list, business cards, receipts, calendars, notes, and instructions for dog CPR (duh).
3. Cleaning Schedule
Also included in the pantry organization system is my daily cleaning schedule. Up until now, I have been pretty spoiled since we've had a bi-weekly maid help us clean our house when we were both working like crazy. However, now I'm home all day and Brent is in school full time, so I don't really have a good excuse (or really any excuse) to have a maid. Maid out. Katie in. I truly hate wasting all day Saturday cleaning the entire house. So I decided to break my cleaning into small daily chunks. I'm happy to say that I've been sticking to the schedule so far, and it's not bad at all. My daily chores take 30 minutes or less usually, and it's easy to motivate myself when I can say, "I just have to do this ONE task, then I'm done!" If I do this every week, we'll have a clean house year-round. Notice that there is no task at all for Saturday. :-)

4. Sea Island Cotton
This is an oldie but a goodie at Bath & Body works. I've been having my nightly bath with a little Sea Island bubbles, and it is fantastic! The smell is crisp, clean, light, and perfect for summer.

5. Chobani Black Cherry Yogurt
About this time last year, I discovered Greek yogurt, and I never looked back. I had a Fage obsession for a really long time. Then, in NYC, I tried Chobani. Love. I kind of like it better than Fage (sorry, Fage). I like how the fruit is already mixed in for you. The black cherry kind is to die for. If you use your imagination, it almost tastes like dessert. I sprinkle a little granola on top and call it breakfast. Fat free, double protein... yes, please.

6. Cute Containers for Everyday Items
Do I really NEED a cute glass container for my Tide laundry detergent? Well, no... not exactly, but I sure do WANT one! I picked up this glass canister from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and I made the simple label using Microsoft Word. I'm not going to lie that it really, truly makes my laundry room look cuter, and it makes laundry kind of fun. I love it sitting here on my washer instead of the big orange box. The possibilities are endless for other things you could do this with........ It's the little things, people.

7. Cute NOTEBOOKS
I have a problem. An obsession. An addiction. I need help. I LOVE NOTEBOOKS. Like, LOVE. But not just any notebooks. They have to be cute, colorful, and modern. Now is the best time of year when all the stores pull out all the stops on their school supplies. I may or may not have purchased five notebooks from Target. How can you pass them up at $2 a pop??? My desire to do work just increased by about 250%. Seriously. TELL ME that this notebook isn't completely adorable. It's from the "Green Room" line at Target. Of course I had to make a label for it in coordinating colors. Isn't that font the best? It's called "Chantel" and it's free from http://www.sugarfrogfonts.com/!

For full disclosure, here are the five notebooks I really did buy. Now to fill them...

8. Pinterest
I did not understand Pinterest at first, but suddenly, I GOT IT. This is the coolest website ever. It's also addicting. Anytime I'm on my phone now, Brent rolls his eyes and says "What's new on Pinterest?" haha. It's a little crazy. I love this quote about Pinterest I found, well, on Pinterest! It's hilarious because it's true. You can see my Pinterest page here.

9. Sparkling Water
It's been years since I drank soft drinks. I finally discovered that I love the carbonation, so a sparking water does the same thing for me. I'm obsessed with sparking water. My drink of choice is usually LaCroix, but I also love Ozarka, San Pellegrino, or even club soda. I've had a LaCroix for lunch just about every day for a year. You can buy it at the regular grocery store, and it has no calories, no sugar, and no sodium. It comes in unflavored, lime, lemon, grapefruit, berry, and orange. My favorite is the lime shown below. In NYC, I craved sparkling water like crazy. I would stop at shops on the street to buy a bottle because I couldn't go one more step in the heat without it. It's that good.

10. Light Blue Perfume
I've never really been a perfume person. I mean, I wore GAP's "Heaven" in 7th grade like everyone else, but not much beyond that. This last Christmas, my mother-in-law bought me my first big girl perfume... Light Blue by Dolce & Gabbana. I'm loving it! It's perfect for summer too, because it's really light and fresh.

Those are my current obsessions. What are you loving right now?

Farmer's Feast

2011-08-10T21:24:00.019-04:00

Reason #237 why I love Durham: The Farmers Market!

Working from home has been a new adventure this week... more on that later. To avoid becoming a hermit, I try to have at least one outing per day. Today I ventured to the Durham Farmers Market with the Duke "partners" club. (Basically, the wives club) Now, I've been to some places that called themselves "farmers markets", but this was the real deal. Every stall must have an actual farmer present selling the products. Every farm must be 40 miles or less from the market. I went with the intention of not buying anything, but (who are we kidding) I saw about 25 things that caught my eye right away. The market only takes cash, and I only had a $20 bill. No worries - I got EVERYTHING you see here for $15. That's right - a giant package of homemade mozzarella, 1/2 pound okra, 5 heirloom tomatoes, 1 pound of baby "fairy" eggplant, and a big bunch of basil - all for $15, and I still had $3 left for a homemade blueberry lemonade at the market. Yes, please.

Here is the delightful lady who sold me my cheese.

I wasn't in the market for flowers today, but if I was...

Who knew there were 10 different kinds of potatoes?

This was the bounty I came home with. I decided to make a meal with only the things I bought at the market and what I already had in the kitchen .

Dish #1: Oven Fried Okra
Soak okra briefly in mixture of milk (or buttermilk), hot sauce, and an egg.

Toss okra in a mixture of cornmeal and Cajun seasoning. Spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Cook at 410 until browned, tossing a few times.
Dish #2: Caprese Salad
Side note: Believe it or not, I found these heirloom tomatoes in a bin labeled "freak tomatoes". I was a little wary, so I asked the lady, "Why are these freak tomatoes?" She said, "Oh, because they are ugly." Wha??? They were a little mis-shapen, maybe a little lopsided - a spot here and there. But they looked A-OK delicious to me. I picked out five "freak" tomatoes (poor little guys), and guess what - all 5 cost $1. TOTAL! They were some of the best tomatoes I've ever had. I see more freaks in my future.

Anyway... slice up your freak tomatoes and arrange them on a plate. Make 'em look nice.

Top with sliced fresh mozzarella, basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a liberal sprinkle of kosher salt.

Dish #3: Chicken & Eggplant Parmesan
Slice eggplant into thin sections (mine were baby and so cute, so I just cut them in half). Drizzle with olive oil, salt, & pepper. Roast until tender at 410.

