Creativity and Food

It about time!

It seems as though just about everyone posts something about pinterest  or has something from their blog posted on pinterest.

I know I'm guilty of it!

In fact I'm sure I'm guilty of a lot...but we won't get into too much of that. ;)

At first when pinterest was blooming I didn't want to have anything to do with it. Not because it was a bad or terrible sight, but because I didn't trust myself with all those pictures and links of things that I would possibly be obsessed with and then I would have to add that to my guilty list....

Welllllll.....

It's on my guilty list.

I probably spend more time than I should scanning the main page of pinterest and 'pinning' everything that I think is a neat craft idea or could be a great recipe to try.

And for just about everyone who knows me knows I love to get into a creative tizzy to the point of frustration, or that I LOVE to eat and make food. In fact it can get really crazy in the kitchen if you combine the two:
Creativity AND food.

It could be dangerous.

Mostly because somehow cooking in the kitchen can transport me into a sort of trans and give me relief and peace and then can instantly turn into a chore or stress when my creativity kicks in or I'm missing a vital ingredient.

To get to the point: I have decided to share some of my own creative recipes for rotisserie chicken.

On pinterest I found a pin for "52 uses for Rotisserie Chicken" from a food blogger "Inspired by e-recipe cards.com" ( click here for their site ).

Some of them sounded pretty delicious, genius, or that I'd like to try such as:

1. Making your Own Chicken Stock
2. Chicken Spread Sliders
3. Mom's Chicken Salad
4. Cajun Chicken Salad
5. Chicken Pot Pie/ Chicken and Biscuits 

...But some of the others just didn't match up with my pallet.

And so I decided to post some of my own that I've found have turned out really good and are very versatile and easy.

When my husband and I needed lunch while we were at my dad's chiropractic office volunteering (check him out on wellness.com here!) I went down to the nearest Safeway.

I was looking for food that would last through the weekend since my husband and I were going to be traveling for his physical therapy appointment. I saw the rotisserie chicken and have always wanted to buy one, especially when I used to work for Wal-Mart and I was tortured with the delicious aroma every time someone came through my line buying one. But it always seemed like too much chicken for two people.

WRONG!

It was perfect.

A 7-8 dollar chicken (they were more pricey at Safeway) lasted for about 3 meals for 2 people.

I also bought tortillas, salad, caeser dressing, two yoplait parfaits, and of course the chicken for chicken wraps for lunch.

BOOM!

Meal number one.

The next meal was that night when Dax and I had arrived to our destination.
I took some pre-squeezed lemon juice (approximation: 1 lemon worth)
About a cup of shredded chicken
Bow-tie noodles
1 can of diced tomatoes
Mrs Dash seasoning (to taste)
Poultry Seasoning (to taste)
Lemon garlic seasoning (to taste)
A little olive oil
and since I just go crazy and start throwing in things I probably threw in a few other seasonings that I don't remember.
First I boiled the noodles.
Next I warmed up the couple of teaspoons of olive oil and threw in the chicken.
Thirdly I added the lemon diced tomatoes and seasoning until it all smelled heavenly.
I might have even added some basil flavored olive oil...just a teaspoon.
Some pepper may have been involved as well as the other seasonings and then mixed with a half of a box of bow tie noodles and there you have it: A refreshing meal that made you want more than you made.

Have a go with it and maybe go a little extra crazy on it and be creative.

And the third meal was Chicken Salad. If you have always had your chicken salad from canned chicken- after this you will no longer buy that canned junk! Just pre-shred all your chicken and it'll be just as quick!
I used:
 honey crisp apples
black grapes ( I think they look more like really dark purple grapes. They're large, sweet, and crispy)
Mayo (not as much as you'd think. I think we usually stick more on the canned to kind of get rid of that weird taste but with this all you really need is a little mayonnaise. It is to taste but from experience add a very small amount and then add more.)
and some crescent rolls.
Simple, pretty healthy, and super delicious!

P.S. Try this tongue twister for a good laugh:  Which Wrist Watches Are Swiss Wrist Watches.

Take a laugh on me.

M.E.G

P.S. I decided that my blogs are like my brain: all over the place. Therefore I will finish more of Dax and my story on a post all it's own.

  XOXOXO

The Party of Spring and the Dawn of Fall

It is the first of October today!

