"Never close your lips to those whom you have opened your heart." - Charles Dickens

This quote perfectly sums up the relationship between a certain Rhodesian Ridgeback/German Shepherd mix and Pug I know quite well.

The pictures below do all the talking...

Those two lovers are my daughter pup and nephew pup, Buster.

They define the quote, "Love knows no boundaries." :)

You Learn Something New Every Day

A few weeks ago I got a job (praise God!!) which is why I haven't been blogging much. The first week was pretty rough. The whole getting up super early again and making sure I'm in bed by "my bedtime" was hard to re-adjust to. However, the hardest part was leaving Leia at home. After spending 4 months at home with her every single day, it was very emotional having to leave her in a cage all day again. I literally bawled every morning the first week of work (and there are still some weepy mornings). I wasn't just crying when I was saying goodbye and kissing her cute little face... there were tears through the whole morning and getting ready for work process. She was used to use rolling out of bed around 8 am, taking long walks several times a day, going to the dog park at least every other day... she was just used to constant attention and action and now I was leaving her again. I know... she's a dog, not a child. Jeff tried repeatedly to reason with me when he saw the tears begin to roll but nothing worked. My heart was heavy for my poochie and I was worried she wasn't getting enough energy out.

We all know with any new job comes learning new things and developing new skills... and with this job there have certainly been plenty of things for me to learn. But these new skills and tricks have not all been at the office... (Where is she going with this?)

The most important new skill I've learned being employed again is the art of playing fetch while blow drying my hair. Yes. Leia has always loved when I blow dry my hair and she stands and nips my blowing hair and I dry it. One morning she was hovering around me as I was blow drying my hair and I was on a tight time crunch, feeling bad that I couldn't really play with her. I told her, "Go get your toy," which is a new command she's learned (almost). She obediently (this is a word used rarely for her) brought it back and I proceeded to throw the toy down the hall for her to chase... then got back to blow drying. She brought the toy back and I repeated the process. DING! <---light bulb going off. I can play with my pooch as I blow dry my hair! Since then I've perfected this process and mastered the art of sitting on the floor outside my bathroom (thankfully the cord stretches just long enough for optimal seating to face down our long hall way where I throw the toy) so I can blow dry my hair while throwing Leia's toy for her. Its perfect! Do I wish I had all day with her again? Yes, of course. But this little 6ish minutes of toy throwing and Leia running is a perfect solution to getting out (some) of her morning energy. I haven't always been a "blow dry my hair every morning" kind of girl but now its a sweet time with my baby girl that I look forward to and won't miss. I'm so thankful for this new skill (can I really even call it that?) I've learned being employed.

You may have read those, "Tips for Working Out or Toning Up While Getting Ready for Work." Well now I've taken it up a notch... maybe I'll write a book, "The Art of Playing with Your Dog While Getting Ready for Work." We'll see.

I wonder whose rolling their eyes at this point?

Yes, my dog is a spoiled brat.

What's Cooking?

What are the perks of being unemployed you may ask? Well there are a few for sure... but one of the big ones is having time to cook "real meals" and try out new recipes. I have thoroughly enjoyed being able to try out a variety of new things for dinner. I've had three goals in minds when cooking new meals... 

1. Keep it healthy

2. Keep it inexpensive

3. Keep it delicious :)

Here are just two of my recent creations!

Vegetable Tian

What is a "tian" you might ask? (I asked the same thing... thank goodness for Google!) Here's what About.com says: "A mixture of roasted vegetables cooking in a shallow dish, usually with cheese or au gratin. This dish derives its name from the large, round, earthenware cooking pot used in Provence, France." One day I'll go to France and eat some Vegetable Tian, which I'm sure will be a million times better than my own.

Pre-slicing

There's something so pretty about the rainbow of color in these vegetables :)

Sauteing up the onions and garlic

The onions and garlic spread out on the bottom of the dish

So much veggie goodness!

Cheese makes everything better (Its possible I added more cheese than the recipe called for...)

The end product

This was incredibly easy (and enjoyable!) to make. There is a lot of slicing involved so I put on my Pandora and sliced away. The end result was enjoyed by both myself and my husband! (This is a great success!) We are both trying to eat more vegetables and (I'm not sure my husband is on board with this one) less meat so this recipe was a great and delicious find. 