Thinly slice a chicken breast. I only had ONE small chicken breast, but it was plenty. I made three thin slices. Dredge in breadcrumbs with some Italian seasoning. Quickly brown in a skillet with olive oil. Mine only took like a minute or two.

Layer some store bought marinara on roasted eggplant.

Top with chicken, more marinara, and fresh mozzarella.

Broil on high until browned.

Here was the final product. All fresh, all local, and all under $8 per person.

Roots

2011-08-06T14:35:00.003-04:00

Hello blogger friends... I hope you still check my blog even though I've been MIA. Sorry about that. Let's just say this is the first time in about a month I've had ten minutes to do something "extra" like blog. I left NYC on July 29th after lots of late night paper writing and reading. I flew to Durham for 24 hours... just enough time to unpack, do laundry, and re-pack. Then I flew to Houston for my first week of work with teachers who came back August 1st. Although I was excited about seeing everyone, I was exhausted. I kind of wanted to curl up in bed and wish all of my responsibilities away. Alas, that was not an option. To Houston I went.

Let me just preface by saying that I have not really missed Houston. I mean, Houston is great and everything... but seeing North Carolina has given me a whole new perspective. Were you to ask me if I missed Texas, I would have said I miss our families and I miss Mexican food, but that's about it. Weather? No thanks. The city of Humble? Not so much. Traffic? I can do without it. You get the picture. So I was thinking I would go to Houston, put my nose to the grindstone, get it done, and think the whole time about coming back to my true love - NC. Well it didn't really happen that way.

On Monday morning, I got up super early, hopped in the 1995 white Mercury with blue leather interior (borrowed from my in-laws for the week), and headed up 59 to begin my week of work. Monday was going to be a work day for me to prepare for all the PD I was giving during the week, so I chose to work at the North Central campus... my home for the last 5 years. It was so strange because I had been gone for months, and my mind knew that I had completely moved across the country, but for all intents and purposes, it felt like a normal day. As I got off the Hardy Toll Road and went down Aldine Westfield, I saw the things I've seen every day for five years. I saw the Iglesia Cristiana, a random wild dog, the Taqueria Lupita, the billboard for "Planos y Permisos", the good old Aldine ISD "Compass" school, and my favorite longhorn steer across the street from YES Prep NC. Yep, definitely back in Texas, I thought. I pulled into the familiar parking lot feeling nothing was the same, yet everything was the same. I pulled into my normal parking spot when it happened.

As soon as I put the car in park, a wave of emotion passed over me. It was one of those feelings that began in the pit of my stomach, tightened my throat, and before you knew it, I was crying. Like many, many tears spilling down my face uncontrollably and unexpectedly. I really am not sure where the emotion came from or why I was crying - I wasn't necessarily sad or happy, but maybe weird combo of both. Or maybe I was just exhausted.

Instead of jumping out of the car, I sat for a few minutes and cried and thought. I was mourning my old job and my old life. I'm not really a teacher at any campus anymore. I'm not going to have a room full of seventh graders. My friendships won't be the same since I won't see people everyday. But then with the sadness, there was a sense of gratitude and awe and even joy that my life has changed so much, but I am still a "YES Prep person" and still have an amazing job. I sat there and remembered the first time I pulled up to the YES Prep warehouse seven years ago in the Fifth Ward. Since then, YES has been woven into the very fabric of who I am and what I do. And it feels good. Praise God for letting me stay connected even from afar. I know that Houston and YES will always be my home. I realize just how deep my roots are in Texas, swirling and twisting and encircling people and places and memories that make up "me". They anchor me.

When I finished crying, I took a deep breath and went inside. It felt great. It was a wonderful week. So good to see everyone. We welcomed a TON of new teachers to our ELA team - lots of Aggies - class of '11. I mean, are you kidding me?! So young! We have 70 teachers on the middle school ELA team this year, so there will be no shortage of work to do to support everyone. My team & I worked really hard over the summer, and that work paid off and resulted in a fantastic first week back.

Yes, North Carolina has (many) perks, but my roots are in Texas, and it will always be home.

Eating our Way Across NYC

2011-07-17T17:14:00.039-04:00

Let's just say I married the right man who shares my love for great food. I'm going to go ahead and officially call us "foodies". We scour the web, Travel Channel, and Food Network to find the best restaurants - then we go, eat, enjoy, and talk about food and flavor like a bunch of nerds! I'm really here to go to school, and don't worry... I'm always on time, do all my homework, write my papers diligently, and participate in class. However, when school's out... it's time for fun and eating!! This week we have literally eaten our way across NYC.

On Monday, we went to Mario Batali's Eataly in Gramercy Park. Oh, Mario... you had me at hello on this one. Eataly is a GIANT Italian market. You can buy anything - produce, cheese, chocolate, gelato, bread, fish, meat, pasta... just like a fancy grocery store.

In addition to the market, however, are about six restaurants tucked in every corner of the place. Near the fish area is "Pesce" - the quaint little fish bar. Near the pasta is "pizza" and "pasta"... two restaurants with separate menus... one just pizza and one just pasta. Near the veggies, there is "Verdure" - the veggie restaurant. I mean... it's nothing short of genius. Here are the "street signs" within Eataly to help you navigate. We made about two full laps around the place before we settled on "pasta". Try to contain your surprise.

The pasta restaurant was right here, tucked in between the pasta aisles! I'm not going to lie, it was some of the best pasta I've had in my life. I had this big wide pasta with seafood, and Brent had Penne with fresh marinara, fresh mozzarella, and basil. It was incredible. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go back and get what Brent got. You could eat here every day for months and still not try all that they have. It was kind of like Disney World for foodies. It was PACKED on a Monday night. I would seriously come here once a week if I lived here. It was that cool.

On Wednesday, we headed down to the Lower East Side to Prune. Brent heard about Prune from Anthony Bourdain. (I love how we talk about Anthony Bordain like we know him.) We had reservations a week and a half in advance and still had to eat at 6pm. It's hip. ...But mostly hip for older people and chefs. In fact, we were sitting next to this older couple and he was a chef - owned a restaurant in fact. He was like, "How do young people like you know to come to a place like this?" We said, "OH...we watch Food Network and Travel Channel like crazy." They laughed.

