What holds me up when the world is dragging me down?

It appears I will be doing several "Top Ten" lists this month as I navigate my first NaBloPoMo. I'm really excited about how its forcing me to think and get a little creative. Today's list: things that help me hang in there:

1. my husband.
2. my family
3. my friends
4. cooking
5. cooking magazines
6. a good cup of coffee
7. an episode of Glee
8. a hot shower
9. dark chocolate
10. a good nap

Graf Family Traditions

One of my favorite parts of starting a new family with Joe is the holiday traditions we borrow from each other's families and the ones we create on our own. Here are some of our traditions:

Super Bowl- This is our big hosting event of the year. We invite all of our friends over to watch the big game and I spend the day cooking lots of yummy treats.

St. Patrick's Day- Every year I make crock pot Corned Beef and Cabbage and Irish Soda Bread. Last year we shared the meal with a couple of friends. Seeing as there is always an abundance of food, I would like to continue sharing that meal with friends or family. Also, last year all four of us learned the joy of Potato Leek soup.

Easter- In an attempt to fairly split our time between families, we have decided to spend each Easter in Wisconsin with my Mom's family. We don't always get to see everyone we want to, but we try our best.

Memorial Day- My Opa, German for Grandpa, was a World War II vet. Every year my mom, and me if I'm lucky, go to his army reunion. Every Memorial Day, we all go up to the cemetery where he is at for a beautiful service hosted by the cemetery.

Fourth of July- My brother usually hosts a BBQ on the Fourth. So we go over and hang with him and his friends.

Birthdays Day-This is a new tradition my mother and I have started this year. Seeing as all our birthdays are within four months, and we have five people, all with very unique schedules, we have decided to do one big celebration! Our first one is next Sunday.

Election Day: One thing my Dad always felt very strong about was voting. He has voted in every election since I can remember and has instilled the same passion into me. So no matter how cruddy I feel, I make it out the the  polls and cast my vote every year. For the last presidential election I had a Returns Viewing Party for my fellow political buffs. I hope to do the same again next year.

Thanksgiving- This holiday we spend with Joe's side of the family. Often we meet with his mother's family and we have a nice dinner with them and then go to his Grandpa's house for desserts.

Anniversaries (yes, plural)- Our dating and wedding anniversaries are two days apart. Since there is a significant amount of time between the years (6 years!) we like to have a big celebration for both. We aren't really big on Sweetest or Valentine's Day, so we make this our big date night or weekend getaway of the year.

Sunday after Thanksgiving-This is the day I am usually able to convince Joe its time to get our Christmas tree. Since our first Christmas together we have been getting real trees...a first for me! If I ignore the needles on my floor, its definitely a tradition I love adopting! And, if I'm real lucky, I can even get Joe to bring up all the Christmas decorations from our storage unit! When we decorate we have adopted the German tradition of hiding a pickle ornament in our tree. Traditionally, when a child finds it they get a piece of candy. Since we are childless, one of us usually just hides it from the other.

St. Nicholas Day-This is a tradition we are taking from my parent's. During the night of December 5th and 6th St. Nick comes and fills our stockings. Even the kitties have one!
Baking Day- This is one of my favorite traditions! My lil sis/cousin comes over and we destroy my kitchen making baked goods for friends and family! Its an all day event with lots of delicious out comes!

Christmas Eve- Usually we both work Christmas Eve, but as I am without a job, I will have the day to get ready for our nighttime festivities. On Christmas Eve we drive up to Wisconsin and spend the night going to church with my Mom's side of the family.
Christmas Day- Christmas Day is a busy one for us. Usually in the morning/early afternoon we head out to Joe's mom's house and spend some time with his side of the family. Then in the late afternoon/evening we go to my aunt's house and celebrate with my dad's side of the family. THEN, my parents and brother come to our place for dessert and a family Christmas.

New Year's Eve- Every New Year's Eve our dear friends host a party, so we always spend the night with them, eating, playing games and welcoming the New Year.

Those are our current traditions, I am sure we will be developing more as the years go on.

My Need to Travel

When Joe first met me he did not understand my need to travel. He didn't see the point in spending so much money in such a short amount of time. What was the point really? This came as a shock to me because I LOVE traveling and seeing new places and making new memories. I remember being in Disney World and riding Splash Mountain, being assaulted by a goat in Texas, discovering the joy of raspberry chocolate chip ice cream in Ohio, seeing the inside of the FBI in DC and seeing a favorite gymnast practice for the Olympics in Colorado. All of these are important memories, and I intend to keep adding to the list....preferably without any more goats, that just wasn't necessary.

After my first trip to Europe my need (I do consider it a need, its definitely more then a want) to travel increased tenfold. Seeing things that we will never have in the US because of its infancy. Seeing new cultures, trying different food....you should have seen my face when I found out I was eating duck for the first time. Because my first trip to Europe was with my extended family, I got to experience all these new and wonderful things with my parents, brother, aunts, uncle and cousins. When I had the opportunity to spend a college Spring Break in London, it was an absolute no brainer. I can't really explain why, but England has always felt like a second home to me. I go there and I feel at peace, like everything is right in my world. To get to spend another week there was amazing, and its also where I cultivated friendships with some of my closest friends.

So as Joe and I are trying to figure out the how, when and where of the trips we want, I can't help but be reminded of my grandmothers, both of whom like to travel; one in the US and the other the world. After taking a few trips together Joe is warming up to the idea of travel. He is starting to look forward to our trips and get excited about them with me. It makes me so happy to be able to share one of my greatest passions with him. Last week he even mentioned how some of his favorite times with me is when we travel and see something new together.

My Cousins

My cousins are amazing. They are a never ending source of entertainment and support and I love them. I thought all of you should know.Today I stood with some of them to honor the life of a local teen. I am leaving this entry short in memory of that teen and in honor of my cousins. I love you all. (And my aunt!!!)

Why I Am Doing NaBloPoMo

As I am currently unemployed, I search many different avenues for things to occupy my time. I have been doing a lot of volunteer work, I am challenging myself to make everything...even the Prune Cake...from The Pioneer Woman's Cookbook, I have designed a book cover for a friend, participated in a flash mob, race and two road trips. One of these days I plan on cleaning and catching up on scrapbooking. But in the mean time, I find myself wanting to be creative, something to exercise my brain daily as I try to decide what I want my next step to be. So while I have two friends participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), I have discovered that it is also NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). Needing to feed the creativity, another friend and I, have decided to use NaBloPoMo as our inspiration to feed our creative sides.

So yes, that means everyday this month I will be posting something new. I can't make promises on quality, seeing as I must post something new every day. But I am willing to promise it to be an interesting collection of thoughts.

See ya'll tomorrow!

Rules I Live By

As I spend time figuring out the type of person I want to become, I realize that there is a set of rules I live by. And since I have committed to blogging everyday, I decided that this was a topic I would discuss.

1. Treat others the right way, regardless of how they treat you.
2. Do not use words like "gay" or "retarded" to put someone down.
3. Respect different opinions. Just because something is right for me does not mean it is right for everyone.
4. Stand up for what you believe is right, even if everyone else won't.
5. Shared joy is a double joy, shared sorrow is half a sorrow.
6. Celebrate a LOT. It will help you find joy when it is no where to be found.
7. Sing in the car. Loudly.
8. You must indulge yourself every so often.
9. Try to have some alone time everyday.
10. Find a way to make your life fulfilling, whether it be through work, family or volunteering.

Canada 2011

I met some amazing people when I studied abroad in college. We spent an amazing nine days together in London, where we did a literary tour ---have I mentioned how amazing the British Library is?. In the four years since we have had many failed attempts to travel together again. Illness, money and time all stood in our way. This year,  however, we decided enough was enough and our passports were lonely and in desperate need of a new stamp. Money still being tight, we decided a road trip was our best bet.. So Friday morning we left Park Ridge at 6am (as in A.M., as in still dark, as in I may again be developing a caffeine addiction) to head towards the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. We spent the first day of Beth's first road trip driving for ten hours. We were lucky, the drive was bearable and we had several highway changes so we were never stuck doing the same thing for too long. When we finally arrived we spent our first night of vacation going out to dinner....raspberry margaritas anyone?....and seeing the falls lit up after dark. It was beautiful!

We then went back to our hotel to relax and indulge in an amazing chocolate cake!

The next day we got up and went to the Butterfly Conservatory. There were so many beautiful butterflies roaming around their green house. It was gorgeous and made for lots of beautiful pictures.

When we finished at the Conservatory, after a long search for that butterfly in the picture (it was a sneaky guy and hard to photograph) we walked around the botanic gardens that played host to the Conservatory.
 That afternoon brought us back to the Falls. We did the Journey Behind the Falls which brings people through tunnels to view the falls from inside the waterfall.

We concluded our day with a ride on the Sky Wheel to see the Falls from above!

It was a wonderful vacation, and a very relaxing girl's weekend. We concluded a trip with a morning massage before our ten hour car ride home. I had a wonderful time and was thrilled to share this experience with my girlfriends. Here's to hoping we get another chance to travel together again!

Friends Since 1998

We have been friends for 13 years. Together we have been through a lot: deaths, illnesses, moves, road trips and several celebrations of 21st birthdays. We may be separated by miles or even by states, but the moment we are together it's as if no time has passed.

Our college garduation celebration.

It has been an exciting four years for us. In 2008 I got married, 2009 Shannon did, 2010 was Heidi's turn and this past weekend was Sara's! Four years, four weddings (and four Bachelorette parties!). This wedding was in Nebraska (which crossed Iowa off my list of 50 states to visit), and marked a bittersweet end to the celebrations of the past four years. I believe we are all glad to be past the planning stage and into our marriages, and sad because there will not be any more big parties to look forward to for awhile.

Sara and her man put on quite the extravagansa! The wedding was in an old train station that was turned into a museum and was completely gorgeous. The bride and groom looked amazing and it was a great time. Congratulations you two!

My Obsession with Mason Jars

If you have ever been to my house you will quickly see my love of Fiestaware....but I have recently discovered another obsession: Mason Jars. I was tired of the clutter in my pantry and cabinets and decided to organize with these amazing contraptions.

 I did the baking shelf: caramel chips, white chocolate chips, semi sweet chips, milk chocolate chips as well as assorted nuts.

And in the pantry: dried beans, noodles, rice.

At this point I thought I was pretty cool. I had a interesting balance of country and city going on in my kitchen that was very "me." And then I found these at Target yesterday:

That's right....GALLON SIZE MASON jars. I now have storage for the flour and sugar I insist on buying in bulk. I was a little too excited, not gonna lie.

Then I got my free copy of Country Woman magazine (Its in the Taste of Home family). And they had craft ideas for Mason Jars. So I made a pin cushion/notions holder and some candles.





I am sure I will come up with more cool things to do with these jars..but this is what I have done so far.

Julie and Julia vs Meg and Ree Part 2

So here I am thinking I have made a huge dent in my Meg and Ree challenge. I've been making a few things each week. Including the Creamy Rosemary Potatoes that are responsible for my sliced finger. Apparently you are supposed to be careful when you use mandolines. Unless of course you want your finger to match mine...but I promise you that you don't. Its not pretty, takes too long to heal and will never look the same again, its just not worth the trouble to be my finger twin. Anyway, back to the challenge. I'm only 26% of the way through the cookbook. But I suppose to be fair, there are things I have made more then once. I also suppose I will consider myself a success if I finish before the next cookbook comes out in the Spring. Also, before ya'll jump to the conclusion about me using all that butter, I want it noted that I am working hard on my weight loss goals. I even appear to be making some headway! Consequently, I am allowed to have butter a few times a week. I've decided.