Weekend Update| September 19, 2011

Well, this past week two of my very best friends got engaged. Love is in the air and it isn't even springtime! I'm so excited for both of them and can't wait to see how their beautiful wedding plans unravel. I know that both of them have many many happy years ahead of them with the good men they've snagged.

Becky and her rocks. :)

Kayla and her rocks (and her fiance Sheriffe).

Saturday morning I had breakfast with Becky. She asked me to be her matron of honor and I, of course, said yes. Only, it took me a second to realize what she was asking. Why the heck am I a matron? OH YEAH, I'm married now which apparently makes me matronly. #Ifeelold

We had a great time talking wedding stuff and eating bagels and cream cheese at our traditional breakfast date spot- Panera.

John was helping some of our friends moved to I went ahead and tackled all the grocery shopping. Check out all the produce I got at our local produce market...

Only $31!!!

Saturday night we had our friends Caitlin and Ben over for dinner. They are also vegan and we had a great time talking about our experience going vegan last week. A lot of the conversation centered around poop. But trust me, if you try veganism that's a great topic of conversation. I know you're thinking, "Hannah, it may be a good conversation to have with other vegans, but not with your blog friends..." Ok, I get it.

Vegan Diet Update: We have been meat and dairy free for a week now. Last week John had ZERO heartburn, except for one day when we went out with friends and got a beef schwarma. So far the diet seems to be helping and meat seems to be the heartburn culprit.

Sunday we went to Beachside church (a.k.a. we skipped out on church and went to the beach instead.) It was so much fun, we went with some friends and I enjoyed talking with my friend Laura while all the guys tried their hand at surfing.

The rest of the day was spent napping, doing homework, and packing. Yup, we found a new place to live and will be moving on October 8th. More on that (with pics!) later on this week!

Question of the Day:

What did YOU do this weekend?

Do you buy your produce at a chain store or a produce stand or farmer's market?



Long Weekend Update| September 6, 2011

Me and the girls at Wekiwa Springs

Good Tuesday morning to you all! Raise your hand if your ready to start back into the work week. No takers? That's what I thought. Raise your hand if you had an awesome and relaxing long weekend....

Now that's more like it!

This weekend we were able to squeeze in quite a bit of fun and relax time despite some of the more stressful tasks we had before us: finding new wheels for the car and scouting out a new place to live. More on the tires later, and more on the new place to live once we find something.

Sunday morning we went to Wekiwa Springs State Park in Winter Springs, Florida. It was such a beautiful, peaceful morning and we enjoyed a two-hour paddle around the springs with our friend Laura and her parents who were in town. As you can see, the water was so glassy and still and everything was so lush and green. We saw multiple turtles and even saw a little 2ft alligator as we were coming back to shore.

The company was the best part though. Laura just moved into town and it's been great getting to know her better. Meeting her awesome parents was the icing on the cake...talk about people of God! We really loved our time getting to know them and laughing along with them down the river. 

We also enjoyed an evening using our new grill. John made me homemade kebab and he knocked it out of the park. Something tells me he has a little bit of Persian blood running through his veins because it tasted just as good as the ones I've had at restaurants or our Iranian friends' house. I will be posting a recipe and how-to on Thursday. You're going to want to try this recipe!

We also grilled hot dogs this weekend...those were nothing to write home about. And frank-ly (hehe), I regret it.

Monday John finally got some new wheels for the car. He and a friend went to pick them up from a guy in St. Cloud. We paid $300 for all four wheels and tires. Not a bad deal. We parked the car inches away from my own last night so that if the theives had the nerve to come back again they would only be able to steal two of them.

Luckily, no such thing happened. And if it had, John swore we would move into a friends house until we found a new place to live.

Monday evening we got together for dinner at Olive Garden with our friends Becky and Reggie. Reggie just moved to L.A. and is back visiting his beautiful girlfriend Becky. Aren't they a lovely couple?  They are surely in love. I have a feeling he's going to be stealing my friend away forever sometime soon, but I couldn't think of a better person to do so. We love you Reggie!

We're looking forward to the short week ahead and the possibilities for housing coming our way. We should have some busy evenings scoping places out. Can't wait to update you all on our progress!

