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2011 year in review

I have absolutely loved reading everyone's year in review blogposts so I thought I would get in on the fun! This year has been such a year of growth for me. There have been enormous highs and unfortunately some lows, as there are in any year.  This past year I have really come to a huge level of contentment.  I am so incredibly blessed and try to always let the people in my life know how much they mean to me.  I think 2011, overall, has been one of the best years of my life and I am so excited to see what 2012 brings! 

The beginning of the year held so much fun for me--lots of wedding fun!  Rob and I were so blessed by so many friends and family who showered us with gifts and so much love!  My first shower was in January.  Rob's mom, Rob, and I all drove down to Kentucky and had a wonderful time!  This is a picture of all of the ladies on my side of the family at the shower! :)

February was even more fun with wedding planning!  This was a super stressful time in my life, for sure.  But--I got to spend such quality time with the people I love the most that I wouldn't go back and change anything about it!  Here's a picture from one of my other showers!  Several of my friends and bridesmaids all headed down to New Orleans to celebrate my bachelorette as well! :)

March brought the big day!  I felt about a million emotions during this day and I hope I always remember all of them.  I am so blessed that so many of my friends and family were able to be there for Rob and I.  All in all just the most perfect day because I got to marry the love of my life!

April brought our amazing honeymoon in Spain and the Canary Islands.  Afterwards we came home and started to settle into married life.  Being married isn't always easy, for sure, but I wouldn't want to argue with anyone else. :)

May was a tough month for me.  I knew that I would be spending a lot of time away from Rob this month and it kind of tainted the whole month for me.  I don't want that to happen again this next year! Pretty much this entire month was devoted to thinking about this place in the picture below, Camp Bountiful.

June was one crazy month.  I worked three weeks at Camp Bountiful, in addition to jetting down to the beach to spend time with Rob and his family.  This next year I am going to spend the whole week with his family in Charleston, SC and I could not be more excited about it!  June also brought our engagaversary. :) 

July I spent two weeks working youth camps, but Rob and I made time to visit Louisville and part of the Bourbon Trail in Kentucky during this month.  This was SUCH a great thing we did for our relationship.  I want to make this a tradition for us--it was seriously a wonderful getaway for the two of us.  

August brought the wedding of my best friend!  I was so so honored to be in her wedding and we had such a great time celebrating Paige's wedding.  I love her husband so much and I am so excited that we've all become great friends. :)

September was a really tough month for me.  Right before Labor Day Weekend I found out that I lost a really great friend and mentor in a car accident.  Bonnie made a tremendous impact on my life and I will always remember the way she stood up for me and helped those around her.  The world lost a wonderful person when they lost Bonnie!  This picture is of Bonnie and her husband dancing at our wedding.

October was a nice relief after the grief I felt during September.  Rob and I took an overnight bus trip with a bunch of our friends to NYC.  I had such a great time exploring the city! :)

November brought my first Thanksgiving with Rob's family.  We had an amazing time spending the day together.  November also brought the addition of a new baby kitten!  Charlie is still learning how to deal with all of the other animals in our house, but he's fitting in nicely! :)

December brought our first Christmas together--and of course our wedding picture Christmas cards!  Hurray for those!  :) 
I am so excited to see what 2012 brings!  Early this week I'm going to have a goals list up, as well. What were some of your best moments of 2011? Happy New Year blogging friends! :)

our plans for new years!

I am so excited that this year will be the third New Year's Eve Rob and I have spent together!  We have gone out with friends, had a sweet night at home, but this year we wanted to do something a little bit different!  My family gets UK basketball tickets every year and this year I was lucky enough to get the UK v. Louisville game from my sister!  She's out of town and knew I'd loooove the chance to go!  So exciting!  Rob's definitely a OSU fan, but he's going to help cheer with me. :)

 

Since we are going to be in Kentucky anyways for New Year's Eve, I started the hunt for a fun place for us to stay after the game.  Any chance we get, I like to stay in small bed and breakfasts.  I think they are so romantic--and are such a different atmosphere than a hotel!  I found this cute B & B right outside of Lexington called The Beaumont Inn. 

