Ruston Peach Bread Recipe!

Oct 31, 2012

For whatever reason, we have been pretty consistent with the peach concept for many of our pre-wedding things.
We made peach jelly for hostess gifts and we took our engagement photos at an old peach farm.
For our most recent shower, my mom helped me out by making some incredible peach bread with our leftover Ruston peaches from this summer (that we had frozen).

3 cups slices peaches
6 tablespoons sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine peaches and the 6 tablespoons of sugar in an electric blender and then process until pureed.
Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon to the peach mixture.
In a new bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups sugar and the butter, mix until creamy.
Then add the two eggs until mixed well. 
Combine the ingredients of both bowls, mixing until ingredients are moistened. 
Stir in nuts and vanilla. 
Our recipe made 8 small loaf pans, but this recipe can also make 2 9x5x3 inch loaf pans.
Bake at 325 for 55-60 minutes.
Ta-da!
I know you're all like "Meh, that bread looks really boring"
Well, shut up.
It isn't.
It's kinda more like peach cake straight from the heavens (if like Paula Deen died and was in the heavens)
P.S. Aren't the little tags cute?
Mom is incredible.
She's the best (and cheapest) little wedding planner around.

Little things

Oct 30, 2012

1) I didn't update the blog yesterday. 
It felt weird skipping a day like that, but I kind of got a weird thrill by skipping a pretty regular post day. 
Gosh I'm strange.
I'll make up for it today with a post jam packed with awesomeness.

2) We did some serious paperwork last week
2) I had three job interviews Friday for orthopedic positions around Dallas.

3) Speaking of work, my dad was one of our patients last week.
This is my dad's knee.
Am I violating HIPPA? Or patient/provider confidentiality?
Oh well, I'm sure he doesn't mind, I've shown half the world already.
Ortho lesson! Ready?
This is the type of x-ray you should have nightmares about (but on the other hand we have happy dreams about them because that knee=surgery)
The end.

4) To prepare for the previously mentioned interviews, I went to Starbucks, and didn't drink a pumpkin spice latte.
Now thats blog worthy right there.
I am the worst American ever if I say that I hate pumpkins?
5) I love the fact that fall is probably the most instagrammable season

 6) I think I've mentioned on here before that we are having multiple cakes at the wedding. 
Along with that comes the privilege of sampling the previously mentioned multiple cakes in preparation for this little thing called a wedding that is steadily approaching.
Recently my aunt Lori brought by her margarita cake for us to sample, and it was glorious.
I actually blogged her recipe a while back when she made margarita cupcakes for my cousins bachelorette party.

Bonus material . . .
Charles update!
I feel like I don't blog nearly as much about Charlie as I used to.
No worries, that will all change here in a few weeks when he officially becomes my roomie.
He has spent many nights in Minden lately though, and he even met his new BFF Trip.
Lots of good posts coming up this week!
I'm gonna share with yall my new favorite recipe of all time and a craft project I've been working on.
Stick around, friends :)

Iceland Fun Facts: Part 1

Oct 26, 2012

In our research for our Icelandic honeymoon, we have come across so many interesting things about this wonderful country. 
Most of this info came from this link at WhyGoIceland.com of 25 fun facts about Iceland and I was so fascinated by all the facts that I just had to share some of them with yall! 

Did you know . . . 
Iceland is only about the size of the US state of Ohio.

Three of Iceland’s five glaciers are the largest in Europe.
Only about 320,000 people live in Iceland and over 2/3 of the population live in and around Reykjavik, which is the northernmost capital in the world.

30% of the land is lava fields.
Iceland is one of the most geologically active spots on Earth.

It sits at the meeting point of the Eurasian and North American continental plates – which are slowly moving apart.
The result is some of Iceland’s unique geological features, like the two most powerful waterfalls in Europe and near-daily mini-earthquakes.

Iceland is home to the youngest place on Earth. Surtsey Island, in the Westman Islands, came up from the ocean floor during a volcanic eruption in 1963.