Have a great week!

Question of the Day: 

Do you celebrate labor day and recognize it as anything other than a day off?

Don't forget to enter the Cooking Light Subscription Giveaway by Thursday!

Weekend Update| August 29, 2011

Me and Boomer Conrad

Good morning, folks! Guess what, I got a kitty!

Ah, not really, but we did get to go play with my good friend Caitlin’s kitty cat on Friday night and John really enjoyed it.  He actually considered getting one in the very near future…then someone mentioned that they are allergic and wouldn’t be able to come over and he changed his mind.  Either way I want a cat…I honestly don’t know if I would allow myself to commune with those who dislike them anyway…  ;-)

The real point of this story, though, is the fact that we finally got to go over to our friends Caitlin and Ben's house for dinner Friday night.. Caitlin was the first friend I ever made when I moved to Orlando for school five (!) years ago. She got married to Ben back in March and we finally made it to their place to see their sweet little love nest.

They cooked us a delicious vegan meal, complete with brownies, and we so enjoyed the natural flow of conversation with them. They are consumer anarchists, too, and much of our conversation was trading ways to save and recent developments in homemade cleaning products. 

Pumpkin Pie Banana Chunk Cookies.... from, guess who....

The fun with friends didn't end on Friday, though. Saturday morning we got up early to help some new friends move into town. Not only did I enjoy moving heavy boxes with my friend Laura and her mom, but it also served as my workout for the day (bonus!)

I can't tell you how excited I am about the new friends God has brought into my life and the ways my relationships with "old" friends has become more and more rich. I really felt so blessed this weekend to be surrounded by great people with similar interests and passion for God. We hung out with friends Friday night, Saturday morning, and had our friends Jen and Nate over for dinner Saturday night.  I didn't realize how much I was in need of community until I started finding it. I hope I never have to go through another season of "alone."

Sunday we went to church and then ran some errands before parking our butts on the coach for some downtime and a movie. We watched one of my favorites...Bottle Shock. It's set in the Napa Valley, and we watched it because we are considering planning a trip there for our second or third wedding anniversary. The more we watched it the more we got excited about the potential for the trip! If you haven't seen this movie, you must. Here's some of my favorite lines:

"You have to have it in your blood, you have to grow up with the soil underneath your nails, the smell of the grapes in the air that you breathe. The cultivation of the vine was an art form. The refinement of the vine is a religion that requires pain and desire and sacrifice."

""Wine is sunlight, held together by water." The poetic wisdom of the Italian physicist, philosopher, and stargazer, Galileo Galilei. It all begins with the soil, the vine, the grape. The smell of the vineyard - like inhaling birth. It awakens some ancestral, some primordial... anyway, some deeply imprinted, and probably subconscious place in my soul."

Question of the Day:

Have you ever visited the Napa Valley?

Any recommendations?

Virginia Trip, Part Two: Washington D.C

The Capital Building

Washington, D.C. It's one of the most beautiful American cities I've seen in terms of architecture. Being there, it was hard to believe that the buildings were real. I've only seen them in print these 24 years and seeing them in person was a bit surreal at first. I love that feeling. It always fills me with a sense of privilege. I've seen history with my own eyes. Do you know how many people in the world will never leave their village? I really do thank God for all that I've been blessed to see in this world!

My favorite building was the Smithsonian Castle (so Harry Potter-like!). My imagination was really able to run wild looking at that building. Unfortunately I couldn't snag a good picture of it, maybe next time. As far as all the political-y buildings, my favorite was the capital...hands down. We had a tour of its rooms and all the paintings and statues were exciting to see.

I wanted to share with you some of the best pics of the day...enjoy!

The front of the capital, flanked by the House and Senate

John and I with our nephew Zeb leaving the Thomas Jefferson Library

The Supreme Court Building

The Back of the White House (sadly, no Obama...)

Our zoom lens captured a sniper in bullet proof vest!

The Washington Monument

The Vietnam Memorial Wall

Me and honest Abe!

What is your favorite building in D.C.? Why?

