Monday, October 31, 2011

Football Sunday

My wonderful husband is home this weekend again. (: I love it when he is home.

Sundays are football days at our house. My husband is a lifelong 49er fan... and with me being his Mrs. i am a 49er fan as well.

I have always loved cute food! hehe. The first day that i met my husband's family  was on St. Patrick's Day. So.. OF COURSE i brought over green mint chocolate chip cookies. My sister has always been a pro with making beautiful, interesting, and totally scrumptious food. (just look at my bridal shower .)

Well, i have been finding some recipes on pinterest that fit the beautiful, interesting, and scrumptious checklist. I figured that Football Sunday would be the perfect day to try. (:

We got up Sunday morning and watched ibethel.tv and listened to a sermon from Kris V.  He talked about how everything that we do.. there is something that we are NOT doing.. and to pay attention  to what we are NOT doing. It was really good!

 Then it was time for the game.. and for me to cook. (:
The first thing i decided to make was pizza rolls. It was sooo easy! (which is also on this new bride's checklist)


Pizza Rolls:
2 can refrigerated pizza crust (i got pillsbury)
Garlic salt
Italian Seasoning
1 cup sliced pepporoni
1 cup shredded cheese (we used a pack of mozzarella and parmesan)
1/2 cup parmesan (which i just noticed i didnt use lol)
Ragu Sweet Basil Sauce for dipping

- Preheat oven to 425
- Dust a large cutting board or wax paper with flour and roll out pizza crust.
- Season each crust with garlic salt and italian seasoning
- Top with cheese and meat
- Starting with a short end, roll crust into a tight log.
- Place on a lightly greased pan and bake for 10-12 minutes
- Serve with Ragu Sweet Basil Sauce

See.. it is sooo easy!
Pizza dough with the seasonings.

Pizza log. 

Finished the pizza rolls.. and my husband loved them!


For dessert i made Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries! Also found on Pinterest. (: i got this recipe from The Sweets Life Blog.)

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries:
 1 lb large strawberries
 8 oz (1 cup) softened cream cheese (i used the whipped kind .. it was easier to work with)
 3 tbsp powdered sugar (4 tbsp for a sweeter filling)
 1 tsp vanilla extract
 graham cracker crumbs

- Rinse strawberries and cut the top of the strawberries off. Pit the middle with a paring knife. Prep all strawberries and set aside. 
- In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until creamy. Put the mixture in a piping bag or ziplock with the corner cut off. 
- Fill strawberries with the mixture and dip the tops in the graham cracker crumbs. If not serving immediately, put in refrigerator until ready to enjoy. 


Also incredibly easy and absolutely delicious!

pitted strawberries.


The mixture was soo good! We only did 3 tbsp powdered sugar.

They were so so good!

  i was very very pleased with all that i made and with our day. (:

football games, delicious food, and love. - M

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Christian Family Planning.

BIRTH CONTROL! 
A topic that is always discussed within an engagement. (: I learned about Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) and Natural Family Planning (NFP) from a lot of my Knottie friends (on my Christian Wedding board on theknot.com. (IT IS NOT THE RHYTHM METHOD! hehe.. needed to add it in there.) I didn't think it was for my husband and i & decided against it. The more i learned about it... and the more i had side effects to my hormonal birth control... i decided to do it. Here is an interview from a Christian Family Planning Network (CFPN) Admin and the CFPN Founder. Read it and let me know what you think about CFP. (: If you would like more info click on my badge at the top right hand corner to go to the website! 

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Sure! My name is Stephanie. I'm a 25 year old Bible College graduate. I've been a work-at-home-wife since June of 2008. The CFPN is my full-time job! My husband, Daniel, and I have been married for three years. We used the Fertility Awareness Method to avoid pregnancy for our first year of marriage, and have been waiting for child #1 since then.

What is the purpose of the Christian Family Planning Network (CFPN)?

The purpose of the CFPN is to educate engaged and married Christians about their options for birth control beyond artificial or hormonal contraceptives.  We hope to overturn the common misconception that all natural birth control methods are the Rhythm Method of decades past.

How is this purpose accomplished?

Primarily through our message board.  We have a vibrant community where women from all walks of life, and all theological perspectives, can come together and support each other in their decision to not use hormonal birth control. Some of our members join the community while still on the Pill, or the Shot, or the Ring. In situations like this, members of the community who have been in their shoes will come alongside and support them, answer their questions, and encourage them that they are doing a good thing!

Many of the women on our “Avoiding Pregnancy” forum have been using natural methods their entire marriage. Some of our long-term members have avoided pregnancy for up to four years, before deciding to try to conceive their first child. Now some of those members have given birth to their first child and are avoiding again with FAM or NFP postpartum!

In addition to supporting women who are avoiding pregnancy, we also have forums and buddy groups for women who are trying to conceive, are dealing with infertility, are pregnant, or parenting. We encourage all of our new members to join a buddy group and to plug into the community where they need support.

