Honeymoon Recap Day 3

Honeymoon Report Day 3. Woke up to snow over Lake Louise. It was beautiful.
Went driving. Headed west but a crazy snow storm changed the route. Ty enjoys reading every French road sign aloud. Trouble is he does so with a Spanish accent. I am going to go ahead and say that's not correct. We saw some mountain goats in the wild. Amazing.  We were asked where we are from. We said Texas. They said they knew it, we have very thick accents turns out.

After waking up to snow at Lake Louise, we headed for British Columbia to see a couple of lakes and waterfalls, but mostly to eat at a place recommended by our waiter called The Truffle Pigs.

 

We made it about 10 miles, it turned into a freaking blizzard with nasty icy roads, and because we were both traumatized from watching a reality show about tow trucks in Canada who respond to bad accidents in the snow, we headed back East!

We decided that Plan B would be to drive along the Bow Valley Parkway between Lake Louise and Banff.  It was an absolutely beautiful drive. The highlight was when we came upon a herd of mountain goats.

 

 

Then someone needed a pit stop....

 We grabbed lunch in Banff and did a bit of checking out Banff.  Then we drove over to some lakes just outside of town...more picture perfect scenery.

Then we headed back to Lake Louise where we bummed around the hotel, had dinner, and popped the cork on the free champagne they left for the newlyweds.  Neither of us were too impressed, we're more whiskey drinkers.....you can take the kids out of the country.... 

Leona's Quilt

I've got a favorite blanket.  I've had it since I was about 13.  It's two colors I'm not particularly fond of--yellow and purple.  It's torn.  Tattered.  Stained.  But I'm here to tell you, I'd fight to the death to keep that quilt.

My childhood best friend's grandmother, Leona, made it for me.  She was constantly making quilts.  The day she gave this one to me, she took me into one of the storage rooms she had, which was completely stacked to the roof with quilts, waiting to find a new home.  Her front room always had scraps of material from her cutting thousands--heck,  maybe millions--of small squares.  Every color, every pattern, every size you could imagine.  And she never told me her secret, but I am here to tell you, that old quilt is the warmest blanket I have ever used.

I'd known Leona as long as I can remember.  Growing up, I spent lots of time at her house with my friend.  I knew stories behind almost all of the trinkets she had lining her shelves.  My class picture was included on the wall with those of her own grand kids.  I knew to lookout for her peacocks in the yard. If I was spending the night, I always tried to wrangle my way into the bed in the back bedroom because that room used to be a porch that they turned into a room, and I thought that was awesome.

My absolute favorite Leona story happened a few years ago.  After she managed to high center her car on a median in town, her sons told her it was time to give up her keys.  She told them she was tired from all of the commotion and they could talk about it the next day.  So, as promised, the sons showed up the next day, expecting a fight.  When they arrived, she just handed the keys over.  Bullet dodged, they thought.....until they saw her cruising down the boulevard the next day.  She had gone to the lock smith and had about 5 extra sets of keys made.  The sons, not to be outdone, unhooked her battery cable, sure this would solve the problem.....until they saw her cruising down the boulevard the next day.  When her car wouldn't start, she called the nice young man at the auto shop, who drove over and took a look at it for her.  Talk about resourceful!

This week, Leona will be laid to rest after 92 years on this earth.  She was quite a lady.  And I hope one day when it is my turn to be remembered, I will be seen as even a fraction as warm as Leona was, both because of her personality and those quilts.  May she rest in peace.

Things I'm Loving

I thought it would be fun to share some of the things I'm currently enjoying this Friday.

*It's Friday.  Enough said.

*  These bowls.  We got so many absolutely amazing wedding presents that I could never try to pick a favorite.  But if I had to pick what we use the most often, it might be these babies.  What's even better, they're cheap.  And, alas, I didn't even register for them.....someone smarter than me must have known they are awesome.

*  This kid.  I mean, seriously, how does Little Cowboy not crack you up in this hat with his gun.  This was his attire for Christmas Break.  Side note:  He's got his first basketball game on Saturday.  I'm dying to hear how this goes.  Perhaps we will do an "Ask Little Cowboy" about it.

* This song.  I heard it on the radio yesterday and rushed right to iTunes to get it purchased.  I absolutely love it!  Here's my favorite verse. "Here's to this place I've found, the love I've known, the earth and sky that I call home.  Here's to the things I need, bigger than me, and the moments I find myself right where I'm supposed to be."