It was really cute and vintage inside. This is a picture off the website... it was packed to the gills when we were there.

This is the real reason why Brent wanted to go here.... bone marrow. I am a foodie, and I will eat almost anything... except something scraped out of a bone. I'm sorry, but it gives me the shivers. Anyway, Brent ate it up and LOVED it. I tried one bite like a good girl, but it wasn't my thing. I got a seafood stew that was to die for!!!

Friday night we stopped by Magnolia Bakery. Duh.

Excuse my tired appearance. Apparently I forgot to put on makeup? In my defense... this was after ten straight days of class without a day off. I seriously deserved a cupcake. Or two.

Last week when we were prowling around the West Village, we discovered our own personal heaven... Murray's Artisan Cheese Shop. Oh.My.Yes. It is a pantheon of cheese. A store full of nothing but cheese... every kind of cheese you could ever possibly imagine. They are world famous, and they actually have five cheese caves under the store. If they don't have it, it doesn't exist. We discovered that they have cheese CLASSES at this place in a wonderful glass classroom overlooking the cheese shop. We immediately made a reservation for a "cheese 101" class this Saturday. So, so fun.

For $50, you get a 2 hour class that teaches you how cheese is made, the difference between all the different kinds of cheese, how to taste cheese, and how to pair cheese with food & wine. Plus, you get to taste a ridiculous amount of cheese and drink unlimited wine and champagne plus bread and dried fruit & nuts. Heaven. It was one of the best things I've ever done in NYC - it was a blast!!!

After Murray's, we walked a long way to make ourselves feel better. After the cheese and wine coma wore off with the help of a nap, we were hungry again. Shocking. However, we were tired and didn't want to go far. We had seen this adorable little gem on one of our walks through the neighborhood. It's a cute little French place, La Boite en Bois. It's like a little underground cave that only seats about 20 customers.

Look how precious! Again, this is from their website since we got their last open table last night. It was one of those places where we got there at 8:30 and didn't leave till after 10:00. We lingered over wine, onion soup, french bread, bouef borginion, roasted lamb, and ricotta cheesecake. It was quiet, quaint, and the owner himself took our orders and served us. Utterly wonderful. We'll be back.

You'd think we'd had enough... but no. Sunday morning, after a cup of coffee and some Cheerios at home, we set off for Brooklyn. We've both been to NYC quite a bit, but neither of us had ever walked the Brooklyn Bridge. Today was the day. I really, really loved walking the bridge. I don't care if it was tourist-y. I'm glad I got to do it. It was HOT but beautiful.

Upon arrival in Brooklyn, we had a plan. We ate lunch at Motorino, a favorite haunt of Rachael Ray. Apparently she was not hungry for pizza today, but I still held out hope. They just make pizza, and they do it right... thin crust in a ridiculously hot wood burning oven.

We feasted on prosciutto di Parma pizza and cremini mushroom & spicy sausage pizza.
And we didn't regret it.

After re-feuling with pizza, we needed a brownie to wash it down, naturally. (Remember, we walked FORTY minutes across the bridge. Just a friendly reminder.) So we hit up another place featured on "Best Thing I Ever Ate" AND the Oprah Show: Baked.

We were after the sweet and salty brownie: Success.

I meant to show you a picture of the brownie on our plate in all its glory, but alas, we devoured it and all that was left was this:

... and that pretty much sums it up, folks. We've left behind us a wake of empty dishes, crumbs, and most of our vacation money. But to us, money spent on good food is money well spent.

P.S. After the brownie, we did start to feel a little guilty, so we walked 40 MORE minutes through Brooklyn Heights which was delightful. Class starts up again tomorrow, and Brent has to leave me on Wednesday to go back to Durham :-( but we are still enjoying every moment!

Yum, Fun, and Pretty!

2011-07-10T19:58:00.027-04:00

After a week in NYC, I feel like I'm living the dream! It's really the ideal situation: We get to pretend as if we live in NYC for a month, and then we get to go home. I've been having the best time. Every day is busy with class (even Saturdays and Sundays!), but being in the city makes it all worth it. If I were to categorize the three things we spend our time doing, it's eating, having fun, and enjoying the sights. Oh yeah, and studying, reading, and working too, but that's not as fun in pictures.

Yum
On day 1, we hit up JG Melon, Bobby Flay's favorite burger joint. We were hoping to see him there, but no such luck. It's also one of Brent's favorite burgers (one of the many things he and Bobby have in common). I'm not gonna lie: It was one.delicious.burger. No frills here. Just meat, cheese, and bread, but they do it right.

As fans of the show "Best Thing I Ever Ate", we scoped out this favorite haunt of Food Network's Anne Burrell, Extra Virgin, in the West Village. We sat outside on this adorable little deck and watched the hipsters go by. We had delicious summer drinks including a watermelon martini. Then we shared mussels in white wine sauce (heavenly). Brent had mushroom crusted chicken and basil risotto and I had shrimp & lobster pasta. I fell in love with this part of NYC. How have I never been down there before??

Another one of our favorite shows is No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain. He loves this place called "The Spotted Pig", also in the West Village. When Anthony went there, he got the special "chef's menu" on the secret third floor where he ate a whole pig's head. We decided to forgo this and eat in the regular dining room. We had their famous shoestring fries... I mean they were good. Infused with garlic and rosemary and tons of salt...

When I was a kid, my parents took me to New York, and I remember eating at this Oyster bar in Grand Central Station. It's been there since 1913! It's still there, and I've been wanting to go back. It's down under the subway, so the ceilings are so cool! It's a really fun atmosphere, and it brought back memories. Brent & I shared a feast of clam chowder, oysters Rockefeller (also featured on "Best Thing I Ever Ate" - Scott Conant, if you're interested), and a platter of 10 RAW oysters, 2 clams, 3 mussels, 2 shrimp, and half a lobster. It was so fun to try something different. Neither Brent or I had had a raw oyster ever (surprisingly), and they were good!! I mean I wouldn't eat it everyday... but it was truly delicious and a fun adventure.

Fun

OK, so we mostly eat (as you can see), but to GET to the restaurants, we normally walk so we can eat more AND so we can see the great sights. Here's the obligatory Times Square picture.

