Signs of Fall

In case winter comes out of no where and we don't get another fall weekend (Mike has been teasing me that winter is coming "next week" for the past two months) I need to document that this weekend was the perfect fall weekend! Goodness the weather was just beautiful!!!

-Farmer's market with Mike and dog, followed by the local art show

-Saturday afternoon at the dog park made complete with starbucks pumkin spiced latte

-Air off, windows open

-Lazy afternoon watching college football

-Grilling out + pumpkin beer

-Getting to wear hoodies for the first time Sunday morning

-Hilarious times at the pet store trying on halloween costumes

-Painting my nails while watching the NFL as Mike and the dog nap on the couch!

-Fall candles. These are two new favorites: cinnamon sugared donut and cider lane. (Leaves is my all time favorite!) The donut one brings back memories of the baked goods at the pumpkin patch! Yummy!

Hope you had a great weekend!

New recipes

This is very over do! I've done some cooking here and there with mostly new recipes and wanted to share my thoughts! (All pictures are from the original recipe websites linked below)

A month or so ago I tried a new crock pot recipe from my Southern Living crock pot book - Sweet Glazed Chicken. Honestly it was pretty average and I likely wouldn't make again, although that could be because I served it with rice and I don't so much love rice... Neither Mike nor I are fans of sweet sauce on meat (unless it's bbq!) but for some reason it just sounded good to me. Ah well, it was a home cooked meal! Live and learn. It was super easy and quick to prepare though so if you're into sweet chicken check it out!

I also made pesto for the first time from this recipe and used it in this pasta recipe. I used bow tie pasta instead of penne and added rotisserie chicken. Mike gave his approval and we will be having it again! Hooray for a great use of my basil plant and left over rotisserie chicken!

I don't know about you but I'm hearing a lot of buzz about quinoa so we gave it a try in this recipe. I liked the quinoa, but the rest of the "salad" was just ok. Something about the bbq sauce turned my stomach. I will definitely make quinoa again and will use the same cooking method, cooking it in chicken broth! Yum!

This recipe (sorry no picture) was an interesting variation on chicken marsala. Mike really liked it - and I like that it is another use for marsala, although truthfully I prefer this traditional recipe.

Tonight I made this avacado and corn salad and it was soo yummy!! Since it was just for the two of us, I used 2 single serve bags of frozen steam fresh corn instead of grilling corn on the cob, just 1 avocado, and a handful of cherry tomatoes until it looked about even. I also omitted the cucumber and only made half of the dressing. Very good and very easy - especially since I used frozen corn (I did cook it). I think it would probably be tasty with out the dressing and just some fresh cilantro.

Last night I made this lasagna recipe. This is another keeper - I love tomato and basil in the summer! An advantage of being unemployed is I have time to cook things like this! It really did take a long time to prepare which was kinda fun for the first time, but next time I'll make a few changes! The white garlic sauce really is great and the thing that made me most proud - I created "home made" sauce! And it was good! Unfortunately the lasagna came out kinda soupy and did not serve well at all. Not sure if I should have let it sit longer? Next time I will use penne pasta or something similar instead of lasagna and toss everything together to save on time! I might even use cherry tomatoes too. Quick note - I used mild turkey sausage instead of hot since Mike is sensitive to spice - still very good. I highly recommend you give this recipe a try!

Alright! Hopefully I'll do better about posting new recipes so it's not so jumbled and all over the place! Have a good evening!!

Visit from Mother in law!

Things have been busy here in Iowa-land! We had a wonderful visit with Mike's mom, celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary, and we got a new puppy!! Too much fun to handle really! I'm tired. :)

I tried to be realllly good about taking pictures while the mother in law was here! Here is a glimpse at some of our fun! Check back later for new recipes I've tried and puppy pictures!

 Friday night - after a yummy dinner in The Village we took a quick walk to a park 

 Saturday morning Farmer's Market! 

 This was my first time going - I was very impressed!

 My new fair trade market basket made in village co-ops in Ghana - proceeds help to provide healthcare and school supplies!

 We went to an art show Saturday and Sunday! It was near the Figge Art Museum

 Sunday (Mother's Day) lunch @ the Bier Stube in Moline, IL

 :)

 time at Vander Veer Park - my current favorite park!

 Rose Garden

Mother and Son

 Monday - Credit Island Park

 Whatever the yellow stuff is I thought it was pretty! Even if it's weeds!

 Centennial Park

 after the parks we had lunch and ice cream at Lagomarcino's - great ice cream!

 Monday night dinner @ Thunder Bay

Tuesday after looking at consignment stores we went to The Stand for lunch

stereotypical Iowa, right? :)

Recipe Update

The other day I posted 4 new recipes I was going to try this week. I really enjoyed the onion burgers and will definitely be making them again. I mentioned a few things I'd try differently next time here.

