2014 in a nutshell

2014 was such a interesting year for the Scott household.  First of all, we were coming off a crazy busy and fun year of 2013.  Click here to see that year in review.  A lot of moving, a lot of change.

2014, however, was not like the previous year at all.  We started the year in a new city. I struggled to find a job as I awaited the beginning of PA school.  Colby started his new job in January.  So from January to June.. I was a house wife who was overwhelmingly grateful for Netflix.  I didn't blog much because I was so embarrassed I couldn't find a job to entertain me for 6 months (and contribute the grocery bill). So,  I just kind of went into hiding in the blog world... my bad.

Then PA school started in June.  And who knew you drink from a fire hydrant?  From June to December, I was learning information a mile a minute and life was essentially the same every day.  Colby and I got up at the same time.  We went to bed at the same time.  Colby has an hour commute one way and mine is 45 minutes.  When we got home, I cooked supper and then went into my little study area until we were both ready for bed.  We didn't pursue other relationships really because when we actually had a second to spare... we wanted to spend it with each other.  And we wouldn't have it any other way.  Its been such a giant, giant, giant blessing to be put in situations to focus on just us and our marriage.. setting the foundation for forever.  

This past year also provided us the opportunity to travel a little bit.  We celebrated one year of marriage on the east coast of North Carolina and have made a couple trips to the mountains of North Carolina throughout the fall and winter.

Some notable things that happened this year include:  we got a new nephew (May), I had foot surgery (February) and started PA school (June), my cousin got engaged and married (October), Colby got heavy into wood working (built Christmas gifts, a new coffee table, end table, kitchen hutch and serving tray for us!! IN.CRED.I.BLE) and Colby also started working for his old company (January) and got promoted on December 31st (!!)

I want to get back on the blogging train because I enjoy sharing my heart.  I enjoy bragging on my husband.  I enjoy recording my life.  However, I'm gonna keep showing myself grace in this department as school trumps this little space on the internet for now.  However, I hope to pull out my Canon more this year.  Taking and recording more pictures.. even if its just everyday life.  

As we enter 2015 we are pumped.  Our family has decided on the words "obey and seek wisdom" to be the ones we pursue in the next year.  Blog post on that soon -- with pictures of the print I ordered!

I am personally making some changes in the way I handle stress this year.  I have not handled stress appropriately within the past 6 months and I am so desperate for a change.  So this is a huge goal for me.  Ask my parents, Colby, and even my college roommates.  This change is an absolute must.  Cheers to more worship music and ellipticals. 

Happy 2015, folks! I hope you make heart-felt resolutions and find good people to help you stick to them!

Bread & Wine

I have always appreciated that my mom creates home-cooked meals for our family.  Every now and again she would stop in on her way home to grab a pizza or some seafood, but for the most part everything is picked from a garden or produce stand, sauteed in some type of old school pan sauce and marinaded in a tried and true recipe.   Our family always jokes about how she can never leave the kitchen without flour, oil or grease splatters all over her clothes.  But what I am realizing more and more.. is that that is a translation of the gospel.  Stirring, kneading, creating something beautiful in the mess around us.  Fulfilling a need.  Feeding our hunger.

For my birthday this year, my sister-in-law got me a cookbook.  She wrote me a note saying that a review of this book "screamed" my name.  A review that ultimately said cooking a love song, an ode to the people you love.  That in cooking there is healing power in food that was prepared with love and joy and creativity.  I love that Sidney acknowledged that.  Because that is what I want. Not for people to acknowledge the things I like, but to know that I believe there is power in your knives and wooden spoons.  Probably something I picked up from watching my mama manhandle the kitchen for my 20 plus years of life.

I just finished an unbelievable book called Bread & Wine.  A book that I plan on giving as housewarming or newlywed gifts from here on out.   It is a book that is heart warming from page one.  The kind of book that you read when candles are lit and you are curled up in a knit throw.  It's the kind of book that truly inspires you to get in the kitchen and invite people into your messy homes.  To nourish their stomachs as well as their hearts.  To share your life with the people you love with nothing but a table between you.