Loooooove Central Park. Praise God that it's not unbearably hot as it was last year. It's actually quite pleasant and good for walking these days!

I am having SO.MUCH.FUN with my classmates. We're a cohort of only 12 people, so we are basically together 8 hours a day 7 days a week for 4 weeks for 3 summers. That's a lot of hours. We also take online courses together throughout the year. So... we're pretty close. I love these girls. It makes class fun when you're there with 11 of your closest friends. We eat lunch together every day, and today we had a most delightful lunch in the middle of Broadway. Here's me with Jamie and our sub sandwiches and Meredith being her crazy self.

Pretty

There are so many things in NYC that are just plain pretty. Brent & I both think that the city is getting cleaner, prettier, and friendlier every day. I must say that I am truly enjoying this place. It is fantastic! Here's a cute little house covered in ivy. I love how it is just enveloping this house! Central Park views - blue skies!

Grand Central Terminal - truly "grand".

"I want to be a part of it.......New York, New York!"

Until next time, I'll be eating, having fun, eating some more, and, um, studying......

Fourth of July NYC Style

2011-07-05T14:28:00.011-04:00

Well friends, you know we Norwoods like to move a lot, and we're not really kidding about that. We were in Durham for two whole weeks, so it was time to pack up again and head out on the road. I'm not kidding. No, we didn't really move, technically, but as of yesterday, we are residents of New York City for the month of July. I know... in the midst of all the moving craziness, I almost forgot that I am also a grad student and I have classes to attend! I'm in Year 2 of my masters at Columbia, so I'll be taking four classes (one class a week) while I'm here in July. But this time, Brent AND Blazer are with me! If you weren't a blog reader last year, you can catch up on my NYC solo adventures that involved a dorm room by clicking to the right on the category "Adventures in Grad School".

This year, instead of going solo in a dorm room, we are going high class! We packed up the whole fam in the Honda Pilot and drove from Durham to NYC. That was a fun experience since I've never driven into NYC. We passed through Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Washington DC... it was fun!

We searched for months and months to find a good rental for the month in NYC. It's funny how when you only want to rent an apartment for a month nobody wants to talk to you!! We ended up finding a great apartment at 70th and Riverside on the Upper West Side. Coming from a dorm, having a kitchen and a TV is like heaven! The apartment is nice. Not Durham nice, but nice. However, it did not quite meet our cleanliness standards, so we spent the entire first afternoon scrubbing. The one REALLY good thing about renting this apartment is that it's actually being rented to us by a guy who sells high-end real estate in NYC. He's trying to sell a penthouse in the building next door... for $11 million. It's vacant right now, so he was having a party for the Forth of July. Kind of like a party/open house for his property. (P.S. Have you ever seen "Selling New York" on HGTV? If not, go IMMEDIATELY to your DVR and record it. It's one of our favorite shows ever. If you've seen it, we felt kind of like we were at one of those swanky open houses they feature on the show.)

Anyway.... we got to go right up to the penthouse for the Macy's fireworks show on the Hudson River. Oh my...........it was beyond amazing. The apartment had a GIANT balcony with complete views of the city AND the Hudson River. We literally had front row seats, 24 floors up, of the biggest fireworks show in NYC. It was one of those moments where you just can't believe it's real. We had a blast. And if I had $11 million, I'd buy it for sure. :-)

Me on part of the wrap-around balcony with a city view

Sunset on the Hudson

City View Hudson View - all the boats were out to watch the fireworks! You can see some of the thousands of people on the street below there to watch the show.

Not the BEST pics, but proof that I was actually there! I can never get fireworks to photograph properly. For great firework pics, check out Elicia's blog.

What a great memory! Not a bad first day in the city. Class starts tomorrow!

House Tour, Part II

2011-07-02T19:08:00.011-04:00

Hi friends! Welcome back to part II of the house tour. Today I'm going to show you Blazer's master bedroom, Blazer's study, Blazer's guest bedroom, and Blazer's porch.

Here's the master bedroom... perfectly cozy. We got the new rug at the foot of the bed because we've never had hardwood in our bedroom before, and we discovered that Blazer (bless his little heart) was too afraid to jump on and off the bed from the hardwood because the first time he did it, he slipped and fell. Poor little guy. Now he has a landing pad.

Here's the master bath...tiny! Luckily Brent let me have this bathroom, and he uses the guest bathroom which is actually bigger but doesn't have a tub. And of course I have pics of Blazer up on the wall. Don't judge. I love that little guy.

Here's our study, which is pretty similar to our study in Humble. This is now my office!
Another view of the study
There is a third bathroom attached to the study. Brent said I was big time now because I have a bathroom attached to my office. Usually only CEOs have that, you know. :-)
Here's YOUR bedroom! It looks much better than last time it was on the blog. It's super cozy and you will love it in here.
Here's our lovely porch. We have enjoyed sitting out here with coffee and wine - morning and night! Blazer also LOVES being out here and he is so good... he never leaves the porch. He's just content to watch the neighborhood go by through the railing!
A parting view of our little casa. Love.

Trail Running

2011-07-01T14:00:00.002-04:00

This morning I decided to go for a little run because it was 10:00 am and it was 80 degrees outside. You know... because that's normal. There's this lovely little trail here called the Al Buehler Trail or the Wa/Duke (Washington Duke) trail. It's pretty much perfect: fully wooded (shaded), gravel trail, 3 miles, AND it makes a loop so you end up where you started. Today I tried to keep my usual intervals: 2 minutes walking and 3 minutes running. However, that proved difficult since this trail is HILLY! Oh, hello hills... nice to meet you! Anyway, I had fun, and it took me exactly 40 minutes to walk/jog the trail. It was lovely. After looking at concrete for my entire life, this is a nice change of pace. I'm thinking this will certainly become part of my weekly routine. I didn't bring Blazer this time, but I'm relatively certain he would think this was doggie heaven. Maybe he'll come next time.

It's almost magical!
Oh...just a little babbling brook that I ran by... you know...
I had that song from "Little Orphan Annie" running through my head... you know the one....(cue music) "I think I'm gonna like it here!!!!"

Decorating... Done!

2011-06-29T21:19:00.020-04:00

Well... everyone has been clamoring for photos, so ask and you shall receive!! We are finally ready to show you our new home. I am completely, 100% in LOVE with this house. We decided that (so far) it is our favorite place to have lived, considering actual house and location.