First I was excited for September because that is the month where I went from a Princess to a Queen when I married my betrothed the "Beast".

Now I am excited for October because I get to dress up in all my cute fall outfits, wear my bat or ghost earrings, wear the Disney shirt the beast and I got from our Honeymoon to Disneyland last year, the house begins to smell like cookies, and everywhere is a sign that the Halloween section of every store blew up on peoples yards and in their houses!

Of course October is not only a month for the creepy and sneaky but a time to let your imagination roll and the beginning of many feasts and family time.

What are you going to be for Halloween?

I am going to be a Porcelain Doll! I'll post pictures when the end of the month comes around!

A couple Days ago Dax- my husband or the Beast- and I went camping in the beautiful wonders of one of God's most magnificent creations: NATURE!

Sure it wasn't some extravagant place like Yellowstone or Glacier National Park, or even Zion National Park or the Redwoods in California just outside of Yosemite. Sure it was only 15-ish minutes just outside of home town about 2-3 miles from a local Lake, BUT we only payed 35 dollars for food, it was free camping, and Dax and I were alone to enjoy each others company. Here's what my husband said about our trip:

"Thursday afternoon Megan picked me up a little early from work and we drove out towards Lake Mary and went camping together. That night we played card games while our hobo dinners cooked in the hot coals of our fire and the read our scriptures together and then found out how hard it is to sleep without a pad underneath our sleeping bag. Friday we had breakfast and then read The Host together for a couple hours. We didn't sleep that well so we took a nap and then went on a hike. We had a picnic, played a long intense game of chess and laughed together then hiked back to our camp. We read some more, talked about all sorts of things and then roasted hot dogs over the fire and enjoyed dinner while talking some more. Later that night we read our scriptures, read our book and then tried to go to sleep. Through out the night we heard all sorts of sounds, wolves howling, deer calls and then annoying people blaring their bass music. We survived the night however and enjoyed breakfast burritos early this morning with a warm cup of hot chocolate. We then packed up camp and ended our trip.

I truly enjoyed this time I had to send with my wonder wife. Every day both of our attention is divided with so many people and things going on around us. To have her with me and no one else was wonderful. She is my best friend and I am so grateful to have her in my life. I love you Megan!"

 Our first fire was started by the Beast with ease. Remember one of the definitions of beast? "Someone who is good at something, so much so that it exceeds human comprehension making them 'non-human' or 'beastly'." ? Well our first night camping Dax did just that. I spent all day making sure we got all the necessary  things packed in our car (more like thrown in the back of the car because I didn't feel like being neat and I was running late) before we left like T.P. or food. There were just a few food items we still had to pick up at the store. I was going to pick him up around 3:30pm so we'd have enough time...

I didn't pick him up until closer to 5:30...

OH....and it was beginning to sprinkle.

So far this camping trip was not turning out right. We arrived at our camping spot at about 6 and we got the fire started and the tent set up and our tin foil or hobo dinners on the coals right under a flaming log, by 6:50pm.

BOOYA!

As we played the card game, Speed 4 or 5 times in a row we began to smell all of the deliciousness wrapped up in our tin foil.

Our marinated hamburgers with cheese stuffed in the middle.

Our frozen mixed vegetables with little cubes of butter melting on-top of them.

and our french fries that outlines all of the juicy goodness.

It was tantalizing. Our mouths watering like the hungry savage humans we were...well we could at least pretend to be savage humans since we were in the wilderness.

After dinner we brushed our teeth and got ready for bed which had only one sleeping bag, the tent, and a tarp between us and the floor. I didn't bring any padding because they would overlap in this two-man tent, or a man and a woman tent because I don't think two men would typically want to sleep that close to each other.
Dax said we could have just put it under the tent but that he didn't blame me because he was working while I was running around like a crazy person trying to get everything done

*facepalm*

Next morning was cereal, reading the Host, and then nap time.

Although our home town doesn't have any wolves, as was declared by know it all almost brother-in-law, -insert malicious smile here-there are coyotes and they sound similar enough so who cares? They were creatures of the night who were howling and keeping Dax and I awake as they were after a poor little frightened Elk who also kept bugling.

The circle of life, Megan, it's the circle of Life.

After our nap we took a little hike down a path and had a delicious picnic and a chess game which I would've won but my husband is too Beastly I suppose.

We read some more of "The Host" By Stephanie Meyer, started a fire and just waited until we were hungry enough for our favorite Johnsonville jalapeno cheddar hot dogs!

More people ended up coming Friday night and ended up blasting their music from the time we were having dinner at about 6:30 to when I woke up at 1am having to go to the bathroom from all the pressure being put on my bladder because of the hard ground.

The trip was over too soon but Dax and I were ready to sleep on our bed that feels like clouds once again. Maybe we'll make this a tradition and go at the beginning of Fall every year. I love you too Dax!

The continuous story:

The Party of Spring had finally arrived and Belle was anxious and nervous all at the same time. He was expecting her. Adam was expecting her. THE PRINCE WAS EXPECTING HER! Every cell of her body it seemed was under attack as she walked slowly to the village. Perhaps a little too slow for she was going to be late.

At the top of the hill overlooking the village and the valley, Belle looked down at all the lights warmly glowing, inviting her closer and out of the chill of the night.

"Here goes nothing," Belle whispered to herself before descending down into the town.

Others were already there laughing and playing games with each other. There were streamers all over in no real pattern at all. Everyone it seemed was wearing a strangely shaped hat, such as the ones worn by Sir. Walter Disney's adviser the Mad Hatter.  There was a long table in the middle of the square that was adorned with many different shaped tea pots and cups. The table had other things on it besides the tea party decorations. It had cakes and punch, cookies and milk, coffee cake and lemon bars, and a smoldering jar of what only could be homemade root beer.

Belle had always been fascinated by the new found foggy drink. The fog was cold as it came out of the top of the root beer container and it felt like air but you could see it. The fog would ooze out the top and over the sides of the container as though a witch had brewed it herself. Belle immediately went to go run her fingers across the fog when she tripped and spilled half the root beer all over the cobble stone street.

Belles face flushed red hot and she looked around. Everyone was still laughing and playing games and hadn't noticed her embarrassing and clumsy moment. Or so she thought...

When she turned back around there he was. Prince Adam.

The Prince had noticed she had spilled and had immediately come to her rescue and began to help her clean it up.

Belle was fascinated with how quick to action the Prince was with helping her and her heart oozed with affection just like the root beer had on the floor. He hardly said anything while they cleaned. Belle, out of embarrassment was the only voice by the table. He didn't make fun of her. He didn't seem bothered in anyway that she was a clown, and Belle began to realize that she was falling in love with him.

Belle and Adam stayed by the table all night talking and nothing else seemed to exist. Not even time. The sound of the people playing was hollow, as though you were listening to them from one end of a tunnel. They were a murmur against the love glassed eyes and the sound of each others voices.  Eventually the sound drowned itself completely out as everyone slowly began to leave, unaware to the two sitting with one another  wrapped into their conversation. They were instant friends, comfortable with talking about anything even though they were just barely strangers.

Belle loved talking with him and felt like she had known him much longer than a couple of days. She felt comfortably wrapped in his words as though she had a blanket draped around her shoulders. Suddenly there was a tap on her shoulder and when she turned around it was her Earthly father.

"Hi Daddy," Belle said suddenly realizing that there wasn't anyone else there and most of the lights had gone out.

"Do you know what time it is?" Her father asked with a serious expression but his tone was light and so were his eyes.

"well...no I guess I don't." Belle replied

"It's about 2 o' clock in the morning, my dear. Come let me take you back home in the carriage," Her father said sweetly pulling his daughter up from the chair. "I'll be waiting int he carriage," Belles Father said as he winked to her.

"I guess I should go too," The Prince said shifting his weight uncomfortably. He lifted up his arms and Belle leaned a little forward.

"Maybe he is just talking with his arms," Belle thought. "Maybe he doesn't  want to give me a hug," Belle straightened and Adam put his arms down.

"That's probably a good idea," Belle said but neither of them moved.

"Um...we'll have to go to the theatre sometime to watch the play I was telling you about," Adam said making Belle feel a little confused when he put his arms up again.

"Yes, that'd be nice," Belle said unsure what to do.

"Well," Adam said clearing his throat, "Goodnight," He said lifting his arms the third time but this time he moved towards her and Belle moved towards him and they hugged.

It was only a one armed hug but it made Belles heart race.

To be Continued...

M.E.G.

The Paper Flower I had made Dax for our anniversary.

(More on that later)

 

The Belle, her Bag, and her Beast- Blog Day 3

HELLO!

I didn't have anytime to post yesterday because....

 I made this!

 The front of the bag!

 The back of the bag!

The insides of the bag!

That's right folks! I made this bag without a pattern! I just cut and sew, cut and sew! I still don't think pictures do it justice but it still looks pretty amazing, wouldn't you say? I really needed a bag for church to carry my brand new button closed set of scriptures that my husband the "beast" gave me for Christmas last year. I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I got the idea to make my own bag from church last week. There was a cute little girl in the class I was helping in and she had a bag that her mom had made. Then the wheels began to turn. A few days later and walla! Out from the right section of my brain arose my creation! MUHAHAHAHA! 

*clears throat* 

Moving on...

On the front of the bag there is two kinds of fabric that I had to sew together. My first mistake was following the #1 sewing rule that my mother infused into my bwain: "Right sides together". 

Oh yes...

We are breaking the law here with this bag! 

In order to create the cute little ruffles of the front I had to sew outside the lines of sewing form and sew backsides together! 

*gasp*

Then to have a more spill proof inside of the bag I added a silky backside to my front, and a little fluff in-between for a more lovable and squishy bag. 

I wanted a large pocket on the bag, I ran out of brown fabric, and I didn't want just the plain green on the back and SO the lacy pocket on the back was born!

And the back somehow ended up being smaller than the front....

MORE GREEN FABRIC!

I added a bit of the stretchier green fabric to the sides, added a cell phone pocket, and little pencil pockets and

POOF!

Somehow my ugly looking bag turned pretty! I braided the handle with more green fabric, took pictures, and  posted them! Hows that for someone who doesn't really know how to sew and didn't follow a pattern?

Alright! Enough of the bag and back to story time!

The Next week...

The young woman went into the village to deposit some of her gold coins into the treasury and then be nice and pretend to go to her sisters class to walk her sister home. The young woman's real intent was to have an opportunity to talk to the mysterious young man she had seen talking to the people of the church and later in her house when she was drenched from the rain.

On her way to the village, through the trees and bright green grass, she thought about the promise her father had given her. If she would "look in a different spot there would be a man prepared just for her, right around the corner." 

Butterflies exploded in the young woman's chest and she smiled. Slowly the smile faded as a new thought came into her mind. She had been told by another friend that he had a bowed and shortened right leg and the young woman knew that, that kind of operation from the miracle  man would be very expensive. Could she live that tight? Could she live through that? Was she strong enough? 

The wind seemed to blow cold around her and her pace slowed, almost to a stop. This thought saddened her deeply and she hadn't even talked to the man yet! Suddenly her heart burned with love and in her mind came a strong thought of "yes you can! You were made for this". And that horrid thought never bothered her again. 

The young woman bound up and over the flowered hill and right into the middle of town. She deposited her gold coins and went straight to the school house. The town clock tower rung and it was only 5 minutes before the class would start! The young woman panicked! She couldn't just turn around and go home, that would take to much time! However, she could very well go in, what if the man thought she was following him? 

Of course she was, but he didn't need to know that! 

She was only supposed to be there right before class got out!

With a large breath of courage the young woman walked into the building and sat in the back to not draw too much attention to herself, and wait, until the class was over and all the other students exited the building. 

The end of class came by the ring of a bell and all the students rushed out, except one. The young woman recognized this boy from church and internally groaned. 

"He's suspicious!" She thought

"Hey, Belle. What are you doing here?" the boy asked.

"Oh you know...just walking my sister home, Simon" the young woman said quickly to try and end the conversation so he would leave, giving her plenty of room to embarrass herself in front of an audience of one. 

"Oh, that's nice." The boy said and then continued to stand there. Belle was on the verge of shooing him out when he left on his own. 

Now what? 

Belles sister exited the room to give Belle sometime but she didn't even know what to say. The man was slowly turning pages in his binder and Belle knew she better say something quick because she knew he was already aware of her awkward presence. 

There was a song she had heard once from the land of Sir. Walter Disney, and so she improvised. 

"Um," She began and the man looked up at her with is beautiful caramel eyes and her heart just about sped right out of her chest. Her palms began to sweat and the more she dragged out the unintelligent word 'um' the more stupid she felt and the more confused the man looked. 

"supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?" Belle asked only a foot or two away from the man. The mans eyebrows furrowed and Belle envisioned her face in her palm.

"Excuse me?" The man said his voice as deep as a canyon and as strong as a river. His rain kissed earth colored hair, his olive toned skin, the soft caramel eyes, and his kind deep voice were all a recipe to make her heart melt. And now she added the wrong ingredient: the pudding of stupidity. 

So to make things better she had to explain herself. 

"You know," Belle said her face feeling as though she had stuck it in a bakers oven. "In the song it says that if you don't know anything good to say to just say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and you'll sound smart anyways?" Belle attempted and the man laughed. "But that's the problem," Belle thought to herself. "You don't sound smart either way and how do you know he's even heard that song?" 

The man didn't seem to mind. 

The two talked for a little more than an hour before the man said he had to return the carriage to his mother and he left without any other knowledge then each others names and that Belle was a love stuck woman who was obsessed with the land of Disney. 

That night, much to the surprise of Belle was a letter waiting for her from the man she had met earlier that day.

Dear Miss Belle,

If you are not otherwise engaged on the week of the break for Spring I would very much enjoy your company. 

If it is of convince for you, please meet me the Monday next, in the middle of town for the Party of Spring.

Cordially signed,

Prince Adam

Excited Belle began to prepare for the party and over and over the letter played in her mind:

Prince Adam, Prince Adam, had her prince finally come?

To be continued...

M.E.G

Tales of the Belle and her Beast- Blog Day 2

First of all I would like to say it probably took me five minutes to find the page to write this post!
Second I would like to say that I call my husband a Beast in the way Urban Dictionary describs it:

1. Someone who is good at something, so much so that it exceeds human comprehension making them 'non-human' or 'beastly'.
2. Someone with a dominant presence. He is the only one I can see because he is such a "big" part of my life. 
3. A cool and sexy man. "He's such a Beast".

and then just for fun:

     4. A person or thing that is ripped, tough, and has an intimidating presence.

WARNING! If you click the Urban Dictionary link, just be careful. This website is definitions of slang words and some people use profanity.

Third- I was going to entitle this post "Tales of a Wild Child" at first because I am currently in love with a song called "Wild child" By Enya. This is some of my happy music! Go ahead and take a listen:

Fourth (and last before I actually get to the story), since Blogs are about making things up check out what i just recently made!

Homemade Poptarts

Peabody’s Pie Crust Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups sifted flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons cold water

Directions:

Combine flour and salt in bowl. Add shortening or butter and blend with fork, pastry cutter or your fingers until mixture is fairly coarse. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, gently mixing dough after each addition until dough forms a ball. (Dough can also be prepared in food processor. Use the pulse button just until it starts to pull away from the sides. Be very careful not to overwork the dough.) Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll into a square/rectangle. Cut out long strips about 2 inches wide, and 3 inches long. Repeat till you run out of dough.

Peabody is another blogger so I'd go check them out also! I found their crust recipe from yet another blogger via pintrest called Bake Me More. The only thing I didn't like about these recipes is it didn't say how many delicious pastries it made! I found out it made approximately 7, and for the 8 almost 9 people in my family that was barely one per person, which after you eat them you'll find out why 7 is definitely not enough! That's about one box of those cardboard pop tarts! Alot of my family thought they were even better then the almost too sugary toaster stroodles! When I try them again I'll make more and maybe even some chocolate filled ones for my dad who doesn't like seeds.

Homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts

makes approximately 7 tarts

Don't worry if yours don't turn out like the above...because mine certainly didn't!

Ingredients:

• Pie crust, refrigerated or homemade (see above for Peabody's Crust)
• Jam or Preserves (my other mother, Mama G, just gave me homemade raspberry and strawberry jam that I used and if possible I would suggest using a homemade recipe!)
• Glaze or Egg wash (I just used the glaze which is below)
• Sparkling Sugar (optional, but it makes them more pretty)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. ("I went by the temp setting on the box, the original recipe calls for 450." says Bake Me More)

If using refrigerated pre-made pie crust:

 Unroll one of the pie crusts and square the edges. Cut into rectangles. Place 1 tsp of jam in the center of a rectangle and top with another piece of crust. Crimp all four edges. Repeat until all of the pie crust is used. I also took the rounded edges that I cut off and rolled them together to form more pop-tarts. They weren’t as “pretty” as the others, but I hate to waste food.

If Using Peabody's homemade Crust:

Lightly flour any surface to roll out your dough and cut into rectangles or squares like in the recipe above. I just used a butter knife and cut all the way down, but if you have a rectangle cookie cutter I suggest using that instead, until all the dough is used up. Take one pie crust rectangle, fill with a tsp of jam. Cover with another piece of pie crust. Crimp all four edges. Repeat until you run out of pie crust. Bake at 450F for abou7-8 minutes or until slightly brown. Set aside to cool. Once cooled, pour glaze on to Pop-tart and decorate with sparkling sugar.

Bake the pop-tarts for about 7 – 8 minutes or until slightly brown. Once cool, pour glaze over and decorate with sugar. If you don’t want to add extra sugar with the glaze, you can use an egg wash on the tops  with some white sugar.

To Make the Glaze:

• 1 cup powder sugar
• milk to thin

Place powdered sugar in bowl. Pour milk slowly until it has a consistency of really thick syrup.

Okay now moving on, if you are still with me after this super long post. 

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there lived a young woman. She was an ordinary looking girl, or so she thought. She was of far more precious worth than even she realized as she was the daughter of a king and queen. She could not see her father the king, but she could talk to him as often as she wanted and could feel his presence. 

One day, the young woman was distraught. She would go out and wade in the lake to wait for her prince to come but all she could get were frogs! In disgust she would head back to her home and talk to her father. 

"Father," She would say. "I am sick of all these frogs! I want a prince who can take me to your beautiful Castle and we can all be a family forever someday! If I'm going to fall in love again he better be the right one! He better want a family, he better love me second to you, father, he better be strong, especially spiritually, and he better know where his priorities are!" 

The King, although the young woman could not see him, smiled all knowingly and told his daughter to be patient, she just had to look in a different place, and her prince would be waiting there, prepared just for her, around the corner. 

A few months went by and the young woman kept wading in the lake waiting for her prince. Another frog came up to her and wanted to hold her hand. The young woman didn't know it was a frog and loved having the attention. The more she learned about the frog and his nasty habits of eating flies for dinner she knew she couldn't be in a relationship with him. She realized that it felt nice to be admired by someone but it wasn't worth the slime. 

And then it began to rain. Hard. 

In a rush the young woman began to run towards the warmth and dry home. Inside it was warm and comfortable and bright. There was a young man there whom the young woman had seen before talking to all the people of the church about the adventure he had gone on. The young woman in her heart knew she wanted to talk to him, but she was wet and cold and didn't want to embarrass  herself in front of everyone. When she had gotten into a clean dress and was dry she went back to talk to him but he was gone. The young woman went up to her sister who had told her that he was going to be in the village to teach her class all of the next week. Excited the young woman prepared for what she was going to do. But no one expected what would happen next.

To be continued...

M.E.G

  

Blog Day One

To be honest I've always thought about having a blog.

Why haven't I before?

I haven't made a blog before because I have a hard time thinking about what to write in my own journal let alone a blog! Besides my journal isn't read by most people anyway and if it was I'm sure people would fall asleep.

How to make a Blog sound interesting with a splash of humor to keep the reader well informed and entertained: make it up.

 In my case that is exactly why I have created a blog this time: because I've made some things up and they turned out to be beautiful or tasty! Here's what I made for my own wedding:

eh? eh? Pretty cool huh? Did it add a little more stress to already having to plan a wedding? Possibly, but at least I felt like I was really apart of my wedding reception, not just the main event- with my cute husband of course.

Speaking of cute husbands Dax is the best little booger a girl could pick! Get it? Okay moving on...

When I first met Dax all I knew was that I needed to talk to him and boy did we talk! You couldn't get us to STOP talking! I was working for wal-mart at the time and sometimes I'd be working on only 5 or so hours of sleep because we'd be talking to the wee hours of the morning. He's my best friend and I don't know what I'd do without him. Maybe for another post I'll write out the whole story of our first year of being married but for now so long, farewell and a very good day to you!

-M.e.g