This past December, my sister, spinninginthemud pottery, was in a craft show...

 Her husband is super crafty too-he made the "cake stands" for their wedding, and they've been able to use them for her pottery now :) He also made the wooden pens.

It was a lot of fun, and my sister sold TONS of her pottery. She is currently taking a mini-vacation as they are due to have a baby at the end of February, but she'll be back! Keep watching her etsy site for new items-you won't regret buying them :)

Summary from November 2012...

 We spent a Saturday helping my family cut up wood and stack it for the winter. We couldn't have asked for a better day. And what a workout!

 This is the MOST AMAZING sandwich from Rolling Farms Cafe in Traverse City. I swear, it's cooked to perfection. Loads of bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, avocado, and I think there's some sort of mayo on it. SO GOOD!!!

 My awesome, preggo sister preparing the table for Thanksgiving dinner :)

I love our family dinners-everything is always delicious :)

We decided Thanksgiving night that we were going to go up to Traverse the next morning to go Black Friday shopping :) Tim worked until 1am, so we left after that.

 I've found it's pretty impossible for me to wear my contacts all day and night, so glasses it was :)

 Tim's breakfast…mmmmmmm….nothing better than gas station burritos lol

 DONUTS!!!

 Day after Thanksgiving-this is my third cup of coffee. I was surprisingly not too tired, although I did pass out after lunch :)

 My sister made DELICIOUS tortilla soup-she put in leftover turkey. It was so good.

 My older brother is a published author! Want to read it???

Alaric, Child of the Goths:

Alaric, son of a Gothic clan leader, wants nothing more than to live an adventure. That is, until his young life is interrupted by a series of brutal acts: the raiding of the savage Huns, the cruel trickery of greedy Roman officials, and the murder of his father. Meanwhile, another clan leader named Fritigern leads the Goths in battle against Rome's armies. But they endure-and from that moment on, they are driven to survive in the face of death, to make a home for their people, and to exact revenge on Rome at the epic battle of Adrianople.

I am so proud of him.  He's even finished a second book and is hoping to get it published soon :)

Christmas will be up next lol :)

Double Chocolate Pudding

Serves 6 (or 2, depending on how much you like chocolate)

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 pinch salt

3 cups milk

2 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped (approx 1/2 cup…you can always add more if you want it super chocolatey, like I did)

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk in the milk and bring to a boil, stirring, over medium-high heat. Lower the heat to medium and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 5 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat, and stir in the chocolate and vanilla until smooth. Serve warm or chilled.

I also chopped up some more chocolate and put it on top. You know, because this recipe needs more chocolate.

I experimented a little bit and added some coconut extract too. It was okay, kind of like an almond joy without the almonds; however, Tim likes it with vanilla best. Experiment though and see what you like!

Compliments of the Food Network Magazine :)

Thanks to my new job, I have today off (also thanks to Martin Luther King, Jr.). I never realized how much I loved my three-day weekends until I didn't have them; however, working 8-4:30 5 days a week is worth it.

I'm a little behind, but here is what we did on our anniversary:

 The night before, we decided we wanted to watch the sunrise. So we woke up at 7am. The sun started to rise around 8am lol. We made some coffee/tea and wore our slippers in the car :)

 We went to redbox and rented "Hope Springs" and "Bourne Legacy". 

 I love no makeup days.

We started driving and found that the sunrise was near the factories in town lol. What I wouldn't give to have a lake where we could watch the sunrise. We can watch the sunset at Lake Michigan, but not the sunrise…this big sandhill hid the view...

 We drove for about half an hour before we finally found a spot to watch the sunrise.

It was definitely beautiful though. Even with the factories right next to it :)

 We went home and made a delicious breakfast :)

We relaxed on the couch and watched "Hope Springs", which I thought was a cute movie. Tim just dealt with it-I'm pretty sure this is when he took his 1 1/2 hour long nap lol

 This was mid-afternoon when I realized I had a temperature of 102.4. I was SO COLD!!! We watched some "Top Gear UK" and I fell asleep. When I woke up, my fever had broke. Yay!

 We ordered takeout from Stafonos. I got a chipotle chicken wrap, Tim had an Andy's burger, and we got an order of deep-fried cauliflower :)

We ended the night watching "Bourne Legacy", which was pretty good. Overall, a nice day; I just wish I didn't get sick. It took me over a week to get over the flu. Nevertheless, we're together for better and worse. And these kind of days are what make good memories :)

So I was running perfectly on time for work (like always…), started driving and heard clunk, clunk, clunk…

 Yeah…no clue what happened lol

THANK GOD Tim hadn't left for college yet and was able to change my tire for me, which I'm eternally grateful for :) It was SUPER cold outside, super windy, and the jack we have is SUPER crappy. But Tim wasn't upset and was surprisingly optimistic about it! Now you don't know him like I do-he is a very pessimistic person, whereas I'm completely the opposite. Since Tim quit his job to focus on finishing his degree, he has been SO optimistic! I love it. That, and he makes dinner and does the household chores during the week (that was his idea, actually, so he wouldn't feel so bad about me being the only one working). That'll be a different post. I have pictures :)

The best part of this whole me-being-late morning???

I didn't miss the sunrise :)

Well, I started going through my pictures yesterday to post this blog and then my fever came back…WITHIN AN HOUR it was up to 102.4! Needless to say, I'm posting it now.

I still can't believe it's been SEVEN years that I've been with the love of my life. Just so you know, this is a picture OVERLOAD post.

This was during our first year of dating, 2006, with our kitty Schmittens whom we no longer have.

Yeah, we're still just as retarded.

I do believe I was probably 15 pounds overweight in 2007 and didn't know it lol

Our trip to Universal Studios in 2008

Tim's brother's wedding, fall 2008

New Year's Eve 2009

July 4, 2010.
Just looking at this picture makes me not want summer to come-I hate hot weather. Anything higher than like 80 degrees is awful. Tim agrees, he wants to move to Alaska lol.

My sister's wedding, April 9, 2011

Sleighbell Parade 2011

Trip to Middleton, WI, summer 2012

Us being awesome, summer 2012

Not so great picture, but it was such a fun day :)

Sleighbell Parade 2012

Tim and I have been together through thick and thin, better and worse, richer and poorer. We're not even married yet. I think we can handle anything that comes our way. Love you babe!