We had a heck of a time getting painters nailed down, but I had to have colors on the walls, so we didn't give up. We finally found a great and affordable painter, and then we wasted no time getting everything hung up, organized, and ready to go. It's finally a home, and I just love how it turned out. This house is much smaller than our last house, so we had some decor that we didn't use. However, I actually like the smaller house better... super cozy. I used restraint and didn't hang everything I own because it would have looked like a circus.

I hope you enjoy the results! Today you'll get a tour of the entry, dining room, kitchen, and living room. Check back soon for bedrooms, study, and outside!

Hello friends, my name is Blazer and I am in charge of this house. I'd say I love you all, but that would be a lie since I only like mama and daddy. But I will let you see Blazer's house just for today. I'm very nice.

This is the entryway! When you walk in the front door, you see these pictures of the church where Brent & I got married and the lovely doors behind which are the washer and dryer.
This is a view looking back toward the entryway and into the dining room.

Here's our dining room! I'm loving this room. We didn't have a real dining room in the last house, and this is perfection. It's right at the front of the house. I'm seeing some dinner parties in our future.

Another dining room view

View of the kitchen open to the living room. We used the same paint colors from the last house, but a shade lighter on everything. We thought the lighter colors went better with this style of house. I looooove how the paint turned out. Oh, I heart paint.

This kitchen is way smaller than our last, but somehow it feels huge. Everything fits with space to spare. There are these amazing corner cabinets that pull out and have lazy susans inside for all of your appliances. I forgot to take a picture of inside the cabinets, but take my word for it.. they are incredible.

Here's a view from the stove into the living room. We have this cute little breakfast nook that needed furniture. Enter TARGET. I am in love with this white table and polka dot chairs... all from Target. It's my new fave place to sit and work on my laptop. I'm typing here now.

Another view of the breakfast nook where you can see our cutie new bar stools!!! Our old bar stools were too short so we're storing them in the garage. We bought these space saving, yet adorable bar stools at... you guessed it... TARGET! I mean they are so nice and sturdy. You've done it again, Target. I salute you.

And here's the living room. Notice my restraint in not hanging stuff on every wall. We're trying to go for more of a cottage look and determined that simple is best. Oh yeah, and a zebra rug. That doesn't count.

Another living room view

And yet another living room view. Hey, y'all wanted pictures...

Well here you can see the adorable white tufted side chair we ordered from... Target. Y'all I can't help myself.

Blazer hopes you liked this little tour and that you will stop by soon to see the bedrooms and study. Good thing my husband likes to move us around like every two years because I REALLY like decorating and organizing. More than any normal person probably should.

Thanks for stopping by! Let me know what you think!

A Taste of Texas

2011-06-24T19:00:00.005-04:00

I am loving so many things about Durham, I could fill up this whole blog! (And I probably will.) I have a long list of restaurants to visit, and a few of them are Mexican. However, I'm not getting my hopes up. I was spoiled with the best Mexican food in the country back in Houston. I'm not ashamed to admit that we ate Lupe Tortilla fajitas every Friday night for two years, and I never once got tired of them. I know that the farther you venture from Texas and Mexico, the slimmer your chances are of finding good Tex-Mex. So I've brought along my favorite Mexican recipes to cook when I'm craving some bubbly cheese. I did have one minor panic attack when a grocery store here didn't sell tortillas AT ALL. I'm used to fresh tortillas made in the grocery store in Texas, so no tortillas at all was not going to fly. Thankfully, another grocery store had a whole display of tortillas. None made in-store, mind you... but they were adequate.

I always thought it was pretty near impossible to make homemade enchiladas and that one would have to spend the entire day in the kitchen stirring various pots to make it happen. This is not true. I found a Rachael Ray enchilada recipe and have adapted it for my taste, adding a little more spice. I make this recipe all the time, and it is surprisingly quick considering there are no shortcuts at all. It includes cooking and shredding your own chicken and making enchilada sauce from scratch. Don't be scared - it's simple, and it all comes together in 30 - 45 minutes. When we finally make some friends here and have them over for dinner, I may just give them a Taste of Texas!

Chicken Enchiladas
Adapted from Rachael Ray

1 package yellow corn tortillas (9 or 10 will fill a pan)

Filling:
3 cups chicken broth
2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 dried bay leaf
1 onion, roughly chopped
2-3 sprigs of fresh oregano
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
salt

Sauce:
2 cups canned tomato sauce
several drops of hot pepper sauce (like Cholula or Tabasco)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (this is amazing... gives it a really great taste)
1 teaspoon chili powder
1-2 chopped canned chipotles (you can take these out if you don't want added spice, but I love the taste they add)
1-2 spoonfuls adobo sauce (again, optional)
2 cups shredded pepper jack or cheddar cheese

1. Combine chicken stock, onion, oregano, and bay leaf in a saucepan and bring to a boil. It will smell so fragrant! It is totally easy and worth it to flavor the cooking liquid this way!

2. Once broth comes to a boil, add chicken breasts whole. Reduce to a simmer and poach chicken until cooked through - about 10-15 minutes. I sometimes pull out the chicken and cut into it to see if it's cooked.

3. While the chicken cooks, wrap tortillas in foil and place in a 200 degree oven to warm up. They will be more pliable and easier to roll if they are warm.

4. Put the enchilada sauce together. Stir together tomato sauce, chipotles, adobo, hot sauce, cinnamon, and chili powder in a sauce pan and warm over medium/low heat.

5. When the chicken is cooked, remove from pan with a slotted spoon and let cool on a cutting board. DO NOT throw away the cooking liquid or anything in the pan!! When chicken has cooled enough to handle, shred it with a fork and a knife.

6. In a bowl, combine the shredded chicken with onions and oregano leaves from the cooking liquid (discard oregano stems and only use leaves).

7. Add tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, and 1/2 cup of cooking liquid to the chicken. Stir to combine.

8. Remove tortillas from oven. Hold each tortilla in your palm, and spoon a small amount of chicken filling in the center. Roll the tortilla over the filling, and place the enchilada seam side down in a shallow Pyrex baking pan.

9. Keep filling enchiladas until you fill your pan. Press the enchiladas tight up against each other as you fill the pan so they don't come apart.

