here comes a blog post overload

yo! I be getting caught up on my life ya heard? I will be updating in chunks so it's not all one giant blog post. So first things first we finally got some furniture in our apartment! QUE?? Yeah since joey moved here last august the extend of furnishings was an air mattress, a desk, and a fish tank with a stand. I moved here in January and slowly we have been "homemaking"...like buying real dishes. Since I moved in we have made some serious progress in our "fresh start" post getting rid of everything we own. We went to ikea and had a typical couple experience of shopping at the nordic disneyland of home furnishings.

good thing it said not actual size because i wouldn't order it if it were really that big.#thatswhatshesaid

 We came to ikea with the highest of hopes to have a successful trip. We had a right to be so hopeful because we had one item on our list: a couch. Simple enough right? We spent about 30 minutes examining our options, colors, prices, respecting our differing design tastes like adults, but this game of "whatever you want I want, baby cakes"only lasts until he picks the most hideous couch in the store (is that even possible at ikea? YES.). Then things get a little sour and to spare the details we started walking out of ikea in search for another furniture store that is cheaper...cheaper than ikea? You can see a bit as to what this day was like lol. I agreed to go somewhere else, but I also had something up my sleeve...

Being newbies to Houston we had no idea where else to go. so I am scanning google maps on my phone while walking out of ikea when I find a second hand shop in what we were about to find out a pretty sketchy part of town. We get there and two seconds after walking to the store Joey says ok we will get the couch at ikea. Frustrated that we wasted that time but glad I was getting what I wanted muwahahaha.

We went back at ikea and ended up getting a bed too! OMGeee we are on a roll here! A couch and a bed? We be like civilized folk. Aren't you glad you just read a whole blog post about how someone and her husband went to ikea and bought a couch? Blogging is such a waste of time hahahaha.

the most exquisite baked oatmeal

hey guys,
yeah I know my blog is still not "remodeled" and I haven't posted in ages buuuut I have a recipe to share so that counts for something right? don't get too excited thinking I made this one up although it is pretty self explanatory. this is yet again another one of my pinterest finds. I am making it a goal to cook 2 pinterest recipes a week A. to try all this yummy stuff I am merely drooling all over my keyboard for and B. to get myself back into a more "domesticated state". I am really lacking in the good housewife department lately so this lovely breakfast is part of that effort!

I got a couple requests on instagram for a recipe so the link is here. It's super easy to throw together and makes your house smell so freaking vanilla-y wondrous. Hope you enjoy!

sunrise

Every morning around 6:30-7:00 Gertie and Kitty join forces to wake me up. This morning their alarm clock services were executed even earlier than usual. Stumbling out the door to take Gertie to pee I see the sky as the sun is coming up.

 I was like whoooooaaahh. I dashed back inside to snag my camera and snap a few shots (none of which I edited. so these colors are real!)while Gertie whined at me telling me how bad she needed to pee.

 I couldn't believe my eyes. The clouds were amazing this morning.

While It isn't the most fun being woken up at the crack of dawn I will admit that I love getting up early. I feel like this part of the morning is mine. The way the early morning looks is different from the rest of the day. Before the sun has time to warm things up often there is fog, mist, rain, and gorgeous cloud formations that look like a painting. Not very many people are out and there is this peaceful quiet. I experience a sense of gratitude for life and the beautiful world I live in during this time of day.  Come 8:00 the regular morning starts and my favorite part of the day ends putting me back into the regular daily routine. All this happens LONG before Joey someone in this house even thinks about waking up ;)

classy never dies.

My idol Audrey Hepburn is resurrected for a chocolate commerical and I am in love.  

In the words of Liz Lemon, I want to go to there.

It's a Major Award!

Name that movie...
 One of my best friends from childhood Miss Mikell Gordon from the Love & Such blog has been so gracious as to nominate me for the...

I am flattered and excited! I feel like my blog isn't cool enough for something like this so thanks dear! Mikell included some questions for me to answer so here you go!

