State Champions!

I'm proud to announce that our girls brought home a State Championship this weekend!

They sure tried to keep it interesting by taking the semi-final game into a shoot-out (which, for the record--way more nerve-wracking as a coach than when I played in them as a keeper), but were nothing but solid after that, with a decisive 6-0 win in the championship game. Super proud of all the hard work the girls put in this season and excited that they were able to bring home some hardware for their efforts!

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all this free time now that I'm not coaching soccer any more.... Maybe I'll actually start helping out around the house, although it was really fun having Darrell do all the work :)

My Patriot!

So I finally got a chance to catch Darrell in his uniform for one of the Shrine units he is in (for those of you unfamiliar with Shriners, it's like an adult male fraternity that is divided into a lot of different "units" so that members can join groups that interest them. Darrell is in the photography unit, and also in the Fife and Drum unit--which is a unit my dad has been in since I was a kid). Darrell doesn't usually march with the Fife and Drum unit because he is usually busy taking pictures for the Shutterbug unit, but this past weekend marked the second time he stepped into uniform. And unfortunately, I still haven't actually seen him march (carrying the flag--no way he can play either a fife or a drum), but I did meet up with him after the parade last Saturday and snagged a picture before he changed (we'll say the weather was to blame for us missing the parade; nothing to do with the fact that my mom and I were running late).

Isn't he so cute?!?

Happy Friday and have a good weekend!

Wedding Wednesday: Colors/Theme

Once you have some of the boing preliminary items out of the way--budget, guest list, wedding date--it's time for the fun stuff to begin. And yes--this does include wedding dress shopping. But before we can get to that, there is another important element to decide: the wedding theme/color scheme. An elegant, traditional wedding will call for a completely different wedding dress (among other things) than a fun, upbeat, modern wedding. So, let's look at a few ways to find the perfect color scheme/theme for your wedding.

The first thing to take into consideration is the season in which you are planning to have your wedding. Summer weddings are great, but it might be strange to use rich, fall colors like burgundy in the middle of July. Likewise, light, soft pastels might get lost in the snowy background of a winter wedding. Use inspiration from nature--and possibly even the venue if you have that chosen--to help guide your selection. And don't be afraid to keep an eye out everywhere you go--you might see a pattern on some fabric that you like and could incorporate into your invitations and maybe onto your cake. You could see a color combination on a mannequin in a store that resonates with the image you have for your wedding. And of course, the internet abounds with sites that offer suggestions of color combinations and have a plethora of images of real weddings so you can see how the shades come together (Style Me Pretty was visited almost daily while I was planning my wedding). 

Sometimes selecting a theme will help you focus on the color scheme that you want to use. A modern theme could incorporate bright, bold colors and geometric shapes; an elegant French or European theme would be more likely to use soft pastels and possibly accents of gold or silver. Darrell and I both love the outdoors, and both have fond memories of childhoods near water, experiences that we plan to pass on to our children (freshwater for me, saltwater for him), so I wanted to incorporate that into our May wedding. I also love spring and the brightly colored flowers, so we decided on a predominately blue wedding (with lots of water being incorporated in our centerpieces) with bright pops of colorful flowers throughout. Easy-peasy. 

One last thing that we did with the color scheme that was helpful was go to a hardware store and look at paint samples. I know this may sound strange, but it gave us a basis for what shades of the colors we were looking for (because trust me, you tell a baker you want blue piping on your cake and you might get a totally different shade a blue than what you wanted). So, not only were we able to mix and match colors to find shades that complemented each other, but I then had tangible color samples that I could carry around to show our vendors so they had a better idea of exactly what I was talking about. This method might be equally helpful if you are stuck on accent colors to use--I know my sister is leaning toward an orange wedding since that has always been her favorite color, but isn't sure what to do with the orange. So, I suggested that she go look at paint samples, find an orange that she likes, and figure out other combinations that go well with it.

Of course, sometimes decisions on theme/color scheme aren't finalized until after you find "the dress"; you may fall in love with lace and decide to incorporate an old-fashioned feeling into your wedding or perhaps a gorgeous, poofy dress with feathery accents calls for the incorporation of feathers throughout your wedding. This happened even to me--after choosing a dress that had a silver sash I decided to incorporate silver into my blue, brightly colorful wedding (and it ended up being the perfect accent to our bright cobalt blue!) So, without further delay, let's head to the bridal salons next week!

Long Overdue

I'll pretend like I'm really delayed in posting this picture since I didn't want to jinx the (surprisingly) successful season that the Vikings have been having, but in reality, it has just taken that long for Darrell to edit the picture (and me to remember to get it off his computer). But, since this picture does date back to the first home game of the season (September 9th in case you really care), and the Vikings have been undefeated at home since then, it's only reasonable to assume that we played some role in getting them started on the right foot. And, for those of you who don't remember (or didn't care about) the details from the Vikings game against Jacksonville, here's a brief summary of the awesomeness that we got to experience in person.

