Busy, busy bees!

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost two month since I blogged... I guess that shows how dang busy we have been!

At the end of April we decided to check out the local farmers markets. Spending a Saturday morning wandering around the booths of local vendors is my FAVORITE thing to do. I love all the tomatoes, greens, breads, honey, meats, eggs, CHEESES (sigh), salsa and of course a million different herbs. I love this probably because I have the far off dream of eating totally fresh and "whole".



We also attended the Jenks Herb Festival which was great. I was expecting a mini-farmers market but this was a full out Fair! To me... if you have funnel cakes and corny dogs then it's a fair and I LOVE the fair (however my allegiance will always be with this one).

In early May we headed down to Texas to visit with Chad's parents and be there when his Mom got back from her retreat this weekend. The ACTS retreat has really been sweeping the Catholic community and I could not be more excited. In the last year and a half I have lived in 3 different states and attended countless Catholic parishes trying to find the right one for us and I think this retreat gives an amazing renewal for all who attend. I have not been yet but I did attend a similar college oriented retreat while at Texas Tech (I apologize for the horribly designed website).

I have also started to get into the obsession called "couponing". What I understand so far is that the idea is basically matching up store sales and promotions up with the coupons you have clipped in order to get the cheapest price for whatever you need to buy. The key is stocking up on things so you will have it when you need it because it may not be on sale when you need it. There is even a woman here in town that is making a living teaching others her money saving secrets, and I commend that! I have gone to a class she teaches and I plan on going to one she is teaching about saving at Whole Foods. I think this is especially timely right now when a lot of families are now trying to live on one income or are trying to prepare in case they do have to live on one income. Everyone likes to save money and for me it is more about getting a good deal so I don't feel extravagant by buying my specialty coffee, spices etc.



In early May we closed on our house! I spent the entire morning before trying to get the sellers real estate agent to make sure the house was in good condition for our closing. There was still nasty q-tips and broken deodorant etc. in one of the bathroom drawers, the floors needed a good sweeping, the garage still had a couch and washer and dryer inside and the backyard had a pile of rotting wood. I was NOT buying a house where this crap was my responsibility to get rid of. Luckily about 4 hours before closing someone showed up the clean up and haul everything away and I breathed a long sigh of relief. I suppose that is what happens when the owner is out of state and has to do everything from long distance! We have since moved in and have all of the essential boxes unpacked. The remaining boxes are being sorted through slowly as they are actually a lot of crap that just needs to be either donated or organized and stored in the attic. For some reason my husband has the need to save about 40 legal pads of his notes from random classes in college. The worst part is that all the pads only have about the first 20 pages written on and the rest is blank! The neat organized freak in me wants to rip out all the written on pages and put them in a 3-ring binder and then we can use the blank pages.

Anyway, this is getting pretty long so I'll just leave it at this for now. Coming up later... the Felderhoff's explore the Tulsa night life!

Peaceful Modern

Peaceful Modern: that is the label I would give the luxurious, relaxing, friendly scene at the Hotel Palomar-Dallas.

I don't get to stay in hotels in Dallas that often because (1.) I used to live here and, (2.)most of my family lives here. However, this time I am here for a work seminar and happen to be staying in the hotel in which the seminar is being hosted.

Simply said, I would label this hotel as a "destination stay". Some women fantisize about running off with the pool boy (ala Desperate Housewivse)... me, I just want to run away TO Hotel Palomar. It is such a shame that I had to stay by myself and my husband couldn't come along to enjoy this relaxing atmosphere. It's just so beautiful, so hospitable, so many things to do, eat, drink and watch nearby!

Just north of the hotel is the area named Mockingbird Station. A cute area chock-full of eclectic shops, ordinary retail, local restaurant favorites and a indie movie theater... your weekend can be full with this entertainment a skip across the street.

I mean seriously... look at this lobby! It won't let me post pictures, but the link leads you to pictures of the hotel!

