Saturday night, my lovely husband cooked me breakfast for dinner. It was so much fun. I was all smiles as he whipped up some perfect little pancakes, scrambled eggs and turkey bacon.

Is there anything better than the sight of the one you love mixing up some breakfast?

I can’t remember the last time I had pancakes. Look how beautiful.

As we started to munch our breakfast, we craved orange juice. And then we craved mimosas, so we popped open a bottle of champagne given to us as a wedding gift.

Just when I thought breakfast for dinner was a little “tame” for a couple in their twenties, we went and finished off a bottle of champagne.

This morning, the Easter sunshine came bursting through the windows. We got up early to break into our Easter baskets. Eric handed me mine.

 I made him search for his.

 After our basket exchange/hunt we went for a nice morning walk and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before heading to church.

After church, it was time to get ready for our Easter meal.

It was a team effort to prepare our first holiday turkey without a parent giving detailed instruction.

 I read off the instructions from my computer while Eric was more hands on.

Pretty soon, our guests arrived. First, Andrea and Dave with adorable and delicous cupcakes and then Kimmy, with a massive tupperware bin filled with food and an easter decoration.

We devoured cheese, crackers and wine while waiting for the turkey to be done.

Dinner included roasted turkey, spaghetti squash au gratin, cranberry sauce, brocolli, bread, salad and more.

We miss our families every day, especially holidays, but we were so blessed to have wonderful friends to spend our holiday with.

After dinner we had peanut butter bars with chocolate buttercream frosting, raspberry swirl cupcakes and apple cupcakes.

That might explain why all five of us were glued to the tv for hours watching the Masters. It takes one good food coma to get me into golf on tv.

Happy Easter!

The day began as most Saturdays do: Bodypump and Starbucks with Kimmy. Andrea was out of town and Sarah needed her sleep, so Kimmy and I spent our time at Starbucks talking about how Andrea shouldn’t travel so much and Sarah should go to bed earlier so she can wake up earlier.

Country Boy called to check-in a couple of times while I was sipping my iced coffee. I think it had something to do with the lofty promise I made a few days back about how we were going to spend “ALL DAY SATURDAY DOING MAJOR SPRING CLEANING!!!.” Lucky for me, by the time I returned home, he had taken care of most of the cleaning, with the exception of…my closet.

Just to defend myself…I destroyed my closet in order to re-organize it. My closet wasn’t this embarrassing. I put away all of my winter-ish shoes and clothes, filled a bag to donate and a bag to throw away.

We worked up an appetite with all of that cleaning.  What better thing to do in a freshly cleaned kitchen than cook a big sloppy meal!?

It’s especially fun when my husband follows me around with a spray bottle of 409. I don’t know how many times I have to yell, ”DON”T SPRAY CHEMICALS ON MY FOOD!”

Now, forget about the chemicals for a moment  while I discuss how delicious last night’s dinner was. It was  better than tacos…it was taco stuffed peppers! (Based on this recipe.)

Roasted red and yellow peppers.

Ground turkey, quinoa, corn, black beans, taco seasoning, salsa.

Stuff the peppers

Top with cheese and bake for another 15 minutes.

While that baked, we made a creamy avocado dip.

Two avocados, cilantro, garlic, ½ cup of Greek yogurt, lime juice, salt and pepper.

Just like guacamole, but with extra protein and less calories.  Very smooth and tasty.

Dinner is served.

I used my favorite oven mit from Anthropologie, a Christmas gift from Grandma. HI GRANDMA!

And then we drank margaritas all night, extra salt.

Oh, no we didn’t. We watched The Lion King.

That’s what I meant.

I like to think I have good ideas on my own, and I’m not saying that’s not true, but Pinterest has opened my eyes to a whole new world of food, fashion, home decorating, fitness and random things I never knew I wanted to know about.

As I reflect on the last week and the fun little things I did, I realized quite a bit was inspired by Pinterest.

