Turning the blog page

It's time to literally turn the page from the Creating Musing Gabble blog to The Hoag Life blog. Same stuff, just a new url! Oh, and a second author - my wonderful hubby Matt.

We decided to retire our individual blogs that we barely keep active and start a joint blog that we hope to post to more regularly. When I started CMG in January 2008 I had just met Matt but didn't know that'd I'd be taking his last name, making CMG outdated. I considered changing this to Creating Musing Hoagwash, which is clever but really, I don't want to compare my blogs to hogwash. They may not be award-winning posts, but that doesn't make them hogwash! 

So hop on over and check out the new digs. Become a "follower" to the new blog and see what kind of musing gabble we come up with!

Eating Old Cake

Old cake? Huh?

There's only one good reason to eat year-old cake, that's right folks, it's our one-year anniversary! I can hardly believe it myself, time flew. Is it just me or does time seem to pass faster and faster as we get older, and the happier we are?

A lot has happened for Matt and I during our first year of marriage. Matt flew around the country interviewing for jobs. Matt landed a sweet gig at California State University, Sacramento. We tried to smoke a turkey for Thanksgiving and learned that we stink at smoking turkeys. We got our very first Christmas tree together. We flew to San Diego to celebrate New Year's and a wonderful friend's wedding. We learned to use a crock pot. We got our sweet puppy, Bounce--the cutest Wheaten Terrier you've ever seen. We snuck away to Asheville. We celebrated my grandparents 69th wedding anniversary and Pappy's 90th birthday in Pennsylvania. Matt successfully defending his dissertation, making us Dr. and Mrs. Hoag! Tried to sell a house (without luck but it's now rented thankfully). I quit my job. I un-quit my job and agreed to telecommute. We went to the Dominican Republic (the DR to celebrate DR Hoag)! Drove 2,500+ miles, through 10 states to move to California's capitol. Moved into a new rental house in Sacramento that we'd never seen in person until we got there. We left Bounce with Grandma Hoag to gallivant around San Fran (rather, I gallivanted, Matt attending an uber-exciting accounting conference). I got a new job--the only one I had my eyes on! I quit my old job, again. Matt started his new job as Professor Hoag! We hosted our wonderful friends Brian and Jen in our nearly empty house before they took off to live in Brussels for 3 years. I got to stand beside one of my BFFs at her wedding in Seattle. We became kick ball players (we need lots of practice). We attended my 10-year high school reunion. We went to Vegas and saw one of the best concerts we've ever seen--we love you Garth Brooks!

I'm sure I've left many things out, but you get the idea. We were BUSY. And really, our lives became a little insane as soon as Matt defended. Before that we had a crazy puppy but we pretty much stayed low key. Probably because Matt had a huge feat in front of him. And that really was a big part of our year. I'm so proud of him for all the hard work he put in and the diligence it took to finish the PhD program. He had countless late nights, many all-nighters and a few cranky moments (can you blame him?), but he did it. Amazes me! It wasn't easy on either of us, but it got us to where we are today. And today we couldn't be happier!

Sacramento is suiting both of us very well. We both enjoy our new jobs. We're getting used to the weather, with very little complaints. We absolutely love being closer to our family and friends in the PNW. It overjoys us to be able to see the people we love more often. But as lovely as our new life is, it too isn't easy. We haven't found our routine just yet and are still working on making our house a home. It's just been too crazy for any of that practical stuff! We have the month of November reserved for that!

So off we go this weekend to Napa, California to celebrate our first year of marriage. Bounce is joining us for the fun, after all, he is part of our little family. We'll be toasting all of our blessings and I'll be telling Matt over and over again how very blessed I am to have him as my husband. Seriously - how did I get so lucky!?

As yes, we really are going to eat our cake topper! Thanks to Mike and Mary who took it home after the wedding, froze it and let it occupy precious freezer space for an entire year. And then mailed it to us overnight* so we can enjoy it on time. Thank you thank you! We'll let you know how it tastes!
*Matt gets the credit for the mailing, he facilitated the whole thing to surprise me. Too bad for him, I'm curious and don't let surprises get past me! Surprise or not, I'm sooo excited we get to take part in this tradition, as silly as it is.

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Motivation needed! (part one)

Matt and I consciously gave up on eating right and working out as of July 1. We left for vacation that day and when we returned it was a whirlwind of packing, driving across country, unpacking and trying to settle in. Did you read between the lines there? That means we ate out a lot, including fast food, considered activities such as unpacking our exercise and called it good. It’s not that we have been entirely lazy since we got to Sacramento. Bounce still gets daily walks, ideally two per day. We bought bikes and have broken them in around town. Heck, we even ran around Greenlake when we went to Seattle for my friend Kristen’s wedding.

But I think it’s time to get serious. We have already started down the path of eating better. Proof? Last night’s dinner was grilled tofu, zucchini and green peppers in flat bread. Not Matt’s favorite meal but he didn’t complain either. He just requested that next time we have flat bread that we also include chicken, bacon and ranch!

Now to focus on the exercise side of things… I keep making excuses. Want to hear a few?

• It’s too hot outside.
• My wrist hurts.
• Bounce wants us to stay home and keep him company.
• I don’t want to have to shower and do my hair afterwards.
• My knee/hamstring hurts.
• If we work out now, when will we eat?

In response you might say:

• Do a video inside? How about The Shred or Jackie Warner?
• Since when did jogging involve wrists? Hit the pavement!
• Bring Bounce along, he loves a good walk or run.
• Shower and put your hair in a pony…that’s what long hair is for, right?
• Exercise will actually help your knee/hamstring, just ease into it.
• Eat later. You can always eat later.

See? I know my excuses aren’t good enough. So help me find the motivation? What gets you moving? Any new exercises or activities that put an extra ooomph in your fitness regimen?

A worthy cause

On October 23, 2010 I will be participating in a Vision Walk in Portland to help The Foundation Fighting Blindness to raise money and support to find a cure. This cause is very important to my family as Mary, Matt & James are all affected by Retinitis Pigmentosa. You can read more about the eye disease here and/or here.

We would love for you to support the cause by joining in the walk and/or donating to the cause. My goal is to raise $250 to help find a cure. Visit my participant page to join our team and/or make a donation. Every little bit helps!

Thanks in advance for your support. I appreciate it!

Home Sweet Home in Sacramento

Here's a quick video tour* of our rental house in Sacramento. It's in an area called East Sacramento, nestled between Sac State (Matt's work) and downtown. We signed the lease without ever seeing the place but our friends, The Bibbens, went and checked it out for us and confidently recommended the place. From what we have seen so far we are very happy with our choice!



We are slowly unpacking, organizing and decorating our humble abode. I might post some pics or a video once it is all done. Or better yet, come visit us and see it in person!

*Sorry if this video makes you nautious...my videographer skills need some fine tuning!

Catching you up! It's been awhile.

Gosh you guys. I almost forgot that I have a blog it’s been so long since I’ve posted anything. I hope you didn’t forget that it exists! There are a lots of updates from the Hoag household. Turns out that life can get in the way of blogging sometimes. I have so many things I could write about that I don’t even know where to start. So I’ll boil it down to five things you should know:

1. Turns out that my husband is more than just a cute piece of eye candy! Matt successfully defended is more than 100 page dissertation this week. You can officially call him Dr. Hoag! He has worked so hard on this, it has been a really tough semester for Matt with many long hours and a few all-nighters worked in. To say I am proud is a understatement.

2. Today I sent my boss my official resignation letter. That’s right…two weeks from today is my official last day at Edison. I’m definitely excited to see where my career goes next and will start my full on job search when we arrive in Sacramento next month. Yay!

3.Yep, you read that right. We move NEXT month. Kind of hard to believe it’s already that time. Our departure date is July 16 and arrival date is July 23. The details of that trip deserve their own blog post so stay tuned!

4. Our townhouse is on the market right now. We could use all of the well wishes and prayers we can get. It’s been for sale since mid-March and we haven’t had a single showing. This process is much more frustrating and wearing that Matt and I ever expected. It’s not rocket science to know that selling a house is tough right now, but just how tough, I had no idea! We took the advice of my good friend, Brenna, and bought a St. Joseph the Worker statue and we pray to him to help us find the perfect person to buy our quaint little home.

5. So now you know my last day of work is July 1 and our departure date is July 16. Wondering what we are doing in between? Going here for one week:

(more on our trip plans later)

And then spending one week putting all of our belongings in these:

Phew! See why we have been busy? And I didn't even touch on everything going on. We are fortunate and can't complain about any of it because it is all good news and all very exciting! I'll try to post some more before we go on vacation July 1 so check back.

Oh and don't forget... I love comments! ♥ ♥ ♥

Bounce Man Meet the Bounce Man

It's no secret. Matt loves to sing. Karaoke? He's all over that! So it shouldn't surprise anyone that he sings around the house all the time. The latest trend is to sing Bounce themed songs. Probably not a surpise either since we are pretty Bounce-centric these days. The following song is the our favorite. We have many variations depending on the day. Tonight's version features a very worn out Bounce. He was busy spazzing around the house minutes prior.

So without further ado, Meet the Bounce Man!

Gish Hoag Wedding Na Na Na Na Oops

I've teased you...but I still haven't delivered our Gish Hoag wedding video. Mostly because I've been lazy and it is on Matt's computer that he has been busy dissertating on (he sent it to his committee today - yay! - tell him congrats when you get a chance! only one big hurdle left to go: the defense). Hopefully I upload the full video soon so I can share it.

I uploaded some of the raw video to this computer today and decided I really had to share an outake. There are many many outakes so it was hard to choose one but this is one of my favorites. Matt does stuff like this all the time, it's one of the many reasons I love him. He just cracks me up left and right. I hope you get a snicker or two as well!

This was taped after probably an hour of rapping to Ice Ice Baby. I really don't think I have ever laughed as much as we did trying to get a few good takes of our rap. Contrary to common belief, Matt and I are not born to be rap stars!

Marley & Me & Bounce

Are you familiar with Marley and Me? Surely you’ve heard of the movie and maybe even seen it. Good flick! Even better book! So good that when I read it I was so into it that I cried several times. I was sitting on the couch with tears literally running down my face as I read. Matt looked at me like I was a little crazy and was probably a little concerned that I was crying so hard about a book. Well guess what? He was intrigued enough to read it too and he didn’t escape without getting tears in his eyes too. (Shhh. Don’t tell him I outed him about crying.) I can’t imagine how much I would cry if I was reading it for the first time now that we have lil’ Bounce in our lives.

Well we watched the movie again the other day. And Bounce snuggled up with us and really enjoyed it. He was literally watching TV with us. We've deemed it his favorite movie. In fact, I packed up all our DVDs already but left Marley and Me out just incase Bounce wants to watch it. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm a tad crazy!

(Excuse the poor picture quality...I took this with my cell phone so I didn't have to get up and get a camera. Also excuse all the clutter on top of the TV...don't worry that's gone now that we sold the TV and have the house for sale)

The Marley and Me story is one that many of us pet owners can relate to. I periodically think about the book/movie and how Bounce will be with Matt and I through so many life experiences. For one, he’s about to embark on a cross country move and discover a new city with us! I for one think he is going to LOVE Sacramento and the West Coast in general for that matter. Hopefully Bounce will be with us as we have kids, just like Marley did. Matt and I were laughing the other day about the movie and how they leave Marley with a GIANT bone while they are at the hospital giving birth to their first child. We might have to do that very thing with Bounce!

Ahhhh. Such a good book!

(sorry – this blog has been taken over by Bounce…a sign that I’m a proud dog owner and am totally in love with the lil’ guy!)

Coffee on ice - mmmmmm!

The weather is nice so that means I'm craving my coffee on ice. I decided to try a "cold brew" batch of coffee and was pleasantly surprised. Pretty simple process and delicious!

• In a French Press combine cold water with coffee grounds and stir until all grounds are wet. I used about 1/2 cup ground coffee with two cups water.
  
• Let sit over night.
  
• Add more cold water. I added about a cup and a half.
  
• Strain using your french press.
  
• Pour over ice with your desired sugar, milk or creamer. I used white chocolate mocha creamer but plan to try out caramel syrup and soy milk tomorrow!

That's it! Easy, right? A perfect drink for summer!