To give you an idea of my experience... I arrived Tuesday night at almost 11:00p after a long day of work, and air travel since 5:50p that afternoon. The taxi pulled into the valet lane and a bellboy came the back of the van, pulled out my luggage and opened my door as I paid the driver. He then wheeled my things in as two other bellboys opened the massive glass doors into the building... talk about style! I was then checked in my friendly and curteous staff and made my way up to my room. I opened the door and it felt like I had walked into a relaxing, peaceful place of escape. All the lights are out except for the bathroom light is dimmed. As soon as I glance in there, I see the designer artisan sink and fixtures that just fill me with design inspired happiness. A little further walk in,I find a down comforter covered king size bed ready to be collapsed on. The BEST part is the large flat panel screen TV with relaxing spa music and one of those puddle screen saver things going on. Seriously I could have collapesed then and there and let myself decompress for the rest of the night. Anyway, needless to say the armchair was of modern design AND comfortable (which is sometimes hard to find) and the desk was also nice with lots of electric plug-ins! I stayed 3 nights, all of which were wonderful as are the yummy L'Occitane bath products and a cute zebra print robe! Oh, and I shouldn't forget to mention the coffee and hot tea in the lobby for breakfast and complimentary wine from 5p-6p!

Anyway, I just had to share this experience because (1.) I haven't posted in a while and (2.) it was just so dang wonderful!

I should disclose that in NO WAY was this a paid advertisement, however I am NOT OPPOSED to receiving free nights, samples, trial offers and reviewing them online!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Quick and Dirty, Divine

I found a few new sites that are great:

The first one is Money Girl which is a podcast about personal finance and great tips for managing your wealth (or lack their of).
- Good Debt vs. Bad Debt
- Greatness of Compound Interest


On the same site is the Get-It-Done Guy to, as he says, "to work less and do more". Sounds great in my book!
- To Do or not To Do
- Controlling a full inbox


The next site is titled Divine Caroline. I can't put it into words so I'll let the Divine Caroline staff do it.

In short " Our dream is to give you a place to come together and express yourselves. What brings you joy. What breaks your heart. Makes you giggle. What pisses you off. Confuses you. Entertains you. What keeps you strong. And if all that sounds too heady, remember we're also discussing stuff like sketchy relatives and good kissers."

My favorite sections are:
- Relationships
- Home and Food
- Style
- Career and Money
- Play
- Neighborhood and World


... I guess by now you've realized that I pretty much like the entire site but I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!

Have a great weekend!

Valentines Recap

Chad and I didn't do anything too big this year for the actual day OF Valentine's. We went skiing earlier this month and that was our offical Valentines Day EVENT! I did make dinner, Chad did the steaks, and we watched "Good Luck Chuck". The movie was good although a little inappropriate but funny. The dinner turned out great and although Chad had to help out more than I would have wanted it was a success.

MENU:
Drinks: Pomegrante Champagne
Appetizer: Stuffed Mushrooms
Entree: Steaks ala Chad
Vegetable: Bourbon Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Vegetable: Lemon Green Beans with Pine Nuts
Bread: Parmesan Pepper Bread
Dessert: Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Recipes and Pictures below:

Pomegrante Champagne: rim glass in pom juice and coat with sugar. fill 2/3 full with champagne and add pom juice until desired color



Stuffed Mushrooms:
1/2 cup Italian-style dried bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
28 large (2 1/2-inch-diameter) white mushrooms, stemmed

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Stir the bread crumbs, Pecorino Romano, garlic, parsley, mint, salt and pepper, to taste, and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium bowl to blend.
Drizzle a heavy large baking sheet with about 1 tablespoon olive oil, to coat. Spoon the filling into the mushroom cavities and arrange on the baking sheet, cavity side up. Drizzle remaining oil over the filling in each mushroom. Bake until the mushrooms are tender and the filling is heated through and golden on top, about 25 minutes. Serve.