Well, not this pre-Valentine’s Day pizza. I had no problem creating this masterpiece.

But the homemade Valentine’s Day gift? Pinterest.

It’s four framed maps, with hearts circling the places we met, got engaged, got married and live. We met- Chicago, IL. We got engaged- Orlando, FL. Got married- Flint, MI. We live- Fargo, ND. This project took 20 minutes and cost $12.00. Quite a bargain compared to last Valentine’s Day in Belize.

Another Pinterest inspired endeavor this week?

 A little wine and cheese gathering with friends. Veggies served in individual cups of dip…Pinterest. The veggie dip made out of Chobani plain greek yogurt with ranch seasoning…Pinterest.

Pinterest also reminded me that I love scallops wrapped in bacon, so those were added to the menu.

While the food was delicious, the dance party with Just Dance 3 on the Wii was the highlight.

 Rest assured, you don’t find fabulous friends to drink wine, dance, and laugh with on Pinterest.

But first: Last night, Country Boy couldn’t understand why I was so glued to the tv when the news that Whitney Houston had died broke. He was confused. “Since when have you been a Whitney Houston fan?”

It was then that  I remembered.

He didn’t know me when I was 3. Some of my very first and very favorite memories of my mom were dancing in our living room to Whitney Houston’s “I wanna dance with somebody.” I remember my mom’s big hair (it was 1987, she was around the same age I am now), I remember her purple sweat pants (it was 1987 and that was what she wore to clean those house), and I remember her singing as loud as she could to this song, encouraging me to dance and sing too whenever the music video played on VH1.

There is a home video of me jumping on the bed while on vacation in Florida, three years old, singing this song. Another first “musical” memory of my mom? Cruising around in her car, me, just a toddler, her in her late twenties singing Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” at the top of our lungs. The verdict is still out on how appropriate a toddler singing Madonna songs was.

Here we are in the peak of our song and dance days.

Now, onto Grandma Weaver’s 90th birthday.

Our roadtrip included a stop in Wisconsin for cheese.

Saturday, we celebrated with the birthday girl. She doesn’t look 90. Or even 80.

I made a new friend.

It was fun to spend some time on the farm. Eric always likes to take pictures of me on farms. He thinks I don’t quite fit there. But, I think I do. I don’t mind getting my boots muddy. (That’s I lie.)

Sunday we spent the day on the road, after a quick, but wonderful weekend with the Weaver family. Happy birthday Grandma Weaver!

A majority of last weekend was spent in the airport to be specific. But, everyone probably already knows that because I was a complete drama queen all over Facebook about never making it to Chicago as we planned.

Our Friday afternoon flight was cancelled. We thought about going to a nice dinner, but instead we sat on the couch and ate proscuitto, salami, cheese and wine oranges.

After Saturday morning Bodypump and Starbucks with Sarah, it was time to head to the airport.

By the time we arrived at the airport, our flight was pushed back to 5:30.

We got a drink and called Benny’s Chophouse in Chicago to make our dinner reservation as late as possible.

The flight got pushed back to 6:30

We did some heavy reading.

And made friends with people who were trapped in Fargo.

Then, our flight disappeared from the screen. I stomped my feet. It was really effective.

Then, it appeared on the screen, changed to 7:30.

We didn’t even want to go anymore. We got a refund for my ticket, Country Boy changed his flight to the next day, so he could still make it for the business part of the Chicago trip. I cancelled my massage, he cancelled our hotel and our dinner reservations.

We went home to change and headed to Sarello’s for dinner.

I posed for a picture in the kitchen and pretended I was standing on Michigan Avenue overlooking the Chicago River.

When we got to dinner, and found out my dad had called to pay for dinner and tell them it was our anniversary, we forgot all about Chicago and our day at the airport.

The bottle of wine helped too.

And maybe the five course meal with the love of my life.

I got lost in the love and the bourbon glazed bread pudding.

We’ll never forget our one year anniversary.

