Bridal Luncheon

My Auntie (and Uncle) from CT hosted a really beautiful bridal luncheon on Saturday before the wedding. It was so nice to get to spend time with my closest girlfriends. Because they all live far away, they didn't get to participate in any of the other wedding festivities--other than the awesome BBQ welcome dinner!

All the grad school gals. Where they live now: WI, CA, CA, MA, NY, OR, WA. Sadly only 2 left in CA, but I guess our circles just get wider. Hopefully people will come visit me in the SE!

Cousin M and a friend did all of the flowers--beautiful!

Auntie, Grandma, Mom, Cousin A

Sis, Auntie, Flowergirl, Cousin J

Beautiful Mother-and-sister-in-law

Surrounded by awesome women: Mom, sis, me, sis-in-law, mother-in-law

The brunch was in the lobby of the Driskill Hotel--it was truly lovely--and the food was great. I even got to have the original Helen Corbitt Cheese Soup-mmm.

The Rehearsal

Due to some scheduling issues with kiddos in school and people who work, we decided to do our rehearsal 2 days before the wedding. This worked out great for us--we got all the details worked out, and we got to spend the whole day before the wedding playing with friends from out of town and enjoying our rehearsal dinner. We of course couldn't have done it without our pixie (seriously, she's tiny!) wedding coordinator. Thanks to my Auntie and Uncle who stayed to take photos.

I am blinded by TD's bright orange shirt. He is not impressed by my giant bow bouquet.

The family waiting for everyone to arrive.

The full cast of characters.

My siblings are always up to no good! Unfortunately my brother was on a steady downhill, and was pretty sick with bronchitis by Saturday. Boo.

Given the crowd, there was lots of laughing, particularly at the line in the ceremony that TD was supposed to "Work On" and hadn't...

Bridal Shower

On the Thursday before the wedding, 5 friends of my mother-in-law hosted a linen shower. This was a lot of fun, as my Aunt and Cousin A were in town and got to attend. Other Aunts and Cousin M attended the Couple's shower that we had back in February. Here are some pics!

Cousin A, Me, Sis

The Lovely Hostesses

The guests: Mom, Me, Sis, Cousin A, Truch, Sis-in-Law, Mother-in-Law, Auntie, Grandma. Check out the lovely cake--it was wonderful!

They made me cut and serve the cake as practice!

And what would a shower be without awkward opening of presents?

Wedding Recap

We are still waiting to get our professional pictures from our photographer, but in the meantime I'm going to do a wedding recap of all the events leading up to the wedding--it was so much fun--2 wedding showers, rehearsal, welcome dinner, bridal luncheon, wedding, family brunch. I'll try to post an event each day or so over the next week. Here's my favorite non-professional pic--me and my Sis.

Menu Monday

A couple of new recipes are on board for this week...

Sunday: braised porkbelly with asian greens
Monday: Salmon croquettes with roasted vegetables
Tuesday: Miso vegetables with tofu
Wednesday: Refried black bean burritos with red peppers
Thursday: pad thai with shrimp
Friday: Grilled sausages with sweet potato fries
Saturday: Tuna noodle casserole

Welcome to summer!

I got an ice cream maker last summer for my birthday, and haven't used it too much. But now that the weather is warming up, its time to break it out again. Last night was chocolate ice cream - Yum!

However, TD is worried that we are going to get fat, so next time we'll have to go for sorbet or frozen yogurt.

Healthy staples

Tonight we had black beans and cornbread for dinner which is a cheap, healthy meal. Black beans are one of my favorites because they cook quickly. I put 2 cups of beans with water on the stove in the morning, bring them to a boil while we eat breakfast and let them soak during the day. When we get home, they're ready to heat up and season while the cornbread is cooking. I serve them with a little crumbled feta on top.

Plus, TD worked from home today and he picked up the new seasonal Harpoon variety pack along with mozzarella sticks. Yum!!

Menu Monday

Now that the job and wedding are behind me, I can devote a little more energy to cooking. Spring and summer are my favorite times of year for cooking because of all of the fresh produce available. In reality, spring and summer produce is a LONG way off here in New England, but it still puts me in the mood. This week I need to figure out what to do with the 2 lbs of pork belly I have in my freezer--Time to use everything up! Here's whats on the plate for this week (going back to the weekend). 

