Hobbies

I never thought I had a real hobbie. Sam and I have actually had very many discussions about this very subject. It always amazed him that I don't really have a hobbie (well at least I thought I didn't), being that he has so many. Fear not friends I have learned that I DO in fact have a hobbie! It's cooking/baking/having fun with food things.
I realized that it really relaxes me and I actually enjoy cooking things. If i have free time I am usually baking or cooking up something. Yesterday was no different, we were stuck inside the house ALL DAY because my little Shmee love is sick. We didn't want to be out in the windy cold air, so we walked to the store down the street and bought some supplies for salsa. After making my favorite food in the world-- Pico De Gallo-- I decided I was not done making things. So I moved on to the world of baked goods. I was gifted a bunch of yummy meyer lemons, so I searched the web (mainly pinterest) to find a good little treat that I  could make out of very little ingredience. I ended up finding this recipe for blueberry lemon scones, from the website budgetbytes (I love love love this site if you haven't looked at it yet do it now!) These were so easy and quick to make. They were dangerously good! I would have eaten almost all of them had I not wanted to give some to the woman at my work. thank goodness for that. I didnt make my scones in the traditional triangle shapes, i chose a heart shape from my crate and barrel year of cookie cutters. Next time I think I will mix it up a little and do a few different shapes.
Happy Baking
-M

Pre-baking



After baking and decorating



Have you missed me?

I really can't keep this thing up anymore, this is due to the fact that my life is full of other tedious and boring things. I am only going to share the fun, more interesting things that have been going on in let's say the last month. (I think it's been that long since I've posted.. oops)

Snowboarding

This is one of the hardest things (besides surfing) that Sam has taught me how to do. When I'm snowboarding I find myself cussing a lot! And as always dreading getting off and on the lifts... why is it so dang hard and intimidating? Any way the "other Nowlins" treated us a few weeks ago to a weekend of snow fun. It was so great to get away and just have a break before school started and hang out with family and friends. I got to try out my new board which I am proud to say is AMAZING! Thank you Dave and Michelle for the amazing gift, I will probably use it until i die (which might happen soon...dang lifts)

The Crew

Happy couple

New board!

The view.

Oh and It was Daves birthday!

I can't really explain how much fun we had on this trip. It was really great and we are so blessed to have such a wonderful family. Life is good.

(for those of you that read this and went on this trip, I KNOW it was forever ago but like i said life is boring now.)

-M

So much catch up

As I sit here wrapped up in a Raiders snuggie I'm realizing how much I've done since the last time I blogged. And thinking, woah, we have had some busy weeks lately. Filled with lots of fun and lots of work. I guess you can't have one with out the other these days. I don't really know where to start...

Welp here goes nothin.

We happen to have a mold problem, it's really annoying and really gross. It seems that no matter how much we clean and clean and clean, it doesn't get any better. Yes, it does go away but always comes back with a vengeance! We finally got the guts to tell our manager. This might have been because I wasn't able to sleep in our room anymore. I would be up all night sneezing, coughing, and having trouble breathing. So, we moved out onto the living room floor. Sleeping on the floor in the living room is sort of fun, but I was really missing my bed. And cuddle time was always a little painful on the floor. So, we finally tell the manager and he didn't do very much but tell us, "it's comes with living by the coast" and gave us some cleaning products and a little heater. Oh well we are back in our bed and I am breathing much better and cuddle a lot more.

Floor life.

Just a little peek at SOME of the mold.

Now something a little lees yucky and a little more happy.

I have had a lot of "firsts" in the new year. You know like your first kiss or your first ice cream cone. Mine happen to be my first Supercross and my first San Jose Sharks game. I dont know very much about Supercross or hockey but we had some loving people that wanted to take us out on the town and so we jumped at the chance.

I'll begin with Supercross, first there is some AWESOME people watching at these things I mean really it's so great. Being that for me this was my first ever trip to supercross I didn't really know what to expect and I didn't expect that I would be so into it. This might have something to do with the fact that we all bet on who would win at the beginning of the race (just so you know I won the bet). It was a good time and a new experience which is never something to complain about. And there were garlic fries so all was right in the world.

Dave liked the people watching so much he brought binoculars.

Princess Michelle

They are so hip

The love birds

How we really felt about supercross.

Now my second "first", does that make sense?? I hope so because I'm just going with it. 

Chelsea Fenwick was luck enough to be picked by twin lakes to receive some tickets to see the San jose Sharks. Not just any tickets but some amazing club seats, where you can really get into the action! I am luck enough to be her friend, and that she asked Sam and I to join her. Sam and I ended up betting on this game too, and once again I WON!!!! I didn't know that hockey could be so fun and violent. Oh and the people watching here was pretty dang amazing, not as good as supercross but defiantly good. The sharks ended up winning and we all had a good time.

This guy was so happy we were here

I was kinda late getting in the pic

Shark waving a shark flag

Those are my feet and that is the ice... you do the math

So handsome 

Such a babe

Who let an angel in?

We are fun.

Our shark friend

Ok I have lots more to blog about but I think it will be a little of over load. So, until next time

-M

Spray painting lace

When a lazy rainy day happens most of the time Sam and I like to get projects done. Whether it be home projects, errands, or just things we want to do. And these last rainy days were no exception. I had seen all over pinterest, and other random DIY sites, projects were you use lace and spray paint to make a design on something. After weeks and weeks of saying we wanted to do this to Sams dresser, we finally did! It was a lot of work, but it was only our first time and I think we will get better. The out come was worth all the time we put into it, because it turned out amazing! Way better than either one of us thought it would. I also just really enjoyed working on this with Sam, and having things that we both contributed to around the house is so sweet. 

 We ran into a problem with our lace not laying flat, so the gold nuggets sitting here are to add weight to the sides of the lace. We taped premature on this side and did not measure the lace out correctly. We also started hanging the lace while the dresser was standing upright. Finally we used our brains and turned it on it side, but we didnt want to tape and cut all over again so we just used the rocks. If you try this save yourselves some trouble, measure and tape correctly the first time!

We love how it turned out. The pictures don't do it justice at all!  


Until our next adventure


-M

Nowlins do Danishes

Recently we have been real party animals, staying up until 1 am watching Parks and Rec. Because of all this late night wildness we don't make ourselves roll out of bed until the late afternoon. So today we decided to just be with one another and not try and fill our days with tons of stuff. And being that the weather is freezing and gloomy it wasnt hard to just stay home and relax. Sam wanted to try something that I enjoy and i suggested baking. Anyone that knows Sam knows he is not a person that even likes being in the kitchen. Well thats a bit of an over statement, but he definitely not much of a cook. I was very surprised when he said he would help me bake something.

I chose this really simple danish recipe from one of my boards on pinterest. I tried to make sure that whatever i chose wouldn't overwhelm him, but also where he could work on his own piece of it while i worked on another. I have the tendency to be a little overbearing.  This ended up being one of the easiest pastries i have ever made! Very few ingredients with a really tasty result. Sam even said he thought these would be a hit for parties, so I guess we will be trying different version of this for our friends.

Dough maker

1 c. all purpose flour

1/2 c. butter

2 tbsp. water

The filling

1 c. water

1/2 c. butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 c. all purpose flour

3 eggs

icing

1-1/2 c. powdered sugar, sifted

2 tbsp. butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 to 2 tbsp. water



The finshed product.