"Greenland is covered with ice and Iceland is very nice!" -Mighty Ducks, anyone?
When Eric the Red colonized Greenland, he decided give it a more inviting name to entice people to move there.  Iceland, on the other hand, doesn’t even get as cold in winter as New York City, on average.

Our engagement session

Oct 25, 2012

Last weekend we had another session with the fantastic Stephanie Davis.
This time I came a little more prepared, and less distraught.
(Thanks to two glasses of wine beforehand)
We didn't have to worry about sweat or the fact that I missed my makeup appointment like at our save the date session. 
I'm having the hardest time choosing my favorite picture for us to blow up for the reception.
I guess thats how you know your photographer truly is just too good.

 
Even though we weren't able to take our save the dates or our engagements with our reflection in the water in front of Winspear Opera House downtown Dallas, we somehow managed to happen upon this little puddle after we finished shooting.
 . . . which was rather ironic and entertaining at the same time.
Hey, you win some you lose some.
It's no Winspear, but it's still pretty cool.

Getting thrifty around here

Oct 24, 2012

The antique shop in my hometown is having a sale, so naturally, I'm going broke stocking up.
I'm finding all kinds of great deals that will double as decor for our wedding and decor for our future apartment.
$6 briefcase, $12 lantern, and a $30 camera that I've been crushing on for quite some time.
Future side table!
$20
I found an old hymnal, and I am really working on lots of surprises using the papers.
 I'm also going slight nuts with polaroids.

I'll be posting more about my thrifty projects later on.
Now, if only I could figure out a way to work part time at World Market just to get the employee discount, hmmm . . . 

John Lennon's last days according to Yoko Ono

Oct 23, 2012

Have you ever come across a story that truly resonated with you?
In 2010 I came across this article written by Yoko Ono in Rolling Stone and I became terribly intrigued  by it. 
John Lennon and Yoko always seemed to have a peculiar relationship, but this inside look into their last day together really raises the bar.
There really aren't any words to adequately describe it.
Read it for yourself.

WALKING ON THIN ICE by Yoko Ono was first published in Rolling Stone, December 2010 issue as “John’s Last Days: A Remembrance by Yoko Ono”.

“The last weekend was very quiet. The sky was cloudy in a restful way. And the town seemed as though it was asleep.

Saturday started with John listening to “Walking on Thin Ice”. As John was so focused on it, I went out to the news stand and suddenly thought I should get John some chocolates as a surprise. He loved chocolates, but it was not in our sugarless diet at that point. After the drug binges of the Sixties, John wanted both of us to clean up and be healthy “for Sean’s sake too.” But that Saturday, the last Saturday John would enjoy, I thought of getting him some chocolate and surpri sing him. I don’t know why I thought that. I didn’t like chocolates at all then, so I wasn’t suffering not eating them. I got some and came home. As I came out of the elevator, I was surprised by John opening the door to the apartment before I rang the bell. “How did you know I was coming back just now?” “Oh, I know when you’re back.” He was so happy that I got him the chocolates. I remember how he smiled.

The same day, John wanted all my artwork to be brought upstairs from the basement to the white room. This was not the first time he asked for it, but he asked for it on this weekend again. “It’s ridiculous. We have those great works, and we are leaving them in the basement. I want to enjoy them.” For me, it was boring to have to see my old works every day. As a result, my pieces were piled up in the basement storage covered in dust. In those days, I didn’t particularly care about that. “John, can we do it after we finish the album? We are all so busy now.” “No, we should do it now. You’ll never do it otherwise.” As he said it, there was a touch of sadness in his voice, as if he already knew we would never bring them upstairs. We didn’t.

All day, John did not stop playing “Walking on Thin Ice.” He played it over and over again. We still hadn’t overdubbed the guitar solo, so I thought he was checking what to do with it. But it was unlike him that he took so much time on it. I went to sleep. When I woke up on Sunday morning, he was still playing “Walking all Thin Ice” as he looked over the park. I knew the song was a good song. But I was just thinking of what else should be done musically. Never thought deeper than that at the time. Only just recently, it occured to me that maybe John was aware of the song in a different light.

