2.21.2010

Cookie Cutters

Remember those cookies we decorated the other night?

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We were making my mom Get Well cookies, but I couldn’t tell you that or post pictures of the cookies because it would ruin the surprise. We used new cookie cutters I had just gotten from William Sonoma. I saw them on a few blogs last month and happened to see them when I was in the store and couldn’t resist them.

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I should mention that the cookie cutters were not easy to use. The dough stuck to the letters making the cookies less than attractive. Next time we’ll use more flour on each letter each time we press them on the cookies. This is Andrew’s not happy face. (Not very intimidating, but I promise, he was actually really irritated and distressed)

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This is Andrew’s reason why. Exhibit A. Giant hole in cookie.

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Fortunately all turned out well in the end. We just used the cookie cutter to make the outer shape of the cookie and then pressed the letters on individually with our hands instead of in the fancy cookie cutter like you’re supposed to.

We could only fit so many into an envelope for my mom so we got the extras:) A fun one Andrew put in my lunch:

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Others we ate while watching the Olympics with friends:

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PS My mom’s cookies were more exciting that just “I Love You” over and over. She got:

Get Well Nancy
Miss You
I Love You Mom
Get Well Soon

and my personal favorite, Surgery Sucks (originally misspelled as Surgey Sucks, thanks to yours truly)

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2.17.2010

As for me and my feet, we’ll be walking

As Andrew and I were debriefing our days over dinner I was telling him about things I had read.
  1. I saw this blog. She is one of my favorites. Always great photos. Always encouraging stories. Always wise words. She mentioned Lent. But I thought, “nah.”
  2. Then my co-worker sent my this video. It’s about educating children so they will eat healthier. Did you know that we’re the first generation to have shorter life expectancies than our parents? I had forgotten that fact until Jamie Oliver reminded me of it. Sad. I’m actually working on a Dept of Health obesity prevention initiative so I really enjoyed the video. It got me thinking about eating healthier and exercising more. And then I felt guilty about the tacos I was planning to make for dinner.
  3. Then I saw this title and it said: Simple Green: Go on a Carbon Fast. “Ah ha!” I thought. “I should give up driving to work for the next 40 days! It’ll be healthier for me, greener for the environment, and a daily sacrifice!”
  4. Then I saw this article about the green dilemma and my plan was solidified. I didn’t want to be the person saying one thing and doing another.
So there you have it. An idea was born. I’ll be forgoing driving to work for the next 40 days. In all honesty, I should be doing it anyway. I live a half mile from work. But with the cold weather, rain, snow, wind, construction, tardiness, etc. it’s easy to make up excuses to drive.

Andrew patiently listened and tried to follow as I bounced between my million thought processes and findings that led me to my conclusion. I think we have conversations like this a lot. Me talking about one thing that was derived from a dozen little bunny trails. Andrew looking at me with a blank stare saying: “Wow, I don’t know how your brain works that much.”

He decided that he’d give up his late night snack. He said he loves to stick his hand into the candy jar right before he brushes his teeth. It’s not good for his teeth he decided.

Our conversation ended with me saying, “Ugh! 40 days. That’s how long it takes to form a habit! By the end of this you won’t want candy before bed and I will enjoy walking!”

We laughed.

And he said, “Ugh. Great. We’ll be greener and healthier people?!”

2.16.2010

A New Venture

I know that I struggle to post regularly as it is, but I’ve gone and added more to my plate:) Before I tell you what it is, I’ll tell you that I think this new addition will be enjoyable, not terribly time-consuming, and fun to look back on in a year. I’ve started another blog!

It’s sort of a Project 365 blog, but I’m going into it with the expectation that I won’t actually accomplish all 365 days.button copy 

You can read the first post here and then Days 1 through 31. I wasn’t able to post all of the days until yesterday, so unfortunately I’m forcing you to back track and read them in reverse order. Sorry! But now  that I’m caught up it will be updated regularly:)

I hope you enjoy a little glimpse into our lives! We won’t always be exciting, but we’ll always be here!

Check it out!

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2.15.2010

Just What She Always Wanted!

I realize this post is about 2 months late, but the point of it isn’t about Christmas. It’s updating you on our excitement from last week.
Andrew and I celebrated Christmas early since we spent Christmas in Illinois.
Here is Andrew patiently waiting for me:

We decided that since it was a pretty informal Christmas we'd just wrap everything with newspaper to be more green friendly:D We definitely got black ink everywhere!

