picnic for two.

My fearless leader guiding the way to a Christmas Eve picnic.




Just the two of us, on the water.



Oh, and these wonderful bits of creation. Subs from Lou's. He's from Cincinnati, I feel kinship, mostly I just love his food.



Epic.

Christmas Past

Since it is December 27th I must call this an archive of our First Christmas together and not Christmas inspiration as I had intended to do. I hope that all of you (Janie and Deanna as my faithful readers) had a wonderful time with your families. The husband and I had a smashing good time, although he was playing the role of Florence Nightingale much of the time due to my illness. He was amazing, not every man could put up with a sick version of myself...

The following are pictures of our home in it's best "merry and bright" state.






Our tree, which I dearly loved, was decorated in aqua and red. Shocking, I know...what an original color combination by me.
All satire aside the following are close ups for my mother of my ornaments since she can no longer receive text pics :(






The bulbs are b-a-utiful!










I sincerely love this little bird ornament.






I will forever remain a "snow hopeful"







More arachnoid love






Others are Peace and Joy, very Christmas appropriate words





And finally the star, which no BJones tree would be complete without.






As I was decorating the bathroom my husband let me know that it was frivolous. He stated that the b-room is the last place one should decorate, I think not!







The tacky shelving that I'm doing the best campaigning of my life to get rid of... But alas my pleas for bathroom decor and style is lost on deaf ears.







This is our Christmas Eve dinner table. We never got around to actually using it because our stocking stuffers were more interesting :)








FYI: I'm really frustrated with Blogger, my pictures are uploading super small , it keeps shuffling my pictures around, and somehow I discovered a blog on my reading list that was very nasty. So if you hated my teeny pictures this week or clicked on WaitintheVan.blogspot.com then I apologize, hopefully everything will be back to normal tomorrow.

Ornaments

In the beginning of December I worked on some ornaments for our first Christmas tree. Here is a picture of the final product.



I really love them. The project while time consuming was really enjoyable.

Christmas Decor

After perusing the stores near and far for holiday decor I became increasingly depressed. I was finding a lot of Santa and reindeer. Well, that is just NOT us... So, in keeping true to our personalities and the feel of our home I spent a day at the craft store last week dreaming up the perfect Christmas decor. I came home with my arms full of packages and I have been quite the busy little crafter. My fingers are sore and my camera is dead... I will post pictures soon :)
Enjoy the Christmas Season and remember Jesus IS the reason!

Mother-in-Law Intimidation

I know you've been there... Those married longer may have forgotten by now... It's our first holiday as a married couple tomorrow, which I should be elated by right? Wrong, I just happen to be married to "Betty Crocker's" son. My mother in law can literally cook/bake/homemake circles around me.

Tomorrow we will gather with close family and extended relatives. I'm sure there will be a lot of food, fun, and laughter. I am just getting butterflies about the dishes I am bringing. This literally shapes our holiday future. If the center is not done on my cheesecake I might get asked to bring the drinks from now on, if someone gets food poisoning because I used bad eggs I might get asked to just not return :)
Ok the fear and trepidation is not that severe, but I am sort of dreading it.

I was not sure whether I should play it safe and just buy my pies, but then I got to thinking... My mother in law may be Betty Crocker incarnate but hey, I'm a Martha Stewart hopeful!!! So with my head raised high I will be taking Pecan Tassies, Caramel Apple Cheesecake, and Pumpkin Cheesecake.

Here is a picture of the Caramel Apple Cheesecake, I have made it one time before. Click here if you would like a game-changer recipe for your Thanksgiving.




As far as decorating for Thanksgiving I do not get the priveledge of setting our table for Thanksgiving but here are some ideas that I like.


                                                 A very natural option from HGTV



                                           Clean and beautiful, also from HGTV                                 




                                          Cozy option from HGTV, seriously I am a fan.



                    
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

House Updates

 I finally am achieving the chill house theme I am going for. The walls have yet to be painted and that one picture looks so lonely on the wall, but it's coming along :) That is a jute rug on the floor, thanks for the advice Janie. I especially love my authentic vintage surfboard that my husband brought to the decorating table!

I'm taking suggestions for coffe tables and lamps. I'm thinking a metal accent would be nice.

The Happiest Girl

So today I am happy. Today I am singing and dancing. Today I found out that I am officially an RN. After two years and a summer of stress, no sleep, and lots of studying I finally achieved one of my BIGGEST dreams ever!

So for now I will proudly wear this:



And never this:



I will do more of this:



And less of this:

But for this weekend and this weekend only I will do a lot of this:

And some of this:

And I will think often of the beautiful lady that inspired me to become a nurse, held my hand through school, sympathized with me, shared gross stories with me, believed in me, and always had my back.

A Little Bit of Chaos

So I complained about not having a job for two months. When I finally started my job I was so excited, then I got a call about another job. . . I have been working so many hours that I have neglected this blog. I have good news though. Tomorrow I go to Ikea, ya, and I will be getting some more things for my living room! I am so excited. I hope everyone is enjoying the cool weather.

As the days carry on..

