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http://yankeebridesoutherngroom.weebly.com/ 

New Year, New Adventures

And just like that... it's 2014.

How is it that time passing can seem both super slow and super fast all at the same time?

2013 was a year of change for both of us, and as most will agree, the changes only continue, the decisions only multiply, and life without a doubt never stops.

We wanted to start you off with a treat. ANOTHER VLOG! Go ahead, click away and enjoy!

And please! Your feedback and suggestions for future Vlogs is always welcome :)

Living in the WHO DAT nation when you're a blood born Cheesehead can prove to be a bit problematic. As twisted as it may sound, I actually count it a blessing that neither of our teams made it to the Super Bowl this year. I can only imagine the pandemonium that would take place if they were head to head in it. I can say one thing for sure, as long as the Saints were in the playoffs this year there was plenty of irresistible food (fresh grilled oysters!) and quality time spent with Ryan's family. It was a privilege to be able to enjoy the game outdoors on such a beautiful 60 degree day. Back home, you'd be watching in an igloo.

Coming into this marriage we both have our own family's traditions which we've melded together through our daily lives, but what's even better is we've made a new tradition for ourselves. And that tradition is Sunday night prayer. Sharing this tradition with Ryan is precious to me and putting God first in your marriage really does make all the difference in the world.

We'd all like to you know we are officially tree huggers! Yeah, no. BUT! We are now the proud owners of two Red Oak seedlings. The local Covington Farmer's Market was giving away seedlings of various trees and before they were completely out of seedlings we snatched up ourselves two of them! The picture you see is what they will look like some day. For now they are cozy in two pots on our balcony, dreaming of their permanent home :)

FLASHBACK TIME: Weddings are one of my personal favorite social events. After all, I did meet my husband at a wedding. The picture on the left is one of our first dates, surprise surprise, at a wedding. And on the right now nearly 2 1/2 years later, we find ourselves at another joyous wedding. It's always fun to see how much we've changed in appearance.

When Ryan found rock climbing, it was kinda like boy meets girl. And as much as he hasn't been in a gym to train like he wishes he could, it will always be his first love (other than me of course..lol). We got the chance to visit his old home away from home, Slidell Rocks. I didn't climb that day but I did get the chance to meet the owners who are just the nicest people ever. They were so happy to see Ryan and find out he had gotten married since they saw him last :)

Being that we are in the winter season, I wasn't expecting much out of Louisiana except a cooler break in temperature and some freezing temperatures here and there. Well it seems that God just knows me all too well, and went a step further from my desire for cooler weather. Over January 27th & 28th we experienced a slushy, sleety, icey days, and partial snow in some areas. Now really in our area, the one picture is pretty much all I have to show for it. On the upside, kids were off of school for three days (the third day seemed kinda pointless in my opinion), which consequently meant Ryan was off. So with the time we got to spend in I decided to make a little "HAPPY SNOW DAY" treat for our neighbors in our building. Sad but true story, when we went to go deliver all the treats.. NO ONE OPENED THEIR DOORS!! Except for one person. I was a bit distraught as my treats were rejected by the neighbors in which I have never met. 

Being cooped up inside makes you really have to get creative and sometimes channel your inner child. What better idea could we possibly have had but to make a fort in our living room! The pictures show before and after as well as the 'spacious' inside. It was so cute and romantic. But little did we know our romantic mood would be killed by quite an unfortunate event. As we shared a kiss in our homemade fort, we suddenly were startled when the "HOME" sign that you see pictured (which was one of the supports for the blanket), came crashing down, with such force that it hit Ryan fiercly in the head.  I was shocked to see Ryan's bloody face as I came out from under the collapsed blanket fort. Ryan had to laugh, and I was freaking out! No worries he is just fine and suffice to say we will not forget that experience!

But now that I've ruined your appetite. Let's talk about food!

This was a month of good recipes!

Tomato Basil Soup! Ryan complains about the lack of meat (typical man), but he praised me for the abundance of flavor!

This is definitely a yummy favorite!

Oatmeal Coconut Chewies. This is not a new recipe but it is definitely a favorite. The name says it all and I paired mine with Earl Gray Tea which made for a sweet and cozy afternoon.

