Ready For Rain {Wordless Wednesday}

A Winter Wedding in Maine

My friend Megan got married in Maine last weekend. It was small, intimate and perfectly Megan.  I was privileged to stand  with her while she said her vows.  

The day started with Megan, her Maid of Honor, Sam and I getting our hair done together.  Megan changed into her dress in the salon.  She was (is!) gorgeous.  The dress was perfect for her.  Then Sam managed to get us to the bakery to pick up cupcakes and eat lunch and to the restaurant where the wedding was being held in one piece.  This was quite a feat as it was raining/sleeting and the roads and sidewalks were icy.  What do you expect in January in Maine? 

At the restaurant we were joined by the other three bridesmaids.  We avoided the groom and his men, hung out with Megan’s family and took some photos while we waited for the appointed time for the wedding to start.

The wedding was officiated by Nicole, a friend from Law school.  The ceremony might have lasted 5 minutes but it was perfect. It fit Megan to a T.  Her husband too, but I don’t know him as well.  However, from what I can tell, they are perfect for each other.  It brought me great joy to watch them together.  I’m so glad they found each other and wish them many, many years of happiness together.

Munchkin had a great time looking out the window and the ducks and dancing.  She was a hit and everyone thought she was adorable.  She would go to anyone who would take her to the windows or out on the little deck to look at the ducks.  She was fascinated with looking out the window.  She also enjoyed dancing.

Megan planned this well, as she is moving to Australia.  When they celebrate their anniversary, it will be summer.  I think that if they ever do this again, in January, they should do it someplace warm.  How about the Florida Keys?  Then we wouldn’t have to worry about ice!

Snow Day

On our first day back from our Caribbean vacation it decides to snow.  I’m glad it waited until today because it was the first time for Munchkin to see snow!  Well, I think we took her out in less than a quarter inch last winter but that was all we got so she’s never really seen snow.  We didn’t have much, maybe a half inch.  It was enough to go out in and make a snow man though, so we’re not complaining.  This mama’s even happier that the snow is now gone.  I’m not a fan of the cold, white, wet stuff so the quicker it leaves the better!

Munchkin didn’t quite know what to do with the snow.  She just stood in it.  The Man made a snowball and gave it to her but she didn’t want to hold it.  The Man built the snowman while I held Munchkin.  I don’t think she likes the cold like her mama.  Maybe once she’s older?

Aquiring a Chirtmas Tree

We love Christmas in our house.  It’s one of our favorite times of the year and even though we’ve only been married for three years, we already have some traditions.  One of those is getting our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving.  We were so excited to take Munchkin with us. Christmas is so much more fun and meaningful with a baby!

When I was growing up, my parents didn’t decorate for Christmas until the middle of the month.  My birthday is in December and my mom always waited until it was over to decorate.  That way I got my time and didn’t get overshadowed by Christmas.  It took until I was in middle school that I was able to convince my parents that we could decorate earlier.  We usually got a real tree and we would go around to all the tree sellers and pick one.  It was hard trying to agree! It was also hard to see exactly what the tree looked like since it had been all tied up.  We would get it home and have to wait for it to fall.  I was always so impatient to decorate it! (The picture is of Munchkin ready to go hunting for our tree!)

So when we were first married and The Man said he wanted to go and cut down our tree, I was all for it!  I love this tradition.  We go to a tree farm about 3 miles from our house.  We got there around 4 and had about 20 minutes to find our tree.  Not so good on the planning side but the good news is that we managed to find the perfect tree!  We were just walking around and as we were leaving I just couldn’t!  I told The Man I felt like we were leaving the perfect tree.  So he cut it down for us and it’s now sitting prettily in our living room.

Do you have your tree up yet?

What are your Christmas tree traditions?

This Morning

This is what I saw when I woke up this morning:

You're probably thinking, "No big deal!"  What you can't see is the SNOW that's coming down.  They are just baby flakes and at the moment it's just a dusting.  But it's SNOW.  In case you're wondering, I'm not a fan of snow.  I haven't had to deal with it here yet.  We got a few inches right before Thanksgiving but I was in MA so I didn't have to deal with it.  I heard horror stories of friends leaving work early and it taking them 4 hours to get home.  It can be hard to get up some of the hills, especially the steep ones because they don't sand/salt the roads.  I think it has to do with the fishies in the sound.  I'm all for saving the fishies but think that something needs to be put on the roads!  I"m hoping we don't get much accumulation today.

Do you like snow?

Comfort Food...Chicken Pot Pie

I love food.  Maybe more than I should.  One of the great things about winter is all the yummy, hearty comfort food.  One of my favorites is chicken pot pie.  It's just so good!  We don't have it that often because I like to make it from scratch.  Betty Crocker is a great help and I tend to make tweaks as I go along.  I had The Man make the crust since he's great at making pie crust.  That's his job and he does it well!

Prepped & ready to go!

I started by cooking the chicken breast on my grill pan (and press).  I seasoned it with Jamaican Jerk Rub.  Yum!  While that was "grilling" I got to work on the sauce.  You melt 1/3 cup of butter in a pan.  Once it's melted you add 1/3 cup of flour, 1/3 cup chopped onion, salt & pepper and stir till it's smooth.  I also added Parmesan garlic & pepper & roasted red pepper seasoning (both from The Pampered Chef).

"Grilling" the chicken

Cook until bubbly, making sure to stir constantly so it doesn't burn.  Then I added 2 cups of homemade chicken broth and 2/3 cup of milk.  You heat it until it boiling and continue to keep stirring!  Betty says to add peas and carrots but I don't think that's enough.  I added carrots, mushrooms, celery, frozen peas and leftover green bean casserole.  Then I added the chicken once it cooled enough for me to cut it!

Ready to cook!

While I was waiting for the chicken to cool I rolled out the crust and put it in my deep covered baker.  I think the crust is the best part so I always line the pan AND put crust on top.  The more crust the better.  It took a little doing but I got it.  Once I had the crust in the baker and the chicken in the sauce, I poured the sauce into the baker.  Then I covered it with another crust, put some slits in the top and put it in a oven that was preheated to 425 degrees.  I let it bake for about 35 minutes.  Silly me put the cover on so the crust didn't brown like it should.  So I took the cover off and let it bake a little longer.  It was still yummy.

The finished pot pie

The Man enjoyed it.  I did too.  We have been enjoying the leftovers too! 

What's your favorite winter comfort food?




I linked to:

Almost Home!

I'm so excited that I'm almost home!  I can't wait to arrive tomorrow.  I'm feeling a little impatient.  I'm glad we didn't try to make it there today.  I'm exhausted and don't think the end of the drive would have went well at all.  I didn't sleep well last night.

We started out in Fallon, NV and made it to Medford, OR.  It was another fun day on the road with Meg.  Thankfully she drove the entire time, even through the snow.  But before the snow came the border inspection.  Yup, we had to stop at the border of California.  They confiscated our apples and oranges (that were probably from CA anyway!), checked our cooler, and manhandled my wreath.  They also took a quick peek in the trunk but thankfully didn't try to look in it....I don't think we could have gotten it repacked.  The man was very nice and gave us a brochure on winter driving.  We needed it!

At first it started to rain and then it turned to snow.  Slowly it started to cover the road.  At one point it we were told (over the am radio station) that if you didn't have chains you would be turned away from going over Mt. Shasta.  Problem:  we didn't have chains.  So we made a slight detour and bought some.  I got the more expensive but easier ones to put on.  We didn't end up needing them but now I have them.  One less thing to worry about!

We found it amusing that they were advertising Maine lobster in Nevada.  Meg's from Maine.  Guess where you can get some amazing Maine lobster?  MAINE!

 Proof we've been inspected

Expensive gas prices!

 

Pretty CA

We were behind a plow at one point.  Meg learned in NY that this is the safest place to be.  Thanks for the Public Service Video NY!

 

The road before us

 We just liked the name of the town:  Weeds

 It's pretty when you're not driving in it.

There was a lot of fog too!

The snow is why I didn't want to try and switch the cars now.  I was afraid we would run into snow somewhere!  So far so good though.  We're on I-5 and that will take me home!  Then I get to think about getting the house decorated for Christmas...I'm so behind!

Snow



Foxboro, MA 2008



There's no snow where I'm at right now.  It's sunny and supposed to get into the 60's today.   What great fall weather!  I'm totally loving it.  If you've been watching the weather at all (facebook too, depending on where your friends are) than you might have heard about the snow in Western WA.  From what I'm hearing, it sounds like they've closed down everything.  Except the roads but you should stay off of them cause they aren't salted or sanded (it could hurt the fishies).  And they don't get plowed.  Not sure what the reasoning is behind that one but it would help!

I grew up with snow and I can drive in it.  I just don't like it very much anymore.  It's pretty to look at but I hate shoveling it.  I'm happy that I'm missing it.  I missed all the snow on the east coast last year...I'm loving this new track record of  mine!  If only it could stay intact by not snowing in WA for the rest of the winter...

Do you like snow?  Why/Why not?

My apartment building, Foxboro, MA, 2008