Then the Cauliflower Pizza happened...

This is something I've been wanting to try for awhile. It had been sitting on my Pinterest board for a long time so I was excited to finally try it out. It was another enjoyable recipe to make and that's partly because my hubby joined in to help on this one. If there's one thing we love to do together, its cooking meals. Here are a few snapshots...

I always love a reason to use the food processor!

Post "food-processed" cauliflower

Who's the handsome guy in the kitchen? :)

End result!

So how did it taste? Depends on who you ask.... :) I really liked it. Did it taste like the best New York style pizza you've ever had? No way. It was a unique twist on pizza and you don't get the same "crust flavor" because... well, its cauliflower. However, I thought it was yummy and very edible. Hubby on the other hand said, "it tastes too much like cauliflower" haha. Lets just say he didn't eat the leftovers ;) Someone told me to try it again with organic cauliflower because apparently it has a better taste. So I'll try it again and see if he likes it any better. I'll report back on that when I do. 

Until next time... happy eating!

From Diapers to Bridal Gowns

This past Saturday I had the true privilege of standing up at the altar while one of my nearest, dearest and oldest friends said, "I do" to the man who makes her the happiest girl in the world. Amanda and I were destined to be friends since our moms announced they were pregnant at the same dinner. Over 25 years ago, 4 moms in the neighborhood gave birth to 5 kids (I'm a twin!) within 6 months of each other and from that point on we've been the best of friends. To say we grew up in a magical, special and close-knit neighborhood is nothing but the truth. We all had 2nd (and 3rd and 4th and 5th) moms all over the neighborhood. We were more than a neighborhood, we were family. To this day our parents are all close friends with one another and all the "kids" have stayed close friends into our own adulthood. (Weird... sometimes I still don't believe I'm an "adult.") Most of the bridal party were people from our neighborhood and many of the wedding guests were neighbors. Like I said, our neighborhood and childhood were pretty magical :)

This just shows you how special this girl is to me and to our whole neighborhood. But back to the wedding... Amanda and Ben met on e-Harmony (so yes, we all think they need to make an adorable commercial!) and after their first few dates it was a sure thing. They were head over heels in love and we all could tell. Amanda just glowed when she spoke about him. Her face lit up when he was around. He clearly adored her in every way possible. They just loved one another.... they had found their match. It was so beautiful and sweet to watch. They have had a long engagement so they were both very ready for this day to finally be here. If I didn't already love these two, I love them even more because they are fellow vino lovers. In their spare time, they drive out to different wineries around Virginia and enjoy tasting the finer things in life :) They chose a gorgeous winery to get married at and it set the stage for a beautiful weekend. 

Amanda and Ben - You two are truly meant for each other. It was an honor to be a part of your bridal party and watch you say your vows and commit your love, lives and faithfulness to one another. I can't wait to see how your love story continues...

Here are just a few snapshots of the wonderful weekend!

beautiful bridesmaids

the beautiful bride and me

here we are... friends since diapers :) (not pictured: james)

such a fun bridal party!

bride and groom at the rehearsal dinner

here comes the gorgeous bride!!!

married!!!!!! (best feeling in the world)

my dad and some of his daughters (real and from another mother)

this is langston.. the most adorable nephew in the world!

family shot :)

this is my husband... we are weird.

bride and groom and brother of the bride

And they lived happily ever after :)

Bible Study and Dessert... An Excellent Combination

Jeff and I found an amazing church almost 2 years ago called PORTICO. We meet at Key Elementary School is Arlington. Every Wednesday night we have "Community Group" with about 8 other people and we dig into the sermon preached on Sunday and share our thoughts and wrestle with the meaning of the text together. Before we dig into the Word, we always dig into something yummy! Last night was our night to bring dessert so I brought a Vegan Peach Cobbler. 

Why did I make it Vegan? Because one of the ladies in our group is a vegan.

Why did I make peach cobbler? Well, other than it being of my hubby's faves... my mom had given us A LOT of peaches the other day and I knew I needed to use them up somehow before they went bad faster than we could eat them.

