Might be giving up on this blog..

I haven't blogged in ages, I just don't feel it anymore. I'm going to give myself some time to reevaluate my life and some of the craziness happening around it. Thanks to my few followers, I promise to keep updated on your blogs :)

People let me tell you 'bout my best friend.

I have the internet to thank for a lot of amazing people in my life, my husband being one of them.

A couple years ago I was a regular on a certain wedding website forum :nudge nudge: and a newbie also from Central Florida showed up on the boards. We had a lot in common so we emailed and decided to hang out. We nommed on Panera and talked about life. That was the beginning of something that will last forever.

Kelly is my best friend, even in the short span of our friendship we've been there for each other through plenty of life changing events. Her first born, Kadie is the raddest 3 year old you'll ever meet and fearless as can be.. well except for when it comes to crab legs and she and her husband, Josh make beautiful babies.

Late September of 2009, I was awoken [..awakened? whatever] from my sleep by multiple missed calls from Kelly; I opened up my text inbox and saw "BFP, ANSWER YOUR FUCKING PHONE!" We laughed, we cried, we got really excited.. and then we realized she'd be a mom x2 to a brand new, nursing, newborn on her planned June wedding date.

The planning began that week to push her wedding to that November and she immediately sent out invites. We went dress shopping and found a BEAUTIFUL gown on an accidental clearance. High five whoever forgot to pull off the red tag. I made her a birdcage veil and donated wedding decor; our friend Nicole made the vegan cake; Josh, a chef, made the food and his restaurant hosted the reception. We all pitched in to make her dream a reality. The week prior to the wedding we rushed to tie up loose ends and figure out the logistics of the day; she found a gorgeous park with a great site to perform the ceremony. Friday night, Kelly, Nicole and myself hung out and Kelly got us tattoos as a bridesmaid gift. Pretty kickass. Fast forward to Saturday afternoon.. it was beautiful!

Wedding porn:

[Kim, Kelly, Me, Nicole]

..four weeks later I found out I was moving away to Texas. I wasn't even going to be there when Baby #2 was born! Kelly's wedding day ended up being the last time I was able to see her before I left; she lived an hour away and with working doubles and packing, it was really difficult to break away to go see her. I regret that with every inch of my soul.

May 13th, 2010, 8:50am

Best news EVER..

Happy Birthday
Kaelyn Drew
5lbs, 9oz.

..and all I could do was send flowers and gifts. I love that little nugget more than anything and I haven't even had the chance to meet her.

Last week Kelly and her family moved their lives to Wisconsin. I was so happy for her to be receiving the opportunities that come with living there, but I was torn apart when I realized that I wouldn't be seeing her on my vacation to Florida this fall. Friends are forever, no matter the distance between us.

I'm so proud of you and I'm coming to Wisconsin soon!

I honestly don't know where I'd be without her right now; she helped me through a really rocky time in my marriage, and has been my shoulder to cry on during my battle with infertility.

Thank you internet, for introducing me to the best mother, friend, person I've ever known.

Wordless Wednesday: 105

[our home is complete]

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

50 things about my marriage

I snagged this survey from Military Mama and thought it was super cute.. so here we go!

1. When is your “engagement” anniversary:

October 23, 2008

2. When is your “marriage” anniversary:
May 26, 2009

3. How long have you known your spouse:
3 years

4. How long did you date/court before you were engaged:
Exactly a year from the day we met online, three weeks short of a year dating.

5. Where did you meet your spouse for the first time?
Myspace, then the parking lot of a hotel :)

6. What is your spouse’s full name:
Michael John S., Jr.

7. Do you have any children:
Not yet :(

8. How many – boys/girls:
N/A

9. Do you have any house pets:

YES! They are our babies :)
Pugsley - 4yr old Dutch bunny
Dante - 1.5yr old Dutch bunny
Deacon - 1yr old Chihuahua Italian Greyhound mix

Phoebe - 2.5yr old Pug Chihuahua mix

10. Do you own a house or rent:
This is our last month renting! We close on our home on the 20th!

11. Do you live in the country or town/city:

Currently suburban, moving into a rural area but they are developing it.

12. What is one of your favorite activities together:
As lame as it sounds.. watch TV! He works a lot, and when he gets home I make dinner and we watch our favorite shows. We also love Sundays at the dog park.. Oh oh, and baby making no matter how much we fail at it :)

13. Do you have a favorite vacation spot:
We've never been on a full blown vacation together! We've just never had the time :( We are going to Florida in the fall, but I hardly consider it a vacation as we are going for a wedding. Next year we plan on taking a vacation to Europe as long as I'm not hugely pregnant.

14. When did you first kiss?
11/11/07, the date we became an official couple (although the kiss came before..)

15. What church do you attend?
We're Atheist.

16. Is this the church you were married in:
We were married outside a courthouse.

17. What town is your current address at:
Roanoke, Texas

18. Do you work or stay at home:
Stay at home.

19. Where did you go on your honeymoon:
We didn't get a chance to go on our honeymoon :(

20. What was the funniest gift you gave when dating?
Uhmm. I don't know? We gift each other things we want.

21. How long have you been together?
3 years on 11/11

22. How long did you know each other before you started dating?
Online? Three weeks. In person? 20 minutes..

23. Who asked who out?
It was mutual, but he asked if we could make this official.

24. How old are each of you?
I'm 24, 25 in January and he's 23, 24 next month.

25. Where do each of you go to school?
He doesn't, he works. I have yet to transfer into a school here yet (I'm waiting out the 12 months to have full residency and not pay out of state tuition)

26. Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
I'd rather not say, but if you're close to us you know. Miscarrying was hard on us too but we moved on knowing that it'll happen for us again.. boy, were we wrong!

27. Did you go to the same school?
Nope

28. Are you from the same home town?
Nope nope, he's from Anaheim, CA and Melbourne, FL and I'm from Brooklyn, NY and Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

29. Who is smarter?
ME! Haha, I think he's more common sense smart and I'm book smart.

30. Who is more sensitive?
ME. Absolutely me. I cry at least once a week.

31. Where do you eat out most as a couple?
In Florida it was Denny' and Moe's. That was "our place" but I think we've eaten a lot of Chipotle in our day :)

32. Where is the farthest you two have traveled together as a couple?

Florida to Texas.

33. Who has the craziest exes?
Hmm.. him. His exes are insane. My exes are still friends of mine and nice people in general

34. Who has the worse temper?
ME. I have Hispanic temper.

35. Who does the cooking?
Me :) He only knows how to make mac & cheese and boil noodles. I make our meals.

36. Who is more social?
Absolutely me. I'm a social butterfly and he is socially awkward.

37. Who is the neat-freak?
Both and neither at the same time. We both have OCD about certain things, but our house is never perfect.

38. Who is more stubborn?
HIM! He swears that I am though, but he is a stubborn ass.

39. Who hogs the bed?
He likes to lay like a starfish. 'nuff said.

40. Who wakes up earlier?
We both wake up at the same time, so I can make him breakfast and pack his lunch. On weekends he is usually up earlier to take the dogs out though.

41. Where was your first date?
It was supposed to be Moe's, but his family INSISTED on meeting me (mind you.. we had just met THAT day) and by the time we were out of the family reunion, Moe's was closed :( So we went to Chilli's. BLEH.

42. Who had more boyfriends/girlfriends?
Me, by a long shot.

43. Do you get flowers often?
Not really, in three years I think I've gotten flowers 3 or 4 times. Once was because HE FORGOT MY BIRTHDAY!

44. How do you spend the holidays?
Depends, we use to split it between families although one year he spent xmas eve with his family and surprised me at my parent's house (two hours away) xmas morning! Now that we live 1200 miles from family, we'll start just spending it alone.

45. Who is more jealous?
Me, but I have my reasons.

46. How long did it take to get serious?
We talked about me moving in with him before we'd even met in person. We talked marriage within the first month of dating.

