Homemade Recipe Book

For the longest time, I never really understood why people wanted their own recipe books. I mean, it always seemed to be that the red and white checkered book had every possible recipe, and clearly that's what everyone made. I mean, my grandparents still made all of our food back then, and for some reason I thought that it was inherent that my parents knew the recipes too. I mean, clearly, I was only fifteen with these beliefs, but they seemed pretty sane to me.

And then grandma died. And with my grandma, went the McCormick Coleslaw. I do not like coleslaw myself, but every time my mom cooks, she talks about this slaw. It was a recipe that was never written down. My grandma's heart stopped beating in her sleep, and she never intended to go as early as she did. She had thankfully written down her baked beans recipe (which is the best recipe ever), but the slaw recipe has now been lost forever. 

Because of this, I'm determined to make a recipe book. Mary's, my grandmothers', my mom's, my mother-in-law's, everyone's recipes. I want it to be a catch-all of our families, a blending of the soul food we all love so dearly. I want it to be an open binder though, not a scrapbook - I want it to be a book that can be added to over time. The start of heirlooms you might say. I think it'll be perfect.

Anyway. If anyone has famous family recipes they'd like to share...I'm all for taking them. This is going to be the world's greatest creation ever.

Coming Back.

The last couple of weeks months, my life has been a hectic mess. I've been training at work, I've been unpacking, there's been the holidays, and I've been planning the wedding. Now that most of those are done (we still haven't unpacked fully - whoops!), I'm coming back to the blog, in full swing. I have a ton of 101 in 1001 updates, I'd like to start on the 50 questions to free your mind (maybe), and I really want to work on the 30 day blog challenge that several of my blog-friends (and real friends!) did too. Oh, and create a new blog header - though I'd like to wait for our professional wedding photos for that one.

I also have non-internet related things I'm dying to do. I'm making a cookbook for myself and my sisters-in-law with all of our families' recipes (plus things like measurement conversions and ingredient substitutions), I need to unpack things and clean up the random wedding crafts that are covering the apartment, I need to work on changing my name on everything, and I'd like to start reading again. I haven't read hardly at all since my first year at school, and I really miss it. With my new nook, I'm sure I can pick reading back up again, I just need to get into the flow. 

I took this week as one of decompression. Nothing is unpacked, but my brain is. I'm much calmer, I can tell. It was definitely hard to go back to work after a 4 day weekend, but I found out I'm getting another bonus at the end of this month, and that's always good. I'm going to try to always put my bonuseo;lppppp;k,s in our savings (along with half of our loan money each semester, and half of our wedding money). Hopefully, by the time we're ready to move back to the StP area, we'll have a hefty down payment saved up. I'm loving how everything is finally working out.

Oh Hey! I iz married!

As of Saturday, I'm officially a married lady. I'm rockin a brand new shiney, I've got bruises on my ribs from my dress (hehe corset fail!), and 3 food processors (so people aren't the best at registries...).

All of that crafty work I did? It totally paid off. The wedding turned out perfect. Yes, it was freezing - but I had a super awesome coat, and super awesome friends who were willing to smile in 19 degree weather. Everyone was so helpful and supportive with getting everything together, and I had the time of my life. I'm pretty sure Sean did too hehe.

While it'll still be quite a while before we get pro pics, here are some of the awesome photos our friends and family took! (warning: lots of ridiculously happy pictures ahead)

 

 

 

 

Summary of the weekend? 

Like, awesome.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I'm getting married.

Married.

You know, that event I've been excited about for the past 2 years? The past 750 days? Yea. Happening. In 15 hours.

The rehearsal was tonight, and it went super well. I hope everything falls into place tomorrow, but it seems like it will. I don't want to jinx it though XD I'm surprisingly calm. I know that everything will work out on its own, and everything will fall into place.

Here's to hoping tomorrow is an AMAZING day.

The Ending of an Era

This New Year's Day doesn't just mark the end of a year for me - it marks the ending of an era. So much has changed in my life this past year.

I've moved out of the party duplex I shared with great friends, and moved to kc. Sean and I moved in together (and then moved again). We got our adorable kitten, Ella. Sean started law school, and while we through a ton of stress getting used to it, we've finally fallen into a pattern that works. I started my new job - the first one I that I was ever hired as full time for. It's been a busy year.

It's also my last year of being single. In one week, I will be married. This marriage has been 5 years and 7 months in the making, so I don't have any sort of feelings of cold feet or anything like that. I'm excited, that's for sure.

I've changed a lot in the last year, and I don't regret any of it. It's been a crazy, busy 2010. Hopefully, 2011 turns out to be just as good :)