So at this point I knew two things... I would make something vegan and it would involve peaches. Next I needed to figure out an actual dish and looked no further than Pinterest of course! I quickly found a yummy looking Vegan Peach Cobbler from Vegan Cowboy. The only thing I needed to make it "vegan approved" was the vegan butter so with a quick trip to the store (even our terribly stocked and small Giant had vegan butter... I was impressed!), I was on my way to making this delicious treat. Within about 20 minutes of prep and 40 minutes of baking... I had made a soon-to-be decided as "delicious" dessert. Piece of cake! (errr... cobbler) I wanted so badly to taste test the cobbler before bringing it to Community Group but unfortunately its one of those dishes that would be incredibly obvious if I had done a little taste test. "Oh ummm, that corner is missing, you're right. Uhh, its missing because, uhh.. the baking dish is just weird and never cooks in that corner." Yeah... that wouldn't work too well. So I just hoped for the best. I ended up bringing the dish home last night with maybe one servings worth of cobbler left. Turns out it was a hit!

I think people hear "vegan" and (if they aren't a vegan or knowledgeable about being a vegan) think, "Eww no.." But I couldn't even taste one little difference. In fact, I think it was even more delicious! :) I think the vegans might be on to something,,, something delicious!

I can't wait to try another vegan dessert next time... 

From 5.21.11 to Now

Hello!

I created this blog before we got married with the hope that I would be an avid blogger after our wedding to keep a virtual document of our life. Fail. Here it is 14 months after our big day and this is my first blog post. Hey, better late than never right? For those reading this you probably know what has happened the last 14 months so I won't bore you with a detailed re-cap. Here's the Spark Notes version of our life since the "I DOs!" 

May 21, 2011 - I married my best friend Jeff. Jeff married his best friend Rebecca. (right honey?)  Best Day Ever! (Photos courtesy of our photographer Charo)

The week following we honeymooned in beautiful Punta Cana, Dominican Republic where we had a week long of glorious relaxation. We drank yummy tropical concoctions (our favorite being the "Banana Mama"), ate past our stomach's content at each meal, slept more in each day than we probably will again and just held hands as we joyously explored this new place together. It was magical to say the least. 

 Stud muffin :)

 The food looked good... and the food tasted good.

 Mmm, I can still taste that broccoli soup.

 This peacock was one of the highlights of the whole trip!

 I am drinking the previously mentioned, "Banana Mama" goodness.

 We probably floated in here for an incalculable amount of hours.

 happy honeymooners

June 2011 - Just a few days after returning from our honeymoon, we flew out to Denver for my sissie's masters graduation ceremony from Denver University. (I hope we find ourselves flying to places on airplanes a lot throughout our marriage :) )

Newlyweds :)

 

sister faces

future album cover

July 2011 - We moved from living in Jeff's bachelor pad apartment in Alexandria to a new apartment, still in Alexandria. We've just signed a new lease so we're here until Fall 2013. 

September 2011 - My brother Thomas lives in Orlando and my brother-in-law Michael was in school there as well... so when Paul and Vicki (my father and step-mother in law) decided to go visit Michael, we decided to join the fun! We had a great long weekend visit with everyone :) 

Paul, Vicki, Jeff, Thomas and me

My big bro!

November 13, 2011 - Shortly after we got married I was begging to get our own dog. My persistent nagging paid off in November when we visited the Richmond, VA SPCA after running our 1st Half Marathon (as a married couple). We adopted an adorable pup that we named Leia Bonnie Howe! The deal was if we got a dog, Jeff could pick the name... hence the Leia (aka, Princess Leia). She very quickly became the light of our lives. (I repeat, right honey?) Leia is half Rhodesian Ridgeback and half German Shepherd. She is seriously so beautiful. To say she's spoiled is an understatement. I can't wait to have a bigger place so Leia can have many adopted, furry siblings :)

Our nephew pup Copper celebrating the victory with us

I had to resist and limit myself just to a few pictures of this beautiful girl :)

November 2011 - We celebrated Thanksgiving with my in-laws in Newport News but unfortunately, no pictures :(

December 2011 - We celebrated our FIRST Christmas as Mr. and Mrs. Howe! Yay :) We started our tradition of cutting down our own tree and decorating to cheesy Christmas tunes. Then for Christmas day we were with my family in Burke.

