inauguration day

This is kind of fun. I've been doing it all morning.

I kind of have the Obama head tilt going on here, right?

01.19.09

*Dwight Schrute: Assistant to the Regional Manager*

We've had Dwight in our office/spare bedroom for quite some time, but something about him made me want to take his picture today.

And now one of my favorite Dwight exchanges:

Dwight Schrute: OK. I'm going to have to search your car. Give me your keys.
Ryan Howard: I am not giving you my keys.
Dwight Schrute: Don't make me do this the hard way.
Ryan Howard: What's the hard way?
Dwight Schrute: I go down to the police station, on my lunch break. I tell a police officer (I know several) what I suspect you may have in your car. He requests a hearing from a judge and obtains a search warrant. Once he has said warrant, he will drive over here and make you give him the keys to your car, and you will have to obey him.
Ryan Howard: Yeah, let's do it that way.

01.18.09

*heels*

I saw a photo similar to this one on someone's blog not too long ago and thought it was sweet, so I tried recreating it. I'm not in love with my editing, but overall, I think it is cute.

01.17.09

*the wrestler*

Going into the movie, I was hoping I could enjoy the movie without focusing on how abnormal Mickey Rourke's face is. No such luck though. I was very much obsessed with it the entire movie. Overall, it was good. Not great. It did make me intrigued by wrestlers and the type of people they are. Such an odd combination of interests one must have to become a wrestler, right?

1/16/09

*what happens when your car won't start*

It was -578 degrees on Thursday and Friday (approximately). Since my car wouldn't start Thurs, I figured it wouldn't start Friday, so Jon brought me to work....at 7 AM! This is more than an hour earlier than I usually get to work. Ugh.

test

1/15/09

*coldest day of the year (thus far)*

My car wouldn't start today, so I stayed home. Here I am staring out into the frozen tundra before one of my last tries to get the car started.

p.s. I'm kind of obsessed with the lighting in this photo.

1/14/09

*sick*

1/13/09

*afternoon snack*

One good thing about winter is that oranges are in season! If my memory serves me correctly, this one was really big, thus unfortunatley not very juicy and flavorful.

1/12/09

I am going to post these separately rather than in one post. I didn't like them being lumped together the way they were. This way each photo can be their own shining star.

*best lollypops around*

I bet you pass by the See's Candy kiosk at the mall during Christmas and don't think twice about it. Well, that is a mistake. They were giving free samples of these lollipops one day, I tried one, and have been hooked ever since. (The chocolate ones are the best) You can thank me after you've tried one for yourself.

365 vol. 2

1/6
Christmas in a box

1/7
Kohl's on a Tuesday

(a lady walked by me right after I took this picture and I think she thought I was crazy. I imagine that is only the first of what is to come this year...)


1/8
us in our cozy sweatshirts


1/9
8:56 am from the driver's seat


1/10
2 macs and 1 tom


1/11
a snack at the mall

365

I had the idea to take one photo each day a few years ago, but for whatever reason, I didn't follow through with it. The idea came back to me though while reading life of a square(d) the other day...and I decided I'm doing it. My only fear is I go out of town and I forget my camera and the project is ruined.

I'm forgetful, this isn't far fetched.

Although, the only places I go out of town usually are Milwaukee and Green Bay...and my mom and dad and Gina both own cameras, so even then the project won't be ruined.

My goal is to post on every 5th day...and hopefully I get get more creative and there won't be an excess of self portraits). Here it goes:

1/1 long hair! (I kind of miss you)

1/2. new kicks

1/3. new 'do


1/4. sumptutous olive



1/5. out my work window

Do you want to know what else I am going to do? This. I love it.

christmas card '08

Behold, our Christmas card...

I took this pic at night, so the lighting is bad. Here is a better version of the design:

I debated long and hard about if we should use a wedding picture or one of the fun ones Andrea took a couple months ago. Since we already sent out thank you cards that had a wedding pic on it, I decided to go with the generic ones. Well, not generic (far from actually), but you know what I mean.

The rest of the card was conceived kind of organically. I printed photos of my design, took them to Archiver's with no plan and just bought some supplies. I got:

12x12 Bazill Bling cardstock in Glass Slipper.

I couldn't find a good pic of this, but trust that this brand and style of paper is so great. I have used to for pretty much everything I have made in the past year. The texture and shimmer is so rich.

photo corner mounts

rolling tape (again! love this stuff).

I used it to tape the picture down to the cardstock...because otherwise, the only thing keeping it attached was the paper corners. It probably would've stayed, but I wanted to make sure.

corner rounder

and you know, since I cannot resist a beautifully wrapped package, the envelopes had to be just as fabulous as the card itself. I got both graphics on Designer Digitals and made labels using full sheets of label paper (on of my best friends in the craft world).

And so for those reading this who were not on our Christmas card list, a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you!

12.19.08

Last night we went to the 3rd annual Holiday Happy Hour. It is spearheaded by Barney and since he has lived with different people every year, there is always a mix of new faces and it is always a good time.