The bbq chicken was.. ok. Nothing amazing and not terrible either! We ended up shredding it and making sandwiches out of it and I'm still working on leftovers for lunch! I do love a recipe that we can eat on for a couple of days - it's just hard not getting sick of it! Last year I made a shredded chicken recipe that had ginger ale and I think I preferred those. Regardless, a good reminder that bbq chicken/ pork is easy to do in the crockpot and will be in regular rotation at our house!

The korean beef tacos were pretty good! Not loving Mexican food I never make tacos so it was fun to have tacos with a different flavor profile! You really could get a Korean feel from the flavor! A little spicy, a little sweet! As with most crock pot meals it made a ton. I tried to pawn some off on my neighbors but they weren't interested! Mom suggested I freeze some so that's what I did! We'll see how it tastes in a couple of weeks to a month!

Last night I made the chicken marsala recipe. At a restaurant chicken marsala used to always be my go to! Sometimes it still is - I love the sweet wine sauce and sauteed mushrooms! This was the first time I've ever made marsala! It was actually really tasty and pretty easy! I chopped all the mushrooms about an hour before Mike came home and combined the chicken stock with the marsala and sherry in a small bowl so I could just dump that in! The recipe is not super duper healthy since you fry the chicken in oil.. but it was yummy and Mike said "Oh! This is really good!" - I love hearing that! The only change would be to try to thicken the sauce next time. This recipe is a keeper!!

It has been great having a plan and everything on hand. I like it! Today Mike's mom comes to visit! We are both so excited to have our second visitor! Mike has his 7 days off from work Friday-Friday so it will be nice to just spend time together and show her around the QC area! I picked out a new pork chop recipe and also plan to have Mike grill ranch burgers! Otherwise we'll likely go out to eat so we can show her a few of our favorite spots!!

Happy weekend!

Thoughts on Deployment

Before Mike got back from deployment I had intended to blog about my thoughts and experiences. It was important to me to document the year and share pictures to prove to myself that the year was not just "lost". Once he came home it seemed like the year was a blur because I could so easily remember the year before when he was home and what we had done that past fall. In some ways it almost felt like he was never gone.

What a really strange feeling. This made me want to do this post even more to really pay tribute to those experiences that filled the year of deployment and recognize those people that were around and helped me get through. As one can expect after a 1 yr + of separation, time past and reconnecting and spending time together was the priority and I didn't make the time to think through the deployment and post those pictures. 

Now I find myself with time and before I'm back to being a working lady I want to take that time. From October 2010 to October 2011, my year in pictures:

1. Oct. 8, 2010 - the day Mike left for Texas and official start of deployment

2. Oct. 8, 2010  - goodbye kiss. talk about heartbreaking. I can put myself there so quickly and it's just a sad, lonely, heartbreaking feeling.

3. Oct. 16, 2010 - bridal shower for Jenna, spouse of Mike's best friend Drew

4. Oct. 30, 2010 - with the in laws at Drew and Jenna's wedding. I remember this being very hard for a number of reasons. It was the first wedding since our own and the first "couple" type event I had to go to solo, it was the wedding of Mike's best friend and Mike wasn't there to celebrate, and it was so close to when Mike had left! Felt weird not to be together.

5. Nov. 27, 2010 - after Thanksgiving break, back at the airport for another goodbye. Walking back to the car alone that afternoon was an experience.

6. Dec. 4, 2010 - my brother (left) played at local bar and rocked it! Proud sister moment!

7. Dec. 22, 2010 - reunion for Christmas break

8. Dec. 26, 2010 - last day of Christmas break, before heading to the airport. The last time I saw him before he actually went to Iraq. This was a scary goodbye.

February was a busy month! It was so wonderful to get to see roommates and sorority sisters from undergrad!

9. Feb. 11, 2011 - UE roommate reunion in Chicago

10. Feb. 11, 2011 - fun at the bean in Chicago with "the roomies"

11. Feb. 14, 2011 - Valentine's card from Mike - Mike was really great about sending flowers, cards and gifts during the deployment. Such a sweet guy!

12. Feb. 18, 2011 - Shanelle's bachelorette party in Florida

13. Feb. 26, 2011 - painting at Cheers to Art with Enny

14. March 5, 2011 - make your own sushi cooking class with my army wife friend Melissa - a gift from our husbands (they deployed together)

15. March 17, 2011 - St Patrick's day with Enny! 

16. March 28, 2011 - celebrating Enny's bday @ Steak & Shake

17. April 9, 2011 - Shanelle's wedding - weddings are hard when your loved one is far, far away (and in danger!). I remember getting emotional during the dancing part of the wedding and missing my favorite dancing partner. 

