Friday, January 28, 2011

Away We Go




So since my everyday hasn't been full of much exciting stuff lately, I decided to tell you about a movie we watched last night that we loved. It's called Away We Go with John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph. In short, they find out they are pregnant, the family the having living nearby decides to move to another country, so they realize they don't have to stay where they currently are. So the entire movie is them traveling around trying to find someplace that feels like home to put down roots. Along the way they visit family and friends trying to find a place they feel they fit and want to bring up their unborn baby. There are funny parts, silly parts, sad parts but mostly it's life as it really is on display. The two main characters, Burt and Verona, are people you can completely relate to. John and I both recognize fears we've had or had in the past in the characters. Would be a fun date night with your hubby movie. The music is also awesome. It's almost completely Alexi Murdoch, which OMG, he's great. Be warned, there is a little cussing. So if that kind of thing bothers you, be forwarned. We watched it after Hazel went to bed. It was a nice end to a long day. All that was missing was the ice cream but I was to lazy to go to the store to get some. Ha!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Season Confusion








Over the weekend we had a bit of season confusion here. The weather here was wonderful. In the 60's both day and sunny. We couldn't resist a trip to the beach. It was very odd to be walking on a beach on Jan 15th but we enjoyed ourselves all the same. Hazel loves to play in the sand and we had a much harder time getting her to get in the car to come home this time than before. Her current favorite statements are "No Way!" or "I'm Not Tired!". Guess we've reached that stage. Thankfully she's napping again. Sometimes it's only thirty minutes but that's thirty glorious minutes I get to myself in the middle of the day.

Sunday I cooked a full "Thanksgiving" feast for us. Last week sometime I got a bee in my bonnet about all that stuff and decided to cook a big dinner for us to eat on for a few days. Since our Thanksgiving this year was different than every other year of our lives, we didn't get to take many left overs and so I'm thinking we didn't get it all out of our system. I only got one fairly unattractive picture before the boys dug in though.

The last few days have been really foggy in the mornings. We've heard this is how it normally is but we've yet to see it this thick where we live. It's been really cool to wake up to this thick blanket of white. Not exactly snow but still something different outside our windows to see.

Monday, January 03, 2011

Why Oh Why?



Why oh why does Fossil always make me swoon over things I SO don't need? I have no reason in the world to have shoes like this anymore and i certainly don't need a new purse but OMG these things are cute!

later gator, nm

Snack Time


I live in a snack house. A house full of people who love to snack and would rather eat snacks than meals most of the time. I didn't used to be that way but I am now. I still love a good meal. I certainly love to cook a good meal but sometimes you just want a little something, not a big something. I try and keep this snacking habit of ours on the healthy side. We always have fresh veggies, fruit, yogurt, granola bars, etc around. I decided this weekend though to try my hand at making one of Hazel's favorite things. Graham Crackers. They turned out wonderful and I thought, if like us, you either have little ones to feed OR just love a good homemade (and easy) snack, you'd enjoy this. So here you go:
Easy Grahams
2.5 cups all purpose flour
1 cup dark brown sugar
3 tbsp wheat germ or flax
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut up
1/4 cup honey
2 to 4 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
Heat oven to 350 f. In a large food processor fitted with the paddle attachment (or by hand) mix flour, brown sugar, wheat germ or flax, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Cover and process until well combined. Add butter (use tines of a fork if mixing by hand). Cover and process until fine crumbs form. Add honey, milk (start with the 2 tbsp and see how your dough looks. I needed more, so I added till I was happy with the consistency) and vanilla. Mix until mixture starts to hold together. Divide dough in half and flatten each into a disk.
Place one disk in the fridge to keep the dough ready for rolling. On a lightly floured surface roll out first disk of dough to desired thickness. Leave thicker for a softer "cracker" or thinner for more of a crispy texture. Once the dough is rolled you can either cut them out with cookie cutters or just cut them into rectangles with a pizza cutter. Arrange them at least 1" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. With tooth pick or skewer you can decorate them as you like.
Bake about 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool. I used cookie cutters and this recipe made 36 cookies.
Enjoy!
More soon, nm

Saturday, January 01, 2011

1.1.11


Picture 1. He and Me "late" on New Years Eve. We almost never stay up for midnight on new years. I'm not sure why. This year was no different. My Gran texted me at 10 our time, 12 hers. I told her we were going to bed and she called us "weenies". I guess she's right but I'm ok with that.
2010 was year of change for us. Heck, so was 2009 but who's counting? Some changes we're getting used to, others we may never find ourselves liking. All in all though, they've made us better. They've helped us grow up, grow closer, grow stronger, grow more into who we are. So let's see what you got 2011. I think we're ready for you.
Picture 2. Me today, 9pm. I spent the first day of the year doing just want I vowed I'd do more of this year. Make our home what we want it to be. Even if it is an apartment. It's where we are now. So in the effort of putting one foot in front of the other, I baked, cooked, sewed, laughed and found myself proud at the end of the day. Not at the amount I accomplished but proud of myself for being me. Proud of making our home, mess and all, ours. So in 2011 (NO this is NOT a resolution!!!) I vow to make our space more of a home even though our hearts are so very far from where they belong.
More soon, nm