End of Summer…

Well…my summer is officially nearing the end.  It’s very sad for me to admit.  I love teaching, but I really love summer vacation.  Oh well…I guess all good things must come to an end.

We’ve had a very eventful summer.  We started off with a bang and left a couple of days after school let out for our baseball extravaganza trip up the East coast.  Since we returned from that fabulous vacation, we’ve spent our weekends at the beach with family, working on our first construction project – a desk!, and our annual family vacation to the ranch.  I also took a few days to spend some time with my mom and enjoyed lounging by the pool at the Omni Hotel in Dallas.  We then made a weekend get-away to San Antonio for a college friend’s wedding where it was great to catch up with some old friends from far away.

I had great plans for this summer to paint our bedroom, clean my carpets, generally just clean out and organize…and unfortunately I didn’t get much of that done.  I cleaned out our closed and donated 3 HUGE bags of old clothes, shoes, & purses to Goodwill; so I feel much better about our closet now.  As soon as our desk is finished, I will get to organize the office and get everything put in it’s place in there…can’t wait for that!

Now that school is just a few days away, I’m focusing on getting some new clothes & shoes and beginning to think about what I want my classes and classroom to look like this year.  Starting school always feels like I’m beginning a marathon and I never feel quite ready…but we always finish strong.

Goodbye summer…hello school year!

New Computer!

My computer had been on the fritz for several months and after Matt determined that the hard drive was going bad, we decided that it was probably time to look at getting me a new one.  I wanted something smaller, that was more portable for travel and could easily be used in the kitchen for cooking.  We heard about Dell’s new Inspiron 11z and realized it was perfect for me.  It’s small…about 12 or 13 inches and super light weight, but just as powerful as a full size laptop and run Windows 7 and all of the programs I need like a champ!  I’m a big fan of my new machine!

Just a Few of Our Favorite Things…

We had a wonderful Christmas with our families and these are just a few of our favorite gifts!

my new Dooney & Bourke purse from Matt’s mom & Kevin

Matt’s new boots from his dad & Michelle

my cowboy boots from Matt’s dad & Michelle…I’m in LOVE!

new purse from my parents…it’s super soft leather by Steve Madden

Cookbook holder from my brother

piece of art from my sister & her fiance, Jake…not sure where it’s going.

Matt’s new drill…he’s actually looking forward to some future projects around the house!

Our new lamp for the living room from my parents…we absolutely LOVE it!

We also got quite a few additions to our clothing collections, Matt got some new hunting gear, a whole host of gift cards to various stores and restaurants, and I got several new pieces of jewelry!

I’m Not Ready…

Well…my last weekend of freedom is officially over .  I go back to work tomorrow with a full week of inservice and the kids will come next Monday…and no…I’m not ready.  After looking at the schedule for the week it doesn’t look like it will be overly horrible…with the exception of Thursday…district-wide curriculum day is never good.  A few positives about the week – casual dress!, lunch on your own (I don’t like having to eat at the school), & a decent amount of “work in your room time”.

For my last weekend of summer, Matt and I got the yard all cleaned up Saturday morning and then took off to do some clothes shopping.  We both needed some new work clothes, but unfortunately Matt did better than I did.  We ended up finding him a few new dress shirts, a tie, and a new pair of slacks.  I got a black dress that will be good for work with a jacket or sweater over it and then I got a couple of new tops.  I also found some new jeans, but need to order them in a shorter length that can only be found online.  I also got a new pair of Nine West shoes on sale for about $30!  I didn’t do great on our shopping adventure, but as much as I like to shop I’m sure I will be able to find plenty of clothes for school this year.  After our big shopping adventure we joined some of my cousins for a night out with dinner at the always delicious Chuy’s and then a movie.  It was a great Saturday, but it made for a tired Sunday.  After church and lunch we took afternoon naps and then made our menu for the week and went grocery shopping.  It is so much easier to shop with a detailed list and a menu in mind.

I’m starting a Ladies’ Bible Study tomorrow night and I’m really excited about it.  We are doing the new Beth Moore study on Esther…I picked up the book at church this morning and it looks like it will be really good.  It will make my Mondays seem really long since its in the evenings, but thats ok.  I’m ready to really get to know more of the ladies in our class at church and I’ve always heard good things about the Beth Moore studies.

We did really good last week with our quest to eat at home more.  We really enjoy cooking and we enjoy cooking together…its much more fulfilling than just eating out together.  I will let you know how this week’s menu turns out.  But tonight I’ll leave you with one of our favorite new recipes, Grilled Pork Tenderloin with an orange, sage, & garlic wet rub.

This recipe calls for the pork to brine in a mixture of cold water, sugar, and salt.  This will ensure that your pork remains moist throughout the grilling process.  After cooking pork without brining and now with brining…I HIGHLY recommend taking the time to let the pork brine…it makes a HUGE difference.