I've decided that I'm a particularly bad blogger. Other people have excuses for not blogging, kids, work, sickness, etc... Not me, I am at home, at the beach, doing laundry, or baking most of the time. So I have no excuse.
Anyway, my moaning aside I will tell you about this great recipe I tried last night.  We had just finished dinner, a fancy oven baked pizza and salad (not every night can be stunning), and my husband wanted something sweet. So I consulted the baking goddess, Martha Stewart, to see what I could make with minimal time, effort, and ingredients. The recipe I decided on was the following:

                                Almond Fruit Bars

1/2 c. (1stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinammon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 c. packed light-brown sugar
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
3/4 c. sliced almonds
1/2 c. fruit jam such as cherry, strawberry, or grape. I used grape :)

Preheat oven to 350. Butter an 8-inch square baking dish. In a bowl wishik together flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder.  
In a mixing bowl, cream buter and sugars on high speed until light and fluffy; beat in egg yolk. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Stir in almonds.
In a small bowl, whisk jam to loosen. Gently press half of dough into bottom of prepared dish. Gently spread the jam over dough leaving a 1/4 inch border. Sprinkle remainign dough over top all the way to the edges; press gently to form top layer.
Bake until top is golden, 25-30 minutes (mine took a lot less time); cool completely in dish. Cut into bars with serrated knife.

Can I just admit to how delicous these were without sounding too proud? The entire stick of butter, while not being that great for you or your dress size, makes this a tasty crumbly dessert that is quite delectable. I can imagine that they would taste good with coffee. Mom, I know that Dad would love these. :)

It is officially fall and I am loving it! Although it is still in the eighties and nineties here the wind is starting to blow more and it is cooling down at night.

My groceries made a great fall centerpiece, that is until I had to use them. It was sad to watch the fun centerpiece disappear.

Last Wednessday a tropical storm, Nicole, made my day so much better. My husband got to stay home, I wore my rainboots out, we watched a fun movie together, we had homeade chinese, and these yummy lemon-vanilla tarts filled the house with a great aroma.

But seriously, the best day of the week was Monday! The husband took me to the home decorating metropolis, otherwise known as Ikea. We picked up our couch, which is awesome! I love it

The possibilities are endless...

Forgive my lack of creativity...

When first interested in acquiring a blog I tried to think of the handle the blog would go by. I thought myself very clever when "keeping up with the jones" popped into my head. How perfect, I thought, is that for a blog name that journals the husband and I's new married life. . . My elation with my creativity lasted a mere couple days; when perusing through (that's the friendly term for stalking) other blogs I found a blog "Keeping up witht the Jones" and my heart sank. Not only were the names similar but this couple was in the holiness movement! And just when I thought it could not get worse I discovered this lovely couple lives in the same zipcode as I do. . . Horrors.
Therefore, my inner soul searching for a blog name was back on. I thought it should be kitchy or cute, then I thought to myself "just keep it real Kelly." So I came up with the new name which I feel describes the status quo of our house. I love to bake/cook/microwave food, the husband loves to consume said food, and then we run to try and balance it out (this is the husband's area of strength).
So I hope you enjoy the new name and forget my sad, washed-up, kitchy handle from the past.

Cooking with Turkey

                I made an executive decision for our family today...
                    No, I did not take out a mortgage, buy a car,
                     or even budget money.

                      I officially made us turkey-burger-eaters.
        If you have not heard, turkey is way better than hamburger.
        But as everyone knows just because it is good for you
        does not mean you are going to like it.
 
         



                      I will let you know if this decision is popular.



         
     

Days Go By

So we all have things that keep us busy, as of late mine have been related to the following:

                                           Shopping for my house
                                           Shopping for clothes
                                          Shopping for craft supplies
                                           Shopping for groceries

                                                and of course

                                           Shopping just to shop.

                           

                     When not indulging in my guilty pleasure I   

                         accomplished some other feats.

                                           





I baked for the first time in my own home. Yes, I did use a mix for these, but in my defense mixing the butter in was difficult.

I had my nephew over. Everyone says he looks like Nathan, I believe the following picture is the best resemblance I have seen to date.

I had my family around the "kitchen" table!

                                   I attempted to decorate.

 

I read a lot.

I baked some more.

This attempt was unsuccesful at first.

The cookies actually tasted like dust.

I cried.

My husband, not caring for my tears asked if

I could just make some icing.

I whipped up some cinammon icing

and the cookies turned out for the better.

                            What have you done lately?

Trip for Two

Mr. J and I after a long, but happy day

For our honeymoon we went to a Sandals resort in Jamaica, yes Mr. J  spoiled me  is awesome! Jamaica is so beautiful, it was a dream come true for me. I have wanted to go to Jamaica for years. I loved everything about our honeymoon for 5 reasons.

1.Time with my best friend

2.  Daily swimming

3. White Sand

4. Good Food

5. Virgin Pina Colodas (sp?)

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

                                                                       Yeah, I was there.




                                                    Mr. J and I in our fabulous swimming duds


                                                                   We did a lot of this.. 

                                                                     And a LOT of this.







                                                              Dinner with the love of my life

One last day at the beach..

We went hiking one day, so fun!

Love him.

It was a very good trip.

I'm so thankful for my husband.