As promised...

Pics of our table and our first REAL meal on it! We've actually had the table for about a week, but I felt like this was the occasion to truly document it coming into our lives-- I'm so grateful to have a table! We purchased it on the holiday last week and I stayed up quite late assembeling all the little bits together using the tiny tools that come with.

(Apologies for the out of focus pic though...and the close-up of just the table. The walls are quite naked, so I'm refraining to take pictures until i've got the clock, and some wall hangings up)

I have to brag about both the pasta dishes and the pasta. The pasta dishes I asked for christmas, or for my birthday, when I was in high school! I had this funny idea of creating a dowry type thing-- since of course I'd be getting married soon, after I'd be going to byu for awhile. HA! While that didn't work out the way I planned, (thank goodness!) I'm quite pleased that I asked for nice stuff back then-- and that my mother kept it all in her closet for me while i was in college!

Isn't it cute? The large pasta bowl and matching bowls all have images of classic italian pasta advertisements on them.

As for the pasta-- it was delish! Arthur and I make quite the team in the kitchen, and I was pleased with our multi tasking skills. The recipe is a favorite that I found in real simple a few years ago, and that I was able to find again on their website, here. Quick, flavorful, and quite hearty, it pleases just about everyone. But don't be fooled-- it is not healthy. Like it the name says its all about the carbs. But then, it does have bacon in it, which is the food of the gods, so really, who's complaining?

Not me!

Friday Night Lights

Last Friday we had the pleasure of taking in the Battle of the Lakes: Lake Travis vs. Westlake High School Football game. Its a "rivarly" in that the two schools/neighborhoods of austin are next door to one another, and constantly competing against each other in an imaginary keeping up with the jones' race. (FYI: Lake Travis won! WOOT!)

It was overjoyus however to experience a proper high school football game-- I thought it was normal growing up, and only upon returning to Texas did I come to realize that actually, the whole experience is unique unto itself. I hope everyone has an oppritunity to once take in a high school football game in Texas-- it's like being in the movie Friday Night Lights.

Does your high school team come out of an inflatable tunnel at the start of the game? I think not! Only in Texas!

All Elated Fans... Promise!

Have you ever seen so many fans at a high school game?! Answer: Nope! Only in Texas!

1 Year Ago....

I half heartedly decided to go to a party where I hardly knew anyone.

I had to google the address.

I showed up, and was pretty bored.

Until he walked in the door:

He was wearing a makeshift cast on his right arm, and I made some weird/smart-ass comment about unicorn healing powers for his cast.

And so started a beautiful thing!

A year ago Arthur and I met at a mutual friend's birthday party-- I recall talking about horror movies, football, and... unicorns. right. I can't say it was love at first sight, but it was definitly an appreciation of like-minds, senses of humors, and interests. I had no idea that a year later, we would be married, living in our second apartment, and testing out our crock-pot and its amazing abilities to cook great meals with very little input.

Et Voila! Meal!

Happy 1 year of knowing you anniversary!

2 months and 9 days into marriage later…

I make a blog post. I feel tremendously guilty about my lack of blogging about the whole process, like I said I was going to—but life got in the way. I can’t explain it, but all I did was eat/dream/sleep wedding until I got married, and then I suppose I’ve been silently practicing married life without any commentary since.

So let’s just say this then—our wedding was fabulous. I had my perfect day—I mean with the exception of the discovery this evening that I forgot to give Arthur my grandfather’s cuff links to wear on our wedding day (like I had always ALWAYS planned—I toted them around with me all the time for this specific purpose)—with the exception of forgetting that minor detail everything else was a dream. I floated on cloud 9. I am married to the man of my dreams, and I had the party of all parties to celebrate.

What more can I ask for??

A place to hang things on the wall, actually.

I kid, I jest, I joke. I say such a thing because we actually spent ALL day today moving all of our belongings into a new apartment, in which we will be living for the next year. For those of you who need the vital information about the whereabouts and digits—don’t worry its coming. I’m planning on creating moving cards very soon—and in preparation I watched this video about stamping and embossing. Yes, I’m a paper nerd. Deal.

So besides the mountain of boxes in our soon to be dining room,

the place is looking fairly good for less than 24 hours of living here. I promise to take pictures of our adventures when say, we get a dining room table (Ikea? Wal-mart? Craigslist? I just don’t know!) and we eat a meal on it. Or maybe if I cook a meal—and we eat it at our table—that’s worth celebrating right there.

Acutally, this is worth celebrating too. Nothing like a little sibiling help on move day. :)

Until then—

Ciao

Jess

final countdown....

Well, I know this isn't much of a revelation, but we have three days (or thereabouts) until we get married. I know we promised to blog way more during the whole engagement period than we actually did, but believe it or not things got really busy. Like wake up, go to work, come home, plan wedding, go to sleep and do it all again the next day kind of busy. I'm looking forward to post-married life, not just for wedded bliss, but for having free time again. Hurrah!

Blogging in the fast lane.

So, I finally figured out how to set up my blogging app on my iPhone. Hallelujah! Part of the reason there hasn't been any posts is because I have no time!!! But with the ability to blog from the road now, expect many more posts about hilarity in general. I'll probably add this in later but we watched an awesome clip of the daily show last night:

our latest debate...

...isn't over our wedding colors, furniture, cars, or even what kind of cake we want at our wedding. (we actually can agree on that-- as we agree on most things)
Nope, our never ending debate as of late is about coke.
Yup. Specifically-- if carbonated sodas TASTE differently in their respective containers. I contest that they do not. Arthur insists that a cold can of dr. pepper tastes infinitely better over its plastic bottle counterpart. My parents, upon surveying, are convinced that in a cold glass bottle is the optimum methodology for serving soda.
And why can't we agree to disagree? We have, only, upon drinking said dr. pepper out of a can at dinner, or breakfast or whenever, Arthur brings up the subject with others. I don't mind... I just want to lay the subject to rest. Because in my mind, nothing changes about the soda formula in whatever container its in. Its still the sweet elixer of the universe (AKA Diet Coke with Lime).
So Dear Internet, please resolve this difference of opinion once and for all--
does soda really change taste when inside a different container?
If so, which container is the best?
And does it really matter, as I drink coke european style-- room temperature, out of the can, no ice?

Arthur claims it tastes better out of a can like this. I say its just an excuse for slurping soda.

After all, when you drink the sweet elixir of the universe, you happen to know better after all.