18. April 23, 2011 - Dying Easter eggs with Enny and Mevy

19. April 23, 2011 - Easter Egg fun! Spent the night and enjoyed fun girl time with Enny and Mevy

20. May 14, 2011 - Girls trip to Chicago! Mom and I met up with Annette and her mom! A perfect distraction around Mike and my 1st wedding anniversary!

21. May 30, 2011 - Iraq Pack parade on Memorial Day

22. May 30, 2011 - big beers with father in law after the parade

23. June 4, 2011 - Andrea's (sorority sister) wedding - fun to see sisters that I hadn't seen since graduation!

24. June 11, 2011 - In the stands with Mevy and Enny at my brother's graduation

25. July 2, 2011 - with Melissa @ Red, White, & Bluegrass- fundraiser to support Iraq Pack. So thankful that we became close friends! A huge blessing!

26. July 22, 2011 - during Mike's R&R - family dinner out @ Sammy's

27. July 25, 2011 - back at the airport at end of R&R - last goodbye before he came home for good!

28. Aug. 18, 2011 - Cheers to Art with mom!

29. Sept. 16, 2011 - Nancy's wedding weekend - thanks to lively groomsmen and friends I danced the night away and didn't feel so lonely! I also shared a hotel room with Shanelle and her husband. It was great spending that time with them!

30. Sept. 17, 2011 - Phi Mus during wedding BBQ

31. Oct. 9, 2011 - he's home! for good!!

32. Oct. 9, 2011 - so happy to be together again!!

Wow! I really did a lot! And there are so many other things that didn't get documented by photo. Many dinners with family, sushi dates with Melissa, bonding with the brother and sister in law - basically a year of good times spent with family and friends. Can you believe he has been home 7 months? I can't! That's amazing to me.

While the majority of our first year of marriage was apart, that year of marriage is and will always be our first year of marriage. We had different experiences than typical couples and had the opportunity to work on aspects of ourselves and our relationship that would not have presented themselves this early on had it not been for the deployment. So many opportunities to learn and grow.

Would I do it over again? That's not a reasonable question! Neither of us wanted this to happen, and if another deployment was avoidable we both would be very happy! I would certainly marry Mike all over again - he's completely worth going through mess so that we can be together. I pray that we do not have to experience another deployment during the remainder of his commitment to the Army, but only time will tell. What I do know is that I can, and we can survive.

 Thank you for your support.

LeClaire, IA

Yesterday Mike and I went to historic LeClaire, IA - finally! The weather was perfect and it was a great time walking around and going in and out of shops! We didn't buy anything but easily could have - especially at this store! 

 Cinco de Mayo fun!

We didn't see the folks from American Pickers, but it was so neat to see the store!! Looking forward to visiting again soon!

Thoughts on Bikram Yoga

Just finished this book. I highly recommend it if you currently do Bikram yoga or are interested / intrigued! It's a great read! Not only is there an entire section devoted to describing each posture with hints or "Bikram's Key" and the benefits of each posture but Bikram also answers some FAQ such as why his classes are so hot! 

It's amazing to see how a pose, such as "Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose", can help relieve pain from sciatica as well as massaging the internal abdominal organs and small and large intestines giving added flexibility in the pelvis, ankles, hip joints and the last 5 vertebrae of the spine (p 137). I love knowing that each posture was selected for a reason. As Bikram says he took "these specific 26 postures to systematically work every part of the body, to give all the internal organs, all the veins, all the ligaments, and all the muscles everything they need to maintain optimum health and maximum function." (p 72)

Some favorite quotes / takeaways:

• "It's never too late, it's never too bad, and you're never too old or too sick to start from scratch once again." (p 13)
• "The way to learn is to do." (p 15)
• "Let me encourage you the way I encourage all my students. Can't do a particular yoga posture today? If you persist in trying the right way, a day will come when you can. Don't cheat or change the posture to conform to your individual weaknesses. If you do, the real benefit goes out the window. Would you rather suffer for 90 minutes or 90 years? The right way is the hard way, and it's up to you to make it work." (p 67)
• "Let's say there's a special room in your house just for meditation. Everything about it is conducive to peaceful contemplation, and you can walk in, lock the door, take the phone off the hook and be completely undisturbed anytime you want. You sit down on your favorite soft meditation pillow, light your favorite incense, play your favorite relaxing music, and begin your meditation. Great. Enjoy. You know what you're going to get from this kind of meditation? A fat ass and a lazy body." (p 75)
• This was in reference to Bikram's 90 minute yoga being a meditation and the importance of finding peace under any condition - not just the calm room. Throughout the book Bikram describes himself as giving tough love! He's also very comical as see in the previous quote!
• "Another overall way yoga heals is by serving as a diagnostic tool. Your inability to hold a posture correctly can often tell you which parts of your body are weak or not functioning well. Like a good mechanic, you'll be running a diagnostic checkup on yourself, locating imbalances to be worked on and organs or other systems in need of repair." (p. 79)

Want to learn more? Go this this website.