Creating Musing Gabble

Turning the blog page

2010-11-03T14:28:00.000-04:00

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 When I started CMG in January 2008 I had just met Matt but didn't know that'd I'd be taking his last name, making CMG outdated.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

2010-10-15T16:35:00.003-04:00

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.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.3

Motivation needed! (part one)

2010-09-07T20:15:00.001-04:00

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

2010-08-22T17:46:00.004-04:00

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

2010-07-28T18:58:00.007-04:00

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.

2010-06-17T16:36:00.011-04:00

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

2010-05-17T23:31:00.005-04:00

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

2010-05-17T23:14:00.006-04:00

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

2010-04-22T11:52:00.005-04:00

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!

2010-04-19T23:31:00.004-04:00

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

2010-04-18T23:25:00.005-04:00

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

2010-04-11T01:00:00.005-04:00

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

2010-03-06T01:35:00.003-05:00

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

2010-03-04T22:45:00.002-05:00

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

Recipe Repertoire

2010-02-22T21:33:00.004-05:00

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

2010-02-14T18:37:00.010-05:00

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

2010-02-03T16:44:00.005-05:00

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

2010-02-01T15:40:00.005-05:00

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

2010-01-31T22:13:00.005-05:00

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

2010-01-20T09:20:00.005-05:00

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

2010-01-17T12:04:00.003-05:00

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

2010-01-13T21:33:00.004-05:00

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?!

2010-01-08T17:36:00.002-05:00

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.)

Looking forward

2009-12-22T14:45:00.005-05:00

I decided to make a list of eight random things I’m looking forward to. (I know, I normally stick to "high fives" but that just wasn't enough for this blog entry. Plus eight is great!)
Here’s what I came up with:

1. Getting our puppy

2. Giving soccer another go (fingers crossed that my knee agrees with this decision)

3. Trying to snowboard for the first time ever*

4. Learning a new job*

5. Becoming an experienced wine taster*

6. Driving across the country with my husband (and puppy – see number 1)*

7. Seeing Matt graduate

8. Getting a full size couch*

Notice those asterisks? There are five of them. That’s because five of the eight things I am looking forward to involve a very exciting change for Matt and I…a move to Sacramento, California! On November 25, Matt verbally accepted a professor position with California State University Sacramento (or Sacramento State if you’re hip). He has to be on campus on August 2 so we’ll move sometime before then. The moving details are very much up in the air but we are very excited for that day to come (especially for Matt because that will mean his dissertation is complete)! I’ve never been to Sacramento so feel free to tell me what you know, love and/or hate about it. For now, I’ll expand on the five things I asterisked above:

3. Trying to snowboard for the first time ever: IN TAHOE. It’s a quick drive from Sacramento. Feel free to visit us and ski/snowboard!

4. Learning a new job: I will not be bringing my current job with me to Sacramento. While a job search is daunting right now, I am still very excited to see what opportunities await! Know of any?

5. Becoming an experienced wine taster: in NAPA VALLEY! It’s just a quick drive from Sacramento too. Again, feel free to visit us!

6. Driving across the country with my husband: I’m excited for this adventure. Who knows where the drive will take us! We do plan on driving through Kansas to see Josh & Lacy, my Grandma and my aunt. We are open to suggestions on where else we should pass through.

7. Getting a full size couch: we only have a love seat as it is and it doesn’t make sense to buy furniture when a move is coming so soon. As much as we like to snuggle up on our love seat, I really look forward to having a couch that I can actually sprawl out on!

So that’s our big news. Sacramento here we come! There are so many other things we look forward to about this move, like living closer to and being in the same time zone as most of our friends and family. And we hope to get lots of visitors so feel free to start planning your trips now! I am so proud of Matt for going around the country interviewing with schools and landing a job with one of our top picks.

Excitement Abounds

2009-12-22T11:00:00.008-05:00

Tomorrow Matt and I are boarding a plane to head West! I am so excited! We start off our visit home in Vancouver & Battle Ground to see my family.
And then head North to Federal Way on Christmas day to be with Matt's parents. After spending some quality time with our families, we'll be heading down to San Diego for NYE and a friend's wedding. I'm so excited for all of it! But I am especially excited to see the little ones because they can change so much in just a few months.

Stories of the South

2009-12-19T12:24:00.006-05:00

When I first moved to Knoxville I was very observant of how the South is different than the Pacific Northwest. I blogged about it here. I still notice many oddities of the South but I sort of forgot to document and share them on my blog. Now that Matt and I know we only have 6-8 months** left in the South, I feel the pressure to note my experiences in the South.

At work on Friday, I was talking with a few people about our upcoming office move and the office dynamics. We work in the tallest building in downtown Knoxville, the First Tennessee Bank Building.

So we're talking and my coworker Michelle said something that was a quick reminder that I live in the South. Before I tell you what she said, you should have a picture of Michelle in your head. She is in her thirtys, dresses fairly trendy, has a pretty "hot" body, has fake red nails and often wears bright red lipstick. She comes across as a very girly girl. Are you picturing her? Something like this only with a little more skin showing:

Then somehow she slips this into the conversation: "Can you believe we can't bring guns into the office? I mean, if though I have a license to carry it, I can't have it here because of the bank. It's so stupid."

Hmm...Okay. Didn't expect her of all people to want to carry a gun. And why in the world would she think she needs to carry it around in lil' old downtown Knoxville? Definitely not something I would have heard at my old office in Vancouver, WA!

And then, to cap the day off, we had our Christmas party in the office and at least 4 guys pulled out pocket knifes at different times to cut open presents. Now I recognize that many guys carry pocket knifes so that isn't that unusual, but in combination with the gun comment, I was totally cracking up.

Home Sweet Home

2009-12-17T16:02:00.006-05:00

I read this on a blog while back and it really resonated with me. It's something I plan to put up in the house some where. And since the holidays are a great time to celebrate love, family and friends, I decided I would also post this on my blog:

May your home be filled with laughter and the warm embrace of a summer’s day,
May you find peace and beauty,
Challenge and satisfaction,
Humor and insight,
Healing and renewal,
Love and wisdom.
May you always feel that what you have is enough.

I love it! I love the home Matt and I have in Knoxville. And I love going to my other two "homes" for the holiday (my parents' house and Matt's parents' house). Ever since I've been with Matt, my whole idea of home has changed . It’s no longer one apartment or townhouse that is home. Home is wherever we are. This of course, is top of mind as we are looking ahead to a move in the summer and will have a very different home than we do now. Plus, home just got a little more exciting now that we’re married. We just got our very first Christmas tree together and got to make new memories of decorating it while playing Christmas music and wearing holiday headgear! I tried new Thanksgiving recipes that could very well become part of our traditional Thanksgiving meal every year.

Happy Holidays! I hope your home is bursting with love, happiness and memories!

White men (and women) can jump!

2009-12-12T16:07:00.002-05:00

This is another favorite picture from the wedding. I'm quite proud of how high I was able to jump in heels and a wedding dress. I love everyone's expressions and different jumping styles. I think I'll try to edit out the parking lines and then have this one framed.

Documenting the wedding

2009-12-05T01:43:00.007-05:00

We officially have all of our wedding photos from our wonderful photographer, Nikki of Moxie Images. There are 745 pictures so it is a bit overwhelming. But I think this is our favorite. You can tell that we are both overjoyed to say our vows and make our lifelong commitment to each other. We are so thankfully for Nikki's photography and home video that captured this moment because it was so surreal that neither of us remember it that vividly. Stay tuned...I'm sure I will be sharing more pictures with you in the near future!

Darth Vader crashed our wedding!

2009-12-03T21:56:00.004-05:00

As a gift to our two ring bearers (our nephews), we got them Darth Vader costumes since they both are VERY into Star Wars. It was getting to be the end of the wedding and we still hadn't given the boys their gifts. Trent started to have a slight meltdown. I don't blame him! It was a LONG day, lots of posing for pictures and he had all that pressure of bringing the ring pillow (sans rings) down the aisle! That's a lot for a four year old to handle! So he was in the back room, crying while Mark, my awesome brother-in-law, cuddled him up. I broke out the gift in hopes that it would be enough to cheer up little Trent. He tried to resist the excitement and continue to be sad, but that only lastest for about 15 seconds before he was ecstatic and HAD to get the costume on right away. Resulting in awesome pictures like this:

(thanks for the photo Josh!)

Corbin happily put his costume on too so we had two little Darth Vaders roaming around...a priceless memory from our wedding!

Honeymoon - wrapping up with the classic self portraits

2009-11-28T00:59:00.006-05:00

Here's the situation: You're on your honeymoon and you want pictures of both you and your new husband. You could ask a stranger every time, or there is always the good old standby of the self portrait. Take the camera, stick your arm out as far as you can, try to guess what is centered and give it a whirl. You guys know what I'm talking about!

Here are all our best self-portrait shots! Get ready for a lot of close ups of Matt and I!

Our last picture of the night of our wedding. SO HAPPY!

Flight from Spokane to Nashville - Sunday after the weding....tired!

Flight from Knoxville to Cancun - Honeymoon here we come!!

First day at the beach

Loving our honeymoon suite and comfy robes!

Do we look tanner yet? Another beach shot.

Beach front candelight dinner. So romantic!

Our one and only trip off the resort to Tulum

Enjoying dinner. Here we actually do look tanner.

Soaking up our last day at the beach.

And to wrap up, a very mushy honeymoon self-portrait.

Honeymoon - Towel designs

2009-11-23T16:51:00.005-05:00

I love towel oragami - it's so fun to come back to your hotel room to find out what the towels will be that day. The resort offered a class several days a week. We had every intention of going but since we rarely knew what time it was, we never made it on time to learn all the ins and outs of making fun towel objects. Sigh....maybe next time!

This cute lil' guy was definitely my favorite. I tried to snuggle him up but then his head fell off. It was tramatic!

And since you're getting glimpses into our room, I'll show you a few more pictures that show off our lovely Swim-Up Jacuzzi Suite. I loved sitting outside our room in the lounge chairs that rested in about 6 inches of water. If I got warm while reading, I just plunked my toes in and hollered to Israel to ask for a cold, refreshing margarita!

Looking out our sliding glass door to the pool and 4 lounge chairs - two in the water and two out.

Cheers to our jacuzzi tub!

The pool right outside our door.

Picture taken in the pool looking towards our room.

Lounge chairs, books and frozen drinks - this was how we spent most afternoons.

Honeymoon - And we drank (part 3)

2009-11-18T16:59:00.006-05:00

From my first two honeymoon posts, you've probably gathered that Matt and I did our fair share of drinking. We often started the day out with mimosas with breakfast and continued drinking throughout the day, enjoyed wine with dinner and hit up the bar afterwards. Ahhhh, have I mentioned how great the all-inclusive package was for us?

This is another picture heavy blog, but I figured I had the pictures to prove all the drinks we enjoyed, so why not share?

The picture below is the Swim-Up Bar that was right by our room. You can see the lounge chairs outside our room in the right hand side of the picture. It was a pretty hoping place. We got to meet lots of fun people here. One couple was from the tri-cities in Washington and shared our same wedding date. There were quite a few British people at the resort - we learned that there are quite a few direct flights to Cancun so it's a fairly easy destination for them. (A total side note: I'm fairly certain that the British folks were the reason there were so many topless women at the beach....there were lots of older women who never wore a bathing suit top and no, it wasn't pretty....hopefully Matt will blog about one woman in particular who we saw a lot of and even nicknamed - but never once spoke to.)
Here is Matt with our favorite bartender, Israel. He was the bartender at the Swim Up Bar featured in the picture above. We tipped him very well because his service was exceptional. He climbed over plans and our neighbor's porch to bring us our drinks so we didn't even have to swim up to the Swim Up Bar if we didn't want to.

The main bar had swings surrounding the entire bar.

Don't worry, we drank plenty of water too!

Waitresses also brought drinks out to our beachside lounge chairs.

This was my favorite drink - The Bahama Mama.

Honeymoon aka Food Indulgences (part 2)

2009-11-16T11:37:00.009-05:00

What did we do at our resort? Well you already saw that we relaxed a lot. In between relaxing, we ate. A lot. One of the perks of an all-inclusive is that your meals are included so you feel completely justified in eating out for breakfast, lunch and dinner and answering "Yes" every time a waiter asked if you would care for dessert. I'm happy to say I only gained 4 pounds - which is really hard to believe after I ate and drank so much only to lay pool- and beach-side. And no surprise - it came off as soon as I came home and started eating resonably.

