Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankgiving is a little different this year because we had no plans today!  Since my mother-in-law is working today, we are doing our Deminski Thanksgiving tomorrow (Friday).  We are getting together with my siblings on Saturday (and my parents are away).  So today was very relaxing and quiet.  I slept in, watched some of the Macy's parade, got out the Christmas decorations, put up some Christmas lights, and went for a walk with Sean.  It's about time for dinner now and maybe shopping?  Not sure yet...

On a more serious note, I do have so much to be thankful for -- every day -- not just Thanksgiving day.  I have had my share of hard times and tough situations but there is always hope and joy in the midst of it.  I haven't kept up with the FB thankful days or whatever you call it, so I'm just going to catch up right now...
I'm thankful for:
1.  Jesus, my Savior, Father God and Holy Spirit.
2.  Sean, my husband, my best friend who I get to share life with.
3.  My awesome sister and brother and that we get along so well.
4.  My home, shelter, provision.
5.  My wonderful in-laws and family I married in to.
6.  My sweet cat Nala.
7.  My job -- getting paid to do something that I enjoy!
8.  The gift of music - creating, performing, listening, & enjoying it.
9.  Friends - old and new.
10.  My spiritual moms - who pray for me, pray with me, love me, and are fun to hang out with!
11.  My iPhone.  I don't know how I'd live without it.  ;)
12.  My electric matress pad.  It keeps me cozy and warm at night.
13.  Organization.  It makes me happy.
14.  My parents - who raised me well.
15.  Ikea.
16.  The internet and how it connect people all over the world.
17.  My incredible church family!
18.  East Gate Church
19.  Taking pictures.
20.  Provision. 
21.   My niece who will arrive in a few weeks!
22. Life.

A (very special) Baby Shower

On November 10, we had a baby shower for my older sister, Sharon, and her baby girl.  This baby is the first niece/nephew for Sean and I and the first grandchild for my parents so it is very exciting!  I think being an aunt is the next best thing to becoming a mom myself.

Sisters.

This was the first baby shower I have planned and I couldn't have done it with the help of Sharon's good friend Susan!  She's amazing!  Thanks also to other friends who contributed food and helped!  It was so much fun!  I googled pumpkin baby shower ideas and got crafty!

I also want to give a little shout out to my sister's husband Nate for doing the invitations!  He somehow got her to take some photos holding an umbrella... :)  I love it!

Some pumpkin themed things....

You'll see I totally stole ideas for some of the following items from this blog:

I used a styrofoam egg (covered in orange tissue paper to blend in) inside pumpkin to stick the skewers in.   I wish I had added some leaves or decor around the opening.  Next time... 

Pumpkin shaped cheeseball and crackers.  (Thanks Jenn!)

Favors - Pumpkin Seeds.  It says "My little pumpkin's on its way, Thanks for sharing our special day!"

Ultrasound photo.

The incredible cake!  Made by Sharon's friend, Bonnie!

The guest of honor with only 6 1/2 weeks to go!

First diaper cake I've made.  I always thought they looked so neat at showers but had no idea how it was done.
Turns out it was very easy and fun!  You can learn SO much from Youtube.  :)

I can't wait to meet my niece this Christmas!!!  

Pumpkin Roll Recipe

Time for my monthly post!  haha  Tonight I wanted to share a favorite fall recipe.  I have always loved my mom's pumpkin roll and it's super easy to make!  Since I had two parties this weekend, it was a good reason to make some and share it with friends.  Enjoy!

Ingredients for one pumpkin roll (I recommend doubling it though!)
roll:
3 eggs
1/3 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar
 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon

filling:
6 oz cream cheese
1 cup 10x sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp butter

1.  Preheat the oven to 375.
2. Beat together the 3 eggs, pumpkin, sugar, flour, baking soda and cinnamon.
3. Spray or grease a jelly roll pan (I use a 10" x 15")
4. Spread batter in pan and bake for 15 minutes at 375*.

