Aloha!

In a few hours we will be on our honeymoon in Hawaii! The hotel in the photo is the one where we will be staying at while we are there. They have a snorkeling lagoon that is calling to me. And I love that my only carry-on is my snorkeling gear bag!

Happy New Year!

Living on a Prayer

Woah-Oh we're half way there... Woah-Oh in 20 weeks the baby will be here!

We had a 20 week ultra sound for Baby Peanut and all is well! Everything is right on track and things look great! Merry Christmas to us! This is best present ever!

Merry Christmas to all of you too!!

Yay Bloggers!

Last night my awesome party thrower cousin Kelly had her 4th Annual Gift Wrapping Party. It was a cozy group of really wonderful people. With lots of yummy treats and a plethora of wrapping materials. I brought a bunch of gifts to wrap but only wrapped two. Fact: I am the worlds worst gift wrapper. That is number 2 on my list of things i really stink at. #1 is math. Good thing I married a math teacher, and he is a really good gift wrapper to boot. SCORE.
Some of the people that were there I don't see very often, but I read all their blogs.
Conversation flows so freely because even though you haven't seen the person, you read about their lives. So you can ask them how their adoption is going, or their pregnancy or their job change.
They know things that are going on in your life too... it just makes it easy & fun.
In an age where technology, cell phones, email keep things impersonal, blogging really does bring people closer. Well I think so anyway.
Well blogger friends, keep blogging because I'll keep reading!

Wish List

My hubby and I were talking about what we were going to get each other for Christmas. We both are pretty ambivalent, considering we just got a ton of really great wedding gifts. And last week we went to Fleet Farm and I bought him a coat and he bought me a food dehydrator. (we're so practical). But the more we talked we wanted to buy a each other a little special totally impractical something.

It's no secret that my all time favorite store is Anthropologie. So many interesting and unique little things there! If i were rich I would probably only shop there. Although sometimes I can't stomach their clothing prices... I'm a target\old navy type of clothes shopper.

For fun though, I decided to make an Anthropologie wish list. Just a few cutesy things that I wouldn't mind having. These were my top choices:

Cloth Bound Penguin Classics

I love so many of these stories, and these covers are so lovely. I have 2 at home, but i really want A Christmas Carol, Little Women & Sense & Sensibility.

Fleur-De-Lys Juice Glass

I bought two of these glasses for the head table at our wedding. Only one glass made it back in one piece. :(

Grapefruit Sugar Bowl

Adorable little bowl for when you want to sprinkle a little sugar on something that needs sweetening up.

Extra Ingredients Measuring Spoons
Most measuring spoons are so basic, these add a little whimsy to the kitchen.

Charlie Harper Flash Cards

These would be cute to frame for the baby's room. And then later on down the road use them for learning the alphabet.

Remembering Audrey Earrings

These pretty little earrings can be worn with anything. And the price is right!

Leapin' Blizzards!

We were supposed to go watch our school's production of Annie on Saturday night, but we were snowed in due to Minnesota's 5th Largest Snowstorm\Snow Fall!
Despite the snow and cold... I didn't mind being snowed in. I made beef stew, we put up the Christmas Tree, watched movies, and played two person Cranium.
And the snow just kept falling and falling!
It fell so much and so hard the roof of our piece of crap beloved Metrodome caved in! It hasn't done that since 1983!




Merry Snowy Christmas!!!

Superfluous Slip-up

If you have ever read my blog and specifically the name of my blog and thought to yourself, How in the heck do you pronounce that??? What is SUPERFLUOUS??? Well apparently even the president himself has trouble saying "Superfluous".

Over the weekend we were supposed to move, but it snowed so much Friday night we called the move off. So instead we watched all three Lord of the Rings movies and I made Chili. Apparently Tim likes to put his Chili over Spaghetti noodles. I thought it was odd, so we compromised with elbow macaroni and then I just called it Chili Mac.

Sunday we decided to get out of the house and head to the LARGEST Mall in the country, The Mall of America. It's funny because I live pretty close to the MOA, but i never go there. It's just too big to do regular shopping. I don't know too many people who do go there on a regular basis either. Maybe a once a year thing? But my OB had to transfer to a clinic that is right next door to the MOA, so maybe I'll be making more trips there in my future???