So here is a little photo tour of the restaurants we enjoyed at the El Dorado Seaside suites.

The Mexican Restuarant - I'm blanking on the name...

See that ray of dips? It was three types of yummy salsa and their fresh guacemole. Notice how very few chips remain...it was very good!

Klay Talay

Yep - Matt's drinking wine and a mai tai. This was not uncommon...yet another perk of an all-inclusive, you're justified in ordering lots and lots of drinks!

Hmmm, everything sounds so good. What should we get? How about two types of sushi rolls, spring rolls and two entrees. And yes, we'll be ordering dessert too. See why I'm surprised I only gained 4 pounds?!

Yummy sushi!

Candlelight Dinner on the Beach

Our honeymoon package came with a complimentary candlelight dinner on the beach. It was so much fun! We ate dinner right around sunset and enjoyed a nice 2.5 hour dinner with lobster bisque, cheese fondue and dessert.

I have no idea what this dessert was but it was really good. And yep, those are empty shot glasses that were once filled with tequila. Since we met over a shot of tequila, we felt it was necessary to do a little toast and share a shot during our fancy dinner.

The International Restaurant

The food at the International Resturant was just okay. These pictures are from lunch one day, and yes, we indulged in dessert because we were on vacation and you can justify dessert with every meal. Look how cute (and happy) Matt looks with his margarita and chocolate-y goodness!

Mia Casa

On our last night we went to the Italian restuarant, Mia Casa. This was our second time to this restaurant - we don't have a picture of our first experience...partly because there was some major wine spillage on our part and we didn't really want to document with a photo! Both times we ate at Mia Casa, we ordered spaghetti. Such a simple dish, but they did it so well that neither one of us cared to try anything else! And this picture of course shows us eating dessert because that's how we roll.

One thing we noticed and really enjoyed about the restaurants were the portion sizes. We were served reasonable servings which left room for dessert and I didn't really walk away from any meal feeling uncomfortably full. The meals were served very leisurely. We sipped on drinks - often red wine and enjoyed wonderful company without being in a rush to get somewhere or feeling rushed that the restaurant wanted our table to seat the next guests. Though to be completely honest, my stomach was definitely not happy with me by the time we left - I was ready to detox a little and get back to my normal eating habits which don't include dessert with every meal (sad, but true).

Honeymoon -aka- Total Relaxation (part 1)

2009-11-12T16:59:00.010-05:00

Matt and I honeymooned, as you may already know, at an all-inclusive, adults-only, beach resort in the Mayan Riveria called the El Dorado Seaside Suites. Many people before us have said it, and we'll be telling any engaged couples we come across: "Do an all-inclusive honeymoon, it is SO worth it. You will never regret it!"

We were so exhausted after the wedding and all of the traveling -- we left Spokane at 8 am on Sunday after the wedding, arrived in Nashville at 5 pm, drove back to Knoxville and got home at 9 pm. We left the very next morning at 9 am and arrived in Cancun around 4 pm and got to our resort around 7 pm. We were SO ready to relax. And relax we did! Here are some photos to show off the wonderful, very low-key resort we stayed in.

Here's the beach:

Here's how the beach looked from my point of view at the main bar (cleary with wine on hand).

Matt's view of the beach from a lounge chair.

Matt loves me thiiiiis much:

These beds were everywhere. For several of the days there, Matt and I claimed a bed like this on the beach in the morning and pulled up two lounge chairs too, so we had our choice of sun or shade. Then we relaxed there until it was time to trade a beach bed for the bed in our room for a mid-day siesta. See? Total relaxation!

A cute well.

A little random cabana right around the corner from our room (and one of the bars as you can see from Matt's double-fisting action).

The boardwalk. Matt is pondering life...or maybe he was just impersonating the seagulls from Finding Nemo and yelling "Mine, mine, mine, mine!" at the seagulls and chasing them away...you guess which one was true.

A random statue - check how green and lush everything on the grounds looks!

Of course there were also pools, bars and restaurants around the resort. I'll be sharing more photos of the pool outside our room, the bar outside our room, the main bar and our favorite restaurants in some of my next posts. Stay tuned!

A last HOORAH!

2009-11-11T14:10:00.008-05:00

I love that a wedding becomes so much more than one event. I'm always a fan of an excuse to hang out with all my girls. On Thursday we had my bachelorette party. My bridesmaids did such a great job of planning a day that I would love - and they kept all the details a secret so I was surprised all day long. I'll let the pictures do the talking...the only thing I don't have pictures of is the pole dancing (which is probably a good thing because we were all pretty awkward - with the exception of Kate who totally rocked it).

Brenna's car was decked out the bachelorette decor - balloons, streamers and a window sign.

Our first stop was Green Bluff which is perfect because I love Green Bluff! It a loop of farms on the outskirts of town and and just oozes the beauty of fall. I love to just soak up the crisp fall air and pretty landscape. Plus, Brenna and I went several years in a row when I lived in Pullman and we have such fond memories of those trips.

One of my favorite features is the pumpkin launcher. It wasn't open when we were there but you can picture how cool it is when a pumpkin flies through the air.

Then we went to an Italian restaurant for lunch - one that Megan introduced me to in college. The food was good, the company was great and the dessert was not good - which saved us a few calories. We didn't have ribbons at my bridal shower so the girls brought ribbon to make one before the rehearsal. I ended up forgetting it for the rehearsal - but not because I didn't love it, just because I was hectic and forgetful.

We went to dinner at Twigs.

Got drinks at a new bar in town where I was presented with a check list of things like "Get a piggyback ride from a stranger" and "Ask someone to marry you." And yes, I completed these tasks - I'm too competitive not to!

Then it was off to the piano bar where we were the center of attention. It was very fun. The picture below is the point where I was serenaded to "You lost that loving feeling." The bar provided the hat and boa and some kind stranger loaned me her aviators and I clearly had fun rocking it!

And a lovely last shot of the blog...my statue of liberty impersonation.

I was quite the impersonator by the end of the night (read: after I drank a lot). Someone has a picture of my Michael Jackson impersonation that is probably quite embarrassing. If I get my hands on it I promise to share it with you!

It was such a fun day and I hope we can do it again without having to wait for someone to get married! Thanks to my girlfriends for putting together such a fabulous "last hoorah!"

Wedding Week Details: Marriage License

2009-11-08T13:33:00.004-05:00

Matt and I went to get our marriage license on Tuesday before the wedding. When we were packing and planning our outfits for the week, I asked Matt to dress nice for any wedding-related activities. By nice, I said anything nicer than a t-shirt and grubby jeans. (Hopefully that doesn't sound bridezilla-like, we thought it would be a fun way to set the day apart from any other day.) Matt went all out and looked as-handsome-as-can-be all week.

Here he is outside of the Spokane County Courthouse before we got the license.

Here I am outside of the Autitor's office with our official marriage license in hand!

Don't we look happy? We are officially ready to be married!

Celebration was in order so we went out for martinis at Bistango Martini Lounge in downtown Spokane. We had the place to ourselves since apparently it isn't very common to have martinis at 4 pm on a Tuesday.

I ordered the "O Love" martini because it seemed appropriate and Matt ordered the "Mexico" in honor of our honeymoon destination. Both were delicious and a fun way to celebrate our most official milestone before getting married!

One last picture for you - Matt with our little red rental car - not our fave choice of cars but it got us where we needed to be all week!

You're gonna LOVE this!

2009-11-05T12:57:00.005-05:00

One of our wedding gifts was a Crock Pot. I was excited about the idea of slow cooking but didn't brave my first attempt until the Crock Pot sat in its box for a month taunting me. Matt was out of town almost immediately after we got home from the honeymoon and he was only going to be in town for one day before he left on his second trip post-honeymoon. So I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to show him what a good wife (!!!) I am and break in the Crock Pot.

I did several Google searches along the lines of "Best Crock Pot recipe" and "Favorite Slow Cooker recipes." Somehow I stumbled upon this wonderful gem. Slow Cooker Taco Chicken..sounds pretty good. But it gets better for two reasons:

1) Matt's favorite food is Mexican so making a Mexican meal for his one day home would make me a really really good wife instead of just a good wife, and

2) It's probably the easiest recipe EVER.

You just plop six skinless chicken breasts in the Crock Pot and stir in one 16 oz. jar of salsa and a packet of taco seasoning then let it cook for 4-6 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. Easy peasy! The house smelled sooo tasty all day and the chicken did not disappoint. We made chicken soft tacos and of course, lots of margaritas with the tequila we brought back from Mexico. Yum! I used literallyhalf the bottle of tequila in our margaritas and you could barely taste the tequila it was so smooth and yummy. Don't worry - we tasted the chicken before we drank the margaritas so you can trust our non-alcohol influenced opinion!

Now the recipe gets EVEN BETTER for three more reasons:

1) Matt commented afterwards "Hey, I can even make this." Why yes babe, you can! And please feel free to cook it up anytime.

2) Leftovers. Mmmmm. We froze tons because we followed the recipe of 6 chicken breasts which is entirely way too much for two people.

3) It lead me to another easy peasy, delicious recipe....use the same chicken in a tortilla soup! We made this the night Matt returned from his trip and it was another easy meal and definitely hit the spot now that we're having chilly fall days. The recipe is on the same link I provided above to the Pioneer Woman Blog - a great resource if you don't already know about it.

Go forth and try the recipe and see if you agree with it's greatness! And remember, margaritas are optional but highly recommended!

2009-10-29T14:46:00.002-04:00

It's a beautiful fall day in Knoxville. It's the best time of year here if you ask me. I love fall. I didn't fully appreciated the season until I lived in Spokane and got to see how much the weather and foliage changes. Coming from Western Washington, fall is pretty but really not THAT distinguishable from winter and spring. Once I learned to appreciate the weather, I realized there is so much more to be excited about in the fall. And now that my anniversary is in the fall, it gives me yet another reason to adore it.

I want to hear what your favorite thing about fall is - be sure to vote in the poll to the right. And if you love something I didn't mention, than comment away!

Name that Game

2009-10-28T19:14:00.004-04:00

One aspect that Matt I really wanted to convey in our wedding and reception, was a little bit of "us." This sounded easy at first, but was actually a bit challenging. Any time we tried to push the envelope, we nixed the idea because we truly appreciate the traditional aspects of a wedding. So we did what many couples before us have done, we labeled each of our tables with something other than a number. Matt and I opted to label each table with a game. If you know us at all, you know we love us some board games! We entertained the thought of having a game at each table but decided against it. Instead, we showcased ourselves playing a game at each table. In the slideshow below you can see each of our lovely self-portraits for each of our Table Games. Yes, you read that right, self-portraits. Matt and I staged each picture. We did "costume" changes and set up the camera on a tripod so we could use the 10 second self timer to quickly run and get in position. We had so much fun taking all the pictures. We did it over the course of about 3 nights. And as you will plainly see, some pictures turned out much better than others. You can probably tell which ones were at the end of each night when we were a bit tired of posing. Go ahead and guess which ones were last in the comment section below! I promise we won't get offended if you're wrong.

We're BACK!

2009-10-27T21:23:00.005-04:00

Whew! The past two weeks were the fastest two weeks ever. I keep dreaming that the wedding hasn't happened yet and have even woke up one day thinking it was the morning of the wedding and we had accidently slept in the same bed together. I loved the wedding, and all the events leading up to it and wish I could do it over and over again. Okay, maybe not, truely I was completely exhausted by the time we got on our honeymoon.

I didn't want to blog about the wedding too much leading up to the wedding so that things would still be a surprise for our guests. But now that it's over, I get to blog about it all I want!

Matt and I were really excited to have kids at the wedding. Afterall, they bring an extra boost of energy and cuteness to a wedding and who doesn't want that!? And our ring and tiger bearers and flower girls were oozing cuteness all night. But this blog is all about the Dancing Machine, aka Corbin aka our Ring Bearer. He was dancing ALL night long. He made quick friends with all the adults dancing and even busted out some sort of break dancing! At one point Corbin ran over to me to tell me that "they" are calling him the Dancing Machine. He was so proud of himself. It was adorable, or as Matt might say, darling. I even got a few slow dances in with Dancing Machine. I'm one lucky Auntie!

Of course I didn't take any pictures of the dancing, but I did steal a few from Facebook. I'm guessing we'll have a few from the photographer when we get those pictures.

