Dinner and a Movie

Ben and I had dinner with Jenn and Scott last night at their house. It was so nice! Jenn always puts these extra little touches on everything to make it fancy and special. Thought I'd share these, and maybe you can try them out!

First, we had a cheese tasting while the dinner was cooking. Labeling appetizers is always a nice touch. But these cheeses were labeled with these little porcelain animals of whatever type of cheese was being served (goat, lamb, or cow) with the name of the cheese written on them. Aren't these cute?!

Jenn made a delicious butternut squash soup with dinner that she served in roasted pumpkins. Again, how cute and fancy!!

Dinner was lamb seasoned with rosemary, polenta, mustard greens with turkey bacon, and rolls. It was so delicious! Dinner was served on fancy paisley-patterned plates. If you have nice dishes, don't be afraid to use them!

After dinner, we watched an old Alfred Hitchcock movie starring Jimmy Stuart called "Rope". It was pretty good- and pretty unusual, as a lot of those movies are. Can't wait for the next dinner and movie night! :)

Family Weekend

Emma, Shanon, and Vera came in town last weekend. I realize now that I only took pictures of Vera the whole weekend...but I couldn't help myself! She is such a doll!

We babysat Vera Friday night. I can't believe how big she has gotten since the last time I saw her!

She was all smiles and definitely the easiest baby to watch!

Happy after a diaper change!

Ben fed her a bottle before bed. When we laid her down, she went right to sleep!

Saturday we all went to the UofL game and despite what a good little cheerleader Vera was, UofL lost in overtime.

Grannie came over to visit that evening. Vera was good while Grannie held her, but shortly afterward she was ready for bed since she had missed her long nap because of the football game.

Deena decided to stay home with Vera while the rest of us went out to dinner. We had fun with the family and can't wait to see them all again at Christmas!

I Want You to Know

A lot of people don’t get my faith. Sadly, a lot of people who claim to have the same faith don’t even get it themselves. There are so many misconceptions about Christianity, about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Some people see it as a set of rules to follow, a way to behave in order to be “good”, a means for condemning those who don't follow the same rules. I hate to break it to those of you who think that, but (here goes nothing)…none of us are good! I asked Jesus into my life when I was 12, but guess what? I still sin—daily! You’d think after 12 years of being a Christian and a lifetime growing up in a Christian home that I’d have this whole “sin” thing under control. But, it’s an endless battle. I’ll never be good enough.

Thank God I don’t have to be.

God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God doesn’t demand perfection from us. He only calls us to admit that we need Jesus to save us and ask for forgiveness. Ask. I sure don’t mind doing that! I am sinful and need saving! But even after receiving salvation from the Lord, I still sin. Thankfully, it is by grace that I have been saved through faith—not by works, so I can’t boast that I did something to deserve salvation. I can only boast in the Lord and His mercy. That is what is so amazing about grace. I sin, but God does not count it against me. I am set apart, holy before God, because of the blood of Christ that purifies me from all sin and cleanses me from all unrighteousness. The Bible is God’s word to us and tells us how to live, and Christ's love for us compels us to live out these principles and demonstrate that some love to others. But even when I mess up, even when I get it all wrong…I am forgiven. No matter what happens to me on this earth, I am forgiven and can look forward to an eternity in heaven with the One who saved me. I am forgiven.

And you can be too. I just wanted you to know that.

What to do with a fridge full of leftover veggies

Chop them up (I had tomatoes, kale, radishes, carrots, and green peppers)...

...throw them in a big pot with garlic sauteed in olive oil...

...add some white wine and simmer until the wine is reduced and veggies are softened...add 2 quarts of chicken stock and bring to a boil...then add cheese-stuffed tortellini and let boil 5 minutes.

Really not difficult, and it turned out super delicious--and so healthy!

Cleaning Out Pictures

Warning: This blog post is nothing but a complete and total randomness of pictures I had on my phone. Did that even make sense? And these are not in any sort of order.

I walked around the new Yum Center which is across the street from where I work. This is a picture from the very top row in the arena. They were laying the floor back down.

Ginny's Diner closed...which is fine, since I never eat there...but a group of us at work decided to go eat there on their last weekday open and we ordered some frickled pickle chips, the original fried pickles. Yum.

One day we had a bunch of veggies to use up and so we grilled kabobs. They were only okay but they looked really pretty.

The retirement home where my grandma lives had a nice little art fair one day while it was still warm out. That's my grandma and my parents at the fair.

I'm trying to stop drinking coke. This is my last one when I made this decision.

This squash was over 2 feet long. It was at Kroger's. Who needs this and how would one even cook it?

We ate at L&N Wine Bar and Bistro with Jenn and Scott last weekend and I had the most delicious chicken and dumplings ever. Seriously.

Ben had a LAN party with his friend Alex a couple weeks ago. I find it hilarious that they set up their stuff on the ping pong table. Also, that Ben still has LAN parties.

I found a piece of baby's breath on the floor at work that must have fallen out of someone's flowers. I put it in my mug and it brightened my day. But only a day because the next day it was already shriveled up and dead looking.

My cousin Ryan is an eagle scout! We went to the ceremony--that's him on the far left of the picture with my aunt and uncle. So proud of him!

I picked every pepper and tomato left on our plants outside since it was going to freeze one night. There were a ton of peppers, which are now freezing in our freezer instead of outside. Thought about making fried green tomatoes, but not sure they will taste good since they were just so little and hardly even green.

I walked away from my desk at work yesterday and when I came back, Angele, one of my co-workers, had left this cute little homemade brownie parfait on my desk. It was adorable and delicious!

The end. I feel much better.

Halloween

Ben and I went to my sister's costume party the day before Halloween. After much deliberation, we finally decided on some costumes:

My favorite part is Ben 's hoverboard. Just thought I'd put some comparison pictures on there in case you all aren't familiar with Doc and Marty in Back to the Future. And if you're not, then shame on you...those are classics and you should watch them immediately!

Jenn and Scott were Indians (as in, a Native American and a person from India!):

My mom made both of their costumes. Isn't she talented?

Jenn made so much cute food that she had all set up under a tent in the backyard. Of course, as with everything Jenn does, the food was fabulous and every item had a cute little nameplate to go with it. These "bones" (little sandwich wraps cut up) were my favorite!

They had a bonfire in the backyard and it was the perfect night for it. We had a great time!

The next night, I excitedly waited for trick-or-treaters since this is our first Halloween in our new house. Technically it's our second, but we were out of town last Halloween. My parents and grandma came over to play some dominoes and see the trick-or-treaters with us. I about died when my grandma showed up in costume!

Gotta love a grandma with a sense of humor! And gotta love this time of year!