Lemon Green Beans w/ Pine Nuts:
1/3 pound fresh green beans, ends trimmed, blanched in boiling salted water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1 tablespoon pine nuts
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Pinch salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper

Drain green beans well and pat dry.
Heat the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly to keep from burning. Add the pine nuts and cook, stirring, for an additional minute. Add the green beans and toss to coat evenly. Cook just enough to warm through, about 1 minute. Add the lemon juice, salt, and pepper and toss to combine. Remove from the heat and serve immediately.


(see recipe below for green beans)


Steaks: Chads secret recipe




Bourbon Mashed Sweet Potaotes:
2 pounds sweet potatoes
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/8 cup bourbon
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place potatoes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Transfer to oven and bake until very tender, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let stand until cool enough to handle.
Cut open each potato and scoop out flesh into a large bowl; discard skins. Add cream, bourbon, brown sugar, molasses, and salt; mash with a potato masher until desired consistency is reached. Alternatively, place potato flesh, cream, bourbon, brown sugar, molasses, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat on high until well combined. Serve immediately.
(for pic, see corner of steak picture)


Parmesan Pepper Bread: from my bread maker book


Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing: Red Velvet boxed cake mix, Icing: 8 oz cream cheese
4 oz butter
3 3/4 c. confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/2 tea. vanilla extract
1/8 tea. salt
Cream the butter, cheese and salt in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar until incorporated, then add the vanilla.
(photo coming...picture red cupcakes with white swirls)

sorry!

I know its been forever, I'm sorry! We have had a lot going on and somehow I haven't found time to post! We have big news though!

As of February 11th we got the word that we will be moving to Omaha, Nebraska in mid-March. Chad got a transfer/promotion at work which will relocate us to the corporate headquarters of ConAgra Foods.

I think that development is going to turn this blog into more of a way for us to keep up with our friends and family in Texas and tell/show them all the new and exciting things that we are doing in Omaha.

Hopefully later today I will update on some of the recent happenings including our ski trip to Santa Fe early in the month to my yummy Valentines dinner!

Six Month Review... no, not that kind!

Okay… 6 month review here starting on July 4th…no no, it is not a test or a review of your performance…DON’T BE SCARED! I suppose it is actually a review of how REDICULOUSLY BUSY we keep ourselves over here at the Felderhoff Haus!

wow, it has been FOREVER since I downloaded the old pictures off of our digital cameras! The first set is from when we went to the Rangers game on July 4th. Having never been able to afford the nice close to the field (ie. close view of those great baseball pants) it was nice to score tickets from Chad’s boss and no longer reside in the cheap seats. We got together with our friends Stephanie and David and enjoyed the game. I have been friends with Stephanie since 7th grade and it was so nice have a chance to hang out again! It was also very touching to have the newest graduating class of the air force there to get honored. With my brother being in the military and being overseas studying abroad in Belgium on this day, the playing of the national anthem brought a sting to my eyes. The Rangers beat the LA Angels and we got to watch a great fireworks display. I should say…APPARENTLY it was great firework show… it didn’t pay off to have great seats during the show because we couldn’t see a lot of the fireworks over the jumbo-tron.





A few days later on July 7th (07/07/07) one of my oldest friends, Kelly Wing got married in the same church that I had a couple months earlier. I was a reader but so dang nervous! Luckily it was in a church I was used to and comfortable with. The reception was at The Atrium in Garland which is a GORGEOUS glass surrounded by lots of trees outside which is really nice. However, there was one STRANGE thing outside… when we got there we noticed a large blue helicopter with a couple of guys in flight suits hanging around. I thought that maybe there was a flight museum inside. It dawned on me a later that this helicopter wasn’t just for show. Turns out, to Jon’s surprise, he and Kelly would make quite an exit flying high in the sky to DFW airport. It was so cool to watch the propellers start spinning and watch the happy couple jump in the helicopter and fly away! I tried to get pictures of this but it was too dark to really make out anything in the blurry shots!





