Week Two layout

Here are my pictures for the second week of 2010, into a layout:

Being a wannabe

So I'm not Pioneer Woman, and I don't think I ever will be.

But I decided it would be fun to give cooking-her-way a try (i.e. taking a picture every step). It made the process longer, since I had to keep washing my hands before I could pick up the camera, and I broke one egg all over the counter. But it was fun to try!
Second problem: it was a regular-old-boring-unadjusted recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook. I'm a "cooking is a science" type person (I am left-brained, after all) and go by measurements rather than by "feel."
Final issue: I'm not nearly as witty as she is. Josh thinks I'm funny, and the kids laugh (hopefully with me, not at me) but I don't think PW has any competition. At least not from me.

So now that I've taken away all hopes of this being interesting, hopefully you'll still enjoy looking!

Betty Crocker's Quiche Lorraine

Cook up the bacon. I cheated and used cooked bacon, because I have a hard time getting it crispy enough when I do it myself. So there were nitrites in lunch today. I wish we could get cooked uncured bacon (which does taste "real," by the way) but for now it's one or the other.

Grate the swiss cheese. Last time I used swiss that was purchased grated, but it tastes so much better this way (and is a ton cheaper). And swiss is easier than mozzarella, that tends to start smooshing after awhile because it's so soft.
Chop the onion finely.
I love my mini food processor for onions! I'm much less likely to cry!

Roll out the pie crust. Another confession: I've started using Wegmans' pie crusts. It's super-cheap, MSG-free, tasty, and it actually looks nice. Mine never looks very good and it makes such a mess! So for $.99 for 2 crusts, I take the easy way out.

Put bacon in crust.

Add cheese and onion.
Looks like a Mexican dish!

Break 5 eggs. 4 are to go in the quiche, one is to end up on the counter.
Stir until combined. Pour into a bowl (I suppose I could have just put the eggs in the bowl in the first place instead of using a measuring cup).

Add heavy cream. And salt. And pepper (if you like it at all. I'm honestly not sure why I even own pepper, because it never makes it into anything I make!)
Pour into crust.

Bake (425 for 15 minutes, then turn down the heat to 300 for between 30 minutes and probably an hour. It's done when a knife inserted comes out clean, which takes forever in my oven!)

Voila!! Isn't it beautiful?

Week One of 2010 in pictures

I haven't been posting my pictures daily, but will try to come back and post my weekly page with those pictures :)


(linked to my gallery)

Our Story

I was just reading my friend's story of how she met her husband, and realized our story was "lost" when we closed our website! So I'm going to go pull out the text (maybe polish it up a little) and post it here!

(I wrote this as if I'd been actually keeping a journal at the time ;) )

May 28, 2003
I am soooo tired of this. I've looked just about everywhere I can think of to find a guy. I guess this just isn't the time.
~None at work (dads and guys who bat for the other team are the only men who shop at JoAnn's!)
~None at church (I think there are two unmarried guys over the age of 20 there, and they're not it)
~I don't have a life other than that!
~Yahoo! Personals didn't work out...the people who found me were Holiday Catholics, Mormons, or "it's okay to have a different opinion on religion and still go out." Yeah, right. I don't think so!

So when will my Prince Charming show up and rescue me??


May 30
Mom just came home from visiting her friend for the weekend. She wanted me to sign up on christian.matchmaker.com for her friend, since that's how she ("Aunt" Sandi) found her husband. I did. It took forever. They had impossible questions about me...I had 4 people in the room, helping me figure out what I could say that sounded like who I really was.
And then, here's the kicker. There's no-one within 50 miles! If I go to a 100-mile radius, there are 4 guys. Two in Canada and two who are much too short. Why did I bother?

May 31
I looked again this morning, to see if I had missed one of the options. This time there is someone! He's in Buffalo, which is an hour or more from me. Matchmaker thinks there's a 22% match, but reading his description, I'd say it's far higher than that. Their questions were stupid anyways: "what kind of food do you like?" and then you can only choose one option. If you like everything and he does too but you choose different options, it counts against you. He loves the Lord, he is very articulate and he really showed his heart in his answers. I wrote to him, and we'll see what happens.

June 1
Nothing. What a disappointment.

June 2
I got a reply!! He likes what he read!! He's really funny, too. This could be fun! His name is Josh, and he's taller than me!!

June 3
He and I wrote back and forth a few times today. My family knows I'm writing to him, and my sister walked into the dining room to see me staring at the computer screen laughing out loud.
"Another email from HIM?"
"Yup!"
"You gonna meet him?"
"Maybe!"

June 4
We're going to meet! We're both free Saturday, so that's our plan. Haven't figured out yet what we'll do, but we'll likely meet in the city halfway between his house and mine.

June 6
We're meeting at 9:30 tomorrow morning at Bob Evan's. He's surprising me after that. I'm so excited, and soooo nervous. I want this day to be perfect, because this guy is amazing.


June 8
I was too tired to write last night.
What an amazing day! Right before I left, my brother said, "I hope next year you're celebrating the first anniversary of today!" I thought that was sweet, and sincerely hoped he was right.
I got there late, because I misread the Mapquest directions. So I was stressed, in addition to being nervous already. I think the first words out of my mouth, in a high, squeaky way-too-nervous voice, were "I'm sorry I'm so late!" (um, I was 2 minutes late. But since I'd left a half an hour early, that was very disappointing)
We ate breakfast together, chatting nervously, trying to get back to the place we were online. Since neither of us is extroverted, that was hard to do. It was a nice meal, though, and I was excited to see what would happen.
He brought me to the State Park. We walked around the beautiful areas, but it was chilly so we drove more than we walked. We stopped for a picnic lunch (he bought a beautiful basket just for the occasion) and wandered some more.
He hadn't planned anything after this, so I suggested we meet up with my sister and her boyfriend. Unfortunately, she was working until 9, so we went to my family's house to kill time.
They all enjoyed meeting him, and even Buffy seemed to think he was okay. (I had told Josh before we met that a person knew they were "in" when the dog accepted them, so this was very significant. Buffy doesn't let just anyone in...actually, he doesn't like anyone other than the immediate family!)
Coffee was fun, but by then I was completely exhausted, so he drove me home and we left my car in the Bob Evans parking lot. My brother and I will pick it up after church.
A 13-hour first date. Wow.

June 9
We met again today, this time he drove me to Niagara Falls, Canada for dinner. It was a beautiful restaurant, and more comfortable than the first date. Weird, though...the waiter was flirting with me! I don't get flirted with, so for it to happen while I'm on a date...weird. We talked about divorce, and we are both on the same page: marriage is for life. It's a lifetime commitment!

June 11
Date 3! We had a great time today, going to a Turkish grocery store. I cooked Turkish food for him, none of which tasted quite authentic, but it was good.

June 15
His sister is getting married today! He didn't invite me to come, which is good...I don't know anyone there other than him, and since he's in the party, it would make things really uncomfortable. I miss talking to him, though!

June 16
I met his parents tonight. They're really easy to talk to. The pastor who married his sister yesterday has an amazing story; he got engaged to his wife after 18 days together! They were engaged 18 months, but only dating 18 days. Josh and I have been talking about the future, but I told him that we probably shouldn't do things quite that quickly.
And he kissed me. It wasn't the most romantic setting (the parking lot of the supermarket where we always met so neither of us had to drive all the way) but it was absolutely perfect!

June 21
We made pizza together at his family's house. We had a great time together, as always. Our emails to each other are continuing strong...we write back and forth all day, every day. I'm so in love!!

June 29
Josh is out buying a ring today, and mom and I just got back from buying a wedding dress! It's perfect. It's ivory so I don't look as pale as I really am, and the veil is a wreath of cloth flowers...it's so perfect!

July 2
Josh took me out to a really beautiful dinner tonight. We got dressed up and I was sure he was going to pop the question. I even stupidly asked him "is there any special reason for tonight," which I wanted to un-say as soon as I'd said it. He recovered quickly, though, and said, "Neither of us has been here, and I wanted to share it with you!" When we said goodnight and I drove away, I called my sister and told her I hadn't gotten a ring so not to expect to see it when I got home. She was as surprised as I was.

July 3 3:00 p.m.
Today Katie and I leave for Connecticut for our cousin's wedding. Josh and I are informally engaged...I don't have a ring yet, but we have a date (Sept. 5!) and a plan for the honeymoon (NYC!) and I have a dress!
Mom suggested that I see if he wants to come with us to CT for the wedding. So I called him from work, but he wasn't there. I'm so disappointed...he had emailed me saying he'd be out for a bit, but I hoped he'd be back before we had to leave.

10 p.m.
We're all in Connecticut now, staying with Karen and her husband! Josh is here too!!
The reason he wasn't at his parents' house was, he was on his way to see me! I came home to see his truck on the lawn, and he was sitting on the back waiting for me.
I got out of the car and he met me there, telling me how much he loved me, and then he was down on one knee, asking me to be his wife. Yay!! The ring he chose is perfect, but it's slightly big so he'll get it resized on Monday.

July 4
The wedding was very nice, and everyone in my extended family enjoyed meeting my fiance!

Sept. 5
Life has been too busy to write lately. Both families threw me a bridal shower, both of which were lovely. We found a beautiful apartment not too far from his parents, and we found most of our furniture at garage sales! Yay for not spending all our money! (well, we nearly did, but at least we got a lot of necessities!)
We're getting married this evening. I went with my brother to a Chinese gift shop to see it (and to kill some time) and then out to Chinese with mom, dad and my grandparents for lunch. Weird that it seems so calm and normal, and tonight my name and entire life changes.

Sept. 6
What an evening! The wedding was perfect. Josh almost dropped my ring, but caught it mid-air. Justin was the perfect ring bearer, even though the pastor was nervous that he was too young to do what he needed to. No fear, Justin does what he's supposed to do. We're married! I'm Mrs. Virkler now!
We're in the airport, waiting to fly to JFK and spend a beautiful week exploring New York City.

Sept. 7
Woo-Hoo! The Yankees win! Thuuuuuuu Yankees Win!
We went to see the Yankees play the Red Sox, in Yankee Stadium, today. I wasn't sure if Jeter would play, since he was hurt a few days ago, so I was thrilled to hear his name when they announced the lineups. We were ahead 3-1, and then Boston scored a run. I saw that Jeff Nelson was warming up in the bullpen and groaned. Anyone but him! Then, I heard a song start. I didn't know it, but Josh did. Metallica's "Enter Sandman." Though I didn't know the song, I knew what it meant: Mariano Rivera was going to pitch the 9th!
And he got the save! It was beautiful!

Sept. 10
We spent the last two days sightseeing all of Manhattan, and today we went to see Thoroughly Modern Millie on Broadway. Amazing, just amazing. >Oct. 27
Man, I haven't written in awhile. Today is Josh's birthday...I turned the apartment into an island, his favorite thing. It was so much fun to set up, and you should have seen his face! Worth every minute of preparation!

Photo-heavy Scrapbooking Challenge

Sinead and I are leading a challenge this month where the focus is on photos. Mine is going to be pictures that by themselves are cool, but don't tell much of a story, forcing me to journal about the rest of the story.

Here's today's:
(linked to my gallery)