Teriyaki Chicken. Ryan loves to give me gifts and help in the kitchen. Luckily this doubled as both :) This is a super simple crockpot recipe and one we will be putting in our dinner repertoire. 

Two life hacks I learned from my mom. One: reuse an old pickle jar with the juice to make homemade pickles! And two: when using a whole chicken, use the leftover carcass for homemade chicken broth. Love it!

 Who says you can't have dessert for breakfast? This is a simple recipe for Cream Cheese Danish and it makes a ton!

Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes with Lemon Curd filling and Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting. So the look of these cupcakes is a far cry from the recipe's photos. However, I absolutely love lemon poppyseed anything. It was a long arduous process, but they were a labor of love and full of sweet flavor!

Stuffed Pork Chops. From the recipe box of Martha Stewart, I was impressed by such a easy recipe yet daunting task of cooking pork chops. 

The last dinner we made was a very sentimental dish for me and rightfully so because we were sharing it with our next door neighbors. Alright alright, they aren't our neighbors anymore. I'm gonna miss being able to walk straight out my door and knock on theirs to say hello or drop of a little baked good of some kind. It's really a mystery why we haven't mentioned them before in this blog. Chris & Chelsea are an amazing couple. We find many things in common between our newlywed lives as we both are learning what it means to love, trust, and communicate as God leads us. We can be real with them and vice versa. We also happen to share the same anniversary, June 1st, 2013! Their friendship is a blessing and if it wasn't for Chelsea I wouldn't have my job at honda which I am blessed to have :) We'll miss living close to them, but all the more reason to make the effort to get together. OH! The dish, I completely forgot. One of my favorite dishes from my childhood, simple and comforting. Chicken & Rice. I also tried a new recipe for Bacon & Onion Green Beans.. soooo good!

WOW! If you've endured this long then you'll truly see how jam packed our month was! 

See you next month!!

Love, 

Audrey & Ryan

**DON'T FORGET: Pretty much all the recipe titles are clickable links that will take you right to the recipe in which I used.**

VLOG TIME

Hey everyone!!

This month is something special. A video blog! About 30 minutes worth of December crammed in to our fun antics with commentary on videos and pictures.

We love you all and wish you a beautiful and awesome 2014!!!

Love,
Audrey & Ryan

Full of thanks and ripe with love...

Do you remember your first holiday as a married couple? The joy and warmth in your heart knowing you not only share a home with your best friend, but that you have someone to hold and cherish with each coming holiday and momentous event. Ryan and I have come to appreciate the simpleness of being together. When 1,000 miles separated us before, we don't take it lightly that we don't have to wait months at a time to see each other. We simply roll over and say good morning :)

As a half a year has passed already we are most certainly counting our blessings, down to the very joy of sharing a meal. We experienced two Thanksgivings this year and did our best not to allow gluttony and food comas to overtake us. The weather brought a nice chill and a few freezing nights, but overall the weather is very mild.

Something I am proud to announce is that Ryan and I completed our first 5k. You might be wondering what our time was, and well, I'm embarrassed to say I got a side stitch not even a mile into it and had to walk partially... so with that said, we'll try for a better time next time. Although Ryan's brother Lance smoked us; he was there along with Kristina and Cole to cheer us on to the finish line.

Sooo, what happened to that nifty kite of ours? It flew, it fell, it broke. It was a fine piece of craftsmanship on Ryan's part, however, with a vital piece missing (a tail to keep it balanced) it flew to the ground one too many times until the wooden dowel supports snapped. It could've been avoided, but overall, still pretty cool to say we built our own kite. So we made the most of our time at the lakefront that morning and hung out with the Mercier's 3 (soon to be 4!). 

A few successful new recipes to add to my repertoire this month! Andrea's  (from Kesslers) famous Apple Crisp was delish and yum, especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream paired with it. A scrumptious breakfast or tea time snack of Pomegranate Scones was a big hit with Ryan. I was a newb and completely new to french onion soup and did my best to recreate a classic.And lastly, Stuffed Eggplant, just a enough flavor and fun to make a cute little dinner for the two of us. 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/french-onion-soup-recipe2/index.html

http://making-today-beautiful.com/2013/04/24/pomegranate-scones/

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/stuffed-eggplant/d48d7303-576b-43aa-880c-faecbd521e4a

We were blessed to have the entire week of Thanksgiving to spend with each other. We rode bikes on the Trace to burn off all the food we ate and visited the Audubon Zoo where Ryan hadn't been since he was a kid. Some of the quintessential memories for Ryan was the taffy cart and the goliath oak tree he and his brother would climb as kids.

