Our First Merrill CRISIS

We learned a few things tonight:
5. Don't take a shower while running your washing machine.
4. Angie's list may have been a good investment.
3. The paint on our laundry room floor was is water resistant (why go cheap on something like that?)
2. We'll be needing to remodel our basement bathroom sometime soon. Marc & Tarin, feel like a trip to Minnesota?

and finally ...

1. Home-ownership is tough, but of course, worth it.

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So, I totally would have documented this night with pictures, but Ryan seemed a little too stressed to appreciate that. Also, let's be honest, it was gross and not showing the best side of our cute little home, so why would I showcase that on my blog? I'll just post some after pictures when we scrounge up enough money to fix our basement. Until then, just trust me on this one.

Here's the Story
We were going about our day -- normal Saturday stuff. Gym, errands, laundry, showers. Well its the last 2 activities that really did us in. Apparently we clogged our main drain and ultimately flooded our basement-- the laundry room and bathroom, specifically. Ryan went to go change the wash and found 2 inches of water. It was awful. Luckily we hopped on Angie's list (click here), and pretty soon had someone here to fix the problem. A few hours later we found out all the carpet in the bathroom was soaked through, so we had to rip that up and then buy a dehumidifier to help get all the moister out ...

We're exhausted.

Hopefully we've taken care of the problem and it won't happen again. We definitely got a hard lesson in home-ownership after only 6 months of owning our own home. I had no idea. The bummer-side to this story is (a)we didn't get to go out on our group date with our friends (b)we dropped a few hundred bones (thank goodness for rainy day savings) and (c)our basement is kind of a mess.

So you might ask: What's the good in all of this? I got to solve a problem and spend the evening with my amazing husband, who, as always, takes care of me and our home.

My new job.

So, I have a new job. It takes me places like Florida in the middle of winter. I'm pretty jazzed about it.



Here's my morning run on the beach.



The jellyfish I saw on the beach. There were hundreds of these guys washed up on the sand. It was crazzzy.



Dinner at The Cuban Cafe = AMAZING. Seriously, so good. (You can see that I ate all the bread in the basket by myself).


While I was waiting for my check a random guy across from me asked "Do you always eat alone?" Is it weird to eat in restaurants alone? I don't think so, but maybe you have a different opinion.

SNOW

While in Sunny California, I can not tell you how many times I had to try and describe the current weather conditions in Minnesota. Most people I talked to couldn't really comprehend what it is like to have 5-6 foot piles of snow lining your driveway ... so I thought I would help you all out and show you a few pictures of our house in the middle of WINTER. Note: I also had to explain how, after 6 months of living in Minnesota, I already had an accent...

These were taken a couple of weeks ago after a small snowy storm--- and they really don't do it justice.



This is my cute new car.


The park across the street.




So there you have it. A little taste of our Minnesota Winter lives.

I love books.

I will be traveling these next few weeks so I am in desperate need of some book recommendations. The last few books I have read (and loved) include:

Same Kind of Different As Me
The Book Thief
Beautiful Boy

These are all non-fiction. Oh wait, The Book Thief is fiction. Why do I always confuse those descriptors? I like fictions, too. Can you help me??

If you don't, I will have to resort to an emotional-last-ditch-effort pick while I'm wandering around the MSP/FLL/SFO/DEN airport(s).

I feel like I am so behind. I had some posts planned out but I didn't bring the right cord to CA with me to upload pictures and be able to write my posts. and really, the posts revolve around the sweet pics, so those will have to wait. sorry to leave you all in anticipation of what is going on in our lives ... to sum it up: I am on Vacation (well kind of) -- I'm in CA visiting my family and am thrust in the middle of wedding fever over here. I'm enjoying the sunshine, and being able to wear skirts with no tights, open up the sunroof in the car and just have a little R&R with my momma.

Winter LOVE Party

To further embrace this winter season, we decided to throw a Winter LOVE Party. We invited some of our friends over from the singles ward we used to attend, and some couples from our new ward. I spent all day Friday and Saturday preparing (ie: shopping, cooking and baking) and I loved every second of it!! It was so great to see some of our friends we haven't seen in a while, and I like to think our party gave everyone something to look forward to in the middle of a Minnesota Winter. Some of the groupies even went over to the park and went ice skating on our local ice skating rink! I can't wait to have another party in the summer where I can report that we BBQ'd and played a game of softball. Oh well, at least I can report that the winter LOVE party was a success!! I decided to make this an annual thing ... maybe its because it gives ME something to look forward to in the winter!

Note: I didn't take quite enough pictures (You know how hosting a party goes) and so here are the few I took.

The Spread


Since you can't really see it in the pictures, I made: Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup, a Cheeseball, Jalepano Artichoke dip, Chocolate Covered Strawberries & Oreos, Sugar Cookies (that I didn't have time to frost--- oops!), Brownie Trifle, and Cranberry Bread.



Two Fabulous girls that are in the Minnetonka Ward with us!!

Winter Carnival

Since winter is such a big deal here in Minnesota, Ryan and I have been trying to EMBRACE winter through a variety of activities. One of which was, Winter Carnival in St. Paul.

Supposedly, every 10 years or so, this carnival creates an Ice Castle (like, the size of a 2 story building--legit). Unfortunately for us, they didn't build a castle this year, but we still enjoyed the Ice Sculptures, Ice Maze and Snow Sculptures!

















It was so cold this day that after the Winter Carnival we went to my new favorite little deli for the best Tomato Basil soup and fresh bread! YUMM.

Jeralyn, this one's for you.

Over Thanksgiving break, Ryan and I spent some time in Utah with his family. Jeralyn, my new mother-in-law, took me out for a little shopping the day after Thanksgiving. One of the things I picked up were some gorgeous silk flowers. I was so excited to use these flowers to create a beautiful arrangement for my living room. Too bad the Holidays got the best of me, and its now February before I got this project done. For never arranging flowers before, I think it looks pretty good. Let me know what you think.


This is what I created:





And here's our mantle now: The new additions are the flowers, and our new Angela Johnson replica the bronze statue of Jesus Christ, Come Unto Me. We love love it.



A better picture of the statue:


Note: The vase I used for the flowers is from a flower arrangement Ryan had sent to me while we were dating -- he figured out quickly that I love cool vases. Nicely done, babe!!

Chicken Pot Pie

I made this again last night, and I think it's Ryans new favorite (Parley was practically licking his plate as well). I had a request for the recipe, so I thought I'd post it here. I hope your family likes it too!!

1 package of Pillsbury pie crust
3-4 Chicken breasts, cubed (I like to season my chicken and saute with onions and celery to bring out the flavor)
2-3 cups veggies (I use some frozen peas, frozen corn, and fresh celery, carrots and potatoes, red or russet)-- veggies can be subbed for your favs.
2 cans cream of chicken soup (can also use cream of celery, cream of mushroom, cream of potato).
Seasoning: I like Italian Seasoning Mix, and Dill weed. Can also add thyme and rosemary, whatever tastes good.

Mix together soup, veggies and chicken. Season to taste. (I also like to heat up but you don't have to).

Roll out pie crust, place in bottom of pie dish. Pour soup mixture into pie crust. Lay 2nd pie crust overtop; pinch the 2 pie crusts together. Use a knife to create a design and slit holes into the crust so steam can escape. Cut away extra pie crust around sides.

Cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until crust is brown.