Especially because on our actual anniversary, Country Boy left early in the morning to go to Chicago, and I ventured out in a mild snowstorm and managed to get stuck in my car. Not like my car got stuck in the snow, I mean… I. Got. Stuck. Inside of. My car. The door wouldn’t open. I called my husband whom had just arrived in Chicago, in a panick because I couldn’t get out of my car to go into ULTA to buy some nail polish. I had to crawl out the passenger door. I sent him this picture with a “Happy Anniversary!”.

The door works now and I still have no idea why that happened.

Anyways…

Finishing up last minute details for the wedding

Ending one job and anxiously awaiting the start of the new one

Buying a new SUV

Packing up to move to Fargo

Preparing for a different life

And anticipating this day…less than a week away.

Today, I’m calm, rested, content. With soup simmering on the stove for tonight’s dinner, writing in my little blog with coffee made by Country Boy.

The decisions were good, the changes worked out and last January’s life upheaval turned out to be just fine.

I miss my family every day, but as shocking as it is…they are all able to function without me.

As fun and exciting as planning a wedding and everything that went along with it was, I’m happy that for today, I can just focus on planning the details for next weekend’s trip to Chicago to celebrate one year of marriage in the city we called home when we met and fell in love.

When I saw him heating the pan for searing…I got nervous. He said it might get a little “smokey” but it would be fine. I opened all the doors and windows because I’m paranoid.

Steak 1…into the pan. A little smoke. More smoke. And then I started screaming for him to stop.

My favorite comment he made? “Oh, it’ll totally be worth it when you taste these.”

All smoke detectors were going off. Everyone in our building had to evacuate. I wanted to hide in our bedroom.

Then I heard sirens. UGH. How embarassing.

It wasn’t even really smokey at all, but those dang alarms wouldn’t stop.

All clear!

I’m not sure it was “totally worth it”, but dinner was extremely delicious.

And as we continue the search for our perfect first home, we’ll be sure it includes a commercial grade kitchen so our culinary experiments don’t involve any emergency responders.

We arrived in Michigan the Thursday before Christmas. I immediately started cooking and baking. Chicken noodle soup and fresh baked bread for my favorite guys.

I wasn’t sure I made enough cookies.

My brother even helped with the dishes.

The Friday before Christmas was full of errands, wrapping and the first of our holiday celebrations at Aunt Nancy (Nanny!) and Uncle Jerry’s.

Their tree looked beautiful.

There was food, Just Dance on the Wii, and catching up with family.

We were thrown a little curveball this Christmas…my Grandma ended up in the hospital for almost a week. For a to-do list junkie who likes to plan out every detail, I had to learn to “relax” about the fact that our traditions would have to shift.

A stop at the hospital before church on Christmas Eve.

Reunited with a best friend at church.

And off to Granny’s to play with Liam.

I suppose there were other family members there too.

We lounged around watching football and Christmas movies.

We went back to my dad’s late on Christmas eve to watch It’s a Wonderful Life, and open a few presents by the light of the Christmas tree. I was so happy to see our tree look just as beautiful as my mom used to decorate it.

Christmas morning was lovely and relaxing with my dad, my brother and my Country Boy.

We tested out the new coffee maker we got for my dad.

It took a few over-flowing mugs to get it right.

Because grandma was still in the hospital and grandpa was with her, we did an impromptu brunch at our house with Dad’s side of the family. Despite missing a couple of our favorite people, we shared lots of laughs. We played games and relaxed, because we wanted to save the presents until Grandma and Grandpa could enjoy it.

We went to Granny’s for Christmas Day dinner and presents.

It’s always a bit of a wildhouse over there with so many people, and babies and presents and food. But this year, my Aunt Kim, using a pan my Aunt Jan bought for her, managed to cause a smokeout in the oven. The pan cracked in the oven, wing sauce went all over. The house filled with smoke, people were coughing, we evacuated the house, babies had blankets put over their heads. We spent some time out in the front yard. Since the wings were fully smoked, we enjoyed a few as we waited for the smoke to clear out of the house.

