sickness go away

sorry for the lack of posts lately.  just when i say i am going to try and catch up, i instead catch a stomach bug.  yuck.  it started on friday which was extra lame because that meant i could not go to my friends kate and will's wedding.  maybe you heard but they had a little wedding celebration on friday.  they must have known i was going to be sick and that's why my wedding invitation never came.  either way, while kate was rocking the 7 meter long train on her wedding dress, i was pulling my chicago bear snuggie's train around the house.  just a notch less glam.

i thought it might be a lil bug until yesterday when i started feeling better and thus decided to eat out at the same restaurant i ate at the first day i started feeling bad. well a coworker and i ordered the same thing (in fact it was the same dish i ordered when i first got sick) and bam! i was back to feel down right punk and my coworker got sick too. then i get an email at work stating that a salmonella outbreak was being a reported with tomatoes. well we both ate tomatoes yesterday and i ate them thursday too. salmonella? who knows but seriously salmonella don't bully me anymore!


whatever it is my sweet husband has been kind enough to hold up his end of the vows, in sickness and in health.  he text my mom friday for tips on how to take care of his sick wife.  he came home from work with soup, saltine's and ginger ale.  nicely played hubs.  while i was out of comission i also watched so much 48 hours mystery, probably 48 hours worth.  please let me tell you if that if watch one of those 48 hours mystery shows, watch the wm3 episode.  it is so unbeliveable.  also make sure it is daylight and lock your doors.  don't be home alone so that you aren't scared.

so yesterday was my only full day back to work and delia did not fail to make me laugh. her line yesterday was, "one bad one ruins the applesauce".  which i think means, "one bad apple ruins the bunch." 

weekly menu

remember when i was so faithful to blog everyday?   remember the good ol' days when i would post my weekly menus on mondays for y'all to read?  yeah...me either. 

this week's menu:

monday: gnocchi with zucchini ribbon, parsley and brown butter  served with trader joe's mix of colorful broccoli and cauliflower!

since i can never follow directions well, even in a recipe, i mixed things up.  after boiling the gnocchi, i sauteed them in a bit of olive oil so they would have a little crunch on the outside.  i highly recommend that method.  instead of butter i did olive oil and substituted shallots for garlic....and tried parsley instead of fresh.  other than that i followed the recipe.  even though it sounds weird i did add the nutmeg and will add it every time.  nutmeg where have you been hiding, you are delish in savory dishes!  may i also say that i love the little squish of flavor that cherry tomatoes add to recipes.  thank you for letting me get that out...i feel better. 

so every week we try and buy one new food to try.  sometimes it is a number 1 hit and other times it's as bad as clay aiken making his 5th album.  gnocchi was our new food last week, we are still trying to pronounce it but as ludacris says, "call up jazze tell him to pop up the bottles cuz we got another hit, hit, hit".   it is some delish stuff.  my favorite is trader joe's whole wheat gnocchi.  it's a bit healthier and just as tasty as regular gnocchi.  the first gnocchi recipe that i made was last week.  it's hard to pick a favorite between the two.  you can find the recipe for the gnocchi dish pictured below here .  give it a whirl, i think you will even like the chard!

tuesday: corn-meal crusted chicken nuggets served with fresh veggies

i made the sauce (included in the recipe) with raspberries instead of blackberries


wednesday:  chicken and broccoli alfredo pizza.   we had this pizza on our honeymoon and went back a few times during our trip to have more!  i have been wanting to re-create this delish pizza at home.  to make it  healthier i am using whole wheat crust and this recipe  for the sauce.

thursday: stir fry

friday: well let's just say we will cross that bridge when we get there.


what new foods have you tried lately?

playing catch-up

life always seems to be busy, usually in a wonderful way.  lately, we have had so many lovely things going on that i haven't been able to blog as much or to keep up.  this week is my attempt to catch you up!  let's start with the month of march.  you will remember (or perhaps you don't remember because it has been so long) that it was my mom's birthday.  to celebrate we went to the st. jame's tea room.   tea at st. jame's takes several hours which allowed us several hours to chat and laugh...and feel very sophisticated while time.  if you have never been, you would be daft as a brush not to go!  in fact, go in honor of the royal wedding.  the experience will having you drinking more tea and saying words like simply and lovely more often. 


the lovely birthday lady in all her glory





savory delights





cream teas





dessert was simply divine





cheers!