You can tell Corbin is having a blast here!Look at him bustin' it and sweating from all that dancing!

Mac N Cheese Take Three

2009-09-28T12:02:00.005-04:00

As you may recall, I'm on a personal mission to discover the best Mac n' Cheese recipes out there. So far my results have been so-so, see here and here for details. Last week I tried a new Mac n’ Cheese recipe from a Pampered Chef Recipe Book my mom recently got me. I’m really excited to try more recipes out of this book as 29 minutes cooking and prep time is right up my alley and the first recipe was easy to follow. Plus some of the recipes just sound delicious! Yum!

That said, I wasn’t exactly impressed with my first recipe choice from the book: Butternut Squash Macaroni. It’s really good in theory, especially for people like me who have a tough time digesting dairy. The squash gives the dish a cheesy color and is keeps a creamy texture so you don’t have to use as much cheese. The problem is, squash doesn’t have quite the flavor that cheese does so it isn’t a stellar substitute. It didn't help that I had to use a four-cheese mix when the recipe called for a six-cheese mix… for the life of me I couldn’t find the “Italian six cheese mix” the recipe mentioned and maybe if I had, it would have tasted better. The flavor was just lacking a little. So I plan to try this one again because it was really simple and definitely has potential. It just needs more cheese for the mac! Oh, and I used whole wheat pasta to make it even healthier, I imagine with the lack of cheese, I should have kept with regular pasta to balance it out. The good news is I found a new favorite pasta brand that I can use next time (I'll share it with you then)>

Look how intense Matt was when giving it the first taste test. His response? “It’s okay.” And that’s exactly what it was, OKAY. Not great and not bad, just somewhere in between. I’m confident it will be better next time.

If you want the recipe, let me know and I will happily share!

Four weeks ‘til THE BIG day!

2009-09-18T16:45:00.004-04:00

I would say the countdown begins, but that’s not exactly true. I officially started tracking (vaguely) how many days until our wedding around the 100 days left mark. But really, I have been waiting for this event since very early on in our relationship. How early? I looked back at emails and found April 1, 2008 as the first mention of getting married. Yeah, and we officially started dating on March 20th so I really have been ready for the wedding since the very beginning!

But don’t get me wrong, I love being engaged. Anytime I get antsy, I remember that we only get this time once, so enjoy it! Lots has happened since Matt and I got engaged on August 2, 2008.

I quit a job I loved. • Got a new job. • Moved to Knoxville. • Moved in with Matt. • “Girlified” the house. • Had knee surgery. • Went to six weddings (and I never even caught the bouquet! But Matt did catch the garter at Scott and Hanna’s wedding). • Spent way too many days in Louisiana. • Survived a snow storm in Portland and Seattle. • Cheered in person as the Zags beat UT in Knoxville. • Went to Nashville and loved it. • Went to Birmingham, Alabama for the first time…and Charlottesville, Virginia…and Raleigh, North Carolina…and Charleston, South Carolina. • Discovered a home away from home in the Oregon-inspired town of Asheville, NC. • Hosted my sister and niece. • Hosted our good friends Mat and Alison. • And hosted my soon to be in-laws. • Zip-lined through the Smokies. • Met new, fabulous friends in the South. • Missed my family and friends from the NW. • Taught Matt how to enjoy craft projects (invites, anyone?). • Swam in the Atlantic Ocean. • Camped near a swamp. • Met lots of Matt’s relatives – from his MOMma’s side. • Built a snow fort. • Got lost in a corn maze. • Got better at tennis. • Bought a Wii and mastered the Wii Fit soccer heading game. • Visited with fabulous friends in San Diego. • (Get ready for the cheese) Fell in love over and over again!

It’s been a wonderful 13 months. The 14th month will fly by but I intend to soak up every minute. My last month as Cara GISH – how weird is that!?

Can’t wait to see everyone at the wedding, it’s going to be such a special event and I can’t wait to share it with those I care about most! See you in 28 days!

Always time to dream of a vacay!

2009-09-17T17:26:00.012-04:00

Yes, I have my honeymoon booked and its quickly approaching (in 32 days – not that I’m counting). But since that’s already decided and I’ve already studied the resort website for months, I’m ready to start dreaming up the next trip!

I don’t know when we’ll take said trip, maybe next summer, depending on where we move, how much we are making, yada yada. But the dates aren’t nearly as important as the where! And I want your input, so please vote! And for the record, I’m pretending that budgets don’t really play a part here.

1. Italy and Greece
I realized a month or so ago that it has been seven years since I studied abroad. SEVEN years!? I can’t believe that much time has past and it makes me itch for a return trip oh so bad. Matt and I have both been but I really want to experience it together. I want to show him all my favorite places and discover new ones together. Just looking at pictures of Cinque Terre and Florence makes my heart race! Plus I want to experience Italy when I’m not on a college student’s budget!

We would probably fly into Rome and spend time in Florence and Cinque Terre.

Then off to Greece! I spent a few days in Athens when I was abroad for school but not nearly enough time and my true dream Greece destination is Santorini. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen pictures so beautiful!

2. Africa
Safari? Yes please! Seeing African animals in the wild and not in the Portland Zoo? Yes please! Hiking to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro? Yes please!

I was supposed to go on a trip like this at the end of my year abroad, but sadly the war started and the trip was deemed unsafe by the school and we couldn’t go. It makes me want to go THAT much more! And fortunately, Matt thinks it sounds pretty fantastic too!

Yes - that's a giraffe with Mt. Kili in the background - aweseome, I know!

And pretend that is a perfect world and we can go during June or July 2010 and be there for the World Cup. AWESOME! Matt and I both love soccer (I love to play more than watch and he loves to watch more than play, but still, mutual love.) 3. Hawaii
I’ve never been! And I’m banking on moving further west late Spring so the travel to Hawaii wouldn’t be miserably long. We could sip Mai Tai’s, soak up the sun, enjoy a pool with an infinity pool, go on hikes, zipline again, go to a Luau, discover beautiful waterfalls. Ahhh, I’m relaxed just talking about it!
4. Caribbean Cruise
The only cruise I’ve been on was on the Blue Danube and it was a small ship with mostly old people (by mostly, I mean I was the only person under 50 there). It was fun, but when I say cruise here, I mean a completely different experience. Although, I definitely expect the food to be equally delicious because that seems to be a staple of every cruise ship! I really don’t know a lot about Caribbean Cruises but they sound fun! Here are some highlighted activities:
-Climb Jamaica's Dunn's River Falls.
-Go mountain biking in Costa Rica's rain forests.
-Snorkel with stingrays.
-Go horseback riding on the beach.
-Dive 800 feet below sea level in a research submarine.
-Discover the inhabitants of a coral reef on a glass-bottomed boat.
-Explore ancient civilizations as you climb mysterious Mayan pyramids.

Doesn’t sound (or look) so shabby does it? Plus a big cruise ship would be a first for Matt and I and I love firsts!

See why this is such a tough decision and why I need your input? Please vote in the poll on the right handside of the screen.

Cardioke - HOLLER!

2009-09-16T21:10:00.002-04:00

So I should probably be embarrassed to admit this, but I just did the entire Cardioke workout video with Billy Blanks Jr. It was on Comcast OnDemand as the top favorite video, so why not, right!? Well I did it, and I did break a sweat but I was dancing like a freak and singing very badly, all while laughing at the ridiculousness.

So what is Cardioke you ask?
Cardio=dancing
Iioke= singing while you dance

Yeah - interesting combination, especially when they choose artists like the Pussy Cat Dolls to dance and sing along with. I encourage you to just what a few minutes of this segment of the video and you'll see just how hilarious Cardioke is...but aparently it is a popular trend. And if you have Comcast, you can go ahead and try the workout yourself!

Happy Birthday Matt!

2009-09-04T15:23:00.003-04:00

Matt turned 28 on August 25th – his last birthday as a bachelor! I was really excited to surprise Matt with a new adventure. In May I saw an ad for Wahoo Zip and knew that’d be the perfect birthday activity. I kept the idea in my back pocket for 4 long months without giving any indication – I was proud of that!

The ziplines are located in the Smokies which is only 45 minute drive from Knoxville and very scenic. If you visit their site you can see how they promote it with selling points such as “over 2 miles of cable.” I was sold!

So I told Matt we were going on a surprise outing and we had to leave the house at 11:15am. He asked what to wear and I basically said anything, just not flip flops so he started thinking we were hiking or something. And then we started driving towards the mountains and he was really thinking something outdoorsy. We were driving on some random back roads and the first sign for the zipline appeared. He was definitely surprised – he didn’t even know the place existed! I was so happy to pull of a surprise because normally I am so excited about something like this that I give to many hints and can’t keep it a secret. (Don’t worry, he still doesn’t know what my wedding dress looks likes even though I did slip up and tell him the designer.)

The ziplines were awesome. I definitely recommend going sometime, somewhere. At first we thought it might be scary but it really wasn’t at all. We got to go on 6 different lines and they mixed it up for us:
*We got to hang upside down
*Ride tandem
*Race each other on side by side lines (Matt won)
*And they grabbed the line and bounced it as we were zipping
I wish I could have taken pictures of Matt while he was going, but I had no where to hold the camera and he did. You can bet he was yelling WAAHOOOO as he zipped!

2009-09-01T12:48:00.005-04:00

Matt and I went on our very first camping trip together over the fourth of July. Both of us enjoy camping and have gone with friends but have never been responsible for bringing all the gear, setting up a tent and starting a fire. We were quite proud of ourselves when we had a pretty smooth experience. We did have some lessons learned though:

Book early! The reason “rustic” campsites were all that were available that weekend was because people book WAY in advance and “rustic” means it is really close to the swamp which means there are lots and lots of bugs (notice the Citronella candle front and center in the picture - these were a critical resource for us!).
The South is not the Pacific Northwest! Camping in South Carolina is very different than camping in the PNW. You DO NOT need sweats and sweatshirts to sleep in, in fact you don’t even need a sleeping bag because it is so bloody hot you can barely sleep.

Check your equipment before you get there. When Matt says he is “pretty sure” his blow-up mattress is a queen or a full, do not wait until you’re at the campsite to check and see and find out it is only a twin.
Bring plastic bags for the cooler. Our cooler was great for keeping things cold, it was also great for keeping things soggy!

And here are the highlights of the trip:

An ocean you can enjoying swimming in! The upside to the South being so much warmer than the PNW is that you actually enjoy getting in the ocean and swimming! This was my first time in the Atlantic Ocean since I was too little to remember and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Being rebels! Alcohol is prohibited in state parks so we had to sneak it, because you can’t camp without beer, especially when it so bloody hot. So we propped up a log to hide our beer and wine as we sat by the fire and had to sneak our empty bottles to the dumpster. We probably need to hide it as much as we did but it was kind of fun to be act like we were in college again and trying to sneak alcohol in the dorms!

We did it! And we plan to do it again! Did I mention that we were proud of ourselves? We are and are excited to get even better at camping in the future (which also means planning trips when it isn’t so bloody hot out!).

Wedding excitement - RSVPs

2009-08-24T15:09:00.004-04:00

Matt and I dropped 125 wedding invitations into the mail nearly two weeks ago and what a relief to have that major task off our plate. And now I have a new favorite part of wedding planning: checking the mail! I'm already an excited mail checker, its almost always the first thing I do after work and if Matt checks it before me, I get a little bummed. But now it's ten times more exciting because our RSVPs are rolling in!

Every day I rush to check the mail and pull out all the RSVPs and then Matt and I guess who they are from based on the post stamp location. There are a ton of Seattle peeps so we almost always get those wrong, but some other cities are easier for us to figure out. So far we 52 confirmed guests. It's incredibly exciting to see all of the friends and family who want to celebrate our wedding with us. I can only imagine what it will be like to actually see all of these people in the chapel at Gonzaga and then eating, drinking and dancing the night away with us!

Today we had one RSVP come in that left us cracking up (I'm still giggling) and a little embarrassed. Some how one of our RSVP postcards was only printed on one side. The address and stamp side was fine but the RSVP side was completley blank! I guess somehow the printer missed it. So Josh and Joy got it and were probably a bit confused as to how to reply and had to write in hand "Josh and Joy plan to attend" on a completely blank postcard. Oops! Not sure how we didn't see that before it went out, but I am just hoping it was the only one! Totally hilarious. Here's what our RSVP card should have looked like:

Mac N Cheese Attempt 2

2009-08-24T12:05:00.006-04:00

Way back in February I decided to try out Mac N Cheese recipes, inspired by a Mac N Cheese of the month club I learned about. Turns out I can't keep up with a once a month plan and as soon as the weather got warm I haven't had much desire to cook Mac N Cheese. But we did try out a new recipe in April when Megan and Becca came to visit.

