*Knock Knock* It's Springtime! & they brought Allergies too!

It's definitely been a while since I've been able to put together an update-and with a week full of thunderstorms and chilly weather what better time to hunker down and keep this blog current.

Lately Shane and I have been struggling with fatigue(among other things) as we both battle in our own different ways with intense seasonal allergies. The pollen counts have been crazy and the rain has given us a minimal respite. It's always sad to have to keep the windows shut and stay inside when its so nice out, but neither of our bodies handle it very well and in the end its just not worth it. Saturday the rain is suppose to let up and then the pollen counts are scheduled to shoot right back up again-boo that.

Needless to say,after many sleepless nights, emptied tissue boxes, and raging headaches we are ready for Spring Break next week and hopefully some time to catch up on some much needed R & R.

We will kick off our week with Nicole and Adam coming down for a visit! Woot Woot. It will be so nice to have some down time to hangout and catch up with them. Anyone who lives far from family knows that those visits home don't always afford you the quality time you might want with each friend or family member in town and with will be nice to get some one on one time with them this weekend when they make their trek down.

Adam, Nicole, and I cheering on Wheaton in the Fall of 2009 during their game against Augustana (Shane is not pictured, but present-coaching from the press box).

Our latest adventure in working at a high school was last Saturday as we went downtown Saturday night to an exclusive night club (frequented by the rich and famous of ATL, Jay-Z etc.), the Opera, to chaperone Mt. View High School's 2nd Annual Prom! : ) We got all dressed up and then manned our posts for the evening-I may or may not have wimped out in confronting couples that were getting a little too "close," but Shane picked up my slack : )

(This was the Venue)

It's crazy to think that in 2 months Shane's first year of teaching will be finished. It never ceases to amaze me how time flies (Shane and I just had our 9 month anniversary!!! What!?!) Soon we will have been married a year-are we still newlyweds after that? I don't even know-but I'm always intrigued to see where this next year will take us-while also ready for the 2 month break from the whirlwind that we will get this summer to travel to see family, while also allowing Shane to lighten his load and just focus his efforts on coaching this summer.
...

I will make a concerted effort to take some pictures this weekend and post them next week( the flash on my camera is broken though-so I'm not getting my hopes up : P )

-M.W.

Quotables

"Huge waves that would frighten an ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them. Let's apply that to our own circumstances. The things we try to avoid and fight against-tribulation, suffering, and persecution are the very things that produce abundant joy in us"

-Oswald Chambers

Odds & Ends

Here are some odds and ends from the last few weeks

Our local Borders is going out of business and we thought we would check out any super sales they had going. We not only found this cute little "Nostalgic" pamphlet that high lights the year we were born, but we also snagged this cute little mug that I couldn't say no to for our collection.

The Bears and Penn State had a good year : )

Recently we had some friends over for dinner-which was a great excuse to do some baking-something I haven't had the chance to do in a long time.

I couldn't resist the opportunity to yet again make some GFree chocolate chip cookies, but also used a vanilla cake box mix that was also Gfree to make a layered banana cake with candied pecans and cream cheese frosting-I have a love hate relationship with layered cakes, but it ended up being a success.

In my opinion-the candied pecans were the best part!
. . . . . . .

I'd like to blame it on my allergies-but lately my meal making has hit a slump-I usually try and make a meal each night of the week, but as seen below in a grilled guacamole, bacon, and cheese sandwich- my meals have become slightly lower maintenance.

Months ago Shane and I had some jarred vodka sauce (gasp), and it was nothing short of disgusting. I tried to convince Shane that vodka sauce isn't universally gross, but this being his first time he had trouble shaking the notion. I was convinced that I could give vodka sauce some much needed redemption!

Saturday I planned to make some Vodka penne with fried eggplant. I made my shopping list and thought it would easy from that point on.

Little did I know my journey would be a long one! I went to my local Kroger and and walked up and down the "liquor" aisle 2 or 3 times. Was I missing something, because all I could find was wine? Where was the vodka? Not only that but for some reason they didn't carry shallots either!!! Later that week I asked someone at work about the lack of liquor at the grocery stores-she informed me that down here they not only don't sell alcohol on Sunday's but they also only sell hard liquor at liquor stores-of which there are very few. Shane and I not being drinkers had no idea. Saturday Shane and I drove around running errands. We passed by approx. 10 strip malls-and no liquor stores anywhere! We finally found a "beverage superstore"-and had quite the experience-all for some pasta sauce! Finished Sauce

Eggplant

It was actually easier than I thought to make some G-Free fried eggplant. I sliced the eggplant, coated it in brown rice flour then dipped it in egg-then I dredged it in a mixture of corn flake crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and Italian seasonings. I fried it up in a sauce pan with a shallow layer of oil and wallah.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

To end my odds and ends I wanted to also mention that Shane was recently promoted to be the Defensive Back's coach at Mt. View-he is super excited and is looking forward to coaching a position he knows and loves so much!!!!!!!!

-M.W.