5. Lay out 2-3 paper towels and sprinkle with 10x sugar.
6. Loosen pumpkin roll with spatula and flip onto paper towels.  Then roll up pumpkin roll in the paper towel and let cool for 1 hour.

Make the filling:
Mix 6 oz. cream cheese and 4 TBSP butter.  Add 1 cup 10x sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla.

Unroll the pumpkin roll, spread with filling, roll it back up and wrap in saran wrap.   Refrigerate.

This was all that was left when I remembered to take a photo.

ENJOY!!  :)  YUM.

OCNJ 2012

We had a great time on vacation in OCNJ with the Deminski family+ on Aug 10-18.  Here's who went:
Mr. and Mrs. Deminski (my in-laws)
Sean and I
Ryne and Tammy (Sean's sister and brother-in-law)
Dan Slusser (our friend)
Daniel (Sean's brother)
Haley (Daniel's gf)
Nick (Sean's brother)
Mitch (Nick's friend) for the first half of the week
Sarah (Nick's friend) just for a night
Fred (Sean's cousin) for the last couple nights

We try to go every year and it's always relaxing and a great time with family and friends.  We watched some of the Olympics closing ceremony and a lot of Shark week.  We had great weather and only 1 day was not a good beach day.  Sean and I made chicken enchiladas when it was our night to cook (thanks for the recipe Laurie!).  The guys fished A LOT (I even tried and caught 4 fish! But I wouldn't touch them).  Our friends Rob and Allison were down the same week til Wed so we got to hang out with them some on the boardwalk, the beach and fishing on the dock of the bay across from the house they stayed at.
About half way through the week Sluss introduced me to the song "Call Me Maybe."  Honestly, I had never heard it and didn't even know it was a big summer hit.  I saw the Olympics swimmers version and Harvard guys version and thought we'd join the trend and make our own.  Here was the result:

Shadow Box Craft/Gift

I made my first shadow box as a wedding gift for a friend.  I thought it'd be fun to do something a little more personal in addition to the gift card I got them.  So, I saved their wedding invitation and looked for things at their wedding to add in.
Her wedding colors were black and white so I used a piece of patterned black scrap book paper for the background.  I grabbed a red rose from a bouquet (my plan was to get the groom's boutonniere but it got ruined and lost before I could).  They had Philly soft pretzels as favors so I used the wax paper from that and printed a photo from the wedding.  Then I got a little wooden S for their last name and painted it.  I played with the layout and glued it all down.
I think it's a great keepsake and would love to do it with my own wedding invitation eventually.

Shadow box with background in and items to go in.

Finished project.

What are some fun ways you have displayed your own wedding keepsakes in your home?

New Couch: Ikea Adventure

Don't you just LOVE a good deal?  It is one of the best feelings!  Another thing we have been working on this summer is selling some of our current furniture and getting new pieces that fit better in the space we have (to create more space and organization).

So on Wednesday, we sold our 5 year old couch and love seat.  I loved them and they were super comfy but we need more space in our small living room.  We had our eye on the Ikea Manstad couch.  The "L" shape provides more seating than a regular couch, it becomes a bed for guests and has storage underneath!  We planned on buying it...until we got to the "As Is" section at Ikea and saw a Moheda for sale. It's basically the same couch with different pillows.  It was a floor model so there's nothing wrong with it.

The only challenge was how were we going to get it home?  We brought the minivan but left the seats, bass amp and other stuff in it as we were planning to buy a new couch in compact boxes.  We decided to take the risk to save $250.  The Ikea employees helped us disassemble it into 3 sections and talked us out of taking it apart more...like it'd be too much work.  :(  After we checked out, no one helped us since it was after closing time.  Once we got it down to the van and tried every possible way to fit it in, we thought we'd have to put part of it on the roof.  Hot, sweaty and getting desperate, we started looking around to see if anyone dropped an allen wrench on the ground we could use.  If we had just taken it apart more we could fit it in!!!