Walking on thin ice
I’m paying the price
For throwing the dice in the air.

But it goes into the middle eight after the second verse:

I may cry someday,
But the tears will dry whichever way…
And when our hearts return to ashes
It’ll be just a story.

I hadn’t realized that it said “I may cry someday,” not “YOU may cry someday” or “WE may cry someday.”

What was I thinking?! John probably noticed it as he listened to the song that weekend, so intently. Was that what made him keep on listening? Did we know something? John? Me? Death was one thing we didn’t discuss that weekend. But it was around us like a thick fog.

The last Sunday. I’m glad in a way that we didn’t know that it was our last Sunday together, so we could have had a semblance of normalcy. But it turned out that it was not a normal Sunday at all. Something was starting to happen, like the dead silence before a tsunami. The air was gelling tenser and tenser, denser and denser. Then, I distinctly saw airwaves in the room. It was wiggly lines, like on the heart monitor next to the hospital bed, just before it becomes a flat straight line. “John, are you all right?” I asked through the density. He just nodded and kept listening to “Walking on Thin Ice,” playing it loud. “Walking on thin ice. Walking on thin ice …” “John, John, arrre youuuu alllll riiight?” I heard my voice vibrating. I could not go near John, for some reason. WALKING ON THIN ICE. WALKING ON THIN ICE. WALKING ON THIN ICE. I realized that both of us were in a strange dimension in a weird time zone, as if we were in a dream. Then it all stopped. I went into a long and shallow sleep, with John over me, kissing me tenderly.

Monday. The very last day of John’s life, we woke up to a shiny blue sky spreading over Central Park. The day had an air of bright eyes and bushy tails. John and I remembered that we had a full schedule. Annie Leibovitz’s photo session, RKO radio show, and studio work from 6 p.m. John liked being prompt. John was English, I was Japanese. The result was both of us possessed extreme austerity and hilarity back to back. The sky was turning gray in the afternoon. And John kept talking to the RKO radio guy, cramming in a lot of things. We nearly became late for the studio. I rushed into the car and saw John still signing an autograph for a guy in front of the Dakota. “John, we’ll be late!” I remember being a bit irritable. “Why one more autograph?” I thought. John said something like, “OK,” and rushed into the car, sat next to me and held my hand as usuaL The car drove off.

I know I speak of his hands a lot. I loved his hands. He used to say he had wanted hands like Jean Cocteau – long and slim fingers. But I grew up surrounded by cousins with those aristocratic hands. I loved John’s, clean, strong, working-class hands that grabbed me whenever there was a chance.

The studio work went until late at night. In a room next to the control room, just before we left the studio, John looked at me. I looked at him. His eyes had an intensity of a guy about to tell me something important. “Yes?” I asked. And I will never forget how with a deep, soft voice, as if to carve his words in my mind, he said the most beautiful things to me. “Oh” I said after a while, and looked away, feeling a bit embarrassed.

In my mind, hearing something like that from your man when you were way over 40… well… I was a very lucky woman, I thought. Even now, I see his piercing eyes in my mind. I don’t know why he decided, at that very moment, to say all that as if he wanted me to remember it forever. Did it matter that the whole world hated you if your guy loved you that much? Who cares if you had to live in hell with him? Some couples might be lucky to live in heaven. John and my heaven was in Hell. And we loved it. We would not have wanted it any other way.

Yoko Ono
London, October 18th, 2010

A Wonderful Holiday Shower

Oct 22, 2012

This past weekend my sweet college friends threw a holiday themed shower for me to help us keep our future home stocked with all kinds of holiday decor.
I really love the whole concept of a holiday shower and the timing worked out perfectly for us to be showered with so many festive goodies!
One of my favorite gifts of all was the wreath Amy made me (all by herself! even the burlap flowers!)
. . . and she embroidered this as well!
All the food was so festively themed!
Perkins did a great job with the cheese christmas tree and veggie turkey!
 Love my acorns from Mags and Hannah!
. . . and Maggie designed the invitations herself!
I just adore these girls!
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