The recipe was really hard to follow...it literally took Matt, Megan and me to interpret the directions.

The presentation was good though:

We didn't love the overall recipe but we did enjoy the top crust layer. Instead of the big chunks of bread we used in our first attempt, we use shredded bread and highly recommend this technique.

And of course, like any good Mac N Cheese, it smelled delicious. YUM!

Final verdict: Recipe was too hard to follow and we will not try it again but did pick up a few new techniques we can apply to future batchs of Mac N Cheese. I'm already planning our next attempt, it involves a unique and tasty presentation of the Mac N Cheese. Stay tuned...

Heading west!

2009-08-12T16:52:00.003-04:00

Two weeks from today I'll be flying into here:

I can't wait to be back home for a visit. I haven't been back to Portland/Vancouver/Battle Ground since Christmas time when it was a snowy, icy mess! I arrive on Wednesday the 26th and leave on Monday the 31st. During that time I'll have two dress fittings, my bridal shower, hope to accomplish some wedding-related DIY tasks and then of course I'll be soaking up lots of quality time with family and friends. And I promise to post a blog with pictures after the trip!

I'm alive, just busy!

2009-08-04T07:59:00.003-04:00

Wow, I definitely fell off the blogging bandwagon...Matt also had the same problem, a sign that this is just a very busy time for both of us.

I've been consumed with work, much more than I care to be and I am hoping the demands taper off by the end of August. It turns out that Summer is our busy time in charter school enrollment. We have quite a few new schools that are taking up a lot of my time, but the biggest drain on my time is Louisiana. Before this job I new very little about Louisiana and the more I learn about it, the less desire I have to ever come back. Since June 30th I've been in Louisiana (in either Baton Rouge or Shreveport) for 21 days. I calculated that and that means I've spent 52.5% of my time here. Over 50%!?! Crazy, huh?

Time is just flying by with all of this work travel and having to work weekends, late nights, etc. Since the last time I blogged:

Matt and I celebrated the 100 days until the wedding! Now we are down to 74 days.
We attended two weddings in one day
We celebrated our engagement anniversary (from afar because as you can guess, I was in Louisiana)
Matt's parents came to visit us
I booked travel to come home late August for my dress fittings and a bridal shower
We booked our flight and hotel for the wedding week!
Matt kicked off the interview process in NYC with 15 interviews with different schools from Seattle U to Northeastern and lots of places inbetween

Well I have lots I want to blog about but most of those things include pictures so I will have to wait to blog until I'm back in Knoxville. I miss blogging!

T-Swizzle

2009-06-18T23:59:00.003-04:00

It is no secret, I love Taylor Swift. Her music is catchy and is perfect to sing along to in the car. Plus everything I see of her reinforces my perception of her as a hilarious and overall impressive teenager. Plus she lives in Tennessee so that's pretty cool too!

At the CMT awards, which I happened to miss (dang!), she decided to try out her hip hop career. I'd say she's pretty good, yo!

Enjoy the video - be sure to click the link above!!!

Two by two update!

2009-06-15T09:18:00.003-04:00

In an earlier post, I talked about the awesomeness of tandem bikes. Today, thanks to the emails I get from Daily Candy (which I highly recommend signing up for), I learned about a new awesome variety of bike. This:

Okay, so this is cool. This would work for our wedding get-away bike! Matt could pedal away and I could just chill out in the giant bucket in the back! And how cute is it?! I could definitely see a "Just Married" sign hanging from the back of the bucket!

Our first wedding gift

2009-06-10T20:32:00.006-04:00

A few weeks back we got our very first wedding gift! Roy and Joanie Bibbens are on top of their game and beat everyone else to be our first gift givers --Thank you!

They generously got us a setting of our china. We were so excited that we documented the occasion...

Two by two

2009-06-03T12:19:00.004-04:00

My grandma used to have an old tandem bike that Megan and I used to play with every summer when we went to visit her in Kansas. I randomly thought about all the fun we had riding it around the neighborhood. (You'd have to ask Megan how fun it was...I'm pretty sure she did most of the work as she was the older sister and my legs were so short I'm not sure I was able to reach the pedals!) I wonder if Grandma still has it...

I started thinking that a tandem bike would be a SWEET get away "car" at the wedding. However, I'm not about to ride a tandem bike two miles to the hotel in a wedding dress! It would definitely be something you would do for pictures and ride it just around the corner where no one could see where a towncar would be waiting to drive you the rest of the way to the hotel!

I'm going to try to convince Matt that we should rent a tandem bike when we visit South Carolina over July 4th weekend. I already found a place that rents them! What do you think? Fun? Or am I crazy?

Oh Tennessee...

2009-05-28T17:24:00.002-04:00

In Tennessee guns seem to be taken more seriously than say, Portland... Go figure!

During my first week here I remember seeing bright yellow billboards that said "GUNS" really big and in all caps across the entire billboard and then in smaller font some information about a gun show or something. Those billboards are still around town, just with an updated date and time for the gun show.

Anyway, proof that guns are more prominent here is the law that was sent and passed by lawmakers (House and Senate) to permit the possession of concealed weapons in restaurants and bars in Tennessee. YIKES! I don't really want people who are drunk in a bar to carry a handgun. A bar fight could lead to much worse than a black eye! Fortunately our governor, Phil Bredesen plans to veto the bill.

Hopefully we move before it the bill gets brought back to the table..meanwhile wine can't be sold in grocery stores in Tennessee. Now that law I want to pass!

I still blame knee surgery...

2009-05-27T11:34:00.002-04:00

In an earlier post I blamed my recent knee surgery for causing me to watch Jon and Kate Plus Eight and for getting totally addicted to the show. I had avoided the show for all 4 seasons it has been on and then reluctantly gave in to watching while I was cooped on the couch with my bum knee. I blogged about this on April 14…I literally got personally invested in the Gosselin family just in time for it to spiral downward. I'm so bummed that I started watching so I wouldn’t be so sad about the recent problems between Jon and Kate.

The 5th season premiered this week. Matt and I watched and felt completely depressed the whole time. What used to be an entertaining show with 8 adorable kids has become a painfully awkward broadcast of Jon and Kate's marital problems. After we watched the season premier we watched an episode from the previous season and the two episodes were like night and day. During the older episode we were laughing, rewinding to see the cute clips of the kids and thoroughly enjoying it. The new episode was so far from that. I hope that Jon and Kate can remove themselves from the public eye and focus on their family. I truly hope for the best for them, but I also truly wish that I didn't care!

Bananagrams

2009-05-19T16:10:00.002-04:00

Earlier in the month my sister Megan posted her review of Bananagrams. I bought it for my brother-in-law Mark's birthday, not knowing from personal experience if it was a good game or not. I knew two things: 1)It sounded fun. 2)I'm a sucker for good packaging/marketing.

Matt and I bought it this weekend so we could play it during our travel to Spokane this weekend and we gave it a few test runs. Turns out, it is fun! And I'm still a sucker for good packaging/marketing. There is really no reason for it to be called "Bananagrams"...it has nothing to do with bananas other than the adorable banana-shaped pouch it comes in. Some brilliant person thought, "let's put it in a banana pouch and call it Bananagrams." It might not be a logical packaging design but it sure does appeal to shoppers! And the banana pouch is perfect for travel!

My rating: A

What a pleasant surprise!

2009-05-15T12:52:00.002-04:00

Matt just told me that he thinks our first wedding gift arrived. A package from Macy's arrived with a Wedding Channel sticker on it. What fun!? It's still 5 months until the wedding so this is quite early (though not totally unexpected since I happened to see a few weeks ago that one gift on our registry has already been purchased).

We'll open the package together on Saturday to find out who is so on top of things. How fun!

Consider this an invitation

2009-05-14T12:14:00.002-04:00

What: University of Tennessee football games (Go Vols!)

When: Choose from…
Sept. 5 vs. Western Kentucky
Sept. 12 vs. UCLA
Sept. 26 vs. Ohio
Oct. 3 vs. Auburn
Oct. 10 vs. Georgia
Oct. 31 vs. South Carolina
Nov. 7 vs. Memphis
Nov. 21 vs. Vanderbilt

Where: Knoxville, TN

Why:
10. Free place to crash at Matt and my place.

9. This is the last football season that we plan to be in Knoxville...meaning the last season you can go to a game and crash at our place.

8. Fall might be my favorite season in Knoxville.

7. People in the South go crazy about college football. You can choose to go crazy for the Vols too or just have fun observing all the crazy people. Either way…guaranteed fun!

6. Attending a game in Neyland stadium is pretty impressive. The official capacity is 102,037. Yeah, picture that many crazy Vols fans packed into one stadium. It’s the fourth largest stadium in the US…right here in lil’ old Knoxville!

5. The Vols have a new coach this year, Lane Kiffin. I know nothing about him and very little about football in general but it is rumored that a new coach injects more excitement into Vols fans and the games promise to be extra fun this year.

4. As I just said, I know very little about football and really don’t care to watch it. Unless it is in person, with the energy and enthusiasm I enjoy them (plus the dance team, cheerleaders and half time show always keep me entertained).

3. Did I mention that it’s the last season we will be in Knoxville and therefore the last chance for you to come stay with us?

2. Tailgating. Who doesn’t love tailgating? And just as people in the South take their football seriously, they also take their tailgating seriously.

1. Singing the Vols official fight song, Rocky Top. It’s so fun to sit back and listen as 100,000 people sing along while the band plays Rocky Top.

Who knew?

2009-05-14T09:53:00.005-04:00

Working in education is new to me. Working with low-income, inner city schools is also new to me. It's an eye-opening experience so far.

Here are five things I never knew until my current job:

1. Louisiana is like its own country. They abide (or don't abide) by their own rules/laws and it is all about who you know.

2. When people say Detroit is bad, they mean half the population is leaving and what's left is a mess. The Detroit school district has closed 100 schools in the past five years. Just this year 29 schools will close and 40 are being restructured. Read more: Detroit schools are 'ground zero,' U.S. education secretary says

3. Contacting parents can be nearly impossible because families move so often. Schools are left with bad addresses and phone numbers and no way to reach the parents.

4. In some areas if you ask a parent what is most important about their child's school the answer is "safety." Not academics, not qualified teachers, but knowing that their child is safe for the 7 hours they are at school

5. Every child deserves a good education, no matter where they live and what status they have. That's why everyone I work with does what we do (even if we want to pull our hair out some days).

Looking ahead

2009-05-13T09:40:00.002-04:00

The move to Knoxville has always been a temporary one. I knew when I came that we would be here for two years and then Matt would finish his PhD and we could move closer to the NW. Time is flying and by this time next year we will know where we are moving and could move anytime from May-July. It'll be here before we know it!

What is really cool about the job search for accounting professor positions is how early the process starts. Schools are already posting job openings for positions starting fall 2010. Matt will start the interview/networking process this summer and then formal interviews will start in the fall. So by November or December we could already know where our next home will be. Cool, right? Especially since I'll be conducting my own job search!

As of last night we only have two job openings that intrigue us (it is very early so there will definitely be more that peak our interest). A university in Milan, Itlay or one in Seattle. Both would be very cool. And if we are being completely honest, Seattle is the more likely of the two. I still have my fingers crossed for jobs in Portland or at WSU Vancouver. We'll see!

Knee update

2009-05-07T10:20:00.006-04:00

I'm happy to report that I "graduated" from physical therapy last Friday and was given NO RESTRICTIONS! I will get the official blessing tomorrow from the surgeon.

Upon my graduation I decided it was time to do The Shred with Jillian Michaels.

Megan, my sister, started The Thirty Day Shred Challenge with her husband a few months ago and she looks great! It appears to be a good jump start into getting fit. Matt and I kicked off our Shred workout on Monday and so far so good. No knee pain, just some extra soreness and swelling in my knee because it is so weak. I'm even getting close to wearing heels again! I've gotten comfortable wearing certain wedge heels and the next step will be my true heels.

