Emily's Fall Photo Shoot

Emily had pictures taken in October and they turned out so adorable! Thank you to Kathryn Rose Images for taking them! I had a great experience with her and I would highly recommend her! Here they are:

Creamy Garlic Pasta

So anyone who has ever lived with me knows that I have my favorite meals and I pretty much stick to them. As of about a year ago, I have a new favorite dish to prepare, and I'd love to share! This recipe is from Pinterest, via a blog called The Cheese Pusher. Warning: it has a lot of garlic, but that is the point! Keep in mind that in the pictures, I am making a half batch. Also, adding chicken to the mix doesn't hurt!

Creamy Garlic Pasta
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 tea salt, 1/2 tea pepper
3 Cups chicken stock
angel hair pasta or spaghetti
1 c grated parmesan cheese
3/4 c heavy cream
2 Tbsp parsley

In a pot, bring olive oil to med-low heat- add garlic. Cook 1-2 mins.

Add butter. Mix until melted. Add salt, pepper, and stock. Bring to a boil. Add pasta and let cook.

Turn heat to medium and add parmesan- let melt. Turn off heat and stir in cream and parsley.

Serve immediately. 

Enjoy!!

Photo Dump

I think the time has come. I have a ton of miscellaneous pics that I'm ready to share ;) But first, a few tidbits:
Emily has been talking! A little. She has a vocabulary of approximately 5 words ;) Her first 2 words were (surprise!) "mama" and "dad" (pronounced like dawd). Her word for grandma changes daily from "ga" to "ma", and her word for Auntie Jess is "Ah Jish". She can also say "doggie"... pronounced like "doggay". Also she says "ish" for fish (she has a betta and loves "The Little Mermaid")  How these words came about is we have a little photo album for her with pics of all the family, and I point them out to her. She now takes my finger and points for me! Super cute!
Secondly, Emily will be joining a play group! It is through the Family Resource Center here in Eau Claire. We stopped in the other day, and what a cool place! The playroom is absolutely amazing. Emily jumped right in and went crazy. I asked the lady who runs it what the minimum age group is for the play group, and she said, "well, we recommend 18 months or older, but I'm looking at her right now and how she's playing, and she'll do just fine!" Thats my girl! The funny thing is that she always finds the most random things to play with. The first thing she grabbed was a stethoscope and put it around the back of her neck (that sounds bad, but I promise, its harmless how she does it!) and then pushed around a mini baby cradle.
Also, I thought that I might update you on my 26 Acts of Kindness that I had started almost a year ago to honor the Newtown victims. Just an fyi: I finished all the acts. Truth is, I forgot that I was posting them on here. But I promise, I did finish them.
Ok, now to the pictures. First. about a month ago, we went to a Fall Festival at a local apple orchard. It was freezing cold and was misting the whole time, but we were determined to make it fun! It was right around my birthday, so that was what I wanted to do to celebrate. Emily loved the animals, and sat (relatively) still for the hayride!:

Next on the list is our anniversary pics. We started a tradition where we trade off planning our anniversary, so I take the odd years and Chad takes the even years. Last year, Chad really knocked it out of the park and took us to Frankenmuth, a small town in Michigan that had a Bavarian feel. So I knew that this year, I had to go big or go home. After deciding via my pharmacy co-workers that there was nothing to that scale here in Eau Claire, I decided on Stillwater! Good call, Annie! (I would like to add that we save the trips as a surprise. We don't tell each other where we are going. I'm very bad at secrets, though, and usually end up letting a few things slip!) We went to a brewery cave tour called Luna Rossa, which was very cool, and then had an Italian dinner. After that, we enjoyed the sights of the town! Here are some pics: 

Lastly, these are some more pics from Jess and Eric's wedding (these are from the rehearsal dinner):

Oh my gosh, I think that might be it! Also, we are looking forward to hosting Thanksgiving this year. We make a big dinner regardless if we have people to share it with, so we might as well share! My parents and my sister will be joining us for our turkey festivities! 

Am I famous now? ;)

So I was on the news yesterday, which is pretty cool. I was interviewed about vasospasms that I had after I had a ruptured aneurysm in 2009. Although the interview was 5-10 minutes long, they only included a little bit of it (classic journalism, right!?) Here is the link:

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/video?clipId=9522125&topVideoCatNo=237345&autoStart=true

Later that night, I asked Chad to get me a water, and he told me (politely) to get it myself. I responded with, "but...I'm a celebrity!" He didn't buy it. Darn. ;)