As 2013 comes to an end, I look back and think about everything I did this year. This year has to be one of the best yet. Here are some of my top 4 moments of 2013.
1. Tony and I moved in together.
This was a huge step in our relationship. We'd been together a year in March, so we felt we were at a good point in our relationship. We had our low moments and not everyday has been perfect but we've been able to learn so much more about each other along the way.He's messy, I have OCD, and we've been able to balance each other out. It's been such a great experience so far. Plus, I get to see him everyday!
2. Vegas with the family.
This was my 5th time going to Vegas (2nd time this summer). I have to say, we did it BIG for Grae's 40th birthday and this trip was hands down one of my favorites. This was Tony's first time to Vegas, and it was a lot of fun to show him the strip. It was a great weekend spent with my cousins and I feel closer than ever with them!
More travel plans in the future, please?
3. Traveling to Chicago.
This trip was lots of firsts. My first time traveling alone, first-timer in Chicago, and my first time bouncing from one city to another. I spent three days in Chicago for an event conference, then I flew directly to Vegas for an accounting marketing conference for another three days.
I fell in love with Chicago and I fell in love with traveling alone! I felt a sense of independence and in my free time, I ventured around or sat in coffee shop if I felt like it. While in Chicago, I did lots of site-seeing and met several people from all over the world who I have contact with today. We all had one thing in common - passion for event planning.
I can't wait to visit this beautiful city real soon!
4. Getting older rocks.
I've noticed as I get older, there are far more important things in life that I used to take for granted. This year I was able to spend more time focusing on myself to become the person I wanted to be.
I learned the less friendships I have, the more quality they are, which meant threading out the ones that brought me down, and spending more time with the ones that mattered the most. I learned the value of money and if I save and spend wisely, I have the freedom to do something new a couple times throughout the year. It's taken several years to get to this mentality (trust me!) and it's awesome.
Life has been good so far and I really can't complain about what I have. I have a wonderful boyfriend, a great career, a loving family, and friendships I truly cherish. I'm definitely looking forward to what 2014 will bring to myself and others around me. Life can only get sweeter!
Cheers to 2014 and Happy New Year to you and yours!
I was never much of a dog person. Well let me rephrase, I liked dogs but not near as much as if they were my own. Tony and I discussed getting a dog for several months, and one evening when we went out to do some Christmas shopping, Tony drove me to the Humane Society to look at a couple of dogs he had seen on the website that morning.
We looked at a pup named Coal and we instantly fell in love with his cuteness. He is a 3 month old, border collie/lab mix and came in as a stray. Tony and I slept on the decision and the next day, we adopted him.
Meet Dexter
We decided to name him Dexter since Coal was his temporary name and I didn't like it spelled like a 'lump of coal'. He's 23 pounds right now but the Humane Society thinks he will get up to 65-70 pounds. His paws are already pretty big for his size!
Life with Dex has been great (I say that now) the last couple of weeks! Tony and I are working on our "parenting skills" and it's been so fun to have him around. We have him 95% potty-trained with only a handful of accidents in the house, he doesn't whelp or cry at nighttime which we were afraid of since he's a puppy, and we're working on kennel training.
I don't mean to brag, but he's one of the most fun-loving, carefree, energetic pups I've ever met. I'm completely obsessed with him and I treat him like he's my own child. I know we made the right decision to rescue Dexter; who knows where he will be if we didn't. He's definitely going to be spoiled with love and joy from us!
I finally got the courage to make a lasagna recipe in the crock pot. Recently, I've been feeling like everything I've made in the crock pot hasn't turned out as good as I hoped (I didn't post my latest wild rice soup recipe), and I follow every direction. Sometimes.
This lasagna came out perfectly! I have to say, it tastes better than the time we made it in the oven...and it was way easier to make, and less of a mess.
Ingredients:
* 1 lb. hamburger meat, thawed
* 2 - 16 oz. jars of your spaghetti sauce
* 12 - 14 oz. lasagna noodles, uncooked
* 1 can diced tomatoes
* 12 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
* Grated Parmesan cheese
* 1 tsp. parsley
* 1 tsp. oregano
* Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. In a large skillet, brown the hamburger meat; drain.
2. Add sauce, diced tomatoes and seasonings; cook on medium heat.
3. In a large crock pot (I used a 6 qt.), cover the bottom with some of the meat sauce.
4. Break the lasagna noodles in half and layer on top of the sauce.
5. Spoon 2 cups of the meat sauce on top of the noodles and sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan.
6. Repeat with sauce, noodles, more sauce, and cheese until you've used all of your meat sauce. Just be sure the top is covered with lots of cheese - it's the best part!
7. Sprinkle the top with more seasonings if desired.
8. Cover and cook on low for 5 - 6 hours.
Enjoy!
This month has been absolutely crazy. Reason #36 I haven't found the time to sit down and post what has been going on recently.
Work has been very busy finishing up year end projects and gearing up for the office to be closed for a week. And between shopping, activities, and holiday parties, it sure seems like every evening is planned.
I love this time of the year but with the hustle and bustle of everything that surrounds Christmas, it's hard to focus on the real reason we celebrate this wonderful holiday. I'm certainly looking forward to enjoying the next week spending time with those I love.
Just a few things I've been up to this month...
Tony and I LOVE pork chops. We like to cook them on the grill but obviously neither one of us want to stand out in the cold, so we've came up with different ways to cook our chops on the stove or in the oven.
