Easter Sunday

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Happy (belated) Easter!

Yesterday we had a great time celebrating Christ’s resurrection with family and friends. In the morning we attended the contemporary service at our church, in which they played this awesome video. It’s a beautiful visual of what Easter means for us: Christ is risen from the grave, and we are set free!

Dressed in our Easter best…yes, that is Andrew’s basketball medal hanging from the mantel behind me 😉

After church we had Andrew’s mom over to the house for lunch. We prepared ham, fruit salad, and–(wait for it)– eggs in hash brown nests. Andrew saw the idea on a cooking show last week, and we decided to give it a try! Here’s the recipe we used (halved.)

Andrew making the “nests” with the shredded potatoes

The eggs in hash brown nests turned out well! They were a bit tough to remove from the muffin tins, but once they were out tasted great. 🙂

And, what would Easter be without a few sweets?

I made “trash” (or “puppy chow”) on Saturday and cannot stop eating it! The stuff is so addictive (peanut butter+chocolate+powdered sugar on rice chex… What’s not to love?) Andrew has been hitting the jelly beans pretty hard.

After lunch we decided to take a nap. It took me a while to fall asleep, even though I knew I was really tired, and I almost gave up. However, at some point I dozed off, and when I woke up it was 5:00! An epic 3-hour nap. 😀

For dinner we met my mom, brother, family friend Barb, and my mom’s friend Walter at–(again, wait for it)–Cracker Barrel. This is strangely becoming a habit for my family; we ate there with my mom and brother on Thanksgiving Day because the rest of the family couldn’t get together until Friday, when we had our real Thanksgiving. We’ve never been the type of people who go out to eat on holidays, but it does seem to be happening a lot lately…and CB seems to be the restaurant of choice 🙂

We had a great time laughing, telling stories, and reminiscing about the time Barb took my sister and me to the movies…and we thought we were hilarious putting popcorn in her purse. Sorry, Barb. 😉

How did you celebrate Easter?

A Rock Star Birthday

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Six years ago I drove down to Raleigh, NC for my spring break; my sister was due with her first child that week, and I was hoping to be there when my niece made her debut into the world (uh, not in the room… just nearby ;-))

After spending a few days waiting, I finally had the joy to meet Kendall:

I didn’t know it was possible to love someone so quickly and so deeply, and my life was forever changed.

Last weekend, Andrew and I had the pleasure of attending Kendall’s 6th birthday party. To make a long story short, Kendall’s parties are elaborate. Like, make-other-moms-look-bad elaborate. This year the party was “Rock Star” themed. I’ll let the photos do most of the talking:

Friday night, the photo booth needed to be constructed and tested:

Saturday morning we had a bit of downtime to relax and break-in the bounce castle:

Andrew stepped up to the role of Cake Engineer and made an awesome guitar cake for our little rock star:

Impressive, right?

VIP passes and sunglasses for the guests, cream cheese and JAM! sandwiches, yogurt-dipped pretzel drum sticks, pop star popcorn, guitar pick carrot chips…

Kendall was born for the spotlight; this was the best smile we could get from Lauren 😀

Cake and presents, of course:

Isn’t Lauren a good helper? 😉

There was also Just Dance happening on the Wii and guitar decorating for the photo booth. Speaking of the photo booth…

After all the kids left (and I should mention there were 30 kids!), the ~~big kids~~ adults had some fun:

Charles, Kendall, Whitney, Ross, Ms. Patsy, Lauren, Andrew, and me… My dad, grandmother, aunt, and uncle were not able to make the drive from Atlanta, and we missed them dearly!

The masterminds behind the Jam: my sister, Whitney, and her best friend Jeanine:

We had a wonderful time celebrating Kendall. I sure am glad that kid was born!

Colorado Part 2: Mountain Views and Hot Flashes

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

High altitude can do strange things to the body. The lack of oxygen can cause shortness of breath (check,) headaches, digestive issues (check,) fatigue, dizziness, and…hot flashes? (check.) Okay, so I can’t find proof that high altitude causes hot flashes, but I also can’t find any other reason that I experienced them on this trip! It happened a few times Wednesday night and Thursday, which would have been when my body was trying to acclimate (plus, we drove even higher Thursday.) At first I thought the hotel room was too hot, the heat in the car was turned up too high, etc. When I noticed that Andrew and Jenny both were still wearing their jackets, I realized: I was having hot flashes. Hah!

Has anyone else experienced this? Are high altitude hot flashes a thing?

Moving on…

Saturday morning we ate brunch at Beatrice and Woodsley–a fairy tale-esce restaurant in downtown Denver. I ordered the “Eggs Johnny Fever–Pan fried goetta on toasted onion bread with sunny eggs, mustard hollandaise, and roasted cauliflower.” Yum.

