Blog Hiatus

Same old story...I've been crazy busy and have slacked on updating the blog. I promise I am going to attempt to start doing it weekly!

Since the last post, Robin is hanging in there. Her surgery is this Monday (2.7.11) and they are going in to remove the tumors and ovaries and appendix. We are praying that they do not open her up and find something they were not expecting. Please pray for a speedy recovery from a very nonevasive surgery!

Matt and I made pretty hefty new years resolutions. We vowed to eat healthy (not the BS kind, like really) and have been doing a really good job at it. We have cut out red meat from our diet almost completely. Our next step is to begin cooking fish at home (we are scared at this point, we only get it at restaurants). Matt is training for his marathon in May and I am trying to start exercising lightly (any heavier I will get burnt out). I love to walk so I am walking twice a week and I have started doing yoga at my house (thanks DVR). It's going great!

Our friends' Thomas and Christy are getting married on March 18 and we are preparing for that with fun showers and bachelor/bachelorette parties! WOO HOO! We cannot wait for their big day.

We know that 2011 is going to bring so many wonderful things and we are so excited about it! Already, we have 7 weddings this year! WOW! Cannot wait for all of them!

I will be finished with my masters in June (wow 13 months) and I am SO EXCITED ABOUT IT!

Hope everything is great with you!

Much Love.

Asian Broccoli Slaw

Thought I would share a really easy Asian Slaw I made this weekend. You can buy the bags of Broccoli slaw at the store. Looks like this....It has broccoli, carrots and red cabbage. You can make it yourself, but why? This looks delicious...

Anyways, threw that in a bowl and cut up about 5 green onions. Throw them in and add pepper. Roughly chop some walnuts (or any kind of nut) and add 1/4 cup of Brianna's Ginger Asian dressing. You've seen it before...they have all kinds of flavors to choose from.
Here is the French.











Try it out.

Much Love.

Vegetable Challenge

Look at all of those great vegetables!

Matt and I just started a December challenge (we do weird things like this sometimes). We were trying to think of something that would be a CHALLENGE. We do not eat enough vegetables so we have challenged each other to have a serving of vegetables every day. After doing some digging online, I found this incredible blog... http://greatbigvegchallenge.blogspot.com/ Check it out! You can hear about her "vegetable challenge" to get her son to like vegetables by eating through the alphabet! How fabulous?

So, I am going to try to keep you up to date on our vegetable journey which is definitely going to be longer than a month.

So far, we have been eating broccoli, carrots or celery every day. How boring is that? We need to pick it up a bit.

We are going to be adding asparagus, squash, and leeks over the next week. I will post pictures soon!

Much Love.

Christmas is here

Christmas is finally here and we have been so busy. We decided to do another live tree this year and I am so glad we did. They are not perfect, by any means, but they are so worth the imperfections. This one seemed too skinny and not very full, but it has made that little corner just explode with delight! I walk in my door and I get this amazing feeling! It is just beautiful. Last year, we received this ornament for Mabel. It's my favorite ornament. It is front and center on my tree, right next to Dusty's (RIP) collar.

As promised in my last post, I was able to make the Mexican Casserole from Janetha (Meals and Moves).

Here it is:

The list of exact ingredients are in my last post.

Saute your onions and green bell peppers in olive oil.

Make sure they are soft.

Then add Ground Turkey

Break it up and cook meat. Add taco seasoning and combine.

Once meat is cooked and taco seasoning is fully incorporated, add rice, tomatoes (I used can) and black beans (rinsed).

Add enchilada sauce and greek yogurt and stir.
Then add LOTS of cheese!

Then bake! YUM! It was beyond delicious! And the leftovers are even better.

Ok, next. While I was cooking the casserole, I realized I had a half of an onion left over and some leftover ingredients in the fridge. So, I made a greek salad. YUM.

Start with chopped onions (bigger than a dice).

Chop a seedless cucumber and add to the colorful bowl!
Add a couple of swirls of extra virgin olive oil and then sprinkle a generous teaspoon of Greek Seasoning.

Stir together. Add Salt and Pepper to taste. Cut up a handful of cilantro and add to salad.

Finish by taking a lime and squeezing half in the bowl. If you like ALOT of citrus, add the whole thing!

Enjoy!

Much Love.

A better blogger.....

She looks like a good blogger......

I would like to become a better blogger. You know, one that people want to read because it's enjoyable. How do I do that? Maybe I need to take a class. Or maybe I just need to become more dedicated to my blog. My posts are obviously boring because I don't even like reading them, so I need to step it up on that end as well. So, here is me trying to step it up.

Mexican Casserole

Matt follows this amazing blog called Meals and Moves. Janetha gives HEALTHY recipes and they really are good! We have made several. This one looked AMAZING and we are actually trying it tonight. I will blog tomorrow (see I'm trying here.....) and let you know how it goes.

<--- This picture is from Janetha's Meals and Moves website. I hope mine looks this good.

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey, chicken or beef
1 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1 packet low sodium taco seasoning
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 (15 oz) can black beans
2-3 tomatoes, diced
1 (11 oz) can green enchilada sauce
1 cup 0% plain greek yogurt (can sub sour cream)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 (4.5 oz) can diced green chiles
avocado or guacamole for garnish
serve with whole wheat tortillas

Directions

In a skillet, sauté onion and bell pepper over medium-high heat.

When they soften, add your ground turkey.

Add the taco seasoning.

Once your meat is cooked, add rice, tomatoes and black beans. Mix well.

Pour in Enchilada Sauce

Add greek yogurt.

Add cheese.

At the very end add the chiles.

Pour it all into a 9×13 baking dish and cover with more cheese!

Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees until warmed through

Toast some tortillas

Serve with guacamole.

