Hello Family and Friends!
Here we are 5 months into marriage, and life has continued to be adventure filled! Whether it's something as exciting as celebrating a birthday or taking a walk by the lakefront... it seems the memories of this 1st year as well as the years to come will forever be cherished. Of course documenting the sentimental parts of our life as well as the random experiences Ryan and I have are so fun, and this month was no exception!
As much as I love ducks (and do I ever!), Ryan loves turtles. And this poor little dude was found trying to make his way across our apartment parking lot when Ryan scooped him up and placed him safely into the pond nearby :)
*I wish ducks were that easy to catch* lol.
And while we are on the subject of sports, we are also proud to support Northlake Christian's football. We went to a very highly anticipated game with their biggest rivals, Hannan High School. And as a result they are now 8-0! The theme was 'white out Hannan'. Needless to say Ryan was properly dressed for the occasion.
Ryan was white from head to toe!
Here is a link to his excitement for the game: http://instagram.com/p/f6Sgy3LzCW/
Ryan and I experienced a first on his birthday -- our 1st NFL game. The New Orleans Saints vs. Buffalo Bills. I must say it's impressive to be in the Superdome and we enjoyed the fans around us as well as the game itself! I will always be a Packers fan, but the Saints are doing pretty awesome this year!
Our experience was dampened though by the fact that my wallet was like a 1/2 inch too big according to the new policy for carry ins and there was a lot of stupid rules that made for a frustrating time getting in. Oh well... we were together, the Saints won, and the family dinner and quality time afterwards was great :D
The weather is definitely still warm for being October, but winter (or cooler weather I should say) is short and summer is well...almost year round. On one of the more mild days with clouds cooling things down, Ryan and I took a bike ride.
However, with 10 minutes left, I took a fall off my bike when my tire slipped off the edge of the road. Whoops! My response to my fall was something like 'This is stupid..' Lol. Because for as bad as it looked later, it wasn't that big of a fall. Bike riding overall = something we should do more often. (just with less falling)
My gifts to Ryan on his birthday were all about him. Things that he likes to eat, things that make him look good, smell good. It was a practical birthday in which I wanted to keep my husband looking dapper as ever ;) Of course, his way of showing off his gifts is... well special.
And as far as the 'smelling' good gift. I must admit it was a bit of a gag gift. It works though!
You have to watch the commercial for it -- it's so random!
After I had given Ryan some new dress shoes, it was out with the old and in with the new. I had no idea it'd be such an ordeal. This pair of dress shoes has lasted Ryan six years. He'd be better off walking in thick socks then depend on the soles of those shoes for support. Hahaha.
As a spontaneous and ingenious idea, we found ourselves at Whole Foods and decided to embark on a Wine & Cheese date. Being that some of the finer cheeses tend to be pricey, Whole Foods is so gracious as to have an entire bin with cheese 'scraps'. Essentially we picked out a bunch of tiny blocks of cheese, some maybe only $1 or less because they were so small. So after we blindly chose our morsels, and purchased some wine, fruit, and crackers to go with them.. we devoured them!
We know we can't be deemed 'cheese connoisseurs', but we were sure to document all the tastes and flavors so we could go back and actually purchase a larger block :) Some of them were a total failure and we gave them a low score. Definitely something we'll have to try again.
As far as new meals and recipes, I haven't tried too many new things.
I made some Candied Almonds (they were yum, except I left them on wax paper too long and they stuck!..whoops.. still yummy though!)
When cooking for two, as always, freezing extras is extremely convenient. I made a large batch of this Cheesy Baked Chicken Penne.
Lastly, I JUST made Stuffed Flank Steak, which other than the cut of meat being a little too thin, this was awesome!
A week ago I was unpleasantly greeted with a sore throat followed by a sinus infection. Yuck + Ugh = My experience. We ran out of tissues a day into the sinus infection...and so I made do. Some antibiotics along with some TLC from my husband have me bright and cheery again :)
My mother will be happy to hear that I have taken my earrings out. Yes, sad day. But it's only temporary, as I wait for them to heal up from getting infected. Other than cleaning them I could not figure out why they were not healing up right. My one other guess is that I was allergic to the earrings that I was wearing and need to wear 14k gold posts. We'll see how it goes the next time. In the meantime, my ears will just have to be naked for a bit :(
I've taken up a new craft/hobby and it's super easy and quite inexpensive. It's embroidery hoop art.
I saw this done many different ways on Pinterest and wanted to give it a try. The first picture is my first piece. And although the heart looks blue in the picture, I can assure you it is a nice complementing purple.
"love abides here."
And this one I am not sure what to do with. I am thinking a Christmas theme. But I don't fully have inspiration for it yet. Any ideas??
Tuh-dah! A new phone for me! It's a new-to-me iPhone 4s from my sister-in-law Kristina. And I will definitely need to enlist her help in showing me how to troubleshoot it. I am so android minded that it may take a while for me to get used to a new operating system.
I wanted to leave you with a picture of somewhere that Ryan and I love. And that is the lake front in Mandeville.
We just missed the sunset but it was still so beautiful to see the light slowly fade from the horizon.
We love everyone near and far! 51 DAYS til our Christmas in Wisconsin! Wooohooo. We are excited for that like no one's business!! And we want you to give feedback to this blog. What do you want to see on these? Perhaps we might update twice a month? Let us know!
~Audrey & Ryan
P.S. Tragic news -- Ryan lost his ring 2 weeks ago. It only took 4 1/2 months... sheesh! He lost it while at the gym... tsk tsk tsk.