I’m still waiting on a picture of us in the front yard from my Aunt Kim.

Dinner was delicious, and we had fun letting Granny open her new iPad 2.

Although I worked a few days during a week at home, I was still able to spend the evenings with the family. Let’s be honest though, they were laughing, talking loudly and rummaging around the house no matter how focused on work I was, or how many times I asked them to be quiet. : )

I had fun going for runs with my dad.

We saw two movies, and went to some great dinners.

My cousin Adam came home from the Navy.

And Eric and I got to go to dinner with some of my favorite friends from high school.

We celebrated Christmas at my grandparents later in the week when Grandma was home from the hospital and feeling well.

We got to spend time at Colleen and Brad’s, and even received a visit from my friends Ashley and Jon, and my favorite…Kambree!

We had a party at my dad’s house on New Year’s Eve. It was great to end our trip with a fun night with family and friends.

We spent 14 hours on the road yesterday, and now we’re back in Fargo getting ready to get back to the routine in 2012.

Workout- Check
Groceries- Check
Clean House- Check
Laundry- Check
Christmas Decorations Down- Check
Christmas Presents Unpacked- Check

To do all of the Christmas baking in a 24 hour period.

To make my dad and brother a homemade meal.

To wrap all of the presents I shipped to Michigan.

To enjoy beautiful christmas eve mass with my mom’s side of the family.

To lounge at Granny’s house Christmas Eve in our comfy clothes with pizza and movies and fight over who sits where. (I usually end up on the floor, unless I volunteer to hold a baby).

To sit around our tree exchanging gifts on Christmas morning.

To eat Christmas brunch at my grandparent’s house. The egg casserole, the french toast, the love.

To eat Christmas dinner with my cousins and aunts and uncles at Granny’s house.

To end the day feeling full of holiday treats and blessings.

To carry on the traditions of year’s past and to make new ones too.

To remember the way my mom made Christmas feel to us, and to keep that spirit alive.

To be home for the holidays.

I just can’t wait.

The presents are bought. The plans are made. In just a few days we’ll be on our way.

These are my favorites. I blame it on the butter. Or maybe the caramel? I know it’s not the oats.

Unwrapping these caramels is annoying, but it’s worth it. So unwrap the whole bag, put them into a saucepan with 1/3 cup of water. Low heat is key. Be patient. You will understand why, when you scorch your caramels and have to go buy a new bag. Not that I’ve ever done this.

As the caramels melt slowly combine two cups of oats, two cups of flour, one cup of brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and a 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

And now, the really sinful part. Melt two sticks of butter and drizzle into your mixture. (It’s full of nutritious oats, remember!)

Mix and taste. Remember no raw eggs here, just hot, liquid butter!

 Reserve one cup of this heavenly mixture for later use, and pat the rest of it into a 9×13 pan and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

When 15 minutes are up, remove from the oven and immediately scatter 1/2 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/2 bag of milk chocolate chips. That’s not the rule, but I think it makes a difference.

Remember that caramel that you’ve patiently waited for, and stirred over low-heat consistenly so it didn’t scorch?

Drizzle it over the chocolate chips, so they are swimming in a sweet sea of caramel.

Now, add the one cup of oat topping you’ve been saving because you chose not to make it your lunch as you waited for the caramel to melt, right?

Put back into the oven for another 15-20 minutes, and boom your gooey bars are done.

And then you get to test your willpower. These need to set for a while. If you try to dig right in, you will have a gooey mess and you might as well put it into a bowl and eat it with a spoon. That actually sounds delicious, but not very conducive to sharing with friends, which is a must if you plan on making sweets with two sticks of butter every single weekend during the month of december. So set it, try to forget it and then…

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Aghhhhhhhhh these are so good.

 And if you can just try to remember that two cups of oats negates two sticks of butter, these will be so much more fun to eat! Enjoy.