Our first online course began in January. The first section is FC101A: Just the Basics, and teaches people how to begin charting their fertility signs so that they can know when to avoid or abstain, or have sex if they're trying to conceive. FC101B: Beyond the Basics covers more advanced charting techniques, like what to do if your temperature or cervical fluid sign is unreliable, if you're not ovulating, or if you're post-partum. FC101B also covers the effect that exercise, nutrition and lunaception (moonlight) affects your cycle.

Why did you decide to start the CFPN?
Back in summer of 2007, when I was engaged, I joined a secular site that promotes the Fertility Awareness Method. I noticed that there were a few other summer brides asking similar questions to me. We wanted to know what to expect on our wedding night as we were all virgins and new at this whole charting and being married thing! So, I started a "buddy group", which is a small group of women who are all interested in the same thing. This gave us our own place to ask our questions of each other and get answers. Throughout the summer, our group grew in number, as the 2008 brides began to get engaged and research their options, and circumstances of the 2007 brides began to change.

In the spring of 2008, we split the original buddy group into three groups: 2007 brides, 2008 brides and those who were trying to get pregnant, or were already pregnant. By the Christmas of 2008 we had enough babies born that we started a parenting buddy group. About that point, the administration of the website we were on made a decision to support a pro-choice view of emergency contraception. I had been thinking that we needed to move our network of buddy groups (at this point we had about 50 women) to our own website for a few months, and it seemed like a really good time to do it!

January 17, 2009 was the first day we were on our own website. We stayed there for a few months, but we quickly realized that we were no longer the "Engaged & Newlywed Network". In order to change our name, we had to change our URL. So, the moderators decided that we would pay for our own hosting and our own domain, and we became the Christian Family Planning Network on May 15, 2009 at our current URL. As our name changed from one site to the next, so did our purpose, and that's how we got to where we are today!

Who can join the CFPN?

Anyone who is interested in learning about how a woman's natural fertility cycle works! This means men, women, young, old, dating, engaged, married, etc. You do not need to be a Christian or agree to our Statement of Faith to be a member, but all our leaders do hold to our Statement of Faith. Christian values such as marriage between only a man and woman, abstinence before marriage, and the sanctity of life are all upheld by our leaders, and we do hold those in high regard on the message board as well.

For women who are not engaged or married, we have a section of our message board called "Just Curious". This is for people who are not engaged or married, who are "just curious" about what their bodies are doing. We encourage them to participate there, and in the off-topic parts of the board, but ask that they refrain from joining the buddy groups for people who are actively using (or planning to use) the method in a marriage relationship until they are engaged. 


- Hope you enjoyed this and it answered some questions for anyone who is curious. (: We are happy with our decision to use FAM for birth control. (:

Family planning, interviews, and love. - M

Monday, October 24, 2011

oohhh stains. :(

Officially i HATE  highly dislike stains!

The other day my husband and i were hanging out in the living room, watching tv and enjoying deliciousness to drink.  i had a scrumptious 1 pump vanilla pumpkin spice latte while he drank a triple shot extra caramel iced caramel machiatto (ya.. we are one of THOSE people at Starbucks. lol).

Now... here is something you need to know before i go on with this rant  story. My couch is a 3-sitter, and one end table is on my husband's "side" and the other round coffee table is in the middle. The counter is on "my side" and sometimes can feel as wide and tall as a red wood tree! The couch is pretty short... and i am short... and reaching to the counter is like trying to put my coffee on the moon!

Well.. the other day when we were hanging out.. i decided to put my little cup of loveliness on the ground beside me (i know.. i know.. you are thinking "oh no!" right about now). Okay, so I knew where i had carefully placed my cup of Starbucks... but i did not mention this vital information to my husband.... so he got up to do something... and i am still not EXACTLY sure what happened... but the next thing i notice, my coffee is soaked into the rug. oh dang!
My husband and i kinda just looked down and laughed as he said "well, there goes the deposit." hehe. When asked why i didn't put it on the counter OR the coffee table i responded with a "it was to far", which i felt was a justifiable excuse. Not sure if my hubby agreed. hehe.

Not to worry though! Ba da da DAA.. Pinterest to the rescue! Luckily for us (and our apartment deposit) i remembered pinning a stain remover to my board.

So i started mixing up a concoction of dawn soap and hydrogen peroxide (after running to the store for it... cuz really.. what newlywed HAS hydrogen peroxide in their house). I poured the soapy goodness on the stain and waited... and waited... aanndd waited ... AND waited! After awhile (and about 5 barefoot accidental steps later) i noticed that maybe it wasn't working as well as i thought it would... and it was awfully soapy. I looked back to my pinboard and noticed it was 1 part dawn to TWO parts hydrogen peroxide.. i did one to one. I whipped up another batch and tried again. Its lighter... but still there. I let it dry today while i am at work.. and i am going to try again tonight. I hope it works! lol

powerful stain removers, pinterest, and love. - M

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Shutterfly = love

A friend of ours got married a few months before us and sent the family a personalize thank you card with their wedding photos.
I fell IN LOVE with that idea! I knew i had to do it with our wedding photos. Well... almost 2 months after my wedding and i FINALLY bought the thank you cards just right now. haha. (:

I used the website Shutterfly.com which i am sooo happy about! It was easy to use.. i would just drop down my beautiful wedding pictures on the card. There were tons of different styles and i got to write on the inside and the back. I am soo pleased with them! They are reasonably priced and they offered TONS of discount codes. I saved over $40 on my order!!! AMAZING! i cant wait to get them in the mail and send them off!