* This  shirt.  Super Mom and ND Friend got me this for Christmas and it is hands down, no question, absolutely the most comfortable shirt on the planet.  I would wear it every minute of every day if I could.

* Not doing Project 333 anymore.  I waived the white flag.  Remember when I said I was going to wear only 33 items of clothing for three months?  Screw that.  I made myself last a month for good measure, but I hated it.  I felt blah and frumpy and just wanted to dress cute, dang it.  Plus, I got lots of adorable things for Christmas that I just had to wear.

*  The Christmas gifts we made.  Following Super Mom's lead from last year, we decided to make homemade vanilla for Christmas gifts this year.  It was really easy....you just put vanilla beans in vodka and let them soak for a month or two (shaking every week).  Then we put them into jars, labeled them, and off they went to their recipients!

Newlywed in the Kitchen Recipe #8: PW's Salisbury Steak Meatballs

Listen up, kids.  This is hands down my favorite Newlywed recipe so far.  I honestly think I could eat this every single week!  It's easy to make and you're gonna absolutely love it.  It's from The Pioneer Woman so I should have known to expect big things.

The Boy from Texas Rating:  4.

The Boy from Texas Comments:  I mean, the meatballs are really good, I'm not sure about these noodles.

Pioneer Woman's Salisbury Steak Meatballs

The Pioneer Woman did a great job not only giving you the recipe, but also giving you step by step instructions with pictures!  To get the info, go to the PW website! 

 I followed her recipe with just a couple of changes.....(1) I added in 1/4 C of shredded Parmesan cheese to the meatball mixture....cheese makes things better; (2) I'll add in a chopped green bell pepper when I make this again just to get some veggies in there; (3) You know I don't care for onions, so I left those babies out; (4) I didn't use any "Kitchen Bouquet" because I don't know what that stuff is; and lastly (5) I used parsley out of the spice rack we got for our wedding....ain't nobody got time for chopping fresh parsley.

Honeymoon Recap Day 2

Honeymoon Update Day 2:  Rental car place gave us a free upgrade to an SUV for our honeymoon. White for the bride. We much prefer speed limits in Texas. I am glad to be a runner as that helps with this miles to kilometer conversion. Got an upgrade to a lake view honeymoon suite at Chateau Lake Louise. Hiked for 3 hours with the most beautiful views I have ever seen. Fancy dinner at which Ty said "I envision places like this serving meat and potatoes, not...peas." That's my husband.

As soon as we got a glimpse of Lake Louise, we knew that we totally chose the right honeymoon destination.  It was hands down the most beautiful place I had ever seen.

 

The upgrade to the lake-view honeymoon suite was just the icing on the cake.  I'm telling you, The Boy from Texas spent hours just looking out the window at the beauty of the lake.

We did a couple hour hike around the lake, which gave us awesome views of hotel, the mountains, the lake, and the glacier.

Love this shot...see the hotel?

The glacier

My favorite pose.

I love this one....look how little TBFT looks!

 You've just never seen water that blue.

 

 

All smiles.  Love that guy.

Look at that reflection!

 After our hiking adventure, we headed to the lake view saloon for dinner and drinks.  It was the perfect end to the perfect day.  And the free dessert didn't hurt anything either.

Honeymoon Recap Day 1

You knew it was coming....the honeymoon recap.  I just can't tell you what an amazing time we had in Canada.  We could not have picked a better honeymoon location for us.  It was laid back, absolutely beautiful, there was plenty to do, but we were not overwhelmed and rushing around.  I cannot recommend a trip to Alberta highly enough.

Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada

Additionally, for anyone planning a trip to Alberta, here is some info about where we stayed, ate, etc.

Hotels

*  Four Points by Sheraton. We just needed a hotel by the airport and I have a friend who could get us a deal at Sheraton.  Nothing special about this one.
*  Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. It was expensive, we didn't love the restaurants, but man, there are just no words to describe this view.  Spring for the lake view room.  Worth every penny.
* Banff International Hotel. This hotel was affordable and on the main street.  The wireless was sub-par and the rooms were kind of dated.  But we didn't spend much time in the room, so it was fine.  I'd probably try to find somewhere nicer if we went back.
* Mader Ranches. This one isn't open to the public...it's the Crazy Canadian's parents!  They hosted us for a night and it was a great time.