Looks like I am healthy enough and have plenty of time to get in shape for the wedding and honeymoon. I'm hoping to run a 5K sometime this summer. I'm going to take it slow and then start looking for local races when I feel I'm in running condition again. For now I'll continue to do jumping jacks and lunges with Jillian from the Biggest Loser. (Quite the sight to see! I got a major case of the giggles during the first Shred workout we did. I looked at Matt and I jumping around in our tiny living room doing Jillian's every command and thought anyeone watching would be cracking up...it's not very pretty...we're quite out of shape!)

**Matt and I won't make it thirty days straight of doing the Shred unless we bring the video with us to Spokane and do it at Colin and Brenna's...which is an option but I'm not sure it is very likely!

It's a Wedding Wonderland

2009-04-24T16:10:00.008-04:00

I started writing a blog about the things I’m excited about this spring and summer. It's 85 degrees outside and forecasted to be nice all weekend which got me thinking about all there is to do in nice weather. My first topic was weddings. And then I realized that we have so many upcoming weddings that it deserves a dedicated blog. So you’ll have to wait for the spring and summer blog.

I’ve been told that in your 20’s there is an early wave of weddings and a late wave of weddings. I’m officially at the age that the late wave is picking up and in full gear! In the coming months, Matt and I get to go to quite a few weddings to celebrate our friend’s love. And as we are still planning our own, you can bet that I’m taking notes on all the details.

Here are the wedding invites we currently have on the fridge:
May 2: Quinn and Deborah in Birmingham, Alabama
Matt is a groomsman in the wedding. Quinn was Matt’s first roommate in Knoxville and they are an adorable couple. I’m excited to go to Alabama for the first time!

May 23: Jon and Trina in Spokane, WA
Woohoo! A wedding in Spookaloo! We are excited to see our NW friends and family. Plus we get to squeeze some of our own wedding planning during the trip.

June 6: Lane and Sarah in Charlottesville, VA
Lane is Matt’s friend in the PhD program and Sarah is his awesome fiancé who I started going to yoga with (until my knee started acting up, but I will return soon!) I can't wait to visit Charlottesville! There wedding is at an old historic house and they plan to have BBQ and horseshoes. So fun!

July 11: Megan and Tim in Walla Walla, WA
Megan is a friend of mine from college. Unfortunately we can’t make another trip back west for this one.

July 11: John and Elizabeth in Knoxville, TN
John and Elizabeth were at the same Engaged Encounters retreat as Matt and I. We really hit it off with them and have went to dinner together once since…hopefully more soon. We’re not sure how to manage it, but maybe we can go to two weddings in one day, we hope to pull it off somehow.

July 11: Ann and Wilson in Cookesville, TN
Ann is in the PhD program with Matt, and is actually the only other person he will graduate with. She grew up in Cookesville which is not too far outside of Knoxville. Again, we might try to make a miracle happen and attend two weddings in one day. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Can you believe it? Three weddings on the same day! I wonder if that is the most popular wedding day of the summer. Having all these spring and summer weddings makes me even more excited to have our fall wedding. I don’t think we have to be concerned about our guests having other weddings conflict with ours (fingers crossed).

Cheers to love and marriage! We’re so excited for all of our friends.

Now I need to go shopping for a few dresses and lots of wedding gifts!

What’s up with this darn knee

2009-04-17T15:41:00.012-04:00

Today I had my first post-op appointment with the surgeon and am happy to report that my healing seems to be normal. The swelling and bruising I have now is more than some people experience ,but it isn't alarmingly so. (Phew! And I'd show pics but it is really not attractive.) I asked several questions about what I can do to prevent future injuries and knee pain. His main recommendation is to keep my weight down and to exercise. Check and check.

Then I asked a question I wasn’t really sure I wanted the answer to: Will I ever get back to running? The answer wasn’t exactly reassuring. He said you never really know but a lot of people can’t get back to running because the impact just causes too much pain. And that I will be able to physically run but it might cause so much pain that I might deem it not worth it. Ugh. I fought off tears as I thought about the feeling of a run on a sunny, breezy day. I don’t know if anything really compares (though I keep telling myself that I can learn to appreciate a bike ride on a sunny breezy day just as much). As I tried not to cry like a baby, I kept telling myself, SOME people can’t run. That’s not ALL people. Time will tell. The last time I had knee surgery I wanted to run a half-marathon one year after surgery. It didn’t happen. I had nagging pain and never got back to running. I’m setting the same goal this time around and hoping for different results.

So here’s the fun part for you readers, hopefully you’re still with me! The doc gave me pictures of the inside of my knee from the scope they did for surgery. It’s kind of hard to tell what is going on, but I’ll try my best to describe what was described to me. And before I begin with the before and after pictures and poor attempts to describe them…I should give some reference to the readers who aren’t familiar with a meniscus. My way of describing them is the cushion that supports your knee—all the impact your knees take mean the joint needs a little padding. You have two different kinds: the medial which is under your kneecap on the inside of your leg and the lateral which is under your kneecap on the outer side of your leg.

Medial Meniscus: The first picture is before surgery and the second picture is after surgery. On the before picture where there is kind of a black hole, that is where my meniscus should be, but it is torn and flipped forward which shows up as the white blobby, stringy thing to the left of the black hole. (Does that make sense?) If you look at the after picture you can see that the blobby, stringy thing is gone and that shows that they took it out and cleaned it up. And yes “blobby, stringy thing” is an official medical term. And I can’t tell in these pictures but apparently “most” of my meniscus is no longer there.

Okay, so these two pictures are my lateral meniscus. They didn’t know I had a tear here until they got into my knee for surgery. It wasn’t as significant as the medial meniscus because nothing was displaced. They just shaved off the torn part and you can see in the pictures that second one is “cleaner” than the first

Also, I find it really kind of funny that I cry at the thought of not running again while millions of people cry at the thought of having to run and would love the excuse of "I have a bad knee."

Megan and Becca visit Knoxville!

2009-04-16T21:20:00.002-04:00

I'm really behind on blogging so I'll try to catch up and will fall back on my standard "high fives."

Megan and Becca made the trek out to Knoxville earlier this month. It is so incredible that Megan was willing to make the journey out to visit. We had so much fun with her and Becca! Here are a few highlights:

1) Just hanging out! I love that just being at home and visiting can be so fun! It was perfect considering how immobile I was. I wish we could have gone on some walks and such, but it didn’t take away from our fun!

2) Having a vivid picture of what Becca is like. Holding, watching and interacting with Becca gives me such a better idea of who she is. Now when Megan tells me she is doing something I can more vividly picture it. I love that.

3) Showing off our home. No one from home has seen Matt and my place since I’ve been here. We have put in some work and added little details to make our house a home and that was really fun to share with Megan and Becca.

4) Getting Megan’s help on the Save the Date cards. We amazingly tracked down every address we needed and I got the save the date designed and printed just in time for Megan’s visit. Coincidence? Definitely not. As Maid of Honor (MOH in bridal speak) Megan was more than willing to help me address all the postcards so we could get them in the mail. It went so quickly between both of us addressing!
5) Playing host! Megan is my older sister who always seems to be the one taking care of me and hosting me whenever I visited. There have been very few opportunities for me to payback the favor. It was fun to plan out meals and outings and make sure Megan and Becca had everything they needed to be comfortable during their visit—which of course included Tennessee gear! Here is Becca in the swimsuit I eyed for weeks before the visit. Megan hasn’t taken any pictures in here UT gear or I’d share that too.

I blame knee surgery...

2009-04-14T17:59:00.003-04:00

Having a knee injury = sitting around ALOT

Sitting around alot + pain meds = a total tv-watching couch potato

And that is how I got addicted to Jon & Kate plus Eight. I guess the show has been on since 2007 (who knew!?). I've seen it on TLC and knew the general concept but always refused to watch because I know how TLC shows can suck you in and I didn't want yet another TV show to watch.

But then it was on and I was on the couch for the 5th day in a row and I decided to watch just one episode. Matt watched it with me and we were both kind of annoyed. There are a lot of kids screaming and Kate appeared to be very bossy and negative. BUT I kept watching anyway. I never noticed before, but Jon & Kate plus Eight is on ALL the time! In fact, I'm watching it right now! Plus with our DVR, I have stocked up episodes. A set of twins and then sextuplets! I can't even imagine. And this fascination is why I can't stop watching!

I think if you watch any show back-to-back-to-back you get sucked in. Any TV showed that I have watched on DVD sucks me in so much more than just a show on TV. Instead of waiting a whole week to watch the next episode you get to watch it right away! With my last knee surgery I got addicted to Weeds on DVD. This time...Jon & Kate plus Eight.

Dog lovers

2009-03-27T10:34:00.003-04:00

Early on Matt and I realized that we shared a love for dogs and a strong dislike for cats. We both had dogs growing up and can't wait to have one of our own. We are resisting the urge to dive right into dog ownership..with the wedding, honeymoon, job interviews for Matt and the 2009 Holiday season, we will be away from Knoxville quite a bit and don't want to board a puppy that much. So we wait.

But being planners, we already know what we will get and when. Back in Vancouver quite a few of my coworkers have Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers and I've always loved them. I used to dog sit for several of the Wheatens and could never get enough of their bouncy personalities and tendency to snuggle up. Fortunately Matt was easily swayed to love Wheatens too so we plan to get a lil' Wheaten pup next spring.

Here's an informative video about the breed. But if you really want to fall in love with the breed, just go to Youtube and search for "Wheaten Terriers." I'm having a "I wish I had a dog" kind of week. How great would a snuggly Wheaten be to keep me company as I clock so many hours on the couch with my knee propped up!?

Can’t help but be optimistic

2009-03-26T17:32:00.000-04:00

As soon as I moved to Knoxville, our friend Mike was eager to have me join his co-ed adult soccer league. I was a little nervous to get back into soccer, but mostly just excited. That was back in October so I figured I had plenty of time to get back into shape and for my knee to fully heal. Fast forward to March and my knee was still bothering me but after seeing a physical therapist and still not having answers to the problem, I decided to just try playing soccer.

Since I tore my meniscus while sitting and stretching last time, I figured if it was going to happen, it would happen. I may as well play soccer and if I injure it, at least I’ll have a better story than last time.

Well, I have a story! My first game of the season was on Sunday (my birthday). I wasn’t feeling confident in my knee at all. I even told the team that I wanted to sit out to be safe, but since the girls had no subs, I decided to play. And it isn’t in my nature to go on the field and volunteer to come off. So I subbed in and didn’t come off the field until I was being carried off.

It felt wonderful to be out on the field. I’m rusty. Really rusty. But I had moments—a really good pass or a good steal—and I felt like I was really a soccer player again. Then I had moments when I kicked the ball and it soared in the opposite direction as I intended. I can’t wait to heal and get back out there and get rid of all that rust!

I did a little “move” and knew immediately that it wasn’t good. I couldn’t put pressure on it at all. I got carried off the field and couldn’t help but cry. At that very moment I accepted the fact that I would need surgery again. Monday morning I called and got an emergency appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon. As suspected, it seemed to be my meniscus so he prescribed pain meds, ordered an MRI and I hopped out on crutches.

Tuesday I got the MRI and Thursday morning I met with the sports medicine doctor. He confirmed that it was my right meniscus again and he needed to do surgery to remove the torn section. I think the doctor was a bit surprised by my reaction. Since I had already accepted that surgery was inevitable, I just wanted to schedule it as soon as possible. No tears this time (the first two times I got told I needed surgery, the flood gates opened and I sobbed in the doctor’s office).

So the big day is April 8th. I can start bearing weight within the first day or two and back to normal activities after about 4 weeks. Compared to my previous surgeries, this recovery sounds like a breeze. I’m so excited. I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much, but maybe this surgery will let me go back to my active lifestyle. I haven’t had a good run in over 2 years and I am eagerly waiting to try again in May! Maybe my nagging knee pain will finally go away! Here’s to hoping the third time is the charm!

More sleeping trials and tribulations

2009-03-20T14:44:00.001-04:00

If you are a loyal reader, you know that Matt is NOT a morning person. And honestly, I’m not either but compared to him I am bright eyed and bushy tailed in the mornings. We have alarm issues on a regular basis. Matt and I both set our own alarms…they are typically within 15-30 minutes of each other. And we both set more than one alarm (yes, that is a lot of alarms going off). I set two alarms on my phone and Matt sets alarms on his phone and clock radio.