 

1. what has been the greatest adventure for you in the last year?

This is going to make me sound like I hate my husband so to be clear I don't. I love him very much! Anyways on to the adventure: We were living in Madison, WI last year Joey (my husband) was accepted to Rice University (in Houston, TX) for an MBA program. We were thrilled that he was accepted to such a great school but we weren't thrilled about what that meant for my schooling. I just had 1 more semester at UW-Madison before I graduated which meant if I stayed to finish he would have to go down to Texas about 4months before I did. As terrible as it sounded to be apart for that long, in the big scheme of things it most definitely beat having to transfer (again) and probably add another year to my college career instead of just 1 semester (gotta love "credits that wont' transfer"). So He moved down in the end of July and I moved in with a bunch of girls in a house just off the lake in downtown Madison. While I missed my husband terribly to be honest it was one of the best times of my life. I found friends that pushed me to new limits both physically and academically. I did my first century bike ride and I never worked so hard in school in my whole life. I lived in downtown on my own which does that need explaining for how fun that is? I was able to be in school as a "regular" college kid again. I basically got to live the single life that I cut short by getting married at the youngling age I did. Again don't think I am regretting getting married or anything like that but I won't say that I lived in misery being separated for a few months. Our relationship is stable enough that a few months doesn't make any difference on our love for each other or the quality of our marriage. I'm grateful that my husband valued my education and that we both had this opportunity to grow. Like the saying goes: distance makes the heart grow fonder...this will by far be the longest answer. I'm sorry. 

2. If you could live anywhere in the US Where would you move? 

I have so many places I would love to live right now. For at least a little while NYC, D.C, Hawaii, sorry I won't pick just one. In reality though I want to end up somewhere on the NPC doesn't matter where as long as it has mountains, beaches and lots of stuff to do outdoors.

3. Dill pickles or sweet?

Dill. All other varieties are disguised disappointments.

4. If someone handed you $1,000.00 what would you do with it?

Get ready for the lamest answer ever: I would put it towards my student loans. I'm a wild one I know. 

5. What is your dream job?

Other than being a stay at home wife that just goes to the gym, plans soirees and attends lunch dates? I want to be a hot shot art gallery owner in NYC. 

6. What is your favorite thing to spend money on?

Clothes from J.Crew and food from Whole Foods.

7. What is your favorite season and why?

I love the begining of every season. I love the excitement of feeling the change of seasons. Right now I can't wait for spring flowers, floral patterns, bunnies, and pastel colors. I absolutely love summer, fall and, winter (with snow). 

8. What is one accessory you couldn't live without?

My j.crew polka dot snood. I wear it anytime I can without sweating to death (thanks, houston) I am really bad at remembering to wear jewelry and stuff like that.

9. Where were you born?

 I was born at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

10. Do you have any pets?

I have two pets: a miniature schnauzer named Gertrude Leia (yes that is a Star Wars reference) Plater. We just call her Gertie. We also have a chubby cat named Ethel but we just call her Kitty (Arrested Development reference not the fact that she is a cat).   

11. Why do you blog?

I started blogging when Joey and I decided for the adventure of moving across the country to Wisconsin. We wanted to keep our family and friends in the loop of what the hell we were doing way out in the midwest. I don't really know what my blog is now haha. Just a place for me to jot down what is going on in my head. I love the challenge of designing blogs (even though I suck at it) and I love the way people can connect online through blogging. I am in the works of taking my blogging "to the next level". Hopefully that means more connections and friends to be made! Because I have no friends in Houston yet. Stay tuned for some changes here!  

This is my first time doing something like this so thanks Mikelly! This was fun.  

warming up

This weekend Joey and I went to a birthday dinner with some of his classmates. Being the newbie to these parts I was asked a couple times how I like Houston. My answer kept being, I'm warming up to it. Now that I have two places I call "back home" (utah & wiscsonsin) means Houston has two big shoes to fill. I made a pro/con list of Houston so far for an idea of how I'm feeling about this place.

