orange you lovely!

this week we got snowed in! it was really nice because I was at my parents house and I absolutely love being here! It's so cozy and warm.

sipping coffee and using my mother's huge kitchen makes me feel at home.

this week I made some almond meal/gluten free/sugar free pancakes!

........

OH MY GOSH!

my husband actually invented these and we've been continually critiquing them, and I am so ecstatic to have these down to an art!

then I made Carrot muffins!

my dear friends, Julie + Josh Holmes had the incredibly animated baby girl:

Ivy Holmes! so darn cute!

I got to hold her all morning last week, i felt so special.

my sweet sister came over this week and she bought me the incredible mug!

so cute and typical for me! I am so grateful for her thoughtfulness!

lovely for my random coffee cup collection!

~

snow!!

my sweet wizard baby in the snow!

my sweet Julia Kevon made me this pillow for my christmas gift! Although its a tad late, I am thrilled to have such a tallented friend and I am so proud of this pillow! [now i just hope my grubby husband doesn't cover it with oil or some other manly stuff]

peppermint bliss.

this Christmas was just fabulous!

as the kids are getting older, we've decided to make a few new traditions. it's been really fun.

the weekend started off with robert and I walking to our favorite little bakery in east nashville, Sweet 16!

fresh kosher cinnamon rolls and drew's brew's coffee!

this year we decided that on christmas eve we were going to walk down to the first franklin united methodist church.

walking 4 blocks...in the freezing cold.

normally shannon, my sister-in-love makes the dessert for Christmas eve, but this year I had the pleasure of making a "light christmas eve dessert" as our christmas eve meal is massive and there is never room for the dessert.

I make beignets! (french doughnuts!) i used the Cafe Du Monde's Recipe!

with some hot coffee, such a hit!

then of course my dad read the story and we opened our new christmas pajamas, and a book!

after indulging ourselves in the most fattening and sugary foods we all got into the hot tub then nestled into our new pajamas and cuddled into our beds.

despite my adult-hood, i still woke up at 6:30am ready to celebrate christmas.

my husband didn't agree and wanted to sleep in.

so i got up, made coffee and waited until 9 to wake up the rest of the siblings.

christmas morning!

~

after enjoying hot Costa Rican coffee from my sweet friend Jenny Deloach.

we opened our stockings!

filled with our "every year" underwear, hand picked godiva chocolates, socks, and much more!

then we enjoyed some of my mother's famous crepes!

complete with her fresh lemons, from her meyers-lemon tree inside our house!

i made homemade honey-butter.

top a crepe with honey-butter, lemon and raw sugar. oh my goodness!

then we opened gifts!

~

the next day we decided to keep the tradition's coming, we went to Pfunky Griddle!

You can go and get unlimited pancake batter and make the pancakes yourself!

blueberries, bananas, chocolate chips! they let your taste buds indulge!

robert + josh made a huge chocolate chip pancake!

oh and fabulous bottomless coffee!

my husband wasn't ready for the huge, Ellis feast and ended up passing out with our dog.

the act of giving

being our first year married over the holidays we decided to spend a couple weeks road tripping around in november to really have a "relaxing/adventurous holiday"

so on november 17th we packed up the dog, moped and some snacks in the volvo stationwagon and headed outta town. from nashville to kansas city we only stopped twice to let our dog go to the bathroom

something about driving into the open plains is so calming. like a gush of warmth in the cold christmas craziness.

we spent a lovely time in kansas city. drinking with friends and eating a lot of food.

since we have been gone our days have been full of live music, lots of coffee/hot chocolate/ soy eggnog with brandy.

so we are now in Mcpherson, KS. just a little north of wichita and west of topeka. its a small quaint town of seems to be 5,000. a little smaller then i am used to, but i love the warmth and friendliness of every old lady and scruffy man here.

a few days after getting to mcpherson, robert's parents had a fish fry for us! so delicious! hush puppies everywhere!

making sushi for my in laws. they have never had it! boy did i change their minds about it.

on thanksgiving robert and I just enjoyed each other. it was a wonderful, renewing morning of us just remembering how we fell in love, our first kiss, our first memories and all of our other "first" and the ones yet to come. we realized how blessed we are to be healthy, full of wealth and knowledge, our families love us, and happy. it was a good thanksgiving. and we didnt over eat...which is good.

we did make pumpkin ice cream! it was to DIE FOR. although i almost did because i kept snacking and i am allergic to dairy :(

it was worth it :)

games are the big thing for us right now. every game you can imagine

outburst

killer uno

gin rummy (still unbeaten)

chutes + ladders

connect4

jenga

i am not really good at any of them except killer uno + gin rummy. unbeated at gin.

more bites later.

belgium + france

november is a time to cook for me. things and meals that i never cook any other time of the year.

i dont usually eat breakfast, although I know it's so important for me to.. but this weekend robert and I cooked breakfast like never before! my oma's famous crepe's with strawberry preserves and raw sugar. oh my gosh they were delicious. and the trick is, if they look like lace, or a doillie, then they are good crepes! mine are getting there. they are so fabulous!

so we celebrated france yesterday. and on saturday we celebrated belgium! with homemade belgium waffles. i woke up to the smell of maple syrup and blueberries in my house. wish i could bottle that fall smell up.

compliments to my husband's mad skills!

also this year, being our first christmas married we have decided to make our own stockings, decorations, and ornaments! we are starting our own traditions and we are so excited!

above: my stocking

below: wizard and the top of robert's stocking!

something smells...

yummy!

the consistent smell of sweet and salty hasn't left my house for weeks. I always have the urge to bake but, when the leaves begin to turn and the thermostat gets to be turned off due to the east nashville chill that runs in and out of my bedroom windows, I long to cook.

i've been baking up some ginger snap cookies, a small inadequate effort to make sushi, and our all time favorite right now is butternut squash soup!

wizard is also getting to benefit from this spur of the season oven usage. making hims little (or big) dog cookies.

oh the fall is so exciting! our first christmas together!

nomads and inspiration

here we go. this blog is basically spawn out of multiple people saying to us, " you guys should blog about your life!" i never thought it was that interesting, but i might as well. even if its only for me to look back and see how excited i got about the little things in my life.

robert and i have been married now 4 months tomorrow. although he has been gone on "business trips" for about 6 weeks of our 4 months, its going great, and if this 1 year is suppose to be the hardest, we are in for some great times next year! we are loving our little east nashville house, small but its good for us now. we have a big back yard and after being married for 3 months we got a dog! 96 pounds of beast (or love). robert takes so much pride in our yard, spending at least 5 hours a week mowing, weeding, cutting, trimming, hedging, watering and anything else you can do in a medium-sized city yard. 

we thought we would stop being nomads seeing as marriage normally does that...but oh no. we've gone on 6 trips since may. little weekend trips or all the way to canada, either way its traveling for us and seeing new things. (probably one of the keys to a very exciting marraige)

roberts off in north carolina and virginia doing cell phone tower maintenance, and im in germantown in an old house baking sweets, eggy quiche, moist gooey cakes, and hot winter soups at a tea room. its the most invigorating thing, waking up in the morning and making yummy food. although i've had to make my workout more intense, its a good feeling.

still studying nutrition and holistic health, will this course ever end. 

i am proud of a rememdy i made the other day for my sweet dog who has some skin allergies! a few simple ingredients and no itch. that was a good feeling.

that's today. more tomorrow.

Oh you five and ten cent women With nothin' in your heads I got a real gal I'm lovin' And Lord I'll love her till I'm dead Go away from my door and my window too Right now