Basketball game opportunity

We have friends at Duke who had extra tickets for the Duke game yesterday. Since the Undergrads are all out of class and at home, Duke was basically wanting to fill the seats with graduate students. So we had the opportunity to go to the game. We STOOD in the grad student section. It was a blast, but I'm not sure about standing the entire time. Bill took some pictures on his phone and actually captured the best dunk of the night. Duke won 110 to 70 (U of Albany).

Christmas is Coming

Our Christmas Tree this year isn't the large pretty one like we had last year, mostly because we aren't going to be home a lot to enjoy it. So this year we decided on a table top model. It's a little like a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, but it still holds all of our Christmas ornaments and looks good with lights on it.

We had gotten figurines of Disney characters dressed as Star Wars characters, so those are the main attraction of our little tree this year.




Abe decided to be a good boy and help me this year, he was quite interested in the tree and I caught him trying to help the tree out by licking the water in the stand. He even helped a little with the ornaments! He minds so well and loves having his picture taken! So here's Abe's second Christmas Tree decorating...

The Force is Strong with Us!

On Oct 27th we had an event for the youth where we went to a Corn Maze. We had a blast, we told them they had to dress in costume and not to be hypocrites we dressed in costume as well.

Bill was Obi-Bill Kenobi (he is Obi-Wan Kenobi's brother)

Danielle was Padme

Here is her awesome hair

Hope you had a great Halloween!

Disneyworld is not just for kids!!!

Bill and I took a weekend, a couple weekends ago, to head down for Disneyworld. We had an absolute blast! We spent all Saturday in the Magic Kingdom and then Sunday in MGM studios. It was a beautiful weekend and such a great run away. I found Mickey Mouse ears that look like Stitch that I love, we also found Christmas ornaments- Disney characters dressed as Star Wars characters. At MGM Studios they had a Jedi Training Camp, which let little kids play with light sabers and wear youngling coats.

Bill's Birthday Party

I had decided to have a Birthday party for Bill last Saturday. He had been talking about how his mom had always made him a Burt and Ernie cake, so he had found a Burt and Ernie cake pan on Ebay. It took a long time, but I got the cake all decorated and it turned out great!

Abe was a good sport and liked being the party dog. He's definitely the center of attention!


I decorated with streamers and we had put balloons outside. We had chips, fruit salad, veggies, wings, and drinks.
We are getting ready to play Catch Phrase with all of our friends, and of course Abe is the center of attention, again.

Bill's Dad Comes to Visit

So Bill's dad come for a weekend to visit, it was good to see him. We went to Pope AFB/Fort Bragg on Saturday, but we didn't have all of our registration stuff with us, so we couldn't get into Pope. It was frustrating, but I understand their rules. That night we went to a baseball game at the Durham Bulls park, but it was the Olympic development teams, so Team USA and Team Netherlands played. It was fun to see college players. USA schooled Netherlands!!!

On Sunday we went to church in the morning and Al took us out the the Angus Barn to celebrate Bill's Birthday. It was so much food! We had to bring home doggy bags, Abe was excited about it.

New York City Vacation

We had the chance to go to New York for almost a week. We had an absolute blast. I had a long trip there though, because first I went to Houston to Compounding Pharmacy school from 6/27-6/30. I learned so much, and realized how much I love compounding. When I got back on 6/30 Bill picked me up from the airport and we headed straight for Washington DC!



We stayed in a great location- a block from the Empire State Building, and two blocks from Time Square. We went Downtown to see:
the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, Trinity Church,
The New York Stock Exchange (sorry Dad, they weren't giving tours),
Ground Zero, and we walked through Chinatown, Little Italy, and Soho; that's all in the first day!

We also got to go to: the Museum of Natural History, Central Park,
Grand Central Terminal,
the Empire State Building, the NBC studios,
and a lot of Time Square.
We also got to see the Today show,
The Fray (they had a concert on 7/2), The fireworks from Roosevelt Island, and Spamalot.

Needless to say, there's a whole lot to do in New York and we loved it!

Abe's Beach Day

So I've been meaning to blog about this for a while, but we took Abe to the beach about a month ago. He's been to the Oregon coast in the water before, so we thought that he would like the water at the beach here in North Carolina.













Well, he wasn't so fond of the waves, I've never felt him pull on his leash that hard!!! We figured out that he more of the beach bum type, he did love laying on the beach towel watching all the people.

The Best Cupcakes Ever!

So I made these cupcakes for one of our friend's birthday parties, and I thought that the boys were going to start stuffing the cupcakes in their mouths two at a time! They are so easy to make and look so pretty. The recipe comes from a bakery in New York called Magnolia.

Magnolia's Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients:
Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 2 (1/2 cup-12 capacity) muffin tins with cupcake papers.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Vanilla Buttercream:
The vanilla buttercream we use at the bakery is technically not a buttercream but actually an old-fashioned confectioners' sugar and butter frosting. Be sure to beat the icing for the amount of time called for in the recipe to achieve the desired creamy texture.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 to 8 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.) Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Yield: enough for 2 dozen cupcakes or 1 (9-inch) layer cake

Our Hawaiian Guest Bedroom

So finally I have been able to paint the guest bedroom, and you wouldn't believe what a little bit of paint will do for a room. Bill helped me pick out paint colors and it only took me a day to paint the room. It makes me want to paint some of our other rooms, but they aren't as easy to paint as the guest bedroom. So one day I'll get to the other rooms, but for now, I get to revel in the glory of a finished room. There are before and after pictures.