I called to an employee who was getting in her car to leave.  She said to go up to the employee entrance and ask if they have a wrench.  I did and when I asked two employees if they had an allen wrench, they said "No.  Well...not on me."  I didn't give up and said, "Your store is FULL of them!  Can you pleeease look?"  So they came back with 4 different sizes.  :)  One of them worked so we were able to disassemble it more and fit this entire couch in our van like a puzzle.  WOOHOO!  Such a satisfying feeling!!!  It only took an hour to figure it out.

Sorry for the bad photo, it was dark outside.  This is the couch in our van. 

New couch in the living room.

Can't find a "before" photo but here is an "after" photo!

The next step is to mount the TV on the wall opposite the couch and put a bookcase on the wall opposite this photo.  Oh, and after selling the old couches and finding the new discounted one, we only paid $81 for the upgrade!

Summer Project: New Floors

I am posting one of our summer projects that actually started a few months ago...  We I wanted to move our bedroom into a different room of the house.  The room was previously being used as an office (aka put all the junk we don't know what to do with in that room).  But before we could make it our bedroom we wanted to redo the floors.  We did all the work ourselves (with the help of family) to save money.

Here are some photos of the change:

The "Office" in the midst of clearing out the room.

The yucky brown carpet we really didn't like.

The good looking floors underneath the carpet!
No, we do not want to refinish the original hardwood!
(Many people asked us about that including a random guy
who apparently used to live here, but you can't believe much of what he says.)  

Putting subfloors down.

New laminent floors are in thanks to Sean and Ryne for installing them!!!
Nala approves.  :)

Next step was the trim.  I learned new terms like shoe molding or quarter round and learned how to cut angles using a miter saw.  I also learned to use a nail gun!  I enjoyed using painter's caulk and painting to finally make it look finished.

Here you see 3 different photos.  Far left, the floor with a gap between the floor and wall.  
In the  middle, a shot of the shoe molding installed.
Far right, trim all done after caulking and painting it white.

I found that the cheapest way to buy an area rug is getting a pre-bound remnant.
This one was from Bob Wagner's Flooring America for $119.

We have moved our bed in but are still working on the rest of the furniture.  We have been considering buying some new furniture but it's not a huge priority right now.  We mainly need to get a wardrobe so we have enough closet space.  Hoping I can score a deal on Craigslist!

We also did the hallway floors and have one other bedroom to do.  Hopefully I'll be posting more updates soon!  There are multiple projects going on.

Uses for toilet paper rolls

A while ago, when I first joined Pinterest, I discovered this great use for toilet paper rolls.  So, naturally I started saving them and remembered to put a couple of them on some wrapping paper tubes.  But since it's not Christmas season, I'm really not taking the time to get all the wrapping paper out to organize.  Eventually, I'd like to get something like this...but haven't gotten around to it yet.
 
But that's not the point of this post.  Sean and I were talking about these TP rolls --how I've now collected 15+ and figure I'll hang on to them and maybe I'll find a cool craft to use them for when I teach Sunday School.  Then Sean comes across this... [Any Lifehacker fans out there?]



Haha!  Maybe we'll try it.  We have so many cords lying around.  iPhone chargers, Kindle charger, USB cables, cameras cords, and the list goes on and on.  Anyone else find creative ways to organize cords or wrapping paper??

summer bucket list

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted.  It still makes me nervous posting my thoughts or life on the internet for all to see.  I probably wouldn't care as much if I weren't a public school teacher!  (You won't catch me complaining about students on here!)  In fact, I love my job and am constantly thankful I get paid to do something I am passionate about!  Speaking of work, the spring season was very busy and at times stressful with the threat of many cuts to school programs, including the elementary instrumental program.  I went to so many board meetings and concerts to show my support and stay involved.  Thankfully, no cuts to the music program were made in the end.