We had lunch, saw a movie (Unstoppable) and I got a some maternity clothes for Hawaii. Old Navy had so many summer maternity clothes on clearance that I scored the mother load.

When we got home i watched one of my favorite movies, Little Women (the Winona Ryder version) and then I made Enchiladas. It was a really great day.

December 1

Today is December 1, the first day I start to open the little doors on my advent calender. My love of advent calenders started at a young age. In first grade my friend had an advent calender in her room. She never opened the doors! And what I couldn't understand was, behind each door there was a lovely piece of chocolate. So whenever I was over and she wasn't looking, I'd eat a few... just to help her catch up of course. Since then, I love to get a calender every year, sometimes with chocolate, sometimes not.

Now that I am with child and thinking about future traditions with my

child(ren), I am brainstorming ideas of making my advent calender.

I came across this cute one on the blog Sew, Mama, Sew! I could just see myself putting little treats and mini gifts and notes in each pocket.

photos courtesy of Sew, Mama, Sew!

1 year later!

Today is the one year anniversary of my first date with my now husband! Not only is it hard to believe that it's been a year, but seriously, we've had a lot of mile stones in a year.

We started dating, got engaged 6 months later, got married 3 months later and got pregnant two weeks after that! Needless to say it's been a whirlwind of BIG events!


The funny thing is, our first date almost didn't happen! Tim and I had been working together for a few years and things were always very light and mutual. (although I ALWAYS thought he was soooo cute!) It wasn't until last summer that we really started hanging out and developing crushes on one another. Last October when my dad was in the hospital having heart surgery, Tim came and brought me Chipotle and stayed with me for several hours. (swoon) We casually mentioned going to see the movie 2012 when it came out, and I waited for weeks for that to happen. Finally we made plans to see it, and he even called me up and said, Do you want to get dinner first? (YES!) The night we were to go out, the basketball game he was coaching ran late, and then my car had a flat tire! So I just said, Forget the whole thing! (very immature, i know!) But he was persistent, and said, How about we try for the tomorrow night?


On November 18, we went out for Thai food and watched the world come to an end. It was a great night and things just progressed perfectly after that.
If a year ago someone would've said, In one year you will not only get engaged, you will get married and be pregnant. I WOULD'VE LAUGHED IN THEIR FACE! No Way!


But anything is possible. Especially when it comes to love.

Sabro & TC, Summer 2009

Hello!

The snow has fallen. Winter is officially here. I am also here, just lying low. Things are going swimmingly. Speaking of swimming, at my last ultrasound my little peanut was a little mermaid, twisting and turning and splashing around!

Our latest big news is that we are moving! 3 miles down the road into my husband's house. Or as we like to call it, our "Winter" home. With a baby coming, we are in need of more room and the Winter home has a lot more space. My house, our "Summer" home is way cuter and has an awesome backyard. But the Winter home has 3 bedrooms on the main floor, a lovely bay window for the cat to perch on and I can decorate however I like! The other perk is the Winter home is in walking distance of Half Price Books, Target & Chipotle!

This move is hopefully just temporary, until we can sell the Summer home. Then we'll sell the Winter home and buy a house together. That would be nice.

Some other happens of late:

*We took a trip to Michigan to visit Tim's extended family and two of my besties, Rachel & Shannon.

*We also took a trip to Tim's hometown. The birthplace of Winona Ryder and the Seltzs'.

*My cousin Erin was visiting from Germany with her sweet baby Una. Check out some pictures here. My other cousin Kelly and her husband head to Thailand for two weeks tomorrow for a little R&R. Lucky them!

*Planning the Thanksgiving menu. I have offered to host Thanksgiving this year. With a brand new spectacular EASY turkey recipe! Simple Simple Simple.

*Hawaiian Honeymoon! Yes, we booked our tickets for our glorious honeymoon. We'll be leaving December 27th for 1 week of fun and sun on the Big Island. My mermaid baby and I will be snorkeling for hours, floating around and having peace and quiet. My hubby wants to try his hand at deep sea fishing. We'll also be going to a New Year's Eve Luau. Yippy!

