2011 in Review

Another year is coming to a close! We mark it as a success. :) It was our first full year of being married, and it sure went by quickly!

From the outside, it might not look like it was full of great big exciting events or major milestones, but it was filled with a lot of time spent together enjoying our city, our families and friends, great food and each other.

Here are a few (of many) good memories we made this year...

January

Snowed in! Like the rest of Atlanta, we were snowed in for about three days in early January. Fortunately, we were well stocked on food and new "toys" from Christmas, and we never lost power. We made monkey bread for comfort!

February

We celebrated our first married Valentine's Day with dinner at Canoe and went to a friend's wedding in Savannah. I had a photo of us from the wedding but lost it in a computer crash!

March

So, if you want proof of the usefulness of this blog, just look back over January-March. I took about 5 pictures the whole three months! Luckily I snapped a few with my phone. For March, all I have is a phone pic of our first roasted chicken and a camera photo of this "L" I made for our kitchen wall. Haha!

April

We celebrated our six month wedding "anniversary" with a fun day at Stone Mountain before coming home to have a nice dinner and start this little blog. :) Andrew also said goodbye to the Saturn and hello to a big boy car!

May

We were on the road for most of the weekends in late April and early May, but it was all for fun! We went to Danni and Reed's wedding in Hilton Head (technically at the very end of April - but we'll let it slide!), got together with lots of family members (both sides!) for Tim's graduation from GSU, and celebrated Grandma Dort's 90th birthday.

June

Despite the heat and having to work during the summer like grown-ups, we managed to have some fun in June! We celebrated Rachel's birthday and (sadly) wished Amy & Kevin farewell.

July

Vacation...yea! Escaping to Amelia Island for the better part of a week was definitely the highlight of July.

August

August is birthday month around here, so we enjoyed celebrating both of ours hither, thither and yon.

September

Gooooo Dawgs! We welcomed football season during Labor Day weekend before having a pretty low-key month. We did enjoy a weekend retreat at Barnsley Gardens and some visitors, though!

October

October was a big month! We celebrated our first anniversary with a great trip to the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, followed by enjoying our traditional leftover wedding cake tier. And no October is complete without a trip to the fair! We also met two little kitties in the Boro.

November

We had a great Thanksgiving in Statesboro, got our new camera (finally), and otherwise had a pretty quiet month!

December

We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas to end the year. First, we exchanged gifts with each other in Atlanta. Then we traveled to Statesboro for some last minute shopping, family time, a Christmas Eve oyster roast (where we also met baby Brent!), and traditional Christmas morning brunch and mimosas. We finally made our way to Peachtree City for Christmas dinner and a relaxing "day after"! Since I never blogged it, we'll allow for some extra photos. ;)

The End!

We hope you've made some good memories of your own in 2011.
Thanks for following along with our little life this year! We both wish you a happy and healthy 2012 filled with everything you love. :)

Merry & Bright

Signing off to enjoy a happy holiday with our families.
Hope yours is very merry and bright! :)

Peppermint Snowballs

It's alllllmost Christmas! So how about a cookie recipe instead of a menu? :) I found these on Pinterest awhile back, and we finally got around to making them this weekend. So good!

The original recipe is actually called "Candy Cane Snowballs," but for some reason I wrote it down as "Peppermint Snowballs." And I initially typed "Peppermint Snowmen" into the title here. Although I have trouble correctly identifying them, I have no trouble eating them!

Peppermint Snowballs
a.k.a. Candy Cane Snowballs

Recipe by Cooking During Stolen Moments

For the Cookies:
1 1/2 c powdered sugar

1 1/4 c butter, softened (2 1/2 sticks)

2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
3 c AP flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c finely crushed candy canes, divided
1/2 c granulated sugar

For the Glaze:
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
2-3 T milk

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. Place powdered sugar and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until fluffy.
4. Add in egg and vanilla. Mix until combined.
5. With mixer on slow, add in flour mixture. Beat until dough forms.
6. If your candy canes are crushed super fine, add 1/2 c of them into the mixing bowl on very low speed. If they're a little chunkier, stir the 1/2 c in by hand.
7. Place the granulated sugar in a shallow dish or bowl.
8. Scoop dough by the teaspoon-full and drop into granulated sugar. Roll in sugar, forming a ball. Place sugared cookies on non-stick cookie sheet (at least an inch or so apart).
9. Bake 10-12 minutes, until cookies just start to brown around the edges.
10. While the cookies bake, make the glaze. Stir 2-3T milk into another 1 1/2c powdered sugar. Add milk slowly until you reach the consistency you want.
11. Cool cookies slightly, then drizzle with glaze. While the glaze is still wet, sprinkle with remaining 1/4c of candy cane dust.

Enjoy! I happen to know they go great with morning coffee, but I think they'd be even better with hot chocolate. :)

Menu Monday

Happy Monday! Time for a menu as usual. :)

White Chicken Enchiladas

This recipe was going around Pinterest as "the BEST" ever. I don't know if it's the greatest of all time, but it was really good! Andrew said to "put it on the good list." The only changes I made were to heavily season the chicken before cooking it (s&p, garlic, cumin, chili) and add some sauteed onions/garlic to the filling. I didn't quite use all the sauce, although later I wished I had. Yum!
(Recipe is here.)

This week we'll be having:

• Mongolian Beef with Rice & Broccoli (Chick-fil-A called one night last week, so this is a hold-over. ;) We actually had this last night, and it was really good!)
• Beer Cheese Macaroni (Thanks, MacKenzie!)
• Chicken with Potatoes, Bacon & Cabbage
• Garlic-Sherry Burgers with Stilton & Pub Browns
• Tentative dinner out...and if not, breakfast for dinner!

Haul Out the Holly!

We put our tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving, and it still feels like there's not going to be enough time to enjoy it!

Our tall, skinny tree is just perfect for its little corner. ;)

We're still building our collection of meaningful ornaments, but we do have a few favorites so far.

Crochet Snowman
(His carrot nose is a little...limp.)

Mickey Snowflake

Yarn Birdie
(Notice he is sitting on top of a Spree candy cane...the best!)

Grove Park

I think there is at least one Christmas decor item on each flat surface in our lil apartment, too. :)

We find this nutcracker hilarious. His mouth is always a little ajar. "AGH!"

Today, we're finishing up some Christmas shopping and wrapping goodies, then making dinner (and mulled wine!) at home... Sounds like a happy (holi)day to me!

Menu Monday

Big pot of chicken chili...yum!

I turned back to Pinterest this week for some recipe ideas. I'm starting to hear others talk about "Pinterest fails," so I've learned to click through to the blogs first and check the comments before committing to a recipe. :)

Here's what we're having this week:

• Mongolian Beef (via Pinterest) with Sesame Broccoli & Rice
• White Chicken Enchiladas (via Pinterest) with Black Beans & Guac
• White Bean and Kielbasa Stew (Based on the comments, I'm actually going to use canned beans and smoked sausage and make it on the stove top.)
• Spaghetti with Garlic Bread and Salad...we'll finish easy. ;)

Hope you have a good week!