I opted to wear normal clothes to this event, but my husband decided to wear this:

Yup, that is one ugly sweatshirt...crafted by moi. He checked out his options on buying one on ebay, but they were all going for much more than one should ever spend on an ugly sweater/sweatshirt...so I decided I could craft one just as ugly with a glue gun and some felt. I think the gold chain made of garland is my favorite touch.

What do you think? I should make a bunch of ugly sweatshirts next Christmas and sell them on ebay???

(such a poser)

12.13.08

Who says a 27 year old can't play dress up with their dolls?

#44 - BO

My good friend was at Grant Park last night and these are her words:

"I cannot really describe the mood there because saying it was “positive” or “happy” doesn’t really convey how absolutely amazing it felt . . . Looking at some of the pictures today, I realize I was really really lucky to be there. "

Yup.

Now, let's hope for good things!

patrick moberg

10.31.08

The Soap Opera.State Street.Madison, WI.

Crockpot Mexican Chicken

My sister posted about this crockpot recipe for Mexican style chicken and I tried it out last night. I have to say, it was so delicious that it deserves to get posted again here. Since it was crockpot style, it was also super easy. I think Gina may have served this over rice (?), but we had ours on tortillas with a little cheese. I also didn't have any corn, so I substituted that for diced green chilis, which might have given it an extra little kick.

Interestingly, as I was throwing everything into the crockpot, I realized these were the exact same ingredients for the enchiladas I make! In that recipe, I cook the diced chicken first, then add the rest of the ingredients below, combine them on the stove top and let it simmer, then fill tortillas and bake them with cheese on top.

So basically what we had last night was exactly the same meal, but the cheese was wrapped in the tortilla rather than being baked on top, the flavor was so much better, and again, a lot less work.

I imagine it would be really good as a regular taco filling too - add some lettuce, tomatoes, avacado, whatever floats your boat. So tasty!

Crockpot Mexican Chicken

Ingredients:4 boneless chicken breasts (diced)

1 jar salsa (around 24 oz.)

1 can black beans

1 can whole kernel corn (I substituted diced green chilis, but I bet BOTH would be fantastic!)

1 box rice (I used Goya Yellow Rice- 8oz. box)

Tortilla chips and/or tortillas
Shredded cheddar cheese/Sour Cream

Directions:
Pour the diced chicken, salsa, black beans, and corn into the crock pot and stir to mix.

Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.

Make rice according to box and serve with Mexican chicken mixture either on tortillas or with chips.

Top with cheddar cheese and sour cream.

go big red!

We had some friends in town this weekend for the Badger homecoming game. Even though we didn't actually go to the game, we still had a blast at the bar across the street from the stadium. I even caught 2 tshirts and 2 can coolies that they were throwing out into the crowd. It was one of the highlights of my day. One of the tshirts was even a size small!! When does that ever happen? I had to fashion it prep style all day though because I had no where to put it.




And guess what else? This guy was there. You know, the Miller Lite guy. Good times.

10.11.08

I'm having a hard time coming up with a way to incorporate real life happenings with wedding happenings on this here blog of mine. I missed a recap of a big weekend 2 weekends ago...and this upcoming weekend will probably be big too. Whatev, I will just make up my own rules as I go.

2 weekends ago, we attended Kevin and Greta's wedding. These two got engaged the same weekend we did back in December and we both compared notes as we were going through the planning of both weddings. So fun! It was also super fun for us to be at this wedding since this is the first time being a guest to a wedding after having been through one! I have to say, I am much more thrilled for them knowing what it is like going through it...feeling so much love from all your guests and just how fun it is in general. Jon was also in the wedding, so he was even more nostalgic, I think.

Here is the thing on the picture front though. I was trying a lot of the manual settings out on my camera during this wedding (I'm trying to get better! Especially at indoor photos), and a lot of the pictures didn't turn out that well :( I only got one semi-decent pic of the newlyweds. The rest are blurry or have a lot of noise in them.


Like at most weddings, I/we were dancing machines. Jon lost most of his ensemble by the end of the night, save for his undershirt (and pants of course!) and we gladly lounged around at home for the entire day on Sunday.

Now let's backtrack a little bit...

During the break between the ceremony and reception, I headed with Gina, Todd and Cooper to Todd's parents' pumpkin patch, Anderson's Pleasant Patch Pumpkins. They live on the land also, so we hung in the house most of the time, but we ventured out for a little while with Coop to enjoy the weather. (It was SO nice 2 Saturdays ago!) We were a tad overdressed in our wedding ensembles to be traipsing around a pumpkin patch, but what are you gonna do? I got some good shots of Cooper with the pumpkins I think. Fall pictures are so great...and then throw a baby in the mix and you really can't go wrong.



..And of course, Madison was pissed she had to stay in the house couldn't run around the pumpkin patch, terrorizing all the customers. She was probably extra pissed that I was taunting her while taking this picture on the outside where she so badly wanted to be. Poor little Madison.