Thanksgiving and Igloo

Ok, I don't really have a lot of time for beautiful narrative, so this will mostly be a photo dump with some captions:

We made a "white board" in our hallway, and Gabe and I have been having fun with it.

Ollie can stand!  He's pulling himself up on everything lately.  Today he even pulled himself up on an empty laundry basket, leaned too far forward, and ended up planking over the top.

Here are some thanksgiving pictures: not fancy, but delicious, and GREAT company. :)

Gabe did some improving on his hair and eyebrows... all dressed up, and nowhere to go. haha... btw, the red is NAIL POLISH!!!! Luckily, I had remover.

It snowed A TON on Monday, so for FHE we made an igloo.  The only problem was that it was built by the school, so it's already destroyed.  This is where a backyard would come in handy.  Gabe thinks it melted, and I'm inclined to let him keep thinking it.

The playground behind it is the kindergarten playground.

I'm not sure what happened to the color here.

This is the skirt for Mia's wedding.  I wasn't sure about it at first, but I love it now.  I'm so glad I didn't get a smaller size.  This is a large.  Crazy.  It would have made a weird muffin top that I don't have if it were any smaller though.

Well, sorry to end with a bathroom selfie... I'm out of pictures.  I had others of the kids that I wanted to post, but they are bath tub pics, and I didn't want to put them online. So... I hope you're all doing awesome.

-Emma

Adventures

Hi fam,

I just thought I would post about some of my adventures.  On Saturday my roommate Kelci and I did some adventuring into the small downtown of Montclair.  We went to a bakery at the suggestion of one of the horn players (who btw, is literally always high so always has the munchies, and so knows where the best places to eat are.  That east coast life, amirite?)  So Kelci and I drove to this bakery to eat breakfast and it was amazing! They surprisingly didn't have bagels (which is basically all anyone in NJ eats) But they had donuts and bread and really good sandwiches. I got a donut with maple frosting and bacon on it (I know mom, the irony...) and a bacon, cheddar, egg sandwich on a croissant.  Kelci got a bacon, cheddar, egg sandwich on a ciabatta and a cream cheese filled everything croissant.  Here are some pictures:

It was the cutest little bakery

Look at those cute succulents

The amazing donut

And the sandwich! so good!

After we ate, we walked around and found a local farmer's market.  It was a really good one for how small it was. There were pumpkins and squash and apples and potatoes and bread and pesto and cheese and pickles and olives and meat and it was super fun.  And brussels sprouts! the brussels sprouts were on crazy huge stalks.  It was crazy, I never realized how they grew I guess.

It was super fun.  We had a good time.  Then we went home and did homework all day! huzzah! Oh, I promised you guys a picture of Mike and I.  It's not the best picture, but it was the best I could do.

He's pretty great.  He's taking me to the Met next week.  We are going to Manon Lescaut.  Anna Netrebko is the lead.  I'm sooooooooooooooooo excited! It's going to be amazing.  You can tell he likes me a lot, because he doesn't really know anything about classical music and has literally no experience with it or opera or anything of that variety, but he is taking me.  It's amazing.

Well, I think that's all for now.  I have a lot of homework I have to do.  Mike said we could only go out tonight if I catch up on all my work, so that has to happen obviously.  *when your boyfriend bribes you with dates so you get your work done* what I become... ha.

Love you all!

Todays song:

Yummy for your Tummy

Hello, my lovies!

I haven't posted here for far too long.

Sorry about that.

Honestly, life has been kicking my butt.

I found a cure for the doldrums yesterday, though.

Don't judge! But I'm listening to my

 Christmas station on Pandora.

I know it's early, but it works great for me!

I haven't had any special adventures of late,

so I thought I would just share a bit of the

Fall that I have seen.

It's been really beautiful.

We are past peak now, but it's still pretty.

 I have heard predictions that it is going to be a

 gnarly winter, and I'm starting to believe it.

It's been really quite pleasant here so far,

but I have noticed that the birds are gone. 

I got up one morning and it was like

 they fled in the night.

Usually we see V's of geese and hear them,

and see lots of ducks on the ponds.

All gone. The swans too.

I'm only seeing winter birds.

In other news...

Dad is training to drive a school bus and working

as a temp for Bernatello's Pizza.

I'm teaching piano lessons, and still trying

 to work up the mojo to get a space in a shop.

I really want to do it. 

Fear has just had the upper hand lately.

I'm working on it..

So with cooler weather upon us, I thought I would 

try a new soup recipe. I read a whole bunch of 

 recipes trying to figure out what I wanted to do.

I decided to go with a squash soup.

I know what you are thinking.

I was skeptical too.

But I tried my own version of several recipes

and it is magical! I ate way too much.

It looks a little like...well, I won't say what.

          But it is so delicious.

Make it and make a batch of homemade bread and 

you will dine like a (healthy) king for days.

Seriously so yummy!

MOM’S WINTER SQUASH SOUP

2 Carrots

1 Stalk of Celery

1 Medium Onion

4 Cloves Garlic

I Butternut Squash

2 Cans Low sodium/no MSG chicken broth

Pinch of Thyme

Salt and Pepper to taste

!/2 C Heavy Cream

Olive oil

Butter

Real Maple Syrup (or Honey)

Wash squash. Cut in half. Rub with olive oil and 

sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake face down 

on baking sheet, for 45 minutes at 450 degrees.

 Set aside to cool.

In a heavy pan put a splash of olive oil (1-2 T?) and 2-3 T

 of butter. Clean and dice carrot, celery and onion. 