A few other excursions of ours was trying our hand at pole fishing on the lakefront. That was an epic fail. Later Ryan walked out the end of the wave breaker, and it made for an awesome shot! Our day was redeemed :) We went for breakfast at the quaint 'Broken Egg' Cafe in Mandeville, which filled us to the brim! And although we only came for tear down, the annual Servolution outreach with local churches in Hammond was an amazing success. There were 2,400 free hot meals served and many lives impacted all in the name of the Lord!

 Our dear friends Jason and Sarah got married this month! We are incredibly happy for this couple. Consequently we are even more excited because they are now our new neighbors just a few buildings away! They had the most precious wedding ever. Everything from the unique rustic venue to touching ceremony, their marriage is a beautiful thing to witness. Even with the rain that came that day, nothing was going to ruin the beauty of two of them in love.  Ryan was honored to stand in the wedding, and we had a great time dancing the night away and seeing the two of them off!

                                                                                    

We could not contain our excitement!

(They've officially joined the married club!)

In a coffee lover's world, there is a never ending search for the perfect cup of coffee, and by golly, I think we found it. The Aeropress. Don't knock it til you try it. And along with the Aeropress, we wanted to step it up a notch and see if we could turn this awesome coffee into a latte. So we purchased the AeroLatte, a small aerating device that gives amazing froth to simple coffee drinks. It's awesome! I feel like I'm giving a commercial for these items, but I promise you they aren't large investments and make great stocking stuffers for the coffee fanatic in your life.

In our great anticipation of Christmas, we made the most of our week together and got our 1st Christmas tree!!! It's cute and perfect! And we added a few other Christmas touches to the apartment to make it twinkle a bit. Ryan and I had a great time decorating the tree and putting on some ornaments from my childhood. We're officially ready for Christmas!!

To tell you all the lessons we've learned thus far, would take too long, as everyday is truly a learning experience. We've learned patience and reverence, honesty and balance, give and take, push and shove (just kidding)... we've learned how to say sorry sooner, and forgive more. We've laughed so much, and cried a bit too, but our eyes are looking forward. To say we are done learning these lessons is far from the truth, but with God's help everyday is a step in the right direction. We want to finish out this year strong, and dream big for 2014. In looking forward, we are currently praying in a new job for me. I have decided to forgo my job as a nanny in order to obtain a job that would afford growth and promotion in administration. And with God all things are possible. Pray for my peace in waiting, seeking, and applying. I know God has the perfect job set aside for me, and I will not hesitate to ask and knock on heaven's door for it.

Words can't express how much we are looking forward to Christmas in Wisconsin. 7 days of wintery goodness with family and friends, and enjoying the company and quality time of those we love. 21 days to go! So close!

Love,
Audrey & Ryan

P.S. For those of you that might still be wondering, we replaced Ryan's ring, and I gave him a stearn warning that the next one will be out of a cracker jack box if he loses this one......lol.

5 months and counting!

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.

 Northlake Christian has an annual Dodgeball Tournament every year around Homecoming. Ryan was asked to join the "Teachers" team and they called their team 'Old School'. Well, they definitely got schooled that's for sure. It was only two rounds for the them to be out of the tournament. Better luck next year Ryan *wink*.

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

                  Ryan before the frustration with security. And then after. (actually not really, this was before we even got there. He happened to make this disgruntled face accidentally.. but it makes for a funny story!)

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!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKLnhuzh9uY

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!)

http://www.budgetbytes.com/2012/12/candied-almonds/

When cooking for two, as always, freezing extras is extremely convenient. I made a large batch of this Cheesy Baked Chicken Penne.

http://realmomkitchen.com/1505/baked-cheesy-chicken-penne/

Lastly, I JUST made Stuffed Flank Steak, which other than the cut of meat being a little too thin, this was awesome!

http://www.familycircle.com/recipes/comfortfood/stuffed-flank-steak/

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.