After scoring a field goal with five minutes left, it seemed pretty certain that the Vikings had the win in the bag (so certain, in fact, that my brother and his girlfriend left the stadium to beat the rush to the bar we were meeting at afterwards. Joke was on them!). However, after forcing Jacksonville to punt on their first possession after the field goal, the Vikings gave the ball back to them with 1:18 to play and allowed them to score a touchdown--and two-point conversion--putting them up by three. With only twenty seconds to play, the Vikings drove the ball down the field, and put their rookie field-goal kicker in position to hit a 55-yard field goal with time expiring to tie the game--and he nailed it. Cue overtime. The Vikings scored a field goal on their first possession in overtime, giving Jacksonville a chance to counter. Thankfully, the defense stepped it up and shut them down, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Okay, enough of the rambling, here's the picture already. We had (nearly) the whole crew there, after scraping together tickets from a variety of sources. So while we didn't all get to sit together at the game, we had fun hanging out together beforehand (and afterwards!).

Shrimp Etoufee

Well, even though we actually made this recipe two months ago, this is actually perfect timing for posting it. Fall is trying to take a quick turn into winter here in South Dakota (no snow for us though--yet), and it's definite comfort food season. While creole cuisine may not be seen as "traditional" comfort food (especially in the Midwest!), and while it certainly isn't as easy to throw together as a batch of macaroni and cheese, this recipe definitely hits the spot on a chilly day. Especially if you like to amp up the amount of Tabasco sauce like Darrell does. And truthfully, the recipe isn't really all that bad, despite the lengthy ingredient list--90% of the work is in the prep of the ingredients (chopping vegetables, peeling shrimp, etc) and once that is done everything goes together easily. And trust me, once you sit down to enjoy this dish, all the prep work and effort will have been totally worth it!

Shrimp Etoufee
(from Mama Shirley!)

3 tbsp oil
3 tbsp flour
1 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped (we usually just do the whole pepper)
3 ribs celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 1/4 cup beef broth
1 cup dry white wine
2 bay leaves
1 tsp whole basil leaves (we usually just use crushed)
1 tsp whole thyme leaves (again, we usually use crushed and dried)
Approximately 1 tbsp Tabasco
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
4 green onions, chopped
1 1/2 lbs shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup chopped parsley
Cooked rice

Heat a large pot or Dutch oven and add the oil and flour. Toast to a peanut-butter colored mixture. Stir often and be careful not to burn. This should take about fifteen minutes over medium heat. Add yellow onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic. Saute for about ten minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in tomato paste, followed by beef broth and wine. Stir constantly until mixture thickens. Add the remaining ingredients, expect for shrimp, parsley, and rice. Simmer covered for forty-five minutes. Add shrimp and parsley and simmer for another twenty minutes, uncovered. Serve over cooked rice (and, if you are like Darrell, additional Tabasco sauce. He has to put less in the pot than he would like because I can't handle my food as spicy as he likes it).

And I realized the other day that I usually just take pictures of our main dish since, well, that's usually what I end up blogging about. But just to prove that we actually eat more than just an entree, I decided to take a picture of our whole meal this time. Plus it was just a super photogenic (and tasty!) meal, so I couldn't resist.

I love recipes that only use partial bottles of wine--all the more excuse to have a glass of wine with dinner!

Wedding Wednesday: First Things First

In honor of my sister's upcoming nuptials, I've decided to start a blogging series on weddings and wedding planning (because I heart weddings). I tried to journal during the planning of my own wedding, but was marginally successful at best, so this is my attempt to remedy that. Plus, I now have one wedding under my belt, so I feel more confident in sharing advice on things that did (and didn't!) work. I hope this can be kind of a "behind the scenes" look at wedding planning; I plan to gloss over a lot of the basic timing guidelines and tips because, well, you can go about anywhere on the internet and find a variety of guides and timelines and other things (The Knot is a great resource with a timeline customizable to your wedding date; eleGALA has a nice, printable workbook that you can use as well as another customizable timeline). Instead, I hope to give you some tips and tricks to make the whole process go a little bit more smoothly--because looking at a to-do list with 284 items on it can seem pretty overwhelming!

Where I want to start today is the basics, the first considerations to make after saying "yes". While the thought of planning a wedding may seem daunting to some, you can't get anywhere if you don't know where to start!

First Things First

The first three things that you and your new fiance need to roughly determine are, in no particular order:

--Budget
--Guest List
--Approximate wedding date/season

The order in which you will determine these will mostly likely depend on which is the most important element. If you know that the budget is going to be limited, that will likely affect the number of guests you invite (more guests = more expensive) and the timing of the wedding (traditionally, peak season weddings--summer in most places--are more expensive than non-peak weddings). However, if you are dead set on having a massive party with as many guests as you want, then the budget will have to be increased adjusted accordingly. And obviously, without a wedding date, it will be near-impossible to secure the other vendors that you will need for your wedding. Plus, knowing the season will help you determine what we'll be talking about next week--the theme/color scheme!

Glitter Woes

I could never be a kindergarten teacher. Ever. Glitter drives me CRAZY. It just gets everywhere and sticks to everything and is a general nuisance.

And unfortunately, I get to have a close encounter with glitter all day today. You see, it's Homecoming this week, which means fun dress-up days. Today's theme is "Movie Monday", so a bunch of the staff decided to dress up like the pageant contestants from Miss Congeniality. Totally an awesome idea, but the sashes that we're wearing are decorated with glitter. And it's getting EVERYWHERE. I'm going to be finding it around my desk for months. I even had some inside the lid of my chapstick--no idea how that happened. Glitter woes aside, it's still super fun. Because how often do I get to wear a fancy dress and sash all day at work?

Proudly representing my husband's home state in my mom's awesome bridesmaid dress from the eighties (you might remember the dress from here). You know you're jealous