So.. SUMMER break finally arrived on June 12!  This one promises to be more relaxing than the last 2 years.  No grad classes!  Here's my summer bucket list:


*Renovate floors in bedrooms (we are in the midst that project at the moment)
   -- includes new trim, paint, possibly new furniture, decorating and lots of reorganizing!
*Other house projects (like installing a dishwasher)
*Teaching 30 private summer string students
*Spending time with my hubby, family, and friends/ building relationships
*Playing wedding gigs with Appassionata String Quartet
*Going to 3 weddings as guests - had two already in June, one in August
*A week at the beach in August (can't wait!!!)
*Playing viola with Chesco Pops Orchestra
*East Gate Church activities
*Reading for pleasure
*R&R
*Doing a study/reading the Word

Taco Pie

Taco Pie - a recipe from my mom that is super easy, even I can do it! ;)

Ingredients:
pie crust- deep dish pie shell
1.5 llbs ground beef
1 16 oz. jar of salsa
1 envelope taco mix
1 can of beans of your choice (optional)
1 egg
2 cups shredded cheese (mexican)

Directions:
Thaw pie shell.  Brown beef, drain off fat.  When beef is cooled, add egg, salsa, taco mix, and beans.  Put a cup of cheese in the pie crust first, then add meat mixture.
With oven rack near the bottom of the oven, bake pie at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until crust is browned.  Add cheese to top and bake a couple minutes more.
Add/serve with tortilla chips.

New Found Glory, now and then

A few weeks ago I was listening to 104.5 in the car and heard an ad for the annual Winter Jam event in Philly including New Found Glory playing and the whole thing is free!  I knew we had to go.  Saturday ended up being a beautiful, sunny, and warm winter day for an outdoor concert so Sean, me and 4 close friends went together. I think I mainly went for nostalgic reasons.  New Found Glory was one of my favorite bands in high school and although I haven't kept up with their newer albums, I had SO much FUN!  They played a good variety of old and new songs including 2 of my favorite songs, Sincerely Me and Hit or Miss, from their self titled album from year 2000. The one I have many memories of driving around with my best friend singing along to every word.  It's been quite a while since I was in a crowd, crammed next to strangers, watching out for mosh pits and crowd surfers and...I loved it.  I pushed my way up to about 5 people from the front.  Here are some photos:

And a video that might make you sick because I was getting pushed around the whole time and 

crowd surfers were going over my head...

Now, a flashback:
I listened to a lot of punk rock back in the day and  on Dec 8, 2000, when I was 16 yrs old, my BF Carrie and I went to see NFG for the first time at a small Uniterian church in Maryland.  Since it was so far from Hershey, my mom drove us and asked the church if she could hang out somewhere during the show.  So, she goes and sits in the church library.  In walks a few guys and she starts talking to them... yep, you guessed it.  The guys in NFG.  So she makes conversation and tells them about me and my friend and how excited we were to see them play.  So, during the show they announced how far we traveled and how awesome that was.  At one point they asked the audience for requests and Jordan looked right at us and I screamed "The Glory of Love!" and they played it.  :)  Afterwards, we met all the band members, took photos with them, got autographs, etc.  Here are a couple photos from that night.  Please excuse our sweaty faces.  The top one is with the lead singer Jordan, the bottom is with the bass player Ian.  It's pretty cool that all 5 band members are the same today as this show12 years ago.

 From my "Concert Journal".  I was looking for my ticket stub but apparently we only got wristbands.

Great memories!  Old and new!  :)

Getting in Shape 2012

I have never been someone who likes to work out or exercise.  I've never considered myself athletic and the only sport I've ever participated in was field hockey for 2 years in middle school.  Even then, I was goalie so I didn't have to run as much!  


The older I get, the more I want to live a healthy lifestyle with a good diet and regular exercise.  I haven't really had time to make this a priority until now so my goal for 2012 is to go to the gym regularly.  (I just joined Planet Fitness on Jan 18.)  If I go 120 times in a year my insurance reimburses up to $150 a year.  I think that's a pretty good motivation!  I hope I can do it.