Decorators Delight

Now that the word is out about the upcoming baby I can chat more freely about the questions that keep me up at night. One of them being, How do I decorate a baby's room for a baby when we aren't going to find out the sex? Actually that doesn't keep me up at night, but it's something I think about. I mean really let's be honest, we aren't really decorating for the baby, it's more for our own aesthetics and tastes. The room doesn't need to be neutral does it? How about lots of color & fun prints? I recently purchased my first baby room item, this print of You Are My Sunshine by thewheatfield on etsy. I love the colors and notice the little giraffes, my favorite animal.

thewheatfield on etsy

I just want my baby to be surrounded by color, cheerful brightness from the start. This is another room that I am drawn too. I think you could tone it down so it isn't so pinky for a girl, and add some fabrics that might be considered more neutral?

(Oh Dee Doh)

There are a lot of options and a lot of winter DIY projects that lie ahead of me. And I'm excited!!!

Spilling the Beans...

I haven't blogged in awhile. My cousin Kelly says I don't have a boring life, and that I should blog. Well I feel pretty boring lately, lying on the couch, feeling sick, exhausted... all those symptoms you might have when you are expecting! Yes it's true... Baby S+T is on the way!!!
I still find it hard to believe that I am preggers! It happened a bit sooner than expected, but we are thrilled nonetheless. I am almost in my 2nd trimester and finally feeling better. I was nauseous from week 6 on and now I'm started to get back to normal. So that is my big news, that is why I have been MIA. We aren't finding out the sex, but today I am feeling like it's going to be a girl. Maybe tomorrow I'll feel differently? I'm just excited to meet my little peanut! (sometime around May 11th!)
:)

Cruising...

Tuesday evening, my folks, brother & hubby headed out on the great Lake Minnetonka for a boat cruise. The weather was gorgeous, the company was sweet. My parents pointed out hot spots, their favorite memories of growing up on the lake, and all the happy times they had with friends and family. My mom pointed out her house, my dad pointed out his old house. I have vague memories of my grandparent's house. They moved not long after I was about 3 or 4. My dad said his dad, loved that house, and when he retired the taxes started to skyrocket and they could no longer to afford to live there. That made me sad.

But I loved hearing all my dad's hoodlum stories of the lake, him and his friends caused some ruckus!

On the boat, we ate pizza, chatted and danced. Of course we were the only ones, but we always march to a different beat anyway.

Jimmy Fallon & Justin Timberlake

Glee!

I REALLY like the show Glee! Love the singing & dancing. The story lines often annoy me, unless it's Sue Sylvester and she just cracks me up. I find the best songs are the ones by the less popular characters. Like this Artie flash mob mall scene! It's my favorite! Right next to Britany S. Pears doing Britney Spears! WHOO WHEE!

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday Kelly!

Home Stuff

The Kitchen is Painted! The U.G.L.Y. wallpaper boarder is finally down! 2 years, 1 marriage & a husband later the kitchen is getting a make-over. So far we have new counter tops, sink & faucet, stove & refrigerator. This week we will put up a back splash, hang some shelves & decide what we are going to do with the cabinets. I love the idea of open shelving, but I've heard it's hard to keep the dishes clean from dust and grime. But maybe some pretty glass door on the cabinets would look nice? Maybe a combo? The kitchen is so tiny, so we really can only do so much to it. But anything is better than what it was!

We spent a good portion of Sunday in Ikea. That place sucks you in and dulls your budget senses. We went to get some dvd storage shelves and ended up with a entertainment center, dvd shelves, desk, chair & vase. But as we were going to check out I realized that we really didn't need all this stuff, so we left. This was over heard prior to check out:

Me: You know what, we really don't need this stuff.
T: None of it?
Me: Not right now, the living room is fine as it is.
T: Okay, let's go.
Me: Let's go hide our carts!
T: We'll just move it over here around these bins
Me: (loudly) We'll just leave it here and come back after we use the BATHROOM.
T: Why did you say that? We aren't coming back.
Me: Well they don't know that!
T: sigh

Tonight I am starting 5 nights of pre-planned dinners. I am so tired of not knowing what to make. So I made a menu and went shopping.
P.S. Trader Joe's has really cool pumpkins right now.