Cook for a few minutes, stirring periodically, 

until onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. 

Add minced garlic cloves and cook until fragrant, 

just a few minutes. 

Peel skin from cooled squash and add to pan. Add

 chicken broth, thyme, and salt and pepper. Stir.

 Cover and simmer about 20 minutes, stirring periodically.

If you have an immersion blender, blend your soup to a creamy consistency. If you don’t have an immersion blender,

 whirl it in your blender in small batches until creamy. 

Add as much cream as you feel like. I think I added 

about a half a cup. I also added more the next day because

 the soup thickened in the fridge.If it’s too thick you

 can add more. Add a swirl of syrup or honey. 

Stir and adjust salt and pepper for taste.

Serve with some fresh cracked pepper on top.

Love you all to the moon and back!

Love,

Mom

My declaration of loving life

Hi family,

Just a warning... I'm writing this on my phone so there will probably be silly mistakes.

I just wanted to let Everytime know how much I love my life. I have never been happier! I am living the life I was always meant to live.

I have become my authentic self in a way that I couldn't before. It is amazing much peace and love come out of living 100% honestly and authentically.

I have excellent friends here. I absolutely love and adore my roommates. I couldn't have asked for a better living situation.

And of course Mike. That is right, I have a boyfriend. He is so excellent and so good to me. He is a Jersey native. He couldn't be more different than me, but his favorite musical is singing in the rain, so that's all that matters. I don't have a picture of us yet otherwise I would post one.

Dear family, don't let anyone tell you how to live your life. Live the way you were meant to. Be happy with yourself. Make decisions that are right for you. Be courageous. It's OK to be afraid, but don't let it stop you from living. I love you all.

Mandy

October Joy!

Hello family! I hope you're all doing well. It's been awhile since I wrote on the blog. I wanted to put a couple pictures up though they're more informative than words. First of all, I made a Joy wall. In my apartment it's been kinda the struggle bus. Britta's brother Nathan passed away so she has been struggling, my roommate Sarah was at her grandmas funeral last weekend, Amy just found out her grandpa has a  brain tumor and has weeks to live and I and I know most all of us in our house have been drowning in stress. I'm taking 17 credits, it's Brittas and my last semester, Amy is the relief society president, I'm trying to plan a wedding and seriously, the list goes on. Well, I love all my roommates very much and I was trying to think what I could do. On Sunday in relief society we had a lesson on faith. I realized that often our faith grows the most when we are having a really hard time. But then I was thinking about Russel M Nelsons talk at general conference. Because of the Savior we can be happy and have true joy not matter what our circumstances. So I made a joy wall. I went to porters and got the letters, and I put these quotes up:

I also included little pieces of papers so we can write quotes, or thoughts that bring us joy. I love it and so do all my roommates. And, speaking of which, the thing I just put up there today was teaching children to love music. Today I had the unique opportunity to go teach music to Amys preschool class. I went in there and introduced myself as miss Mia and I sang a little opera for them. Than I taught them a couple songs and it was sooooooo fun! I'm taking an elementary music class this semester, learning the Kodaly method and I adore it. I'm pretty sure I've found my calling in life.

I wore my music note skirt for the occasion!

In other news, I picked up some craft paper today in the colors I'm thinking for my wedding reception. If any of you have ideas for what to put everyone in I would be happy to hear it! I'm thinking of asking the girls to find dresses in these colors. Thoughts? And BTW I'm not afraid of print. (Obviously, who do you think I am!?)

Okay and one other thing, I am sending you all the link to our engagement pictures if you wanna look! Let me know which ones you like the best!

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0M5oqs3qd4KvX

(This one is just for the crazy factor!)

Love you all!!

It's Mandy!

It's been a couple of crazy weeks, but here is the low down:

It has taken me a long time to be back in the school/student mode.  I'm still not there.  I'm having a hard time getting my homework done.  But I feel like my horn playing is getting back to where I was+some extra.  It's been good.  I'm not entirely sure that my teacher is a good fit for me, but I've been talking to some others in the horn studio and apparently he is just an acquired taste.  Horn players, amirite?

Me practicing late at night.  The elevator is an excellent place to take selfies :)

So I decided I was going to try out for the concerto competition. Guess when it is? October 7.  That is terrifying.  I am not prepared for it at all, but I really wanted to just go for it.  Just do it and see what happens.  Also it's another performance, which is always a good thing.  I'm trying to perform as much as possible.  It's scary, but it will be alright.  Here is what I"m playing:

It's a super cool piece.

Last night I helped one of the horn players in the studio move.  She has had a crazy couple of weeks, her lease was ending and she didn't have anywhere to move to.  She was freaking out.  So yesterday was the last day of the month, the day before she found somewhere to live.  So last night the horn studio helped her move.  I was out until 2am, but I was glad I could help her.  We ordered Chinese in the middle of it all.  It was so good.

You can see that we are eating it on boxes, because it was either that or the floor.  The horn studio is really great here, which is one of the reasons why I decided to come.  They are all friends and very supportive.  I love it.

I have been seeing more deer.  It's super cool.  This picture I got, but then the Momma ran over to save her baby from me.  I tried to get a picture of them together, but the mom threatened me, so I walked away.

Well, that is all for now.  I think today I'm going to practice (remember that concerto competition?) and bake.  I really want to sit down and knit because it's been rainy for the past 3 days.  But I left ALL of my yarn at home.  So I literally can do nothing until my financial aid comes in.  It's basically the most depressing thing ever.

K, bye!

Here is a picture of me, I had a free day so I did my hair and make up all nice.

Song of the day: