An addition to the family...

Blake and I had our first anniversary last weekend. We've been married a year, but been together for like 4 months haha. I love my hubby so much. He makes me laugh every day, even when everything feels crappy. Anyways, we decided it was time Bernini had a sister. I mean, we have been officially married one year and all. =D

Unfortunately she still doesn't officially have a name. But she has proved to be a great addition to the family.




She inspired Blake to make cookies!! He said he has never really made them. They turned out pretty tasty too! They were chomped down too fast to take a picture of, sorry. =D




He makes a good "hooch maid." =D

And, after having lost my other spring scissors somewhere in the move, I found another pair that matches our new kitchenaid!


And finally, I am working on another project. I am super excited for it to be finished- just waiting for my hot glue gun to get here. Any idea what it is? The picture below is a hint... ;)

Split Ends

The ultimate redo isn't furniture. It isn't a lamp. It isn't a room. It's... Jocelyn!!
After sitting in a chair for 4 hours and 15 minutes around mid-December, my hair was a great color, but the cut was... pretty much un-cut, haha. The girl I went to today whipped my hair into shape in probably 1/2hour.

Here is my hair as I was waiting to get it cut. Silly me, I chose a day to get my hair cut when I had woken up and actually straightened my hair. =D So. Much. Hair!!










Blake is so happy because he believes he will be able to put on a shirt and not have to pick 10 long hairs out of the cloth. Little does he know I put them there on purpose! Muahahaha!!!!! Ok, not really. But I am very happy too. Long, crazy-thick hair is nice to look at (when it's done) but a pain to live with. I might cry a little bit when I first wash it, but I'm glad it's cut.

Luigi!!!!

I had a visitor the other night!! Luigi!! He was so fabulous and funky as always. =D


Ok, so it wasn't Luigi, it was Blake. But it was so close!

In other news, I finally got my staple gun so I finished my chair!! =D Sooo happy it's done!

This was the before. When we brought it home from Goodwill, Blake wouldn't even let it live in the house until it had been completely bleached and scrubbed and painted.


And this is after a couple coats of paint and some new fabric. Zebra, of course! This chair is for my future sewing area. Now I've just gotta build my sewing desk and get to sewing!! I am thinking it will be black and white with pops on pink and lime green. Alllright! ;)



This is another project. I saw Pottery Barn's number canvas and thought it was pretty groovy. So I made my own with numbers that are significant to Blake and me. My hand was a little shaky with my sponge brush and the numbers, but it looks rather nice when you stand back a little. (Heehee)



As soon as Blake got home I enlisted his help to hang it in our bedroom. It's not quite living-room quality haha. Now we've just gotta find something to hang beside it so it's not so lonely. And, yes, it really is level even though it looks crooked haha, we double-checked it with the level.





Doink!!

Explorin'

The first week we were here we went and explored so many places! In the weeks that followed... not so much. Lately it is mostly because we have been cooped up because of the snow. Today we finally braved the roads and went and picked up my package and got some groceries and a few misc items we needed from Ace. I was worried about getting out of the parking lot as I had spent about an hour watching a guy in a BMW try to get out of his parking spot as he got stuck after he moving his car two feet. But Blake did so good driving in the snow and ice. =D

It is cloudy today and I am hoping it doesn't snow again! But it has been nice having Blake home with me all week! =D Although he is still such a snot! Every time we pass the pool he steps on the ice. I guess he is just thrilled to be on top of a frozen pool. But last night he went out by himself to get the mail. 10 minutes pass. No Blake. 20 minutes pass. No Blake. 30 minutes pass. No Blake! I was so sure that the stinker had stepped on the ice and had fallen through and had drowned underneath the sheet of ice. Turns out he had just stopped at the car and had shifted snow around and let the car warm up. Oy!

Anyways, here are some pics from our first week and such. =D


I just had to put this in here. It's from the day before our move and somehow he managed to nap on the pullout sofa.


For Christmas we both got trapper beanies. I just love Blake in his ninja-turtles beanie! The red braids make him look a bit like Pippi Longstockings or like a Brun Helga! =D


This picture is just us outside our apartment, happy we were mostly moved in by the time this picture was taken. :)


I just love this picture. Blake plops on the bed when he is waiting for me to entertain him.






Yes, sometimes Blake gives me crusties when I make him pose for a photo, hehe. But what a beautiful peakcock he makes!! =D


This was just a wall that I thought was so groovy downtown!


And here is us. Being beautiful as always!






Here is the memorial for the OKC bombings. We just wandered around outside where the building had stood. It was a verrry cold day so we were ready to go home, so we didn't see the inside museum. Another time.






These chairs represent each person who was killed. The little ones smattered throughout the big chairs represent the children.

I am so anxious to explore when it is summer and everything is green! Right now everything is brown and white. It will be a huge change when summer comes and grass and trees turn green again! =D

Snow Day :)

Today is another day where we are cooped up in our little apartment. Blake got another day off because it it impossible for anyone to get out of their driveways pretty much. People tried yesterday to pull out of their parking spaces and ended up getting stranded in the middle of the road. Me and Hubby went on a walk around our little community and saw several cars that had gotten stuck in the middle of the road. The problem here is that it rained first and the rain froze over and then it snowed on top of that.


I love how Blake looks like he's in pain in every one of these pictures while I look like I'm a kid in a candy-store. He's just a squinty guy when there's a teeny bit of light in his eyes, hehe.




By the end of our playdate outside, my jeans were literally frozen solid!










The first thing we did was get the snow off our poor car. We couldn't just leave our baby sitting out there under so much snow.

We bundled up as much as two Southern Utah kids could. Me: leggings, jeans, knee-high socks, fuzzy socks, boots, tank top, long-sleeve undershirt, hoodie, coat, scarf, trapper beanie, and coat. Blake: wool socks, combat boots, overalls, hoodie, beanie, and a coat. I also had some fingerless gloves made out of knit material that turn into mittens, leaving my thumbs exposed. Blake had big ol' snowboarding gloves. After being out in the cold for less than 5 minutes, my thumbs were killing. So Blake insisted I wear his and he wore my cute fingerless gloves. What a sweetie!

I had tons of fun playing in the snow. We took turns pushing each other down as hard as we could back into the snow. Getting frustrations at each other out, haha. ;) Defiling the perfect snow was great! By the time we went inside we were pretty much frozen solid and it took probably an hour and a half to defrost! It's a good thing newlyweds create their own heat!!

Brrr!!

Friday and Saturday were the most beautiful of days this last weekend. Ideal even. The sun was shining, the temperature was in the low 70's, and there was just the slightest of breezes to ruffle Blake's buzzcut. But today, just a couple days after that perfect weather, pretty much the entire state of Oklahoma is shut down!



It is crazy out there! This picture is a bad representation of the snow and ice and wind that is plaguing our little state. It is so bad that Blake didn't have to go into work today. The news people say to only drive around for vital reasons. ... Getting my package from the post office is vital...right??? I saw a guy walking around the parking lot this morning and the snow goes up past his ankles. Me, never experiencing this kind of snow, is totally perplexed!! ...Am totally perplexed?... Anyways!

I have been popping over to Goodwill as often as I can drag Blake with me. I think I gave him my germ-a-phobe-ness. He's even worse at touching things at Goodwill than me! We ended up getting a lamp the other day to add some light into our dark living area.

Before...


Dun dun dun dunnnn! After some white spraypaint and a new lampshade =D


I am obsessed with white. Black too, but mostly white. The birds and the picture frame are from a little shopping trip to my new favorite store, Hobby Lobby! Yay for sales! And that little end table was a redo from when Blake was at tech school (and couldn't object to me mod-podging the glass with a floral pattern). I am dying to get to the post office to pick up my staple-gun to finish another black-and-white household project. It's driving me nuts!! So cross your fingers that this snow clears up fast or I might lose it completely haha!

Oh Baby!!

I was going through my pictures on my hard drive and I ran across these that I had scanned so long ago of me and Blake when we were but wee chitlens!





I am guessing these two were from when we were both at LaVerkin Elementary. Blake was a total camera-ham even then!




Who would have ever thought that big ol' butterball could turn into Blake?





I had to add the cake-batter one because it's just fabulous! Plus it was probably the only time in my childhood when I was able to sneak some batter from Mumsy! =D Oh how I wish I could find an adult-sized red dress like the one I was wearing!
And one last pic because I look cute in it and it's amazing to see what the kitchen used to look like! Haha! It was pretty darn cute for being built in the 70's era! Good job Mom!!

Tasty Tasty!!

My new thing is cooking. And I have been cooking up a storm! Blake has enjoyed this new hobby and sometimes he curses the day I picked up a cookbook. It seems that most recipes are new to me, even basic recipes like stir-fry. But the concept of making a good loaf of bread still eludes me! Below is the best loaf of bread I have made.


Sadly charred on the outside, but at least it is not flat as a pancake like all the other loaves I have tried to make. Anyways, one thing I can make is pizza dough, so I made Olive Garden's Caprese Flatbread. Oh yum!





I was astounded that it could be so tasty. So I am posting the recipe to share the love with my family. =D

CAPRESE FLATBREAD

8 Roma or plum tomatoes, diced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
10 medium fresh basil leaves, stemmed and shopped (about 1/2 cup)
7 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
11 oz container of refrigerated thin crust pizza dough
1 garlic clove
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350°F
Dice tomatoes into small pieces and transfer to a mixing bowl.
Add chopped garlic, salt, pepper, 1/2 of the chopped basil (about 1/4 cup), and 4 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.
Set aside and allow the mixture to marinate for 10 minutes
Flatten pizza dough into a rectangle pan as indicated on the package, making sure you take the dough to the edge of the pan.
Drizzle the dough with extra virgin olive oil and brush it over the surface.
Bake the dough in the oven at 350°F for 10 minutes on center rack.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly, about 2 minutes.
Cut the garlic clove in half and rub, cut side down, on to the surface of the bread. The warmth of the bread will help extract the garlic flavor.
Allow the bread to cool completely, about 10 additional minutes.
Increase the oven temperature to 450°F.
Combine mayonnaise and garlic powder in a mixing bowl. Evenly spread onto the surface of the bread.
Top with shredded mozzarella to evenly cover the surface.
Drain the Caprese mixture, as the salt will have extracted water from the tomatoes, and spread it evenly over the bread.
Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.
Return to the oven for 5-7 more minutes until golden, crisp and bubbly.
Garnish with the remaining chopped basil
Serve immediately

I ate as much as I could, but I had been nibbling on the ingredients as I cooked, so I wasn't as hungry as I should have been for such a meal. So I put the leftovers in the refrigerator for the next day. Horrible! Tasted like bovine gases in my mouth! This is not a leftover food! But when it is fresh, it is soo tasty! Uh oh, just got a text from The Blake saying he is coming home for lunch. Whatever shall I prepare? Muahahaha!!!