5x7 Folded Card
View the entire collection of cards.

This is one of my cards i made. (:


If anyone is making save the dates, thank you cards, baby announcements, or Christmas cards you should definitely use Shutterfly!

cute cards, shutterflying around, and love. - M

Saturday, October 15, 2011

The plans for you.

My wonderful husband is home this weekend.. but he is working. boo! Today he had to work at 7:30, so i got up made not-strong-enough coffee and prepared his lunch. (at first i didn't put enough water in the coffee pot so i put more in... and it ended up being to much. hehe. )

I read somewhere (in the plenty of Christian pre-marital books that i own now) about a wife who made her husband lunch everyday and left a little note with a bible verse in it. Of course romance and spirituality melt my heart so i thought that i would maybe start this. (:

Today i made my husbands lunch while he was still sleeping (or at least laying in bed.. because i DOUBT he was sleeping with me making noise in the kitchen). I wrote a simple little note in there BUT my mind went BLANK on a verse.. and i didnt want to go to my bible in the room... because i wanted it to be a surprise. The ONLY verse i could think of was Jeremiah 29:11... but it seems like such a common, over-used verse. But the more i thought about it.. the more i realized that the verse is PERFECT!

"For i know the plans i have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

Its powerful, right? Currently my husband works sooooo hard at a job that is not exactly his dream job. I am soo overly proud of him and all that he does. And i trust God that this is in His plan. The Bible tells our family that He has a plan for us... to prosper us.. to give us hope.. when we feel hopeless. We can't always see the entire plan... but i trust the Lord that it is a plan to not harm me and to give me a wonderful future. (:

My encouragement to everyone is that although we cant see the whole picture.. the Lord is at work. And when we feel down, and beat, and like there is no hope in our future... focus on this verse... really think about the meaning. We hear this verse all around and at every single graduation! But keep it in focus.. especially when your life feels like there is no way out and we have no hope - God is working out His plan for us. (:

bright futures, new found hope, and love. - M

♥ . ♥ . ♥

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Rain, rain dont go away...

... the sun can come back another day.

It is Autumn! (: i love it!!! I love the crisp air, scarves, boots, and warm sweaters. Yesterday and the day before it rained and i was overjoyed because my husband was off of work. (:

TODAY....... we woke up to sun. i wanted to cry... or throw a fit! I am off work today... and i was looking forward to a thunderstorm and cuddling up to my husband. BUT he is working... so i am at the house watching Say Yes To The Dress. hehe. oh well... the season is almost over.

I was talking to my husband yesterday about how when he is home (since he is usually only home for the weekends) i feel like it should be like the honeymoon.. where we just hang out and don't do anything. haha. I am excited for this new season where we REALLY get to  learn to do life together. Right now when he is home.. i dont want to do anything, not eve work. haha. But... that isnt real life!

Real life is getting up and going to work and coming home and having dinner together... sleeping.. and getting up and doing the same thing. Real life is paying bills. Running errands. Cleaning the house. Reading our bibles. Going to church. Hanging with friends. Being with family. (: THAT is real life! hehe. Its gonna be fun to do this all with him.

Marriage is learning to go from MY life to OUR life. (:

On a side note: God is opening my  heart to people. My heart is yearning to help people. i am not sure what it will look like but i am sooo glad that God has given me this compassion again.

More rain, compassion, and love. - M

♥ . ♥ . ♥

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

what an honor!


Thank you sooo much beautiful Andi for this award! It is such an honor! I am a very very new blogger and i am pleased that other people (besides myself) enjoy reading the silly, crazy, wonderful  lovely things i write. (: I am overjoyed that someone would recommend me to other blog readers - - so thank you!

The Rules: 

Rule #1:Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them:
Once again.. thank you soo much Andi for giving me this versatile award! I enjoy reading your blog very much and all the loveliness that comes from it. (:

Rule #2: Share seven things about yourself.
1) I love all things girly & i say things like "makes my heart smile"
2) I HAVE to clean my entire kitchen before i can cook a meal.
3) Romance should be my middle name. 
4) I adore the taste of soda.. but carbonation can upset my stomach.
5) Hanging out, kissing, cuddling, eating, going out, staying in,  BEING with my husband delights my heart. 
6) I like to dance around my house.. but i don't do it enough.
7) A yummy starbucks can turn my day around. 

Rule #3: Pass the award onto up to 15 bloggers that you have recently discovered:
Since i started blogging more regularly.. i really dove in when i was planning my wedding... i have just fallen in love with reading people's blogs. I am really enjoying getting to know their lives and how they think. (: They inspire me, make me smile, and have me coming back for more! Thank you all for allowing us into your lives even for a moment!


Rule #4: Contact those bloggers and share with them the great news!
hehe! okay! Thank you again for allowing me to get to know you all a little better. (: 

awards, blogging, and love. -M

♥ . ♥ .  ♥