Details like this make me so happy!

A beautiful nighttime picture!

There is a restaurant located on the grounds, as well as a couple of other fun places to check out.  I know we will have a great time!  What are your New Year's plans?

what i'm loving wednesday!

This week I am going to keep it simple for What I'm Loving Wednesday!  There are so many things to love around this time of year, but I'm going to focus on a few of the things making me the very happiest this time of year!

Today I met up with a few friends for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory.  I love that we all have a few extra days off around this time of year! :)

I'm also loving the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake because it's gluten-free!  It's made with flourless chocolate cake!  I brought home a slice to split with Rob--I can't wait to dig into it tonight! Isn't it so beautiful?!

I'm loving the quality time I've spent with so many of my friends over the past few weeks.  Yes my schedule has been hectic, but I love that we are still making new memories with old friends.  They are absolutely the best and have really recharged my soul lately. :)

And, of course I'm loving my sweet husband Rob!  We recently celebrated NINE months as a married couple!  I really have tried to treasure the moments we have had together for our first married Christmas! :)

Make sure to link up with Jamie to share what you are loving this week! :)

sometimes and always...

I have to admit...I am not always clever enough to link up with Megan's Sometimes and Always posts, but I really enjoy reading what she has to say!  I think it is so fun!

Sometimes I want to stay in bed ALL day long!

Always I am impressed with my productivity--and thankful for it!

Sometimes I wish we lived at the beach--around much warmer weather!

Always I am thankful to live so close to our families!

Sometimes I enjoy a good day of watching tv on the couch.

Always I can find something to watch!  (Today I've watched October Sky, Big Bang Theory, and now I'm watching Three Men and a Baby.  An oldie but a goodie!!)

Sometimes I like to eat alllll day long.

Always I'm thankful for clementines so I can do just that without worrying about the calories! :)

christmas 2011

Rob and I had a wonderful time celebrating our first married Christmas together!  I know that little kids make Christmas so much fun, but honestly being married and having someone to share all of the love and joy of Christmastime with makes it so incredibly special.  I have had many single Christmases, and I am so thankful to have someone special to spend the holidays with!

Rob and I started celebrating Christmas the Sunday before the actual holiday with his mom's family.  We went to his grandpa's house after church.  Everyone on his mom's side was there--and everyone gets a present!  His grandparents are so generous and thoughtful.  They ask for Christmas lists from all of us!  Honestly though, I would be just as happy there if we didn't get anything.  Spending time with family is what is most important!  

We continued the celebrations by celebrating with our friends on Thursday night.  Two of our friends bought a new home and so warmly invited us all over to their house to have a Yankee Gift Exchange and yummy food!

Friday, Rob and I headed down to Kentucky to spend quality time with my family.  Three days is just not enough--I wish we had so much more time!  My mom had so much delicious food for us--including potato soup because we were both sick!  Rob and I both had the nasty head cold that's been going around.  My sister makes a delicious homemade ranch dressing and the combination of soup and salad was exactly what we needed to feel better for the holidays!

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to do some cooking and cleaning for my mom's Christmas Eve Party!  Rob was such a champ and put together a new dresser for two of my cousins.  He seriously worked all day long on it!  

In the evening, a bunch of my moms family came over to celebrate with us!  I love my mom's Christmas Eve parties.  It's a time of fun, laughter, and family.  We also had some very good food!  My mom sure knows how to entertain!  I should definitely have gotten some pictures of the spread, but I was just enjoying myself so much!  I did capture this sweet picture of Tobbie.  He was a little wore out from the festivities...

On Christmas morning after we had opened all of our goodies, Rob and I packed up the car and headed back home.  I was very surprised that I wasn't more emotional about leaving.  The only bad part about being married on holidays is not getting to spend the entire time with your own family.  I love Rob's family dearly so I think that helps a lot!  