In August another friend got married (sense a trend? it’s not over yet!) in Lubbock. This was Angela and Theo who I had met while in college at Texas Tech through the Catholic Student Association. Angela, Andrea, Stacie, Mary and I were all in the small group and now we all live in separate parts of the state from each other. It was so nice to get the opportunity to hang out and be our goofy selves again. Thank goodness Mary’s husband and Chad get along and could have “man-talk” while the girls hung out!




In mid-July my family found out that my mom had breast cancer. Although incredibly devastating we were all happy to find out that it was in the early stages and later removed successfully. (Since then she has gone through chemo and is now having radiation and doing well) It was at that point that I knew I wanted to be involved somehow with the Race for the Cure that happens in October in Dallas every year. So, in early October my brother Matthew, Chad, our friend Norm and I walked/ran the course. Chad and Norm ran while Matthew and I walked the 5K. It was a little hard at times knowing why we were there and why it all mattered but we were really glad to be doing it. I think our “team” in all raised about $600.






In mid-October Chad and I went to Lubbock to watch our first (live) Tech game of the season. Unfortunately we lost against Colorado but it was still a lot of fun. I really enjoyed living in Lubbock while I was there but it was fun going back knowing I didn’t have classes and that I could just enjoy the atmosphere!






I already covered Thanksgiving in previous posts so I’ll skip to Christmas. It has really been fun having our first holiday as a married couple and finally I can decorate our first apartment for the holidays. I bought some really cute ornaments at World Market and actually (partially) made our stockings. I dont have a picture of the tree but it was a towering beautiful fir! If only we had a fireplace it would be perfect.










Sunday, December 23rd we went to Rockwall to have early Christmas with my parents. We started out with Mass at 10:30a at my home parish. We ate an enchilada dinner and the FINALLY got to open presents. Chad had really gotten most of his presents back in late October before deer season started. He needed camouflage cover-alls and a heavy coat for hunting season so needless to say he didn’t have truckload of gifts at Christmas from my parents. I had been hinting for a leather ottoman for our living room which is just what I got. I also had talked about wanting a weather radio for when the weather gets bad and our cable goes out and I got a super duper weather radio/TV radio/cell charger/everything else that will be great! That evening we drove to Muenster for the Felderhoff/Metzler Christmas.

Monday morning Chad went hunting on his parent’s property while I slept in. That day his mom and I cooked and baked to get things ready for the Felderhoff Christmas that evening. I also got to share in the family tradition of making Divinity candy. It’s a detailed process but it turned out pretty dang good! Once Chad’s siblings got into town we headed over to his Grandparents house where we ate, talked, read the nativity story, sang Christmas carols and opened presents. After that we went to Midnight Mass which was a beautiful celebration! Tuesday we went to the Metzler side of the family celebration and all the food and desserts were delicious! There was also a gift exchange and Chad and I scored a “Fry Daddy” and a set of poker chips!

That weekend we headed to San Antonio for a wedding that Chad was a groomsman in. Chad has known Steve since his freshman college days and we are so happy that he has met Allison. She is such a sweet girl and they make a very nice couple. We tried to leave as early as possible on Friday but unfortunately we missed the rehearsal and were late for the rehearsal dinner. All the events were at the La Cantera Resort and Hotel ( which was beautiful! The location of the ceremony looked over an area that looked like and Italian landscape. We didn’t get to stay at the resort but we walked around a bit and vowed to come back someday to stay overnight.




On New Years Eve we got together with our friends Ashley and Brian that just moved to the area and Chad’s brother Mitch and his girlfriend Aubree. We all went out to dinner at I’Fratelli’s Italian Restaurant and then went to Champs Sports Bar for a drink. Chad and I had been to the restaurant before and it is delicious. They have the best bread and the food is really good too. After that we came back to our apartment and played poker. I have not played that often and am not very good but it was still fun.

