Meals as a Mrs. ~ A made up breakfast sandwich?

During the last week of summer, I saw a brief 40 second video on a friend's page on facebook that showed how to make a breakfast bread bowl using hollowed out bread and egg. I can't find the link to the video now but I recall they used ciabatta bread and followed a simple recipe.  We didn't have all the ingredients on hand but had regular hamburger buns, eggs, bacon, and cheese so I thought I would give it a try and make a breakfast sandwich rather than a bread bowl meal.  I lined each bun with foil, spread a little bit of butter in the bottom of each bun, sprinkled in some cheddar cheese, laid down the chopped up bacon, then cracked half an egg into each part of the bun on the tray.  Everything baked in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Next, I placed chicken patties with caramelized onions in them (they tasted a bit like sausage!?) on the bread and voila, a made up breakfast sandwich was served for lunch during one of the last days of summer.  

If I were to do this again, I would definitely use a ciabatta roll and would use a different kind of meat.  Adam and I didn't care for the taste of this brand of chicken patty.  In Adam's words, they tasted like, "they were made up of ground up leftover chicken parts".  Mmm, tasty, right?  LOL!  Overall, I enjoyed the texture of this sandwich as we ate them warm from the oven and would make these again as the taste of the eggs in the warm crisp bread was so good!

Mystery meat chicken patty....?

In terms of presentation, I should have sprayed the foil with cooking spray before placing the bun in the foil as I lost some of the bread when peeling the bun off the foil.  It still tasted good though!

I've not been able to read as much from the current document I'm working through, Humanae Vitae, with returning to work but here is a passage I reflected on this morning:

For this reason husbands and wives should take up the burden appointed to them, willingly, in the strength of faith and of that hope which "does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us".  Then let them implore the help of God with unremitting prayer and, most of all, let them draw grace and charity from that unfailing fount which is the Eucharist. 

Reading this passage makes me realize all the more how Adam and I are a team and together we will face challenges and overcome them with God's help.  Right now, the challenge we(I) face is dealing with the homesickness and missing out on family events and milestones that are occurring on both sides but we(I) have to believe there is a purpose for it all and we're where God needs us to be right now.  As my Mom reminded me last night, "God had all the right...all the BEST reasons for bringing you and Adam together!".  Ah, there is nothing like the love God has for us and while I'm thinking of it and learning all the more each day, nothing like the love a mother has for her own child.  We're so thankful for Mom Sue and Mom's love in our lives and those women who came before us.  We wouldn't be here or the people we are today if it weren't for them.  Thinking of our mothers (and fathers) in an extra special way today.

What will we watch now?

Last January when Adam first moved to Ohio, we started watching The Office together on netflix.  Tonight we finished the last episode.  I was already feeling pretty emotional after a long week of returning to school, getting back into the routine, and adjusting.  I probably shouldn't have ended the day with ending the series we have been watching for the last nearly nine months.  LOL!  Now I'm sad and missing the characters already.  The last couple of shows really hit home for me when Jim and Pam struggled a bit.  Pam felt like she might be holding Jim back and felt guilty over his staying in Scranton instead of moving to Philly as he had initially wanted to do for his other job.  Jim kept trying to reassure Pam that he was happy and in love and things were fine in Scranton.  This scene was one of my all time favorites when I watched it a few years ago and again tonight.

Pardon the quality of the video as it was the best I could find.One of my favorite lines from tonight was when Jim said, "Not enough for me?  You're my everything!"  Swoon!  I couldn't help but think of the parallels and how I've worried about uprooting Adam and how he moved across the country for us; for the chance to start our lives together.  I know I wouldn't be as happy here even though I enjoy my job, love my pups (in spite of the stubbornness of learning to go potty outside on the little one's part), and have met some pretty neat people since moving here if he weren't here sharing it with me.  The only negative to living here is being so far away from both of our families.  Granted, the distance from my side pales in comparison to his side seeing as they are three time zones away and my family is a 5-7 hour drive away...and during the dark days when I wonder if we made a mistake in coming here or fret about the distance, I remember this:




I also think about how it's not about being "enough" to warrant cause for such a change/move but that it's everything.  It wasn't all that long ago that we were relying on skype and emails as our main contact and I don't think I'll ever take for granted Adam being in the same house let alone same room with me....then again those of you who have been married for a long time you might be chuckling attributing what I'm saying to newlywed nonsense but I hope to never lose this sense of wonder and anticipation!  Anticipation is a good word to describe each time we have a visit with family or go to see them too.  Four months from now we'll be wrapping up what I'm sure will be a wonderful visit in California after meeting our new niece (she's due to arrive next month!), getting in lots of quality time with Adam's immediate and extended family, and even squeezing in a visit to a new city for me (Oceanside) thanks to a very generous wedding gift we received!  Thanks to the wedding, my whole side of the family was able to gather together once this past summer but that was already over 3 months ago...!  The times we are all able to come together are rare thanks to various work schedules (shouldn't everyone just be teachers and be on the same schedules?!) and living in four different states but we try to get together the best we can.  I'm so glad we have Skype and Facebook to help stay connected not to mention texting/email to help maintain that strong sense of connection.

Even though the long distance living is a struggle and challenge at times I have to believe that God wouldn't have led us to be here if it weren't His Will.  One of the humorous ways I seek that is through the fact that my school boasts that the highest number of students from a state to attend this itty bitty school is none other than California.  Thursday was also the feast day of St. Monica followed by the feast day of her son., St. Augustine, on Friday.  Both of these saints figure prominently into Adam's and his mom's story which I can't help but notice as I struggle with these feelings of loneliness and doubt.  So I will keep trusting in following the plan God has for us and leaning into that as well as turning inward and keeping the focus on this quiet little family and life we're building here.  Hopefully our family (and friends) know there is always an open door to our home for them and will still keep us in their thoughts in spite of the miles between us.  Sending out a virtual hug to all of our loved ones both near and far tonight!  I'm just a silly emotional mess tonight and think I'll feel better after letting out a good cry but I have just one question left....what are we gonna watch now that we have completed The Office?  Have you any suggestions?  I was thinking of taking it old school and maybe watching Cheers?  You know...sometimes you just wanna go where everyone knows your name...!

Inspired waiting

I saw this picture this morning and really love the message it portrays.  It reminds me of Adam's and my courtship and is also reflective of some of our current life.  I'm so glad to have found someone who not only believes in me and respects me but also shares the same values and mindset in terms of how we want to raise our family and live out our lives by our faith.  Hopefully he can feel my belief and support in him as much as I feel his.

When I think of previous relationships, there was always something lacking but in this relationship with my husband, I know without a doubt, we are on the same page while still challenging each other to be the best versions of ourselves, by striving to grow closer to God, and as we continue to work on our relationship with one another as well.  Thank you, God (and CatholicMatch), for bringing us together across all those miles back in 2013!!

Now that I'm back to work full time I don't get to spend as much time with him on the days I'm away at campus (but oh how I relish the two days away from campus for more than one reason now!).  Yesterday was the first day for me where I left for school at 8:45am and didn't walk through the front door until close to 6:45pm and that was with only teaching 3 of my 4 classes yesterday!  One of the reasons I was so late was because I had an unexpected advising appointment with one of my students that lasted nearly an hour after my last class.  However, it was a successful appointment and I learned a lot as I counseled her!  Here's to more successful future advising appointments!  I'm so glad my list is a lot shorter though.  Last week there were 41+ names posted to my office door but yesterday there were *only* 11 so we'll see how this goes this semester!


A student gave me this yesterday citing St. Therese as her inspiration. Oh how I love my job!  Also, St. Therese has a special connection to the day when Adam proposed so this beautiful flower holds even more meaning for me that this student could never have known!  Have a beautiful inspiration-filled day y'all!!

 

Mmm, chocolate!

Now that school is back in full force, with one full day of teaching completed, and four months remaining until Christmas Break, I'm finding that I'm craving chocolate more.  Hehe.  It's no secret how much I looooooove chocolate and peanut butter combinations.  In fact, on Tuesday night, at something like 7pm, I spontaneously decided to whip up, from scratch, a delicious chocolate peanut butter dessert.  So what if I indulged in a small slice of it this morning for breakfast.  I'm currently drinking a juice made out of beets, carrots, apples, lemon, and ginger if that helps to be more healthy.  :)  Haha!

