Saturday Breakfasts

Since Karlie moved into our house, we have been having breakfast with some close friends that live nearby every couple of Saturdays. It has been a lot of fun, and I have been able to do a little bit of experimental breakfast cooking.

You see, I'm not much of a breakfast person. Not that I'm anti-breakfast, it's just that, well, I value sleep a little more than waking up for that first meal. I know, I know, it's the most important meal of the day, and if you eat breakfast you are more apt to lose weight. Well, as you can read about here, it doesn't work for me, and I end up starving by 10:30 if I eat breakfast.

So, the only times I ever cook breakfast food are either when we eat breakfast for dinner (MAYBE once a year), or when I make something for Sunday School the night before. But now that we have been having Saturday breakfasts around 10:30, and there are more people than just me, it has been fun to experiment and look through all my cookbooks for yummy breakfast ideas.

I made something new this weekend from a cookbook called "Breakfast on the Battery" that my sweet mother-in-law got me from her last trip to New England. It's called Sausage Wellington. You can pretty much bet your life that anything with "Wellington" in the title is going to be a grand slam, so when I saw the recipe, there was no hesitation. I should have taken pics of the preparation, but all I have for you is the finished product.

Basically, it's sausage and cream cheese mixed with some diced mushrooms and onion, some sage, all put in a puff pastry and covered with hollandaise sauce. It. was. divinity. Definitely a repeater. So, I will try to get more with it for the next breakfasts and try to take pics and document the good ones.

If you have any "off the hook" breakfast recipes, send them my way!

~Kathryn

My First Complimentary Bang Trim

So this weekend I had a life changing experience with my hair stylist. Now, first of all the fact that I have a "hair stylist" is rather remarkable. You see, other than my one year stint in pageant land, my hair cuts have consisted of either: 1. trims from my mom, 2. a haircut I always regretted from either Wal-Mart or Supercuts, and 3. free hair cuts from my friend for the last couple of years. There was also the time I tried to trim my own bangs, which ended with my mom saying "Look what you have done to yourself!".  All that to say, my hair has never been something I have paid a lot of money for.


But in September I got my hair cut at a salon. My friend gets her hair cut there and she gave me a $10 off coupon (which is scary in and of itself, beause I think $15 is a reasonable price for a haircut). I decided I would take the plunge and get my hair cut at the fancy salon. One time wouldn't hurt, right?

So I showed up at my fancy hair cut appointment and they offered me something to drink. You had me at hello. Then, they gave me a shirt to put on so that I wouldn't get hair on my clothes I came in with. Definitely a first for me. Then the haircut. It. Was. Awesome. I mean, she shampooed and conditioned my hair, massaged my head and neck while washing it, and I could have died right there. People there addressed me by name, as if I was a celebrity (I mean, I guess I am a big deal....), and my stylist was fabulous. She cut my hair, blow dried it and round brushed it, and I loved every second of it. I was such a sucker that I not only scheduled my next appointment with them (so much for just this one time) but I also bought shampoo, conditioner, and some kind of hair stuff. I don't know really know what it is, but it helps with my insane amount of frizzy hair and flyaways. They use Aveda, which is a natural line of hair stuff, which of course I loved.

At the end of my haircut she told me I could come in for a complimentary bang trim between my hair appointments. Since my previous efforts to trim my own hair have been less than stellar, this weekend I took her up on that offer. I did some research online to make sure I tipped appropriately - I mean how do you tip for something that you don't pay for? Anyway, I pulled up to the salon at 12:01, and I was back in my car, with fabulous bangs, at 12:07. Six minutes. It was awesome. They even offered a drink for my free bang trim. I don't think I could ever go back to my old ways.

Here is a picture of me, after the complimentary bang trim. I have longish side bangs, this pic makes it hard to tell, but you get the idea. See how happy I am with my free trim?

Now, you tell me, do you pay big bucks for your haircut? Does a friend cut it for free? Have you ever had a complimentary bang trim?

~Kathryn

Things I Love About Our Home

We have now settled down from the whirlwind that was October (moving, family visits, opera, California, etc), and have been in the house and not extremely busy for a couple of weeks. I have actually been home as often or more often than not. Incredible, huh?

So now that I have lived in this house, I've had some time to reflect. Now, I still pull up to my house and stare at it and say to myself, "I can't believe we have a house!" It's still surreal. Mark and I talk about it every few days. I say, "Can you believe we live here?" And he says, "No, I can't". That aside, there are some things that I love that are sinking in that I want to share.

I love when I come home from work and walk in through kitchen door and the dogs run up to greet me and I'm home. I'm sure everyone loves that, but it's so exciting because we have a garage, (even though we still can't get the remotes to work and have to get out of our car every time to open the garage and close it) and it's so cool to pull my car into it every day.

I love our fireplace. We have it going every day. Now, I'm still too afraid to light it. I mean, it's a gas fireplace, and that big burst of flames at the beginning is just too much for me. I can't handle it. Maybe one day I will be more brave. But Mark lights it every evening, and I love sitting by it, or just looking at it.

I love having my piano. I love that I can actually play piano when I do my voice lesson warm ups and can sit and play music for fun, whenever I want. It's not stressful, it's peaceful. I really like that.

I LOVE having internet. I mean seriously. It's super awesome.

Checking the mail is a thrill. I have always loved checking mail, and it's no exception here, except that this time we have a super cute mailbox. I love that.

I love leaving the front door open with the glass door shut when we're home so that our home is welcoming to others.

I love that a young lady from our church named Karlie is living with us. I love that she is using one of our extra empty bedrooms and bathroom. I love pulling up at night and seeing her light on in her room and knowing there's someone in there, occupying that room and filling it with life.

I love talking walks with Mark, Melvin, and Karlie's dog, Bella, around the neighborhood at night.

I love driving through our beautiful neighborhood and seeing all the gorgeous massive trees that are putting on quite a show with their fall colors.

I love that Thanksgiving is this month, and a Christmas explosion is going to happen in full force in our house after that. I am so excited.

I love that I love all these things. And I am excited to love more things as we live out our life here. (-:

What do you love about your home?

~Kathryn