It was a sunny, 50-something degree day, so after brunch we met our friend Ashley at Washington (“Wash”) Park, walked around the lake, and chatted for a while.

Then we continued chatting over ice cream at Sweet Action. They serve a few dairy-free flavors, so Andrew was able to have some as well. It was apparently the best DF ice cream he’s ever had!

After saying goodbye to Ashley, we decided to get a late lunch (the theme of the day was “keep eating” ;-)) at Sputnik–a quirky, hipster, hole-in-wall restaurant with great tacos and waitresses that say, “What do you want?” when taking your order. At least ours did. We filled up on tacos and drove west towards the mountains to continue enjoying the weather and the scenery.

Awesome.

Finally, on the way home we stopped at a point of geological interest:

My husband.

It was a whirlwind trip, but we managed to pack in lots of great food, outdoor adventures, and time with family and friends.

Until next time, Colorado!

Colorado Part 1: Bison Burgers, Powder, and Hot Flashes

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

We are home from Denver and feeling a bit jet-lagged today! While I only spent three and a half days out West, Colorado did not disappoint. We packed as much as possible into our brief trip.

I arrived Wednesday evening after flying by myself for the first time (I know–how does a person make it nearly 27 years without flying alone?) I made it through security without being pulled aside for the first time in three trips, I navigated the enormous Dallas airport, and it only took me one song on my iphone to realize the earphones were not plugged in all the way and everyone around me on the plane could hear my music. Success!

Andrew and Jenny met me at the airport, and we drove downtown and had dinner at Ted’s Montana Grill. After a day of peanut butter, bananas, and trail mix, I opted for a bison burger with fries and a side salad. The burger was delicious, but huge, so I was only able to eat half of it (and Andrew helped with the fries ;-)) It definitely hit the spot!

Jenny had to work Thursday, so Andrew and I borrowed her car and took a trip to Golden–home of the Coors Brewery.

We walked around town for a bit, then ate lunch at Windy Saddle Cafe, which boasts some excellent gluten-free grub. We split a GF butterscotch muffin as an appetizer (because who doesn’t need a lunch appetizer?), and each ordered a sandwich–Andrew’s on GF bread, mine on a fantastic baguette.

This is only half of the sandwich… the half I couldn’t finish 🙂

After lunch we took a tour of the Coors Brewery. Neither of us are really beer drinkers–Andrew can’t have it because it contains gluten, and if I’m going to drink hundreds of calories of sugar, I’d rather have a Coca Cola– but the tour was actually very interesting. Andrew said it was like being in an episode of Modern Marvels (that’s a good thing, in his mind.) Of course, the few photos I took had little to do with how beer is made:

We picked Jenny up from work just before 4:00 and headed for the mountains; we’d booked a room at a hotel close to where we were skiing Friday so we wouldn’t have to wake up early to make the drive.

As we drove west, it began to snow…and snow…and snow…

We arrived safely at the Alpine Inn, where Andrew morphed into an icicle maniac:

(Side note: As we walked past this window to check in, we noticed someone changing clothes inside. I quickly turned away, feeling awkward, but also wondering why the heck someone on the first floor would get dressed with the curtains open! When we walked back outside to get our things out of the car, we noticed someone else changing clothes in another room. As Jenny and I were saying, “What is wrong with these people?!” Andrew pointed out that, perhaps that was the pool room. And it was :-D)

Friday morning, we hit the slopes. Because it had snowed the day before–and continued snowing throughout the day–we had the opportunity to ski on fresh powder, or “pow-pow” as we’ve heard it called. 😉 All three of us were more or less beginners (I skied twice in 7th grade,) so we took a group lesson. Our instructor was amazing, and by the end of the day, we were ~~pretty much pros~~ not half bad.

The obvious height difference on the ski lift cracks me up 🙂

Yes, I was wearing the same skis as 10-year-old boys.

At the end of the day our instructor told Andrew to watch out, because the next time he took me skiing I was going to kick his butt 😀

Awesome sunset on the drive home

To keep this post from becoming longer than anyone cares to read, I’ll stop here for now, but there are more Colorado adventures to come in another post!

Oh, and the hot flashes? I’ll save them for my next post as well. 😉

Rocky Mountains, Here I Come

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

In a just a few short hours I will be on a plane headed towards Denver to meet up with Andrew and spend a few days with Jenny! We traveled there over the summer as well and loved all the opportunities for outdoor adventures. Here’s some of what we did in July:

Hiking at Dinosaur Ridge

Taking cheesy photos around Garden of the Gods 🙂

Pike’s Peak (+meeting up with our good friend Ashley!)

