Wednesday, December 10, 2008

HAPPY B-DAY BEE!

celebrating my sweet Bee's birthday
always makes me smile
I love her eyes that shine so bright
and her undeniable style

she's painted on my soul
and flows throughout my veins
when I'm with her I am whole
and love dancing in the rain

I love you Bee
- J







Sunday, December 07, 2008

Don't throw away the quirks!

So, here we are cleaning up and clearing out...again.
I get these random spurts of concentrated energy which will not subside without throwing something out or cleaning out this corner of the house. I know, some call it OCD.

At any rate, we landed some documented quirks on Joshua that I had to record, somewhere other than the sticky note pile, in order to throw it away. Sentimental aren't I?

Presenting the one and only Joshua!! (round of applause)

* I have an episode of amnesia at least 8x's daily.
* I see a sunburn as a free souvenir.
* I have a goal to be more passionate about life.
* I use 4 paper towels, to dry my hands, when using public restrooms.
* I love experiencing new cultures & will try most anything once.
* I have an internal sensor that turns on as soon as I have brushed my teeth and said my prayers, that puts me right to sleep.
* I will only buy Crest regular tooth paste.
* I must hang all my clothes facing left in the closet.
* Chocolate milk makes me happy!

And there you have it! Straight from the luscious mouth of the J-man!

We Went to the Woods to Live...

After a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast with our friends, the Dallings, we took to flight and headed Westward to our favorite city, Charlottesville. J found a cottage/cabin for us where we could spend some time together and reflect on our blessings in the quiet solitude of the woods.
The place was cozy and comfy and had all the necessities to accomodate time away from home. There was a nice sitting/reading area by the fireplace (Bee's favorite)

The kitchen was fully equipped.

The jacuzzi tub was marvelous
And the bed was cozy

We managed to find some time to talk to our families before we tuned out the world for a couple of days. We were surprised we got service so far away from town, but it was nice to be able to chat with our loved ones from so far away from home.

We enjoyed the relaxing hammock

And warmed up with some hot cocoa

And we left feeling refreshed and grateful for the time we had to spend together.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

A New York Minute!

Good day and Happy Thanksgiving!
Second of all, any complaints or worries for our MIA action can be directed to yours truly, Comcast. We are grateful to be up and running once again!:)
Now then, I have been meaning to record my recent NY City adventures and once again apologize for going back in time with my memories.


But alas! They can not be forgotten! So, Emily Wadds and I had originally planned to go see NY whilst the husbands were away at scout camp and as you may know were foiled big time when our flight was canceled. So, this was round two in the ol' plans and I'm grateful to say they were baby bottom smooth.

Here we are on the plane, sleepy eyes and all. We were both so giddy and giggley that I'm sure we were annoying to all around who were forced to hear.
While standing in the middle of Time Square and being crazy photo-snapping tourists, we decided early on that we didn't care what "they" thought of us. It was all about having fun and getting good shots:)

Our first day proved to be successful in the shopping category. Man did we walk and walk and walk. I felt like a pioneer! Everyone walks everywhere and if you aren't sure where you are going, you must just keep on going and pretend like you do. Otherwise, you could get trampled on and attacked from over-sized shoppings bags, pocket books, a pack of dogs or girls in spandex (aka "leggings") and boots. And if you destiny is to be able to avoid all the previously named outcomes, you will be given a flyer filled with trash that no one wants to read. Your choice. We chose to walk! By the end of day our feet were not only sopping wet (from bonafide NY rain) but quite sore.
Here is the Macy's Santa Mail box. I felt like I was in The North Pole and should already have my Christmas list ready to deliver to the ol' jolly man himself. Do you ever send a letter to Santa Claus? Oh the magic in make believe!




Here was our "to do" list:
  1. Eat a NY hot dog!
  2. See Time Square!
  3. See Statue of Liberty!
  4. Wave to the Brooklyn Bridge!
  5. Enjoy a night on Broadway!
  6. Shop, shop, shop!
  7. and eat NY cheesecake!
    The cheesecake is not shown here, but this was a cute bakery filled with mountains of sugary substances perfect for the traveling gals. And here I am after our first day of walking and shopping, oh and eating, outside of Adrienne's upper west side Manhattan apartment. Thinking we were locked out from the extra deadbolt, which we did not have a key for, and ready to accept defeat...I tried it one last time and it magically opened. To this day I couldn't really tell you how I did it, but alas! We were in! Hooray!
Day 2- Getting hasty and taking the first ferry we came across, we were on our way to Stanton Island. Which by the way, is not where the Statue of Liberty is. Oops! Oh well. We saw it from a distance and waved to the strong armed lady! All was not lost when we came to this hot dog stand and fulfilled another wish.