weekly prayer pic

i haven't ever posted one long blog entry about our wedding just snippets here and there.  here is another little bit for you.  for our wedding we decided that a guestbook was a waste of paper and that we wouldn't look through it more than once in our lives.  and don't you hate when you sign a card for a wedding and then you have to write another message in a guest book or on a picture frame?  anyone else feel that way?  no?  just me?   i am a grump.  so...anyway we decided to rent a photo booth to capture our guests but then as we looked at our budget we decided to toss it out.  my mom surprised us and hired a photo booth.  isn't she a sweet lady?  we didn't know what a huge success it would be!  we rented it during our family reception.  we had one large reception for the guests and another reception that followed for our close family and bridal party.  instead of twiddling their thumbs while we took pictures, guests sipped on lavender limeade and wore the photo booth out!  how posh and fun, right?  each time people took pictures, they got a strip of their photos and so did we.  one for me and one for my homies type of deal. 

the rental company offered to put them in a pretty album but i had a better idea.  i placed all the photo strips into a pretty glass vase.  this way we (or guests) can look through the photos and remember our fun day.  i love having picture out on display so they don't gather dust in a dark closet somewhere...although i have that going on too.

each week, we draw a photo strip and focus on praying for the people in the photo.  we just started it this week and we drew...

my cousin gary and his sweet wife kristin.  don't worry they didn't come dressed as a pirate and viking to the wedding, the photo booth came with props.  although with my family you could never be too sure, i wouldn't put it past them.  my favorite picture is the bottom one. 

not only is it great to think of family and friends more often and ways that we can pray for them but it is also fun for the hubs and i to talk about memories we have with family.

stay tuned...you could be next!

i love my husband and his hair

my husband's hair has a life of it's own.  we get more compliments about his hair than mine...really i didn't know i was going to have to compete.  our good friend, quinn, actually describes us to people that don't know us by our hair.  here is what quinn says,"she has red hair and he has big hair".  a few weeks ago, a little boy at church asked john how he got his hair to make such big spikes.  he answered, "carrots because they are spiky too".  it just made my nutritionist heart melt.

here are a few of my favorite pics....i am really blogging about my husband's hair? 



growing his hair out for his part in the church's play as john the baptist lock's of love.



when i look at this picture i get beiber fever so bad i get beiber blisters!



wall of spikes. 





i don't know what to call this one.  beiber with a flip?






sometimes we even have to crack the sunroof to give his hair some space

   

i think my love might look like the dancing grandpa on the geico commericals when we are old.

i love my husband and his hair.  i pray i get to love him until he is old, gray and still spiky.  i can't imagine him any other way.


speaking of hair what is the worst hair style you ever rocked?  i know for myself it was the wave of bangs in the early 90's.  that was an era of bad fashion and hair styles.

dusk

i love the skies of new mexico.  do you spy the moon?

restoring marriages

marriage is the best and hardest thing i have done to date (except for resisting dessert on a very rare and painful occasion).  hard mostly because i am sinful and marriage brings that to the forefront of my mind constantly (as in all the stinkin' time).  sigh, and the Lord has given me such an incredible man to honor and love and yet it is still a process of being continually refined.  our pastor has been preaching thorough the book of colossians lately and last week the message was about restoring marriages.  even though i have a very happy (newlywed) marriage i find that we are continually renewing and restoring our bond.  the message was so encouraging and gave us both much to think about.  take a listen to the message here. 

last night, our community group further discussed the message.  we split up in to women and men to discuss the unique roles that each partner has in the relationship.  the women focused on submission and respect while the men discussed loving and being gentle with their wives (and somehow the topic of dinosaurs came up.  boys can get distracted and are still little boys at heart i guess).

 i found myself thinking, "what does it practical look like to submit to my husband?"  the Lord is so good in His timing.  today when i was checking in with one of my favorite blogs that's exactly what the post was about.  you can read carolyn mahaney's response to that very question here.  last night as the ladies were talking, we were discussing that to the world the idea of submission is not only unpopular but considered to not be in line with women's rights.  i think this type of thinking is rooted in a wrong understanding of what submission.  instead of trying to formulate my own words on the subject i think i will let john piper and the pastoral intern at my church speak on the matter here.

happy thursday.  it's almost friday!  what plans do you have?