...Romance is nice...

"Romance is nice, but it is biological in origin.

That dizzy, head-over-heels feeling is a species of losing your mind,

and most of the time it lasts only as long as the chase.

What we keep forgetting is that in marriage, as opposed to romances,

you aren't marrying the thrilling, wonderful, perfect someone you're looking at right now.

You're marrying the man who decides not to have the dazzling career with the high salary,

refusing promotions and transfers so the kids don't have to change schools.

You're marrying the woman whose body doesn't bounce back after the third baby,

so she's no longer slim and attractive by the standards of the magazines.

You're marrying the migraines and the hemorrhoids and the heart attack and the cancer.

You're marrying the irritable, forgetful, lazy, thoughtless,

sarcastic, distracted, too-busy days as well as the Kodak-happy ones.

You're marrying the one who works with you to raise the crippled child,

or stands with you at the graveside of the child who dies.

You're marrying the one who can't find work after the company folds or he's laid off.

You're marrying the early Alzheimer's, the diabetes, the obesity,

the pain of conflict and the struggle of forgiveness.

The foundation of that isn't some ideal of romantic love.
It's a commitment based on the goals you share.

And real love, married love,
is not what you start with--it's what you

create together along the way."

--Orson Scott Card

(stolen from a friend's blog, I loved it THAT much)

Our New Cooking Obsession- and a free sample for you!

In my spare time (what little I have) I am cooking with these products:

... and I AM ADDICTED!

Why? Because it makes me feel great when I am able make all sorts of homemade meals (and I feel even better when I manage to do it in a short amount of time!)

I first heard about the ShirleyJ food products from a college friend in Utah who works for the company.  She was doing all sorts of communications/social media work and the products caught my eye, so I thought I would give them a try.
I was initially interested because John and I were trying to get better with our food storage.  ShirleyJ products have a long shelf-life and I was willing to try them out if it would allow me to make delicious food NOW, as well as help create a stockpile of usable foods for when we would need it most.

I decided to try ShirleyJ's Master 30 Meals (M30M) program, so I could get an idea of what each of the products could do. The kit came in a cute little box with a recipe book and contained instructions and tips to help me become a chef and master 30 unique meals for my family. (That's a month's worth of dinner ideas!) I've already completed 20 meals- and best of all, I won $500 when I entered pictures of my completed meals in a drawing. AWESOME.

I am working with the corporate office to bring ShirleyJ products to home chefs outside of good ole' Utah- because the products are that great.  If you contact me, I can get you a discount on your order and ship it to you at no cost no matter where you live.  You can also visit the site HERE to look at the food products and make an online order yourself.

John and I are hosting a

Cooking Demonstration
(a ShirleyJ chef is flying to Sacramento!)

Friday, April 8

7 p.m.

More details to come on that- you won't want to miss it!

In the meanwhile, want a FREE SAMPLE of their Universal Sauce? 

Leave a comment here and I will contact you each individually and mail it to you.

Here is a photo of my most recent creations in the Kitchen using

ShirleyJ Sourdough Bread Mix, BBQ Sauce Mix, and the White Cheddar Soup Base for....

Valentine's Day Pizzas

White Cheddar Chicken Artichoke and BBQ Chicken

YUMMY

Happy Valentine's Day

Thanks to Answers.com, I learned the reason we celebrate Valentine's day... Do you know why?

Here is the answer I found: (left un-edited for the sake of laughs)
"the romans used to have a celibration on 15th feb where as the roman soldiers got to choose a woman then they would spend the next twelve months with them and then go to the celibration again. but a lot of the soldiers fell in love and got married and did not want to go to battle. so the emperor said no soldiers could get married but the church dissagreed with this and said they would marry them if they wanted. so the emperor had the preists arrested. one of the preists was called valentine, and he was in love with the jailers daughter and he wrote her a letter and the jailer found out about this and had him clubbed to death. and at the end of his letter he wrote, from your valentine. he died on 14th feb and that is why we have valentines day."

Why didn't I ever learn this in school?  I checked some other sites just to make sure this random dude was right- and he's pretty close.  Pretty bizarre that people give boxes of chocolates, flowers, and celebrate love all in remembrance of a poor man that was clubbed to death and died on the 14th.  Pretty romantic, huh!?!

So, with that said...

Happy Valentine's Day!

I LOVE YOU JOHN

XOXO

Will you

? ? ?

Looking Forward & Looking Back






At the beginning of a new year, I reflect on how quickly the last year flew by and I relish in memories while I can still remember! (My brain is sadly dwindling in the memory department.)  How blessed we were in 2010!

We started off the year newly married- what an exciting feeling that was (and still is). 



I don't think there really was an "adjustment" period- we jumped right into melding our lives together. Not even stealing covers or snoring could ruin the excitement of sharing a bed together... and we each knew we could laugh, cry, and even "shoot a bunny" without the judgement of another. 

What JOY!  ;-)

2010 was a year of hard work for the both of us.  Working two jobs was no easy task for me, and John would probably utter the same sentiment because he was busy renovating our home and taking care of his tired wife after working a full day himself.  We knew the hard work would pay off- setting our sights on saving enough money to purchase our first home "together"- a great opportunity to work together toward a common goal.

Hard work should always be followed by great fun.  We enjoyed trips to Colorado, Cancun, and Disneyland with family and friends, amongst other mini excursions. As John has chronicled so beautifully on the blog, you can see we had our share of fun in life this last year.

As this new year commences, (I cannot believe it is already February!)

we are once again setting our sights on great things ... 

We recently purchased a new home and will be very busy in the coming months making this home "ours".  John is GREAT (did I say GREAT?) at remodeling and doing work around the house and we are anxious to complete the work so we can enjoy the fruits of our labor with all of you!

Baby? When are we going to have a baby? (That seems to be the million dollar question lately..) When I am asked that, I think of the age-old phrase "a watched pot never boils" and that some things work out in their own time.  We both want to have a family. We understand our divine roles as parents and we we promise we will let everyone know when our pot is boiling  :)

2011 is a hopeful year for us.... may it be the same for you.  In the meanwhile, John will post updates on our home renovation and we will be busy once again .....

xoxo