47. Who eats more?
He eats larger portions, I eat more often.

48. Who does the laundry
I sort/wash/dry, he folds.

49. Who’s better with the computer?
HIM, he built our desktop and is always fixing my laptops. He's definitely a computer nerd, but I still type faster ;)

50. Leave a piece of advice for the other couples.
Marriage is hard work, don't sweat the small stuff! Bad things are going to happen, but working through it hand in hand is what makes you stronger as a couple.

Holy progress batman!

We stopped by our homesite on the way back from our midwife appointment, which btw..

..we were pleasantly surprised with how much had been done when we peeked inside the house!

Our pest control system has been installed!

Our air conditioner is in!

Water heater is in!

Tile went down!

Cabinets are up! (don't mind the ugly laminate, they don't offer an upgrade so once we close we're installing Quartz or Granite)

All of our light fixtures were up as well!

Next up: Carpets. Unsure if bathroom fixtures are in although considering the kitchen cabinets are up, I'm sure the bathrooms are too; we couldn't walk in because the tile was setting. Fence and sod and DONE

So three more weeks and we close :) SO exciting!

20 minute stir fry.

i have no clue why i haven't blogged this recipe earlier considering i make this EVERY.WEEK.

20 minute stir fry

ingredients:

enough rice for however many people you're feeding (1/2c pp)

1 can (organic) cut green beans drained

1 can (organic) whole kernel corn

1 can (organic) cut carrots

1 cup (organic) frozen/fresh edamame

1 cup (organic) frozen/fresh broccoli

*i always use organic, but you don't HAVE to.

dump rice in rice cooker (if you don't have one of these, GET ONE! It will save you SO much time and the rice always comes out PERFECT)

cover with water, water should come up just a bit over the rice. splash of evoo and a tsp of salt, mix. close lid and press cook.

while that is cooking, spray a large pan or wok with non stick spray.

if you're using any frozen veggies, toss them in a bowl of water and microwave for 1 minute. drain water.

toss all veggies in the pan and cook for 10 minutes, cover with enough soy sauce to coat and let it reduce for 5 minutes.

Pour veggies over the rice. DONE.

Serve with spring rolls, or teriyaki glazed tofu (or chicken for you meat eaters, which is what my husband does)

10 minute teriyaki glazed [enter protein here]

cut tofu [or animal protein if you're into that sorta thing] into thin strips

spray pan with non-stick

toss in pan and cook until brown

cover in teriyaki glaze/sauce and turn off heat.

EAT!

vegan fettuccine alfredo

[not the best picture, I was out of natural light and it was taken with my iPhone]

16oz box of fettuccine noodles

1/2 bag of "mozzarella" Daiya Cheese Shreds

2 tablespoons vegan grated parmesan topping or nutritional yeast

2 tablespoons Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese

3 tablespoons of vegan butter (I use Earth Balance because it kicks ass)

3 tablespoons of cornmeal (I don't measure.. I just kinda eyeballed it)

1 cup of unsweetened or original soy/rice/milk substitute

1 clove of garlic (or 1tsp of minced)

garlic salt

italian seasoning

Salt and oil water, boil pasta until al dente.

In a small pot or sauce pan (on medium heat) melt the vegan butter, toss in some garlic salt, italian seasoning and the garlic. Heat until you can smell the garlic.

Shake in about 3 tablespoons of cornmeal (remember, I eyeball so I can't be sure) and stir until combined.

Add the parm topping/nutritional yeast and mix.

Stir in the cup of soymilk, and stir continuously until it just begins to boil. Lower heat and stir for another minute, add in the Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream and stir until melted. Toss in the Daiya Cheese, mix until combined.

Drain pasta and put it back in it's pot, pour alfredo over the pasta, mix and enjoy!

Top with broccoli, asparagus, or vegan chik'n and a bit more parm topping.

This was a last minute meal option. We hadn't considered what to make for dinner and I decided it was time to try and make an easy alfredo. Everything took about 20mins tops. It was REALLY good and hit the spot.