Well at 6 am, Matt couldn’t care less about his alarms going off. He’ll reach over and being so sleepy, he can’t figure out if it is his phone or clock going off. If he guesses wrong, he gives up, rolls over and goes back to sleep with the alarm still going. I don’t enjoy this so I nudge him and say “It’s your phone” or “Are you going to get that?” Which in his sleepy state, irritates him because he could easily keep on sleeping regardless of the seagulls cawing from his alarm clock.

This morning the same thing happened. Matt’s alarm went off (this time, his phone). I ask, “Is that your alarm?” Matt: “Yeah.” …continues to sleep

I patiently wait to see if he is going to get it. After a minute I realize that no, he isn’t. So I ask “Are you going to turn it off?”

This was the WRONG morning to ask this question! It turns out that Matt’s phone wasn’t on his bedstand like normal. So he literally jumps out of bed. His stance wide (picture a sumo wrestler’s stance) and he came down loud and hard. It was the biggest fit I’ve ever seen from him. He then grabs his phone and storms out of the bedroom. I thinking, what the heck was that? And tried to catch a few more minutes of sleep. But I was pretty awake at this point so I got up to find Matt curled up, asleep on the loveseat.

He was so mad at me for asking him to turn off the alarm that he banished himself to the couch! I think he was just trying to get me back by startling me awake. Because just a few days ago I got up before Matt and proceeded to fall down the stairs (I’m OK). But Matt got to wake up to a scream and major thuds and leap out of bed to find a Cara pile at the bottom of the stairs. Fortunately in that case he was far from mad and very sweet and consoling to me.

Are you sick of wedding talk yet?

2009-03-14T20:01:00.002-04:00

Sorry if you are sick of all the wedding updates, but I have one more important one! We are finally ready to publicly announce our website! Today we finished our gift registries and that was the last blank to fill in on the site.

Check it out and be sure to leave us a comment!
www.MattandCaraSayIDo.com

Now when people ask "Where are you going on your honeymoon?"

2009-03-11T13:40:00.006-04:00

The answer is: El Dorado Seaside Suites!

Yep, it is too late for a poll. We pulled the trigger and booked our honeymoon! We worked with a travel agent and once we had our options narrowed down to 3 choices it was a really easy pick. The clear winner is The El Dorado Seaside Suites (about an hour outside of Cancun, Mexico). The resort has wonderful reviews and even made the 2006 Forbes list of Top Ten Most Romantic Beach. And we really couldn’t pass up the Swim-up Junior Suite. These pool lounge chairs right outside our door completely sold us.

Plus we get a complimentary honeymoon package with massages, champagne and a candlelight dinner on the beach! We will spend 7 nights basking in the sun at this all-inclusive, adults only resort! We are leaving Knoxville on October 19 and returning on the 26. Woohoo! And the real clincher? It was the best price out of all the trips!

And yes, we are taking the risk of hurricane season. But we purchased good travel insurance so if anything does happen we are covered. We couldn’t justify the travel time we would need to go anywhere that isn’t in hurricane season.

Honeymoon Destination - Voice your opinion!

2009-03-10T11:56:00.003-04:00

You get engaged and everyone asks, "Do you have a date?" We quickly chose the date and were happy to answer that question. Now we are getting a new one, "Where are you going on your honeymoon?" I get this question ALL THE TIME. Like seriously, all the time, the dentist, doctor, friends, coworkers. Sometimes I think people ask just so they can tell you where they went or where they would recommend. Which is great, we've gotten tons of input. Now its just picking a place and going with it. We know that no matter where we go, it will be amazing and will always be special because it is our honeymoon.

We've been investing more time in the topic lately. Who wouldn't get excited about choosing which wonderful, tropical resort to go to? It's a great time-waster to go online and look at all the amazing options. To help narrow it down, I called the travel agent we use at work and Sandy has been guiding us. We have a pretty good idea of where we will go.

Here's what we know:

We definitely want all-inclusive...its our honeymoon we want to be taken care of!
We want tropical. Warm sun, beaches, fruity drinks.
It's hurricane season so we'll be looking into trip insurance.
We dont' want to travel TOO far because of the travel we have to do for the wedding, the lack of vacation time I have, etc.
Did I mention tropical? With lots of sun, beaches and bottomless drinks?
We are on a budget so it will be nice but can't be too extravagant.

Before I tell you our top choices, let us know where you went, what you recommend, or what you don't recommend.

We can't wait! I think I might make us some fruity drinks tonight to enjoy while we look online at all the beautiful beaches and resorts!

www.makemebabies.com

2009-03-05T19:46:00.002-05:00

Check out baby Mattara Hoagish!

Skype Central

2009-03-04T21:46:00.005-05:00

We LOVE skyping with the Sarvela family! We have so much fun talking with Megan, Mark, Corbin, Trent and Becca. Mom and Dad Gish have even come and visited with us on Sykpe too. In the beginning, Matt and Corbin were the goofballs and camera hogs. We have all taken a few notes and now our Skype calls get a little crazy! As you can clearly see from these pictures it is a party at the Sarvela house!

Trent and Becca both being crazy

Starring Trent
Starring Becca
And even Zoey joins the fun!

Etiquette Revisited

2009-02-26T10:14:00.002-05:00

You might remember my thoughts on Bathroom Etiquette back from December. Some of the comments suggested that what I deemed questionably unacceptable is actually just unacceptable. I’ve been swayed to the other side and want to concede. It is in fact unacceptable to talk on the phone in a public restroom.

It was another work incident that made me realize my wrongful judgment. A woman was in a stall on her cell phone having a rather serious conversation with a friend. It seemed to be a call that this person didn’t want to take from her cube as she was giving relationship advice to the person on the phone. I totally understand that this isn’t an appropriate cube phone call, but that doesn’t make it an appropriate bathroom stall phone call. I felt awkward when it came time to flush the toilet as they discussed whether some guy was worth the time and investment or not. But of course, I flushed and quickly washed my hands and left after feeling I had unintentionally eavesdropped on a private conversation. How awkward!

Another etiquette note: in Knoxville men go way out of their way to make sure women go in and out of doors first and in and out of elevators first. I notice this every day as I take two elevators in and out of work. Men will shuffle around the elevator just to let the women out first even though it’d be much easier if they just exited. It’s actually kind of nice. I’ve grown accustom to it and don’t mind letting men open doors and touch the germy doorknobs instead of me! Plus, not a bad idea from a man’s perspective…they constantly get to watch women’s backsides as they exit meanwhile they come off looking polite! Well played.

The Name Game

2009-02-24T21:08:00.002-05:00

Since Matt and I are such well known celebrities, we decided we need a combined name (like Tom-Kat). Okay, so nix the celebrity part...it is just fun to make up a name. After we got engaged we chose "Hoagish" since we have the "g" in common and actually, we could even do "Gishoag" with the "h" in common but Hoagish rolls off the tongue better.

Today I stumbled upon "The Name Game" on the Wedding Channel website. You get to enter in your name and your spouse-to-be's name to generate all your combined name options. Here are ours:

First names

Camatt
Caramatt
Caratt
Catt
Macara
Mara
Matta
Mattara

Last names

Gihoag
Gishag
Gishoag
Goag
Hish
Hoagish
Hoash
Hogish
Hosh

In my own opinion, our last names make some pretty ridiculous and kind of ugly sounding names.

Mac N Cheese : Month 1

2009-02-23T21:04:00.003-05:00

Well, we tried our first Mac N Cheese recipe. The verdict? Matt just called it "middle of the road." I call that a failure!

We went for the Martha Stewart recipe that Megan recommended. The recipe calls for pecorino Romano cheese OR Gruyere. I bought the Romano simply because I couldn't pronounce the other one. I should have asked Mark and Megan because they would have recommended the gruyere. The Romano was good, but it didn't cut the sharpness enough. We think the gruyere would have been a better contrast to the sharp white cheddar.

Rating: 6.5

But it sure looks like a 10!!

Wedding Inspiration

2009-02-22T22:49:00.007-05:00

If you are like I was six months ago, you have no idea what an inspiration board is. I quickly learned what they are as I started planning our wedding. Wedding blogs are all the rage and are an endless supply of inspiration, ideas and DIY instructions. I'm loving it. I have a few that I read on a daily basis. I see inspiration boards all the time and figured it is about time I do it! Essentially an inspiration board is a collection of pictures that shape the theme and details of the wedding.

Here is a sampling of what inspires us for our planning:

We are going with a vintage theme with orange and blue as our colors. My grandma offered us the cake topper from her and my grandpa's wedding and we gladly accepted. This became the main inspiration for the vintage theme. The colors were an easy pick: Orange for our wedding season (Fall)...which we both love. And blue because it happens to be both of our favorite color. Plus the beautiful stained glass windows in the chapel (pictured in the inspiration board) are blue.

Carpet Makeover: Before and After

2009-02-22T19:00:00.009-05:00

In January Matt and I replaced the carpet in most of the house --everything except the kitchen, bathrooms and dining room. We went from one shade of beige to another but you can tell from the pictures that it still made a drastic change! The stair pictures show the drastic upgrade the best.

Before:

After:

We quickly learned that new carpet "sheds" and we are finding an increase in fuzz and feeling the need to vacuum more. A small price to pay for the wonderful results of clean, soft carpet! And here are pics of some of the other rooms complete with new carpets:

The Office/Guest Bedroom

The Living Room (notice the half-sanded coffee table - our next project!!)

The "Master" Bedroom

The "Master" Bedroom/Hallway

KnoxVILLE to NashVILLE

2009-02-18T11:18:00.001-05:00

On the drive from Knoxville to Nashville I can’t help but notice an obscene amount of “villes.” And if you’re from the South, you know it isn’t pronounced “ville” but instead more like “vulle.”

So on the drive we passed exits for and/or drove through:

Pikeville
Lawnville Road
Cookeville
Smithville
McMinnville (Oregon has one too!)
Hartsville
Gordonville
Leeville
Clarksville
Nolensville

And it’s only a three hour drive! Some other noteworthy villes: Huntsville, Alabama where the Stephanie the widow from the Bachelor is from. And Hendersonville where Taylor Swift lives.

Mmmm, Mmmm Good

2009-02-12T10:12:00.003-05:00

I get daily emails of cool, unique trendy things through Daily Candy. I feel like it keeps me hip and I learn about the coolest things. For example, today's "Weekend Guide" recommended the Mac N' Cheese of the month club. Yum! What a good idea! It sounds so so so good. BUT I am not going to pay $500 for 12 meals. At least, not until Matt and I become DINKs. For now, we are implementing our own Mac N' Cheese of the Month Club. It should be fun, we'll research recipes (suggestions welcome!) and try one out each month. And don't worry, I'll keep you in the loop by posting our reviews of each recipe. MMMM.

Cooking is so much more fun when there are two people. When it was just me I ate cereal, PB & J and out a lot. But Matt and I are having fun planning out meals for the week and eating at home to be healthier and save money for the wedding. We are always open to new recipes. If you have a favorite (and it is relatively easy) pass it on! I'm already inspired to try a recipe -not Mac N' Cheese but it does happen to have the same essential ingredients: pasta and cheese that was featured in Megan's blog.

"It's a great day to be alive"

2009-02-07T14:38:00.004-05:00

Matt and I both feel that this week was wonderful. There wasn't one thing that made it a good week, but mostly we just felt better after being active, from tennis on Sunday to morning workouts and basketball. Plus I learned a lot at work which boosted my energy and enthusiasm. And now it is Saturday and its sunny outside. This all leads up to feeling inspired. So I decided to document the energy I am feeling today and the ways that I want to channel this energy.

Continue morning work outs and set one day a week as my long cardio work out
Get back into yoga
Do abs every day
Stretch regularly
Eat more fruits and veggies
Learn how to do calligraphy (and apply said skill to my wedding invitations)
Keep checking things off the wedding To Do list!
Read about current trends and apply to marketing my schools
Learn something every week about graphic design and online marketing

Seriously, this all started from a really good workout--an hour and twenty minutes of cardio! I’m so glad that I actually enjoy working out and it isn’t a chore. Feel free to join me in documenting some aspirations, I’d love to hear them and then you’re accountable to something!

AND GO ZAGS TONIGHT!!!!

Oh Nordstrom, How I love thee.

2009-02-06T10:37:00.001-05:00

I ordered my shoes for the wedding a few days ago from Nordstrom.com. I’m so excited to get them and try them on in hopes that they fit my requirement of cute and comfy.

