First of all, the cauliflower soup was amazing. D approved it, and I loved it too. I won’t be making it too often because of the cream/milk content, but for a winter dinner it was awesome. I wonder if I can find a way to make it healthier?

I want to find a good healthy soup recipe. My friend Jenn makes a butternut squash soup, and it sounds pretty healthy. I might try that in a couple weeks.

I could also try to adapt my vegetarian chili recipe to make it more of a soup consistency. It’s fantastic as a chili, and I think it would make a good soup as well.

If you have a great, healthy soup recipe, then please share it with me in the comments! I’m loving soup right now!

The best part about making soup last night? I don’t have to cook all weekend!

I’m going to vacuum the floors today and do some laundry. I want to have a relaxing day after such a busy day yesterday. Then, tonight we will probably watch a movie or play games!

Have a great weekend!

I’m procrastinating. I should be in the shower by now. I have to leave my house in an hour.

But even though I’m procrastinating, I’m excited about today! I am meeting my friend Jenn and we are going to work on/look at the children’s room she has put together at her church. This girl is creative – she even made sock puppets for the kids to play with!

Then, as usual on Thursday, I am going to volunteer at the bookstore. I look forward to Thursdays for exactly this reason. I love volunteering!

Tonight I am going to make cauliflower soup for dinner. It sounds weird, but it’s a pioneer woman recipe, and I trust her recipes! I think it will be fantastic! (I will be sure to recap and let you know.)

This month’s grocery budget is going so incredibly well. I’ve started couponing and matching them to the sale ads. I usually end up going to Kroger and Walgreens, but I sometimes stop at Randall’s as well. This week I only spent $36.81 on a week’s worth of groceries (mainly produce) because I have a lot of food in the pantry right now. I have about $85 left for the last week of the month. I am going to look for some good fish to buy next week – perhaps tuna, but probably salmon. OOOOH, mahi mahi would be good too….

I saved $14 at the grocery store this week. It feels so good to be getting stuff we love AND saving money. For example, I bought two packages of ground turkey (a total of 2.5 lbs) for $4 yesterday! It was on sale for 2/$5 and a had a coupon for $1 off. Normally, one package costs nearly $4 and lasts for two meals for us. So, this week I bought 4 meals worth of meat for $4. It amazes me how much I save just by paying attention to the sales and buying the Sunday paper.

Last week I came home with FREE milk, FREE bread and FREE eggs! Milk is kind of expensive these days (I usually see it for $1.99 – $2.99.), so when it’s free that’s pretty exciting.

Well, I better stop procrastinating. I have to leave in 45 minutes! Have an awesome day everyone!

It’s been a couple weeks since I felt like updating. There isn’t anything spectacular going on around here.

Houston has been very cold lately, so much so that I have turned on the heater during the daytime. I hope it begins to warm up just a tad in the next few days.

I joined a gym last week. I have only worked out twice, but the plan is to go three time a week. I am still trying to work out how to fit it in to my routine.

We attended an event called Midnight Madness at church last Friday. It was for all leaders/potential leaders in Sunday school. We went to a technology workshop where the speaker discussed how to use technology to benefit the class as a whole. The workshop itself was a bust because our class is already on the ‘cutting edge,’ but I did learn about a website called EchoPrayer. The website is a tool to help manage your prayer lists. Pretty nifty if you ask me!

Yesterday I had Indian food for the first time. It was awesome! I think I can best describe it as a cultural experience in my mouth. It was so incredibly tasty! I have to thank my friend Jenn for guiding the experience! (Otherwise I would have had no idea what dishes to try!)

Today, I am baking a cake for a birthday party tomorrow night, and I am volunteering this afternoon. It should be a good day. I just wish it was the weekend already! I love the weekends because I get to spend the days with D – he is incredible and so much fun to hang out with!

I hope you all are doing well! Have a great weekend!

What are your plans tonight? We are going to be spending New Year’s Eve with D’s mom and stepdad. I’m so excited to spend time with family!

2009 Highlights

1. We got engaged on Feb. 22!
2. And we got married on May 9!
3. I learned the usefulness of owning an iPhone. It goes everywhere with me now!
4. I quit my job, and I began my career as a housewife. And I love it!
5. I have lost 15 lbs in 4 months.
6. I finally vacationed in San Francisco!
7. I discovered Crate and Barrel.
8. And Freecycle.
9. I have started volunteering on a regular basis. There is nothing like giving back to the community!
10. We have read through Genesis, Exodus and 8 chapters of Leviticus. Let’s see how far we get by the end of 2010!

This morning I jumped out of bed when the alarm went off.

If you’ve talked to me lately, then you know this is exciting news. I can definitely feel that my thyroid is low right now, but I couldn’t get a doctor’s appointment until Jan. 13. So, I’ve been very lethargic lately – along with a host of other symptoms that come along with hypothyroidism.

Needless to say, I’m counting down the days until my appointment.

This year was D and I’s first Christmas together! We had a lot of fun together, and we enjoyed having my dad stay with us Christmas Eve. Since he was not able to stay for dinner, I made a special breakfast for Christmas. We ate Pioneer Woman’s breakfast quiche recipe, and it was literally to die for! If you haven’t heard of the Pioneer Woman, then you need to go to her website right now. Seriously, click here. And if you love quiche, then you need to click here, print out the recipe and make it this weekend. I kid you not, it’s worth it. We left out the artichokes, but it was still delicious (and I’m sure it would be delicious with them too!).

We received a lot of awesome presents this year, but my favorite by far was the Blokus game D gave to me. We have probably played it 8 or 9 times since opening it, and it’s seriously a blast! This game would be a great addition to any family game night – and great for playing with kids!

We have taken down some of the Christmas decor, but I don’t plan on putting everything away until next week. We are spending New Year’s with D’s mom, and I can’t wait to give them their Christmas presents! We are also going to the Cotton Bowl this weekend with my dad. It should be fun, and I’m definitely rooting for OSU. We have to support the Big 12 (even though A&M ate it on Monday night at the Independence Bowl).

The most exciting change right now is that we signed up for a Netflix account! On Sunday night, D and I sat down and designed our budget for 2010. We discussed our financial goals, and we made certain our budget reflects them. If you haven’t done this with your spouse, you really should! If you don’t revisit your budget periodically, then how do you know you are moving in the right direction?

(Ok, I’m stepping off my soap box now.)

Anyway, we decided to each give $5 from our “blow money” so we could get Netflix. Since we don’t have cable, I think this will be a nice thing to have! (And I’m excited to be able to watch non-network TV shows on live stream!)

How was your Christmas? Any exciting changes going on?

(OH, you know the wreath I told you a couple of weeks ago I wanted to make? Yeah, I made it – with the help of a friend. And I love it. And it’s going to stay above my mantle. I promise to post a picture after the Christmas decor comes down.)

If you’re like me and you have lost 15 lbs since August, then most of your pants are probably too big to wear. In fact, the only pair of casual pants that currently fit are brown corduroys from Gap my aunt bought for me sophomore year of college! I have literally been wearing them every day. I’m so glad it’s winter, or I wouldn’t be able to get away with it!

This past weekend, D and I went shopping. I tried on some jeans from Gap and I loved them, but I couldn’t bring myself to pay $59.50 for a pair of jeans! At least, I couldn’t do it until today. I found this coupon through retailmenot.com, and today I plan on purchasing a new pair of jeans!

The pants are stretchy enough that they will fit while I continue to lose weight, and at $42 I can justify the purchase. (Sometimes you just have to do what makes you happy.) It has been frustrating to try on all my pants before we go somewhere and none of them look even decent. So, this is definitely a need!

I just hope they still have the jeans in my size in stock (crosses fingers)!

Have you all seen the Lenox Chirp Dinnerware series? It’s really gorgeous!

My favorite piece is the seasonal salad plate:

I might have to buy this as the first plate in my collection. I have wanted to start a plate collection for awhile. I have no desire for a collection of matching china. I want all different and unique pieces!

I am totally going to make this wreath very soon. I’m in love with it!!!

Today, when my husband walked through the front door, our living room looked like a war zone. The plan for today was to clean downstairs because I am having a group of girls over tomorrow for dinner, but instead I decided to rearrange my living room at 2pm. It probably was not the most productive use of my time, but I love the result!

Here is our living room before:

And this is what it looks like now:

It’s much more open than before, but the best part is simply that it is DIFFERENT. Sometimes you just need to change things around!

Also, I have decorated some for Christmas. Here is our mantle, and a few other decorations pictures. I love Christmas!

Sorry for the blurry picture! But my new favorite decorations are the stockings with our names on them and the 2009 “first Christmas” ornament. So exciting!

It has been a world and a day since I updated, and for that I am truly sorry! Last week I worked the entire week to make a little extra money to pay for Christmas. I thought things would return to normal this week, but they needed my help Monday and Wednesday as well. I’m glad I was able to make enough to cover all of our Christmas gifts, but I’m so incredibly glad to be back at home!

Today, I am baking cookies for a cookie exchange on Sunday. I made snickerdoodles and chocolate mallow pies. The snickerdoodles are really good, but I’m not sure how the chocolate mallow pies turned out. (I still have to make the filling and put them together.) If they did not turn out, then I can just take the snickerdoodles. There are enough of them for the party.

The thing I missed most last week was cooking! I am so excited to start cooking again – and especially excited to plan our Christmas dinner! I think we are going to have pork loin, but don’t quote me on that quite yet. I might do game hens or something else. I still have a few weeks to decide. Are you cooking Christmas dinner? If so, then what are you making?

We did really well on our budget last month. In fact, I was able to roll our thanksgiving trip into the budget instead of taking it out of our travel fund! We also took $50 out of each of our allowances this month and went out to eat at Taste of Texas (if you live in Houston and you haven’t been there – go – seriously! It’s amazing.). The dinner was to celebrate our one year dating anniversary. I know it technically shouldn’t count because we’re married now, but seriously – we needed to go out on a nice date – and David needed to eat steak. I think men start to fall apart if they haven’t had red meat after a few weeks.

This weekend is going to be crazy. My dad and brother are coming to stay with us tonight, and we are taking them to the Star of Bethlehem presentation here in Houston. Then, we are going to my cousin’s wedding on Saturday afternoon. If we’re not too tired we are going to hang out with a friend that evening, and then the cookie exchange is Sunday.

If I haven’t died from running in twenty different directions after this weekend, then I hope to tackle the ever-growing tower of laundry in the closet and clean house next week. I miss cleaning the house. It’s relaxing – and honestly, I have a lot of fun because I dance around to Christmas music!