10. Use a ladle to cover your enchiladas with your delicious homemade sauce. Sprinkle shredded pepper jack (or cheddar) over the top.

11. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes and then broil on high until cheese is brown and bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes and serve with rice and/or beans!

Target Treasures

2011-06-23T18:44:00.024-04:00

My two favorite things to do on days off are: (1) Wander the aisles of Hobby Lobby and (2) Wander the aisles of Target. Today I chose Target. I figure I've been working hard and I deserved it. I went into Target to get a rubber mat to go beneath a rug to hold it in place. I fully intended to be in and out in five minutes.

But then I got to thinking... I have nowhere to be right now, and I could just check out the clothes & shoes since I have some spending money from Brent. So I gave myself permission to wander, look, and try on to my heart's content. It was PURE HEAVEN. I'm not entirely sure how much time I spent in Target today, and I'm not sure I want to know... but it was decidedly more than five minutes.

I may or may not have left with 4 pairs of shoes, two dresses, a skirt, and three tops for UNDER $175 total. I'm not kidding people. Get to Target!! I found a treasure trove of cute stuff, and I wanted to share my finds with you. If you share my love for Target, read on and then seriously go there ASAP. Nothing on this post is over $30!!!!

Find #1: Mossimo Pilar Wedges
Exhibit A: Via Cardorna wedges from Anthropologie for $140. Super cute, right?

Exhibit B: Mossimo Pilar Wedges from Target for $30. Call me crazy, but I like the Target ones BETTER! I love the brown color and the zip up the back. They are adorable on. I will henceforth be wearing these with EVERYTHING.

Find #2: Xhilaration Tashi Sandals: So comfy and cute. They really do look expensive and will go with everything for summer.

Find #3: Merona Mena Pumps: I love the brown croc. I have been buying heels from Nine West forever, and they fall apart so quickly! I have some brown ones that have been repaired twice now, so forget it... I like these!! They will be great for work with pants.

Find #4: Mossimo Versie Pumps: I LOVE these. They have a high heel but not too crazy, and the shiny patent leather is super pretty. They are comfy! These are also replacing a black Nine West pair on its very last legs. RIP Nine West. I might be done with you.

Find #5: Mossimo Racerback Tanks: I bought two of these: One in plain white and one in purple stripe. They are looser fitting and not skin-tight. Also I like that they are longer tanks.

Find #6: Xhilaration Kimono Top: This picture does not do it justice, but this is actually a really pretty top. With a tank top underneath and paired with the blue skirt below or white pants as shown here, I think I would wear this to work.

Find #7: Mossimo Chambray Skirt: This is a perfectly fitting, stretchy, denim-looking nice skirt. It's got adorable pockets, sits low on the hips, and is just the right length. Pair this with those Pilar wedges from up top...

Find #8: Mossimo Pleated Zip Back Dress: This is one of my favorite finds. This dress is AWESOME. It is soft and stretchy, yet looks nice and tailored. The front is cute and simple and would look great with fun earrings or a big necklace. The pleating is so flattering - it's better on than on the hanger. It also comes in black, teal, and orange, but I thought I could keep it simple for work with grey and add color with shoes and jewelery.

... and this is the best part... the back!! It has this over-sized black zipper that I am in love with.

Find #9: Xhilaration Braided Strap Dress: This dress was on clearance for $17!! It fits nicely and has a cute shape. It also has perfectly placed pockets and would look fabulous with a cardigan for dinner or a party.

There were so many other cute things I saw, but I had to stop somewhere, and I'll let you discover them on your own. Wandering around Target and buying cute, inexpensive clothes and shoes will cure whatever ails you... Guaranteed.

Turning a Page

2011-06-17T19:19:00.027-04:00

Well since we've last spoken, I've been doing nothing at all.

...that is, if "nothing at all" includes:

- Wrapping up a school year
- Packing everything we own
- Hosting my parents for a "packing fest" weekend
- Closing on our Humble house
- Supervising everything we own being loaded into a 26' Penske truck
- Driving 23 hours over two days
- Staring at the back of a Penske truck for 23 hours while being followed by the in-laws
- Smuggling Blazer into a Marriott in Alabama only to sleep like 2 hours because he barked so much and stressed us out
- Supervising everything we own being unloaded into our new house
- Experiencing complete paralysis at the chaos and sheer amount of work to do
- Unpacking for two days straight stopping only to eat
- Showing the in-laws around town for a few days
- Shipping Brent off to NYC for a workshop
- Setting up our new house

You know... mostly nothing.

I've waited way too long to update you, so I'll give you the short version of the last few weeks in pictures :-)

Last day of school with some of my besties, Erin & Pears

My classroom, all packed up. Everything you see here was given away. Given to a good cause (other ELA teachers at my school) but still bittersweet. Brent pointed out that I've touched everything we own at least twice in the last week! Weird.

Empty cabinets!

By the time we were done, the boxes reached almost to the ceiling.

Mama, where we going?!

After 23 hours of driving... (no pictures were taken to protect the innocent)... you have the benefit of time travel directly to North Carolina!

Again, the boxes reached just about to the ceiling. Awesome. Overwhelming.

Um.... this is the dining room. Lovely, don't you think? Want to come over for dinner?
This is theoretically the living room.

And this is YOUR bedroom! The guest bedroom! Don't all volunteer at once to come visit.

Well I'll leave you in suspense for a little while longer, but rest assured, the mess has been tamed. All boxes have been unpacked and 90% of the house is set up. We are just waiting on the painter, and then I'll be able to put stuff up on the walls.

Since we unpacked so quickly, we were able to take my in-laws Vicky & Terry out on the town and show them the campus and the highlights of Durham.

Inside Duke Chapel:

Brent & I outside the chapel

Vicky & I outside Cameron Stadium... home of the famous Duke Blue Devil basketball team

Cooking the inaugural meal in the new house... spaghetti & meatballs

Our dreamy porch... I mean I am seriously in LOVE with this porch. It's big, shady, and breezy. And please... tell me those red Adirondack chairs are not to die for. Plus the side table to hold your wine.... duh.

And don't forget the super adorable hanging flower baskets! We picked out the flowers and everything. Move to North Carolina.......... Check!