Turns out, I’ll be waiting a little longer than normal for my shoes to arrive so I can put them to the cute and comfy test. I got the confirmation email that the shoes had been sent. And immediately realized…CRAP! I used the quick purchase option that used my saved information. Only, it still had my Pullman, WA address. Ugh!

And here’s why I love Nordstrom so much. I called right away and didn’t have any wait time and got a super polite woman. She was so calm and quick to help me solve this problem. It was a stupid mistake on my part but she didn’t make me feel that way at all and happily helped. She put me on hold while she called UPS to see what they could do. A few minutes later she came back to the line and explained that the shoes will have to go all the way to Pullman where they can get intercepted and then re-routed to Knoxville. PHEW!

Then she says, “I’m going to go ahead and take off the $8 shipping charge since its going to take longer than the promised 4-8 days.” I gratefully accepted while thinking “What? It’s totally my fault that it will take longer…but if you want to waive that fee, please do!”

Another good customer service experience with one of my favorite stores! If only there was one in Knoxville!

High fives of one of my top my pet peeves: Know It Alls

2009-02-03T10:25:00.000-05:00

1.
There is no way one person knows it all. Accept it and quit trying to act like you’re the one person who actually does know it all.

2.
Learn to value other people’s opinions –you might be surprised to learn from other perspectives and sometimes, you might actually like their perspective more than your own.

3.
It’s just annoying. It makes you less likeable if you are a Know It All…and don’t you want to be liked?

4.
Two heads are better than one… It’s true! A collective group really can bring more to the table than one person.

5.
My biggest peeve about Know It Alls is the way they take time to remind people that they were right when it is completely not necessary. And when they take that to another level and correct people just to correct people.

I’m in a meeting and currently annoyed with a Know It All. Can you tell?

Nawlins dining

2009-01-30T01:00:00.003-05:00

Several recommendations led me to eat at a restaurant in New Orleans called Jacque-Imo’s. It's pictured below, the building on the right.Here’s my experience:

The hostess led me through the bustling kitchen where an array of smells (all mouthwatering) struck my nose with a pleasant delight.(Yes! Good recommendation!) Weezer’s Blue album played with the echo of dinner conversations and laughter (Love it!). The walls are covered with tree patterned wall paper. Chile pepper lights are draped in one corner. The lights on the wall are colorful decoupage-style sconces. The fan above my head had three different muted color light bulbs. Each table cloth is covered with a different floral table cloth (the tacky outdoor picnic table kind). By themselves? Tacky. Together? Eclectic.

I sat at a quaint table for two and chose the seat facing the kitchen/exit. I’m enjoying my tasty cornbread and taking in the ambiance. AND THEN…From behind me comes a 50-ish year old man…bald with a goatee and wearing a tacky Hawaiian print short-sleeved button down top. It was awkward from the minute he made eye contact with me. But he forged on –brave move considering the questionable look I was giving! He mentioned that “we” are just sitting over there and I was welcome to join them. He gestured but I didn’t dare look over my shoulder to see who “we” was. I politely said “Well thanks for the invite, but I’m fine here.” So he turned and walked away and up steps the hostess who must have been watching the whole thing. She said “Miss Cara (impressive that she remembered my name from the wait list) if anyone gives you a hard time, just tell me honey. Actually, tell Derek.” At that exact moment another restaurant staffer walked by, and the nice hostess stops to introduce me to Derek. Being a young and fit black man, I am more inclined to get his help if I feel threatened by the old men then telling the petite 45-ish hostess. Derek jumped right in, “Yeah, you just tell him that you are with me.” I responded that I should have told him to look at my ring finger (which I happily flashed). Derek’s response? “OH, that NEVER works!” Haha…too bad! Though truth be told, despite the awkwardness of it all, it can be nice to get some attention and makes for a great story…it makes a dinner for one much more exciting!

So I never did look behind me to see who “we” was. But I have a feeling I wouldn’t have wanted to. The incident became the gossip topic of the restaurant staff. When another waitress brought me my food she leaned in with her back towards the men and said “I am SO sorry about those men back there.” Hmmm. And then after I finished my meal and told my waiter that I was done and ready for the bill, he came back with my bill and cheesecake and said “I just had to bring you a little piece.” Sympathy cheesecake!?! Wow…those guys must have been BAD.

And gets worse! On my way out the door, I hear the hostess again, “Miss Cara?” …Yes? “Do you need someone to walk you out to your car?” Oh man…

I declined and made it out safely and never did see who the “we” was. I sure hope it wasn’t an old man with friends the male supermodels and professional athletes!

**I do need to mention that the food was amazing. I enjoyed my shrimp a great deal. However it was New Orleans style shrimp which I guess means it’s the whole shrimp…and I had no idea how to gracefully eat it. It was served with a spoon. Not sure how that was supposed to be used. I just used my fork and my fingers.

My feet are finally wet

2009-01-27T12:32:00.003-05:00

Yes, it is raining in Knoxville but that isn’t why my feet are wet. I’m finally feeling valuable at work!

Up until a few weeks ago, when people asked “How’s the new job?” I tried not to come off as too negative. Chalking it up to good experience. But then I complained that I’m not busy enough, haven’t figured out the internal politics, don't love it--that it is a good temporary job to have while living in Knoxville but not long-term.

Fortunately my perspective is starting to change. I’d still like to be busier, but I’m not as bored as I was prior to January. I’m starting to figure out the politics, or at least navigating them enough to make a name for myself. And I finally feel like I’m bringing value to the company! I’m starting to get pulled in on more projects and asked for my opinion on more things. I suppose it just took awhile to really get my feet wet.

It is a good reminder that I am not the type of person who jumps in and takes control right away. I like to take control but only after I feel comfortable and after I’ve analyzed the situation enough to know that I am right (heaven forbid I take a risk and be wrong!!). I love figuring things out on my own and being a self-starter but I guess it takes time to dothat well in a new company and new industry. So I’m glad to say that 3.5 months into the new job, it’s going ok and getting better.

I’m still not convinced that it’s a long-term thing, but really, that’s because there are too many other things I could do (not to mention many places I could end up living). I’m already looking ahead to the next thing. Yesterday I found a way to get the design software I want for a great price through the University. And found a local college that has an online graphic design certificate program…it’s a 6 month (80 hour) program so I think next January I will go for it! Keep broadening my resume so I have lots of options! Plus I think design would be quite fun.

2009-01-22T16:52:00.002-05:00

Today I’ve been busy day dreaming…If I had 4 months of vacation and money to spend, I would:

One month: Visit friends and family in the NW (with stops in Portland/Vancouver, Seattle, Spokane and Boise)

Three weeks: Take Matt to Italy to be his tour guide for Florence, Cinque Terra and Sorrento. Then together we’d explore Lake Como, Sicily and wherever else the train might take us.

One week: Rest in Knoxville, get stuff done around the house, do laundry, watch Ellen

Two weeks: Go to Bora Bora and stay in a hut over the water, do very little other than bask in the sun and drink fruity drinks

One week: Go to DC to feel the Obama-mania in person

One week: Rest in Knoxville, get stuff done around the house, do laundry, watch Ellen

Two weeks: Go climb Mt. Kilimanjaro (with Bruno and friends of course)

Two weeks: Wine taste in Cali

(and of course, Matt would come with me everywhere and I'd have an open invitation for anyone to join us at any point)

What would you do?

High Five -Reasons I want to retire in Brentwood, TN

2009-01-21T11:37:00.008-05:00

After spending just a few hours in Brentwood, TN last weekend, I've decided that it'd be a great place to live...possibly even retire to.

It's neighbors Franklin, TN. I wanted to visit Franklin after reading about the history there...somewhere I read that it is known for having the bloodiest 15 minutes in American history (a Civil War battle took place there). I further researched and decided that it looked like a cute town with an adorable historic downtown that features many cute restaurants and shops. As it turns out, Franklin is in the 18th wealthiest county in US.

You're probably thinking, Why live in Brentwood and not Franklin? I think it's better to live in a closeby town to the rich town instead of IN the rich town. Unless of course you are rich, then you can live in either. Brentwood is certainly well-off too, which is one of the reasons I like it. The second reason I want to live in Brentwood is the high likelihood of seeing (and maybe even being friends with) famous and/or well-connected people. Tied to Brentwood there are some well-knowns, including Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood and Niki Taylor. Franklin has even more well-knowns including: Miley Cyrus, Trace Adkins, Kenny Chesney, Sheryl Crow, Sara Evans, the Judd sisters, Nicole Kidman, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban and the coach of the Tennessee Titans.

Because a great place to live goes far beyond cute towns and rich people, I also give Brentwood props for the nice people. Matt and I ate dinner there and really enjoyed our server. He was personable, carried a conversation and was generally very pleasant. Then the manager of the restaurant came to our table to ask how everything was. He too was very pleasant and we carried on conversation for a bit before he left. We finished eating and before the check came, the server brought over a dessert--compliments of the manager since it was our first time eating there. How nice! (and it was delicious of course!)

With the move to Knoxville I have complained to Matt that it is a great city but it lacks places like Nordstrom, Costco and Trader Joe's/Whole Foods. You can probably guess the fourth reason I want to live in Brentwood... They don't have a Nordstrom (but I could see one going in) but they do have Costco and Whole Foods. And those are just the stores we happened to drive by. I'm sure there are some wonderful locally owned stores as well as other chains I love. And it might be a wealthy town, but they still have one of my faves, Target.

The last reason to move to Brentwood is real estate. The homes are beautiful. Many are big, but what I really love is how much characher and how pretty they are. The whole reason Matt and I even went to Brentwood was to drive around and look at all the homes. We aimlessly drove around and oooo-ed and ahhh-ed at many houses. Then we found a development that is being built. The houses were breathtaking and they were still construction sites! I can only imagine how nice they will be when complete and with nice landscaping! Below are some of the houses featured in the flyers we picked up. My favorite were the townhouses (the last two pictures below). They are the most modest and each one is so unique! BUT I was thinking, if anyone wants, the manors are really mansions and we could get a group of friends together and all share one. I mean, really, one has 5 bedrooms with 7 baths and a half bath. Not bad!

You can get tours of some of the interiors and see all the homes at the website:

http://www.windstonetn.com/

Another Obama Shoutout

2009-01-19T11:41:00.002-05:00

Also quite enjoyable...

Obama Shout Out

2009-01-19T11:26:00.000-05:00

This is awesome:

High Fives of Sports Fans

2009-01-08T16:48:00.009-05:00

Last night at the Gonzaga vs. Tennessee game, Zag fans were greatly outnumbered by all the orange-clad Vols fans. But there did happen to be three rows of GU fans (probably 10-15 fans total) one section over from us. We were told that those were probably the family seats that GU players are allotted. Great to see fellow Zags at the game! Not so great to hear the fellow Zags barking! Now, maybe this is a new trend in GU fan pride, but I will not be joining in if it is! I was almost embarrassed that our fans were barking like crazy people. And the Vols fans did not let the barking slide. They shouted things like “Keep it class, Spokane.” I gotta give the Vols fans some props on calling them out on their obnoxious fan behavior.

In general, I like Tennessee fans. They wear their orange with great pride, and sing along to “Rocky Top” like it’s their job. And when they aren’t up against Gonzaga, I consider myself a UT fan. But I’ve only been to two UT sporting events and both times the fans did not act like TRUE, LOYAL fans in the end. The Alabama football game I went to was my first exposure to this. We were losing a home game and so many fans fled out of the 102,000+ capacity stadium that Matt and I were outnumbered 4 to 1 by the away team’s fans when the game ended. In my mind you have to be a fan in the good times and the bad. And if you’re already at the game, just stay to see it end! Give your players your support when they need it most—when they are losing!

Last night wasn’t too different. I’m not sure what happened, but when Tyler Smith went down, something else went must have happened. Mark Few got mad and suddenly the UT fans turned sour. Fams started pouring out of the arena almost immediately. Nice fan support guys. One bad play and you’re out of there….

Another pet peeve that I realized at last night’s game is more about “bad fans.” In the seats behind us we had an older couple--Tennessee fans of course. All game they were very into cheering. Clapping along to “Rocky Top,” hollaring when a player does a good play, standing and yelling when Gonzaga is shooting free-throws…BUT...it wasn’t all good. The man, with his beer belly, orange old-man sweater and bright white hair, had a pretty feisty side. Around the same time that Tyler Smith went down and the fans started streaming out of the arena, Old Man Orange started yelling and cussing at the UT players…the same players that two minutes earlier he was praising. One missed lay-up and he’s telling his own team that they don’t deserve to play college ball and they must have learned how to play basketball in a closet, etc. Why? Why in the world do fans turn so quickly on their team. I definitely get mad at GU players (mostly Pargo for making dumb mistakes) but I simply shake my head and then yell “Come on Zags, let’s get it together!” …must be the optimism in me.