We went straight to Rob's parents' home to stuff ourselves with roast beef, turkey, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, broccoli and cheese, and just about every single dessert you can think of!  I tried really hard to limit myself--but seriously everything was so so good!

After lunch, we opened up all of our wonderful gifts from Rob's family.  They go ALL OUT for Christmas and it is so fun to see what everyone gets!  Rob and his BIL always exchange gun/wine/beer gifts and this year was no exception.  They are so excited about these gifts that they are almost more entertaining than my niece and nephew!  So funny!!

And of course I'm sure you are all interested in my goodies I received for Christmas, right?  My mom and sister bought Rob and I a bread maker and an ice cream maker.  I can't wait to get started using these!  So fun!

Rob was incredibly generous, as always.  He is such a thoughtful gift giver and I love that about him.  This year he surprised me with a pretty La Mer watch that I had been eyeing for some time.  I received this pretty purple one with a travel charm on it!  So gorgeous! 

Rob also gave me a purple North Face.  Are you starting to notice a trend?  This isn't the exact one, but it's close.  I wore it while running errands on Monday and it was the perfect lightweight coat!  The color is also pretty cheerful which makes running errands more fun!

My SIL and her family completely surprised me with this necklace--but with my own initials, of course.  This is one of my favorite gifts!  I love my new monogram and am so excited to show it off!

This Christmas was absolutely one for the books.  I am so incredibly blessed to be surrounded with such a wonderful family and to have married into a wonderful family, as well.  I am forever grateful for the times we get to spend together! :)

forgotten cookie recipe!

One of my favorite bloggers, Meg from henning love, shared so many yummy Christmas cookie recipes with us last week.  I haven't heard of several of the cookies she made, and I so appreciate her sharing her yummy recipes with us!  The eggnog cheesecake bars with cranberry relish sound so so delicious--and so perfect for the season!

Meg totally inspired me to share one of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes with you this year!  My Grandma Schneider used to make forgotten cookies for us all of the time.  Anytime I make them or my mom makes them, it takes me right back to being a young kid working with her in the kitchen.  I love when something reminds me of her because she was such a wonderful person--not to mention amazing cook and baker!  So, I would like to share this yummy recipe with you!  Also, the cookies are naturally gluten-free so they are perfect for someone like me! :)

The recipe is:

4 room temperature eggs

1 1/2 cup of sugar

2 tsp of vanilla

2 cups of mini chocolate chips

2 cups of chopped pecans

1 pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 375.  This is super important because you turn the oven off once you put the cookies in the oven!  First, you take the four room temperature eggs and separate the egg white from the yolk.  You take the egg whites and beat them in a small bowl.  I started whisking mine with our hand mixer in a measuring cup.  I didn't use my Kitchenaide for this because the bowl is way too big.  

After you mix the egg whites for several minutes on high, you can slowly add a pinch of salt, the vanilla, and the sugar.  I would add just a little bit and mix for a minute, add a little mix for a minute.  During this process you're going to want your mixture to stiffen up and form soft peaks.  (You are basically making a meringue.)  After you have added all of these ingredients, fold in the mini chocolate chips and the pecans.  I like the mini chocolate chips so you can make smaller cookies. :)

Drop small spoonfuls of the cookies onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets.  This is really important--they won't turn out if you don't do this!  You can also use a brown paper bag--it also works.  

Put the cookies in the oven, close the door, and turn off the oven.  Leave the cookies in overnight.  In the morning they will be all ready for you!  I can't tell you how many times my sister and I have had forgotten cookies and a glass of milk for breakfast. :) 

Here are the leftovers from our family Christmas party on Sunday!  I may have eaten a few before the party, but they were still a big hit! :)  PS  Do you like my awesome U of L cookie platter?  My BFF Sarah gave it to me as an early Christmas gift and I've already used it several times! :)

What's your favorite Christmas cookie recipe?  Have you been doing lots of baking this year?

what i'm loving wednesday!

This week I am loving the opportunity to take in all things Christmas!  Rob and I are headed down to my family's house this week and I can't wait to do some fun baking with my mom and sister!  Aren't these the cutest ideas?

                                                                                                        Source: bakerella.com via Becky on Pinterest

                                                                                        Source: sweetology101.blogspot.com via Becky on Pinterest

                                                                                            Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Becky on Pinterest

                                                                    Source: ashlemieux.blogspot.com via Becky on Pinterest

                                                                                                    Source: howdoesshe.com via Becky on Pinterest

 

I'm also loving my sweet husband Rob! I love that we get to spend Christmas together this year.  I am so looking forward to all of the fun memories we are making--and the traditions I hope we always carry on with our families! :)

appetizer ideas anyone?

Tonight Rob and I are off to a Christmas Party with a bunch of my best friends who are now Rob's friends.  Three of my friends are married and we just love their spouses like we grew up with them too.  It should be a great time!  One of my friends and her husband just bought their first home together and are hosting the party.  They're going to do the main dish, but Rob and I are in charge of appetizers.  I think that's the most fun!  

I want to make some yummy goodies to eat before we eat, but I know that appetizers also end up being something you eat afterwards when you're hanging out so I want to make sure they're something that will stay yummy for awhile without us needing to redo anything.

Here are some of my ideas....

 

What do you think?  Have you made any yummy appetizers lately?

our fun weekend!

I am seriously the world's worst person at taking pictures!  I have to constantly remind myself to take my camera or I will just end up with iphone pictures!  This weekend was filled with so much fun--and so many friends, but sadly I did not get any pictures!

Friday night, Rob and I headed out to meet up with some friends for a double date of dinner and a movie.  We headed out to a yummy local restaurant called Scali's.  It's very small and family owned.  Scali's isn't super expensive, but everything is made right in the restaurant.  And it's delicious!  I had gluten-free pasta with a spicy marina sauce and a bunch of veggies thrown into it.  Rob had a mushroom proscuitto risotto.  It was amazing, amazing, amazing. :)  Here's a pic of the inside of the restaurant--and that's actually the corner of the table where we sat! 

After dinner we went to see the new Sherlock Holmes!  Such a great movie--I totally recommend it!  I also snuck in a knitting project I've been trying to finish up for the holidays.  I felt a little bit weird knitting, but after realizing how much more it made me enjoy the movie I think I'll be doing that from here on out! :)

Saturday, Rob and I slept in and it was glorious!  We had to run a few errands, including picking up some fresh eggs from our nephew and returning some dishes to Rob's parents.  It was nice to stop in and visit!  When we came back home, I watched the Louisville basketball game (we remain undefeated!!) and got ready to meet some other friends out in Columbus!

We met one of my favorite couples, Josh and Josh, at a fun restaurant in Columbus called The Jury Room.  It's owned by the same person that owns/manages several of our favorite restaurants in the city so I was excited to check it out!  

My dish of portabella mushrooms with lots of grilled veggies and cheese was delicious and super filling, but Rob and one of the Josh's didn't order a dish they loved.  So, we decided to hit up another place we had heard great things about--Mouton.  Mouton has small plates and is a really cool atmosphere.  It reminds me of a French cafe!  Rob and I split a couple of different yummy cheese, local honey and honeycomb, fresh dates, and some small sliced salami.  It came out on a wooden cutting board.  Such a cool place to be!  I tried to take a picture, but it was so dark it didn't turn out.  :/  However, the company was wonderful and the food was amazing!  We are already making plans to have another double date in January. :)

Sunday started off with church and then we headed off to Rob's family Christmas Party.  His mom's family is huge and they have a big Christmas party together.  I love it.  We ate and ate and ate!  Then we opened up a bunch of Christmas presents and spent some quality time together.  I really love Rob's family and I cannot say often enough how thankful I am to have married into such a wonderful family.  

This week promises to be quite a busy one with substitute teaching, friends in town, a friend's Christmas Party, and getting ready for Christmas!  I am so excited to have time to spend with the ones I love most!