Thanksgiving 2010

I had a wonderful time over Thanksgiving break! It was great to visit with my family and friends, and we ate so much good food!!! (too much? nahhh!)

Apple Cranberry dish (Lauren's favorite) with the fancy punch I made

Pop enjoying his punch and watching football before lunch

So. Many. Dishes.

Mom always decorates the table so nicely!

20 lb turkey-- half was baked and half was grilled, both were delicious (says the "vegetarian")

The dinner crew and food

A game of Scrabble to finish off the night-- Chris and I won! "Wipe" got us lots of points.  We also played a crazily heated game of Farkle :)

Nana and I could play in the key of "C" all night :)

New Room!

My parents redid my room since I've been gone at school. It used to be black, white, and red with dalmatians everywhere, but now it is a light grey and lavender (tres chic!). It's so pretty and calming-- I felt like I was at a bed and breakfast! They did keep the dalmatian spots in the dormer, though, which I thought was a nice touch :)

My favorite part-- so comfy!

Vegetarian White (and green) Pizza

Chris sent me some pictures that he took earlier this semester of our "white" pizza that we made. It was extremely delicious and pretty simple to put together.

Black Bean and Roasted Corn Tacos

So apparently by blog has turned into "what I ate for dinner." I really enjoy cooking, and I looked up some new recipes, so I figured that I would share. These tacos are really easy to make...

Rinse a can of black beans and heat them on the stove. Add 1/2 a cup of salsa, some minced garlic, and cumin. In another pan, spray some cooking spray and add some frozen corn (thawed). Add some cumin and chili powder to taste. Place tortillas in toaster oven to warm. Add bean mixture, corn, fresh cilantro, and some feta cheese to warm tortillas. Enjoy!

New Foods!

Sooooo, the whole Liz and Jenna thing didn't happen. Rachel and I both ended up getting a cold and didn't quite feel up to creating costumes. We still plan on making TGS shirts in the future, though :)

Here is my latest kitchen creation: Matter Paneer. (I think that is how you spell it...?) It basically consists of Basmati rice with peas and cheese in a tomato sauce and also a honey crisp apple with cinnamon. Very delicious! I'm going to the grocery store today, so hopefully I will make some more homemade (more like semi-homemade) dishes!

Punkin' Carving

Last weekend Rachel and I carved pumpkins and had a autumn extravaganza in our apartment! We had a really fun time picking out pumpkins, de-gooping them, roasting the seeds, baking cookies, sipping cider, listening to music, followed by watching the crappiest of crappy films: The Brady Bunch Movie.  I really lucked out on the roommate front-- it's so nice having her around and we get along perfectly. We are planning on being Liz Lemon and Jenna Maroney for Halloween, so please prepare yourselves.

Rachel baking Halloweeny cookies! 

Honey Crisp Apple Cider and delicious cookies

Baked goods

Me with our spider Rupert

Rachel and Rupert

Goodies my mom sent

Halloween decor!

Pre-carving

Post carving: Rachel's Jack the Pumpkin King and my owl on a tree

Through the years...

It's hard to believe that Chris and I have been together for almost seven years. We met in the most romantic of romantic settings: high school marching band! Here's a short photo retrospective of our relationship.

It all began at NFHS. This is Chris and I in Disney World on a band trip. I think Chris still wears that shirt!

The next picture is at my junior prom. My sister asked Chris for me via AIM. Thanks, Lauren!

This is our first Christmas together. I gave Chris a pocket watch and Atlanta Falcons gear and he gave me a ring with a blue stone. 

Chris and I both went to Columbus State University for music. This is us in Savannah, GA at the GMEA convention.

After Columbus, I moved to Iowa to study trombone at the University of Iowa. This is us after my first semester of cold weather.

Now we are both graduate students. Before Chris began his first year of his masters at the University of Illinois, he proposed (and I said yes)! Now we are just enjoying being engaged and visiting each other every few weeks (at least until the snow comes!). I feel lucky to have held on to a guy like Chris "Chris" Butler for so long...he's pretty great :)

And since I said I would post ring pictures a while back...

Roasted Vegetables & Rice

Rachel and I made a fancy dinner the other night. Well, I guess it wasn't too fancy, but it was pretty delicious :) We roasted squash, zucchini, onions, and green pepper in olive oil and spices. I also made some jasmine rice with curry powder. We don't always take the time to cook a good meal (I need to learn that coffee is not a meal...), but when we do it's pretty good!

"Faculty"

This will be a short post, but I'm pretty excited about this link...just scroll down to the bottom :)

http://iowatrombones.com/faculty/

Photo courtesy of Cash Money Brass Quintet (ha!)

A Working Office

Greetings, from my new office! You may now reach me at the UCC #3732. I've really enjoyed having a place to call my own and where I can practice my trombone for the day. Last year spent a lot of time and energy hauling my horn everywhere I went, so it's nice to leave it there when I need a break from practicing.  My office mate is a french horn player that I met last year named Dan. This is where I teach all of my lessons as well-- the acoustics are okay since the room is equipped with the Wenger sound module. Also, last Friday was my first lesson of the semester with Dr. Gier. It went really well, and it feels so good to have some instruction again. I've been practicing a lot, and I think that I can make great progress this year. I'm trying to stay organized and smart about my practicing by keeping track of it on the whiteboard in my office. I've decided to work on French music this semester...wouldn't it be lovely if this study evolved into a study abroad or doctoral thesis in France?!

Sand Art!

So, here is something that makes Iowa City such an interesting place to live. Today there was a festival of sand sculptures that took over Iowa Avenue. There were live bands, good food, games for the kiddies, and SAND!!! http://www.summerofthearts.org/festival-menu/sand-in-the-city/about.aspx