A few more things

Just a couple more pre-wedding snapshots I thought were worth sharing

Me with my new best friend. I can't even describe how excited I was for this wedding gift. My bridesmaids pitched in and got me a Kitchen Aid mixer together. I was shocked, awed, amazed, thrilled. Since before I met David I've been dreaming about a Kitchen Aid mixer, so this was awesome. The mixer has already been put to work making donuts, crusty bread, banana bread, whipped cream, and cheesecake. Wow, listing all that together in less than a month sounds really unhealthy. But don't worry, I've been exercising too. Last week I dedicated a run to wine and cheesecake. 

This is the back of Emily's head

We played around with her hair to figure out a simple cute style. All we did was make a low ponytail, flip it through once, flip it through again, and tuck in the ends and secure with bobby pins. Easy peasy. Also, to me this looks like a way that Mary Crawley from Downton Abbey might wear her hair. If Lady Mary would wear her hair like this, we should too. 

Allie was our manicure expert and did a stellar job helping with all the nail doing. I got in trouble because I kept touching things or almost touching things and messing up my drying nails. Oops. Also here you get to see Emily's face, she has a nice face and the back of the head picture did not do it justice.

This picture of my mom is the only picture on my camera from the day of the wedding. (Doesn't she look pretty!). Love the slippers with the dress look. She did remember to change shoes before the ceremony if anyone was wondering. 

What's on Your Bookshelf?

Over on Modern Mrs. Darcy there is a link-up to share bookshelves. Either what is on yours, a list of favorites, or just a look at the way you store books.

Here are a few snapshots of mine:

This first one, the bookshelf by the stairs is multi-purpose. It is for games, old textbooks and notebooks, and some fiction and non-fiction thrown in there. The middle shelf is currently where I'm throwing all the stuff I don't know what to do with.

This next shelf is in the corner of my bedroom. This is my most loved little spot that I almost never use. Knitting and books all in one corner...what more could one want. This shelf is mostly fiction. I've probably read about 70% of these books, so I've still got a nice handful of fiction passed down from mom that is on my to-read list. The bottom shelf is my collection of A Series of Unfortunate Events. 

Finally,  this bookshelf, is in the corner of what I call the office/dining room/kitchen storage area of the apartment. Please note the food processor attachments and exercise ball. This shelf is for cookbooks, scrapbooks, yearbooks, Norman Rockwell books, Bibles, a little more fiction that has yet to be read, and a few other odds and ends. 

Hope you enjoyed the bookshelf tour. What is on yours?

Some More Wedding Prep

For wedding favors David and I decided we would like to bake cookies for our guests. Chocolate Chip is a classic, and I have a recipe I've used at parties a few times that has gotten rave reviews, so our troops spent an evening and morning mixing, measuring, baking and bagging cookies. Since baking is one of my top loves in life I was in heaven at this point. 

We also tied people's seating cards to apples, which turned into quite a project in itself. BIG thanks to Allie and Mom for getting those done while I was throwing flour and sugar around the kitchen. I'll let the pictures tell the story from here. 

Random, but I couldn't not take a picture of this chicken dish my mom made. YUM. 

My arm was so tired after all the mixing. 

As you can see this wasn't the healthiest thing anyone has ever eaten.

Me enjoying my life

Allie and Mom hard at work. Allie was one of my bridesmaids. BFFs since kindergarten.

Looks like David is doing some measuring.

The final step in our assembly line, bagging.

She was good at honoring my bridezilla request of trying to have different apple varieties at each table. Thanks Allie!

We may have all eaten more than the recommended number of cookie servings in a day. This is evidence that Erik was kind enough to make sure the cookies would be safe for guests.

Pre-Wedding Festivities

Hi Blog, since we last met I got married. And I've got a lot of things to share. I guess I'll start with a few of the pre-wedding festivities. If I update about the wedding for the next month this is me apologizing in advance.

After we were picked up from the airport a few days before the wedding we were greeted with a beautiful cake mom made.

This is the man I married. On the way to pick up tuxes he kept himself entertained with things he found in the backseat of Erik's car. 

Trip to Bobby's Burger Palace. A laid back Bobby Flay restaurant.

We went on an excursion to get some wedding decorations and most importantly apples to use as seating cards.

The stems on these pumpkins were HUGE.

I loved getting to experience some real fall. I have missed the changing seasons.

Some huge squash that looks like a cross between a goose-neck gourd and a butternut.

The time spent in Maryland before the wedding was very refreshing. We were kept busy with various errands and to-dos but it wasn't too overwhelming. Having a chance to spend a few days with family was nice, I can't wait until the trip up at Christmas!

So the last time I was in Maryland...

...about a month and a half ago...sorry blog. 

I got to spend a lot of time with family and friends, I didn't take too many pictures but here are a few snapshots. 

Mom fixing the price tag thing on the shelf at Target that one of us broke.

