On The Move...Again.

This week we are in the process of moving. Again. I say again because in the nearly 4 years we have been married, we have moved quite a few times. This will actually make move #5. That is right, 5 moves in just under 4 years.

I can't wait to get into our new house. It is the perfect home to grow into. We are totally in love with it. I will do my best to "document" our moving process, which begins at the end of the week. And as soon as we get into the new house I promise to share pictures.

The stress of this move has been a bit overwhelming, maybe because we have moved so much I just get so anxious and stressed over the whole situation. One thing that I am so proud of myself for is before we started the packing process I went through every room/closet in our apartment and cleaned out so much stuff to throw away! I'm talking 7 large trash bags! I was so proud of myself. I have never been a hoarder, but it just feels so good to purge once in a while! Check out that pile of junk we got rid of! This is probably more exciting for me than anyone else.

Stay tuned for pictures of our move and the new house!

Vacation in Washington D.C.

For Spring Break (yes, that is right, Spring Break. My husband is a teacher/coach so we still get to take Spring Break trips) this year we went on a fabulous vacation to Washington D.C. with my in-laws. Neither Jonathan or I had ever been to D.C. which truly made this vacation a trip of a lifetime. We had so much fun and created some wonderful memories with Babe and Papa Joe, aka PJ (that is what I call  my in-laws).

We attempted to do EVERYTHING we possibly could in the 5 days we were in Washington. There is so much to do and see when you go to D.C. it is impossible to get it all in, but we sure as heck tried! Jonathan and I flew in early on a Sunday morning and Babe and PJ didn't get there until that night, so it was nice to have the day to just explore the area around our hotel and have some alone time.

Our first full day started off bright and early with our tour of the Capital. Our tour was arranged through the Oklahoma's Senator office. We live in Texas but our in laws are in Oklahoma. We technically stayed in Arlington, Virginia near the Pentagon, so we took the Metro everywhere which was really fun. Jonathan was able to navigate his way through he metro and always knew which train we were suppose to be on. You would think he had been living there all along. It was great because without him we would have been riding the Metro in circles the whole time!

**I must warn you in the following pictures I do not look much like myself. When I fly I get terribly swollen for days and it greatly impacts my appearance. LOL **

Here is a picture of us coming up the escalator at the Metro.

And a picture of us outside the capital.

We also went to Arlington Cemetery which was so beautiful and absolutely amazing! We watched the changing of the guard of the tomb of the unknown soldier. What an amazing moment to watch!

One of the coolest things we did was a segway tour of the monuments! This was awesome!! It lasted for about 3 hours and we were able to see everything! The Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial were truly amazing. As much as I loved the Segways, I was not great at them. In fact, I was quite terrible, and I know I embarrassed my husband. Haha! But I still loved every minute of it!

We also went to the National Archives, Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian! My favorite thing at the Smithsonian was seeing Julia Child's exhibit. I stayed in it for probably close to an hour!

I have some more pictures from our trip that I will share later on. We truly loved our time in D.C. and will treasure that trip forever!

Shame, Guilt, and New Furniture

So it has only been about 8 or 9 months since I last blogged. Shameful, I know. I feel so guilty. I want so badly to be a good blogger. My sister Lindsay, who can be found at  Woods Life , says it just takes practice and consistancy. So cheers to getting back on the horse.

We have so much going on in our lives right now so what better time to begin blogging... again. To sum it up we went on a fabulous vacation to Washington D.C., bought some new furniture and we spent a few weeks house hunting. We found a house in the next town over and we cannot wait to move in just over 2 weeks! I will share more about our vacation and new house along with pictures in a later post.

Our new furniture came in from Ethan Allen recently. We got a gorgeous club chair and matching ottoman. I just love the crisp clean lines that this brings to our space!

Happy Birthday Lady

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

For those of you who don't know, the person that I refer to as "lady" is my mom. It is a nickname that I started calling her years ago and it just kinda stuck! Today is her birthday! She is the best mother anyone could ever ask for and I love her dearly!

Tomato, Basil, and Cheese Baked Pasta

So I made this the other night and it is so yummy! It's super easy and fast! It feels so good to be in the kitchen and cooking again!

Ingredients
1 pound small shell pasta
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan in a slow stream
3 large cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 small to medium yellow onion, finely chopped
1 (28-ounce) can crushed Italian tomatoes, any brand
1/2 cup, 10 to 12 fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces
Salt and pepper
1 cup store bought basil pesto sauce
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, a couple of handfuls
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella

Directions
Cook pasta to al dente in large pot of salted boiling water.

Meanwhile, preheat large skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil, garlic, and onion. Cook, stirring often for about 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes to the onions and stir. When tomatoes come to a boil, reduce heat to low and add basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat your broiler to high and make sure oven rack is in center of the oven.

Drain pasta and add to a casserole dish. Add pesto, ricotta, and a handful of Parmigiano. Stir to coat the pasta. Pour the tomato sauce over the pasta. Shred mozzarella and scatter over the pasta along with some more Parmigiano.

Place dish under broiler for about 3-5 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbles on top. Enjoy!

Wrigley!

Have you ever seen a more stressed out dog?

Homemade Pizza Anyone??? Oh yes I did.

Anyone who knows my husband and I knows how much we love and adore pizza. Our favorite place to order pizza delivery is iFratelli. My favorite place to go out to dinner for pizza is Fireside Pies here in Grapevine.

My newest passion for pizza is making it homemade! I'm talking about fresh mozzarella, homemade pizza sauce, and fresh handtorn basil...Oh yes I did! Unfortunately, I had to buy a ready made crust because our grocery store did not have pizza dough. Does anyone happen to know where you can buy a really good pizza dough in the Grapevine area, or does anyone have a good recipe for a homemade one? I like mine thin and crispy!