Pro:                                                                               Con:
1. So many museums and art galleries.                        1. Not a walkable city/ and hardly bike-able.
2. Never ending yummy places to eat.                         2. No Mountains or activities that go                                                                                           with them.
3.  Lots of pretty trees.                                                 3. Cockroaches.
4. Unique architecture.                                                4. The most terribly maintained roads ever.
5. Mild Winters                                                           5. Dreading summer and that whole                                                                                           having to wear clothes during it bit.

Perhaps Houston will continue to grow on me. I haven't completely turned my nose up to this place. It is still Big Ol' Texas down here though, with compensating pickup trucks and 'murica attitudes but there is also a lot of diversity and culture which I embrace. My biggest problem with this place is that my friends aren't here. I hate leaving them behind but I am so glad for all the ways I can still keep in touch with them. I consider myself blessed that I get to have one of my bestest friends from Utah move down here in just about a week! Keep working, Houston you might win me over some day.

classy it up.

I never lived during the days when everyone got dressed up for everyday life. When air travel was a fancier occasion, or wearing dresses and heels were the normal attire to go to the grocery store in. Even though I never lived in such an era I miss it. According to a program I listened to on NPR the French, i.e the Parisians still live this way. That even to get a stick of butter one dons her heels and perfume. Inspired by this program and the Parisian ways of living a life of "plasir"...

I am going to classy things up around here. By here I mean my life but in reflection of that my blog as well.

My posts will be sparse while I work on this little project. It is about time I renovated the blog. Pretty sure the world and my less than a handful of followers won't be completely devastated.

get this girl some help.

 I hate to admit this but I am becoming a worry wort. Driving home from the house I work at I had this gut wrenching feeling that I forgot to turn off the gas on the stove. I called the house and no one answered. I was panicking, their house was going to blow up. The police would investigate me to see if I am a suspect for the death of a father, child and their slobbery boxer. I started thinking of my testimony to the investigators and hoping that they would believe it was an honest mistake. I called again no one answered. I started thinking of how my life as I knew it would be ruined. Poor joey who has had to put up with the silly things I overlook or forget now has to live with this, something that had I been paying attention would have been avoided. I thought about how I would never end up having children because I would not be able to live with myself for what I had done. My phone started ringing it was them. Thank goodness their house hadn't blown up yet. I quickly asked them to check the burners. They were off. I was beyond relieved. That moment I realized I am going crazy and could probably benefit from some help. Then I drove past the art museum to see a big advertisement for a an exhibition coming next week that I about peed my pants in the car over. PICASSO in black and white. Good thing my ADD let me quickly move on from evaluating my psychiatric issues to what really matters. A Picasso exhibition is coming and I am going to be there everyday feasting my eyes upon it... and buying the catalog raisonné. All is well.

the weekend in iphone photos

        

1. Walking to Joey's school with Gertie 2. Watching Joey's Soccer game. 3. Waiting for our healthy lunch at the waffle bus food truck (amazeballs by the way.) 4. Our waffle bus sammies. 5. Bought new stationary.-love writing letters, love getting letters, love rifle paper co. 6. went to the Menil Collection. -LOVED it and will be going back lots. 7. "The Greatest of all is Love."

*I don't understand the big white gap. It doesn't look like that when I am editing my post...I suck at blogger haha.

djesus

My teenage fan girl went to the moon and back when Christoph Waltz was the host on SNL last night. To keep the sabbath day spirit alive for the remainder of this beautifully sunny Sunday here is the clip that satisfies all my fantasies combining my two favorite Tarantino films with Mr. Waltz as the Star.

wanderlust

Is that so much to ask? I consider myself a low maintenance kind of gal, but one thing this lady needs to stay happy is wandering about this lovely world. I took this image from the stylebook blog (which is adorbs) but this balloon speaks truth. I need a vacation to look forward to. I found online there is a cottage tucked away in the mountains of Austria that will trade free food and lodgings to help with serving at their cafe...Sounds like Joey needs to stop being busy with this whole grad school thing so we can help these Austrian sisters out. I'll keep dreaming for now.