So, thinking about chocolate, I'm reminded of the chocolate we served during our wedding weekend.  On our way down to York from my parents' home we swung by Wolfgang Chocolates that is located a few blocks away from my old office.  If you ever find yourself near the factory, take advantage of it!  They offer tours that take you through the factory (complete with hairnets and all!) AND my favorite part...the shop has terrific products for sale at awesome prices.  You can even buy the "rejects" at half off or even deeper discounts and they taste just as good as their better looking companions.  So, in an effort to share some of the local flavor with our family who had come from all over to help us celebrate, we wanted to serve up some local chocolate as dessert at our rehearsal dinner.  We also included this informational handout that I took from Wolfgang's website in the wedding survival kit bags we gave out as gifts after dinner.

 

It was so exciting running in here just one hour before our rehearsal was to start across town!  This was our first stop in York before we headed over to south York to pick up the flowers for the reception then connected with our families at Heritage Hills before leaving for the church where we would meet up with Monika, Ashley, and of course, Fr. Jack!

We picked up sugar-free chocolate for the diabetics in our family (but they were just as good as the "real" thing), chocolate covered pretzels, graham cracker and shortbread type cookies with chocolate on them, my personal favorite, the peanut butter petals (YUMMMMMY!), and even yogurt covered Fruit Loops thinking the kids might get a kick out of those (that were surprisingly good!!).  We got all of these assorted chocolates for a little over $20 from the gift shop.  Incredible!!

The chocolate seemed to be a hit for child and adult alike!  I also enjoy seeing both adults and children looting through their survival kit bags in the background of these pictures.  Hopefully they enjoyed their little gifts from us!

Within the survival kit bags, we also included a hometown chocolate treat from Schuylkill County for each family.  Costas, based out of Pottsville, produces delicious club sandwiches. No, they're not the bread and lunch meat type club sandwiches but are something WAY better.  Basically a description of the club sandwich is to take a saltine cracker, spread peanut butter on it, then dunk it in chocolate.  It doesn't sound like anything extraordinary but it's oh so good!  So, we had local chocolate from York where we were celebrating and also from my hometown area to serve our families the night before the wedding.  We inserted the handout you see above that came from the Costas website in the survival kit bags as well.  Something really interesting I learned while reading up on the history was that in 1966, Costas Candy Company became a subsidiary of York Barbell Company, Inc. in good ol' York, PA, focusing on the manufacturing of Energy Bars, Fiber bars, and Low Carb bars for private label companies. Costas-York Candy Company continued to produce the Costas Club Sandwich bars that sold throughout Schuylkill County.  This explains why I always referred to the company as Costas York but I had never realized it was due to the town and thought it was the last name of the owners!  It's so neat to think that a treat I so enjoyed as a child was tied to the town I would end up teaching in for seven years that was 90 minutes south of where I grew up...go figure!

We also served the club sandwiches to our wedding guests at the reception the next day.  For our seating placards we printed out the names and table numbers on labels that we placed on top of individually wrapped Club Sandwiches along with a bowl of York Peppermint Patties and gold wrapped chocolate coins and this sign.

I wish I had a photo of the Club Sandwiches from our reception but I don't!  Here is what a Club Sandwich looks like and you can order them online by clicking here!  They have a variety of different flavors but I like the original (shown below) the best!

Or just come visit me in Schuylkill County the next time I'm home and I'll take you to the store in Pottsville located on Bacon Street.  Yes, Bacon Street.  ; )

Today was the last day before...

I start back to full time teaching tomorrow for the fall semester and what a day it was!

Adam and I got in lots of time together in spite of it being a work day for him.  I had an appointment in the morning and then he joined me for the afternoon appointment.  During the remainder of the afternoon, I worked on Powerpoints for tomorrow's lectures (yes, I'm that professor who attempts to lecture on the first day of class...but there will be M&Ms).  ; )  For dinner, we were able to enjoy a new slow cooker recipe (oh my goodness, can you say YUM?!) and finally had our furnace looked at (it went out in March) by a professional. It's hard to find service in our little town but the guy who came tonight worked hard and was very knowledgeable.  Hopefully the part he needs will come in soon and the home warranty will cover it!  Then, I spontaneously baked what I'm sure will be a delicious dessert that we'll eat in about 20 minutes once the icing has set.  Don't worry, I'll share both of tonight's recipes on here soon! 

As the cake was baking and Adam was finishing up with the furnace guy, Dusty and I took a quick evening walk with our friend, Katy.  As we were finishing up the walk and heading back to our respective houses, a medium-sized dog (part Pit bull part something else) escaped from his/her yard and came after Dusty.  In the 8 going on 9 years of having Dusty this is the 3rd time I have witnessed another dog's jaws clamped down on my little Dusty Shamrock's neck.  Oh, what a horrible and helpless feeling it is in the moment!  All I could do was try to pull Dusty away and say, "Oh my gosh!" over and over when Katy stepped in and chased the dog away...what a blessing it was to have her there protecting all of us!!!  She was fierce and can be the doggie bodyguard any day!  In all seriousness, I'm so glad that things didn't end up differently tonight.  Now, time to calm down the jitters from the walk and the night before school day kind, eat some dessert, and indulge in a couple Office episodes with the hubby before bedtime.

To all of you going back to school, sending your kiddos back to school, or going about your daily schedules as you have been, I hope you have a great rest of your week and everyone transitions well!
  

Room Reveal: Master Bedroom

The master bedroom was the first room I painted in our new house.  It was also the first time I picked up a paint brush since we painted my old roommate's townhouse in York back in May of 2008!  That was fun.  Ashley, her mom, and our friend Jayme (who had come in from Michigan) spent a weekend priming and painting all three floors of her new house.  It was the first time I lived somewhere I could help pick out wall colors after years and years of apartment living and plain white walls.  I so loved the chocolate chip mint ice cream pale green bedroom and the light lilac purple bathroom that Ashley let me choose.  It's funny to think those were the wedding colors too now as I reflect on those two rooms in Ash's house.

Here are some pictures from that fun painting weekend.  Unfortunately I don't have any of the finished product but you'll be able to see the purple and the green in the background of the only two pictures I have from the bathroom and the bedroom.

Ash looks like she's inside an igloo!

I had forgotten how dark these walls were before we painted them!

This is the only picture I could dig up of my old bedroom.  I just loved the light green color and those curtains behind me to the left are currently the office window curtains in Adam's and my house!

Pretty purple!

Sooo when it came time to picking out colors for the new house back in January, naturally I suggested mint green or light lilac and naturally, Adam was not inclined toward those colors.  Standing in Lowe's in the paint section, debating colors took it's toll and by the time we arrived at the master bedroom, Adam sighed and said, "Ok, I'll let you pick since we compromised on the other colors".  I went for Valspar's Sweet Slumber thinking it would be similar to the light green but instead it would be a little more manly since it was blue for Adam.  The color ended up being a LOT lighter than I had anticipated and is surprisingly not that noticeable in the daylight but does appear to be more blue at nighttime when the lights are off....go figure!

If you would like to see what the master bedroom looked like "live" you can see some of it in the brief video clip that is shared at the bottom of this posting.  Here is a "before" picture from when I looked at the house last fall and the previous owner was still living here.

I was able to paint this room before the new carpet was installed as it was the first room I tackled in the house.

Goodbye white walls....and soon to the white carpet too!

We also replaced the ceramic floral fan pulls with a neutral wooden fan pull that reminds me of mini pottery (one of my NC hobbies thanks to Seagrove, NC!). 

You can see by this picture that the blue hallway carpet differed drastically from the white carpet in the master bedroom.  Now we have all one color of carpet throughout the entire house for a more uniform look that we preferred.

The painting of this room was done in one day but truth be told it could use another coat of paint to cover the spots I missed....hmm....maybe that will be a project for next summer! 

We replaced the lace curtains left behind by the previous owner with a denim blue curtain that brings out the gray pattern on our bedspread while also still matching our walls.  This look is a bit bold for me but I like it!!

That purple flower is no longer hanging on the wall as is portrayed here but is downstairs now.  In this room, we hung things where already existing nails were which is why you will see some randomly placed items along the wall.  LOL!

Growing up, I loved reading the banner my Aunt Maureen had created for my parents' wedding that they hung over their bed.  Now, fast forward how many years later and this chalkboard sign gift from Aunt Maureen reminds me of that banner only this is the more "modern" look!  Love it!!  The wine bottle was part of the sweetheart table centerpiece at the reception along with the candle top from San Francisco that served as our unity candle (if only we had had our matches!).  The ribbon with the key hanging on the wine bottle was carried by your younger ring bearer.  Next to the wine bottle (that is from the night we got engaged) is the prayer journal with Adam's wedding day card tucked into it.  I do need to buy a votive holder for the candle at the far left as the candle is too large for the one I'm using now!

 

Aunt Marie gave me the "Dream" necklace a few years ago.  I love having it draped on the side of our mirror like this as it reminds me of all the dreams and blessings that have been coming true since meeting Adam back in October 2013!!

We removed the closet doors and added these curtains as doors.  Adam selected this fabric and color since he felt they were better suited to the comforter.  They remind me of the auditorium and curtain for the stage at Holy Family Elementary School and take me back to the years of selling concessions at recess and of course our Christmas shows there as a child.  Wait until you see the material we chose for the guest bedroom closet!!  In this picture, you also get a sense of the more cohesive look of the neutral brown carpet in both the bedroom and the hallway.

This was our "first married selfie" that was taken just before the reception on a golf cart at Heritage Hills as Adam and I drove with the matron of honor, the best man, our videographer, and photographers to the pictures site.

This was my view last night on the last official day of summer as I attempted to fall asleep "early" & I absolutely loved how my favorite day from this past summer was highlighted by the glow of the candlelight. What a beautiful summer full of blessings Summer 2015 was!!  Thank you God (and all those of you who were a part of it)!!

The First Non-Look

In the days leading up to the wedding, I asked Adam if he wanted to do a First Look before the wedding where he and I would get to see each other before the ceremony.  Part of me wanted to and part of me wanted to wait until I walked down the aisle so I let Adam decide.  I wasn't surprised when he adamantly said no, that he rather preferred the traditional approach of seeing me for the first time on our wedding day as I walked down the aisle.

However, during the week before the wedding I thought of another idea.  I could still honor Adam's wish of our not seeing each other before the ceremony but I still wanted to have that moment with him before the mass so we could pray together and just be.  Once I pitched the idea to Adam, our videographer and photographer were on board with the plan to do a "First Non-Look" in the chapel of the church where we were to be married.

The original plan had me arriving in the chapel first with Adam joining me there.  However, with morning appointments running behind, I ended up being the late one and through Heather, our matron of honor, relaying the message to Adam and his parents, they headed for the church first.  Adam snuck into the chapel and patiently waited five minutes, ten minutes, then fifteen.....then twenty before I finally arrived...all under the watchful eye of the videography team.  What patience on Adam's part!  I remember fretting over how late we were as Heather and I rode in the backseat of my Dad's car.  A tick emerged from my bouquet (of fake flowers..what the heck?!) and hearing aid batteries were quickly exchanged.  A wrong turn as we followed my brother's van had me worrying even more about the time.  We saw some friends from NC and a family from York pulling in to their parking spaces as we rushed into the side door of the church.  Heather and I made a beeline for the chapel when the videographers greeted us and instructed me to go join Adam in the chapel.  They explained that Adam would be standing with his back to the door so I would see him from behind (which I had already seen when he tried his suit on in the store) so it would be okay.

A million thoughts were running through my mind as Heather and I walked down the hallway leaving my veil and flowers with my Dad.  This chapel is such a special place for me with so many memories from my late 20s. It was awesome and a bit surreal being able to do the "First Non-Look" in this space; walking toward the future to that handsome guy in the middle of the room! Adam was a champ in waiting so patiently when I wound up being so late in meeting him!  