Superb Scones

2011-06-05T11:10:00.000-04:00

I have a love/hate relationship with scones. Most scones I've had are dry, sugary-sweet, hard, triangle-shaped hockey pucks. I usually avoid them at continental breakfasts and Starbucks. However, a good scone is a thing of beauty: light, flaky, slightly sweet, and at the same time dense and satisfying like a biscuit. When I saw this scone recipe in Everyday Food, it looked promising. Simple ingredients, not a lot of sugar - I felt confident even though I am NOT a baker by stretch of the imagination. Baking is definitely not my strength so I only venture out every once in a while.

I have made these scones twice now, and I am amazed at how easy they are and how perfectly they turn out every time. Brent and I have eaten them for breakfast, snacks, and even dessert. They are awesome!!!

Currant Scones

from Everyday Food, 2005

2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for work surface
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup dried currants (find in the dried fruit aisle, right next to the raisins)
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon milk

1.Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 2 tablespoons sugar.

2.With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in currants. Make a well in center; add buttermilk and egg, and stir just until combined (do not over mix).

3.Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface (I just used my countertop); knead 5 or 6 times. Pat into an 8-inch disk. With a floured 2 1/4-inch biscuit cutter, cut out rounds. Re-roll and cut scraps once. (I bought a biscuit cutter for $.99 at the grocery store)

4.Transfer to baking sheet, about 1 1/2 inches apart. Brush rounds with milk; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Bake until scones are golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Lest you imagine that my kitchen is like a Food Network studio, take a gander at this sweet treat of a mess I ended up with after making these scones. It was worth every bit, but I do think this mess was a little excessive. I'll try to do better next time, and don't worry... I cleaned it all up :-)

Our Pile of Stones

2011-05-25T18:22:00.018-04:00

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”
1 Samuel 7:12

Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder... to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that ...these stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
Joshua 4:4-8

When we started thinking about moving, we began to learn how to rely on God every day for every thing. We knew he wanted us to move and do this kind of crazy thing, but we kept getting so consumed by the details that we would freak out a little bit. (OK, maybe that was mostly me freaking out, but I'm a details person, OK?) Every few weeks we would be faced with something that seemed literally impossible. We could not, in our minds, conceive how it might work. Each time we would commit those things to God, learning to pray fervently, telling God that we couldn't do it and begging him to please do it for us. And do it he did. Each and every time we prayed, God moved. Not always in the exact ways or in the exact timing we would have planned, but always better than we asked or imagined.

Things began to fall in place one at a time, in God's timing, and we saw what God was teaching us: being worried is pointless. Instead, he wanted us to commit all our worries and details to him. I was reminded that God ALWAYS does things in a way that will bring Him the most glory. He specializes in doing things in a way that can only be explained in a way that includes Him.

Each step that God has led us in is precious to me. I want to be able to look back and say just like Samuel, "God did it. Look how God has helped us so far." Here are stones that we are praising God for. For me, they serve as a reminder of all that God has done and all he's asking us to trust him for in the future.

Stone #1: Admission & Tuition
As I said in my previous post, not only did Brent get into one school, he got into three. We felt that Duke was the best fit for us taking into consideration location, program, quality of life, and people. We were thrilled for Brent to get admitted and were prepared to take out loans to pay for the degree. But God gave us more than we even asked - Brent received a scholarship to pay for his tuition. We are so grateful, and this made us even more sure that Duke was the place for us.

Stone #2: Houston Home
Maybe you've noticed, but it's not exactly a good time to sell a house. Much less a custom-built house. Much less in a short time frame. Much less in Humble, Texas. Much less when there are THIRTEEN other houses for sale in your very subdivision. So it will come as no surprise that I was pretty worried about selling our home. We put our house on the market back in January and began to pray. Every time I drove in the driveway and saw the sign, I tried my best to not freak out, but it was hard. However, I temporarily forgot that God does things on his own time, which is even better than our time! We prayed for the perfect buyer to come along, and she did. Our house is in the final phases of being sold, and it will close the very week we are leaving for Durham. Perfect? Yes. I certainly did not bring that buyer. The Lord did.

Stone #3: Durham Home
We visited Durham for 4 days back in April for Brent to attend the new student weekend. We knew this was the only time we would be in Durham before we actually moved there, so it became apparent that we needed to find a place to live in a very short time period and in between all of the events Brent had to attend. We planned to mostly look at apartments, but at the last minute, we found a Realtor who would show us a few houses for rent. I prayed for God to go ahead of us to Durham and prepare the perfect place for us to live, and he did. We met the Realtor as soon as we got off the plane and looked at the three rentals. The first and third houses didn't fit our needs, but the second one felt homey from the moment I walked in the door. We weren't ready to make a decision quite yet, so we went and looked at tons of apartments, but I just didn't feel good about any of them. The whole weekend that second house kept tugging at my mind, and I made one of the quickest decisions I've ever made - I told Brent I could not stop thinking about house #2 and what did he think? Well, he couldn't stop thinking about house #2 either :-) So we immediately called to rent the house and got it.

I am in love with this house. It's smaller than our current house, but it's so cozy and charming. It's an old cottage that's been totally remodeled. It's on a beautiful, historical, tree-lined street within biking distance from campus. The giant front porch with beadboard ceiling makes my heart beat a little bit faster. I can not WAIT to get some rocking chairs and sit on that porch in the cool NC weather with a glass of wine. SO EXCITED.

View down the street from our front yard

Front of the house with the awesome porch

View from the front porch that you will have when you come visit

Light & bright kitchen

Looking into the living room

Super cute study which will become super important! Read on.

Stone #4: Job
I won't go into every single detail, but I prayed hard for a job for me in Durham. I applied to two jobs that I really wanted, but I didn't get either of them. Although I definitely cried, I began to realize how wonderful closed doors are. I'm so glad I didn't get those jobs because clearly they were not God's will for me. It's like God was protecting me from myself. I ended up getting another job offer in Durham that sounded really promising, and I was about to accept it.

However, at the same time, my current employer, YES Prep, talked to me about an interesting offer. I have been blessed to work for YES in many capacities for five years now, and I'm quite entrenched in the organization. Right now I'm the Content Specialist for middle school English meaning that I basically manage middle school English across eight campuses including curriculum, common assessments, and teacher support. I never thought to ask or even dare to imagine that YES would consider keeping me on staff. However, that's just what they offered, and I accepted.

