2 Month Celebration!

Yesterday was 2 months since Howard and I got married!  Instead of going out or ordering in, I made dinner at home.  We plan on going out for dinner or getting delivery/take-out hopefully only once a month so that we save money (this doesn't include the gift cards I've received from students!).  It's actually more fun this way because the food in restaurants doesn't entice us nearly as much as it used to since we can technically make anything we want (you know, other than SUSHI!).  Plus, we've actually started getting super thirsty after eating restaurant food because of the high salt content!  With that being said, every night is still a date night because we get to eat together!  

I decided it was time to wash the Mr. and Mrs. mugs that we got from one of our friends, Lisa, a while back when she went to WDW.  I had kept them in my house for quite some time, purposely saving them for when we actually were Mr. and Mrs.!  I took 'em out of the box and washed 'em so that we could have a delightful drink of Ocean Spray's Cran-Raspberry juice with our dinner.

Haha, you can also see our Disney pitcher in the back along with our Mickey salt and pepper grinders and timer on top of the microwave.  We love the Disney life!

For dinner, I made chicken drumsticks using Lawry's marinade.  I made 7 with the Caribbean Jerk Marinade with Papaya Juice (also has molasses, lime, exotic herbs and spices) and 6 with the Hawaiian Marinade with Tropical Fruit Juices (also includes pineapple, papaya, mango, honey, soy sauce, and ginger).  I've used it before, but this time I knew to use more of the marinade and leave it in the fridge in the bag longer as well.  I popped them in the oven at 350 for about 45 minutes, and they came out SO much better than last time.  I really like the Caribbean Jerk one.  It has more of a kick to it.  I can definitely see buying that one again but not the Hawaiian one.


I also cooked romaine lettuce hearts, but that didn't turn out that good because the garlic gave it a slightly sour taste.  Then I had to CHEAT with the mashed potatoes and used frozen ones since the potatoes we had left had already rotted!  Ahhh, the things I'm learning as I cook as a wife!  Thankfully, Howard is very easygoing about everything!  He was the one comforting me last night when I was upset that the dinner didn't happen exactly as planned. 

Despite the few snafus with dinner, we still enjoyed our meal together as we always do!  We even got "gifts" in the shape of DIY monitor stands!  We went to IKEA on Wednesday with my family, and we picked up 2 Ekby Laiva shelves for $1.99 each along with 2 sets of Capita Legs for $10 each.  Following the directions on IKEA hackers, Howard built them for us so that we'd have more room on our shared table!  It was so much cheaper to do it this way because monitor stands cost a TON!  Pictures in the future when the desk is actually tidied!


At night, we relaxed with some TV shows on the computer and some crafting (well, I crafted, and Howard sat next to me at his computer).  Bridal shower thank you cards are almost done!  When they are, I can finally post a craft-related post on my blog!  Yay!  Until then ... :) 

The IKEA Song

As Howard and I settle into our new life in our new [teeny-tiny] studio apartment, we're really getting to enjoy all the things we bought from IKEA to furnish the place.  I love love LOVE my Varde cabinet that I deal with every single day since I don't actually have counterspace except for that.  Plus, the big drawers provide a ton of storage space.  Anyway, I'll probably run through a piece by piece description when the apartment is finally in order, and I can take pictures without having embarrassing messes all over the place!

Until then, enjoy this video called "The Ikea Song"!  The guy, Brad Go, is friends with my cousin Danielle.  They used to do film things together, and they even collaborated for a contest where they used my younger brother in the music video!  Dani posted it on my Facebook wall yesterday, and I keep playing it over and over because it's so catchy, and it's just plain ol' hilarious!  Having just bought a ton of IKEA furniture with weird names (Varde, Kivik, Expedit, Vika Amon, Aspelund, Jules, Henriksdal, etc.), my hubby and I just chuckled at the song AND the explanations for the names (click the links in the video itself!).

Ahhh, we love IKEA.  Thankfully, we can get a taste of IKEA soon since we have a bag of their Swedish meatballs in the freezer!

Walking Hand in Hand

The honeymoon was fabulous, but now we face real life challenges as opposed to the "What Disney park should we go to today?" and "Where do you want to get dinner?" type of challenges.

Photo courtesy of Dreamlite Photography

It's okay though. As long as we're walking hand in hand together, keeping our focus on the One who brought us together, we can do it.

Official Because I Changed It On Facebook!

This was a pretty gosh darn great weekend.  Why?  I got MARRIED!  I am now a WIFE.  Whoa, that's weird!  I actually crafted a lot of things for the wedding, like the centerpieces, the favors, and the placecards with the help of my now HUBBY Howard and my momsicles (and my younger brother helped a bit too!).  I'll definitely post pics of all of that when I return from our Disneymoon!

I just had to sign online for a bit so that I could (1) change my last name and relationship status on Facebook because as we all know, that's what makes it official, and (2) post this link to some teaser photos from our photographers, Dreamlite Photography.  The two guys, Jon + Howie, were beyond amazing!  We were so comfortable with them, and we are already getting to see some teaser shots the day AFTER the actual wedding!

Please click the link here, and click the "LIKE" button on the blog post.  I'd really appreciate if you could do that for me, thanks!

Almost Mrs. Love and Sushi

I know I've been rather absent from my blog, but it's all because of the gosh darn wedding that's creeping up on me rather quickly!  I'm way behind on all the things that I have to do.  I never thought I'd be a last minute bride, but I am because it was just too difficult balancing my responsibilities at work and the burdens from the wedding.  Add on top of that the fact that I would've preferred having a different kind of wedding than the one we're actually having, it makes it very difficult to WANT to plan.  Getting the apartment ready is difficult too because Howard and I only have Saturdays to do that.  

Recently, I had my bridal shower at my aunt's house (my cousins Danielle and Nikki are my best buds and my bridal party; they're on my right and left in the picture).  Here's a picture of the "younger" girls who were at the party.

On that same day, Howard has his bachelor party arranged by his groomsman and our mutual friend from church, Ray.  They went paintballing and then had a sushi buffet afterwards.  I was a tad bit jealous that he got to have sushi since we rarely eat it nowadays, so the next day when he drove me back home from church after pre-marital counseling, we went to the local sushi place!  Yum!

We had some rolls as well as some sashimi.  I was really liking the Moscow roll that day, which has 3 kinds of fish wrapped in cucumber.  Very yummy!

Anyway, just wanted to write this quick update to let you know that I'm still alive and breathing.  Plus, I just HAD to share the sushi part since I am all about loveandsushi!  Oh, by the way, have you seen the stamps from Pink by Design's latest release?!  Um, LOVE!

  

I hope to add some sushi sentiments to my growing collection of PBD stamps after we recover from all the wedding things!  Haha, when it comes to money, things like rent and groceries and all the things needed for life on our own come first now!

Hope you all are doing well!  I'm very behind on blogs as well, so I can't wait to eventually see what you're all doing!