Old Man Orange also gets to feed number four of my high fives of sports fans. His feistiness in number three might clue you in to my next complaint. He’s the type of fan that yells and cusses at the ref no matter what happens. You could hear the slap of a foul as Daye was going up for shot. And the 5 big screens are replaying the blatant foul. Does Old Man Orange care? NO. He’s busy turning red in the face, screaming at the top of his lungs that the call was Bullsh**. I also think it’s interesting to note that in most cases the fans that are this type of obnoxious are like Old Man Orange: they are OLD MEN. You’d think they’ve been around the block, are wise and mature and can keep their composure. And they probably are, except when they are watching their team play. Then they become like a hot-headed 18-year-old.

Number five doesn’t go to Old Man Orange, instead it goes to Old Man Orange’s sweet wife. She was gray-haired and orange sweater sporting, just like her hubby. And boy was she a southern belle! I loved hearing her cheer. When they chant “V” “O” “L” “S” “Go Vols, Go!” She is chanting “V” “O” “L” “ASS” …her southern accent made the “S” sound hilarious, striking close to “ass.” It was darlin’.

And to wrap up: GO ZAGS! I’m so glad you guys showed your colors and pulled through with a win. A great way to end pre-conference play! WCC here we come!

High Fives of TV

2009-01-07T17:39:00.002-05:00

Wow. I fell off the blogging bandwagon! With our travels back to the NW, my blog was far from my priority of things to do. And now I’ve been away so long that I am torn about what to write about…so many options!

To cover the most topics in the most effective manner, I will do “High Fives.” Until I feel caught up on my blogging, I will pick a topic of the day and do my top five thoughts/comments/stories about that topic.

Today it is all about: TOO MUCH TIME IN FRONT OF THE TV
1:
I probably shouldn’t admit it, but I love the Bachelor. It’s not even that it is a good show…it really isn’t anymore. I love the Bachelor because it is a bad show. It’s one that I get completely sucked into and enjoy watching because of all of the ridiculous antics. Truth be told, the big selling point for me to watch the Bachelor is sharing the experience. It’s kind of become Megan and my show. Because I keep moving away from Vancouver, we barely get to watch the show together in person but for several years now we watch it simultaneously, texting each other throughout and talking on commercial breaks. Added bonus? Brenna and I do the same thing too! Now that I’m on Eastern Time we have resorted to email exchanges. I send ones for Megan to open while she watches and she’ll respond for me to read in the morning.

2:
Okay now here is a show I REALLY shouldn’t admit to watching: True Beauty. It was on after the Bachelor last night. These RIDICULOUS people are trying to win a modeling contest as the most beautiful person, only they are actually being judged on their inner beauty. It’s totally trashy and like the Bachelor, is only entertaining to watch because of how bad it is.

3:
The third reality TV show that I am in love with is less embarrassing (I hope): The Biggest Loser. I am convinced that this show is less embarrassing because you watch people who are actually bettering themselves, lengthening their lives and inspiring many people to do lose weight. At times it is disturbing to watch these people battle to lose so much weight, but mostly it is just amazing to see what they can accomplish.

4:
Another show that I enjoy and feel the need to comment on is How I Met Your Mother. My sister has been a big fan of this show since its early days, so I would watch it on occasion. But as of lately I look forward to it. And I feel like more and more people are talking about it. The new Friends??? Maybe!

5:
Now, so you don’t think I’m a complete couch potato (I swear I am not!), I also have clocked quite a bit of time in front of the TV doing Wii Fit (or watching Matt do the Wii Fit). Thanks Santa for the gift! The competitor in me loves the motivation that games, rankings and high scores give me. And the yoga and strength exercises truly make me sore!

Reflecting on an eventful year

2008-12-19T10:22:00.004-05:00

On Saturday Matt and I are going to Battle in Seattle (GO ZAGS!!). We are so excited to go. And not just because it will be a great basketball game and we get to see many of our good friends, but it was at this event last year, Matt and I met for the first time. (See picture below from our first night meeting...you can tell we had fun being goofy together from the very start.)

It is pretty remarkable…

In less than a year’s time we fell in love and got engaged. Now I can’t imagine my life without Matt. Plus I moved to Knoxville, Tennessee and started a new job. So much has changed in a short period of time! What is even more remarkable is how naturally all the change has happened. Falling in love with Matt has been unlike anything I even dreamed of. He is my perfect match. We couldn’t possibly be apart so that made my move to Knoxville an easy decision. And the transition has been wonderful…even the hard days don’t seem that bad because I’m with Matt through it all. (I know, this is sappy overload, sorry!)

Tonight we get on a plane to fly back to the NW. I’m so excited to be traveling WITH Matt this time instead of traveling by myself to see Matt. Think good thoughts of safe and smooth travels for us so we can be sure to cheer on the Zags Saturday and toast a tequila shot in honor of the first night we met.

Have you seen anything cuter?

2008-12-17T19:16:00.003-05:00

Matt and I are resisting the urge to get a dog, but when we do (the plan is after January 2010) we will get a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. This video proves that this breed really is the cutest thing you've ever seen!

Btw, we aren't doing very well at resisting. We already have a name picked out for our future dog. And I might have stopped by the humane society a few times since being in Knoxville. :)

Calling all dog lovers!

2008-12-16T14:02:00.006-05:00

Do you love dogs? Have you owned a dog? Dreamt of owning a dog?

If you answered “yes” to any or all of these questions, go out right now and buy or check out the book Marley & Me by John Groban. Especially if you have traveling plans for the holidays—this book is perfect light reading for trains, planes and automobiles!

Why you ask? I ask you…have you ever regretted reading a book:

That made you continually laugh out loud AND brought you to tears?

That you can totally relate to?

That makes you reflect on your own memories?

That you just CAN’T put down?

Good books are the ones you are sad to finish…Ones you want to tell all your friends about. Marley and Me was this type of book. Matt watched me read it and after seeing me laughing and crying while reading, he was too intrigued not to read it. Less than a week later, he’s already done reading it!

So go get it already! Or ask to borrow our copy, I’m happy to share! I hope the movie lives up to the book; it looks promising with a good cast (Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson).

And while I’m recommending books, I’ve been on a good streak lately and HIGHLY recommend: "Eat, Pray, Love" and "Kabul Beauty School"

I’m also taking recommendations. I need a good book for my own holiday travels. On my shelf that I’m contemplating are: Middlesex, Kite Runner and Atonement. Care to help me chose? Or even recommend others!

And here's the dog I am most excited to see when I am home:

Proud Auntie

2008-12-14T22:35:00.003-05:00

I meant to post this awhile back but kind of forgot about it...

Megan (my sister) has been wonderful with keeping in touch ever since I moved to Knoxville. I get regular emails with stories and pictures plus she blogs and we also talk on the phone. But this piece of mail has to be one of my favorite "updates" I've gotten:
It says: "Auntie Cara...I love you!...Are you having fun...Hi Matt...Love Corbin" And the picture is pretty clearly labeled that it is Corbin and me. This card itself is pretty stinking cute. But the cutest thing about it is Corbin's attempt to mail it. He made the card, sealed it in an envelope, wrote my name on it, put a sticker where a stamp normally goes and tried to put it in the mail just like that. Megan got to it and put it inside a bigger envelope with a real stamp and my address.

So cute! And I'm so impressed that Corbin wrote the card and drew the pictures without any help at all! This blog is the first that Megan has seen of it. Can't wait to go home and see the fam!

BE -short for Bathroom Ettiquette

2008-12-12T13:06:00.001-05:00

I debated whether I should blog about this topic. But when I expressed my concern to Matt, he said that bathroom etiquette was an acceptable topic and that people should read and learn about it. So I’m going for it!

In my opinion, there is an unspoken bathroom etiquette (BE). I have no idea where it originates and I think it’s something an individual just picks up over time. At the age of 26 I think I follow most of the unspoken rules. But if I’m being honest, I have to admit I have been on my cell phone and answered my cell phone while in a public bathroom…sorry if you’ve been the person on the other line! I believe that phone use in a public bathroom falls as questionable BE, but I could be wrong, I could be partaking in unacceptable BE in which case I apologize!

This topic came up after an incident at work earlier this week. A nice woman at my company walked into the bathroom while I was washing my hands. We politely greeted each other (acceptable BE). While standing in the sink area, she asked me when I am heading west for the holidays (acceptable BE). As I was answering her question she headed into the bathroom stall (questionable BE…I hardly know this woman so talking while she is going to the bathroom is a little odd. I will gladly talk to my friends while they are peeing, but even among friends this is questionable BE).

It gets worse…

My response about traveling was “Next Friday.” To which she says, “Oh, you are taking the week of Christmas off too.” I was thinking, “Phew. End of conversation, I can quickly make my exit.” But no, she continues on to tell me that she is taking the week off but isn’t traveling…she wants extra time off to just be at home, get ready for Christmas etc. You might be thinking, “Cara, that isn’t that bad. She was just carrying on a conversation.” But there is one more factor to consider. During this conversation, with me standing awkwardly by the sink, already done washing and drying my hands and coworker X in the stall, I can CLEARLY hear this woman going #2. Yep, she was pooping and it wasn’t subtle. There were definite farting and blopping sounds (very unacceptable BE). Ew. So I wrapped up the conversation as best I could and hollered back, “See you later” as I fled out the door.

Now if you do this type of thing, I’m sorry if you are offended…but please stop. It is awkward and not compliant with the unspoken bathroom etiquette.

Sleeping trials and tribulations

2008-12-09T22:27:00.004-05:00

When I wrote about Matt turning into a pillow swiper, I got a lot of responses. Turns out, Matt isn’t alone in his late night criminal behavior! …So I thought you all might be interested in more of our sleeping trials and tribulations.

Matt is a much deeper sleeper than me and it is most apparent when alarms go off in the morning. Neither one of us are morning people. Quite the opposite, we are night owls and aren’t very strict about our bedtimes. This means mornings are slow moving with lots of snooze hitting.

Well, two nights ago Matt set his phone alarm for 6 am. He left it on the dresser across from the bed and had it set to vibrate. When it went off, I woke up. Matt didn’t. I told him that his alarm was going off but he was not interested. Apparently since he didn’t wake up to it, it didn’t exist. So I, not being an early riser, chose to try and ignore the vibrating phone. But five minutes later, it went off again. Again I tried to tell Matt that he needed to turn his alarm off. Still, Matt was not interested. Repeat this a few more times. Matt kept getting more and more irritated with me. He told me that I was being ridiculous, it was barely audible. Eventually I got up out of bed and turned the damn thing off myself. When we finally got up, we had a good laugh about it. And we agreed, Matt shouldn’t bother setting his alarm because I’m the only one that wakes up to it anyway.

Last night, Matt’s sleepy morning behavior continued. We were going to try and get up early to work out. My alarm went off at 5:50 a.m. and I hit snooze. Five minutes later, I hit snooze again. And again. And again. I reset the alarm 7:10 a.m. and hit snooze AGAIN. And again. And at 7:15 Matt woke up to the alarm and asked, you ready to go to they gym? In all seriousness! He thought that was the first time the alarm went off, apparently he really was dead to the world for the first 10 times Pink’s song, “So What” blared out of my phone!

The Holiday Spirit

2008-12-07T22:12:00.008-05:00

I love the holidays. I'm really excited to be home for the holidays. But Matt and I wanted to decorate our Knoxville home for the holidays even though we won't be here for Christmas or New Years.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we braved a craft store to get some festive decorations. It was well worth the long check out line, we got 60% + on everything!

Also in the spirit of the holidays, we bought ourselves a Christmas present...a new dining room table. Kmart is closing here so we got quite the bargain on an already very affordable (read: cheap) dining set.

The last step in the holiday spirit was baking! I made all kinds of delicious cookies this weekend: no bake peanut butter chocolate cookies, peanut butter kiss cookies, chocolate WOWs, chai shortbread cookies and snickerdoodles. We made plates to give to some friends in town (see picture)...of course we saved plenty for ourselves too!