Two

 Disclaimer: This post (it's gonna be a big one) is strictly about food and our questionably unhealthy relationship with our dog. You have been warned. 

Two years ago this little

 peanut was born way out in the country a few hours away from Madison, WI. Still undecided whether or not we should even get a dog we drove out to the little podunk town she lived in to see what this pup was all about. The second I held her I knew she was coming home with us that day. Gertrude Leia Plater (explanation of her name should be saved for another day) has since been the joy in our lives and a constant source of happiness in our family. 

This weekend we celebrated Gertie's second birthday with a trip to the park to feed the ducks and baked a yummy (for people & pooches) almond strawberry cake. Here's our little party. 

  I am in love with Hermann park. I could go here everyday. It is huge! The zoo is attached to it and there is a long reflection pond, a duck pond, people practicing cosplay sword fights, a choo choo train, Japanese garden, ampitheater, the natural science museum is across the street...you get the point it's got a lot to offer. Not to mention all of these gorgeous trees.

 Gertie loves the ducks. She doesn't quite know what to do with them. As they would get closer trying to get our bread she would get super excited and lunge at them scaring the ducks away...We didn't end up feeding ducks for too long. Instead we just checked them out from a safe distance...unlike this chap here.

 Now on to the yummy things...don't worry I included a link to the recipe (with a much prettier presentation/photographs) HERE. This cake was so easy! It is pretty healthy too definitely something you could make as a guiltless dessert to share with your significant canine other. (I like it better taste wise without the "frosting")

 We cut a slice for Gertie and before I could get a cute picture of her with her cake she snatched it and tried to make a run for it. She doesn't get fed scraps so when the opportunity for "people food" arises she takes the money and runs.

 In a split second her slice was half...

...I mean all gone.

 You're a good dog, Gertie. You are the by far the best snuggler in the universe. You make a lovely 7am alarm clock...everyday with out fail. You always include your sister even though she's a cat. You have brought your daddy and me closer together as a couple and we thank you for that. Happy Birthday we love you lots!
-Mom and Dad.

for the tatas

this is by far the greatest ad for women's health ever created.

you're welcome...hahahahaha.

                                         

that wasn't yoga

I love groupon. I also love yoga. Put that together and I love that as an impoverished young adult I can get my yogi on by purchasing groupons and getting an unlimited month here or 20 class pass there. Sometimes though, groupon fails...big time. Take this morning's groupon adventure. I saw a killer deal that for $30 I could get 1 month unlimited to Dahn Yoga Studio. If you know what "Dahn" yoga is then you are probably busting up right now. Look it up or better yet go take just one class and you will understand the biggest WTF nightmare I endured for two hours at 6am today.

For the record it was not yoga. At least not the yoga I am accustomed to. Call me a naive westerner who only knows adapted yoga from India geared for Americans. I don't care that's the yoga I like. I can get centered, find my breath and inner peace (get a freaking work out) just fine with Bikram or whatever the other stuff is that I deem "normal" yoga.

This morning's adventure consisted of bouncing, pounding my chest while making sounds, grandma stretches, massaging my colon, breathing to pooch my belly, listened to an inspirational speech of us apologizing to our bodies and saying "we love you, we love you body" for about 10minutes, and then my favorite part: stared at a cosmic pokemon card and closing my eyes waving the card around my body. Because apparently we won't get Breast Cancer if we do these exercises.

Groupon you could have warned me. Or Dahn "yoga" maybe leave the Y word out of your name, it's super misleading. We didn't even use mats! I have learned my lesson next time always check out the yoga studio's website before buying their groupon. I assumed too much that the picture of happy people in warrior pose and the groupon title unlimited yoga $30 meant I would actually be getting some sun salutations in with it. 