Restaurants

* Mountain Restaurant. We were starving by the time we got to Lake Louise.  This as a normal diner type restaurant--the chicken stir fry was decent.  Not great, not terrible.
*  Glacier Saloon.  This was the only half way affordable restaurant at Chateau Lake Louise.  It wasn't great either....average food, a lot of strange options, very expensive.  But that view?  Can't beat it.
*  Truffle Pigs.  This is a little joint in the village of Field, British Columbia.  The food was excellent--we both had a bbq sandwich and it was the first meal we really enjoyed in Canada!
* Melissa's Missteak.  Brunch.  Do it.  We did it twice.  Seriously, amazing food.  The Boy from Texas had steak and eggs one day and huevos rancheros the next.  I had french toast one day and nutella and banana crepes the next.  I'd go back right now if I could.
*  The Grizzly House.  This is a must-do fondue restaurant.  Was it the best food we had while we were there?  No.  But the atmosphere was awesome!  Definitely put this one on your list.
*  Saltlik Steakhouse.  Here it was.  Best food we had in Canada.  Absolutely amazing steaks are found here.  We didn't try it until our last night in Banff, but had we found it earlier, we would have been repeat customers.

Activities/destinations (You'll read more and see pictures in the coming posts)

* Hiking around Lake Louise.  Must do!
*  The Natural Bridge.  Definitely worth the drive to BC.
*  Emerald Lake.  It was neat, but you could leave this out.
*  Bow Valley Parkway.  We drove this two days--it's where we saw the wildlife you'll see later--it was amazing!
* Massages at Mountain Spa.  I'm not a huge massage person, but The Boy from Texas says it was really good.
* Browsing the shops on Main Street Banff.  Pretty cool to see the different shops.
* Tour the grounds at the Fairmont Banff Springs. Beautiful and free to walk around!
* Banff Gondola It's expensive, but the view from the top is just spectacular.  Leave it on your list.
* Drive to Longview.  We wanted to head to this area because Lonesome Dove was filmed here.  Leave this off your list--there are much prettier areas and more fun things to do.
* Tour of Mader Ranches.  Either meet the Crazy Canadian and invite yourself to visit her family's ranch, or find some other rancher to show you around.  It was really fun!

One sidenote....we were there during their "off season" between the summer folks and the skiing folks.  Because of that, a lot of things we wanted to do were actually closed.  The up side, however, was that there were no lines, no crowds, and we got upgraded rooms.  Here are the things we wanted to do, but were unable to.

* Ice Walk
* Glacier sky walk
* Lake Moraine
* Skiing at Lake Louise
* Banff Radium hot springs.


Each day, I posted a daily summary on Facebook to keep our friends and family abreast of our adventures.  I figure I'll start off each post with those and then go into more detail and share lots of photos! With that....here was Day 1.

Report Day 1: Made it to Calgary. Bags overweight. Probably all my boots. Saw Brooke Shields in the airport. Very tall. She wore a hat. She said hi. Got quizzed on Ebola at customs. "You know why I am asking these questions, you are from Texas." We passed. Had a nice cabbie but he smelled like curry. No one has said "eh" yet. Kinda disappointed about that. Off to Lake Louise now.

Happy 30th to.....

....the Pinky to my Brain, my other half, best running buddy, skating partner, favorite roommate, matron of honor, and best friend.

You break my canister lids, burn the popcorn, color code your closet, read for hours, are not a lake person, sit in silence, threaten to sneak out of our house when I send you to bed, eat strange items on your pizza, encourage me to run faster to get pictures of the naked people, suck at ice skating, let me eat the leftover food from your dates, want to pick up hitchhikers who don't know the words, and puke in the bathtub (because it's cleaner than the toilet).....and I wouldn't trade a minute of it for anything.

I am sure glad you were born 30 years ago today, and that somehow the quiet bookworm ended up sharing a basement dorm room with the loud mouth football fan.  Couldn't have worked out much better.

What a ride.....our husbands should probably be worried about what we'll pull in the next 30 years!

Newlywed in the Kitchen Recipe #7: "Homemade" Chicken Noodle Soup

Disclaimer:  I suppose because I didn't actually hand-make the noodles or boil bones in order to create my own chicken broth, this is not technically "homemade" but it's close enough for this girl.

Last month, The Boy from Texas wasn't feeling very well, so we nixed the plan to cook fajitas and decided that I'd whip up some chicken noodle soup instead.  This is something that is quick, easy, healthy, and cures the sick (in my non-medical opinion).  I served it with equally "homemade" Jiffy cornbread, which The Boy from Texas claims is the best thing I cook.

