TGIF

SO glad it's Friday! Don't know what our plans are but it's the weekend so that's all that matters. Joe might have to work on Sunday, 12 hours of overtime. YAY! I'm so glad he likes working and has such a great work ethic. It's hard to not be motivated by time and a half though!

We're hoping Joe's mom and dad will come down tomorrow for dinner. I've been on a cooking spree lately and I want to make dinner for them. It's so much fun using all of my new kitchen stuff! If they come down, I'm making Beef Stroganoff. Joe's aunt made this for us a couple of years ago when we visited them in Seattle. I remember always complaining when my mom said stroganoff was for dinner but this is the best I've ever had. Here's the recipe....definitely worth a try!

Beef Strogonoff
2 lbs meat, sliced into thin strips (best is filet Mignon)
4 cloves of minced garlic
Salt and pepper
2 onion, small sliced
4 tomatoes, pureed (DON’T use salsa or ready tomato sauce)
2 tablespoon butter
½ cup ketchup
½ cup cognac
1 cup fresh mushrooms
1 ½ cup heavy cream (Try to use Creme de leite)

Mix the meat with garlic, salt and pepper. Saute the onions with butter and add the meat until golden brown. Add the tomatoes, cook until the meat be very soft, add water if needed. Add the mushrooms, ketchup and cognac. Add the heavy cream and turn off the stove. Taste---might need more ketchup, cognac, salt or pepper.Serve with hot white rice and garnish with shoestrings.

And last, one of my favorite pictures of Sophie and I. She's 10 months today!
I love you, Sophie Marie!

King of the Bed

When we got our new bed and bedding, I decided that I was tired of having Subie sleep with us. It would be ok if he stayed at the foot of the bed but he likes to be up in our face. If I turn to the other side to avoid him, he walks over my back and goes to the other side. Some nights are worse the others, he's especially bad about this in the morning. Our alarm clocks going off is his cue to come cuddle. Anyway, I bought this dog bed a few weeks ago and thought I'd give it a try. And to our surprise, he LOVES it! His body takes up the entire thing but I think he really likes how tight it is around him. It's still on our bed but it's a step closer to being off. We started a bad habit!

This weekend: Matt (Joe's little brother) wedding reception. Him and his now-wife got married two weeks before Joe and I at a drive-thru in Vegas. They're totally anti-wedding anything but her parents really wanted something to celebrate the two of them. Don't blame them one bit, can't imagine not having anything! Anyway, it's tomorrow at 7:30 pm. It will be interesting to see how it turns out considering how much they hate all things wedding related! Joe has to work Sunday night so we'll be coming home tomorrow night after it's over.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

A Perfect Fall Weekend

This weekend was perfect! Joe had to work 12 hours yesterday so I headed down to Vancouver to spend the day with Kim. I got to their house right as Sophie was going down for a nap so we took advantage of her sleeping and went for coffee and to get pedicures. So relaxing and so fun to have some sister time. After we got back from our pedicures Sophie was up and we all headed to the pumpkin patch. We went to Bi-Zi Farms in Vancouver and it was the coolest pumpkin patch I've ever been to! Sophie had major sensory overload but I think she really enjoyed it! She loved all of the farm animals. It's so amazing to see how fast she's changing! We'll definitely be making the trip to the pumpkin patch a yearly tradition. I can't wait to see how excited she'll be next year when we go!

After the pumpkin patch we headed to the Screen Door for dinner. YUM. I was gone a long time....Joe beat me home! It was great to spend the day with the three of them. I'm glad they let me tag along. :) Next year Uncle Joe will have to go with.

Today was an equally fun day. We got our new bed! A King size bed and I can't wait to go crawl into it and spread out! It was so much fun putting all of our new bedding on that we got for our wedding. It's the 'Hotel Collection' from Macy's and it really does look like a hotel. So clean, so sharp. Simple yet elegant. Love it!!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I can't believe that tomorrow is one month since our wedding. Where did the month go?! It doesn't even seem possible!

A perfect day!

Wow, how fast the time went! Our wedding was one of the best days I've had so far. Everything was absolutely perfect. I've never been on such a high, everything was simply amazing! I wish I would've trusted everyone when they said to not sweat the small things. In the end, they went unnoticed and we both had such a blast! And the weather was perfect. Beautiful, no wind and about 90 degrees.

Our Honeymoon was amazing as well. We stayed 10 nights in Maui, 6 in Kaanapali and 4 in Wailea. It was definitely the trip of a lifetime. We went zip lining (so fun!), snorkeling, hiking, kayaking....it was great. We also wined and dined like never before and enjoyed ourselves immensely. And surprisingly, I'm not quite as bummed about being back home as I thought I would be. I guess I'm still on that high, SO much to look forward to in our new life together! Thanks to all of you for making it an unforgettable day for us.

I'll be a Mrs. when I write my next blog!

This, my friends, is my last blog before the big day. Today is my last day of work until the 28th, therefore it's my last day of routine. And when there's no routine, there's even fewer blog posts!

I'm SO excited for Saturday! And it's supposed to be 90! That's a huge relief after the crappy weather we've been having.

I'm so full of so many different emotions at this point. I have butterflies and I feel like I will start crying at any moment. Anytime I hear any of our songs I start tearing up. And I've been having really weird dreams this week, one on Monday was about my Grandpa Gaston. It was so real---nothing about him had changed. He was exactly how I remember him. In my dream I had gone down to Grandma's for something and Grandpa was sitting on the patio. I was so excited to see him to tell him I was getting married and tell him all about Joe. I know he would definitely approve of Joe! Maybe that's a sign that he'll be with us in spirit on Saturday. I sure hope so.

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week! Be back to reality on September 28! :)

A perfect day

Yesterday my mom, sister and I had a girls day. It was a perfect day! It was the first time Kim had left Sophie for more than an hour or two so it was really a treat for her! We started our day with brunch at Mother's in Portland. We had to wait an hour for a table but it was well worth it. It was delicious! We each ordered something different then shared. Kim had fresh raspberry pancakes, mom had 'Crunchy French Toast' and I had biscuits and gravy. If you're in Portland, this is a must eat place. Even if you have to wait, wait. You wont be disappointed!

After breakfast we headed to Bridgeport Village to our spa appointments at Coldwater Creek. It was so relaxing, felt like we were on vacation. Our only regret is that we only had one spa treatment. We weren't ready to leave!

It was a great day to relax a little before the big day. We got back to Kim's house at around 5 and George made us Roast Beef Po Boys.

It was truly a perfect day! I love my mom and sister!!

FRIDAY!

Happy Friday! I can honestly say this is the first Friday that I've actually been not excited for the weekend. I needed this past week to go just a little bit slower. Actually, a lot slower! Tomorrow when I wake up the, "Oh my gosh, 1 week" feeling will hit me big time. Ahh! Not nervous about saying 'I do' just a little stressed about all of the last minute things that we need to get done. They'll get done though. And if things don't turn out exactly like I had visioned, no one will know. Right?! I'm getting so excited! I feel like I'm already on a high, hopefully it keeps up as the day gets closer! I'm also feeling a little sad about how fast it will all be over but then I remember that we're going to MAUI. That's a huge detail I haven't really had time to think about. So exciting!

Hope everyone has a fun and safe Labor Day Weekend!