So, there it is. I think it's going to be delicious. YUM YUM YUM!!

Much love.

New addictions

Lately I have been finding fabulous new blogs that I am becoming addicted to. I wanted to share...

1. Ruby Press- a ultra chic boutique that blogs about their favorite finds.
http://rubypr.com/blog/

2. Adventures in Renovating a Brooklyn Limestone-it's just great.....enough said.
http://www.brooklynlimestone.com/

3. What's up Whimsy- a girl trying to get into the interior design world describing herself as "contemporary whimsey, with a hint of vintage" <--- Exactly my style!
http://www.whatsupwhimsy.com/

Enjoy! And have a great weekend!
Much Love.

Singing In The Rain/Umbrella

I had to share this video. It was so great watching this on Tuesday. I bought the song on iTunes the very next day. Is there a song that resonates with you always? Umbrella was that song. It reminded me of college and everytime I hear it, I sing at the top of my lungs. Now, I believe I will be singing this song at the top of my lungs! Have a wonderful Thursday!!


Much Love.

Building a buffer...

My sister Robin sent this to me this morning. I had to share. It is exactly what I needed right now. I hope you have a great start to your week.

Build a Buffer Around Your Schedule by Rick Warren

Reverence for God adds hours to each day. Proverbs 10:27 (LB)
"Without margin in your life, you'll think, Oh, no! Another thing to do! Sorry, God -- I'd like to do that, but I'm just too busy."

In preparation for a decade of destiny, we’ve been talking about the need to be physically healthy – that God wants us to take care of our bodies. And I want to stress one more time that unrelenting stress harms our bodies. Why do we wait until our health plummets before we decide to create margin in our lives? The Bible teaches that your body needs downtime in order to heal and re-energize. Listen to why this is so important: when you’re overloaded by activity, you can only think of yourself. You’re in survival mode, just trying to make it through another day. And that limits your usefulness in ministry!When you have no downtime or margin in your life and God taps you on the shoulder, saying, “I’d like you to do this for me,” your first response isn’t joy. Your first response is, “Oh, no! Another thing to do! Sorry, God -- I’d like to do that, but I'm just too busy.” We end up resenting the great opportunities God brings into our lives. But when we deliberately and specifically add downtime into our lives, we become available for God to use us as we head into this decade of destiny. You don’t have to live on overload. You don’t have to live in survival mode. Begin today to build a buffer around your schedule. Then enjoy the benefits of margin -- and see what God does next!

It was so nice to see the MANY different types of people that came to support Robin at the benefit on Saturday. It speaks volumes about her and the way she has touched so many lives. It is just astounding. I know she is fulfilling God's plans by bringing people closer to Him and it is working!! He is going to heal her and allow everyone to be IN AWE OF HIM!

Just trying to stay above water....

Have you ever felt that you are sinking slowly and you are desperately just trying to keep your nose and mouth above water so you can breathe??

That is where I am right now. I am taking three graduate classes and up until this point it has been fine. I teach all day and then after school I work on my grad school material before going to class. Since we are getting to the end of the semester, the work is increasing and my teaching is getting more stressful. I have a breakdown once a week to Matt. I just sit and cry and say that I can't do it. I agreed to coach the Academic Team and the Dance Team again this year and it has been a lot of fun. But pairing those teams with 3 grad classes and full time teaching is WAY TOO MUCH and I feel as though I am on the brink of a nervous breakdown. I do not want to sit here and get people to feel sorry for me....but it is nice to just write this down and get it out. Ok, I'm done.

On to a much lighter note, my sister's benefit is this saturday and I am so excited about it. The girls have worked so hard and have done an absolute fabulous job. There are so many people coming to support Robin and show her love! Please come out and have some yummy food and drinks and get your dance on!! It is going to be a blast. It starts at 8:00pm @ Newport Central Catholic and it is $25 at the door.

It has come...

The time has come for Robin to return to MD Anderson in Houston and get the reports on whether or not the chemo has been working. I feel like this day has been drawing near for some time now. I cannot believe it has been almost 9 weeks since Robin was in Houston last time. I think back to that time when she couldn't walk, she looked 8 months pregnant because of the fluid and tumors in her ovaries, and the way she looked so darn sick. It makes me nauseous thinking about it.

Now, 9 weeks and 4 chemo treatments later, she walks a mile a day, plans birthday parties like nothing is wrong and plays with Mora and Lucia all the time. The chemo has to be working. I keep telling myself this, but I think that is where I am thinking wrong. No, I am not wrong about it working, I am wrong about the chemo. God is healing her. I know he is. And that is a big step for me to say, especially on my blog where anyone can read. I am such a public school teacher, where I know I have to keep my beliefs on religion to myself, as to not have an agenda toward anything. Well, this is not my professional career....this is my sister! I will not hold back when it comes to her, especially because it is her that has taught me to have this type of relationship with Him. I used to think that if I went to church and was a good person, I would be fine. Nope. I must have a relationship with him....this is not a one way street and I have learned to talk to him about my day and my worries (although He already knows them-but I like to say them out loud to make sure!). Since then, I have been calmer and feel as though he is showing me that there is nothing to be afraid of in this situation. He is protecting her and I know that He will not let harm come her way. He does and always has had a plan for her, and I am thinking now that it is to be an inspiration to others going through similar situations. She is just amazing!!!

Thank you to everyone who has been storming Heaven in her behalf. I really appreciate it and I know he is listening. If you have some extra prayers, please don't stop! Also, please send a few up there for my dear friend, Cassie, to be blessed with something she has wanted her entire life, a child. She is another one that God had another plan for her....she is an inspiration to those wanting a child. Her blog is amazing...and I know that God has His hand on her as well.

Much Love.