Erik at our final stop at Ritas.

This is actually kind of a funny story. Somehow one of us (Mom, Erik, and I) got the idea that it would be really great to have a snowcone. I can't remember exactly, but we spent at least an hour traveling to about 4 different snowball stands. All closed. After failure number 4 we saw Rita's across the street and decided it was good enough.

Steamed Blue Crabs! Obviously one of the highlights of that weekend!

Soapbox

*actually wrote this a couple weeks ago when more talk about this topic was going on, but I never remembered to actually post it, here it is...

I'm not normally one to talk a whole lot on opinions or observations about current events on this blog. Often, hot topics on Facebook, blogs, and other social media seem to become more about bashing the other side and screaming your opinion the loudest than having a true conversation. People online seem to speak towards each other in a hostile way that they probably would not use when speaking face to face with another person. Disclaimer done, lets get talking.

Have you seen the new Chipotle Scarecrow commercial?

I don't think it is on TV (a bit too long for that) but you can easily find the film online. In the last few weeks I have seen lots of links for this video and much praise. Admittedly, the short film is well done, but rather than making me want to support Chipotle, it makes me not want to eat there anymore.

My issue with this commercial is the portrayal of modern agriculture. Frankly, I find it offensive and belittling to the farmers and ranchers that work hard every day to ensure that there is food for the world.

Here are a couple blog responses that provide some good insight:

http://udderside.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-letter-from-cows-to-chipotle.html

http://homesteadhillfarm.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-confession-from-former-ag-snob.html?m=1

Videos like this Chipotle Ad make a lot of people start talking and thinking more about food systems. And that is great. But if we really want to get a conversation moving about modern agriculture lets try to take an honest look at everything that modern agriculture encompasses. Modern agriculture is small farms, large farms, local produce, the global marketplace, organic foods, distribution networks, processing, scientific research, grocery stores, farmers markets, and so much more.

All of these aspects of our food system have a lot of great things going and there is still room for new innovations and improvements. Within the last 5-6 years I have had the opportunity to tour small farms, large farms, work with grass fed sheep and cattle as well as corn fed pigs, I have toured animal processing facilities, and worked on agriculture research stations. I have yet to see or learn about any system that even closely resembles that of what Chipotle depicts in their short film.

The processing facility that I toured was absolutely bright, clean, and spotless, pretty much the opposite of the dark factory depicted in the commercial. There is one moment in the film where a chicken is being shot full of some unspecified substance and then grows large. First of all, have you ever tried to give a chicken a shot? The idea that poultry producers would be doing this is pretty laughable. Not to mention the fact that chickens are never given a synthetic hormone, it's not even an option.

Am I really boycotting Chipotle? Nah. I think they make a pretty tasty over sized burrito. (Mind you, this is something I only eat maybe a couple times a year anyway.) Am I disappointed in their advertising techniques? Without a doubt.

Perhaps you are wondering why I'm so frustrated with an animated short. But this truly matters. People are becoming more interested in learning about where their food comes from, though it seems that the public is only getting half the story. The public asks the government to bring about change, but I fear that people ask for changes to an agricultural system they do not understand. Often I hear the quote that we will have 9 billion people to feed by year 2050. To do that lets not bash one type agriculture, but work to find the best aspects in each system around the world. I plan on continuing to learn more and I hope you will too. And hey, thanks Chipotle. You caused me to think and reflect a little bit more about something very important to me.

My Saturday

It was another weekend of Florida fun.

Sometime last week David was asked by his friend if he would want to help out on his banana farm over the weekend. When I heard about this I decided I had to come too.

To begin:

Unfortunately you can't see at all in this picture, but our path across the railroad tracks was covered by huge webs made by gigantic banana spiders. It was slightly terrifying. 

Just to give you an idea...this is a picture I just googled of a banana spider. These things were everywhere. 

But on to more appealing things. We started off by planting a few new trees. 

By the time I planted tree #2 I was already dripping in sweat. It wasn't pretty.

Getting started on the digging

Planting the big tree!

The next job was pretty much pruning the trees. Bananas continuously put up new little trees, and you only want to keep the biggest one, and then the next tallest shoot. You want all the energy going toward the big shoot that will produce the fruit. The next tallest one is on deck to be the next part of the tree to produce fruit. 

We go to chop down excess shoots and leaves with machetes. Exciting stuff.

David decided to fan me like a princess with the leaf. It was fun until he hit me in the face. 

Hey look! Bananas!

I got blisters on my hands from chopping with the machete so much. It made me feel tough.

Lunch break! I tried frog legs for the first time. Not bad, watch out for little bones.

After getting back to work after lunch, Nick chopped down a few bunches.

Me with Nick, the banana farmer himself!

Destruction!

A look back at the area we covered. There were 3 rows and we each took a row and covered about half the farm for the day.

You wouldn't believe how heavy this was!

Banana farming...great day!