{Dash of Coco}

one, two, and puppy makes three

Since starting to blending our two lives into one, we've added one more to the mix.
My two best friends came over one night for a girls night/birthday celebration {yes, I'm one year older}, and she happened to find this cute little pup on a rescue shelter's website.

I fell in love. I didn't have to beg my sweetheart, she was definitely meant for us.
In four long days, we brought 9 week old Coco home with us!

signed the papers, we're a family of three!

It's so hard to believe that was three weeks ago.
So much has happened since then. She turned out to be a sick pup with the coccidia parasite and went down from 13 to 10 pounds. But thanks to Halfway There Rescue again, she felt much better within a week.

She's now 21 pounds and 3 months old. She knows how to sit, and she is learning how to 'come here' and 'shake'. She hasn't had an accident inside for a week and she hasn't chewed on much except her toys {knock on wood}!

More adventures to come, featuring Coco Chanel!

Thanks again, to Halfway There Rescue who traveled to Ohio to rescue Coco from parvo at 5 weeks old. I had no idea how much this puppy would change my life!

{ties that bind}

For spring break, my sweetheart and I went on our first tent camping trip together. The camping trip may have been one of the worst we've ever been on with coyotes, howling wind, and temperatures below freezing. We were determined to stay positive, and now I know why he was being so optimistic!

We were relaxing beside a calm lake, on a beautifully sunny day after a very long hike.
He caught me by surprise, and asked me the most beautiful question, "Will you marry me?"

Life has been so busy and beautifully hectic since then!
We may have been dating for three years, but I am so excited to be bound even closer together. 

{out of touch}

Hanging Rock Waterfall

Sometimes life seems to happen all at once.
March has been one of those beautiful months for us.
So many amazing things have happened in just a few days.
Anniversary, birthdays, and something new to celebrate.

& I didn't even know that this blog has officially reached over 1,000 views!
I can't wait to share so much more!

without cable

Life without cable isn't nearly as difficult as I thought it might be.
We didn't watch much tv during the week anyway. Some of the shows we watched weren't guilty pleasures, and we didn't watch them regularly. They were just more interesting than whatever else was on. Probably turning our brain to sludge.

why get rid of cable? 
We were paying $58 dollars for cable, and the service wasn't really great since some channels weren't always available and other channels would freeze. Also, we were charged a random $25, and tried to dispute the claim {and they claimed they couldn't see the charge...but it was on our bank statement?} for almost four months. So we had enough.

what do we do without cable? 
First, with some of these rabbit ears that are on sale, we pick up the basic channels. The basic channels are nbc, abc, fox, and cbs. We do get the bachelor, and a few other shows that are popular.

I have a hulu account to watch some other shows like Grey's Anatomy, Raising Hope, and Modern family.

We decided to get netflix {check to see if you can get a free month trial}, and we pay $7 a month to watch our favorite shows like How I Met Your Mother and White Collar. We just found the show White Collar. It is so good! There are lots of movies, and maybe we will check out a few more tv shows. Right now, I'm just stuck on White Collar.

For the shows that cable gets that we can't watch, we usually hang out with friends. I really love the show Pretty Little Liars, just like every other high school girl. I always meet up with two of my best friends and watch it together. Obviously I can't host the party, but thankfully my friends like me enough to see me every Tuesday! & if we can't get together on Tuesdays, I'll just watch the show online the next day.

pros
We save almost $700 dollars per year!
I can watch all of the shows I care about
I get to see my friends more often

cons
watch shows on a delay {usually only a day}
watch them on a laptop {but you can hook your laptop up to a tv if you have a newer one}
your show may not be online
rainy days can affect your rabbit ears

We're happy with our decision. With rabbit ears, hulu, netflix, and most shows being posted on the network's website, there's really no need for cable!

Alfredo pizza, the best ever!

Even though we are busy almost every day of the week, we still reserve at least one day a week to eat dinner together. It's our reserved date night. I've shared this recipe before, last september's date night. It gives our week a little ohm. It grounds the rest of my week, and it's something we both look forward to.

I made this pizza with my friend Sam not too long ago when she came over to have a girl's night and just catch up. We were originally going to make regular pizza, but she's adventurous too so we decided to try out a recipe I found in a calendar a long time ago. It was so good, I ended up making it again with my sweetheart a few days later. I have a pesto recipe I will share soon that always tastes great mixed in with the alfredo, even for pasta!

ingredients for dough.
3 c Bisquick
2/3c very hot water
2 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil
4-5 sticks of mozzarella cheese string cut in half length wise { I even like mozz & cheddar string cheese}

toppings.
1/2 c Alfredo sauce
1-2 c spinach, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
1-2 c Italian or Mozzarella cheese
Italian, garlic salt, or basil seasoning to taste

 I

Mix the water, Bisquick, and oil til dough forms. Then beat vigorously for 20 strokes. 

Cover, let it stand for 8 minutes.

Put rack on the lowest position, and put the oven on 450 degrees. Spray the pan. 

II

Spread the dough out onto the pan. Then you'll lay the already cut cheese along the outside of the dough. Then fold the dough over the cheese, to create the cheesy crust. Pop it into the oven for 6-7 minutes. 

While that's in the oven, prepare your pizza sauce. We mix Ragu sauce with tomato paste until it reaches a good consistency. 

III

Put the sauce & toppings on, and then make for 11-14 minutes until your crust is golden brown. 

Enjoy!!

{pantry challenge & organization}

A few weeks ago my sweetheart decided to challenge me to use everything in our pantry for meals, and to barely buy anything from the grocery to do it. We were using our pantry closet as well as a few shelves in a cupboard. There's no need for that much stuff!

Challenge accepted. 

So over the past month or so, I've made a lot of recipes that I've shared with you guys and a few that I haven't yet. Here is a list of everything I've been remaking that I've already shared. I've also updated the recipe links in the tab at the top of the page, that includes every recipe I've posted.

Recipes

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
cheesy orzo & broccoli
forget it chicken
pick me up pancakes
stuffed crust pizza
caesar chicken sandwiches
broccoli & cheese soup



I've also made this fantastic new dry erase calendar to keep me organized.The calendar took some time, but I think it's going to help out a lot with our new home hunt, school, his exams, and any kind of other special stuff going on. The calendar idea came from pinterest, but I thought of doing it when we went to Home Depot so he could buy some paint for work. I ended up taking almost {or actually...} every single paint chip I could. We ended up picking out two special colors for our eventual wedding, and I couldn't be more excited! We are just in the thinking stage of it though, so don't expect too many more wedding details for a while.

I reorganized the calendar while making some of the amazing pumpkin chocolate chip cookies last night. I think it's important to say that if we have leftovers that we didn't each for lunch or something else comes up, we just push the scheduled dinner to another day or cross it off. Otherwise, this could get messy.

For the calendar, you will need 30 paint chips, some kind of background {I used some cloth}, scissors, a poster  frame and glue. Just cut the paint chips down for size, as you can see I left the name on there but just chopped off some of the extra stuff.

 I've been using the extra paint chips as little sticky notes, no need to waste! Also, I think my sweetheart has challenged me to use up the rest of hte coffee and tea in our pantry over the course of the next 10 months. Challenge accepted.

{farm for the future}

I think I take farmers for granted.
Energy supplies are equivalent in energy terms to 22 billion slaves working around the clock.
Easy to see, there's a problem.