I was very excited for the giant box! Check out the adorable bow Andrew made out of newspaper. I was so impressed with him.

Yep. I savored it. I don't know why I opened it so carefully. This is right before I opened the box and saw a gray metal top with hinges on one side. I totally thought he got me a filing cabinet for Christmas, which oddly, I was really okay with. In fact, I was pretty pumped to start organizing! I was only bummed that it wasn't black--We planned to have a black office so I wasn't sure why he had gotten me a gray filing cabinet.  You know you're getting old when you're excited about completely fine with receiving a filing cabinet as a gift.

Well, before anyone starts thinking I married a total loser, I'll let you know it was not a filing cabinet at all. It was A MILK BOX. Yep, you read that right. A milk box. Munroe Dairy to be exact!
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In Rhode Island we have access to multiple dairies that still do milk delivery. We log in online, choose our groceries for the week, and the milk man delivers them in the morning!! How cool is that? I have a milk man! (FYI he is actually a man so I’m not just being politically incorrect).
I am such a proud owner of this box. Into which the milk man places things like this:

Or local bread, cheese, butter, etc. I couldn't be more excited.
All of that to tell you that Andrew and I have a milk man. It only takes 24 to 36 hours to get the milk from the moo to you! So if you come visit and we feed you cereal for breakfast, know that it’s the freshest you can get:)
Also, this was part of the Christmas week I mentioned a few weeks ago. We had the most exciting week!
As I also previously mentioned, we’ve experienced the learning curve of getting back into a routine, settling back in at work, adjusting to marriage, unpacking, organizing (still no filing cabinet), etc. In this process, we decided to order our groceries online to have them delivered. Peapod is surprisingly affordable. 6-10 bucks flat delivery fee and they’ll get your groceries for you, bag them, and carry them up your stairs to the kitchen. Who wouldn’t pay that to avoid spending 2 hours at the grocery, loading and unloading the car, and then carrying them up flights of stairs?! So Monday night we were elated to have our groceries delivered! Elated partly because it was such a relief to not go, partly because we didn’t have to go out in the cold, and partly because we had probably been home for a few weeks without going grocery shopping yet! This was a great way to start the week.

Tuesday, day 2. Surprise! A KitchenAid waiting for us when we got home! Unbelievable.
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Wednesday, Day 3. We awake to a little sprinkling of snow. Awesome. And as any little kid does on Christmas to see if Santa came, I peered out the window to look for footprints in the newly fallen snow. Yes!! Milk man came! It was our first delivery!!
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Fresh milk, bread, cream, eggs, and apples. Ahh:)
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Thursday, day 4. Our bedding arrived in the mail!

Friday, day 5. Surprise! A wedding gift was waiting for us when we got home from work. Such a cool picture. We love it!
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Saturday, day 6. Some dishes we ordered to complete our set arrived from Macys.

That would conclude our excitement for the week. Most of the things were items we purchased for ourselves so I don’t intend for this to be a bragging post, but there is just something exciting about receiving mail/packages/surprises everyday.
PS I wanted to share a picture of my wrapping. For some reason, I found it hilarious to wrap with newspaper and tried to pick stories Andrew would like or pictures that would be funny.
Exhibit A. Ben Bernanke. He’s wearing a bow tie. I tied the bow right over it. Andrew laughed a lot. I was so proud of myself.
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Wheew, that was long!
Sorry!
Love,
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2.03.2010

Slowly, but Surely

I am experiencing a slow, re-introduction back into the real world, so forgive me for being MIA for so long.

I have much to say and many plans/hobbies/stories to share, but for now I'll leave you with some photos from our wedding:) Once we get unpacked, paint, the bed arrives, the bedding arrives, etc. I'll be back with lots to show and tell!

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The wedding day went fairly smoothly--not without a couple of hitches, but overall nothing too traumatic. We enjoyed a week in Marco Island at an amazing resort and then took a mini road trip from Florida to Rhode Island with all of our new goodies and my college crap in tow:)


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Here are some links to pictures our amazing photographer put up on his blog.
Part I
Part II

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I'll be back soon! I can't wait to update you on our lives. And tell you about this week--I like to call it Christmas Week. I'll tell you more about it soon!!

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Much love!
Mrs. Pierson;)

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