"When you eat, I want you to think of God, of the holiness of hands that feed us, of the provision we are given every time we eat.  When you eat bread and drink wine, I want you to think about the body and the blood every time, not just when the bread and wine show up in church, but when they show up anywhere - on a picnic table, or a hardwood floor or a beach."  - Shauna Niequist

 Last week, I decided to make baked spaghetti for supper.  It was about 5 o'clock and I knew Colby would be headed home soon, so I started making my mama's famous spaghetti sauce  that takes both time to cook and practice to perfect.  Then my wheels started really turning.  What if Colby came home to Italy?  While I was stirring sauce and boiling noodles, I tossed a salad and threw a baguette into the oven to get nice and crusty.  I laid out an absurd amount of candles in the dining room so we could have a candle-lit dinner.  I set the table and poured tall glasses of water and small glasses of wine.  I drew a menu to sit on our plates and laid out a small bowl of blackberries for us to munch on until supper was ready.  I found an Italian Pandora Station, Bluetoothed it out the Bose speaker and cranked it up.  But Colby came home like 30 minutes earlier than I had expected.  I locked the back door, so he couldn't get in and ran frantically around the house to find a box of matches to light all those candles.  Then the timer was going off, telling me it was time to lay a hefty layer of cheese on the top of the spaghetti and I had planned on changing into a dress.  Instead, as Colby was walking in the door, half of the candles were lit,  I was burning my hands getting the spaghetti out of the oven and I was wearing a wrinkled flannel shirt, skinny jeans and cowboy boots.

In Bread & Wine, Shauna (aka my new BFF) says it perfectly... "I'm not talking about cooking as performance or entertaining as complicated choreography of competition and showing off.  I'm talking about feeding someone with honesty and intimacy and love.  About making your home a place where people are fiercely protected, even if its just a few hours, from the crush and cruelty of the day."

Colby couldn't care less what I was wearing or that every thing wasn't perfectly in place by the time he walked through the door.  He appreciated the fact that I was being creative in how I was loving him.  He praised me for my efforts for the rest of the night and kept saying sweet things like, "Man, Italy was great.  We should go again next week."

And then Shauna says it perfectly again, "What people are craving isn't perfection.  People aren't longing to be impressed; they're longing to feel like they're home.  If you create a space full of love and character and creativity and soul, they'll take off their shoes and curl up with gratitude and rest, no matter how small, no matter how undone, no matter how old."

I believe feeding and being fed is life-giving.  Both physically and metaphorically.  After reading Bread & Wine, I have the greatest desire to invite more people to my table.  To create conversation between mouthfuls of bread.  I'm not talking about super fancy dinner parties (which I hope to conquer one day, but today is not that day).. but just inviting our college roommates to catch up over for some take out Chinese or pizza.  Or inviting our siblings over and all of us taking part in the menu.  One on sides, one on the grill, one setting the table.  Or inviting our parents over for dessert and coffee and board games.  Or inviting new friends, that you know nothing about and learning their middle names over salads and steaks.   Ultimately, inviting people into our homes, into our lives.  Showing their place around our table and exchanging the hard and good and sour and delightful things in each of our lives.  To feed and be fed.

(PS.  This is a blueberry crisp.  A recipe that Shauna so graciously reveals in her book.  It is delicious!!)

Naked Tree

The first Christmas is exciting.  You get to start fresh and buy all of your Christmas decorations.  The first Christmas is terrible.  You have to start fresh and buy all of your Christmas decorations.  Since we are incredibly limited on dollar bills for pretty decorations we had to to find ways to steer around our budget.  We bought some matte white ornaments and a couple of gold ones thinking it would suffice.  My parents came over one night to eat supper with us right after we had just decorated our Christmas tree.  The very next night they came Christmas caroling (literally!) and bearing gifts.. aka tinsel and more ornaments.  My mom is very much against a "naked" tree and she felt bad for us. 

 

(my favorite ornament my parent's gave us)

 

Oh ya know.. just classic pity gifts.  Don't bother me!  I got more ornaments!  Even still, my tree looked seriously naked.  So Colby and I decided to make some more ornaments to save on money.  We bought clear glass balls for like $3 a pack and filled them with twine and red ribbon.  We also spray painted some coffee beans with gold glitter and put them in a glass ball ornament - that's one of my favorites!  

