Monday, July 30, 2012

How to Make a Wedding


A couple weeks ago, I did a two part post on some of our favorite wedding photos (check them out here and here!) Since then, I've had lots of people ask me about the details--who did what, where'd we get this and that...so, here is a list of vendors and friends who helped create our happy wedding!


  • Save the Dates, Invitation suite, and other paper goods: Designed and printed myself
  • Wedding dress: I bought the backless, sleeveless Forever Yours dress at Bridal & Formal in Cincinnati OH, then my mom and I filled in the back, added sleeves, and lined it. 
  • Earrings: from my mom (she got them at an antique store in Venice)
  • Anchor necklace: gift from Joey
  • Veil & Hairpiece: Made myself (my mom helped with the veil)
  • Joey's suit: Macys 
  • Bouquet & Boutonniere: Assembled by University Florist in Lexington VA, designed and wrapped myself
  • Ceremony "venue": Washington DC LDS Temple
  • Reception venue: The Billingsley House, Upper Marlboro MD
  • Wedding cake: Erin and Steven Talley
  • Desserts: Joey's mom, Joey, and Jessica Stuart
  • Catering: Northwest Fresh Catering, Washington DC
  • Corn hole boards: Joey's dad
  • Reception decor: Made myself (including 180 ft of fabric bunting!)
  • Reception flowers: Bunches Direct
  • Photography: The Wedding Format
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Want to see more of our wedding photos? Here are links to our Facebook Albums:



Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Recipe: Chicken Tortilla Soup


A week and a half ago I posted about some of the yummy things we make in an attempt to eat more healthily and cost-effectively, which included my Aunt Jen's recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup. 

And after some requests, here's the recipe!


Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 Cans Chicken Broth (I use about 3 cups water and 3 tsp. chicken bouillon granules. It is cheaper.)
2 Cups Shredded Chicken
1 Cup Chunky Canned Salsa
1 Can Diced Tomatoes
1 Can Corn, drained
1 Can Black Beans, drained
3 Tbsp Cumin
2 or 3 Cloves Garlic, minced

Cilantro to taste
Cheddar or Jack Cheese
Sour Cream
Tortilla Chips

Put all ingredients except cilantro, cheese, sour cream and chips in the crock pot. Cook for a couple hours on high or simmer for several hours on low. When I made this soup, I also added 1 cup of uncooked, non-instant brown rice to the crock pot--a la Qdoba's tortilla soup. Serve with cilantro, chips, sour cream, and cheese. Joey and I also add lots of hot sauce. 

Enjoy!


Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Its Finally Here!

Hello everyone!

Well folks, after working for a few weeks and teaching myself a little HTML, I've finally finished revamping the blog for mine and Joey's new life together!

So take a look around, share with your friends, and make sure to update the new web address in your list of favorite blogs!


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Joey and I just took a vacation to Virginia Beach so we took a little blog break, but look forward to new posts, including more yummy food and recipes, adventures, projects, and other fun things we've been up to! But in the mean time, here's one of my favorite photos from our vacation--aren't these the most beautiful and colorful radishes?


Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Its a Girl!

Meet Marley!

-----
6 weeks old
0.7 pounds, 10 inches
A beautiful Tuxedo with a Tom Selleck mustache-lip


Joey brought this precious bean home on June 18th. He went to work at VMI that rainy morning, and some other ensigns had mentioned that they saw a little kitten outside. Joey, with lunch meat in hand, spent an hour or so in the rain trying to catch the poor thing but she kept running into the bushes and crying. After several unsuccessful attempts, he said a little prayer, asking that he could just find the baby and make sure she was ok. Almost immediately, she walked out of the bushes and just sat there as Joey picked her up. The poor little one was soaking wet from the cold rain and was so lethargic. He brought her home to me and I just about died. She was such a little thing!
I went by the vet and got a little kitten care kit and spent the day feeding her with a syringe and snuggling with her to warm her up. The next day we were able to see a doctor and we found out that she was about 6 weeks old and severely malnourished. She did have a virus, but considering that she wasn't dirty, didn't have ear mites, and wasn't acting like a feral cat would at 6 weeks, the doctor figured that she was probably dumped by someone (how terrible!).
For the next few days, my life revolved around her. Since she was just a baby, I had to teach her how to do a lot of things her mom would've taught her, like cleaning herself, going to the bathroom, finding and eating her food, etc. And the poor thing would just cry and cry if she wasn't being held (which meant some "baby wearing" for me) or if she hadn't been fed in a couple hours. I even had to burp her every time after she ate otherwise she would vomit (hmmmm, starting to sound like a real baby...). And to make sure she didn't get stuck somewhere where we couldn't get her out, someone always had to have an eye on her. As silly as it sounds, it was a bit of a crash course in newborns!

Now Marley is doing much better. She's gaining weight and has become a pretty feisty little thing. We weren't able to keep her at our apartment--you can bet I cried all weekend when we had to giver her up (I'm a big softy, so sue me). But luckily she has some awesome "foster parents"who are taking care of her (and putting up with her crazy kitten antics) until we can take her with us to South Carolina in the fall.

And because I'm a total mama, here are some of our favorite photos of Marley--



Monday, July 16, 2012

Wedding Photos, Part 2

Want some more?
[[Check out Part I here]]


Thanks again to Seth, Dave, & Mariah for being so wonderful--you guys are totally awesome!

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Wedding Photos, Part 1

They're Here!

Boy, have I been wanting to get these up for quite some time!
We absolutely adore our photographs from Seth, Dave, & Mariah, of The Wedding Format. We were so lucky that they were able to make it to Joey's commissioning, graduation, and our wedding. I loved having Joey's good friends be there to record our special day, and I really dig their style. Plus, they do old school film photography and super 8, so I can't wait to see those also. And they sure are fabulous people as well!

So without further ado, here are some of our favorites!


iPhonography: June


Some of our June highlights:

  • This is technically from May, but Joey went active duty--we are officially a Navy family!
  • Cherries from the farmers market--love my weekly trips there.
  • We got a fish! His name is Nigel and he has a freckle face. And he died six weeks later. Fish are tough!
  • We went to Ohio for my brother, Matt's, high school graduation. Joey met my grandparents for the first time and I also took him to a midwest classic: Graeters.
  • A first (and definitely last) trip to biscuit world. Maybe its an acquired taste? Either way, I don't want it.
  • Is it bad that one of my favorite parts about going to Ohio is seeing my puppies?
  • Cooking up lots of yummy foods like goat cheese paninis, cherry pie, and crab ragoons for our stir fry nights.


Saturday, July 14, 2012

What We Make, Part 1

Hello all!

Well, as most of you probably already know, we love to cook here at the Fleshman house. Joey and I are both fairly adventurous and always open to new tastes and dishes. But with all of the yummy summer produce we have right now, our new goal has been learning to include fruit and veggies in our meals regularly. While it wasn't necessarily a big priority before, we've noticed that our bodies just feel so much better and we're much happier when we incorporate produce into our daily diet. I've also been trying to find healthier ways to make things we already love (without compromising too much flavor, texture, appearance, etc.) and utilize everything and waste nothing as well.

So I thought to myself--Self, lets write a little post featuring some of the yummy dishes we've made recently in our effort to eat and feel better, and perhaps inspire someone else in the process!

a little note: most of the veggies we eat are cooked. While raw veggies and fruit contain more nutrients than cooked ones, we have learned that I get fairly sick when I eat raw veggies, which is why we usually cook them. 


Goat Cheese, Swiss, Mushroom, & Spinach Panino with Fresh Blackberries
One of our favorite sandwiches. We had gone to the Rockbridge Farmers Market that morning and picked up some fresh goat cheese and blackberries. The rest of the ingredients were left over from meals earlier that week and made for one fine Saturday lunch--plus we got to use our sweet panini press and grill that we got as a wedding gift (which we also use to grill vegetables like zucchini). 



Chicken Tortilla Soup
Another recipe from my Aunt Jen. I'm sure you already know the miracle of crock pot cooking (you know, how you only have to throw in a little bit of a few things and then all of a sudden you can feed like...a bagillion people?) but boy we love crock pot soup. We used fresh corn we bought at the farmers market (which is delish by the way!), left over beans, chicken, salsa, etc that we already had. The only thing we really had to get specifically for this meal was some cumin and fresh cilantro--we even used left over corn tortillas from enchiladas to make our own chips. I also tossed in some brown rice and let that cook in the broth to bulk it up a bit. Later that night we packaged up the left overs and popped them in the freezer, which gave us another dinner a week or two later. That's my kind of meal!



Spice Rubbed Tilapia with Cilantro Rice + Black Bean & Corn Salsa
Put all of that extra corn, beans, and cilantro to good use! We made a salsa with black beans, corn, red onion, jalapeƱo, lime juice, garlic, and cilantro to top some tilapia and rice. I got the tilapia pretty much dirt cheap after finding a stellar sale at Kroger, and everything else was from previous meals. I like that its gluten free and low carb, which actually helps to improve mood.




Mini Blackberry Pies
Baking with fruit has been the biggest life saver. I hate throwing out food, but I'm always really paranoid about ripeness, freshness, and things just going bad in general--to the point that I can guarantee you that I've probably thrown away perfectly fine food because I get so nervous. Its a a bit of an issue, and fruit that seems a little over-ripe is no exception. My solution: make pies and muffins. Now baked goods aren't the healthiest option (unfortunately), but they're definitely better if you make them yourselves! I added just a touch of sugar (we like our fruit pastries a little more tart), and they're not filled with additives and yucky stuff like canned pie filling. I love making fresh pies and muffins to use fruit that I wasn't able to eat by myself in time.


Look for another post on What We Make and the ways that we incorporate produce into meals, find healthier and/or cheaper alternatives, and use every ounce of an ingredient!

Want recipes? Leave a comment and I will do a recipe post!


Have a great weekend!

Friday, July 6, 2012

Something I Have to Do.



Friends, I want to be a designer so bad. 

Like, I can feel a lump in my chest, this push to jump in and get my hands dirty.
But I just don't even know where to start,
and I'm not sure I'm all that good. 

But I know I have to do it, because its all I want to do. 

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