The Spice of Life

Who wants to know what has been happing in the life of the Holloway's recently?

**pause for raise of hands...

Jared has been unreachable these last few weeks, since he was so busy prepping for the upcoming DAT exam. Occasionally he'd holler at me from the den about how many apples Nancy has now, if Polly increased her ratio of oranges to apples by 3/4, and Nancy has a 2/3 ration of oranges to apples. Or something like that (quantitative reasoning). Anyways, I'd grab up a pen and scribble on paper all that I needed to know, then set about solving the problem. After coming up with an answer, I'd holler it back at Jared, whereupon, he'd come walking out of the den, scratching his head and asking, "What? That's right. How did you do that?"

Jared dear, God gave me the answer so you'd pay attention to me. Also, I'm a genius.

No, not really. But going over those questions helped him understand the "reasoning" of the problems, and boosted my confidence since clearly my entire brain has not yet turned to mush from lack of use.

The best part is now,  Jared has finally finished the DAT! After one solid month of 12 hour study days, after an endless of supply of wife-made PBJ's, and after bringing home 20 additional library books, he can rest. All his hard work has paid off, and with the score he got, we will definitely be applying to several schools in the next few weeks. We are thinking about five schools which we should have a reasonable chance of getting into.

We celebrated with Star Trek last night, and home made peach crisp for breakfast this morning. It's mostly peaches anyways, so not too unhealthy right?

(side note: ST was incredible, and if you have not seen it yet, or if you disagree with me, I might rip off your bangs)

This next week Jared is taking a trip to Billings, MT to shadow his uncle and several other dentists at the same office and to rack up those shadowing hours. It will be a special experience, since J will be exposed to dentistry for 12 hours a day. I think he will learn a lot and I can't wait to hear the stories when he gets back.

I am going to keep myself busy with exercise, working on my book, and cleaning the apartment.
I plan to deep clean the entire place, and live off cereal, as well as canned and frozen goods so I don't have to go to the store. If I make anything blog worthy, I'll post it, although the likelihood of this happening in slim. Food just is not my priority this week. My co-workers were joking with me that they would come into the office each morning and find that I'd been camping overnight, since there is no reason for me to go home this week with Jared gone, and since my commute is so long. I guess it's something to consider...no. I could never stay in the office that long. I'd feel like I was suffocating--I need fresh air!

our little basil plants :)

You know what else needs fresh air? Plants. Jared bought me a window box herb garden for mother's day, and 4 days ago I noticed a tiny little green speck--our basil is coming up!!

On Friday, I had the BEST phone run with Rachael. When she lived in Utah we used to run together, and now that she lives in VA, we found a new way to continue our runs. We call each other up, put in head phones with speakers, and off we run. She in her neighborhood, and I in the Memorial Grove canyon of Salt Lake. It is such a treat to have such a great friend!

 I'm looking forward to having some fun with Jared now that he is done with that confounded test. Good thing tomorrow is Memorial day! Stay tuned for photos.

Here is what we made on Friday to prep Jared for the DAT.

Gluten free cheesy bread and turkey Ragu (a red sauce with meat).

Blog Resurrected

Guess what!?!?!?!?!

I got a new computer. Finally. And it is awesome. And it is a Mac.

Jared said to me on Saturday, after purchase of said awesomeness, "Can I play with it a little bit too?"
I was always one, when after Christmas or a birthday, NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE, could play, touch or man-handle my new things until I had broken them in. I'm still like this. Perhaps not my best characteristic, but we all have things about ourselves that we are not proud of. So, sorry husband, you'll have to wait. I still love you.

Here is picture of me and my mum from the best Wednesday I've ever had. She came out to visit and we spent the whole day having a blast shopping, chatting, and laughing. I miss her already.

So, since I'm a foodie, and now I've got a great new computer, here is the most recent deliciousness we sampled. This is an old favorite my roommate used to make for our apartment, back when I was single.

White Chicken Chili 

makes 6 servings

Ingredients:
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast cooked and shredded
1 Tb olive oil
1 white onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic
8 oz diced green chiles
2 15 oz cans Great Northern beans
4 C water
1 Tb "Better than Bouillon" chicken base
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 C plain yogurt


Toppings:
chopped tomato
diced avocado
1 C Monterey Jack cheese

Directions:
In a large dutch oven, or soup pot, heat oil on medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until translucent. Add the chicken, chiles, beans, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper, salt, chicken broth (water and base mixed together). Simmer 30-45 minutes. Add the yogurt and cook another five minutes while stirring. Serve with cheese, avocado, and tomatoes. 

Note to chef: I boiled the chicken first, then reserved 4 cups of the water to use in the chili. 

And now for the  cornbread!

Preheat the oven to 400 F and place the cast iron skillet in the oven with 1 Tb butter. 

Sweet cornbread, tastes better than Jiffy+ cake mix

Ingredients:

1 C all-purpose flour

3/4 C cornmeal

2 Tb sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

2 eggs, beaten

1 C milk

1/4 C canola

Directions:

In a medium bowl stir together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder.  In separate, small bowl combine oil, eggs and milk. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened. Pour batter into hot skillet. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. 

Also Haley came down from Logan so we could attend one of our best friends' weddings. This family has been our friends for the last 15 years or more so we were so happy to attend the wedding reception.

Sisters, sisters, never were there such devoted sisters

I'm gonna keep my eye on her

Already May

I have been getting into lots of trouble recently for not updating my blog. Ever. 

Please note: my personal computer just really isn't working great, and I have been trying to shop for a new one. However, shopping online for new computers, on a computer that doesn't want to work, usually gets me no where fast, so that search has been going on since February.

To justify spending the money on a new computer below is a list of other things besides this blog that require a new computer: 

I have a new business plan in the work
I have book to write
I need to use email/facebook to communicate with the women in my ward as part of my new calling
Jared needs my help with dental applications this summer, < 1 month away
TV shows while I ride my bike on my new wind trainer :).
Register for Bear Lake Brawl and other triathlons and races this summer
Email and skype my friends who live far far away.
More ideas and stitches for my embroidering phase/craft projects
Do something awesome with all the pictures on my camera.

Did I mention my family? I need to be able to skype with them's too, since it will be Christmas by the time I go home again.

For now here is shout out to all our homies, groupies, fans, enemies, old neighbors, friends, study buddies, running buddies and gang members across the world!

 Miss you lots, look for more updates soon!

One post for all of January.

Tonight I am feeling nostalgic and decided to give myself some homework. At the library. Because no one does homework at home. This blog has been shamefully neglected for the last # months and for that I apologize to the loyal followers, however few they may be.

Today Jared sent me a text that said, "I have a great idea, we should compose a newsletter type of document with pictures and send it to everyone in the family." Great idea! But to save on postage, here you go. I mean, you're welcome.

Our first Christmas tree!

No Christmas is complete without sugar cookies. 

Oh hey cat, you should be so jealous. I got all the spoils this year, and you got left under the tree. 

Sitting by the loot. And these paintings are direct from the streets of Italy, courtesy our wonderful Kim. 

Christmas morning, I made these. New tradition. 

Time to build a snow fort. 

Half way done. 

Upside down, but I am totally inside that fort! 

Hahaha Jared can't even find me. In the end it was big enough that we could both fit inside.
I am the MASTER fort builder. 

So, we had Christmas. It was wonderful. I got a Kitchenaid from my fantabulous in-laws. And it's spicy red, my favorite accent color in the kitchen. We also got another set of cloth napkins. Our collection now contains four different sets of napkins. Cloth napkins are the new sliced bread, they save on waste, look very much classier than paper, and you can fold them into all sorts of fun shapes. Friends, take note, next time we have a chance to give you a present, it will probably be napkins. Or a bar of soap.

Christmas break brought an adventure to Idaho. This may not sound so exciting, I mean, it's Idaho after all, but wait until you see the pictures! We went snowmobiling, and let me tell you, so humbly, that I rock at it. I almost succeeded in dumping Jared once or twice, as we were riding tandem. Be warned that the sweet Jared that all of you know and love, also has a little revenge streak. He white washed me as soon as we got back to the house. I became the absolute favorite cousin because, thanks to Chicago winters, I love romping in the snow, and J and I had a blast building forts and burying the kiddies up to their necks in snow. Jared even remembered how much he loves playing with dogs, when a neighborhood tramp (like the Disney movie) came rambling over and played chase with all of us simultaneously.

Evans family, picture Jared running in and out of rooms of your old apartment while playing Dice-capades and being chased by Kiva and Opi. It was kind of like that, except this dog kept knocking him over into the snow. Hilarity *100.

After Christmas break we discovered our new FAVORITE pastime. You know how when you go to meet n greet activities, or someone is just meeting you for the first time, they often ask, "What's your favorite hobby, what do you do for fun etc etc." The old standby was saying"I read for fun.", while pushing glasses up bridge of nose. Now I can happily say I have a new hobby. And it is COOL. Literally.

Snowshoeing. Jared and I have now gone three times. We organized a ward activity up at Big Springs park up Provo Canyon, and 44 people went and got to share our new found joy. The first time we went was with our bishop and his awesome wife. They are trail-blazers, as you can see from the MOUNTAINS we climbed. On MLK Jr day, Jared and I had the best time, for 3 hours, wandering around the mountains and woods, not really knowing where we were going, but knowing that as long as we went down we could find our way back to the car. I'm kicking myself that we didn't take our camera with us that last time, for the scenery was honestly breathtaking. It is occasions such as those that I remember what I do like about living in Utah, and I ought to try harder to have more such experiences, it will make living here another year more bearable. It is the constant grey inversions that cause such a gloomy stupor to cloud my otherwise cheerful disposition. Oh yeah, and hormone drugs will do that too. More on that, never.

There is a grave in this cake and everything!

My mom turned 29 :) . My father in law celebrated his 50th Birthday, and the Ravens won the SUPERBOWL!! (sadly for him, his team was not the winner. Birthday wish fail.) Finally, the team I was cheering for pulled it off. The last time I was so emotionally invested in a televised sporting event was when the Bears played the Colts in Superbowl XLI and we were destroyed. I haven't been able to swear allegiance to another team since then.


End of January.

Queue "I'm on Top of the World"

Starting February

Happy 1.5 years to us. This anniversary went unnoticed other than a typical night making puppy chow and watching a movie.

I treasure my husband for gratning with my wishes to watch old favorite movies, and trusting me enough to watch them with me.

Here is the tally thus far:
Anne of Green Gables, just as good as ever. Better now that I'm old enough to understand the humor.
Lion King 2, Simba's Pride, not enjoyable over the age of 12, and that might be pushing it.
Iron Will, amazing. I think I cried. Jared said this movie is good because it has a lot of action. The kid beats up a humongous Russian! He wanted to make sure that his viewpoint is shared too.
Treasure Planet. Still good, the best part is the 4D book that reads to you at the beginning of the movie. And Jared wants one of those flying hoverboards.
Luckily, Jared is pretty game for anything, but I don't think I'll ever convince him to watch this one. A timeless classic.

Two new animated favorites, that you can consider highly recommended by both of us: How to Train Your Dragon, and The Lorax. The first of these featured a lot of snort laughing and chortles from me, and a few great HA!'s from Jared. The lines are clever and the plot well thought. The latter engrossed Jared so much while I was cutting his hair one night, that I swear I could have given him a fauxhawk and he wouldn't have even noticed. Now I am wishing I had.

President's day weekend I got to go to my favorite middle sister's swim meet. She totally rocked every event, and even qualified for Nationals in the 50 y backstroke. That girl has got some guns!

**Note to reader, I just tried uploading some pictures, and the uploader tool said, "Catastrophic Failure." YIKES! Try again later**

First family photo shoot

On a walk several Sundays ago, Jared and I found this cool old place I would love for my parents to purchase and renovate into their retirement home. On the plus side, it's huge and would fit plenty of grandkids. On the down side, it needs a little work, and it is not in the greatest location. 

 I think it looks like a German Chalet. Can you just imagine this place in a huge park with an orchard and a lake and a cute little restaurant inside with rooms upstairs. I think it would be a great little business property. Aside from the location, again...

We received new Tshirts in gift box from Mom. I tell you what those care packages she sends make my entire month. It's like she packages up love and hugs in those boxes and when we open them we get overwhelmed with happy feelings.

One of the clauses of this particular care package was to take some cute fall pictures. Our efforts are as follows.

 In my last post I determined that I need more patience.



 This is the handsome, rugged, dashing, honorable man I married. Looking back, I have had experience with patience before. good things come to those who wait. True Fact.


 H is for Home
             Holloway
             Handsome
             Hottie
             Heroic
             Huggable
             Husband

I apologize. I'm being gooey. 

Hey look! TWINNERS!

Eventually we will get a tripod. For now, rocks and electric boxes work great for self timers.


Thanks for all the goodies MOM!

Something I want vs something I need

I will explain...

I just want someone to sit on the couch with me in the evenings after work. I want someone to snuggle with while I watch movies. I want someone who I can take runs and walks with. Is that too much to ask for?

"You're married." You say. "No problem."
"He's a student." I say. "I want a dog."

Today I bought running shoes instead. Jared isn't ready for the dog yet. Although for family night I spent 2 hours looking at all the animal shelters this side of the Point of the Mountain and some past it. For now I'm waiting but the desire hits me again as sit writing this blog, and husband is shut away in the den studing. I know I ought to be more patient.

For example, today we were driving to drop something off for his parents. I once more brought up the dog thing and Jared told me, "I'm not ready yet."
Really? I ask. Dang, is what I'm thinking.
"Okay, I understand." I say, pausing for thought. "What about now, are you ready now?"

"No. Not yet."


"Now? " Hopefully.

"No, not for the next 5 minutes at least."


2 hours later at Target, "Now?"

"Alex, I don't want to hear another word about this dog business today." My husband got very parental on me. Like the grown up I am, I only pouted a little bit.


My only hope is that as the saying goes. Good things come to those who wait.

This is what I'm waiting for.