Monday: Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs, Salad & Crusty Garlic Bread
Tuesday: Quinoa with Spicy Chicken Sausage, Acorn Squash
Wednesday: Tortellini & Gnocchi with Mozzarella Chicken, Green Beans
Thursday: Chicken Tortilla Soup w\ Blackbeans, Bread & Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Friday: Flatbread Pizza & Salad

My other goal is to get the Halloween\Autumn decorations out this week!
Yippy!

TWD - Cranberry Upside-Downer

I am so excited to be the one to have picked this recipe for the week! I started baking with Tuesdays with Dorie two years ago around this time. At that time, it looked like it might be around 4 years before i picked a recipe. So to find out that it was my turn, I was ecstatic! I've had so much fun baking with all the great people who participate with TWD and have enjoyed making blogging buddies all over the country... and world!

This weeks recipe was actually partially picked by my Hubby. There are not that many recipes left! Can you believe that soon we will have made EVERYTHING in the book? But the Cranberry Upside-Downer was an easy pick, especially for this time of year.

I was able to find frozen cranberries, although I almost couldn't find them and almost went with cherries. This one was very easy to make, the only thing i worried about was flipping the cake. But alas everything turned out beautifully!! I love the color, the scent and look of this cake once flipped. We didn't' wait to long and the Hubby and I were eating it up! This was a winner!!!

I hope you all enjoyed making this one as much as I did!!

Cranberry Upside-Downer

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup minus 2 TBSP sugar
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans…I used walnuts
2 cups cranberries-fresh or frozen(if frozen, do not thaw)I used fresh
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 whole milk
1/3 cup red currant jelly, for glazing the cake
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Put a 8X2 inch round cake pan on a baking sheet.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
Melt 6 TBSP of the butter in a small saucepan. Sprinkle in 6 TBSP of the sugar and cook, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil. Pour this evenly over the bottom of the cake pan, then scatter over the nuts and top with the cranberries, smoothing the layer and pressing it down gently with your fingertips. Set aside.
Working with a stand mixer, preferabley fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the remaining stick of butter on medium speed until smooth. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and continue to beat until pale and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Pour in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add half of the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the batter. Mix in the milk, then the rest of the dry ingredients. Spoon the batter over the cranberries and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the cake is golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove it from the oven and run a blunt knife between the sides of the pan and the cake. Carefully turn the cake out onto a serving platter. If any of the berries stick to the pan-as they might-just scrape them off with a table knife and return them to the cake.
Warm the jelly in a small saucepan over low heat, or do this in a microwave oven. Gently brush the glaze over the hot cake.

Go Make This!

(Food & Wine)

We made a ton of corn on the cob today and had a few ears left over. The funny thing about corn on the cob in our house is Hubby doesn't like to eat it off the cob. Maybe I'm enabling him, or maybe it's love? Either way I found this handy dandy corn cutter from Pampered Chef and VIOLA! we both can enjoy our corn now.


Now back to the left over ears of corn. I was paging through the September issue of Food & Wine and saw this terrific recipe of Raw Corn & Radish Salad with Spicy Lime Dressing. I had to make it! The only thing I didn't have on had was radishes. One bite and i was hooked. It took me about 10 minutes to make it and seconds to devour it. If you have left over corn... this is the way to get rid of it! Check out the recipe HERE.

TWD ~ Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

As I type this I don't think there are any cookies left because we might have eaten them all. These were a very simple and easy recipe to make. I didn't use bittersweet chocolate, but substituted that for Heath Chocolate pieces. It was so simple to roll these out while in a gallon zip lock bag. It kept everything nice and in place. I almost didn't refrigerate them, but I'm glad I did because these will definitely crumble on you if you don't. We tried them warm from the oven and thought they were pretty darn good.

To Market To Market

Almost every Saturday I head over to the local farmer's market. Some days I go for zucchini, some days, like the day before my wedding, I go for the flowers. This weekend i went to get all the ingredients i needed to make fresh salsa! Fiesta! I picked up tomatoes, onions, peppers and cilantro. Plus some freshly made cookies, hot pickled green beans and flowers.