The Boy from Texas Rating:  4.

The Boy from Texas Comments:  What?  A 4 is pretty good for chicken.

"Homemade" Chicken Noodle Soup

2 boxes of reduced sodium Swanson chicken broth

Carrots (I buy the ones already cut in "chips" and use half of the small bag)

6 stalks of celery

Parsley

Minced garlic (just a smidge....like maybe 8 of the little pieces)

Pepper

Season salt

Bay leaf

Rotisserie chicken

Egg noodles

Bring chicken broth, carrots and celery to a boil.  Add in all of the spices to taste.  Let boil for about 20 minutes.  Remove all of the meat from the chicken and dump that in the pot.  Allow to boil for another 15 minutes or so.  Add in egg noodles and allow to boil for about 10 minutes.  Viola.



15 in '15

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something.  So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make new mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.Whatever it is you're scared of doing, do it.  Make your mistakes, next year and forever.”  ~Neil Gaiman

Happy New Year!  Is it just me, or does everyone else equally love January 1?  The start of a new year, clean slate, the world is an oyster....all that jazz!

Flashback to when we were fun....now we're old and tired.

Y'all know how much I love lists.  I decided that in order to keep myself motivated this year,  I would come up with 15 things to do in 2015.  Here they are in no particular order.

1.  Visit 2 new states.  I would really like to (eventually) see all 50 states.  I figure I can pull that off if I keep adding a couple a year.  This one should be okay thanks to my job, which should be taking me a few new places this year.

2.  Print Instagram photos in Chatbooks.  Super Mom mentioned these books you can have printed of your Instagram photos.  I really want to get this done with my 365 photo challenge!  Lucky for me....College Roomie gave me gift certificates for Christmas to do just this!

3.  Read 12 more books.  I've sort of fallen off of the reading train and need to get back in gear here.  I've got a ton of books sitting on my shelf just waiting for me to get rolling!  I've got a mile long list of books to read.....I'm going to start with Max Lucado, Shauna Neiquist, and Unbroken (which I just learned about over the weekend and need to read so I can see the movie).

4.  Run another half marathon.  Every one I do makes me want to feel that way again!  I'm keeping my options open, but I'm leaning towards going back to my roots and running San Francisco in July!

5.  Take a fun trip for The Boy From Texas' 30th.  Yep....he's still 29.  Such a young 'en. I am so, so excited about this birthday trip.  We've got a few options, some big, some smaller, but regardless of where we go, I think a trip to celebrate him is in order.

6.  Plant flowers in our yard and the fun pots we got.  We got some amazingly beautiful outdoor flower pots for our wedding, so I'm really excited to do some landscaping and get those babies full of flowers!

7.  Cook 52 more recipes in the Newlywed in the Kitchen series.  My goal is one new recipe a week.  So far, I've managed to stay ahead of that, so hopefully I can continue on!

8.  Finish Uncle Black Belt's book.  This one is a major priority for  me.  We've got 7 months down, have 5 more to go.  We will have a draft by the end of the year if it kills me.

9.  Complete one Bible.com study a month.  I'm not much of a techie, but when I finally listened to my friend who suggested the bible studies on the Bible.com app, I loved it.  My goal is to do at least one study every month this year.

10.  Complete 5 Pinterest projects (other than recipes).  I pin stuff all the time that looks so cool and really doable....and then I don't ever follow through!  This year, I'm going to get my rear in gear and complete at least 5 projects!

11.  Knock off three more bucket list checkmarks.  Again, I just need some motivation to keep some checkmarks moving.  I'm hoping to knock out some good ones this year!

12.  Order books/prints/canvases of our wedding photos.  We have so many absolutely amazing photos to choose from, but I want decisions made and photos ordered!  I've got lots of friends who put this off so long that they skip right over the wedding pictures and have to put up baby photos.  I want to enjoy the wedding photos for a while!

13.  Listen to the New Testament.  A couple years ago, my church did a series called "Truth comes by hearing."  I never finished listening to the New Testament, but I will be doing that this year!  I figure that driving 45 minutes to work each day gives me the perfect time to do my listening and get this one checked off the list.

14.  Pray Novenas for 12 friends and send them notes to tell them about it.  I'm so excited about this one.....I'll be seeking intercession from different saints for different friends over the next year.

15.  Organize my pictures.  I have multiple computers with multiple folders full of multiple pictures.  It's sheer freakin' chaos.  I swear, I am going to get organized on this front if it kills me!