~ The Sholls ~

I Tri-ed it, and I liked it!

2011-05-23T15:21:00.009-04:00

Last year I met my goal of completing a half-marathon under 2 hours! I'd been training for months, and made my first go at it in the Seawall Half-Marathon in Galveston in November and I failed miserably. Those might seem liked strong words, because hey, I did complete another half-marathon, but I was not even close to meeting my goal, and I even had Cory and some friends there to cheer me on, so I was really disappointed. Everything that could go wrong for me that morning did, and I finished in 2:16:44.
So I tried again in December at the RunGirl Half-Marathon at Alexander Deussen Park north of Houston and finished in 1:58:40 - I did it! I was and am still so excited about that! I knew all along that the goal of interval training and fartleks was to make me faster, but it was amazing to see it actually happen! Here's my results from all my half (and one whole!) marathons that I've done:

So with that goal accomplished, it was time for a new fitness goal. I'd been thinking about doing a triathlon for a couple years, and with the encouragement of my friends Lisa and Melissa, I finally decided to do it. I joined a pool in January and started swimming with Alicia twice a week. I was surprised how much I really liked swimming! I borrowed a bike from my neighbor/former-coworker/friend Randy in April and started riding around our neighborhood and doing bricks (a bike followed by a run). The bricks were the hardest part for me. I thought the running would be the easy part, but getting off that bike and running was tough!
On May 8th I completed my first triathlon in under an hour! It was a super sprint distance, with a 200 yard swim, 8 mile bike, and 2 mile run. It was so much fun and I was so proud of myself! I finished 20/55 in my age group (30-34), 101/330 overall, in 56:29. I also finished 5/55 for my age group in the swim, which I was really proud of. The rest of the results are here TriGirl Super Sprint, and here's a pic of me and the girls, pre-race:
The next weekend Lisa went with me and I bought a triathlon bike which I am slowly learning to use. The first time I tried to clip into the pedals, I promptly fell over on my driveway and tore up my hand and knees (and cried). I got right back on the next day though and am slowly conquering my fears! I even went out on an actual road with cars and traffic lights with Lisa this past weekend for my first 'real' 10 mile bike ride, where I successfully clipped and unclipped multiple times without falling. Next up, getting down into those aerobars! And here's a pic of my pretty new bike:
I realize I could have called myself an athelte after training for and completing multiple half-marathons and one marathon, but I never thought of myself that way. At age 30, I finally feel like I can call myself an athlete - and that feels great! I can't wait for my next triathlon!

Eating with Erin

2011-05-10T14:15:00.009-04:00

I know, two blog posts in one day, I can hardly contain myself either! Here's a collection of all the yummy treats I've been baking since before the holidays, all courtesy of my IPhone camera.

Catch-up Post: 30th bday

2011-05-10T13:49:00.009-04:00

Wow I am a bad blogger! I probably shouldn't admit this, but one of my New Year's resolutions was to blog once a month. I obviously didn't do that, but I'm here now with a renewed effort!

I turned 30 in February and had an amazing birthday! My good friends Beth and Lisa have birthdays near mine, so we had a combined birthday dance outing with the girls and it was a super fun night! Here we all are dressed up and ready to party:

My wonderful hubby got me a LeCreuset Dutch Oven that I have been coveting for some time now. I've used it a bunch already and I love it!

Then in March, me, Heather, and Carolyn, PSU Besties for life, went to the Dominican Republic for our much anticipated 30th bday bash. Carolyn's birthday is the day before me and Heathers, so we've been talking about doing something BIG for our 30th birthday for years, and I'm so glad we did! We stayed at an all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana - it was beautiful, the food and drinks were great, the beach and ocean were gorgeous, and the weather was perfect. We had an amazing time eating, drinking, tanning, swimming, zip-lining, dancing, and talking our faces off. It was great to be able to spend 6 days together; we haven't been together that many days in a row since college. We have a ton of great pictures, but here are a couple of my faves:

Time to start thinking about where we're going for 35 ;)
Thanks for making my 30th bday so great everyone!

Eating with Erin

2010-09-20T17:15:00.010-04:00

Man I just can't keep up with this blog anymore! I have a bunch of things to post, we have been busy the past couple months! But in the meantime, here's some tasty things I've whipped up lately to hold you over!

Cherry-filled Almond Cupcakes, from Love & Olive Oil
recipe here: http://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2009/12/cherry-filled-almond-cupcakes.html
I made these for Lindsay's baby shower and wow they were good! And so cute!

Cupcakes. Clockwise from top left we have Pancakes and Bacon, Chocolate Orange, Baklava, and Pina Colada.

I made some of these for book club at Nujoud's (the two on the right) and froze some of the cakes. Then I made the other two right before we left for North Carolina and defrosted the first two, and frosted them all. So I had 4 yummy cupcake flavors to take to the beach for my family to try! These were all my recipes and they were all a hit!

Pancakes and Bacon - Buttermilk cupcake with maple frosting and bacon crumbles
Chocolate Orange - chocolate orange cake and chocolate orange buttercream with candied orange peel
Baklava - phyllo layers topped with honey cupcake with candied walnut/cinnamon/honey topping
Pina colada - Pineapple rum cupcake with pineapple filling and Malibu coconut frosting

Blackened sea scallops with oven-roasted asparagus. We brought back some scallops from NC and I tried blackening them for the first batch. They were good!

Cinnamon Swirl Bread, from Pioneer Woman.
recipe here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/08/homemade-cinnamon-bread/
Really good, also, really impressed with myself ;)

Pesto Zucchini Pasta
I had leftover basil and spinach before we left for vacation, so I threw together this pesto (with garlic, olive oil, pine nuts, and parm cheese) and froze it so I didn't have to throw anything out since it would go bad while we were gone. For this meal, I sliced zucchini lengthwise as thin as I could by hand, cooked some pasta and threw in the zucchini for the last minute (this is a good way to feel like you're eating more pasta without all those carbs and calories!). Mix it all up with some baked chicken breasts and dinner is served!

Chocolate-Peppermint Whoopie Pies, from a mix
Syd came over last week while her dad was away and her mom was at a class, and we baked up some whoopie pies from a mix I had. They turned out delish, in fact we ate them too fast for me to get a picture! It was fun baking with my little Apprentice ;) Having her stand on the chair to reach reminded me of baking with my mom when Heather and I were little. That's exactly what we did, one on each side of our mom!

Please forgive the poor picture quality, sometimes I just take them with my phone because I'm lazy. That's really helping me learn more about my camera, right? ;)

More soon on our various summer vacations!

California Love

2010-08-02T23:38:00.002-04:00

I got to go to California for work for some meetings with the company SpaceX. They happen to be flying a vehicle to attach to the ISS in the coming years which should be pretty cool. I was in the LA area from Wednesday through Friday. I saw a lot from the rental car in a very short amount of time. After LA, I drove down to La Jolla, just north of San Diego to spend the weekend with my buddy Sean. The highlight of my trip had to be playing 18 holes at Torrey Pines. Check out the slide show, Cali was beautiful.

Family Portraits

2010-07-27T04:42:00.004-04:00

My good friend Jaime is sharpening up her already excellent photography skills, so she offered to take pictures of our family. So this past Sunday we went to Herman Park and she worked her magic. I'd never been to Herman Park, and it was quite the gem to be found in Houston - it was beautiful there. Here are a few of my favorite shots!

Thanks for a fun morning, Jaime, and for some great pictures of the three of us!

Fun stuff with friends

2010-07-13T13:53:00.012-04:00

A few weeks ago Beth hosted a Sex and the City shindig. We dressed up and went to her house for apps and cosmos, then went to see the second movie. While completely over the top and full of ridiculousness, I still liked the movie and had a great time hanging out with my girlfriends, as usual. Here we are looking fabulous!

And here are the scrumptious Dulce de Leche Cheesecake squares I made!

Over fourth of July weekend, the Mauldins came over for dinner and we drank some wine and I ogled over the adorable Charlie. We also went to a pool party at the Parris's but sadly there are no pictures from that fun event!

That weekend we also rented a limo and went out on the town with some friends. We had so much fun, perhaps a little too much fun for some of us!

The week before we went to PA, my friend from high school, Dave Madden, was playing at a local wine bar, and we went to see him. He put on a great show, and it was great to catch up!

Also, a couple pictures from PA since I didn't have any when I posted about that; my sister- and brother-in-law and their adorable kids, and Sydney water-skiing!

Catch-up post - Eating with Erin

2010-06-21T17:38:00.005-04:00

I've been cooking and baking up a storm the past few months! Here are a few things I've made.

Oscar Statue Cookies (these were actually in February for Jaime's Oscars party, but I never posted the pics)

Pineapple Upside-down Cupcakes (for book club)
Roasted Rosemary Skillet Chicken (burnt my arm for this one, but it was worth it!)

Tomato Soup Cake (another book club gem)

Lamb Stew (made with Guinness!)
Kebabs (de-Kebabed, made when Irv & Suzy visited)
This is making me hungry! Time to go start dinner...

Catch-up post - June

2010-06-21T17:34:00.004-04:00

June is close enough to being over and we don't have anything big planned, so here is a June summary as well.

A few weekends ago we went to PA for Cory's annual wakeboarding trip. Last year our friend John went with Cory, and this year his wife and my good friend, Beth, and their daughter, Sydney, and I decided to go along! The weather was gorgeous, we ate a lot of good food, did some waterskiing and wakeboarding, and got to see a lot of family and friends. Cory's friend Tim and his family were there, and we got to see Cory's mom, sister and her family (our nephews and niece are SO cute!), and my parents. The highlights of the weekend were: Yuengling, getting tan, and seeing Sydney and Connor learn to waterski! And of course spending QT with our friends and family! We were lame and took zero pictures; if I get some from Beth I'll post them.

My cousin Derek is in the Navy and moving across country from San Diego to Pensacola. So he stopped in Houston on his way and spent a couple nights with us this past weekend! We are fortunate that we grew up not too far away from each other and got to see each other a lot, so we are pretty close. We don't see each other often anymore, so I'm glad this worked out; it was great catching up and having Derek get to see where we live and meet Cosmo!

Catch-up post - May

2010-06-21T17:14:00.011-04:00

At the beginning of May, Heather and I went to NYC to spend a weekend with our BFF Carolyn from Penn State! She is there doing her residency.

I flew into Baltimore and Heather picked me up and we drove to Carolyn's hometown of Rutherford, NJ, where her friend Bonnie picked us up and we drove to Carolyn's place. Although it was a long voyage for me to get there, it was really nice to have some time alone with Heather; it's so rare that we get that anymore. New York was awesome! We had a lot of great food (Mexican, Thai, Sushi, brunch) and some very expensive and delicious drinks! We went to a bunch of cool bars and clubs, including one that had free happy hour for ladies, one on top of a building where you had a great city view, and one in the meatpacking district.

We also went to Brooklyn's Botanical Gardens, Central Park, and the Empire State building.

And we saw 'Wicked', which was just amazing! I absolutely loved the show.

On our way to Times Square that day, we bumped into O'Neal from the Biggest Loser! He was the nicest guy and even let us take our picture with him.

It was a wonderful weekend! The three of us don't get to be together very often, but when we do, it's like no time at all has passed. I love that about our friendship. Next up for us: 30th bday trip, somewhere awesome!

Also in May I worked my last Shuttle mission and I started a new job! I'm still working at NASA but have moved to a new position in Safety. I've been here 6 years and it was time for something new. I'm still learning my new job and a new way of thinking, but I'm enjoying it. The people are really nice and the regular office hours are fantastic! Cory is still enjoying his job, and he is super busy being the Increment Lead for his group.

Catch-up post - April

2010-06-21T17:05:00.010-04:00

I've been a complete slacker with the blog lately! My bad. I'll be posting a few catch-up posts by month (since it's been that long - woops!), and then hopefully we'll get back to normal. So here's what happened in April:
My parents came to visit over Easter and we had a lot of fun! One day we went to Brazos Bend State Park and walked around some lakes and saw gators! It was pretty neat/scary. Obviously they would not let people walk around there if there were daily alligator attacks, but I was surprised how close we were to actual live big alligators! We also had a picnic that weekend with our friends; lots of good food and company! Somehow we managed to not get a picture of all of us, but here's me and my mom, my dad and Cosmo, and a giant gator.

That Monday when my parents left, Cory's friend from high school, Lauren, was in H-town for one night for work, so we went downtown and met her for dinner. It was great to catch up, and it prompted us to start planning a budday reunion in Virginia in September! We know a lot of peeps in Virginia so we'll also be seeing my sister and brother-in-law, and my cousin and her husband and her new baby. Can't wait!
Cory's Dad and Suzy also came to visit in April and we had another good weekend! They golfed a couple times, and we went to the Greyhound Park one night which they really enjoyed. Lots more good food and company :) I don't think we took any pictures, we need to do better about that!

Eating with Erin

2010-03-01T21:00:00.005-05:00

During the mission, I didn't cook much, but I baked a lot to take stuff into console. With the mission over, I was really excited to get back to cooking! Unfortunately I haven't been taking pictures of stuff I've been making. Here's a short list, a couple photos, and a promise to take more pictures of food (I need to keep getting better at my food photography anyways!).

Chocolate chip cookie dough truffles - soooo goooood

Vanilla Peppermint cupcakes - for my birthday on console

Shoofly Pie - a Pennsylvania treat

Chocolate Peppermint Brownie Bars - had to use up that leftover cupcake frosting

PW's Penn a la Betsy - a tomato cream sauce with shrimp

Chicken Noodle Vegetable soup - made a big pot of this to take to console during the mission

We made stuffed peppers over the weekend

And right after the mission I made creme brulee again - YUM! I was also excited to use my new green creme brulee dishes that I scored at TJMax or Ross, or one of those places!

I'm always cooking and baking (and eating), so I'll post more soon!

House Project: Random decorating items

2010-03-01T20:41:00.005-05:00

I found this picture in a catalogue probably a couple years ago. I think it was Pottery Barn, and I really liked the picture arrangement. I tore it out and kept it, with plans to do something similar above our bed in the master bedroom.

Well we got our new furniture, and our ceilings are high in there, but on the wall that our bed is on the ceiling slopes down. So I didn't feel there was really enough space. So we decided to do it in the family room, above our console table. Here's how it turned out.
We took all of these photos ourselves, and they are of places we love. Starting in the top left corner and going clockwise, they are of St. Lucia (where we went on our honeymoon), the Susquehanna River (where Cory grew up wakeboarding), the Eiffel Tower (we loved our trip to Paris last year), Old Main at Penn State (no explanation necessary), my parents house, Ocean Isle Beach (where my family grew up going on vacation in NC), our house in Texas when it snowed in 2009, a sunset from the cruise we went on with my family in 2008, and the Pennsylvania countryside covered in snow.
The guest bedroom is starting to come together, and I picked up this quilt at Target last weekend which I love. Next up for this room, a DIY art project to decorate those walls.
I also picked up some new curtains at World Market. Our red ones were fine, but they looked pinkish when the sun shone through them, which Cory apparently hated. And I just loved these. I like how they have red, which is my accent color in that room, but they also have other colors, including green, which compliments the kitchen walls.
Lastly, the master bathroom is still a work in progress. I finally started prepping the walls for paint by washing them with warm soapy water to get the glue off. It's working well, but it's a lengthy process. I gave myself a goal of having the room done by the time my parents visit for Easter - 1 month to go!

STS-130/20A

2010-02-17T02:44:00.003-05:00

Cory and I are once again both working in the Mission Control Center for the current Shuttle mission that is visiting the ISS. We are on different shifts, so we've probably been awake in each other's presence for maybe a total of 30 minutes since the mission started a week and a half ago.
The mission is going well, and we only have 3 days left! I'm looking forward to being back on normal hours and seeing my husband!
Here is a picture of League City, TX that was taken from the ISS last week. I marked our house(-ish)!
(Click on the picture for a larger image)

Happy Birthday Heather (and me)!

2010-02-13T21:15:00.002-05:00

Happy birthday to my sister and best friend, Heather! And to me - cuz ya know, we're twins ;) I couldn't ask for a better sister or friend. I miss you always, but most when we're apart on our bday! Can't wait to spend 30 together!
Here's me and Heather at our good friend Alicia's wedding. We were both in it, we don't normally wear matching dresses!

House Projects: New Master bath faucets, Bedroom Furniture, Painting the bedroom: Part II, everything including the Kitchen Sink!

2010-01-20T14:43:00.017-05:00

We asked for Home Depot gift cards again for Christmas this year, and we put them (and more) towards some house projects during the few days we had at home after our trip to PA. We bought new faucets for our master bathroom, and Cory installed them in no time.

We also got a new white cast iron kitchen sink. I wanted something more functional, and it turns out this looks way better too. Cory installed this as well; I'm glad I have such a handy husband! I never thought I could like something so much that is used for washing dishes, but I love our new sink!

We also finally got new bedroom furniture, and miracle of miracles, Cory and I actually agreed on it! We had gotten a set off of a friend a few years ago, and we liked it, but we wanted two matching nightstands and another dresser, and we wanted to pick something out together. The old furniture made our guest bedroom much nicer!

And then there's the painting. Remember this: Painting the Bedroom? Yeah that was last year. Turns out we weren't in love with the color; it was too dark. So we repainted during the week before our furniture arrived, which made it pretty easy. Luckily it only needed one coat and we love the new color with our new furniture! Here's a close-up, but you can see the new paint in the bedroom pictures above.

Next up: finishing the master bathroom makeover. You can see the ugly stripped walls in the picture above. I started the wallpaper removal about a year ago, so maybe this year we'll get it done!

Christmas and New Years

2010-01-16T21:14:00.007-05:00

Christmas

We decided to drive to PA this year and it worked out really well! We saved money, we got to bring Cosmo, and it was nice to have our own car in PA. We happened to leave just in time to follow a blizzard up the east coast. We had planned to stop in Williamsburg the second day to see my sister's new home and have lunch and then head up the rest of the way. But because of the blizzard we decided to stay the rest of the day and overnight at Heather and Aaron's. It ended up being really nice because I got to spend some time with just my sis' which we don't get to do very often anymore.

We spent the first part of PA with Cory's family. It was so good to see everyone! Our nieces and nephews are getting so big! Cosmo had a lot of fun in the snow and with the kids. Sadly, I didn't get to see Cory's buddays because no one else was home yet , but Cory did get to catch up with Lauren and Tim on the day we split up to each get some extra time with our own families.

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas with my family which was great. We even got to see some of my aunts and uncles and cousins! And my dad had a lot of fun with his grand-dogs :)

We did a lot of eating and drinking and relaxing, and it was hard to leave everyone.

On the way back, we met up with Josh and Lisa and caravanned half of the way home, which made the trip a lot more fun! Once we got back we did some more relaxing, and started some home improvement projects (details and pictures coming soon!).

New Year's Eve

Jaime and Charlie hosted a party this year, and it was a great evening spent with great friends! There was more eating, and a lot more drinking, and of course ringing in the new year with champagne! We love our Houston family; we always have so much fun together!

New Year's Day

We slept late. As in, had to force ourselves to get up so we didn't miss the beginning of the Capital One Bowl! Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, we didn't get to watch the game with our LSU friends the Mauldins. It was a stressful game, but Penn State pulled it out in the end!

I made the traditional Lancaster county New Year's meal for dinner: pork and sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, and cope's corn. YUM!

Then we had to go back to work, and back to eating healthy and working out :(

December, pre-holidays

2010-01-16T20:40:00.011-05:00

So I'm a little behind on posting here, so here's a catch up post for what the Sholls were up to before the holidays.

Meeting Pioneer Woman

In early December, the day before I sprained my ankle (see previous post), some of my girlfriends and I ventured downtown to meet the one and only Pioneer Woman! She just came out with her awesome cookbook and was doing a book tour. I was very excited when I learned she'd be in Houston. The signing took place in this neat organic market called Georgia's Market. It ended up being a day long event with some Starbucks and some shopping mixed in, but it was nice to spend the day together! Pioneer Woman was awesome; just like she seems on her blog. Friendly, down to earth, funny, and cute as heck! Here's our picture with her:

Holiday Goodies

I made a bunch of yummy treats for all our friends again this year. I made some stuff I'd never made, and it was fun learning new techniques! I made Peppermint Meringue Kisses, Candied Orange Peels, Peppermint Bark, and my yearly traditions, Peanut Brittle and Party Mix. I hope everyone enjoyed!

Swine Flu

I might have had it. The week before we went home to PA I was home sick from work all week. I tested negative for the flu, but my doctor told me the test was only 60% accurate. Who knows what I had, but I felt like crap! Luckily I felt better just in time for our drive to PA. Yes we drove.

Christmas adventures coming up next...

Notice: Exercising is Hazardous to Your Health!

2009-12-07T16:08:00.002-05:00

In the span of 48 hours I had two exercise-related accidents.
1) Friday afternoon. Sholl house.
Cory has started doing his P90X again (good job baby!) and he had his pull-up bar hanging over the door to the yellow room. I was getting Christmas decorations out, which are located in the closet in the yellow room. We usually keep the doors to the spare bedrooms shut, so when I was done, I started to pull the door shut. Down came the (heavy, solid) pull-up bar. On my shoulder. Ow.
2) Sunday morning. Seabrook trails.
I met Lisa on her marathon-training long run. I am not training for anything, but just trying to get back in shape, so on the weekends I meet Lisa and Melissa to run with them! We were just finishing (12 miles for her and 7 for me), when I lost my footing on an uneven surface, turned my ankle, and fell down. I've got some lovely scrapes on my hands and knee, and a twisted ankle to show for it. Ow. Again.
Moral of this story: don't exercise ;)

Snow in the LC

2009-12-07T10:21:00.003-05:00

It snowed in Houston again for the second year in a row! Apparently some people further north in the city actually got some accumulation, but down in League City we did not. It was pretty though, and I'm enjoying the cold weather since it makes it feel more like the holidays to me!

Deck the Halls

2009-12-02T20:14:00.005-05:00

Last weekend Cory and I put up lights outside for Christmas! I really wanted to hang icicles on the peaks, which really meant that Cory climbed up the ladder and hung them while I watched and held the ladder. He wanted to wrap them around our trees. We did both! This is our 4th Christmas in our house, and the first time we hung lights outside! I like how it turned out!

I haven't done any other Christmas decorating yet. Hopefully I'll get to some soon, because it's less than three weeks now until we leave for PA!

Look what I can do!

2009-11-29T21:52:00.003-05:00

I momentarily lost my mind last Friday and went black Friday shopping with Lisa and Melissa. At 3:30 in the morning. Before a full day of work. BUT! I got exactly what I went for - a Cricut. It's the awesomest scrapbooking/crafting tool ever!

I finally got to take it out of it's box today and see what it can do. Here are some things I made just playing around with it, and then I got to business and made some Christmas tags!

I love this thing! I may never need to leave the house again ;) Even Cory was thoroughly impressed! What can I cut for you??

My First Wedding Cake

2009-11-27T22:22:00.007-05:00

My good friend Beth's brother is getting married tomorrow. They're having a small wedding at home, and dessert for the guests was covered, but they wanted a small wedding cake for the two of them. And Beth asked if I would like to make it! Of course I would!!

They wanted a simple white cake, so I tried out a recipe last weekend. It tasted delicious, but being the perfectionist that I am, I was not happy with the way it was looking. I was having a hard time getting the buttercream smooth. I found a neat trick online, and I have to say, the final cake turned out pretty darn good. I am proud! I hope Brian and his new wife like it!! Congratulations to them!

Here are a few shots I took before Beth whisked it away (I hope it survives the hour car ride to their house tomorrow!). Please ignore the disaster that is my kitchen counter.

Thanks to Beth for thinking I'm a good enough baker to make her brother's wedding cake, and thanks to Jaime for letting me borrow your oven! (Mine broke two days ago, just in time for me to have to bake Thanksgiving pies and someones wedding cake!).

Anyone else need a cake?? :)

Happy Turkey Day!

2009-11-26T08:55:00.005-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Cory and I are currently at work in the MCC, keeping the astronauts onboard the ISS safe. It sucks, but somebody has to do it, and at least we're together.
After work we're going to Alicia and the dude's house for turkey dinner, with some of our other Houston friends. Living far away from our families is really hard sometimes, especially at holidays, so I'm thankful to have such close friends here. We really are like a little family here, since almost all of us are far away from our biological families. We love you H-town family!
We love our families in PA, too, and we miss you and can't wait to see you at Christmas!
T-8 hours until turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and green bean casserole and pies (made by me) and whatever else people are bringing. YUM!
Please feel free to leave your best turkey impression in the comments ;) Gobble gobble!

Concert Obsession

2009-11-18T16:33:00.004-05:00

Cory and I have been going to a lot of concerts lately, which I'm really enjoying! Houston has a lot of neat music venues! Here's who we saw lately:

Our Lady Peace at the House of Blues. Awesome venue, and the band put on a great live show. I can't wait to go back there.

Shinedown, with Cavo and Sick Puppies opening, at the Verizon Wireless Theater. Another awesome venue, and all three bands were great. I'd never heard of Cavo, and didn't know much of Sick Puppies either, but they were both great. I got a little sick of Shinedown's stories that he told, and the mosh pit was a little scary (Beth took an elbow to the chin - yikes!) but the live show was great!

Jett, Our Lady Peace, Puddle of Mudd, Saving Abel, Chevelle, Alice in Chains, all at Buzzfest at the Woodlands Pavillion. Puddle of Mudd was my favorite of the day, and I love the Woodlands for these all day outdoor concerts. You just can't beat the people-watching there.

Papa Roach at Warehouse Live. Another great venue, another great live show. I was surprised Papa Roach played at such a small venue, but I really enjoyed it. His energy is contagious and it was really fun!

Cory and friends also went to the spring BuzzFest, which I ended up missing because I was in France (I know, poor me). And last year we went to BuzzFest and I can't remember who all played, but Three Doors Down was the headliner and they were awesome. Another really great live performance!

I really enjoy going to concerts, and went to so many throughout college, but hadn't really gone to anything the first few years I lived here. So I'm glad to be doing it again, and can't wait to see what we go to next!

Cory's Birthday

2009-11-18T15:51:00.009-05:00

Cory's birthday was last Saturday, and to celebrate, we had a party at our house with some close friends! Cory chose a sports theme, so we went with stadium food - hot dogs with ample topping options, soft pretzels (thanks A&B!), popcorn, Frito pies, french fries, cotton candy (which the humidity was not kind to) - YUM! I got cracker jacks for favors, with an awesome collector's Cory Sholl football card attached ;) I made Cory's birthday cake, a 14-layer beauty that was delicious as well!

We also asked people to dress up in their favorite sports team attire, or anything creative involving sports. Cory was a wakeboarder, which later earned him the name DJ Wakeboard as he played us some tunes. I was Maria Sharapova, or just a tennis player ;) We really had to put our thinking caps on to come up with something more creative than our Penn State jerseys! I was impressed with our friends' creativity! Charlie won the prize for most creative with Alicia and Jaime as runners up. You can see their awesome costumes in the pictures below.

In keeping with the sports theme, Cory and I also made a cornhole board, a popular tailgating game, which turned out to be pretty fun, although a bit loud in the house!

Another new thing for this party was.... babies! Two couples of our friends are new parents, and little Charlie and Zara were champs at the party, being all adorable and sweet and mostly sleeping to allow their parents to hang out for a pretty long time! Even little Charlie showed his Texas and LSU pride!

All in all, it was a great party, and a great birthday for Cory! I'm pretty sure he loved my present to him, the new Call of Duty video game, which he got a few days early on the day it came out so he could have his online date with his friends ;)

Enjoy the pictures!

Happy Birthday Irv!

2009-11-02T18:40:00.004-05:00

Today was Cory's dad's birthday - Happy Birthday Irv! Hope you had a great day!

Merry Christmas to us!

2009-11-02T06:54:00.004-05:00

A little early, but Cory and I got our Christmas present last week. A shiny new iMac! Cory has had his desktop since college, and my laptop is 4 or 5 years old already, so we got a new family computer. Cory did some research and we decided to go the Mac route and we are very happy so far. Plus, it's really purdy ;)

One of my favorite features so far, besides the ginormous screen, is the video chat. My parents got an iMac a year or so ago, so we tried it out with them and it was so cool! I think they really enjoyed it too, especially getting to see their granddog! I think this will be very nice to have down the road when we have kids, since we live so far away from our families. So everyone else, go get an iMac so we can video chat with you!

Carolyn's visit

2009-10-31T14:36:00.002-05:00

My bff from college, Carolyn, came to visit last weekend! I hadn't seen her since me and Cory's wedding, and she hadn't been to H-town since the year I moved here (almost 6 years ago!), so it was great to see her and catch up. She also got to see our house and meet Cosmo!

Friday we stuffed ourselves silly at BJ's and then fell asleep watching Transformers 2 at home. Saturday was Buzzfest with the Wilke's and Francesca. The weather was gorgeous and the music was great - we had a great time!

Sunday we watched the PSU game vs Michigan that we taped on Saturday. We won, go Penn State! Monday we carved the most awesome pumpkins ever, and other than that we just relaxed and watched tv and movies and talked! It was a great visit! Thanks for coming Car, I already miss you! xoxo!

Alicia's Wedding

2009-10-19T20:52:00.006-04:00

This past weekend, Cory and I travelled to PA for Alicia and Brent's wedding. It was great to be home in our motherland, and even though the weather was rainy, I still enjoyed the cold! I had lots of fun in the days leading up to the wedding, helping with last minute preparations, having martinis with the gals, getting mani's and pedi's, rehearsal dinner-ing, and of course on the day of, standing up for one of my closest friends as she married the love of her life. Alicia was beautiful, Brent was handsome, the place was gorgeous, the ceremony was lovely, the food was delish, and the drinks were flowing! It was so fun! Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Woods!

On Saturday, we watched the Penn State game with the bride and her parents and my parents. Then on Sunday we got to see Cory's parents, which was great!

I also got to give all the parents their copies of our wedding album that I finally finished, and they really liked it so that made me happy. All in all, a wonderful weekend, and what a let down to come back to reality ;)

Next weekend, Carolyn comes to Houston!!!

Here's me and Cory, well into the reception if you can't tell. PS - I promise I wasn't naked.

The Day I Didn't Meet Bono

2009-10-13T18:04:00.003-04:00

U2 is playing in Houston tomorrow night. We are not going because my bff Alicia is getting married in Pennsylvania, which is well worth missing it for. But if they ever come back, she's buying me tickets (she might not know this yet)! ;)

Bono and The Edge were in the Mission Control Center today. They were sitting at the CapCom's console (that's the position that communicates everything to the crew onboard the ISS). CapCom sits next to TOPO (that's my position). I was supposed to be on console today, but I traded shifts with someone.

So today was the day I SHOULD have, but sadly, did not, meet Bono :(

Here's a picture Cory took of NASA tv when they were showing the PAO event with U2. I would have been just off to the left...

Happy Anniversary!

2009-10-03T10:35:00.005-04:00

Today is me and Cory's one year anniversary! I really cannot believe that it's been a whole year since our wedding, the time has just flown by. It's been a great year and I'm looking forward to many more together. Love you baby!

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

Thawing...

2009-10-02T23:11:00.003-04:00

Our cake top is currently thawing in the fridge, waiting to be eaten tomorrow. That's two layers of plastic wrap, one layer of aluminum foil, a giant plastic bag, and a box, and NO freezer burn! We'll see how she tastes tomorrow!

Eating with Erin

2009-09-30T20:01:00.013-04:00

I think that's what I'm going to call all future food posts, but let me know if you have any better ideas :)

Last weekend I made Pioneer Woman's Sesame Noodles and Asian Lettuce wraps from PW's recipe site, Tasty Kitchen. Both were really delicious, and really simple, made with ingredients I mostly had on hand already.

I also made Cory a mini heart-shaped coconut cake. For Nujoud's baby shower cake, I doubled the recipe and made 4 9 inch round cakes, but I only used three. So I used a little heart cookie cutter and made Cory a two layer little heart cake with the rest!

(Please ignore the crappy food-photography. I'm still working on that ;) )

Blast from the Past, 7th Edition

2009-09-27T20:14:00.005-04:00

Since I've been slacking on this blog and left you hanging without a post for a month, here's three posts in one day to keep you busy!
This is Heather and me when we were 1-ish. She's the one holding the teddy bear cuz she wouldn't stop crying. Some things never change, huh Heather? ;)

Babies Galore!

2009-09-27T19:51:00.007-04:00

I seem to be surrounded by babies lately! Two of my dear friends are pregnant and having babies very soon! I can't believe I'm old enough to have friends having babies (and more so that I'm feeling myself be more and more ready for one!)!
Lisa and I made a diaper cake for Lauri with a dinosaur theme. It turned out super cute!! Her shower was the day after I got home from Moscow and was lots of fun and very educational :)
Nujoud's shower was today and was also fun and educational! There's so much about babies that I don't know! I made the cake for Nujoud's shower and everyone said it was delish, which made me very happy!
Here are pics (Lauri, sorry there's more from Nujoud's, I was still on a different timezone at yours ;) ) Can't wait to meet your lil bugga's ladies!

Moscow

2009-09-27T19:07:00.008-04:00

Three days after the Shuttle mission was over, I left for Moscow for a week for work. I'm working on a multi-lateral project with the Europeans and the Russians. The same project I went to France for in May. This tri-lateral meeting was held in Russia.
I'm so glad I finally got to go there! It was so neat to see where our Russian counterparts work, and to see their MCC. I also got to see a lot of neat things on the weekend we got there and in the evenings after work. I'll give a brief description of everything and it should go along with the pictures that follow!
Saturday after we got checked into our hotel, me and two of the girls on the trip that were also in France with me (Melissa and Heidi - that's who 'we' will be in this whole post) went to Red Square. It was neat to see the Kremlin, and St. Basil's Cathedral is more beautiful than the pictures show. After that we walked over to Arbat street, a touristy street with street vendors. We ate shashlik (meat on a stick) at a restaurant there and finally headed home to sleep after being up for 24 hrs.
Sunday we went to Ismailavo, which is basically a giant flea market. Except they sell cool Russian stuff like Matrioshkas (nesting dolls). I got a bunch of souvenirs for the fam. Then we went to VDNK, a park and museum with a cool rocket statue. There was also a really neat red church at that metro station.
Monday work started of course. That evening we tried to do the Moscow River boat tour, but got there about 2 minutes late! We had met up with some of our European work friends so we found a restaurant and got a beer and some food instead.
Tuesday I don't think we really did anything except eat dinner at this really good Thai restaurant.
Wednesday was Heidi's birthday! We got dropped off the work van by the Kosmos hotel and had dinner there and then saw the Russian National Dance Show . It was amazing! This youtube video has some clips but it really doesn't do it justice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U9tBJnF0N8
Thursday we had our social with our work people. We went bowling, and I discovered that I am the worst bowler EVER. I got a 34 and yes, I was trying. On the second round I used 'unique' bowling techniques and I already had a 46 when we had to stop!
Friday we only worked a half day so we took the metro out to Tsaritsyno. It was a beautiful palace on beautiful grounds built for Catherine the Great, but apparently she hated it and never lived there. We couldn't really see why, it was amazing. Unfortunately my camera died while we were there, so I am waiting to get those pictures from Melissa and Heidi. After that we finally got to do the Moscow River boat tour (waiting on those pictures as well), which was lots of fun. We got champagne and relaxed and it was a little cold but I loved it! Then we got something to eat and have a shot of Vodka. We were near Red Square so we walked over to see it at night, which capped off a wonderful trip!
Here's the pictures! (Sorry there's a ton, I was lazy and didn't go through them, so it's everything I took. The last ones at Red Square are on my iphone, so the quality isn't great. Tsaritsyno and Boat Tour coming soon.)

STS-128/17A

2009-08-31T01:18:00.004-04:00

Cory and I are both currently working the Shuttle mission in the MCC. We started a couple days ago and we have 8 more days left! STS-128 means it's the 128th Shuttle mission, and 17A is the ISS assembly stage. Cory and I are both the leads for our groups for this mission. That means we've been the ones doing all the prep work for months leading up to it. It also means we're working the same shift, which is great since we're working weird hours.
The goal of this mission is basically to bring some stuff to the Space Station, the most well known item being the COLBERT, or Combined Operational Load-Bearing Resistance Treadmill. Or just 'treadmill' for short. I'm sure you remember when NASA was having the contest to name Node 3 and Colbert wanted it to be named after him. Well NASA had put it to a popular vote and Colbert actually won. So he had astronaut Suni Williams on his show to tell him the fate of Node 3's name. Sadly, it would not be 'Colbert'. But NASA did name this treadmill after him, and it's being brought up on our mission!

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Space Module: Colbert - Sunita Williams

http://www.colbertnation.com/

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Protests

Here's to a successful mission, and to the COLBERT!

Vegas, Baby!

2009-08-26T17:35:00.008-04:00

Well, the Shuttle slipped a bit, and Cory and I got to go to Las Vegas to my cousin Jessie's wedding! Neither of us had ever been before, and we had a great time celebrating and hanging out with family. My immediate family was there, and so were some of my extended family, including an aunt and uncle and some cousins. I don't get to see these cousins very often anymore, in fact I can't remember ever spending this much time with them since we are all 'adults'. It was really fun!!

We got there early Thursday and pretty much ended up being awake for more than 24 hours except for a brief nap. The guys gambled and me and my sister and mom walked the strip, seeing all the cool hotels (and awesome high-end shoe stores). That night was the bachelor and bachelorette party and the girls had lots of fun!

Friday we relaxed at the pool and the bride and groom hosted a cocktail hour. After that we went with my immediate family to see Cirque du Soleil's 'O' at the Bellagio. We got to see the fountain and lights show before-hand. These two things were by far the highlight of the trip (other than being at Jessie's wedding and seeing family, obviously)! The fountains were just so cool, and 'O' was simply amazing! I highly recommend it if you ever find yourself in Vegas.

Saturday was the wedding, and the reception at the Mandalay Bay buffet, followed by open bar at the Mix Lounge on top of Mandalay Bay's 'THE Hotel'. All was delicious and lots of fun, and Jessie looked beautiful!

Cory and I left early Sunday morning and now we're back in H-town, waiting for Discovery to get off the ground!

Mentees, or 'I am old'

2009-08-04T19:04:00.008-04:00

My freshman year in college, I participated in WEPO, the Women in Engineering Program Orientation. It's a program where freshman women entering an engineering major at Penn State head up a few days before freshman orientation and meet other women in engineering, do a design project, and meet people in industry. When I was a senior and a super-senior, I became a mentor for this program. Being a mentor, and meeting Cheryl, the woman in charge of this masterpiece, were the best parts of WEPO for me.
One of my little mentees, Chloe, has followed in my footsteps, or so I like to think. She's all grown up and graduated and lives down here in H-town and works at NASA. Chloe has remained close friends with two of the other girls that were in our group, Shannon and Ashley. This past weekend was Chloe's birthday, and the girls were in town from Austin to celebrate.
It was so great to see my mentees again, and I can't believe they've graduated already! I feel old, but it was great to see them!

Chloe and me

me, Shannon, Chloe, Ashley

Wedded Bliss

2009-08-03T19:29:00.005-04:00

Happy Anniversary Heather and Aaron! Two years ago today, my little baby sister (haha that's so funny, 'cause we're twins, get it?) married the love of her life. I can't believe it's been two years. Two years of pure bliss, right guys? We love you!

Recreating Paris, and other yummy treats

2009-08-01T17:04:00.011-04:00

Cory finally came home on Thursday, after two weeks in Russia and one cancelled flight. To celebrate his homecoming, I planned a dinner to recreate our trip to Paris. We started with homemade french bread and brie. I'm really enjoying making bread, and it's super easy with my Kitchen Aid, and oh so tasty. For the main course I made lamb curry; I realize curry is not french, but we had a lot of lamb there and Cory had a curry dish he really liked. The lamb was delicious and tender and I can't wait to cook with it more! I finally tried out our kitchen torch on the creme brulee I made for dessert. We had creme brulee in Paris just about every night and we love it! It was much easier than I thought it would be to make and it turned out delicious! All of this was, of course, accompanied by some French wine. Bon appetit!

My good friend Beth had surgery a few weeks ago, and in my opinion, nothing says recovery like food :) So I made some chai tea latte cupcakes and some vanilla fro yo for her! I also gave some cupcakes to my other chai-loving-friends, Jaime and Lisa.

Last week I went to Alicia's for dinner and brough some macerated berries with cool whip for a yummy healthy dessert. What do do with leftover berries that are getting mushy? Why, make a mini berry crisp of course! And then eat the whole thing yourself. Not that I did that. Maybe.

Blast from the Past, 6th Edition, Puppy Style

2009-07-27T15:22:00.005-04:00

I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. Look how cute Cosmo was when we got her, almost 3 1/2 years ago!

For more cuteness, see these videos that I posted on YouTube. We have lots of pictures from when she was little, but these are the only videos. Thanks to Josh for taking them!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga4TsV9Zm3M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq209ezGXJo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8HY0hNCUb4

Corpus Christi, Moscow, Pennsylvania

2009-07-24T09:46:00.011-04:00

It's been almost a month since I've posted, and that's mostly because I like to have pictures when I post, and I didn't. But now I do!

The Sholls are world traveler's apparently ;)

Cory and I spent the 4th of July weekend in Corpus Christi with the Wilkes at their friends the Ketters' house! Neither of us had ever been there, and it was a fun, relaxing weekend! It was great to meet Susan and Toby and their two adorable girls, and they were wonderful hosts. We forgot our camera, and Beth keeps pictures on her camera for years (I'm not exaggerating), so I don't have any pictures.

After that we spent a few weeks waiting for the next Shuttle mission to launch and seeing if Cory would be going to Russia for two weeks. It slipped a couple times but he's finally there now. He left last Thursday and will be back next Wednesday. I miss him. He posted some pictures on facebook, but here is one of St. Basil's Cathedral, and of the Omega watch he got!

This past weekend, I went to Pennsylvania to celebrate Alicia's upcoming nuptials. We had her bridal shower on Saturday and her bachelorette party that night. Both events were lots of fun, and the public-friendly pictures are posted here, courtesy of Heather

http://picasaweb.google.com/heatherly.hamm/AliciaSShower#

Here is one of all the girls from the bachelorette party!

In addition to Alicia's festivities, I got to see a good friend from high school and my parents. Oh and I got to eat lots of good Pennsylvania food! It was a great trip!

Now I'm busying myself watching girly movies and trying to wait patiently for Cory to come home!

Next stop: Vegas! Hopefully, depending on the next Shuttle launch...

House Project: Office Makeover

2009-06-29T15:01:00.008-04:00

When we first moved into our house, we had our desk in one of our spare bedrooms. But then we got another bed to make the spare bedroom a real guest room, so the desk moved to what is supposed to be our living room. We knew we never wanted a formal living room, but this room was basically a mess. In addition to our desk with our computer on it amidst lots of junk, we had my 'scrapbooking table' which consisted of a card table loaded 2 feet high with supplies and other random stuff, and my Grandpa's old chair that I inherited when I moved to Houston, also loaded with lots of random stuff. Here are some 'before' pictures.

So on our long list of improvements we want to make to our home was turning the living room into a nice office. After we got the carpet, I really wanted to get new bedroom furniture, but Cory and I both agreed we were pretty sick of this space, and since it is one of the first rooms people see when they walk in, this became our top priority. We didn't think we were going to do it this soon, but a shopping trip to Ikea with Beth will change your mind quick ;) Here are the 'after' pictures! Let me know what you think!

Thanks so much for your ideas and inspiration, Beth!

Crafty-ness

2009-06-26T12:56:00.004-04:00

In addition to spending time in the kitchen, I also really enjoy scrapbooking and making cards. I haven't scrapbooked in a while, but I recently made my own wedding invitations, some bridal shower and bachelorette party invitations, and many birthday cards. And I would like to share some of them with you so you know I do other things than bake and eat what I bake ;)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2009-06-25T07:51:00.002-04:00

Happy birthday to the best dad ever! You've always been a great dad, and now that I'm older I'm so glad we're friends too. I wish I was there to celebrate with you! I'll drink a Yuengling with you in spirit!
Here's my daddy at me and Cory's wedding last October (so handsome!):

Feelin' hot hot HOT!

2009-06-24T19:35:00.002-04:00

The past few weeks have been so freiken hot here in Houston. I don't really remember the actual temperatures being this high before, but maybe I just blocked it out.

This is what my car thermometer read on the way home from work today at 5:30.

And a few minutes later:

When I washed my face when I got home, I had only the cold water on and it was hot. Usually in the summer here, you can't get cold water, its usually warm, but this felt like I had the hot water turned on. I hope it's ok to water my tomato plants with hot water!

(Public service announcement: My car was not in motion when I took those pictures!)

Wedding Photo

2009-06-21T12:59:00.006-04:00

For our wedding 'guest book', we did a signature mat. We finally got it framed and picked it up yesterday and brought it right home to hang it up above our mantel. I LOVE it!!! Cory and I rarely agree in our decorating tastes, and I actually liked a different frame better, but I went with what he wanted this time. And I'm glad I did because I think it looks fantastic in our new family room!
Here's a picture of it hanging up with some sconces that we got for our wedding. The wrought iron matches the shelves we already have in this room.

A little closer:
And here's a close-up of the frame itself:

Blast from the Past, Fifth Edition

2009-06-15T20:33:00.003-04:00

This is Heather and me on Christmas morning when we were about 5 I think. We'd just come downstairs to see the tree and presents that Santa had brought! I love the expressions on our faces, and I love my mom peeking around the corner. I'm on the right; this time I know for sure because I know that's my doll ;)

Houst Project: Bedroom Curtains

2009-06-15T20:28:00.007-04:00

We're still doing things to spruce up our house and make it exactly how we want it. This weekend I got some curtains for our bedroom and Cory helped me hang them. Since the wall color ended up darker than we thought we'd picked, I thought something white and airy would help lighten it up. We're still playing with exactly how we want to bunch them, but I love them!

Before:

After:

Nom nom nom

2009-06-08T17:05:00.010-04:00

Although I was having a great time in Paris, I missed a lot of things while I was gone: mostly Cory, Cosmo, my friends, my bed... the list goes on. I also really missed cooking and baking! It's become quite a hobby of mine this year and I was excited to get back to it! Here are some things I've whipped up the past few weeks! I've also been working on my food photography skills and I think I'm improving a little bit.

PW's Strawberry Shortcake Cake
recipe here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/strawberry-shortcake-cake1.pdf
This was DELICIOUS! I made it for a concert in the park that we went to with some friends (yay 80s cover band!) and everyone loved it. I had to give the rest away so I didn't polish it off myself!

Banana's Foster Cupcakes
recipe here: http://healthyeatsandsinfultreats.blogspot.com/2008/09/bananas-foster-cupcakes.html
I made these as a late birthday treat for Josh since I was in Toulouse on his bday. He loves all things banana, but he's not the biggest cream cheese fan, so I made a brown sugar icing that was to die for! The cupcakes were good, but the recipe has you actually make bananas foster and put it in the batter, so I was expecting a little more. They kinda just tasted like banana bread, so I thought the icing really saved them.

Crumbly Cookie's Pain Ordinaire
recipe here: http://www.crumblycookie.net/2008/10/03/pain-ordinaire/
I've been loving this baking kick I'm on, but my waist has seen better days. So this weekend I made something slightly healthier! This was not my first time using yeast (I've made pizza crust and soft pretzels) but it was my first time baking bread. I think I could have shaped it better into a more 'sandwich' size loaf but it tastes great and I can't wait to make more!

Pastor Ryan's Chicken Tikka Masala
recipe here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/pastor-ryans-chicken-tikka-masala1.pdf
Cory really likes curry, and my taste for it has been growing, so when I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it for him. It was AMAZING! I heart Pioneer Woman, and her guest blogger Pastor Ryan! Please go make it. Now.

'Maters Again

2009-06-08T17:00:00.010-04:00

Before I left for my trip to France, my tomato plants were juuuuuust beginning to get some teeny tiny tomatoes on them. When I got back they were at least a foot taller, and I had green tomatoes! And peppers!
Now some of the 'maters are red and almost ready to pick and eat, and the peppers are getting big, but they're still green (they're supposed to be red bell peppers). Thanks to Cory and to my friend/neighbor/coworker Randy who watered them while I was gone!
I'm currently having a bug problem, though. The first three tomatoes to turn red were eaten by bugs. But that should be fixed as of tonight since I went and got some bug killer ;)

Memorial Day weekend

2009-05-29T16:16:00.009-04:00

We flew into Houston from Paris on Thursday and spent less than 24 hours at home before hopping back on a plane and heading to Philly! Cory's friend, Ben, who was a groomsman in our wedding, was getting married to the wonderful Molly! We wouldn't have missed their big day, or a chance to get to see Cory's friends from high school. They're such a great group; every time we're together it's just constant laughing and fun.

Friday we made creative use of our hotel room recycling bins by using them to ice down our beer. After a few Yuenglings in the room we headed out for sushi dinner and some drinkin'. Saturday we strolled down to South Street for a cheesesteak lunch at Jim's and dessert at Rita's water ice. Oh Pennsylvania, how I miss all your delicious food and beer!

That night was the wedding at F.U.E.L. house http://www.fuelcollection.com/, which is now a small art museum, but it was also the Real World Philly house. It was a beautiful ceremony and the reception was great too, with delicious food and fun times! It was also nice to see Ben's dad, Mr. Pinder, who married us in October.

Sunday my dad picked us up and we went to my house for a picnic with Cory's mom, Cory's dad and Suzy and Grandma, and some of my aunts and uncles and cousins. It was great to see everyone, and once again the food was delish. I was especially glad to see my cousin Missy who just had her first baby that I got to meet, and my cousin Derek who will be leaving in August for basic training before he sets off to become a Navy Seal!

We got back early Monday and I relaxed on the couch all afternoon catching up on tv shows while Cory played golf. The weekend only added to our exhaustion from our Paris trip, but it was well worth it!

Paris!

2009-05-26T19:47:00.011-04:00

Cory and I had an amazing time exploring an old city and falling in love with it! We did and saw so much and took so many pictures, which I've tried to narrow down here, but there are still a lot, so hang in there if you decide to look. Most of them are of things we saw; there aren't too many of the two of us, which you may or may not appreciate ;) Cory took almost all of them, and I think he did a great job! The city has so much history, a subject I never liked learning, but seeing it all made it different. (Google for history lessons, or buy Rick Steve's Paris and learn that way like we did :) )

Here's our 5 day trip in a nutshell, the pictures are in chronological order.
days we had crepes for breakfast: 4
museums visited: 4
chihuahuas, yorkies, jack russels, and various white fluffy dogs: too many to count
people wearing Penn State stuff: 3 (only one actually went there)
number of hermaphrodite dogs seen: 1 (seriously, it had it all)
stairs climbed: ~1500
miles walked: 20 (thats a random guess, but it was a lot!)
bottles of wine drank: 5
number of pictures taken: 1017
K, that's all the random stuff I can count, so here's a brief summary!

Saturday, Day 1:
~meet at our hotel in the morning and get checked in - how romantic is it to say that 'I met my husband in Paris'!
~head directly to the Eiffel Tower - decide on stairs because it's cheaper and the line is way shorter (328 to the first level, 340 to the second level) - hike to first and second levels with weak knees (I guess I'm afraid of heights!) and take lots of pictures - skip going to the top because the line is super long
~take a short nap because we're exhausted from lack of sleep on the train/plane
~take a walk up to the Arc de Triomphe - even just this walk was amazing, seeing all the old buildings and cool architecture - more steps up the Arc tower (284 more steps) for more amazing views
~walk down the Champs-Elysees and see all the expensive stores - go in Louis Vuitton just because - pass the Grand Palais and the Petite Palais and the Obelisk - stroll through the Tuileries Gardens
~pass out in our hotel room

Sunday, Day 2:
~head to the Louvre and see all the big things, Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory - in addition to the amazing art, the Louvre was originally a palace, so the building itself was just so beautiful and impressive - this was one of my favorite things of the trip
~head to the Ile de la Cite to see Notre Dame - the cathedral was beautiful, there was a mass going on inside which was kind of neat even if you aren't Catholic or religious - the views from the tower were amazing (387 more steps)
~that evening we did the dinner cruise on the Seine River - it was delicious, relaxing, and wonderful to see the city lit up at night - when we got back to where we started, we got our first views of the Eiffel Tower at night - I think she's even prettier then, all lit up, and every hour on the hour, the lights twinkle

Monday, Day 3:
~start at Les Invalides, which is the Army Museum and Napoleons tomb - saw the tomb first, those Frenchies really like their dead leaders ;) - also walked through an armory museum which was pretty neat, and did the World War I and World War II museums
~head back to the Ile de la Cite to see Saint Chapelle, the other chapel on the island - we didn't have time the day before to get it in before the dinner cruise - although less impressive from the outside, this one was simply amazing from the inside, with its 15 stained glass windows - the light coming in was breathtaking and the pictures just don't do it justice
~take the metro to see the Sacre-Coeur Basilica which was another beautiful church - it sits up on a hill, 200 some more steps up to that, and then even more up the tower for more gorgeous views - this church was beautiful too, but unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures in this one
~short walk down the street to see the Moulin Rouge

Tuesday, Day 4:
~Orsay museum first - this building used to be a train station and it just wasn't as impressive as the Louvre - but seeing Van Gogh's, Monet's, and Renoir's impressionist paintings was pretty great!
~then we realized that both the Orangerie and Picasso museums that we'd planned on seeing this day were closed
~plan B - go see the Opera Garnier where the story of the Phantom of the Opera took place - beautiful outside, but a dress rehearsal was going on in the theater so we skipped that tour
~plan C - Catacombs tour - creepy but cool - its not a guided tour, so with the time it takes for people to buy their tickets, you kind of end up in these long dark underground tunnels by yourself, adding to the creepiness factor - the piles of bones went on and on and on
~back to the area where we were staying, which was perfect by the way - a 5 min walk to the Eiffel Tower and two min from a metro stop, and also near Rue Cler, a street that has a market almost every day - this is where we headed to collect fresh bread (un baguette si vous plait), smelly cheese, fruit, wine, and chocolate for our romantic picnic dinner at the Eiffel Tower

Wednesday, Day 5:
~Orangerie Museum - this is where Monet's Water Lillies is and the museum was worth going to just for this - I had thought his Water Lillies was just one painting, but it was 8 huge canvases that he designed for this museum and it was just amazing! - this was one of my other favorite things
~relax with an ice cream cone and then a beer in the Tuileries Gardens
~dinner at a delicious restaurant and then a night walk to see the Arc de Triomphe and Louvre lit up

The trip was exhausting, Cory and I are used to relaxing vacations and we need a vacation from this one, but it was AMAZING, as if I didn't say that word enough in this post! As much as I loved it there, we want to see so many other places that I doubt we'll go back, so I'm glad we got to see as much as we did! Enjoy the pictures, if you've gotten to this point without falling asleep ;)
Bonsoir!

Southern France pics

2009-05-26T19:30:00.010-04:00

Here are some pictures from the first part of my France trip in Toulouse and other parts of Southern France!
When we arrived on Saturday, Lucia, Heidi, and I headed to Gaillac, to an old abbey which is now a winery and did some wine tasting!

On Sunday we drove down to the Mediterranean sea with Melissa along as well. It was a long, adventurous drive, but worth it just to stick our toes in the sea and take in the views in the little town of Collioure.The work week was great too. Here is a shot of the Trajectory Team members from NASA, and the Russian and European space agencies.

And here is a shot of the NASA people who went on the trip, out to dinner at a lovely restaurant in Toulouse.

It was a great trip!

Bonjour!

2009-05-12T14:15:00.005-04:00

As you probably know, I am currently in Toulouse, France for work. I arrived on Saturday and the adventures started with some of my co-workers! Me, Lucia, and Heidi went to Gaillac on Saturday and went to an old Abbey/winery and did a wine tasting and bought some French wine! We got to see a lot of Southern France on our journey and it was beautiful! We had a lot of silly adventures which were made even funnier by our being awake for a day and a half.
On Sunday, Melissa joined us and we headed to the Mediterranean Sea! Our first stop was Narbonne, where crazy Lucia went in the ocean! It was windy and chilly, but she braved it. Then we headed down further south and went to the beautiful town of Collioure. I had actually been there before when I was here for work about 4 years ago. I never thought I'd return to this place, but I'm so glad I did, it was so beautiful! It's exactly the town I'd picture when I think of a little town on the Mediterranean sea.
Unfortunately I am a dumbass and forgot my camera cable (along with my outlet adapter and a belt!), so pictures will be coming later! Now we are in the work part of the week which is going well. Its a nice reminder to have these face-to-face meetings with our International Partners and remember how amazing our jobs are, not just because of the cool space part, but because of getting to work with people in different countries.
In the meantime in TX, Cory and our friends went to Buzzfest which I was sad to miss. I heard a good time was had by all and hopefully they missed me as much as I missed them! Biggest Loser finale is tonight and I'm sad to miss it, I can't wait to watch when I get home!
We're almost to hump day and I'm really looking forward to meeting Cory in Paris on Saturday! Au revoir mes amis!

Blast from the Past, Fourth Edition

2009-05-03T16:44:00.003-04:00

Guess who?
Yep, that would be the adorable Cory at age 5. You can see his love for water and boats was bred early. He could water ski years before that picture was taken.
Isn't it crazy how much Cory's nephew Blake looks like Cory when he was little?

'Maters

2009-05-03T16:35:00.004-04:00

When I first told Cory that I wanted to plant tomatoes and herbs this year, he was a bit skeptical. That might have come from my killing of many flowers last year. But I persevered and have been watering my plants every day (except for the ones where it monsoons). And I swear we can see the tomato plants growing; it seems like they grow 2 inches each day. The red pepper plant isn't growing as much, but he's definitely bigger! Here's what they looked like when I planted them, and what they look like now. They're even flowering, hopefully we'll have some 'maters to eat soon! Take note of the little firefly guy to gauge how much bigger they are!

Cakeballs for Eyeballs

2009-04-26T13:43:00.004-04:00

Last week my good friend had corrective eye surgery. So on Saturday I made her some treats to wish her a speedy recovery! Hope they're tastier than they look ;) Get those eyeballs better soon Jaimers!

Yummy Food

2009-04-19T23:31:00.007-04:00

I haven't taken the leap to starting my own food blog, but here's some stuff I made today! Tonight for dinner I made stuffed shells. Some with a ground turkey filling, and others with a ricotta spinach filling. We really liked both!

Pre-oven

Pre-belly

I also made this yummy Asian Noodle Salad (recipe from PW) for our lunches this week. Mmm I can't wait to eat it!

Doggie Date

2009-04-19T18:33:00.003-04:00

When Alicia and The Dude got Max, Alicia and I decided that Cosmo and Max would be girlfriend and boyfriend. An arranged marriage, if you will, and one that started out long distance, since today was the first time they'd met since they got Max several months ago!

How did it go, you ask? Let's just say they didn't hate each other. A good start I think ;) We plan on getting them together more often now so they can grow on each other, since we will be dog sitting for each other in the future! Here's some pictures of their first date.

Smile for the camera!

First kiss

Max puttin' the moves on Cosmo

Row Row Row Your Car

2009-04-18T22:08:00.004-04:00

Today it rained. A lot. And Cory and I got stuck out in it. We knew it was going to rain, but we didn't know that meant we should assume massive flooding in our area. We were out running errands and of course we took Sylvia (the Camry), to save money on gas mileage! Turned out to be a bad choice. By the time we were ready to go home, so many roads were flooded that it took us about 1.5-2 hours to get home from a place that usually takes 15 minutes. If we'd taken Taco (the Tacoma) we could have braved those deep spots! It was stressful, but Sylvia pulled through. Here are some pictures we took on our journey.

That is also a silver Camry, but it's not Sylvia, don't worry!

Blast from the Past, Third Edition: Start 'Em Young

2009-04-13T19:46:00.003-04:00

This is pretty self explanatory: me and Heather with Daddy. I really have no idea which one is me (left?).

My parents didn't go to Penn State, but they always loved it! They started us young, and likewise, Cory and I have already decided that we will tell our future children that Penn State is the only college that exists ;) That is, if we move back to PA or win the lottery, since we probably won't be able to afford out-of-state tuition!

WE ARE... PENN STATE!!!

Parents Weekend

2009-04-12T17:09:00.005-04:00

This past weekend, my parents came to H-town to visit me, Cory, and Cosmo! I think my dad was most excited to see Cosmo ;) Alicia's and Jaime's parents were both in town too, and Lauri's sister and her fam. There was lots of drinking, card playing, and just hanging out and relaxing! We also played some golf (Cory and Daddy), made some cake pops (me, Mommy, Jaime, and Momma Strandmark), went to the Mauldin's crawfish boil, hit up a farmers market with Alicia and Momma CQ, went to Cork wine bar so the Wilkes could see the 'rents since they couldn't make it on Sunday, and had most of the gang over for Easter brunch on Sunday! Everything was lots of fun!

Thanks for visiting M&D, I miss you already!

Baby Cupcakes for a Baby Girl (and her Momma)

2009-04-06T21:52:00.003-04:00

My friend Lindsay just had her baby girl, Madison, and I took some treats over to her today! I made some cupcake bites (not my idea, I got it from Bakerella, her blog is linked over on the right), and they turned out pretty cute! I used strawberry cake so they'd be pink inside even. Here's a picture of my handiwork; Lindsay really liked them and said they were delish too!

Yard Work

2009-04-05T13:37:00.004-04:00

The past couple weekends I've been planting stuff in our yard. Last weekend I did tomato and red pepper plants, and ranunculus bulbs (which I found out I planted upside down and need to re-do!). This weekend I did an herb garden, with basil, parsley, oregano, rosemary, dill, and mint! I can't wait to eat all this fresh food, and I can tell the tomato plants are bigger already!

I found this lil guy at the Woodlands Arts Festival this weekend. Isn't he cute??

Going Green

2009-04-01T09:08:00.008-04:00

The Sholls are slowly going green! For Christmas we received some reusable cotton produce bags from the Marshiks. This prompted me to then buy bigger reusable grocery bags. And then, also taking a tip from the Marshiks, we bought a compost bin. I also bought some cloth napkins, and just this past weekend bought some more eco-friendly dish detergent!
The reusable grocery bags are not only awesome because we're not wasting plastic, but you can put a full load of groceries in 4 or 5 bags, which is great!

I just put the compost bin together last week (all by myself, it was kinda like giant Legos), so there is nothing in it yet, but I'm starting my food trash collection inside in a smaller container. Since we try to eat healthy, we make a lot of fruit/veggie trash, and I was sick of throwing it out and stinking up the trash! Did you know you can even compost your dryer lint and coffee grounds and filters??

It may not be much, but we're trying to do our part! Here's hoping the compost bin doesn't stink too bad ;)

The Sholls Make Sushi

2009-03-31T22:51:00.003-04:00

We looooooooooooooooooove sushi! A few years ago for Christmas, Alicia got me a sushi making set. Cory and I have tried it once or twice in the past and it is always quite the ordeal. Now that we got our rice cooker it makes that part much easier, but prepping all the stuff that goes in the sushi still takes a while. We made it twice this past week, mostly because we had fish that still needed to be used after the first time! The Marshik's came over for take 1 and seemed to like it. Here are some pics of take 2, which went much smoother. We're getting pretty good at this, and I think if we make it more often, we'll get even better. Bring on the sushi!

This is actually a picture of the table set all pretty for take 1 with the Marshik's. They got us a bunch of the sushi dishes for our wedding so it was fun to be able to use it with them over for dinner!

Here is the sushi from take 2. We made Philly Rolls (cream cheese, smoked salmon, onion), and then made up the rest with combo's of tuna, fake crab, cucumber, jalapeno, avocado, and shrimp tempura. We also made some tempura vegetables with the batter leftover from frying the shrimp. YUMMY!

Dogs do the Darndest Things

2009-03-31T22:48:00.003-04:00

I realize this is another picture of Cosmo on the ottoman, but she is so funny with that thing! She gets herself in these positions and just chills there. I love that silly dog!

Blast from the Past, Second Edition

2009-03-28T18:04:00.005-04:00

Time for another picture from the past! Let's go way back this time... This is my family in about 1985. I'm not sure the exact year, but I'm guessing me and Heather are 4 or 5? Something else I don't know is which one is me. That's the thing about being an identical twin; I'm not always sure which one is me in old pictures. I'm gonna guess that's me on the right, maybe my mom can leave a comment and let us all know if I'm correct!

Just for reference, here's what my family looks like now. This is us at me and Cory's wedding in October.

Space-Dorks

2009-03-22T12:55:00.004-04:00

For the past week, Cory and I have both been hard at work in the ISS Flight Control Room. We're both working the current Shuttle mission, STS-119/15A. On this mission, the ISS will get it's fourth and last solar array, which will make the vehicle symmetrical again. There will also be some work done to allow the beginning of a six person crew!
Discovery docked to the Space Station last Monday, and since then, we've both been manning our respective consoles every day. Of course we're on opposite shifts, but we're sleeping when the other is at work, so we get to spend a few hours together at home each day. I'm on the overnight shift, which is kind of rough, and Cory is on the shift right before mine, which means he gets to go out with friends and co-workers after his shift for a drink. I am jealous. Here's a picture of each of us in the MCC!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

2009-03-21T10:25:00.003-04:00

Happy birthday to the best Mom ever! You've been the best mother a girl could ask for, and now that I'm all grown up, I'm so glad that we're friends too. I wish I could be with you today!
Here's my mom at our wedding in October. Ain't she purdy?

The Sholl Blog Gets a New Look

2009-03-21T07:51:00.003-04:00

I figured since I took this thing over from Cory, I might as well make it look like I want it to, eh? Thanks to Jaime for pointing me to http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/! Let's see how long it takes my super observant husband to see what I've done ;)

Our Crazy Dog

2009-03-19T14:18:00.003-04:00

Apparently this is comfortable...

Blast from the Past

2009-03-13T14:56:00.009-04:00

I thought it would be fun to start a segment on here featuring old pictures that were taken before we started our blog. Some will be real old, others not as much. Don't think you're safe! Even you Houston friends, you probably think you look the same as you did when we met you, but watch out; you too could end up here!
To be fair, I'll start with me and Cory. This is from fall of 2004, when I lived here in H-town and he was still at school. I had gone up to Penn State to visit him. Oh to be that thin (me) and have hair (him) again ;)

I realize this isn't that old and we don't look that different, but too bad, I like this picture!

Doggie Cousins

2009-03-10T19:18:00.003-04:00

One good thing that came of our trip to Pennsylvania, other than getting to see our families, is that Cosmo got to meet her doggie-cousin, Kingston! Cosmo is a little older, and doesn't have quite all that puppy energy that she used to, but Kingston still does. So I think she got a little sick of him sometimes, because he just wanted to play 24/7! But they did enjoy playing tug with Cosmo's wubba, and we enjoyed watching!
Kingston, Cosmo says 'Woof woof!'

Oh and the best part was how much my mom loved having two dogs in her house ;) Yes that's sarcasm, she's not the biggest dog fan, but I think her grand-dogs are growing on her. My dad loves them for sure!

Goodbye Grandmas

2009-03-10T16:36:00.009-04:00

Cory and I had a rough week last week. On Sunday morning, my grandmother (my dad's mom, Grandma Shoemaker) had a stroke and passed away a few short hours later. We also found out that Cory's grandmother (his mom's mom, she's Grandma Grube) was given about a week to live. So after looking for plane tickets and realizing they'd set us back a whopping $1500, we packed up the truck, Cosmo and all, and drove up to Pennsylvania last Sunday. It was a long 24 hours, but it ended up being nice having a car so that we could drive back and forth between our families, and then we could play it by ear on when to come back to TX.
Our Grandma's deaths left us a little shaken. Both were old ladies, my grandma was 85, and Cory's was 87, so you never know what's going to happen, but until pretty recently, they were fairly healthy and truckin' along. Both Grandma's had been living on their own in retirement communities that progress from independent apartments/rooms, to assisted living, and then to nursing. Several weeks ago Grandma Grube moved to assisted living, where she fell and broke her shoulder. She caught pneumonia in the hospital and had also recently been diagnosed with lung cancer. All these combined to weaken her old body, and she spent a week at a hospice before she passed. Grandma Shoemaker's stroke and death were completely unexpected. She was also my last living grandparent, so combined with the suddenness of it all, it hit me pretty hard. Cory has one grandmother left, the unstoppable Grandma Sholl who will be 93 this Spring.
It was a tough time, but it was nice to be with our families, and see extended family too, and to reminisce about times with our Grandmas. One of my favorite memories is of the haunted house me and my cousins made in Grandma's basement that we made her go through; she was a good sport!
Here are our Grandmas at our wedding last October, mine, then Cory's. We're so glad they got to be with us on that important day.

It was a hard week, and it's still sad, but we survived it together and with the love of our family and friends. I just hope that 'after' is everything Grandma hoped it would be. I like to picture her up there with those that have already passed, and maybe even Grandma Shoemaker and Grandma Grube are hanging out, watching over us. Love you Grandmas, we'll miss you.

Foodie

2009-02-26T11:36:00.020-05:00

If you know me even a little bit, then you know how much I love food. I love shopping for it, I love preparing/cooking/baking it, and mostly, I love eating it. I blame my parents for this addiction ;) It's really a wonder that I am not 500 pounds. Good thing I like running too! I read a lot of food blogs, to get ideas, and to look at delicious pictures of food that make me drool. And lately I've been thinking about starting my own. So I figured I'd start small with a food post :) Here is some stuff I've made lately.

Jaime's Birthday Cupcakes
I made these for Jaime's surprise party. I had made this White Chocolate Raspberry Cake before for both mine and Cory's mom's birthdays when they visited and it was absolutely delicious! It starts with a white cake mix, which some people may say is cheating, but I say it's just helping! It just saves me from having to measure the flour and sugar. The recipe adds the eggs and whatever else, but what makes it special is the 6 oz of white chocolate that you melt and add to the batter! (And the 6 more oz in the cream cheese icing!) For the two layer cake that I made before, there is layer of raspberry jam between the layers with the icing. Yum! But I thought cupcakes would be easier for a party, so I pondered how to make these in cupcake form. And here's what I came up with:

I used my melon-baller to scoop out a little of each cupcake, and then filled it with raspberry jam after they were cooled. Then I iced them. I have to toot my own horn here and say that they turned out really good! They were super moist, the jam was a nice surprise, and as an avid icing lover, that extra glob of icing on top of the jam was a real treat!

Black Bean and Zucchini Burrito

This is something I made for my lunches this week. Refried fat free black beans (from a pouch, dehydrated, add boiling water) + sauteed zucchini & onions + whole wheat tortilla + a little cheese = heaven in my mouth. Cory doesn't like beans or zucchini so this was a perfect thing for me to take for lunch. In addition to tasting delicious, it's also healthy!

Potato Shrimp Soup and Grilled Ribs
Two dinners we had this week that were great! I got this soup recipe for my mom and it was delicious and easy enough to prepare on a work night, even after working out. The ribs I had bought cheap at the HEB and Cory grilled them up just right! We even made our own BBQ sauce; mostly because we were out, not because we were that ambitious ;)

So what do you think? Is my baking/cooking up to par enough to start a food blog? One thing's for sure, I need to work on my photography skills, these food pictures suck! Check out some great ones at some of my favorite food blogs, The Pioneer Woman, Smitten Kitchen, and Bakerella.

Off to read up on the macro setting of my camera!

Jaime's Weekend

2009-02-21T22:03:00.010-05:00

Jaime turned 30 on Friday and little did she know, but her awesome husband Charlie had planned a surprise party for her! He enlisted help from me and Beth for the food and decor, and after hearing of the Mad Hatter theme that Jaime had talked about, we went all out with a Mad Hatter Tea Party Alice in Wonderland theme. I had a hard time keeping the secret from Jaime all week, which I handled by mostly avoiding her ;) I think she was surprised though, and the party was a blast! Happy Birthday Jaime!!!

On Sunday there was party number 2 at the Marshik's house. Since Jaime didn't know about the surprise party, she had planned an Oscar's party for Sunday! We got dressed up, walked the red carpet, cast our ballots, and watched the show. Good times! See pictures over at the Marshik blog here, including one of me picking food out of my teeth, and several of their cute doggies!

Valentine's Day Treats

2009-02-19T11:52:00.004-05:00

I know Valentine's Day was a week ago already, but at least I'm posting ;)

Cory and I usually don't make a big deal of Valentine's day because my birthday is the day before and we usually celebrate that instead. So we usually lay low and make dinner at home and skip the presents. This year we went to dinner at Masa Sushi with the Wilke's which was delicious. I also made Cory these truffles. The circle ones are Oreo Truffles and the square ones are Cheesecake Bites. Aren't they purdy?

February is the best month!

2009-02-15T13:26:00.008-05:00

A lot of our friends have birthday's in February, and we've been doing a lot of celebrating. A couple weeks ago, we had a happy hour at Boondoggles for Lisa's birthday. Much fun (and beverage) was had by all!

The following Tuesday was Beth's birthday, and Jaime and I headed over with homemade dinner (by Jaime) and cheesecake (by me), which we ate while we watched the Biggest Loser. No picture of that birthday girl, but I do have one of the cheesecake! Yum yum!

My birthday was this past Friday, the 13th! Heather and I were born on a Friday the 13th so this was extra exciting! Cory and I hosted the annual February Birthday party this year and I did a superstitions theme, to go along with my freaky birthdate. It was lots of fun!!

House Project: New Carpet

2009-02-15T13:02:00.006-05:00

We finally got our carpet installed and, for now, our house renovations are complete. Here's a before and after of our carpet in our bedroom, and then a close-up. It's the same throughout the whole house - everywhere that had carpet before has this new carpet, except the front two rooms. We plan to put hardwoods in there, eventually.

Superbowl Sunday! Go Steelers!

2009-02-01T23:22:00.007-05:00

Cory and I had some friends over today to watch the Superbowl. Although it wasn't the all-Pennsylvania match-up that I'd hoped for, because the Eagles let us down, I at least rooted for the Steelers for Cory! And it turned out to be a good game.

I recently saw a recipe for homemade soft pretzels and decided I needed to try them (it would have been more fitting to make Philly soft pretzels if the Eagles had been in it, but oh well!). Everyone really liked them, and I have to say, I was pretty impressed with myself! This was the first time I've ever made any 'bread', and my dough hook on my kitchen aid came in very handy! Look at these beauties!

House Project: Family Room Makeover

2009-02-01T22:51:00.010-05:00

Cory and I received a lot of very generous monetary gifts for our wedding, and decided to put most of that money towards redoing our family room, one of many house projects we've been wanting to do. So we got a new couch, a new TV stand, a new end table, and new paint! Eventually we'll be hanging the TV on the wall, and our signature mat from our wedding (once we get it framed) will be hung above the fireplace. Here are some before and after pictures. We're quite happy with our new room! Come on over and take a look!

Goodbye Shade

2009-01-22T14:19:00.009-05:00

If you read our blog often, you know one of our trees in our backyard got damaged in Hurricane Ike last September. We lost about a third of the tree, but it was still alive, and we were glad! Well, I was, because it shaded our bedroom, but Cory thought it was too big for the space it was in in our yard. Anywho, lately when I was laying in bed I would hear this creaking noise. So one weekend when I got up I went outside to check it out. The tree was split down the middle of the trunk, almost to the ground. The creaking noise was the two halves rubbing against each other in the wind! And unfortunately, the split was such that if it broke completely, half could fall on our house. So we had to get it cut down, which happenned on Monday. Here's the before and after. Well, the after Ike, and the after it's gone, which is now.

Run, baby, run

2009-01-20T12:53:00.014-05:00

On Sunday, January 18th, I participated in my third half marathon! I ran the whole time and finished in 2 hrs and 20 min, and considering how little I had been running, I was very pleased with that! A bunch of my friends ran in various events too, including Charlie with 1 hr 46 min in the half, Nujoud with 4 hr and 25 min in the whole, and Josh with 31 min in the 5k. Great job everybody! Let the countdown begin until next year... :) Here is a picture that Jaime took of me, about 0.2 miles from the finish line. I was hurtin' pretty bad, but still managed to eek out a sweaty smile.

Next year I'd really like to have a time goal for myself in the half. When I signed up for this year back in the fall, I wanted to do it under 2 hrs. But I had to let go of that when I didn't really train at all. I did however, meet my new goal, of finishing the half before the woman winner of the whole. Go me!
I thought it would be interesting to look back at my results from my past races, and being the nerdy engineer that I am, I made an excel spreadsheet to keep track. Plus, I like to have it all in one place. I think when I'm old and creaky (like I felt on Sunday after the race!), I will really appreciate knowing that I accomplished this. Here it is (you can click on it to see it bigger):

Catch-up Blog - Christmas and New Years

2009-01-14T14:04:00.007-05:00

I really suck at keeping up with this thing, so here is a recap of the last month for the Sholls.

We left for PA on the 19th of December, and after an 8 hour flight delay we finally made it to my parents house at 3 in the morning! We had lots of fun with my family, enjoyed lots of good food, and most importantly, lots of good drink ;) We mostly relaxed and just enjoyed each other's company and played some cards. We play Progressive Rummy whenever we're together, and I won one game, go me! I got to see some of my extended family, too, which was really nice.

That Monday all six of us (me and Cory, my parents, and Heather and Aaron) met up with an old friend of me and Heather's, Maria. Me, Heather, and Maria were the best of friends in high school, but we grew apart when we went to college. We recently reconnected through Facebook, and our families got together at a local Italian restuarant that we love for lunch. It was really great to catch up, and it was like we'd never parted ways. I can't wait for the next time we can get together! Sadly I have no pictures of this, because I think it would have been fun to put a 'then' and 'now'!

Mid-week we went to Cory's parents houses to spend sometime with them; we were there for Christmas. I got some Bed Bath and Beyond gift cards from Cory's parents because I wanted to get some items off our wedding registry that we hadn't gotten. Which I already did. Hello ice cream maker and new bake wear! The ice cream attachment for the Kitchen Aid mixer is my new best friend and also my worst enemy. More on that later.

We had fun spending time with Cory's parents and his sister and her family. Our neice (yay I can say 'our' now!), Jayden, is 6 months old now and she was so smiley and happy! Almost makes me want one of my own. Ok, just kidding, we're not there yet ;) But she was so sweet and I loved holding her! We also got to see Cory's friends from high school, who I can happily call 'my friends' now too. I love them! Much fun was had by all, like usual.

We flew back to H-town shortly after Christmas because Cory had to work the week of New Years. I worked a couple days and decided to take the rest of the week off. We had a New Year's Party at the Sholl house and it was lots of fun! Just a few of our closest friends hanging out, eating, drinking, dancing and ringing in the New Year together. Cory ended up getting sick (not from drinking), and stayed home from work the rest of the week. We had a relaxing weekend and then it was back to work...

I'm still in denial about being back at work, but we're getting by. Cory is finally better, and I caught his cold. We've started some house projects and bought some new furniture, and I'm gearing up for the half marathon that I've barely trained for this weekend. More to come on all of that in a new post, very soon. I promise :)

Doggie Central

2008-12-16T10:05:00.002-05:00

The Marshik's are in Cancun with Jaime's family, and one of their dog's, Sammie, is staying with us. Which is awesome, because Cosmo and Sammie, are like, totally bff's!! They get along great, and it's nice for Cosmo to have someone to play with. Cosmo also likes to hump Sammie, which is weird, but also slightly hilarious. Here's a cute picture I shot of the girls watching a squirrel out the window the other day.

When Cory and I leave for PA on Friday, Sammie goes to the kennel for a day or so until the Marshik's get back, and Cosmo goes to the Parris's to play with her friend Lola! Then when we get back, the Parris's leave, so Lola comes with us back to the Sholl casa. It's great to have friends with dogs so we can all help each other out!

Snow Day!

2008-12-15T17:08:00.006-05:00

Seriously! In Texas!! Last Wednesday, it was really cold, and not just cold for Texas, it was in the low 30s on the way to work and it didn't really warm up like it usually does. On the way home it started raining a little bit, but as I sat at a traffic light, I noticed this 'rain' kind of bouncing off my windshield. It was actually sleeting!! Then in the evening, Alicia called me and told me it was snowing at her house, but I looked outside and was sad to see it wasn't snowing at ours! I forgot about it for a little, and then Cory and I went to deliver some holiday goodies to the Marshik's, and it was snowing!! And real snow! I wouldn't call it a 'snow storm', but it was real honest to goodness snow, that even stuck on our lawns and our rooves! Of course it was almost all gone in the morning, and they tried to ruin my good mood by closing the bypass that I take to work, because it's pretty much all elevated and they have no way of salting roads here because it just doesn't snow! But that night I was just so happy, and so was everyone I saw! Snow just brings out the kid in everyone, and it was really neat to see here in Texas! Here are some picutres that Cory took!

Holiday Baking and Cooking

2008-12-15T17:01:00.010-05:00

My kitchen has been a busy place the past few weeks, I've been baking up a storm! Last year I started a tradition of giving goodies to my friends for holiday presents. I love to bake, and who doesn't like extra treats at the holiday's? This year they got homemade chex mix, fudge, and chocolate snowflake pops. I thought it all turned out really cute!

I also recently made a pecan pie and oreo truffles for a friend's holiday party. I was so happy with my pecan pie because last time I made it, it didn't set up and it was runny. This one was perfect!

This past weekend I did a lot of baking and cooking. I went to Beth's on Saturday to help her make 8 zillion dozen cookies for her friend who was in the Dickinson Tour of Homes (kinda like an open house thing). We came up with a new cookie variety, the Peppermint Butter cookie, let us know if you want the recipe, it's sure to be famous. (For serious, we put way too much Butter Flavored Crisco in them, accidentally, not knowing that butter and crisco do not have a 1-to-1 substitution. But seriously, they tasted fine. Just ignore that coating on the roof of your mouth, ok folks? We worked hard on those!)
I also made a Thanksgiving feast on Sunday and the Wilke's and the Woods's came over to help us eat it! We got turkey dinner on the cruise, but it just wasn't the same as all my mom's traditional recipes, so I bought a turkey on sale after Thanksgiving, and made that, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and cope's corn (a Lancaster county dish)! Oh and a divine chocolate pie, if I do say so myself! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that; or maybe fortunately, so you don't drool on your keyboard ;) Everyone loved it and Wilke even said I am, and I quote, "one of the best cooks I know". I really do enjoy cooking and baking, but it's even better when my friends enjoy it too!

Cruisin' for Turkey Day

2008-12-15T16:49:00.005-05:00

I'm a little behind on blogging, please forgive me! I have a hard time keeping up.
Over Thanksgiving, Cory and I were lucky enough to go on a cruise with my parents and my sister and her husband. A few years ago, my parents had the idea that instead of exchanging presents for the holidays and birthdays, we should take a trip together each year instead. We all easily agreed, as time together is hard to come by these days, especially with me and Cory living so far away. Well this is the first year we made it happen, and we all met up in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on Thanksgiving Day! We cruised with Royal Caribbean, on the Navigator of the Seas, which was a huge, beautiful ship. It was a great time - we had lots of sunshine, lots of good food, and most importantly, lots of good drinks. I mean, most importantly, lots of quality time with my family! Thursday and Friday we were at sea, and the ladies sunned on the top deck of the ship with several pina coladas, while the fellas headed to the Casino. Saturday we were in Cozumel, where we did a jungle hike excursion and got to see some Mayan ruins. They were really, well, ruined, but our tour guide was awesome, and it was really neat. Sunday was pretty much a repeat of Friday. It was a great little vacation!

Our Little Sholl-Devil

2008-11-19T22:17:00.003-05:00

Get it? Sholl-devil; she-devil? I'm so clever.

Cosmo has been a bad girl lately. She's been eating our blinds :( We don't know what started it, but we haven't enjoyed it. Here's a picture of her handi-work.

But ya know what? We still love her. Cuz right now she's playing with three of her toys at the same time and it's the best thing ever in life. And cuz just look at this face:

How could you not forgive that? Honestly, I don't know how she lives with her own cuteness sometimes. I just don't.

House Project: Painting our bedroom

2008-11-19T22:08:00.003-05:00

We have a lot of projects we want to do here in the Sholl house and one of them is painting our bedroom. We've actually had the paint for about a year and a half now. We got it when we got our pressure washer (Marshik's, we've got our eye on you ;) ) back when Home Depot was having a good deal. Well we finally got around to painting! Cory really loves cutting-in, so if you ever need help, let him know ;) And I'm pretty handy with a roller! Here are a few shots of our progress so far.

Cory's Birthday

2008-11-19T10:16:00.006-05:00

Cory doesn't seem to like to blog anymore so I will write about his birthday. It also gives me a chance to show off what a great wife I am ;) His bday was last Friday and he turned 27! I got him this beautiful tool chest that he wanted with some DVDs tucked inside (Transformers on bluray, and That 70s Show season 5). Please also note the beautiful handmade bow and card.

I also made him this delicious beef jerky

and this even more delicious chocolate cake with peanut butter icing!

We went to happy hour at Boondoggles on Friday and then downtown to see our friend's friend's band. It was a fun night!! I hope you had a great birthday baby :)

PS - I don't know what that stupid grey line down the middle of our blog is. If you know how to get rid of it, please tell us!

MUDD-E

2008-11-16T16:24:00.005-05:00

Last weekend, me, Alicia, Nujoud, Lisa, and Melissa took a road trip to Fort Worth to get muddy! We did the Mud Run, a 10 k run with military style obstacles throughout. It was super fun, we overcame some fears of heights (me mostly), and we got really muddy! And best of all, everyone loved our t-shirts that had our team name, MUDD-E. Melissa was injured so she came along anyways and was our official photographer! Here's a link to the awesome pictures she took:
http://picasaweb.google.com/meliwallace/MudRun2008#
And here's a shot of us enjoying our Mudslides, post-race!

Next time, Melissa will be running, and I've already recruited Jaime too, and possibly even some husbands!

St. Lucia

2008-11-16T16:15:00.003-05:00

Cory and I went on our honeymoon in beautiful St. Lucia! I can't believe it's been over a month since we've been back. I finally got our pictures off our cameras and taught myself how to imbed a slideshow (I think)! We had a wonderful time doing lots of eating, drinking, and relaxing, and we even caught the second half of the Penn State game that weekend! St. Lucia was beautiful, and the Sandals resort was great; when can we go on another honeymoon?
The picures are out of order because they came off of three cameras, but you'll get the idea! Enjoy!

Mr. and Mrs. Sholl!

2008-10-24T15:08:00.004-04:00

We haven't posted in so long - after Hurricane Ike, we got busy wrapping things up at work and getting ready to leave for PA! Cory and I spent the week prior to the wedding at our respective homes with our families. I really enjoyed my time with my family and my bridesmaids, relaxing and getting all the last minute things ready. I know Cory had fun, too, wakeboarding in the freezing Susquehanna river and hanging out with his family.

The wedding was perfect; everything we imagined it would be! Friday, October 3rd was a beautiful, crisp day - the exact kind of Pennsylvania fall day I had hoped for. I was nervous all day and finally calmed down about an hour before the ceremony while I was getting dressed with the girls. But right before my dad and I walked down the aisle my heart started pounding! Once I saw Cory though, all those butterflies went away. He looked so handsome, and I felt beautiful. The reception was awesome and it was so great to see all the people we love, and know that they were there for us. We danced and drank the night away and it all went entirely too fast, but I keep replaying everything in my head and it was just the perfect day.

Here's a link to a blogshow that our photographer put together. Hopefully we'll get the rest of our pictures soon!

http://www.kmphotographystudio.com/SHOLLBLOGSHOW/

And now we're officially the Sholls, and I'm so happy to be able to call Cory my husband!

Coming soon... pictures from our fabulous honeymoon in St. Lucia!

Ike Aftermath

2008-09-16T21:05:00.007-04:00

Last night we heard a rumor that our neighborhood got power back, and our friends the Marshik's were generous enough to drive by again and confirm this for us this morning. So we got some fresh food at Walmart, gassed up the truck, and headed out of San Antonio. So long La Quinta, you served us well, and if we ever have to evacuate again, we'll be back for your free happy hour!
We made it home in about 4 hours which is pretty normal for that drive. We started seeing damage as far out as Katy and it got worse as we got closer to home. We pulled into our neighborhood and people had piles of branches and fence at their curbs. Some of our neighbors even had soggy rolled up carpet because they had roof damage. Our whole time away, this whole thing seemed surreal to me, and seeing this, it finally sunk in for me that Ike hit Houston, the place where we live.
We finally got to see our house, and as our friends told us, it's fine. We don't even see a single shingle missing. I think we lucked out that we have a 1-story house and we're surrounded by 2-story homes on all three sides. Our front trees had some limbs missing and our already-crappy fence took a beating. We'll probably need to replace a lot of it. The biggest damage was to the large tree in our back yard, two huge limbs fell off which took about half of the tree with it. They're currently leaning on part of our fence and tomorrow we'll work on chopping it down and getting it out to the curb.
Here are some pictures. First, the ones I promised of our house all boarded up, pre-Ike. As you can see it is dark out, as it took us until about 10 pm last Wednesday to get this done.

As soon as we got home today, Cory un-boarded the house while I unpacked the truck. Then I cleaned out the fridge and freezer; threw out everything since we were without power for a few days. We took our patio furniture back outside and Cory repaired part of the fence that the neighbors hadn't gotten to yet so at least Cosmo can roam free in the back yard. Here are some pics of the damage.

So we're relaxing now, and excited to sleep in our own bed. As of now, we don't have work until at least Thursday, but I wouldn't be surprised if we were off the rest of the week. Overall I feel like we dodged a bullet. Yeah we need to fix some fence and we had to throw away a bunch of food from the fridge and freezer. But a lot of people have no home to return to, and no money to fix the damage to their homes. So I feel lucky that this is all we have to do, and that we are able to take care of it. Most of our friends homes have minmal to no damage as well, and I'm really greatful for them too.

Thanks to all our friends and family for checking in on us and keeping us in your thoughts! Hearing from you helped us get through those anxious waiting-hours. We can't wait to see you all in a few short weeks!

Ike Sucks

2008-09-12T22:55:00.002-04:00

Hurricane Ike is barrelling down on Texas. Wednesday night we boarded up our house (pictures coming soon) and packed up some stuff, including my wedding gown in a giant rubbermaid container. We left early Thursday morning and caravaned to San Antonio with the Marshiks and the Wilkes. Alicia and Brent made it shortly after. We're all staying at a La Quinta. It's pretty nice, we got a government rate of $89, they have free happy hour each evening, and it's pet friendly. Between the 4 families we have 4 dogs, 2 rabbits and a bird!
Last night we used our evacuee status to our advantage and scored 3 free giant bottles of wine at the Macaroni Grill. So we've actually been having a pretty fun time here, and I'm glad we're all together. But we can't help watching the weather channel, waiting to see what will happen to our homes! A bunch of us are actually in me and Cory's hotel room now watching as the eye of the hurricane makes landfall. Keep us in your thoughts!
More updates soon...