Saturday: Linguini with shrimp, tomatoes and garlic with steamed broccoli (recipe below)

Sunday: Venison and barley stew with green beans

Monday: Fritatta with smoked turkey, broccoli, and feta

Tuesday: work event for me, TD will have ravioli with marinara

Wednesday: Black bean soup with cornbread

Thursday: Pasta carbonara

Friday: Sausage wraps, baked sweet potatoes, green beans

Linguini with shrimp, tomatoes, and garlic

Prepare 1 lb linguini according to directions. 

Rough chop 1 lb tomatoes

1/2 lb shrimp with shells (rinsed, frozen is fine)

2 cloves garlic minced

2 T parsley minced

red pepper flakes to taste

In a large skillet, sauté garlic in olive oil, when garlic begins to turn color, add shrimp and pasta water to barely cover. Simmer shrimp on low for 3 minutes or until they begin to turn pink. Add tomatoes and heat through. Once tomatoes begin to simmer, add parsely and pepper flakes. Toss sauce with drained noodles. Serve with grated parmesan.

101 Progress

54.    Sell condo
79.    Get Married!!!
87.    Apply for Mexus fellowship

Changing my blog blurb

In the last few weeks I have gotten married, sold the condo, and accepted a permanent job! Yowza! I think I may need to get some new goals...

The job is a Tenure-Track assistant professor position at a BIG university in the South. TD is very excited to be headed back to warmer climes, real estate is cheap, I like my new colleagues. Unfortunately they couldn't offer TD anything, which is a bummer, but he will be able to apply for jobs and look for funding once we arrive.I officially start in September but probably won't be settled there full time until January. In the mean time we will spend time with family in Austin, travel to Costa Rica and Brazil, do field work in Mexico and enjoy our last bits of freedom.

SOLD!

I heard from our real estate agent yesterday that the buyer got her mortgage commitment for the asking price, so the house is SOLD! Eek--that means we have to move soon! Right now closing is set for June 1st!

And we're married!

We had a week of non stop fun--bridal showers, luncheons, rehearsals, welcome dinners, canoeing, swimming, brunching, feasting, and TD even played a tennis match with my Mom and Dad. We had SO MUCH FUN!!

The wedding!

Well, its almost here. TD and I have been engaged for 18 months, and our wedding is finally here. We are beyond excited about seeing all of our friends and family, in our hometown.

We leave tomorrow--the weather is supposed to be perfect, all the details and set and we are ready to celebrate!

In the beginning, one of the best decisions we made was to hire a wedding planner. I was very uneasy at the thought of the expense--almost 10% of our wedding budget--but she has save us at least $2000 by negotiating lower prices, finding us deals, etc.

But the biggest part is that these last few weeks have been so nutty, that I would have been pulling my hair out and screaming at everyone. Instead I have focused on my interviews, TD has been writing his dissertation, and we've both enjoyed the little free time that we have. Meanwhile our planner has been behind the scenes checking everything to make sure that it will all go off without a hitch.

I feel totally confident, relaxed and happy. And that is priceless!!

House selling update

Our final hurdle for selling the condo was for the buyer to secure her mortgage (she is financing 80%). Unfortunately, the appraisal from the mortgage company came in low--$12K too low. According to my real estate agent, the appraiser was not familiar with the area and used some properties as comparables which were in a not as desirable neighborhood, and ignored some recent sales in our neighborhood.

We granted the buyer a 1 week extension (to April 8), and a new appraiser came out today. Hopefully the house will appraise for the listing price, and we will move forward with the sale. We are looking to close on June 1, which is a bit of a pain as its the Tuesday after labor day. I am not sure how feasible it will be to move this date, but it would be really nice not to have to move during a holiday weekend!

Net Worth Update

I just updated my net worth for the beginning of April. Happily, my investments have been doing well, so it is steadily increasing.

We have some big expenses coming up in the next few months (car repair, moving and honeymoon), but the move should be reimbursed by work, and the honeymoon is a gift from TD's mother. I save for retirement every month (right now just 7% of salary) but haven't been able to save much cash each month. Once the wedding is over, hopefully I can return to saving $300 or so each month in our emergency fund. Right now the e-fund is $9000. I'd like to have $15-$20K eventually, but I feel comfortable with it for the time being.

Living on one salary (since January) is doable for us, but we are looking forward to being a dual income household again. This should happen in the fall--fingers crossed!