Dog Day at the Park

The weather was beautiful and Bounce was full of energy so I grabbed the camera and we made a quick trip to the park. Here's the picture overview:

I love this action shot. He was spazzing around in circles and occasionally stopped to grab some grass to eat (you can see a leave in his mouth that he is saving for later).

And I love this picture even more. He looks like a perfect lil' puppy.

Bounce the color-changing dog

Bounce is growing and changing so quickly. He's starting to get more and more of the Wheaten color. Look at how much lighter his hair is in the second picture compared to the first!

Bounce, age 7 weeks:


Bounce, age 3 months:
He's even lighter today than he is in this picture! What a stinkin' cutie! (says the proud dog owner!)

Man's best friend

Bounce is already taking after his handsome "Dad." Let me count all the ways Bounce takes after my dear hubby:

• Bounce eats his meals much faster than I think he should.
• Bounce can be very clumsy and knocks things over.
• Bounce is so irrestibly snuggle-y.
• Bounce is very photogenic (as you can obviously see).
• Bounce LOVES Natural White Cheddar Cheetos (no - he didn't get to taste them but man on man did he want to!).
• Bounce greets me excitedly ever day after work with a big hug and kiss.

Aren't I lucky to have these two boys in my life?

The Hoag Boys

How cute are my boys?!? I am one lucky girl!

Recipe Repertoire

The other day I got a wild hair and decided to try a new dessert recipe. That same day my coworker and friend, Jennifer handed me a recipe for homemade granola from a blog she recently discovered. So over the weekend I tried both recipes and enjoyed both. And I had a realization. When we got married we got lots of new cookbooks and recipes. And we also got lots of shiny new kitchen gadgets that needed a little more breaking in. So I committed to trying at least one to two new recipes each week.

So far here's my list so far:

Pineapple Pie
I wanted to make dessert for Valentine's day and this stood out to me for some reason. The pie was very easy to make and delicious. The meringue topping? Not as easy and I didn't get the texture quite right. It tasted good but was more of a marshmellow consistency than meringue. Better luck next time!

Homemade Granola
MMMMM. Nom Nom Nom Nom. This was pretty easy to make and DELICIOUS. Matt already requested a round two. Definitely give this recipe a try! I used cocoa roasted almonds instead of the cinnamon roasted almonds and recommend you do the same. Just writing about it is making me crave the granola on top of vanilla yogurt!

Meatloaf
Mmmm. Also good! This was my first attempt at meatloaf and I really wasn't sure if I really even like meatloaf. Matt and I made a discovery and a secret non-ingredient that made this recipe a hit in the Hoag household. The non-ingredient? Onions. Yep, the recipe called for them. Did I include them? Heck no. We both dislike onions and agreed that meatloaf sans onions will be a recipe standby. I used the recipe out of this cookbook that I got because my dear friend Brenna recommended it to me several years ago. I filed away that recommendation until I got married and swiftly registered for it and thankfully recieved it!

Baked granola
Also a hit in the Hoag household...though it wasn't a homerun. It was good but not to die for. I plan on playing around with the recipe a little next time around.

Pasta with boursin, asparagus and pine nuts
Mmmm. This isn't exactly a new recipe. Brenna made it when I visited one time and it is actually when she recommended the cookbook I mentioned earlier. I've made this dish before but didn't follow the recipe exactly. I think the last few times I made it I omitted the dill. This time I included the dill and it made all the difference.

I've already tried out a new recipe for this week and it was yummy but you'll have to wait to hear all about it! I didn't take any pictures but realize I should probably start snapping pics of all this tasty goodness so you can drool a little. :)

A week in the life of Bounce Hoag

Meet Bounce! He's our new Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. We picked him up on Sunday, February 7th at the age of 7 weeks. We picked him out of four boys in the liter and we are sure we got the best dog. He's certainly a lot of work and cutting into our eight hours of sleep, but he's adorable and we love him so much. Here's what his first week as a Hoag looked like...

Day One: Sunday, February 7
Today two new people came and played with me and my three brothers. They oooohed and awwwed at us a lot. Then they carried me out and we rode in the car for forever. We stopped and I got to play in the grass. They were very excited for me for some reason.
I got weighed today and came in at 3.5 lbs. Not for long though, I feel a growth spurt coming on!