 Last bit of my rantings: Seriously though yoga, for a sport/activity/lifetstyle that emphasizes on  inner peace, being equal,  promoting good vibes too all the world why are you so elitist? Why must I pay more than double to have a membership with you than with a regular gym? Why? You don't even need equipment we bring our own mats...just a thought for you. Make yourself affordable so I can just go to one place that I like and not have to fall into the Dahn yoga traps.
p.s someday you will see pics of me doing these poses, yo.

hello monday

Here's to a new week with new opportunities. I am going to try and be more productive this week and make myself a better person each day. I have a new inspiration to consciously and continuously improve myself. Here's to the start.

mini s'mores handheld pies

For yesterday's sunday sweets I made a (pinterest) s'more pie recipe. In my last post I included the picture it came with seen here...my pies didn't turn out as sultry as the pinterest ones, however they were no less delicious in my opinion. 

my only problem was the chocolate didn't get all melty and gooey. :(

Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
Crust:
1 box Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (8 graham cracker squares, finely crushed)
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted
Filling:
1/2 cup marshmallow creme
2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened (1 oz)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oven to 425°F. Line cookie sheet with cooking parchment paper.
2. Unroll pie crusts. With 3-inch round cutter, cut 10 rounds from each crust. In small shallow bowl, mix cracker crumbs and 1/4 cup sugar. Brush both sides of pie crust rounds with butter; dip into crumb mixture to coat.
3. Place 10 coated pie crust rounds on cookie sheet. Stir together filling ingredients. Spoon about 1 heaping tablespoon filling in center of each of the 10 rounds. Place remaining pie crust rounds on top of the filling on each. Pinch edges to seal.
4. Bake 9 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store covered in refrigerator.

Note:
I didn't want to buy marshmallow creme for a 1/2 cup and then have to keep the rest in my cupboard screaming at me until I ate it all with a spoon so I just used marshmallows we already had and it worked fine. It probably would have turned out more gooey if I used the creme but whatevs it tasted like marshmallows were in there so good enough for me.

I also didn't have any butter in the house so I used coconut oil and that worked fine too. 

Let me know if you try the recipe and what changes you made. I had serious thoughts of adding peanut butter to the concoction, but I didn't think mr. plater would appreciate that too much. I bet it would be so good though.

sunday sweets

I need an excuse to make sweets like I do a hole in the head buuuuut I really like the sound and the taste of "sunday sweets" thus I am making something to remedy that old sweet tooth of mine once a week...at least.

This is what I'm making.

Now slurp up that drool and have a happy rest of your sunday!* I need to get back to watching the rest of season 3 just one more episode of Breaking Bad. Addicting show I tell ya!

*Obvs this isn't my picture but I might take a few tonight and post them with the recipe I found on pinterest tomorrow. just thought I would get you all salivating on sunday for this seriously sweet stuff. 

Today's post was brought to you by the letter S.

when in houston pt.2

We haven't explored much of downtown Houston yet but we did go to the sky lobby of the JP Morgan/Chase building which was pretty dang sweet.

 The building has special elevators that go straight up to the sky lobby. There are only 2 buttons in the set of 6 elevators that fly up 60 flights...in like 2 seconds. It was so fast my ears didn't have time to "pressurize".

 

Up top didn't disappoint. It was a gorgeous view and we literally could see F O R E V E R since Texas is flatter than a pancake (mountains i miss you dearly).  

big ol' housotn

After being up top we went wayyyyy down low. Houston's downtown area has underground tunnels that connect to most of the buildings. That way in the blazing heat of summer people don't die of the sun's heat and laser guns while walking outside to different buildings. Walking through the tunnels was kinda like being in a sad mall...or an airport...kinda a perfect mesh between the two. There were shops and lots of restaurants along the tunnel's path. There were even dentist offices like nice ones that do cosmetic stuff. All underneath the city. I'm convinced dwarfs run the place.

