Our First Anniversary :)

I can't believe it's already been a year, but we celebrated our anniversary on July 3. Having the long weekend was just as nice as we'd hoped!

Thanks to everyone who sent us anniversary wishes! We felt so loved (and surprised you all remembered!).

We also used that weekend to visit Lan's aunt and uncle in Beaumont (we hadn't seen them since Thanksgiving), which was really fun (Lan got to go fishing with his uncle and cousins and I got to go to some yard sales and antique malls with his aunt). I requested that we come home on Sunday so we could celebrate our anniversary on the actual day, so that's what we did!

For some time now, we've been planning to go to The Melting Pot (a fondue restaurant) for our anniversary. It came highly recommended from friends of ours who have eaten there, and it's easy to see why!! It's SOOO good. A little pricey, so it's definitely only for special occasions, but it's really yummy. I already want to go back :)

Best. Husband. Ever.

Our first course - spinach and artichoke fondue. Traditional cheese fondue has white wine in it, and most have some sort of alcohol in them (for consistency and flavor), but we knew we didn't want alcohol in ours, so our waiter recommended this one. SOOO good. We practically licked the pot clean.

He made it by putting some vegetable stock in the pot, then he added some garlic, artichokes, spinach and spices, then he mixed in the cheese. We got bread, chips, veggies, and apples (sounds weird, but it was actually really yummy!) for dippers.

Main course. Lan had a "Pacific Rim" entree with teriyaki-marinated sirloin, white shrimp, citrus-marinated pork tenderloin, breast of duck, breast of chicken and potstickers. I had the filet. And we got a table of veggies to share. Our waiter also made us stuffed mushrooms - yummy!

The way it works is you cook your meat yourself in a hot liquid at your table. We chose to fry our food. It came with 2 types of batter to dip your food in before putting it in the pot, and 5 types of sauces to put on your food when it came out. I was worried about this course, but it was fun, and the food was great!

Isn't he cute?

Dessert. I don't want to say this was the best course, because it was all good, but this was AWESOME. I wish I had some right now. Lan is a sucker for anything turtle, so we got the turtle fondue (flambéed table side!). As you might guess, it had milk chocolate, caramel, and pecans (at the end, we ran out of dippers and Lan scooped the pecans out of the pot and ate them - "just like chocolate covered pecans!").

For dippers we had cheesecake, pound cake, rice krispies, banana, strawberries, brownies, graham cracker-covered marshmallows, and oreo-covered marshmallows. Like I said, it was good.

I didn't want to stop eating!

The infamous wedding cake. We'd heard mixed reviews about this, so we didn't really know what to think. Especially since this cake made a long journey to get here (we had to carry it in a cooler from MS over Memorial Day weekend) and it was suspiciously wrapped by our cake guy, but it was good!

Lan seems to notice more freezer burned taste than me, but we both think it's still good (apparently the cake guy knows what he's doing after all) and we're still eating it! We're only half way through!

So, that was our anniversary.

Especially in Houston, I get a lot of "you're so young to be married" type attitudes, but, let me just say, I would rather spend my young years married to Lan than be unattached any day. He is such a blessing in my life and I'm so proud to be his wife!

We'll that's enough mushy stuff, and that's all for now!

Up next - more recipes and house updates!

Love from Houston,

L and J

House Update - Brick and Cabinets!

So, we've visited the lot twice since my last update. Lan went alone last Wednesday, and we both went with some friends on Saturday. When Lan went on Wednesday, it had been a week and a half since we were there last - and lots changed!

New things Wednesday- mainly sheetrock, brick

New things Saturday - cabinets, doors (except our front door, which goes in a lot later), moulding/baseboards

What they're doing this week - pouring the driveway, measuring for granite, putting in tile (we're getting down to the little stuff!)

We're projected to close on the house sometime between August 8 and the 15th. We're hoping for the week of the 8th because we are going to a wedding the weekend after the 15th and wouldn't be able to move until later.

These were taken Wednesday - the first time Lan had seen the brick. It's starting to look like an actual house!

The brick goes down about 3/4 the way - the rest is hardy siding. I think our fence will begin about where the brick ends.

I love this window. You've seen it in lots of pictures! This is in the dining room.

This is a view from the kitchen looking into the breakfast area (before the arch) and living room (after the arch).

In the kitchen, looking at the pantry and into the dining room.

This is in our guest bedroom, looking into our guest bathroom. The closet is on the left.

In the master, looking into the master bath.

Standing in the living room, looking into the breakfast area and kitchen.

Okay, from this point forward, we're looking at Saturday pictures. Do you notice how the brick looks different from Wednesday? They washed it this day (see the guy on the left). Basically, the mortar gets messy, so you wash it with acid to clean it up!

Cabinets!! The fridge will go on the far left. The microwave will go in the space you see on the right, and the range will be underneath.

A bigger view of the kitchen. See our island!

I wanted to get a shot of the window above the door. Our actual front door will be put in later.

Standing in the entryway, looking into the dining room at my favorite window!

Back porch - still needs paint.

Master bedroom - notice that they've primed the walls, and the baseboards are in (still need to be painted).

The windows in our master bedroom, looking out onto the porch.

Cabinets in the master bathroom.

Looking from the living room into the kitchen and breakfast area. We brought lots of friends on Saturday - Jonah and Anne Marie, Dallas and Ashlee, and Chris.

One last pic! Only one more month!

Upcoming posts... anniversary recap, more house updates, recipes, flea market finds.

Love from Houston!

-L and J

My Cup Overflows

We have big news... We are building a house!

Now, some fun facts about where we are moving! We're moving to Spring, Texas, to a master planned community called Spring Trails (http://www.springtrails.com/ - yes, the website could use an update!). I like Spring because it feels like Mississippi. There are a lot of trees (not true of some areas of Houston!). My parents were visiting last weekend (more on that later) and mom kept saying that it felt like you were in a small town - which I like!

Our neighborhood also has lots of cool walking trails! It's built on a nature preserve (400 acres of forest), and there are 10 miles of nature trails in the woods. AND a pond! There's also a pool, tennis courts, and basketball courts.

Another benefit of Spring is that it's close to The Woodlands, a really nice area with lots of shopping, restaurants and stuff to do.

We also love our builder, Perry Homes. When we were shopping around, they were by far the most knowledgeable and helpful - and we looked at a lot of builders! They've been great since we purchased, too. We are very happy!

We are so thankful that God has enabled us to do this (we are so blessed!), and we are so excited to move!

I'm behind on my house pictures, so from the beginning...

We are going to be homeowners!

This was the Friday after they cleared the lot (they cleared the lot on Wednesday). The very beginning!

This picture was taken right after the house was framed - a couple weeks ago when Lan's parents came to visit us.

This will be our back door :)

The front of the house (same visit as the 2 pictures above). That "Texas Outhouse" is very inconveniently placed...

Lan took these on one of his visits. He goes up a couple times a week to supervise the process. I'm glad he's making sure they are doing everything right!

I think this is kind of a cool picture. This is in the front of the house. The room this shot looks into is our dining room. I have another picture of this room later...

Looking through our house - Standing in the kitchen, looking into the breakfast room and dining room.

This was taken last week. Notice, there's no shingles on the roof yet.

Back porch! Our living room and bedroom look out onto the back porch. The siding you see here will be painted when they are finished.

This was taken last weekend while my family was here. See the shingles! They did that last week.

The window I mentioned earlier. It's in now! Notice our bricks through the window.

This will be our bar in the kitchen! Our sink and dish washer will be here.

This is the back wall of our living room, overlooking the back porch. These windows are a signature feature of our builder.

Front right side of the house. Looking into our garage.

Lan says that they will do the sheetrock this week, and the builder thinks we'll close in early August! I'll keep you posted with updates and pictures.

Friends and family, please come visit us! We will actually have a guest room and bathroom for you now (a far cry from our 1 bedroom apartment, haha)!

Coming up - a post about my family reunion, more recipes, and house updates!

Love from Houston,

L and J

Pasta Salad Lan will Actually Eat!

Well, the title says it all. I love pasta salad. Lan is picky. So, when he asked me to come up with a healthy recipe for Saturday lunch a while back, I suggested a pasta salad. He complied, as long as we could serve it at room temp. Apparently that was his big complaint about pasta salad in general.

So, I made up this recipe. This is really how every pasta salad starts, and this one is not so different than any other one out there.

Holloway Pasta Salad - 4 servings

(food styling is not my forte, unfortunately)

2 c pasta, uncooked

1 c fresh broccoli florets

1 c red bell pepper, chopped

1/4 c red onion, copped

1 c tomato, chopped (1 medium)

1/2 c green onion, chopped (I used 3)

1/4-1/2 c mozzarella cheese (your preference)

1/2-3/4 c Italian dressing

2 c chopped, grilled chicken

1. The chicken - we marinaded in Italian (overnight is always best) and grilled the chicken. You could season or marinade however you want

2. Cook pasta (al dente- always), and drain (don't rinse!)

3. Chop all your veggies and chicken

4. Mix veggies, chicken, and cheese

5. Add dressing slowly until you reach the amount you like (we overdressed ours when we made it- take it slow!)

6. Serve

Enjoy! Maybe your picky eaters will eat this too.

Up next - MORE recipes and an important life update. Get excited.

Love from Houston,

L and J

Pioneer Woman Comes to Houston

I have been promising this post for a number of weeks to a number of you (watch for it tomorrow, next week, when I get home..). Oops. Here it is, finally!

Those of you who know me well know that I LOVE the Pioneer Woman. Her cookbook changed my life. That may be a little dramatic, but I love it! And even though Lan won't admit it, he does too, because he benefits from her tasty recipes.

Out of all the cookbooks I own, this is the one that I cook from most often, and have tried the most recipes from. I think it's because she includes so many pictures. I like that. You should buy one! You will love it.

Anyway, she just wrote a really cute children's book, and was coming to Houston for a book signing. SO, I knew I couldn't miss it. Unfortunately, it was Mother's Day weekend, so all of my friends here had plans. But Lan, being a dutiful husband, came with me.

We were able to get a line ticket and leave and come back, which was handy. All in all, we waited about an hour. Not too bad!

The line was long!

The Pioneer Woman signing my cookbook! We also got one for Lan's mom. The whole time in line, I was trying to decide what I wanted to say to her, but I froze when I got up there! I was starstruck :)

Me with the Pioneer Woman! We're practically best friends now.

After we took our picture, she asked me if I came alone, so I said, no, my husband is here with me. I pointed Lan out, and Lan said, "I just came to hold the purse" (which he was doing at the moment). She said, "Aww, what a good husband he is! You should take a picture of that!" So there you go. Lan is a good husband, says Pioneer Woman :)

Upcoming blog posts include lots and lots of recipes and big news! Get excited!

Love from Houston,

L and J