As Heather and I made our way down the hall I remembered the first time I had ever stepped foot in the chapel some eight years ago....all the times I had been a substitute adorer on Thursdays for Adoration but what stood out the most in my mind was when I had my first face to face confession as an adult in this chapel with a gentle priest visiting the parish from Ireland after a particularly painful breakup back in spring 2008.  After that experience of confessing, I remember dissolving into a puddle of tears in the gym locker room when I met Ashley, another attendant, there right after departing this chapel.  It was a key time for healing and I credit the many hours of prayers in the chapel for that.  I also recalled the time when my Mom and I completed a Women of Grace retreat on the morning of the feast day of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel back in July 2011 that culminated in the chapel with being vested in the brown scapular before I drove out to Lititz for a wedding of two beloved friends that afternoon!!  Finally, I also thought back to the times, when driving around York as an itinerant teacher, I would pop into this chapel between schools for a quick prayer then continue on my way to the next school.  In spite of all the rushing and frantic worry over what time it was on the wedding day time seemed to stop as Heather and I reached the door.  The photographer slipped her way into the chapel ahead of us and Heather motioned for me to follow Juliana as she hung back in the hallway.  My heart skipped a beat as I realized I would finally get to see Adam after the morning of prep!

Then, actually physically seeing him standing in such a special place from my past literally took my breath away...the sun streamed in on this tall man who stood before me and it took all I could to not run up to him and hug him grabbing him by the shoulders to turn around and face me!

I think I was looking outside the chapel at the matron of honor at this point trying to keep it together at this moment.  I hadn't expected to get so emotional and wanted nothing more but to turn around and face Adam right then and there! 


It was so special having this moment documented by the videographer and by the photographer.  We were so blessed by not only their talent but by their presence and respect for our wishes.  Their work is such a treasured keepsake and sharing in our joy in such a special way is something I will always remember! I love revisiting these photos and being taken right back to this special moment.  Adam had written in our prayer journal and I had written him a card that we exchanged.  We also said a quick prayer before heading into the church for the wedding mass! It was such a neat moment to really stop and slow down and thank God together amidst all of the other "stuff" happening on the wedding day.

I remember wishing I had thought to bring a tissue since reading what Adam had written reduced me to a sniffling mess (in a good way haha).

 We didn't do the whole "something blue, something borrowed, something new, etc." thing but I did do bring something purple via the rosary that I brought into the chapel with me!  This had been a gift from one of the attendants, Monika.  She had gone to Germany last year and brought back this special purple rosary from Trier Cathedral which was the oldest Bishop's Church in Germany.  With the rosary she also gave me a decorative flash drive that contained all sorts of files that contained background information on this beautiful church as well as photographs she took herself when visiting the church!  Some information about this majestic looking church that I learned from Monika was that it is the oldest church in Germany in which the Christian faithful have gathered almost uninterruptedly for 1,700 years!  Another interesting fact is that it contains a relic that holds one of the nails that crucified Jesus in it!  Lastly, this church has been the seat of the Bishop since the second half of the 3rd Century.  Wow, going through this history on the flash drive and viewing the pictures taken by Monika provide me with a virtual field trip north of the Alps of sorts! What a special and unique gift she gave me last Christmas along with the rosary!  When I saw the color of it last December, I immediately thought of trying to embed the rosary into my bouquet.  I set out to do this the night before the wedding but it didn't quite work out so I took it with me into the chapel where it added a very special touch to the prayers Adam and I said before departing the chapel.  See below for some of Monika's stunning photos!
  

Yes, all in all, having the First Non-Look in such a special place from my mid 20s holding onto Adam's hands and the thoughtful gift of the rosary that came all the way from Germany (where some of my Dad's family is from) was such a truly peaceful and beautiful moment.  I'm glad we took time out of the hectic before mass routine to do this and to really center ourselves and thank God for this new life we were about to embark on before I bid Adam farewell (for now) and slipped out of the chapel.  Heather met me outside the doors and walked me back to my Dad who was waiting at the end of the hallway.  Now that the first non-look was done, I needed to go "hide" before it was time to walk down the aisle with my Dad in a few short moments but oh how I will treasure this special moment with my future husband forever!!

Looking at this picture and seeing the empty seats...makes me think of all those who came before us and are no longer physically here with us.  Previously, I had thought of this special moment as being just one in which God, Adam, and I were there praying...but I'd like to think that our grandparents, Aunt Ollie, and others who loved us and shaped who we are today were there in their own special ways.  Perhaps they had front row seats from where they were!