 

We also cut down some wood and sliced them into 3 to 5 inch diameter coins.  We next got Colby's wood-burning kit and started burning them in several designs.  We did the outline of North Carolina, the state flag, words of the Christmas season like joy and hope, and bunch of other things.  We loved them.  We made smaller wood coin ornaments that we combine with keys to the multiple houses we had lived in since being married.  The ornaments were hung by strings of twine and dipped in polyurethane to keep them from warping.  

We loved them, seriously.  One more sentimental ornament I created this past Christmas was this one:

At our wedding, we had buttons on our cake.  I had kept them in a ziploc bag, moving them from room to room, trying to find their place in our home.  I had given up hope of finding that place and decided to toss them.  But I literally couldn't throw them in the trashcan.  It was like a force field had engulfed the trash can.  So I, impulsively, laced some baker's twine through the button holes and threw them on the tree, thinking at least it will get them out of that ziploc bag and out of my way for now.  And I actually loved how they turned out. 

We still have more ornaments to buy for next year.. so our tree will retire from nakedness.  But we will worry about that in December!

So as you can see, Colby and I are pretty good at taking what we have and making it somewhat decorative.  We were in my in-law's basement one evening during the Christmas holiday when I caught of glimpse of Colby's first deer he killed when he was 11.  I got completely fixated on it and we took it home.  We threw some old, red ornaments on the antlers with some fishing line.  And we threw a scarf around its neck.  Viola! A homemade reindeer.. a stylish one at that!

 I wanted to find a way to be very intentional this Christmas.  So I made it a goal, a vow rather, to write a personal note with each gift I wrapped.  Some explained why we bought the gift we did, some explained what we most loved about them, some were simple truths.  I want this tradition to NEVER stop.  I loved reflecting on the people we love and letting them know why.

 

I bought a gorgeous print from my sisters' new typography company, Leelyn & Co.  It is one of my favorite Christmas songs and this particular lyric completely sums up the season for me.  

And I had to throw my little gold-leaf reindeer in the blog because he is just too dang cute for me not to mention him.  

Regardless of our best efforts to not go over budget.. we did.  Only because of lights.  Christmas lights are going all LED this year, which I love and hate.  I hate that it doesn't give off that classic amber glow when lit.  But I know that this is good for safety reasons and the environment.

I do believe that the phrase a day late (or month) and a dollar short fits oh so perfectly into this post.

Recipe Challenge | 4 & 5

Don't worry, I haven't forgot about my reviews for the last two of my recipe challenge for November. 

Recipe # 4 was one I found from Pinterest.  Looks can be deceiving, ya'll.  I thought these babies looked delicious.. but I personally disliked them.  Colby liked them pretty good.  But I didn't eat more than two stacks of potatoes.. I couldn't.
 
 

Recipe # 5 was also surprising.. but in a good way.  It was November 30th, and I was dead set on completing my recipe challenge.  So, I decided to just make the recipe on the back of the lasagna noodles box from Food Lion.  I was skeptical, for no reason.  Maybe because it was genaric brand?  I'm not sure.  But it was a total hit.  It was easy and delicious.  Go Food Cat (as my mama, sister and me call it)!


I am currently high-fiving myself for completing the recipe challenge and already searching for my five new recipes for this month!  Happy Saturday.  Now go eat something delicious and text me the recipe!

December Goals

Fa la la la la!  It is indeed the most wonderful time of the year and I so excited to jump in full force into this beautiful Christmas season.  To get the most out of this sweet month, I decided to make some goals.

Decorate for Christmas + write a post about those decorations.
Take 20 minutes before bed to declutter house + do dishes.
Watch less television (okay, less Netflix).. except for Christmas movies.
Only wrap gifts when there is either jolly music playing or a Christmas movie on in the background.
Start talking to Colby about a stern budget for the next year, especially the next couple of months.
Write a personal note with every gift I wrap.
Make + eat gingerbread cookies.
Try five new recipes.
Wear a festive sweater.
Host a small viewing of the southern classic, Steel Magnolias.
Start packing for the next move.

