Year in Review

I cannot believe how fast this year has flown by - and I think I have said this at the end of every December. This year has been a blessing for us, and not sure how we will top it! We had many firsts, and we hope 2010 is just as good to us.

We kicked off the year by getting married

Did a zip line...something I have always wanted to do

                                      

Three short (well they seemed very looong) months later we bought our first home

My nephew Evan celebrated his First Birthday...hard to believe!

Hosted our first Thanksgiving...and cooked my first Turkey

                                     

This year has been amazing and I hope that 2010 is an adventure. I am looking forward to new and exciting things headed our way (no it is not a baby!). I hope you all have had a wonderful 2009, with an even better 2010!

Happy (early) Birthday

To me! Last night B decided he wanted to give me my birthday present early, so who was I to argue? Since my birthday falls of Christmas Eve I never really have a "day to celebrate" so it's nice to get the surprise early! B decided he did not want to wrap my gift so instead we played the age old game of "Hot and Cold" around the house and here is what I found:

Nikon D5000 with 18-55m lens

and this little gem is on it's way...

This was a great way to kick off the holidays and my birthday, B did a great job and I cannot wait to start shooting away! I minored in photgraphy in college and have been itching to get back into it. As my friend Haley said "let the madness begin!"

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

Happy Holidays!

So at the last minute I decided to make a christmas card of the hubby and I to send out to some family and friends. After perusing through a couple websites, I decided I was not going to be patient enough to order a template one online and then wait for it to come in, so I created ours in photoshop and got 50 printed for something like $5 at Walgreens... using one of the millions of e-mailed coupons I receive on a daily basis. I feel bad that our cat got excluded, maybe I should have photoshopped him in? Anyway here it is and Happy Holidays everyone!

Not sure why it cut some of the right side off...oh well = )

They Are Not Called Oriental Balls

This past weekend I decided to make a yummy treat to bring into the office. What is this treat? Nothing other than Oreo Balls. Now you are probably wondering where the blog title came from? Well I got to work and told my coworker that I brought in oreo balls and I proceeded to get a weird look from said coworker. Yes he thought I said "oriental balls." ...and I need MY ears checked?

A friend of mine shared this ridiculously easy recipe a couple years ago and I always forget about it. Not this year! Here is the link to the recipe, and please disregard that nutritional value on the left side of the screen.

Here's how mine turned out:

Here they are before I coated them with chocolate...

Almost all done...

 Don't they look amazing?

Now go make them...Enjoy!

The Turkey is Done, The Tree Is Up

I have to say that I am quite impressed with how our first Thanksgiving turned out - as were my parents, sister and brother in law, and my in-laws....ok and Evan. It was my first time hosting, and even bigger it was my first time making a turkey. I have to say I researched and researched about how to cook a turkey, do I season, fry, roast, stuff, bbq, brine, or just order one and claim it as my own?

After getting advice from others, and the research I decided to brine our turkey. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and it turned out fabulous! I followed the recipe exactly, and then added in almost a gallon of apple juice and almost 2 gallons of water instead of theone.We had a18 pound bird and the brine needs to cover it completely so I added a little extra. I found on the site that some people put their brine in a trash bag - yes it was clean, this was a running joke on Turkey Day - tie it off, then put in a cooler and surround with ice. So we brought out the igloo and packed it tightly, using beer cans and ice! We brined it from around 9:30PM to about 8AM and cooked for about 3 hours. The turkey came out perfectly...if I do say so myself.

Here are a few pictures from my momentous occasion

The yummy turkey all ready to go

 

Our pretty table, had to have a pretty setting to go with my awesome turkey

Our fancy china from our wedding...awww

My hard work getting sliced up

Evan is getting big! He loved the pumpkin pie and pumpkin roll

Now that Thanksgiving is done,Christmas is officially on it's way. We got our tree up, and will post pics soon. Thanksgiving should have its own post = )