Day Two: Monday, February 8
I guess I don't get to see my brothers anymore. That makes me sad so I whimpered at night when I am supposed to be snuggling with them. But I did get to sleep next to my new BFF, Mr. Bananas. All day long I hung out with Mr. Bananas and Matt. I slept a lot. And I found something that I love to chew and sleep on - slippers! The blue Gonzaga ones are my favorite. I guess I'm supposed to be a fan of Gonzaga or something... I also got some poop on myself so I got a bath.

I don't mind baths so much and then I get to snuggle up in a towel afterwards. Not so bad, but it does tucker me out! Day Three: Tuesday, February 9
Today I pooped on Mr. Bananas. And on the Gonzaga slipper. I swear I didn't mean to! I also learned how to untie shoes. I am one smart dog!
Day Four: Wednesday, February 10
Snow snow snow! I got to play in the snow! I learned today that I like to work out, rather, I like to sleep on weights - working out through osmosis. Day Five: Thursday. Februay 11
I got to meet lots of people today. 5 in total! 4 neighbors and my friend Colin came over to meet me. I like people. And people like me, they all told me I was cute! Oh, and have I mentioned that I sleep a lot? I do. I sleep lots, whenever and WHEREVER I feel like!

Day Six: Friday, February 12
I think my name is Bounce. Though I'm not sure. I hear "Bounce" most often but sometimes they call me little rascal, punk, cutie, knucklehead, pup, terror and klutz.

Day Seven: Saturday, February 13
I gained a pound! I weighed in at 4.4 lbs today. I also went on an outing to the pet store to get new treats. I'm picky and don't like the first ones we had. I met more people at the store and they all thought I was cute. I even got offered a new home - thankfully Cara said no thanks!

I woke up from a nap and Colin came over again. This time he brought his wife Jess and they brought me a gift! Three bones for me to chew on! They think I'm cute too.

Day Eight: Sunday, February 14
Happy Valentine's Day! I love my new family!
I finally grew into my collar and got to go on my first walk today. It was SO fun. I ran around in at the park and got so tired that I couldn't walk home.

A slideshow story of our wedding day

Thank you to Nikki with Moxie Images for all the wonderful pictures of our wedding. There are an overwhelming number of pictures that capture our special day. And lucky for you, I trimmed it down to 100 pictures for this slideshow. (Yes, I know 100 is still a lot of pictures for you to sit and watch but I couldn't possibly get that number any lower...I just love them all so much!). Enjoy!

Webbie at the Wedding

This is a pretty random video but here's why I decided to share it:

• I bought Matt a Sony Webbie for his birthday and he's been too busy dissertating to use it much or post any videos so I figured I'd do it for him. He's the one behind the camera on this clip as you will probably gather.
• It shows how cute my neice and nephews were at the wedding.
• It shows how cute James and Ada are.

You will surely see many more videos from our handy lil' Webbie when we get our puppy (more on that later). Matt and I hope to start using the Webbie more and more because videos are fun. Oh, and speaking of fun videos, I promise I will share video of us rapping soon!

Mac N Cheese Hit

Ever since I read about the Mac N Cheese of the Month Club, I've been eager to try new Mac N Cheese recipes. It's definitely a learning process, as documented here, here and here. My end goal is to combine the best part of all the recipes to make the my own signature Mac N Cheese. And I'm proud to say I've found my first key ingredient thanks to this recipe from Weight Watchers.

12 oz uncooked macaroni, elbow-type
1/2 cup(s) fat-free sour cream
12 oz fat-free evaporated milk
8 oz low-fat cheddar or colby cheese, shredded
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
2 Tbsp dried bread crumbs
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Cook pasta according to package directions without added fat or salt; drain and transfer to a large bowl. While pasta is still hot, stir in sour cream; set aside.

Heat milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until tiny bubbles appear just around the edges (known as scalding). Reduce heat to low, add cheese and simmer until cheese melts, stirring constantly with a wire whisk, about 2 minutes; remove from heat and stir in mustard, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Add cheese mixture to pasta; mix well. Transfer to a 3-quart casserole dish.

Combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese; sprinkle over pasta.

Bake until top is golden, about 30 minutes.

