Kyle and Madeline's Year in Review 2014

Showered with Love

I cannot believe how quickly our wedding is arriving.  It feels like just yesterday Kyle and I got engaged.  Those close family and friends who plan to make it in for the wedding can now book hotel rooms at a discounted price.   Thanks to Kyle’s parents we now officially have blocked hotel rooms at two hotels.  Please check out our wedding site for the details:  http://madeline-kyle.nearlyweds.com/

We are getting so excited for the big event.  Things got real for us this summer when our family hosted a wedding shower for us.  It’s a weird feeling getting that much attention from family and friends but I wouldn’t change it for the world.  Kyle and I were literally showered…no, wait….doused with love!!  Thank you to everyone who helped blanket us with love and good thoughts.  Spending a week at home also made it possible for Kyle and I to spend a little time with our immediate families and closest friends.  It is always refreshing to come back to reality after a week like the one we experienced!   

Kyle and I were lucky enough to come home after our mini vacation to our new apartment home!  We moved the week before we headed home.  It is such an amazing feeling to be living in the home as Kyle, let alone the same town!!!  This is the first time in our relationship that we live less than 50 miles from one another.  Our apartment is in the perfect location too.  It takes me about 45 minutes to get to work and Kyle drives about 25/30 minutes to get to work.  I know 45 minutes sounds like a really long time, which it is a good distance, but it is a beautiful drive and beats have to drive over an hour to work or having to deal with traffic. 

Purrsephone

We also got a new kitten along with our new home.  Her name is Purrsephone (or Purr).  We got her from my co-worker and friend, Kim.  Purrsephone is tiny cute and LOVES Socrates.  Socrates tolerates her at this point; he lets her snuggle with him and groom him.  I think his favorite thing about her is that she’s more or less a brand new toy for him to rough house with.  Their playing is something I could watch for hours on end; it is so funny. 

Kitty Love

Otherwise, not much else has been going on with Kyle and I.  Kyle is switching sports these days, he’s done with skeeball and has now moved onto bocce ball.  My future husband is quite the athlete!!!  I’m looking into joining an austin running group and find an organization I would like to volunteer for.  Until then I’m going to carry on with my cat watching! 

Happy Birthday goes out to all our loved ones with summer bdays!  Also congrats going out to our friends who have just had babies or are about to!  Ahhh so many things to celebrate in life!  

xx

P.S.  Recipe of the Months...it's a Pat Burnside Original!  If you are interested in looking into other kinds of  mocktails (or even into other fun food, beverage, decor and party ideas) check out Beth Peluse's Blog: Sensiblyinspired.com!!  

Burnside Nojito

Found a delicious way to use the mint growing in our planter!

* I try and chill the glass a few minutes before making this beverage.

Ingredients:

• crushed ice
• 12 mint leaves (1 stem if possible)
• 2 oz. lime juice (or to taste)
• 4 oz. club soda

Instructions:

1. Fill a pint glass ⅓ full of crushed ice
2. Add 12 mint leaves all on one stem if possible
3. Muddle the leaves together but try not to crush them too much that the leaves break apart

Add:

4. 2 oz. lime juice

5. 3 oz. sugar syrup* (store bought)   If making the recipe below for the syrup, try 2 oz. first!

6. Put in a little bit more crushed ice

Add:

7. 4 oz. club soda

8. Garnish with mint and serve with a straw!

Homemade Simple Syrup (Much sweeter than store bought...adjust recipe accordingly)

It is really simple! All you need is 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water!

1. Place 1 cup sugar in a pan and stir in 1 cup water.  
2. Bring to boil, stir until sugar is dissolved.
3. Cool, place in glass container in refrigerator.  

Bird Watcher Alert!

If you are looking for a recipe to feed the hummingbirds, all you have to do is cut down the sugar to ¼ cup and stir in 1 cup water.  Bring to boil, stir until sugar is dissolved and place in the feeder when cool!!!

Christmas Presents that Mean the World

Ahhhhhhh, the end of January is such a peaceful time for me.  The hustle and bustle of the holidays has come to an end and I can finally breathe again.  Don’t get me wrong, Christmas and New Years were fantastic.  I love spending quality time with Kyle, family and friends. 

This past Christmas was very meaningful for me because a lot of the gifts Kyle and I received were heartfelt and still impacting us to this day.  Kyle got me a relaxation themed Christmas gift.  This may sound simple, which it is, a lot of tea, chocolate and candles; however it meant the world to me.   This year holds a lot of potential for stress.  We need to plan a wedding and we need to figure out a way to be together (physically in the same town as one another would be nice!).  Conveniently the gifts Theresa, Mark and Beth got me went along with Kyle’s theme as well.  How nice! 

Another meaningful gift was the visit from Kyle’s parents.  They came in a couple days after Christmas and stayed until a couple days after the New Year.  I will also claim any visitor as a huge gift.  Living so far from home can be hard on the emotions and feeling like you are missing out on a lot of things…Can I get an Amen from my sisters??  So having family and friends come down and spend time with you no matter how long (shoot Cakora came down for 36 hours!) it means the world to us!  To know that loved ones are willing to put the resources (time, money and energy) in to check out the sights and enjoy spending time with us makes me so grateful for my life. 

I gave Kyle the Christmas gift of “Time”….thank you Pinterest and Lindsay Gallmore for the grand idea!!!  I planned out a date for each month of this upcoming year for Kyle and me.  With our hectic crazy lives this year I decided that we could really use that one on one time.  I also know how important communication is between couples and realized that this is something I really want Kyle and I to spend time working on before our big day.  Kyle does not know what the dates are until the first of each month and then he gets the big reveal (or really tiny reveal).  This month (January) we will be taking a cooking class together at the Whole Foods Market Headquarters.  And the cooking class is meant for couples so I’m hoping it will have a little romantic edge to it….cuz we all know how romantic and lovey dovey I can be :) 

As happy as I am that the Christmas madness has died down, it also warms my heart that so much thought and love comes from that holiday (thanks Jesus!). 

Before this month is through a quick shout out to our family members who had January birthdays:

Grandpa Kissane (THE BIG 90!!!), Theresa Kissane (in her prime), Mark Peluse (still young and beautiful), Owen Nachman (The BIG 4!!!!), and to our many other extended family and friends who experienced January birthdays!

xx

P.S. Recipe of the months (Happy Super Bowling!!!)

Jalapeno Popper Dip

Ingredients:

4 ounces soft Cream Cheese
Pinch of Cracked Pepper
1/4 cup Mayonnaise
1/2 cup Plain Greek Yogurt
2 cups Shredded Cheddar-Jack Cheese
1/4 cup Chopped Bacon (about 4 slices)
1/4 cup Jalapeno, cleaned & chopped** (1-2 Jalapenos)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Set aside 1/2 cup of the cheddar-jack cheese.  Mix all ingredients together and spread into oven safe dish.  Top with the 1/2 cup of remaining cheese.  Place dish into the oven and cook for thirty minutes.

 Then broil for two minutes or until the cheese is lightly browned and bubbly.

For the jalapeno garnish – Slice jalapeno in half (lengthwise) and remove all seeds.  Wrap with bacon and cook on a baking sheet or piece of foil next to the dip.  Remove after fifteen minutes.  Once the dip has finished cooking, place on top.

**Thoroughly remove all seeds and the white veins inside the peppers unless you want an extra spicy dip.