Decorating like crazy...

Yet again, it has been way, way too long since I posted.  One of my New Year's resolutions is to post more regularly to my blog, so fingers crossed.

There has been A LOT going on around the Tolle House the past few months.  The holiday season always means lots of visiting with family, which is wonderful, but that doesn't leave time for much else.  So, I'm finally sitting down at my computer and writing this entry.

When we moved into our house two and a half years ago (whoa! doesn't seem that long ago), we didn't have much time to adjust or have a chance to get settled in.  I was studying for the bar exam (I feel sick even thinking about it!) and Brandon was working a job that kept him out of town 2-3 days per week.  We were lucky to just get our essentials unpacked.  Needless to say, between me starting work and Brandon continuing to have to work out of town for a while, pastoring our start-up church, and then beginning a second career as a teacher, there hasn't been much time for decorating in the interim either.  So, he and I vowed that we would spend at least one week of his Christmas break doing some much needed work around the house.

Last fall, we finally put paint on the walls that had been screaming for it since move-in day.  That made a BIG difference, but it barely scratched that itch I had to really make this house our home.  So, with a very limited budget, we set out this past week to "home-ize" our house.

Project #1:  The Master Bedroom

Our bedroom was one of the rooms that didn't get painted last fall and it has received very little attention in the decorating area.  I dug through a bunch of our decorative items in the garage (this process was aided by Brandon's building of some awesome storage shelves for the garage, which made organizing the garage a necessity).  I picked out a few items that we already had that weren't being utilized and turned them into something pretty cool.

I took the backing off of a frame, hung it on the wall, and put a plaque with scripture inside of the frame.  Above the frame, we hung our "Love Honor Cherish" sign. To finish things off, we hung a couple of candle sconces that my grandmother handed down to me a few months ago.

I think it turned out pretty nicely.

I also added a little bit of flare to our master bath, which had also been lacking any decoration since we moved in.  I tend to think of my garden tub as a nice place to escape from everything, so I wanted to make it a little bit more of an oasis.  I hung a couple of pictures and added some artificial flowers, all of which was previously utilized in our former apartment.  When paired with our monogrammed towels that I hung a while back, the tub now seems like a very peaceful place to escape.

I'm also very much wanting to blog about my recent no-sew curtain creation, but I think I'll put that in a separate entry.

Until next time...

Cheeseburger soup. Yumm-ee!

Wow...it seems as though I have fallen down on the job. It's been almost 2 years since my last post. We definitely have to remedy that. I have decided that I am going to try to post at least once a week (once a month at the very least) to keep things up to speed.

Since there are not a whole lot of big things going on right now, I'm going to use this space to talk about my and Brandon's adventures in cooking, crafting, and decorating. It should be fun.

The main reason I wanted to write a post today was so that I could jot down the recipe for this AMAZING cheeseburger soup I made yesterday.  I found several recipes via Pinterest, but none of the recipes seemed just right. So, I did a mish-mash of all the recipes I found and came up with this little diddy:

MB's cheeseburger soup:

1 two lb. bag of frozen hash browns
1 lb. of lean ground beef or ground turkey
16 oz. Velveeta 2% (or store brand)
4 oz. low fat cream cheese
2 onions
2 pinches dill
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp onion powder
2 Tbsp Worcestershire (you can certainly add more--I may have actually ended up with 4 Tbsp)
3 cups low fat/low sodium chicken broth
3 cups low fat milk
1 Tbsp olive oil

Directions:
In a large stock pot, add 1 Tbsp. olive oil.
Sweat the onions. When onions are almost done, add the ground meat. Cook through.
Add the garlic power, onion powder, dill, and Worcestershire sauce.
Gradually add the cream cheese.  When cream cheese is thoroughly melted, add one cup chicken broth.
Gradually add the Velveeta.  When Velveeta is thoroughly melted, add the remaining 2 cups chicken broth.
Add the hash browns.
Gradually add the milk.
Reduce to med/low and cover.
Stir frequently.  Allow to simmer for 45 minutes - 1 hour.

I have to tell you, this soup was definitely not "low fat" but O.M.Goodness was it tasty! There were 9 of us eating and there were NO leftovers.

I also made some muffin tin corn dogs to go along with our cheeseburger soup.  (The recipe can be found here: http://mykitchenadventures1.blogspot.com/2011/01/jiffy-corn-dog-mini-muffins.html)

I have a feeling both of these items with become fall/football staples around the Tolle House! Until next time...XoXo

Almost February?!

Wow! It's been a long time since I posted last, but I don't think there is a ton to catch up on. Hmmm...

Christmas was wonderful!! We were able to spend time with family and friends and we had a great time. I was very excited because I bought Brandon a chef jacket with his name embroidered on the front. I hardly ever get to surprise him with something I know he will really like, so it was a lot of fun for me. He seemed to really like it. He tried to wear it to the movies Christmas afternoon and I wouldn't let him. :)

With the new year came talk about New Year's resolutions. This year, Brandon and I decided that we wouldn't call them resolutions; we would call them life changes. We both set several goals and we are sticking to them pretty well so far. One of our main goals was to get into shape by this time next year. We've both been eating more healthily and hitting the gym and we're starting to notice some changes. I'm very excited about this part of our lives right now.

We had a really bad ice storm a few weeks ago and most schools and businesses in Middle Georgia were closed for a few days. In some places, the ice on the road was almost an inch thick. It was crazy. We were very blessed not to have any damage to our home or vehicles. The Lord protected us.

Ice about 1/2 an inch thick on the sidewalk

Thick sheet of ice on the grill and icicles hanging from the porch

Super thick sheet of ice over a dusting of snow in our "flower bed"

This past week, we launched our first home group (we're calling them branch groups). It was a success and we are looking forward to launching our second one here in the next couple of weeks. God is doing some great things with our church and I absolutely cannot wait to see what all he has in store for us this year.

Well, I guess that is all the updating for now. It's been a great 2011 so far and we're looking forward to one of our best years yet!

Done!

It was another wonderful weekend with some great friends! We watched several movies we have been wanting to see and made white chicken chili. It was so much fun!

Sunday morning we had everyone over for brunch and worship/Bible study. We discussed more details of the church plant and we are getting ready to launch our first few branch groups (a.k.a. small groups or home groups) at the beginning of next month! This is a very exciting time full of constant changing and growing and we are very excited to see what God has in store next.


Also, (drum roll please) we finally finished the last little bit of our Christmas shopping!! We didn't buy a ton of gifts this year, but we did get a a few small things here and there. We had to finish up getting gifts for the names we drew with Brandon's family and we were able to do that this weekend. It's such a relief to be finished. Now I just have a little bit of wrapping left to do and we will be ready! :)

 And in other news...as most of you know this has been a very exciting year for me (MaryBeth) school and career-wise. I graduated, took and passed the bar, and started my first legal job. Today, I finally received my bar number from the GA Bar Association, which means I can officially practice now! Yes!


I suppose that is all I have to share for now! More to come soon.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

For some reason, I have been super-excited about Christmas this year. I had my tree up before Thanksgiving, we actually put lights outside, and for the first time in a couple of years we made photo Christmas cards. We found a great deal where we could get 50 photo cards with the envelopes for free! They look really cute and I can't wait until they get here so I can start sending them out.

Also, each year Brandon and I pick out a "special" ornament to add to the tree that year. Usually we pick out something from the Hallmark store or Belk's, etc. This year, the site that we ordered the Christmas cards from was running a special on their custom ornaments, so we ordered one with Dietrich's cutie-pie face on it. I am so excited to put it on the tree!

I can't put too much detail here because it's a surprise, but I am also pumped about the gift I ordered Brandon. I think it's one of the most creative gifts I've ever given him! Yay! :)


Well folks, that's all for now. Life's pretty busy but not super "exciting" right now. More to come soon.

Ugly sweaters abounded...

Last night, Brandon and I hosted our First Annual Ugly Sweater Christmas Party. It was a HUGE success. We had a white elephant gift exchange that left many attendees with some awkward and some-what questionable souvenirs of the night's activities.

There isn't much else to report right now. I mainly just wanted to get some pictures up from the party. I'll be writing more soon.

Getting started...

I have been meaning to start a blog for almost 5 years now; I've just never taken the initiative. I guess now is as good a time as any. :)

The past few weeks have been very busy for us. For some time now, Brandon has known that it was God's will he plant a church. We just thought it would be way down the road...until recently. God opened the door and somewhat shoved us through it. If there's one thing I've learned, it's when God tells you it's time, it's time. Fortunately, He never asks us to do something without providing the resources. We have been blessed with a team that possesses a multitude of talents and we are so excited about the mission laid out before us.

Our church plant will be called The Vine, in reference to John 15:5: "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." There will be MUCH more information to come soon as we begin putting God's plan into action.

In the midst of all that, we've had a wonderful time the past couple of weeks visiting with family and friends for Thanksgiving. We took some great family pics with Brandon's side of the clan, and hopefully we'll get to do the same with my folks here pretty soon.

An old one...but it will do for now

I also got the chance to Skype with my sister this past weekend! She's been stationed in Alaska since July, and it was great to see her face. Please keep her in your prayers. She's far away from home, doesn't have a car there, and it's snowing constantly. We're hoping she can change career field soon and get stationed somewhere a little warmer.

I've already finished most of my Christmas decorating and I am very much looking forward to all the Christmas festivities.


Well, I guess that's all for now! Until next time...