Matt gave this recipe an 8.5 out of 10 - not bad! I definitely recommend trying it. Can you guess which ingredient I plan on using in my signature Mac N Cheese?

Sugar Mamas on the Rise

I heard this story on NPR yesterday morning and had to share: Modern Marriages: The Rise of the Sugar Mama

My interest was peaked just by the title since I get to be the sugar mama for Matt right now (though not for long, graduation is quickly approaching!). The story was all about a study that compares marriages in 2007 with those in 1970. Pretty interesting. And in case you're interested but don't want to read the full article, I pulled out a few points that caught my attention. (The High Fives if you will.) But really, it's a quick read so the whole thing is worth your time.

One: Until 1964, a woman could legally be fired when she got married.

Two: For the first time ever among those age 44 and younger —- more women than men have college degrees.

Three: "They [women] say overwhelmingly — 87 percent — that it's more important to have a man who can communicate well, who can be intimate and who will share the housework than to have someone who makes more money than you do."

Four: Woman still make 77 cents to a man's dollar, and their earnings can lag over time since women are more likely to cut back to care for children. But this, too, is shifting.

Five: Today, among U.S.-born 30- to 44-year-olds, the more educated you are, the more likely you are to be married.

I think the last bullet is the most interesting. Who knew that more education means you are more likely to be married.

Sunday Funday

Happy Sunday everyone! This is an especially fun Sunday because I have Monday off. So I thought I'd share something random that makes me smile.

You may have seen this video before. Super cute. I love Charlie's laugh towards the end.


Well, I recently discovered this remix of the same video. Pretty cool, right?

Holiday JOY

Christmas 2009 was pretty exciting. It was Matt and my first Christmas as a married couple and we got to go back to the PNW and see our families that we love and miss dearly. The whole trip just FLEW by. I have much more I could tell you, but I'll focus on one of the highlights: the excitement of Christmas through the eyes of my nephews! Megan wrote about the Christmas Crazies here. If you read her blog, you know that there was quite the build-up to the holiday for the Sarvela family, Corbin especially. Here's the excitement in action when Corbin and Trent opened the gifts from Matt and I.

Pregnant?!

Let’s get this clear. I’m not pregnant. Nor do I plan to be pregnant in the near future.

I know that I’ll have people that relate to this, and I think it’s pretty entertaining, so I thought I’d share. Why is it that as soon as you marry, people start asking about kids? I mean, really, some people have kids right away but not everyone! Matt and I fall into the group of newlyweds who would like to focus on us for awhile and get some traveling and crazy adventures in before we bring lil’ Hoags into the world. So why do I bring this up you wonder? Well, it seems that no matter what I tell people about our plans, pregnancy is still at the front of people’s minds! Here’s the most recent story:

I caught a nasty cold on our trip back to Knoxville after the holidays and called in sick into work for the first two days. Upon my return on Wednesday, my boss tells me: “I’m glad you’re feeling better. People were saying you were pregnant but I told them you had no voice when we spoke so it must not be true.” And then today (Friday) I had a doctor’s appointment for my standard yearly check-up. Of course when I walked into the office afterwards I get told by my friend Jennifer, “Now people really think you’re pregnant!” Just a few minute’s later my boss’s boss tells me that people are wondering if I’m pregnant. I tried to clear it up and announced loudly that I discussed contraceptives and plans to NOT get pregnant with my OBGYN during my appointment today. Something tells me that this will not dispel the rumors. I’m officially going on a diet and workout plan to get skinnier so no one can start any rumors about me looking pregnant (not that I think I look pregnant, I don’t). Maybe getting a skinnier waist instead of a growing waist will shut down people’s suspicions!

So I ask you, how should I respond to people’s comments about our pregnancy plans? Or how did you handle this if you had a similar situation? For the record, I’ve been saying we want to wait 4 or 5 years. But I have friends who are telling people that they won’t discuss pregnancy until she turns 30…I kind of like this response but that only buys me 2.4 years until people go back to thinking I’m pregnant when I’m sick and/or go to the doctor. I’m starting to wonder if it even matters what I tell people…perhaps they will just believe whatever they want to believe. Or maybe I should just go ahead and get pregnant! (I kid.)