New Recipe | Skillet Apple Crisp

So I tried a new recipe for the Scott's Thanksgiving meal.  I know, I know.  It is not good etiquette to bring a new recipe to a gathering.  But I did... whoops.

Thankfully, this recipe was delicious!  Recipe three of the five came from a fabulously southern magazine, Garden & Gun.

Meet our leading lady: Skillet Apple Crisp

When I was asked to make a dessert for Thanksgiving, Colby & I decided to go for a classic American dessert, apple pie.  But then this recipe came across my radar and I could not NOT make it.

The consensus?  All around delicious (plus, everything looks better in a cast iron).  I used only one lemon versus two and I would definitely encourage that to all my friends... I would also encourage a healthy dollop of vanilla ice-cream to ride shot gun with this baby.

Recipe Challenge | 1 & 2

The results are in.  Drum roll please....

My first two recipes in this challenge were Garlic and Lemon Roasted Chicken with Green Beans and Baby Red Potatoes along with a side of Zucchini and Squash bake.  I thought these babies would be definite yes's because we didn't really deviate from the foods we like.  Colby loves chicken, green beans and red potatoes.  So I was like.. yes, he will be on board with this challenge if I start out nice and slow.  And zucchini and squash?  What southern folk do you know that doesn't love these gourd shaped masses of goodness?

Garlic and Lemon Roasted Chicken with Green Beans and Baby Red Potatoes
Colby: Too much lemon, too much garlic (go figure!).
Courtney: Too much lemon.  I want to like green beans, but I don't.. and this recipe didn't flip my switch for them either.

Zucchini and Squash Bake
Colby: Pretty good.
Courtney: LOVED it!  Definitely a future go-to side!

So here we are.. I would consider us a 1 for 2 in our 5 new recipe challenge!  My next challenge is making a homemade apple pie for Thanksgiving with the Scott's this weekend!  I've made one pie my entire life, and let's be honest, I just tore off the plastic wrap off of it and threw it in the oven.  I'm going all homemade for this next one, baby!

Taste buds, I still love you.

So rumor has it that the word "sacrifice" is suppose to bounce around in our thought process often in the journey of marriage.  Apparently there is suppose to be a lot of give and take?  Is that right?  

Well let me tell you.. my taste buds have felt (tasted rather?) the largest consequences of this "sacrifice" stuff.  My sweet, precious, hardworking, loving, etc., etc. husband has the pallet of a five year old.  Grilled chicken, steak and spaghetti are some of the few things that satisfies those little bumps on his tongue.  And then there is me, the cook, the starving wife, who dreams of bacon wrapped scallops, creamy risotto and basil pesto on anything.  

Growing up, my parent fixed mushrooms with most of their meals.  They put it in the entrees, they seasoned them and boiled them, they sauteed them.  Mushrooms were present often.  But I hated them.  Then one night during college, my boyfriend decided to take me to the Cheesecake Factory where I had this giant plate of deliciousness.  Including mushrooms.  I hate every bite.  Including the mushrooms.  It was like that meal was all it took for me to flip a switch.  From that point on, I have adored mushrooms.  I seriously would consider giving up all meats (maybe except seafood.. its just too good :) ) for mushrooms.  I love them and try to incorporate them in every meal.. just like my parents.

I guess I have this huge hope in thinking if I fix a meal with something Colby doesn't like and mix it with things he does.. his switch will flip too.  And I wouldn't be limited to a meal of grilled chicken, macaroni and cheese, a can of sweet peas and a can of corn and a croissant... for the third time this week. 

So I told Colby I was going to challenge us in trying 5 new recipes before the end of the month.  I know that doesn't seem like a lot.. but its enough to get me inspired to cook more things, learn more and get Colby to venture out a little more. 

I made two new recipes tonight.. they are currently baking in the oven.  Colby has told me how bad it the garlic stinks about hmm, 8 times now.  He has proceeded to opening the kitchen window and the dining room window and he has lit three (STRONG) scented candles.  I am already considering this a fail.   So I gonna whip up a batch of macaroni and cheese as back up.  You can never be too prepared, ya know?  

I will let you know how each five of my recipes go and what the recipe is if it is good at the end of my little challenge!  Stay posted, friends!