P.S. None of you told me how flippin' spread out everything is there!! I think I walked about 1,000 miles in that one day. I'm still sore from it! It's ok though, I forgive you. ;)

The End of an Era

I had planned to tell you all about my D.C. trip today, but got side-tracked last night and forgot to upload my pictures. Why you ask? Oh, only an evening showing of...

Yup, John and I headed out to our local Regal, free movie passes in hand (yes!), to see one of the biggest blockbusters of my generation (well, aside from Titanic, maybe.) Even though it's only four days after its release into theaters I feel like we were late in seeing it. Everyone has been talking about this movie both in person and in the blogosphere, and for good reason- the movie kicks arse (as Harry might say)!

What a great ending to it all. I don't think I blinked the entire time.  The ending was a complete surprise as I've never read the  books...

I know, I know.

I won't give anything away too much in case there happens to be one lonely soul out there that's waited to see it longer than I have. What I will say is that my favorite part about the movie is the role Neville plays. Throughout the series he has held a special place in my heart, and I so enjoyed seeing him in action to fight the epic battle against evil! Rawr!

On another note, are we the only ones that bring homemade goodies to the theater as snacks? We hate paying for popcorn or candy, and honestly don't like eating candy any more as we've done a lot in our daily diet to reign in our sweet tooth. But last night I did cut up a couple pieces of this to smuggle (MUGGLE!) into the theater. I felt a little awkward busting out our Pyrex cups and clinking around with metal forks but the joy I felt in the midst of my consumer anarchy made up for it!


How about you? Do you bring your own homemade snacks into the theater?

Virginia Trip, Part One: The Epic Journey

Happy Tuesday, everyone! We're back from Virginia and had a wonderful time. I can't wait to show you all the awesome pictures I got in D.C. I really enjoyed trekking around our nation's capital and taking in all the history we have there.

But first, a story. And man, is it a brutal one. We're laughing about it now, but let me tell you, our journey started out rough. I got off work at 5:00pm on Thursday and headed across town to drop off my car and meet John so we could get on the road. We were driving my sister-in-law's car up there and then flying home. Her car is a piece of spit and broke down before John ever left. So I met him at AutoZone to get a new battery installed.  ($80.00)

The start of our journey to Virginia...a stop at the mechanic.

I followed John out of the parking lot, battery now fixed, and realized that the brake lights were permanently on. We decided the car was unfit to drive across five states unless that was fixed (and weren't sure if it would be, even then.) At 6:00, after lots of frustration and disappointment, we dropped it off at our mechanic hoping that he could fix it on Friday morning so we could drive it up the that day.

It turns out he was able to fix it before he left work Thursday night! 30 minutes later and another $80 later, we were on the road and feelin' fine!

Look at us....so happy...so naive....

Llama cloud.

Yay! We're actually driving north!

About an hour into our drive (8:30pm) we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for some feel-good food. We deserved it after an afternoon of high stress. While we were waiting for our food John went to the car to check the fluids. The car has a minor oil leak and he wanted to make sure the levels were good. The oil well was completely dry and we had only driven about 50 miles since we left Orlando with the tank full. He poured in 3 quarts of oil and came back in to eat. 

We talked about it and knew there was only one thing we could do, there was no turning back now, we'd have to make it work...

9:15 PM....11 quarts of oil.

We would have to buy up as much oil as we could and stop every 50 miles in our 900 mile journey to refill the tank. That's what we did. We bought that Mobil station out of every single quart they had and stopped every 50 miles to refill the tank. 

Our journey was supposed to cost about $180- $200 total (for gas and such). But instead it ended up costing $500. Not the price his sister or my in-laws were expecting. The trip was supposed to take about 13 hours and it ended up taking 17, not what we were expecting. The car was supposed to only need a couple quarts of oil to get there, but instead took 24...not what the car was expecting.

But at 7:30 in the morning, when we stopped and saw the Virginia state line, it was all worth it. We had just a couple hours left and a few more oil stops until we were settled and could sleep a bit and enjoy time with family. I tell you, that Virginia sign never looked so good! It was an epic journey, a ridiculous journey, and one we'll look back on and laugh about forever...

A Weekend Getaway Full of Firsts

Well my friends, this is my last post for a little bit. My bags are packed, my stretchy pants are soon to be on, and the car is fully stocked for a red-eye drive to Virginia tonight. I'm going up for a long weekend with my husband to visit his our family, and it will be a weekend full of firsts...

Via

 The first time I've visited Charlottesville, Virginia in the summer.

The first time John and I have done a major road-trip together.

The first time I've had to drive through the night to get somewhere.

The first time I'll get to spend three consecutive days together with my favorite little siblings and nephew .

My adorable nephew, Zeb.

My favorite little siblings, Mei Leigh and Jin Tao

 The first time all of John's brothers and sisters have been together under the same roof since our wedding back in October.

And the first time I get to go here...

Via

That's right folks, I'm heading to D.C.! Words cannot express my excitement. I have never been there, and that fact has become an embarrassment I can't live with much longer, and won't have to come Saturday!Since I'm a capital noob, I need your help (see bottom of post.)

We're day tripping with my sister-in-law (Chelsea) and her husband (Justin) to see all that we can see. Justin works for a Senator and has gotten us a private tour of the capital building. (*jumps up and down*) Thank God we just got the new zoom lens for our d-slr because I'll need it to capture such a beautiful city. I can't wait to share my pics with you guys.

Via

I've really been keeping my fingers crossed that I'll get to cross paths with Mr. Obama. That would really round out my trip and knock another "first" of my list..."shake hands with president or presidential candidate." He's a big fan of the "thumbs up," so I would even settle for exchanging one of those if need be.

So, this is it until next Tuesday. My apologies for the radio silence. But I will be thinking of you all every time I snap a shot, and hope to be able to put some of your recommendations to good use...



If you've visited or live in or around D.C. do you have any tips on things we must do or places we must eat?

Bok Tower Gardens (Lake Wales, FL)

Bok Tower and its gardens are located about an hour outside of Orlando in Lake Wales, Florida. I had been to visit years and years ago, so long ago that I barely remember it and had thought for all these years that the tower was a lighthouse and not a carillon.

The carillon bells play ever half hour and the sounds resonate throughout the gardens, which are the best in Florida for getting a glimpse of native Florida flora and fauna. Edward Bok (the editor of Ladies Home Journal) built the tower and gardens in the early 1900s. The tower is one of the most well crafted buildings I've seen in terms of detail and design work. 

Here's some more pictures from around the garden. I hope that it can entice you to visit next time you're in our area. It's a great way to spend half a day and play with your camera!

My dad and I at the entrance.

These old Florida trees were everywhere and dripping with beautiful moss.

Close-up of the singing tower.

John and I at the reflection pond.

The first waterlily I've ever seen.

Heavy brass doors lead into the tower...tell the story of Adam and Eve.

The koi in the pond were ginormous, and very hungry. I almost touched one... :)

These lily pads were huge (about 3 to 4 feet across) and covered with spines underneath.

This mushroom was straight out of a fairytale.

Rows and rows of Florida citrus trees.

Which is your favorite picture from my day at Bok Tower?

Weekend Update| July 11, 2011

Good Monday morning to you all! I hope you had a fantastic weekend. I don't know how the weather is in your area, but it's been quite nice around these parts. It's in the upper 90's and blazing hot, but we've had summer showers every day to cool the earth down a bit and make it more bearable.

After a run.

We spent a lot of our weekend outside. Did I tell you that we signed up for a 5k race? Lately we've been trying to train for that (we're not runners, so it takes a lot of training even though it's a pretty short race.) It felt so great to get hot and sweaty and then dive into a cool pool. I'm feeling so energized and refreshed this morning because of it, although I feel like my muscles might fall off at any moment.

Running isn't the only thing that took us outside for the weekend, we also went to Bok Towers in Lake Wales with my dad to celebrate his birthday, the big 5-0! Here's some pics from the wildlife we encountered and a sneak peek of the tower we saw. More on that in tomorrow's post!

Giant locust. Isn't he beautiful up close?

Squirrel, a.k.a. flufferchunks

A toad. I love his big belly!

Me and the birthday  boy in front of the tower.

Bok Tower...one of the most beautiful places I've seen in Florida.

Did you get outside at all this weekend? What's your favorite outdoor activity?