I made two different salsas and some guacamole. All fresh from local farmers. mmmmm

TWD ~ Crunchy & Custardy Peach Tart

Whoo Whee! This was a fun one to make! I had my new assistant helping me out. A.K.A. Husband Extraordinaire. His job was to make the streusel and the cream. Ladies & Gentlemen I think we have ourselves a chef. We had fun make the "spokes" on the pie. I would typically put the peach slices haphazardly all over the pie. Where my mathematician hubby insisted that the peaches should go in a symmetrical form... he was right! It looked way prettier. I usually make substitutions when I bake, but this tart was very strait forward. I had made the sweet dough many times when I made Dorie's French Pear Tart. So i could practically make that one in my sleep. Everything went really well with the tart, but I put the streusel on too soon. So I covered it with tin foil and then took it off after 20 minutes, and then baked it for another 20 minutes.

Every time I peered into the oven I would see it bubbling and crisping and I couldn't wait to take a bite.

Dorie said that you could serve it warm or serve it cold, and since we couldn't wait, we tried it warm. I was a bit sceptical because i don't like cream based tarts, but this one was delicious! A new favorite at our home!

TWD ~ Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

Hello! I'm baking again! It's been awhile because I've been a bit busy planning... a Wedding! Last Sunday I got married (see previous post). So I have put Tuesdays with Dorie on the back burner. But I am officially back and ready to bake. My hubby is pretty happy about that too.

This week's recipe is Oatmeal Breakfast Bread. Not sure why the recipe signals out the oatmeal, when I think the star of the show is the dried fruit. (I just used dried apples, someone who I love very much detests raisins). I also left the walnuts off the topping too. So really this was more like an apple cinnamon breakfast bread. Either way the whole house smells delicious!

I took it out of the oven when the bread turned a golden brown. Dorie says you should wait until the bread is room temperature to cut it and eat it. But we couldn't wait! Complete success... it might now even make it to breakfast!

8\8\10

The wedding day is here and gone. It's hard to believe that all that time and work and now it's just a memory. The wedding weekend was a blur, but it was also so much fun. I had all my favorite people by my side. We jammed packed a lot of events in 3 days, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Friday night was a night out for my bachelorette. Let me tell you that having a bachelorette two days before your wedding is crazy! You want to have a lot of fun, but all you can think about is what needs to get done. Nonetheless, I really had a wonderful time with all my favorite ladies! Saturday was a day of picking out flowers at the Farmer's Market, Pedicures with my girls and a really wonderful rehearsal dinner in my backyard. I had so much fun just hanging out and chatting with all the people we love so much. We had the food catered by Famous Dave's and I think people all had fun munchin' on the corn bread!

And that brings us to the wedding day. HOTTEST DAY IN ALMOST 100 YEARS!! I am not even kidding, nope, not even a little. It was painfully hot, humid and sticky. Let me tell you that it is really hard to feel beautiful on your wedding day with sweat dripping down your face. ick. BUT... everything else about the day was beautiful and wonderful! There were no major complications, everything looked beautiful and the ceremony was amazing!
Tim and I did our own vows, along with friends reading poems, prayers and singing.
I could barely get through my vows... it was so hard to fight back the tears. I think i loved the ceremony best out of all the events. Our location was on a park reserve with a barn pavilion for the reception. The sky was bright and the lake and greenery were spectacular. At the reception we went all out with a photo booth, candy buffet, dessert bar, dance and fun picnic-type food. We all sweated happily together and it seemed like, despite the heat, everyone was having a great time!
It all went by so fast! Everyone says that, but it really did! I could hardly catch my breath, no time to sit, just moving around, greeting friends and loved ones and SWEATING!
But who cares about a little (ok a lot) of sweat when I got to marry the most wonderful man in the world! I am so happy to spend my days on this earth with someone that makes life so much sweeter!
Here are a few pics of our wedding day...
Enjoy!

my cutie pie brother Buddy

Rev. Kyle & Tim


the happy couple

our cake, that we forgot to cut... and eat!

S+T Forever!

dessert table

cousin of honor kelly giving a toast... beautiful!

my handsome hubby!

ceremony site

we do!

converse all stars

lovely ellen reading The Prayer of St. Francis

my most gorgeous and fabulous bridesmaids, kelly, shannon & rachel

"s"

farmers market flowers

at my parent's house

hair flower change mid reception

I Do!