Seeing Ingrid Michaelson live at Red Rocks

Ah, summer. This will be a very different trip with all the snow, but I am looking forward to trying some new activities! (We are skiing on Friday. I haven’t skied since, oh, 7th grade. Colorado is a great place to ease back into it, right? 😉

I have my airport lunch and travel snacks packed and ready to go:

-Peanut butter and banana on a whole grain bagel

-Luna Bars

-Apples

-Clementines

-Popchips

-Trail Mix

-Gummy Cubs(the all natural version of gummy bears, from the bulk bin at Kroger)

That should hold me over until dinner. 🙂

Stay tuned for our Denver adventures…

Family, Flowers, and Yoga (Valentine’s Days)

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

We spread our Valentine’s Day over a few days this year, and every component was awesome. Here’s what the last few days entailed:

Andrew and I have no problem celebrating events not on the actual day, so our plan was to celebrate V-Day on Wednesday the 13th. The primary reason? We just joined a gym, and they offered a yoga class on Wednesday night, and I really wanted to try it! Andrew agreed to go with me, for Valentine’s Day. If that’s not love as I described in my last post, I don’t know what is 😉

First, we grabbed a quick dinner at Whole Foods.

Then we made our way to yoga– Andrew’s first time, and my first time in years (and maybe fourth time ever.) Despite being the worst in the class, we both enjoyed the experience and will probably do it again. At the beginning of class the instructor urged us to focus on how we felt as opposed to how we looked because everyone looks different during yoga. Throughout class I was glad she clarified that because with my eyes closed, this is how I felt:

When I opened my eyes and looked in the wall-to-wall mirrors, this is what I actually looked like:

Minus the nakedness and excess body hair, of course.

On the 14th, we received Valentines from each of our Mamas (thanks, Mama and Donna!) That night Andrew had a basketball game (he plays in a church league,) but first, he brought home flowers.

Now, when I say to Andrew, “Don’t get me anything for Valentine’s Day,” I mean it. I really do. If he gave me absolutely nothing, he would not be in the proverbial doghouse. However, I do love flowers, and every year I am thankful when he gives me a bouquet anyway 🙂

Andrew played very well in his basketball game (they won,) and I had some quality time with the other wives and kids in the bleachers.

Sinking a free throw.

Later that night, my sister, brother-in-law, and nieces spent the night with us on their way through town. It was late when they arrived, and Kendall and Lauren were in that funny, tired-but-silly-and-about-to-crash-hard stage. Exhibits A-D:

Their hair in all its car seat nap glory 😀

The next morning, we awoke to the sound of children who do not yet know the beauty of sleeping late when possible, and we quickly discovered how child-unfriendly our house is (“Where’s your swing set?”)

Unfortunately, they couldn’t stay long, and they packed up soon after breakfast… But not before squeezing in some quality time with Uncle Ross:

(Please note Lauren’s wet, tangled hair in this photo. When Whitney began brushing it, Lauren frowned, covered her eyes with her hands, and said, “Tell me when it’s over.” :-D)

Family, flowers, and yoga… I could not have asked for a better Valentine’s Day(s!)

A Christmas Recap

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Today was my first day back at work after almost two weeks of vacation, which were so packed they could hardly be considered vacation! If our Christmas season were a movie, it would be “Four Christmases,” (minus the drama) because, well, we had four Christmases 😉

We spent 1st Christmas (Sunday, December 23) with my mom, brother, sister, brother-in-law, and nieces.

My nieces, Kendall and Lauren, are pretty much as cute as they come, and they could not WAIT to open presents!

Andrew with Lauren, Ross (my little brother) opening presents, and Whitney (my big sister) with Lauren!

It would not be Christmas with my family without at least one potentially inappropriate gift. This year my mom gave my brother-in-law Charles a pair of red velvet Santa Claus boxers with a matching hat 😀

On Christmas Day I requested that we start a new tradition: take a picture of ourselves on our front steps. Andrew humored me, despite the fact that we were running late for 2nd Christmas. Here’s our first annual (ha ha) Christmas day photo on the front steps:

We spent Christmas day (2nd Christmas) with Andrew’s mom and sister, Jenny. The day was full of laughter, good food, and silly photos:

We celebrated 3rd Christmas and Boxing Day with Andrew’s dad, sister, aunt and uncle on the 26th. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures, but we ate some more delicious food, opened presents, and played a few board games. Important fact about me: I can ROCK some party games (Catchphrase, Balderdash, Things, etc.) but I absolutely stink at board games. Jenny and Andrew each crushed me in a game of UNO (as well as a few others.) Oh well.

For 4th Christmas,the following weekend, we drove to my sister’s house in Raleigh, and my dad, aunt, and grandmother drove up from Atlanta. As further proof that there is never a dull moment with my family: