Today marks two years that I have "officially" been with Brandon. (I put "officially" in quotes because he pretty much had me the night I met him in July but it wasn't til the end of October that I finally decided that he was worth it and to officially give us a shot.) I'm not one to really put my feelings out there (it makes me feel so awkward) but I just wanted to express how thankful I am for having him in my life. He makes me smile, challenges me, balances me out, supports me, and most importantly, makes me laugh. He makes me better. We have gone through so much over these last two years and I wouldn't trade it for a thing. To borrow the words of a Jason Mraz song, I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend.
I love you babe and I wouldn't have wanted to spend these last two years with anyone else but you.
So here I am, 4:15 AM, laying wide awake in my bed. Again. I have not been able to fall asleep before 5 or 6 AM for like, the last two weeks. Which means I sleep til 3. Which means my whole day is wasted. I've tried to set alarms so I will wake up early, hoping that by the time 9 or 10 rolls around, I will be ready to curl up in bed and pass out. But, I either turn my alarms off in a sleepy stupor that I don't remember when I finally wake up or I just sleep right through them. AH! So frustrated. Sleep problems aside, I just wanted to share some late night ramblings that might not make much sense when I read it over again tomorrow...
I know that a song has ignited something within me, or touched me in some way when listening to it gives me goosebumps. That's what happened with this song, particularly when I heard it for the first time when Felix Baumgartner successfully landed in the middle of New Mexico after jumping from the edge of space. It seems silly but I think I'll remember that moment forever. Felix successfully pulling his chute, seeing his body become closer and closer to his shadow on Earth, him touching down and immediately dropping to his knees and throwing his fists in the air...man, that last image won't leave my mind for a while. I'm embarrassed to admit it (and I was trying to hide it from my boyfriend, who(m?) I was watching the live stream with) but I definitely was overcome with emotion and teared up a little...okay a lot. I blame the music that they timed perfectly at the landing. And this was that music.
What a huge accomplishment, not only for Felix and his team, but for mankind as a whole. I'm always so amazed at the limits people attempt to push themselves to, and even more amazed when it is successful. It sounds suuuuuuper cliche, I know, but it really proves to me, once again, that if you only put your mind, time, and effort (and a whole lotta money as far as the Red Bull Stratos mission goes) into something, you can conquer your fears and overcome your limits and have something to be proud of. It makes me that much more motivated to think of ways I can push myself past my comfort zones and accomplish something great. If Felix can jump successfully from the edge of space, I'm pretty sure I can do whatever my heart leads me to do.
I found this recipe a while ago here and recently decided to make it. Holy canoli, it was good. Like lick-the-plate-clean kind of good. So I thought I would share the recipe.
I doubled it, since we're basically feeding an army, and I couldn't find butternut squash so I left that out this time (like seriously, where they heck do they hide that stuff?! I went to three stores...).
Next time, I'll have to remember to take pictures of it cause if you saw how good it just looked, you'd go and make it right now. But since I didn't take any, you can drool over the picture from where I found the recipe :)
White Chicken Lasagna
You Will Need:
no-bake lasagna noodles - I used two boxes
1/2 c. butter
1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp salt
ground black pepper to taste
2 c. chicken broth
2 c. milk
4 c. mozzarella cheese (except I just used what looked good to me)
4 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 c. ricotta cheese
cooked and shredded chicken (I just went and bought a cooked chicken in the deli section at Wal Mart and shredded it and just used all the chicken)
1 box of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 box of frozen butternut squash puree, thawed
Melt butter in a large saucepot. Add onions and garlic and cook over medium heat until translucent. Add flour, salt, and pepper. Cook flour mixture 1-2 minutes. Add chicken broth and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir 1 minute. Turn off heat and add 2 cups of mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Stir in dried spices.
Lightly spray a 9x13" baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Ladle some cheese sauce onto the bottom of the pan, just enough to cover thinly. Add a layer of lasagna noodles. Layer with more cheese sauce, the chicken, and the ricotta cheese. Add another layer of noodles. Top with cheese sauce, spinach, and mozzarella cheese. Add another layer of noodles. Top with cheese sauce. Spread the butternut squash puree with a spoon over the cheese sauce. Top with the rest of the mozzarella cheese and some Parmesan. Add one last layer of noodles. Finish it off with the rest of the cheese sauce and sprinkle with the rest of the Parmesan cheese.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove foil and cook until bubbly. If cheese doesn't brown on top, turn on the broiler for the last few minutes. Let the lasagna sit for about 15 minutes before serving for easier slicing.
Ever since I started noticing the leaves on the tree in front of my house start changing from green to yellow, I've been wanting to go on a drive through the mountains to get some shots of the autumn colors. On top of that, after visiting the John Fielder gallery in Denver (and feeling pretty inspired by it), my mom said she would pay me if I went and got some shots that she could turn into greeting cards. So yesterday, I finally was able to convince my boyfriend to come with me and go on a drive and soak in some Colorado beauty before the snow covers it in a thick blanket.
It was beautiful. We drove on Old Stage Coach Road that took us from Colorado Springs, up through Clyde, then to Victor, and shot us out by Cripple Creek. It was about a 4 hour drive, but only took that long because we would stop every five minutes to get out and take pictures. We also brought some really good pumpkin beers with us to enjoy (while we weren't driving and I only had one, of course!) and the one I had, Whole Hog's Pumpkin Ale, tasted like I was drinking pumpkin pie - incredibly good! The leaves were brilliant and the trees were covered in frost, which made it feel even more magical. I feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful state and be able to drive twenty minutes from my house to have my breath taken away and stand in awe of "colorful Colorado." It was a perfect fall day.