Personage and Birds

Popping back up to the surface we started heading for the car. Before we could leave though Joey wanted to make sure we saw this ginormous sculpture. He asked me if I knew who made the piece...What I major in art history and I am expected to know who makes every single art work on the planet. Assuming it was some super contemporary artist that no one had never heard of I said I had no clue and didn't think much of it. Then I walked to the backside of the sculpture and saw this.

Then I peed my pants. JOAN MIRO in Houston, Texas?? Crazy but I'll take it! I felt slightly ashamed for not knowing this was by Miro but in my defense we never studied his work in Texas. 

Have a great weekend everybody! Joey found a friend that is interested in started a fish aquarium...needless to say he is more excited than a 5 year old on Christmas eve. We are planning to see Zero Dark Thirty this weekend too so I am something to look forward to as well!

something to watch

First off, I'm alive! I was one sick lady yesterday with a nasty stomach bug. I was pretty sure I was going to die. I am still not quite 100% better but I am drinking a smoothie right now which is miles of improvement from yesterday. Hope this fruity delight stays inside of me for more that 5 minutes...Anyways what this post is really about:

 For those who enjoy foreign films, give Reconstruction a try. I watched it the other night and I really liked it. It was beautiful, perplexing and sexy. I was confused while watching it and I couldn't stop thinking about it, which in my opinion made the film even better. The soundtrack is great too. Confession: There was some girl crushing watching this film, I think Maria Bonnevie is absolutely gorgeous.

when in houston pt.1

Seeing that we are going to be spending a decent amount of time in this great big city called Houston, but are not sure if we are here forever, I decided that while here I am going to master this place leaving nothing undiscovered...which is probably much easier said than done since this is the 4th largest city in America. All the same though, I am going to do a "when in houston" series every now and then to show cool places and things to do in Houston. I'm looking at it as a "local travel blog" series or something. That way when YOU ALL (never y'all) come down south to visit us you will know where and what all the cool things are....It was 75 degrees this weekend btw. For all those of you in the 801..just saying (come visit us).

We had our first batch of visitors come this weekend. Joey's younger brother and sister flew in from Reno, NV this past Thursday. I set up camp for them in our living room (see here) and we saw a lot of this city! We didn't sit around much which was great, I love just walking around exploring. First place I am going to write about for "when in houston" is the Houston Museum of Natural Science . 

I love musuems so I am easily pleased when attending these types of places. This place was fun! They had lots of cool dinosaurs, fossils, educational stuff, and THE BEST gem collection I have ever seen. I was too amazed by all the rocks and stones in this gallery that seemed like I was walking through a royal collection or something I forgot to take pictures of it :( but the dinosaurs were sweet!

to my surprise this was not a brontosaurus? it is a diplodocus.  

this big guy is a sloth! or ancestor of. he was huge and scary! Very different from this guy we saw on our trip to costa rica this summer

 this was my favorite creature in the paleontology exhibit. he's just so cute and chubby! too bad someone is trying to eat him.

 posing with my great aunt sally.

 neanderthal! probably the only thing I remember from my anthropology class. not to be mistaken with anthropologie which is a much more fun and interesting subject.

 the museum's exhibits go through all the stages/life of the earth starting with dinosaurs, to animals, to a really big exhibit featuring oil, energy, and modern technology...hmmm I wonder why there is such an emphasis on that sort of stuff in the Houston museum???

the amazing spider man!

Overall I really liked this place. Definitely would go again. Thankfully I have a student ID that doesn't expire until 2017 so I can get my student discount for another 4 years woo! Since Joey is a student of Rice University he gets to go to all the museums/ zoo/ etc in Houston for FREE! That means we will be doing lots of exploring during our time here. Future visitors: bring your student ID.

Have a fantastic monday folks! I need to go shower since I haven't even thought about such a thing since Joey convinced me to start watching breaking bad...netflix is so evil to have the next episode automatically play 15 seconds after the episode ends.