Halloween: the adult party

Corey and I have not done Halloween in a long time. I think only once since we got married-and it was a somewhat lame costume without much thought. The fact that our friend Cameron has a out-of-control Halloween party every year to celebrate his birthday makes it pretty ridiculous that we have never participated. This year, we changed all of that! All we needed was a good idea-and Corey's Type-A personality to create a superb couples costume. I give you...

Dexter and Victim.

 the first question from every person "Is that a real knife?"

Answer: Yes. Corey's brainchild-looked awesome and gruesome

If you have never seen the show, our costumes may not make sense. Here are some pics from the actual TV show to show you accuracy-Corey was dead on in his costume :) Note the cellophane use-I covered more of my body for the sake of modesty.

The other guests at the party were equally bedecked in some creative costumes. Cameron was Abraham Lincoln with Sarah on his arm as Mary Todd. He went so far as to memorize the Gettysburg Address and recite it to us on the front porch with the flag waving in the background. I have the video. You can check it out on my fb page. He also reenacted his death scene, and returned to the party as Zombie Abe. The Swearingens came as army men (my personal favorite costumes of the night). Batman was there, Thor, a crazy bear that I still don't understand. Everyone had a blast at the very patriotic Halloween Party.

 Abe and Mary before getting shot.

 Zombie Abe with Army Man.

Me and Violet Beauregard (aka Chelsy Gevas)

All in all it was a supremely enjoyable night. I'm not sure that we will ever top our costumes, but I know that we are going to keep trying. It was too much fun to not do again!

Kiddos go trick-or-treating tonight, so expect some photos of them in the near future. They will be much cuter than Corey and I :).

a tree

Today I took a picture of a tree outside my office. 

And I liked it.

I liked looking at it. It is a perfect little tree. 

And sometimes looking at a perfect little tree makes a dreary day less dreary.

Trees are some of my favorite things. I love them in spring and summer when their leaves are full and green and beautiful. I love walking through the woods and seeing the light filter through the canopy. I love them in fall when the leaves turn fabulous colors and set our hills on fire. And even in winter. When the leaves have fallen and the trees stand bare. I love the look of them-it is a lonelier look, but one that I appreciate and understand. It is certainly one of the reasons Ansel Adams is my favorite photographer. 

So today is about a tree. 

Eye on the PRIZE

The semester is more than halfway over. It is the part of the semester that begins to pick up in regard to workload. I am in the midst of researching to write a bill for legislation, reading filings for clinic, and just getting through the regular course load. So of course it is completely reasonable for me to make some additional goals, right? 

A few things have been rolling around in my head to do, and sometimes you just have to START. 

One is scripture memorization.

One of my blogger-pals Amanda shared her scripture memory system (started by Beth Moore) on her blog. I am going to steal it and make it my own. You need a spiral notebook of index cards and a bible :). The concrete goal? Two verses per month for a total of 24 for the year. I do not know where I will start, but I am sure I will post them as I memorize them. 

Another goal is to make exercise a priority again. 

This semester has been an energy drainer. But I am tired of excuses. So I dusted off the elliptical and dragged myself out of bed this morning. It felt great. The concrete goal? elliptical 2x a week, one long run and maybe some yoga in there somewhere. 

FINALLY, over Christmas I will make a quilt. 

I like the nine-patch pattern

This goal requires help from my very crafty Mother in law. But I have had the material for a few years, and I want to MAKE IT! I have enjoyed knitting so much in the last few weeks-creating something functional with my own hands. A quilt is a much bigger time commitment, so it must wait until school is not in the way. 

I like setting goals. I like having things to work toward. Even in the midst of school's chaos and crazy schedules. Even in the middle of it all. 

DIY? DI-Done!

From start to finish, this took me less than a week. I generally only worked on it while watching TV in the evening. And if I do say so myself (and I do), I think it looks great! I am excited to wear it now that the weather is turning cold :)

NOW? I am making another-in mustard yellow for my best friend and fellow blogger Danielle (you can check her blog out here). I am using a different pattern which I will post when I finish.

For all of my fellow knitters, I will share the pattern for this guy.

• CAST ON a multiple of 4 plus 3 stitches to size 13 needles
• Row 1: K3, *p1, k3; rep. from *.
• Row 2: K2, *p3, k1; rep from * to last stitch, k1.
• Repeat the two rows until desired length (I used 1 skein of soft but chunky yarn)
• CAST OFF ( I don't know any fancy casting off things, so just regular cast off for me)
• ADD decorative button (the pattern is not too tight, so no button hole is necessary.)

WEAR HAPPILY :)

cityChurch |:| learning self-control

site

Our topic last Thursday was self-control. NOT my favorite topic. Why? cause it is hard. and I'm not great at it. (that sounds whiny, and it is kinda whiny). But I was so blessed and encouraged by our community group. One of the things that has stuck with me since last Thursday was the link between FAITH and SELF-CONTROL.

One of the reasons that we can exhibit self control is because we believe that what GOD has for us is better than what is right in front of us. I always think I will be missing out if I don't indulge now. There won't be cookies left, I better eat 5. It's a really good sale, I better buy 5 (when 1 is plenty). I won't have time to do ______ if I take time to read my bible everyday. I don't like to show restraint...

BUT if I believe that God's way is best....if I can resolve that His life is the life abundant, then I'm not missing out on anything.  I really liked that one guy in our group shared the verse 1 Corinthians 10:23. It says the believers freedom is that "'Everything is permissible'-- but not everything is beneficial. 'Everything is permissible'--but not everything is constructive." There is freedom, but just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD. Man this is hard to learn. Hard to live. But by FAITH we can do hard things. And by learning SELF-CONTROL, I show that I have FAITH. It is very circular--in a good way.

I like to share what I am learning--hoping that someone out there needs to hear these things too. :)

Progress.

I have been working hard on my scarf. I only knit when I am watching TV or taking a break from study mode. Amazingly it is really coming along-it is imperfect, but made with love. I thought I would share a photo.

 I think in a week it will be done :) 

Kitchen Adventures |:| a week of farmers market fare

When we visited Knoxville, we were lucky enough to get to not only go to the AWESOME Farmer's Market, but also to get half of the flat of veggies the Taylors normally share with another family (that family was going on vaca and did not need them). So we got to take home-potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, squash, mustard greens, broccoli, hot chili peppers, unidentified leafy things (they looked like maple leaves).

I decided to try to incorporate at least one thing into each meal. The result? A week of wonderful and healthy meals.

Tuesday: Corey's chili.

He incorporated the hot chilis and who knows what else. I let him keep his secrets. Needless to say it was delicious--served with cornbread muffins. (and we froze the leftovers and used them on our southwest omelets for cityChurch brunch this morning)

Wednesday: Panko crusted Tilapia with mushroom and garlic wild rice and sauteed mustard greens.

I stole a Martha Stewart recipe to make the fish-I did fish sticks so the kiddos would eat it too!  The mustard greens

Thursday: Greek Wraps with tempeh. 

This is a recipe that we like to include as a light dinner. It comes from Cooking Light-you can find it here. We used the amazing tomatoes from the Farmers Market along with some spinach, lettuce and goat cheese, it was YUM. We usually serve these with Terra exotic vegetable chips of the Mediterranean variety. It makes for a quick and light dinner.

Friday: Loaded Baked Potato soup. 

ALSO from Cooking Light. (Have I mentioned my love of these magazines?). It is one of my favorite potato soup recipes- I extra love it because you bake the potatoes in the microwave-EASY PEASY! We used the Farmer's Market taters ( I use more than the recipe calls for cause I love em). Adding bacon and cheddar on top makes for a filling and comforting soup. I LOVE it. Try it.

Tonight: Veggie (pasta-less) lasagna. 

not the prettiest presentation, but hey-it's lasagna-it's messy

My friend Brittany forwarded me this recipe. I already had the squash and zucchini, all I needed was some eggplant. The recipe can be found here. It is gluten-free (as long as you omit the bread crumbs on top). It makes a TON-so plan accordingly!

I love cooking-especially when we PRE-plan our meals for the week. So having this post will certainly keep me accountable to plan out weekly meals. The one area that I struggle with is KID-friendly meals. My kids like food--but soup is not a fav, so we tend to make them ravioli or chicken nuggets on nights that we have a more unique meal. I'm open to ANY IDEAS :)

Lawbrary |:| learning to compromise

If there is one thing I have learned in law school, it is the art of compromise. Sure, I mean it in the context of clients and cases, but more in life. Take this weekend for example. My wonderful mother offered to take our kids overnight on Saturday (thank you Mom). So Corey and I started thinking about what we would like to do. We have been wanting to go to the outlets, but didn't want that to be our only adventure. So we decided we would take the kiddos to the outlets Saturday morning and then have a nice date night after we dropped them off. Dinner and a movie maybe (or skip dinner and eat popcorn and candy AT the movies :). However, in order to have this wonderful Saturday, my Friday night and most of the day Sunday will be spent reading and researching. I am currently parked at my dining room table trying to knock out as much of Labor Law and Consumer Protection (EW) as possible before I make dinner. After dinner, I will park myself here again to push through more Consumer Protection (because it NEVER ENDS) and Wealth Transfers.

And Tomorrow???

I WILL NOT LOOK AT ANYTHING LAW RELATED!

Life is compromise. And tonight is not rainbows or butterflies, but tomorrow will be lovely. So we just keep moving along...

DIY Corner |:| Be forewarned I am NOT crafty

As evidenced by my endeavor today.

I have been on pinterest for a bit now, and one of my favorite aspects are the DIY ideas. I love looking at things and seeing how doable they are. But then I remember. I am not crafty. I am almost positive that the right side of my brain is missing.

But my friend Lauren had said she was going to get crafty this weekend, and I thought--"Pinterest says that I can do this...so I will." And the one thing I know how to do is knit. So I went to Michael's and got some pretty yarn.

 I grabbed my size 13 needles and sat down to make this...

So cute. Seemingly so easy--short, wide scarf with a button. I had to figure out the pattern. I was thinking Knit, Knit, Knit, Knit--Purl, Purl, Purl, Purl. But I started and it didn't look right. So I called my very, very crafty mother-in-law, Becky. I asked her to pull up my pinterest and tell me what she thought the pattern was. After a few minutes of looking for the picture, she said, "Well, Cole, that's crochet." And guess what? I don't know how to crochet.

But Becky, being a wonderful mother-in-law, said she would show me how (maybe a good Thanksgiving break activity for the two of us). So that scarf will have to wait for a bit. In the meantime I will use my size 13 needles to make a normal scarf for myself or some other lucky person ;)

BTW |:| Bozic-Taylor Weekend

At least a couple times a year, we have Bozic-Taylor weekends. More in the last couple-which is fine by all of us. The weekends generally involve really good food, really great fellowship, and a whole lot of vegging!  This past weekend was a family affair--all 7 of us in participation. And it went remarkably well. I say "remarkably" because having 3 kids sleep in one room could have been horrendous, but they all got along WONDERFULLY! (and they slept pretty wonderfully as well!).

Here is the time-line with photos (although, Danie has a lot more photos - so check her blog for more):

Thursday
AM: Bozics leave Morgantown
PM: Bozics arrive at Taylor residence; DINNER--brats, chips, beans, homemade salsa (YUM)

the rest of the evening was spent hanging out, letting kiddos play, catching up on all the new and exciting things that had gone on since the last time we were together.

Friday
AM: I hung out with kiddos while Scott and Danielle went to work and Corey ran errands. We did all kinds of fun things like...

play with balloons

jump around

play outside

take photos (typical brother behavior)

Early PM: Once the Taylors got home, Danielle and I headed out to have our girl time.

 Which involved a tattoo for her (SO EXCITED TO BE THERE) and yummy drinks and apps at a downtown place. I will let Danie share her tattoo with you, but I will steal her KILLER pic of our drinks with the reflection of the buildings in the background.

Later PM: Delicious butternut squash stuffed shells, fun fall drink called a Boardwalk Boss, and just hanging out.

Saturday:
AM: Boys turn to head out and enjoy some early morning golf adventures.

Girls manned all three kiddos-we went to Ainsley's soccer game, brunch at Tomato Head, and the Farmer's Market.

Early PM: Mountaineer Football--wings, spuds and lounging.

Later PM: Dinner--tempeh and green bean stir fry with peanut sauce. recipe here. Once kiddos were tucked in, the adults VEGGED OUT. We watched funny videos and ate cookies (or cookie dough for me :). As always, we laughed (until I snorted) and wished tomorrow wasn't the day we left.  It was loverly!

Sunday:
AM: Church at OneLife. It was great to get to worship with our friends and see what they are doing in their church.

PM: the long drive home-always sad to leave.

the office |:| sunny days

 

I'm working today, and realized I haven't blogged about my new office. With the influx of new associates, I moved out of my old office a month ago. It was only sad for nostalgic purposes-it was my first big girl office, I realized for sure that I wanted to be a lawyer in that office, and I had a lovely little bird that liked to fly into my window (and scare the crap out of me) every other day or so.

My new office is fabulous though!

Especially on sunny days like today--thank goodness the rain stopped. I have lots of windows and space. My window looks at 705, but there are some trees to make it seem picturesque :).  We have our own little kitchenette on this end of the building with a coffee pot and water cooler (but it is FAR from the kitchen where candy and treats tempt me constantly). I don't have a bird, but a stink bug named Carl likes to crawl on my window (on the outside of my window--no bugs on the inside. You can ask Lindsay McIntosh about a fly situation we had in here the other day!).

I hang here 2 days a week-researching and writing and listening to Pandora. Next fall, I will be here permanently. It is crazy to think I will be a baby-lawyer in less than a year! (as long as that pesky thing called the Bar exam goes off without a hitch). Hope your work days are made better with a little sun too!

Kitchen Adventures |:| Noodle Bowls

I love going to a restaurant and discovering things that I can recreate at home. I have done this with the chicken caeser pasta salad from Cheddar's and certainly different drink recipes like Tennessee Manhattans that I first had at a place called Baker Peters. So a couple weeks ago, on a chillier day, I went to lunch at ZenClay. I usually get salads for lunch, but I was cold. So I opted for a Noodle Bowl. YUM. A few days later my friend Danielle told me about Noodle Bowls you can get at the grocery store--also YUM. The ingredients are simple... the prep shouldn't be too hard (right?)...so I gave it a whirl. And I think the end product turned out pretty tasty!! (and pretty)

Ingredients:
Broccoli florets -- 1 head
carrots--2 sliced
sugar snap peas--couple handfuls
(steam the above until fork tender and set to the side)
mushrooms--cup of whatever variety you want
shrimp--I used a bag of frozen
vegetable broth--1 box
garlic--1 teaspoon
crushed red pepper --1/2 teaspoon (or to taste)
soba noodles (8 oz) --cooked according to package directions--(PS I really like these noodles, they are new to me, and delicious!)

In a pan I heated a little oil and got the garlic and crushed red pepper going. Then I added the mushrooms. I let them sweat a bit and added the veggie broth. I heated it to boiling and dropped in the shrimp to cook for 4-5 minutes. Add the veggies and let them reheat for a minute. In a bowl put a quarter of the noodles and top with a quarter of the broth/veg mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I liked it in this very clean form. I think the hubs would have liked it to be kicked up in the sauce department. Maybe next time some soy sauce and sriracha could be included. It is really a Choose Your Own Adventure type of dinner :)

Weekend in Review

The weekend was damp--ok downright soaked. And COLD! I mean it is October, but I was unprepared for 44 degree weather. Still, we made the most of it. Friday night the kiddos and I (and my momma) bundled up and went to the Homecoming Parade. It rained and rained, but my kids were so excited--jump over to the family blog to see some pics.

Saturday morning, we had a wonderful family breakfast. I think it needs to be a tradition! We whipped up some blueberry muffins (for Joe) and sausage (for Libby) with lots of French pressed coffee for me and the hubs (YES--my husband is now a coffee drinker-who would've ever thought?). We hung out around the table and enjoyed each other's company for a while before Corey had to head to his gig.

Joe "reading" me the recipe

The coffee drinking Bozics

The kiddos and I spent the rest of the day indoors. It would have been great to go to the game, but wrangling two kids in the dreary conditions didn't seem like a good plan. Instead we watched from the warmth of our basement. They even performed a half-time show for me.

Later on Meghan paid a visit. She and I made some snacks and had some wine. It was great to catch up and hang out. We threw on PJs just in time for Corey to get home. The three of us watched the documentary about Conan and called it a night.

This was actually before the Marshall game--aren't we cute in our dark gray shirts :)

 Sunday was church and lunch with Meghan and the med students (band name possibility?). Then HOMEWORK. 7 hours in the same chair is too many. But the finish line is in sight--8 months. That's the long term excitement...the short term excitement?? Spending some Q-time with these people in 3 days!!