To start New Years off right we went to the gym! I know, surprising but it really wasn’t that hard to get the motivation and I was glad that I went. Chad and Mitch hit the weights while Aubree and I went to a spin class. Now… I have ridden a bike before but the seat on this bike SUCKED. The class was 60 minutes and I think I was sore for almost a week! Apparently they don’t invest in padding at that place and I don’t think I could take another class like that. It was good though to get our heart rates up and feel good about getting a good workout in on the first day of the new year! We made it home just in time for our friends to start arriving for the Bowl Game watching party we hosted. Texas Tech was in the Gator Bowl against the University of Virginia. It looked like we might lose for a little while but they pulled it out in the end… there’s a reason we call them “Heart Attack Tech”!




This past Saturday we got together with a group of friends to go bowling in Plano. We have another set of friends, Eric and Jackie, which just moved to the metroplex so we knew it would be fun to get together. Although I lost every game, we played 3 different times and stayed there until about 11:00p.



Sunday we tried a new church. We like St. Michaels but Chad’s uncle is a deacon at St. Ann Catholic Church in Coppell so we tried that for a change. It was WONDERFUL. It is much more my type with the traditional architecture and design. I really liked the priest homily and it seems like a very warm and inviting community. They are a parish of 23,000 people and have a wonderful young adults group that we want to get involved with. The music minister is named Curtis Stephan and has done wonderful things through Spirit and Song. It is refreshing as a young person to have contemporary uplifting songs as well as the old favorites during the liturgy. We will be going there again soon to decide if we want to switch.




OKAY... that should be enough to get you hooked and get me updated to present!
...make sure to leave comments!

Thanksgiving Recap

(imported from a previous entry)
November 28, 2007

Well, Thanksgiving went off (almost) with out a hitch! Mom and I performed an intricate ballet of oven timing and managed to get everything out of the oven at served hot at relatively the same time. Thank you to whoever gave us the kitchen timer with 3 alarms for our wedding present. AWESOME!

Chad was super excited to use our new electric carver on the turkey but unfortunately Mom already had it sliced up when she broght it over. I did have some bread that needed to be sliced so Chad was able to cut that up.

We had 8 people in attendance and really not a lot of leftovers which I like. I did manage to save enough turkey for this amazing turkey pot-pie that I want to make.

So anyway, Thanksgiving was great and my family left about 5p. We did manage to take about 48 family photos that will hopefully be pared down to a select few to send out in Christmas cards. We will see if Chad and I get one sent out this year! After that Chad and I headed up to Frisco where his cousins live and the Felderhoff side of his family was gathered. We hung out and watched the rest of the Cowboy game and played Mad Gab with the other cousins/siblings and their spouse/boyfriends/girlfriends.

Friday Chad had to head to work for a few hours and then we all headed to my families ranch for the weekend. It was WONDERFUL. The guys went hunting in the mornings and the evenings and my mom and I stayed indoors where it was warm. Mostly we just sat around visiting with the family and reading magazines but we did manage to make about 3 dozen cookies and muffins and a huge dish of lasagna for dinner on Saturday. It was DELICIOUS! Sunday we headed back home and had enough time to unpack and clean up before we headed to church. All in all, GREAT holiday weekend!

Thanksgiving

(Imported from previous entry)

November 16, 2007

It's getting cool around here which means one thing to me.... time to warm up with some yummy food!

Chad and I are hosting Thanksgiving for my family this year which is likely to be fun and stressful at the same time. So far I am really not that stressed though because I like cooking and am excited to find new (but still traditional) fun things to cook... you will not find any Thanksgiving Enchiladas at this house! I'm having to make sure that I dont try too many new things because one person I know (a certain brother) likes things to stay the same year to year...

So far I have planned:

Roast Turkey
Sausage Stuffing
Cranberries
Green Bean Casserole
Acorn Squash
Sweet Potatoes
Croissants
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie
Vanilla Ice Cream

Luckily, I think the only things I will have to make or buy will be the stuffing, squash, croissants, pecan pie and vanilla ice cream... my family will bring everything else!

Stay tuned for how this process goes!