I'm going to be working full time in my current job and traveling back and forth. The majority of the time, I"ll be working from home in North Carolina which is pretty much a dream come true. Then I'll travel to Houston for one week every six weeks to run professional development and district-wide meetings and observe teachers in their classrooms. Though I'm sad about leaving the classroom, I'm grateful to get to work on things I love: curriculum, instruction, assessments, and teacher development & coaching. I will also have tons of flexibility to hang out with Brent and hopefully get involved with a new church and a campus ministry. I am BEYOND excited about this arrangement, and so glad I get to continue to do what I've worked so hard to build up. Praise God for giving me something I did not ask or even hope for! He is good.

Stone #5: Grad School
More than a year ago, I was trying to decide if and where to attend grad school. I looked at a lot of schools here in Houston since that seemed to be easiest and make the most sense. However, God really led me to choose the summer program at Columbia. Praise God that he knew the plan WAY before we did! Moving to NC will not disrupt my grad schooling one bit. Had I done a program here in Houston, I'd be scrambling to find something else right now. I'll be in NYC the entire month of July this year, and (this is the best part!), Brent gets to come with me! That's right... he will be on break before his school starts, so he's going to come to NYC and hang out with me for a month! Again... couldn't even dream it, yet it's happening. We're renting an apartment on the Upper West Side for the month, and we're even bringing Blazer since we're driving from NC. I mean.... seriously? Is God good, or WHAT?!?

Here are a few pics of the apartment we will rent in NYC. The quality is not great since I copied them off the Internet, but you get the idea! Love it! That couch looks pretty comfy if you want to come visit!

We have so much to look forward to here in the Norwood Nest and pray that your family is also blessed by our amazing God. God has done it!! As we look back on the stones and remember what God has done and who He is, how can we not trust Him with our very lives?

Where You Go, I'll Go

2011-05-18T19:16:00.017-04:00

For the past eight months, the Lord has brought us on a journey that is only just beginning, and we're ready to share it with the world!

We're moving!!!

To North Carolina!!!

As of June 10th, we will be official residents of Durham, North Carolina and Brent will be a proud member of the Duke MBA class of 2013! That's right... the Aggie of all Aggies will add "Blue Devil" to his identity.

We are thrilled and couldn't be more excited. Though we will always be Texans, we can't wait to add North Carolina to our life experience. It is only through the Lord's loving direction in our life that we are embarking on this journey. Praise God that everything we are and everything we have is from Him!

At this point you may be thinking: "Wait. Didn't the Norwoods JUST move?!" Let's pause for a moment to play a little game I like to call "Nail Down the Norwoods". It's difficult, but you can try and play along at home.

Q: How long have the Norwoods been married?
A: 6 years.
Q: How many places have the Norwoods lived?
A: Two owned houses, two apartments, a rental house, four cities, and a partridge in a pear tree.
Q: How many jobs has Katie had?
A: 6 jobs at 2 schools.
Q: How many jobs had Brent had?
A: 4 jobs at 4 companies.
Q: How many degrees do the Norwoods have?
A: 3 finished and 2 in progress.

If you're starting to think that the Norwoods are gypsies and/or want to wallpaper their living room with diplomas and tuition payments, then you would be correct! All kidding aside, we have never been happier because we know we are in the middle of God's will. The Lord has very clearly led us down this path, and we have found immense comfort, provision, and joy in His plan for us.

Weather you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying "This is the way; Walk in it!"
Isaiah 30:21

I used to plan where I would be in two years, five years, ten years... and guess what? I don't care about my plans anymore!!!! I want God's plans, and I can say that honestly now. In the last 8 months, I cannot tell you how many times I have been on my face on the floor begging for God's will, not mine, to be done. In the midst of uncertainty from every angle, I discovered the sweet comfort of God's sovereignty compared with the terrible stress of trying to do things on your own. Oh, how grateful I am that it's not about me. I am a terrible decision maker, so seeking God's will is the most joyful comfort I have found.

Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
James 4:13-15

I can't WAIT to tell you all the details. ......so many things to say!!!! We've been waiting for the right time to tell everyone, but now I don't even know where to start. To God be the glory for everything. In my next post I'll tell you all the ways the Lord has faithfully provided, led, and loved us. Praise Him!!

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to His power that is within us, to Him be glory!"
Ephesians 3:19-21

For now I need to brag on my husband for a moment. About a year ago, the Lord began to lead Brent towards returning to school. At the time, I was not, um, thrilled. One thing about Brent...when he gets something in his mind, HE WILL DO IT. So when he started talking about going back to school, I knew: We were moving.

God has blessed Brent with incredible work ethic and intellect. Brent is just REALLY good at what he does. He studied for the GMAT, aced it, applied to four business schools, wrote 20 different essays, and flew to interview at 5 schools. Brent kept saying he was not going to get into any of the schools he applied to. I respectfully disagreed. I knew we were going. Period.

God answered our prayers and was so faithful in both opening and closing doors. Brent got into not one but three of the top business schools in the country - Cornell, Duke, and the University of Michigan. Duke was our first choice and everything about it was blessed by God. I am so, so proud of my husband for his ambition, leadership, work ethic, intelligence, and faithfulness, and I can't wait to go on our new adventure!!

The Norwood Nest

Valentine's Crafting Spree

Winter Weeknight Wonder

January Gems

Mountain Getaway

Salad Head

Top 11 Reads of 2011

December Must Haves

Christmas Cookie Roundup

DIY Nursery Art

Celebrating Maggie & Campbell!

Invasion of the English Teachers

Thanksgiving for Two

Dr. Halterman, I Presume?

Chirping Copycat

Everyday Friends

The Good Life

Paul & Justin's Story

City of Contradictions

The Nest Has a New Look!!!

Guiltless Mini-Quiches

Grammy Pies

Virginia Is For Sisters

Super Chic Gift Ideas

Through the Fire

Wreath Roundup

Fall Bucket List!

Falling for Fall

Psalm 37

Study Snacks: Remix

So-Good Soba

August Obsessions

Farmer's Feast

Roots

Eating our Way Across NYC

Yum, Fun, and Pretty!

Fourth of July NYC Style

House Tour, Part II

Trail Running

Decorating... Done!

A Taste of Texas

Target Treasures

Turning a Page

Superb Scones

Our Pile of Stones

Where You Go, I'll Go