Ingredients:
For the brine:
1 1/2 tablespoons table salt
3/4 cup sugar
4 cups cold water
1 pork tenderloin
For the wet rub:
3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press
1 tablespoon grated zest from 1 orange
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon orange marmalade (substitute honey if you don’t have orange marmalade)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Instructions:

1. Dissolve the salt and sugar in 4 cups of cold water in a medium bowl.  Add the tenderloin, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, & refrigerate about 1 hour.  Remove the tenderloin from the brine, rinse well, & dry thoroughly with paper towels.  Set aside.
2. Mix all ingredients for the wet rub together in a small bowl.  Coat the tenderloin with the rub (I used a plastic basting brush which worked well).
3. Cook the tenderloin uncovered  (if using a charcoal grill, lid down if using a gas grill) until brown on all 4 sides, about 2 1/2 – 3 minutes per side.  Move tenderloin to cooler part of grill cover, turning once, until meat reads 145 degrees on an instant read thermometer.
4. Transfer tenderloin to carving board, cover with foil, & let rest about 5 minutes.  Slice into 1 inch thick pieces and serve.

I served this pork tenderloin with roasted red potatoes.  Cut red potatoes into quarters, toss with olive oil, salt, & pepper.  Spray a roasting pan with cooking spray to prevent sticking.  Arrange potatoes flesh side down on the pan and roast in a 325 degree oven for 20 minutes, covered with foil.  After 20 minutes remove foil, flip potatoes to roast the other side and continue cooking 10 minutes more, or until tender.  Enjoy!

Have a good week, ya’ll!

3 Years Ago…

Three years ago, Matt and I took one last weekend trip before school started.  We packed up and headed to San Antonio for the night and enjoyed walking along the Riverwalk, eating tons of great food, and seeing lots of historic Texas sights.  This was a really special weekend to us because Matt had returned from a 6 week trip to Australia just a few weeks before and it was nice to be together again, just the two of us.  It was a very quick trip, but I was starting school on Monday and had to get ready for my first year as a teacher.

Now…let me back track…  Matt and I had been talking about getting married for quite some time up to this point.  I had always told him that I wanted to be surprised…like totally and completely shocked…but I didn’t think he would be able to pull off a total surprise.  He kept telling me it was going to be a while because he had other stuff that needed to be done before he could buy a ring and such…I totally bought his lies.  He even used various excuses that were totally believable to travel to Houston to pick out the ring and travel to ask my dad for permission to marry me.  Little did I know, I was in for a huge surprise when we got home from our trip.

Ok…back to the trip.  For some reason, I was expecting him to propose in San Antonio…somewhere along the Riverwalk, all nice and romantic.  Well our trip came to an end and there was no ring in sight.  I’ll admit, I did a little bit of sulking on the way home.  I had also always told him to make sure I looked cute when he proposed.  I didn’t want to be wearing grungy shorts and a t-shirt or my pajamas.  I was sulking and uncomfortable in the car on the way and everytime I mentioned getting in the back to change shirts, he stopped me.  This turned my sulking into pure annoyance.

We finally made it back to College Station and to my apartment.  I got my stuff out of the back seat and was waiting for him behind the car and was annoyed that he was taking so long to get something out of the back seat.  “What could he possibly need?  I have all of my stuff…”  We finally start up the steps all the way to the 3rd floor and he unlocks the door.  When the door opens…all I could see were candles…everywhere…and rose petals…everywhere…  I froze outside the door.  I just knew we had opened the door to the wrong apartment and I wouldn’t walk inside.  He finally pushed me inside and I think at this point my mouth was hanging open and I was shaking all over.  I dropped my stuff in the stuff and turned around to see him down on one knee.  He said a whole bunch of really sweet stuff to me…but I was so shocked that I don’t even remember any of it…asked me to marry him…of course I said YES…and then he slipped the most beautiful ring on my finger.

Apparently he had made a copy of my apartment key and given it and very explicit instructions to some girls we went to church with on how to set everything up.  He even called them when we stopped for a bathroom break about 30 minutes from home.  He was so very sneaky!  The girls were even hiding in my bathroom when we got home and they finally came out to take pictures for us.  It was such a great night!

One Year Later…

It has officially been one full year since Matt and I moved into our house in Katy!  It’s hard to believe we’ve already been here for a whole year.  We are still loving our house, but unfortunately the to-do list to make it perfect (if such a thing actually exists) hasn’t gotten much shorter.  Other than buying a few pieces of furniture and curtains here and there, we haven’t had to do much to the inside of the house.  We would love new living room furniture and a new kitchen table and of course a desk and bookshelves for the office and maybe a chair for our bedroom and maybe some stuff for the walls in our bedroom and maybe…I could go on and on…but I just keep reminding myself that none of that stuff really matters.  We have a happy, healthy little family with everything we need, plus some, who cares that my furniture isn’t perfect.

Probably the most work we have done on the house has been in the garage with a huge shelving unit and hooks on the walls for all of our junk, plus we planted trees in the backyard during the spring.  We have also spent lots of time and money trying to bring our yard and trees back to health since the people we bought the house from obviously didn’t even understand the basics…such as…operating a sprinkler!  The backyard still needs work and landscaping, but its too darn hot, so that will have to wait until the spring.

We still love being homeowners and living in a neighborhood.  We still make comments about much better life is in a house than it was when we were living in apartments…especially on days like today when we brought groceries home and it was absolutely pouring…so nice to pull into a garage and not get wet!

Good ‘ol Bailey

This probably wasn’t quite as difficult as threading a camel through the eye of a needle, but it was likely in the neighborhood. I came home this evening to find Bailey loose in the laundry room instead of comfortably in her kennel. Either through an accident or Bailey’s sneaky skills, the small, food bowl sized door on her kennel was opened.

For reference, this dog

Made it through this tiny door….ridiculous.  I just wonder how long it took.