During my trip to Colorado last month, I purchased a pork chop seasoning from one of the local spice shops in Fort Collins. I've been waiting to use this new seasoning, so I found a recipe on Pinterest that I'd thought would be good to spice up a bit.
Ingredients:
* 3 thick cut pork chops, thawed
* 1/4 cup brown sugar
* 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
* 1/2 tsp. paprika
* 1/2 tsp. Long Peak's Pork Chop Spice (Savory Spice Shop)
* Salt and pepper to taste
* 2 tbsp. cooking oil
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine brown sugar and seasonings in a medium bowl.
2. Rub the brown sugar seasoning mix on both sides of the pork chops.
3. Heat the cooking oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the seasoned pork chops.
5. Cook on each side about 5 - 6 minutes until brown. Remove from heat.
6. Transfer the chops to a cooking sheet with foil. Place in the oven for 8 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven and serve.
Enjoy!!
I did so much during my visit to Colorado that there was too much to blog about in one posting, so I hope you've enjoyed reading about my trip in parts.
The last day, Sunday, we went to brunch at Snooze, and decided to go hiking at Horsetooth Falls with the pups. It was 60 degrees out, so the day was beautiful for a hike! We spent the rest of the day running errands, watched the Hangover 3, and hung out at their cute apartment.
My plan was to travel back home on Monday but I had such a great time, I decided to stay till Tuesday. Audra and I spent another day shopping in Old Town, went to see Enough Said at an old theater (only had 2 theaters!), Cory made us dinner, and we stayed up late to watch the Shockers play!
I left early Tuesday morning after saying goodbye to my wonderful friends who provided great hospitality. I had such a wonderful time catching up with Audra and Cory for 4 days!
A little history of Audra and I: We met in elementary school, so we've known each other for about 22 years now - crazy! We spent every weekend together, went to the same church, and got ourselves into lots of trouble. We drifted apart over the years in-between transferring schools, going to different colleges, new friends, new boyfriends, etc. but somehow, someway, we've always remained in touch.
Audra and I were best friend for several years, but no matter the distance and where we are now, I feel like we've gotten back on track. Within the last couple of years we've made the effort to get together more often and pick up where we left off. She's a wonderful friend who gives great advice, a good listener, an admirable wife, and a working girl like myself. We have years of history so we can't help but laugh about the times when we were 10 years old and everything else we've been through together. It feels so great to catch up and become close again.
I can't wait to visit again real soon!
The remaining part of my trip was planned to be spent in Fort Collins with Audra and her husband, Cory. I headed up to their place Friday morning for the weekend. We ran errands during the afternoon, and got ready for a fun night out!
We started with wine and cheese at the Welsh Rabbit Cheese Shop. The place was so cute and quaint, and the wine was delicious!
Our next stop was The Mayor. They have a very extensive beer menu with over 100 beers on tap. Now if you know me, you know I'm not much of a beer drinker - well, I never step out of my comfort zone, which is Coors Light. Fort Collins, known for their craft beers, I had to give some others a chance. I'm glad I did so because I found a new favorite. New Belgium Accumulation White IPA.
Our last stop of the evening was Scrumpy's, which is a cider bar. I've never heard or been to a such place. I tried Tray B, which 9 different kinds of cider beers. I couldn't even tell you which one was my favorite because they eventually started to taste the same.
On Saturday, we all woke up and set out on our brewery tour. We biked about an hour to where all the popular breweries were. The weather was perfect for our bike ride and made for a fun day!
We stopped at Fort Collins Brewery for lunch at Gravity. Great beer, great food, and they had the K-State game on. Prime spot!
We finished lunch and rode our bikes over to the Odell Brewery. We tasted several beers, and moved on to our next stop...
...New Belgium Brewery. The weather was perfect to sit outside and there we had a few more tasters before getting a spot on the brewery tour.
The tour was great, plus we got 5 more samples along the way! We ended our evening at our 4th stop, Coopersmith's Pub and Brewery for dinner, then it was time to head home.
Part III of my trip will be following!
I did a little traveling over the summer by myself for work and I figured out I love to travel alone. I mean I love having my babe by my side or my favorite girlfriends, but sometimes traveling alone is the perfect time to think, and you get to do your own thing.
I planned a road trip to Colorado to visit some friends who live outside of the Denver area. I set off on my journey last Wednesday and returned Tuesday.
So maybe an eight hour road trip (each way I might add) wasn't the best trip to do alone. Boredom kicked in pretty quick!
My first stop was to visit Lee, Jessica and baby Tristan in Thornton. It had been two years since I'd seen them last (at their wedding), and was my first time to meet little Tristan. He's an absolute doll and melted my heart! Here he is at dinner the first night.
Now if you knew Lee and I about 7-8 years ago, we were attached at the hip. He was my best friend, and will always be my go-to buddy no mater how far we're apart. We've always stayed in touch and can pick up where we left off when we randomly call/text each other. It was so great to see him grown up and he's such an amazing father and husband.
My two-day visit was wonderful and was great to catch up with the Mohon family. I miss them already!
On Thursday, I headed to Boulder for the day to hang out with one of my favorite gals, Audra. We spent the afternoon on Pearl Street browsing cute, quaint shops and stopped for lunch at Boulder Cafe. It was such a neat college town with a great atmosphere.
This was some of my view on the way there - so beautiful!
Be sure to look for a continuation of my road trip tomorrow with part II.
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