Does anyone recognize this iconic restaurant? Shout out to Kramer, Jerry, Elaine and George.












Yes! Believe it or not this is the Brooklyn Bridge in all her majesty.











Using what little training we have had on modeling, here is our attempts at posing as the mannequins, prior to being kicked out of the store for taking pictures!


Day 3- Let us take a moment to remember our new found friend,

Chris. We met him on our first day (that's another story) and discovered that he works for TKTS, where one can get discounted broadway tickets. He told us to come by and tell the guards that "Chris sent you" and they would push us to the front of the very long line with no problem. Well, the only problem was that the guard had no idea who Chris was. So, feeling very naive and wondering what to do... when out of the blue I spot our yellow clad hero! Oh yes! Chris it was! He did as promised too and let us through all the ropes and signs to get us to the front of the line. We were all for the hook-ups this trip. Thanks Chris!


And here we are ready to go out on the town! This picture is a good reminder to do as my mother told me and "Brooke, stand up straight". Thanks Mother!

Welp! I am off to make some grub and eat some turkey. Then J and I are headed to a romantic cabin built for two for the weekend. I will try and finish later.
Happy eating and remembering our many blessings!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

How Do You Make a Cake Out of That?

SAY CHEESE!!!

So how do you follow up a home baked apple pie? How about an attempt at some homemade cheesecake? We say why not?....

We started by lining one of those special pans with the graham cracker crust - a key ingredient.

Then we added the creamy goodness that makes it all worth while.

We baked it up and made our place smell like a bakery...it's almost as good as a fancy candle from Bath & Body Works. :)

And utilized the special pan to expose the full sides for one tempting (and rich) treat!

Isn't the first piece always the messiest?

Then we thought about entering a few triathlons to burn off the calories.
:)

Pie Maker, Pie Maker, Make Me a Pie!

In continuation of our tradition of Fall celebration, we did indeed bake our famous apple pie! Here is a step-by-step (I miss that show) of the process (with pics....)

First we peel and sugar up the fresh apples (we use granny smith apples) to make this sweet goodness !
Then we fill it up!

and top it off!

and bake it 'till it's golden deliciouso!
YUM!

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Candy awarded to yelling children in masks and other paraphernalia!

While sitting @ Church today I had a 10year old girl ask why we have Halloween.
I told her it was an opportunity to dress up and get free candy. While I would love to enlighten us all as to why we dress up kids in strange, scary costumes and lead them door to door yelling out a threatening phrase to people of all ages and getting rewarded with candy, I don't feel like doing the homework. :)
So, with that said......here are a few pictures depicting how we spent our Halloween.

This is J with his co-workers. Since people always ask him if he is a Dental Student, he decided to be one for a day, so he can finally answer in the affirmative.

This is Bee and her favorite little Minnie Mouse Claire. Aren't those blue eyes gorgeous?!




Ok, take a good look at this picture and see if you can guess what/who Coulter is dressed as.
Give up? He is the one and only Anakin Skywalker...Lego. Oh yes! Major props go out to Charisse and her creative master-mind in creating this one of a kind custom- made costume. You are my inspiration!

Monday, October 27, 2008

MMM... me want rainy orchard cookies!!

This past weekend we did not let the rain stop our need for an adventure! We held tight to our annual tradition of picking apples (kind of) fresh from the orchard and enjoying some freshly made apple cider donuts and B's personal fav: apple caramel cookies! YUM!
My mouth is yearning for the last smidgen of a crumb that I couldn't resist savoring last night.

While we were meandering around the orchard, we could not help ourselves from tasting the biggest apple on the mountain top.


What are we planning to do with all of our newly acquired, carefully chosen granny smith apples? Well, turn them into one tempting, delicioso pie!

This is one of J's most favorite fall traditions.

By the way, if anyone should like to visit us in the fall, we will make you a fresh apple pie.
The Hoffs, fresh apple pie...what more could one ask for in life?:)