Ryan's a graduate!

Ok, so really, there should be a bajillion posts on last weekend. Ryan's parents came into town and I think we all took a combined thousand pictures. Or something like that. There were some long speeches involved, but it was all for a good cause: Ryan's a graduate! For real! ((Also, grades came back and he totally got straight A's his last semester--including his capstone class where I paper he wrote was worth 50% of his grade! I married a smarty-pants, that's for dang suuure.))

Without further ado, a few of Ry's dad's stalker-pictures (In a good way, of course, Ken. And I didn't delete any of them, I promise!) of Ryan. He's such a stud!  Don't worry, there are more. But that would require a whole 'nother blog post. Also, I took some professional pictures of him as well so I'm excited to edit them and put them on this blog and my photography blog. Oh, and maybe soon Ry will post about his summer adventures. Geez, that kid's lucky, with no work or school for two whole weeks, then a trip to Rome!

**Also, do you guys read my photography blog? I've been reading loads up on photography blogs and branding and even though I'm completely overwhelmed, I'd love a little love from y'all on how you like it, and what I can do better. Please and thank you!**

STUD.

Also, this is the current background of my computer.  I think we're super cute.

 The parents!! We're so happy that they could come up, spend time with us, and stuff themselves silly at Tucanos.

Oh, us again? How silly of me. But isn't Ryan just a cutie? Not biased at all.

Orange Chicken with Broccoli

Remember how I've made a bajillion recipes from Mel's Kitchen Cafe? Seriously, I love that food blog. Bur for any non-believers out there, here's another recipe I recently made for Sunday dinner with two other couples. They all loved it, so I'm thinkin success. I really loved it too. It wasn't super heavy, and I made a salad, some glazed carrots, and a heaping amount of rice to finish the meal off right. I doubled the meal and added some sliced onions that I sauteed with the broccoli, and I used a mix of fresh broccoli and frozen (that I warmed (read: nuked) in the microwave for a few minutes to thaw them).

Orange Chicken with Broccoli
from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Cheese! ...and rambling on and on... and summer plans too...

We've been a bit busy lately, with Ryan finishing up school (and graduating this weekend!) and me working and interning long hours, along with doing photoshoots of my own (Mal, I'm so excited for you. I seriously love so many of your pictures, it's hard to pick my favorites!), but don't worry, we'll be back next weekend with PLENTY of pictures to share. Ryan's parents are in town and we hope to do some fun things with them in Ptown while they're here, and I've got more shoots scheduled in the next month, and we've got a trip to ROME to plan and then we're off to Italy for a week...be still my heart. I can't help but ramble on a and on right now, there's so much going on and I love it so much.

A few of my goals for this summer: take more pictures, learn more italian, sew a few skirts for me, and make things for our home, print more pictures, design and print our wedding album, read 5 books... any other suggestions on what I should do? It'll be our last summer in Utah, so we also plan on doing some cool stuff here, but we're not exactly sure yet.

Oh yeah, and the original reason for this post: cheese. I seem to be on a kick these days. Seriously, I love cheese so much. Good thing Joanna Goddard loves cheese too. Check out this cheese-y post  if you haven't already. I'm already planning a party with a cheese plate. Oh! I should add that to my summer list...

Making a Difference

Hard to believe that my undergraduate studies are almost over with! This Tuesday I sat through my last day of classes. I was impressed by the last lecture given by Ilona Klein. She is one of the Italian professors and she has proven to be one of my favorites. She is a very engaging teacher who demands a lot from her students, yet her grading style is remarkably fair.

This semester I took her Honors 303 class, Voices and Legacy of the Shoah. The class is devoted to studying what took place in Nazi Germany and "giving a voice" to those who were persecuted under Hilter's regime. We read many wonderful biographies by Elie Wiesel, Primo Levi, Gerda Weissman Klein, and several others. I recommend all of them if you ever have the chance. Their courage not only to survive through the Shoah but to be a witness of it inspires me.

In fact, Professor Klein teaches the course to motivate students to evade feelings of indifference. She encourages us to find an issue we are passionate about and to act on it, whatever it may be. Even if contributions are small individually, they add up to a much larger and impressive whole.

As I reflect upon her message, I find that I have done little in the last few years to give a voice to the voiceless. I have not volunteered my time nearly enough nor have I joined admirable causes that are in desperate need for help. I need to identify what it is I care about and then act on it.

So, what are you doing to better your community?

Cheese Please.

Um, yes. For 12 months you can get three cheeses a month for only $775. ONLY. Ha, ok, so maybe that's not really in our budget right now, but the next time we go to NYC we're going to Murray's. And when I'm feeling wealthy (read: a cheese fund is now being put in place. donations for birthdays and christmas are currently being accepted) I'm all over the cheese of the month club, if only for 4 months.

La Jolla Groves

We went to a receptionist's lunch at La Jolla Groves, in the Riverwoods, last week and I really enjoyed it. I thought the portion sizes were perfect and although the salads are a little pricey to add to your meal, they can make side salads out of most of them and use the same dressing. My co-workers were RAVING about the lemon vinaigrette dressing and I can't wait to go back and taste it for myself! I had the salmon and it was suuuper good (mmm, I heart salmon) and the turkey medallion dish was also raved about.

If you're in the Provo/Orem area and want a change in restaurants, go here and let me know what you think! If you want to do a little reviewing online, check out here, here, and here. After living in DC and realizing that everyone can be a Negative Nancy, even about super scrumptious food (srsly, how can you not LOVE Good Stuff????). Try it out, it's refreshing, has some super good lemon desserts, and it's at the Riverwoods, so you can always go on a walk or do a little shopping before and after you go!

I heart the MoMA.

MoMA. The Museum of Modern Art. Online shopping.

Put it all together and you get so many amazing things that I would love to have in a future house of mine. I love the variety--it's a little Anthro and ModCloth put together. Most of the prices are very reasonable, which is way exciting too. Here's my fave:

we heart the dille family

A few weeks ago we were super excited that the Dilles could see us as they drove though Provo coming back from spring break. We absolutely love their family and I think their kids are awesome. And adorable. And fun. Anyway, the list goes on. Since Ryan had a busy school schedule, I met them at Terra Mia and we ate a delicious lunch and exchanged our winter photoshoot pictures. {{Thank you again Jen for getting some great shots. I can't believe my hair was that long!! (no worries mom, it'll grow, I promise :)}}

It was so nice to chat and talk with them. I love how interested they are in our lives and how excited they are for us. Even though we probably won't be near them for law school, it's nice to know that when we visit Phoenix, we visit them, too.

Hurray for family!

Lemon Loaf

I've been on a citrus kick lately and I absolutely love it. We finally used the last of a Bed Bath and Beyond gift card and I have a zester! Zesting overload, here I come!

About a month ago I saw a post for a lemon loaf and decided that it was DEFINITELY making the menu that week. As I've said before, I haven't been as good about taking pictures of the awesome food we've been eating as of late, but still, it's worth sharing.

*ps: when the title is "luscious lemon loaf" how can you NOT want to eat the whole thing?*

Lemon Loaf
from A Pretty Life in the Suburbs

source: APLitS

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

Grated rind from 1 lemon

Juice from 1 lemon

1/4 cup sugar

How to:

Cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs, 1 at a time.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt.
Add 1/2 flour mix to butter mix.
Then add 1/2 milk.
Add rest of flour mix.
Add rest of milk.  And add lemon gratings.
Grease pan (aka PAM it)
Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 45-50 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
In the mean time, combine the lemon juice with the 1/4 cup sugar.
When the cake is done baking, take it out of the oven, and pierce holes in it with a knife.  Pour lemon juice/sugar mix over warm cake.
Eat up!

**The origional recipe said that it was even better the next day, but I thought it was perfect right out of the oven. Maybe it was just me and the crazy altitude that messed it up, but I preferred it at 10pm, right out of the oven :)

Rexburg: Taylor Graduates!

Ryan and I FINALLY had the chance to go up to Rexburg, Idaho this past weekend to see my awesome brother graduate! Even though three of my siblings have gone to school there (for at least a semester or two), they always came down to see us instead of the other way around. And ok, there's not a TON to do there, and it was a bit chilly, but other than a headache that Ry had for a few hours on Friday night, we really had a lot of fun!

First, let me start out by saying that Ryan used to go up to Brigham City, UT when he was a kid because his grandparents on his mom's side lived up there. It was so cute to drive up and have him peering out the window the whole time to see if he could see things that he saw when he was little. Unfortunately it was terribly foggy, so we could hardly see a thing. It was still pretty cute though. (He always cracks me up when he says, "I've stayed at that hotel before." That kid has stayed at so many random hotels off I-15!)

…too much?…

Taylor graduated officially on Friday, and then the commencement with everyone was on Saturday morning. In between and around all that we ate some delicious Great Harvest Bread, hung out with Tay and Jaimee, went shopping with my parents and Taylor as he got a graduation suit (I learned how boys dress pants are supposed to fit--SO helpful! Thanks Mom and Dad!) aaand ate at Big Judd's. There were eight of us so we split two one pound burgers and ate waaaay too many fries that anyone should eat, especially right before the weather warms up :)

We had so much fun and are sad that we won't be going back any time soon, but are so excited for T and J's new adventures in Houston! Congrats guys!!!

101 in 1001: #20, #30, #64, #71

Man, I'm so bad at updating that list. I've blogged about a few of the accomplishments already, but here's an "official" 101 in 1001 blog post to prove it.

20. Go on a weekend road trip

We were lucky enough to get President's day weekend off and go to Colorado to visit some family friends. Grant is Ry's bff from childhood and him parents, Sue and Jim, built themselves a sweet Colorado home/mansion  and were gracious enough to let us crash there and feed us, too! I made a blog post about it already, but to prove it was awesome...

I've never been in a hot tub when it's cold outside--it was so fun. We hung out with Sue and Jim while Grant was doing some homework and I can't wait to go back in the summertime and have a picture of us hanging out on their awesome deck instead of in a hot tub!

30. Go to a Jazz game

I already posted about the Jazz game, but we went in February with the Hart's to a Suns v Jazz game. They had a foam finger and everything, but we made sure not to wave it until they were winning and then they won!! I heard today that I guy is in the intensive care unit after a fan beat him after a Dodgers/Giants game--scary. Maybe I don't need to associate myself with foam fingers afterall...

64. Take pictures of a newborn

I've been fortunate enough to take pictures of 2 newborns this winter, Lincoln and Simon. They were absolutely adorable and are already getting so big! Here's one I've posted so far on little Linc:

71. Make photography business cards

I have business cards!!! They came at the end of last week and I really like them. I feel so official now, and both Ryan and I have them with us now in our wallets at all time, hurray for officially being in business!

Despicable Me: Agnes

Really, you have to love this movie. Ryan and I watched it as our FHE last night (also, he was gone all weekend, so we couldn't watch it until then anyway) and absolutely loved it. I love that we watch animated movies all the time. I think this is definitely one that we'd like to own one day. Also, how can you not absolutely L-O-V-E Agnes? She's adorable. And if we name a future child Agnes, it's because of her.

Chicken Salad, Cheesecake Bars, Chicken Satay

I haven't been that good at taking pictures of these amazing dishes, but I highly recommend them (and all pictures posted from the authors themselves). 



1. Curried Chicken Salad (from Emily at One Lovely Life). We made this last Sunday when we invited Will and Jess over for dinner and games. It was super easy and I put it together before church and we had it with some glazed carrots (taste and tell blog) and a salad with feta, dried cranberries, and sunflower seeds and some homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

2. Cheesecake Bars (from Mel's Kitchen Cafe). Melanie definitely loves her crust, so I think next time I'll reduce it a tad (it's about half the bar), but these were simple and fabulous! I don't have a springform pan for regular cheesecakes so these babies are the next best thing!

3. Chicken Satay with Peanut sauce (Tasty Kitchen blog). I really love indian food (two curry-esque dishes in a week!) and this proved my love even more. You've got to marinate the chicken but just for an hour, and instead of putting it on skewers, I just cooked the chicken in a skillet and served it over rice. We added the peanut sauce into our bowls and it was SO GOOD. The peanut sauce is a little tricky and the oil divided a bit at the end, but I'm hoping to perfect it, eat the leftovers this week, and make it again soon!

Instagram awesomeness

No, I'm not cool enough, or rich enough to own an iphone now, but this I've found a sweet site that is total time-sucker and I love it. Ok, I don't love that it sucks my time away, but I think it's pretty inspirational how mundane and everyday places and food and friends can be turned into awesome pictures and pieces of art. People can submit their instagram (an iphone app) pictures and two pop up at a time and you pick which one you like the best. Try it out and let me know whatcha think.

http://www.picafight.com/

Pressure Cooker.

I just watched a great documentary called Pressure Cooked (Have I mentioned how much I love how many documentaries Netflix has on their instant cue? It's like heaven). It's based in Philidelphia and follows a few high school seniors in the inner city that are in Culinary Arts and compete at the end of the year for CCAP scholarships for community college as well as cooking schools all over the country.

One girl, Fatimata, has a not so good family life, and in the interview for the scholarship, the interviewer asks her how she adjusted from life in Mali, to Philidelphia, just 4 years prior. She talks about public transportation and free lunch and says something like, "I have every opportunity in front of me, thinks with my family are just ok, but why wouldn't I want to better myself and go to college."

I loved her positive attitude. It made me cry as I thought of her, and how she is turning her situation into a positive one, and how there are so many people in such better circumstances than her, and yet they don't take advantage of all the opportunities they could have.

I want to be better and more positive and take advantage of all that I have to not only improve and better my life, but help others around me. And especially help kids like Fatimata. I love that Ryan and I have already started the tradition of giving back and giving 10 extra dollars each month to the humanitarian fund or missionary fund for the church, or giving to UNICEF or the Red Cross when disasters like Haiti and Japan happen.