Did you notice Leia's "pupcake?"

Christmas Eve morning at our apartment

I LOVE Fiestaware so I was thrilled to get more pieces for my Christmas collection.

These are my brothers...

My sisterface with the Princess

Sarzy (my twin!) loves foxes and horses

The hubby and I slow dancing (in my terribly tacky legging things)

Lets see... then it was 2012!

New Years Eve - We went to a local mexican joint, came home and put on the tv coverage of the ball drop and... fell asleep around 10 pm and woke up well after the ball drop. Then I proceeded to get mad at my husband for us missing the ball drop (whoops, wife fail.).

February (whatever day the Superbowl was) - Then this happened...

I made this Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough dip for a Superbowl party and it was a life changer. It basically represents my entry into Pinterest addiction.

March 2012 - My big sister Emily is working in Tuscon, AZ so after my business trip to Scottsdale, my mom and I went to visit her for a couple days.

My amazing mother and me

margaritas!

my big sissie emmy

April 2012 - My wombmate (get used to that term... its what my twin and I call each other a lot) and I turned... 25! We had a small celebration in Richmond where she lives.

Sloughzy and my nephews, Buster and Clyde

Hubby loves grilling

One of my very best friends since early high school lives in Richmond too... so she and her husband came too.

Birthday girl posing with their pups

We ran our 2nd Half-Marathon together in the Outer Banks and booked a dog-friendly hotel so Leia could come!

Leia L.O.V.E.D. the beach

But it sure tired her out...

Hush puppies at our pre-race dinner

We did it! (through the rain and mud!)

Post-run breakfast (We run to eat)

May 21, 2012 - Time flew by just as they said it would and we celebrated one whole year of marriage! We have God to thank more than anything else for keeping our love strong and faithful. We pray He continues to grow us closer and closer to one another and to Him through this amazing blessing of marriage.

 We spoiled ourselves the whole weekend and had so much fun and adventure together. Oh and really good food of course :)

Cooking class

 Breakfast before kayaking

I made it as cheesy as I could with my Mrs. Howe apron and our Mr. and Mrs. mugs. Hey, why not right?

We went to dinner at the restaurant in the hotel we had our wedding reception. Waiting for us was this sweet surprise from my thoughtful parents.

In front of the church we were married in

Jeff surprised me by taking Leia (yes, he knows his wife is happiest when our dog comes along) and me to a bed and breakfast outside of Leesburg.

We had an amazing dinner! Fried green tomatoes... nom nom.

You know a restaurant is awesome when they bring water with ice cubes (Leia's fav) to your dog

It was an amazing weekend. I am a lucky lady to be married to the handsome guy above.

June 2012 - We were SO fortunate to be able to join Jeff's family in Cocoa Beach, FL for a vacation ANDDD be able to meet our baby nephew, Langston. Seriously, we had an amazing week and feel blessed for the quality time spent with family and being able to meet this precious new life.

The whole group... except Jeff (someone had to take the picture)

LANGSTON!!!! Is he not the most adorable thing in the world?

Proud parents, my brother Thomas and Kristen

Jeff already teaching Langston bad habits

Ok, phew... so there's a little recap of our life the past 14 months. Okay, so with all those pictures it wasn't that little... but oh well. I couldn't resist! I guess 14 months had more packed into it than I realized. It was fun to re-live a lot of those moments.

Here's a little summary of me, the blogger. The rest you'll get to know over time I'm sure.

I am...

- a mid 20s girl born and raised in the insanity that is the DC/Metro area

- grateful to be married to my handsome husband who loves me in a way I always dreamed of being loved

- saved by grace, through faith... in God's Son, Jesus Christ, dying on the Cross for me (and you!), so that my sins would be forgiven

- amazed everyday by the above

- convinced I have the best family and friends in the whole world

- a dog lover to the max (Mommy to Leia... hopefully more pups soon)

- a wannabe foodie

- enjoy red wine

- probably waste too much time watching Bravo, HGTV and the Food Network

 

I have no idea what I'll end up blogging about, if anything. But here goes... stay tuned.