The School

I went and met my co-op teacher and met the kids I'll be working with for my student teaching today.  I decided to stick with the grade level that I was placed in but I'll be able to work with the older kids as well so am super excited about that.  I also am really excited about the co-op teacher.  She really seems to have my best interest in mind and it seems like these next 3 months won't be as painful as I had planned.  :)  I begin in two weeks and from what I can tell, I'll student teach until March 16. :)  Lets get this going!!

Weekend of Fun

It's been a great and yet another busy weekend for us.  Our place is still a disaster...how much and what do I unpack that I won't just be packing back up soon.  So it's messy and I'm reaching my boiling point.  However...it's been a really fun weekend so we'll focus on that for now. ;-)

Friday I went to the burbs to see my cousin and her son who is in town from Florida.  I saw them at our wedding reception last October but I was just slightly preoccupied that day. ;-) So it's been almost three years since I've seen them.  My other cousin, her kids and husband came as well as my mom, two aunts and my grandma.  It was so wonderful to see everyone, especially since we missed Thanksgiving this year and won't be home for Christmas.  Super good time!

Friday evening was spent cleaning the condo...it is officially empty, repainted and sparkling clean!  Thank you Jason for all you did to get it that way!  

Saturday we woke up with our first snowfall.  It was gorgeous and such a great way to send us off for our 2nd annual Christmas shopping experience.  We had a great time hitting a bunch of different stores while avoiding the mall (thank goodness!).  Then last night we went out for dinner/date night and had the best time.  It was well overdue...I was so glad I got to spend time with him, just us and soak in all we've been through with the move the past couple weeks. We finished the night off watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  Perfect day and night spent with my other half. Have I mentioned lately how in love I am with Jason? :)

Today we went to church and then I met my friend Brooke for brunch.  I took the Coopster to the dog park and then came home to relax (blog), do laundry, attempt to get settled in more, do other housekeeping things and possibly start our Christmas wrapping.  

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed our first snowfall.  Just six more days until Christmas!  How ready are you?!

Baking Success!

I've really enjoyed learning how to cook...still have a long way to go but it's been fun.  I haven't had to cook at all the past couple weeks with the move and just being so busy so I'm looking forward to getting back to that tomorrow.  But on Thursday I went to my friend, Christy's, annual Christmas party and wanted to bring sweets. So I attempted to bake some brownies from scratch.  Since I have been known to really mess up cakes before. (made a cake with unsweetened chocolate. yeah, it was disgusting!) I also have ZERO attention to detail so baking has always been a little difficult for me.  But I managed to find an easy recipe and made some White Chocolate Peppermint Brownies.  They turned out pretty good.  To be honest, I thought they were great...but that was only because I was comparing them to other baking experiences I had.  I'm super pumped to try other recipes now that I finally have one success story under my belt.  If I can make them, anyone can...so try these this Christmas season!

Double Chocolate Brownies - - - from Real Simple magazine
Hands on time: 20 min 
Total time: 3 hours (includes cooling) 
Makes 16 brownies

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
3/4 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled*
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped (I bought Ghirardelli)
1 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Heat oven to 350. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line with 2 crisscrossed pieces of parchment, buttering in between and leaving an overhang on all sides; butter the parchment

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; set aside

3. In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine the butter and chocolate. Microwave on high in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until melted and smooth. Let cool slightly. Whisk in the sugar, eggs, vanilla until smooth.

4. Add the flour mixture and mix until combined (do not over-mix)

5. Spread the batter in the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30-35 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan.

6. Holding the paper overhang, lift the brownies out of the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares (4 rows by 4 rows)

Peanut butter cup brownies
Make the above brownies according to the recipe, but at the end of step 4 fold in 1 1/2 cups chopped mini peanut butter cups (about 20). Makes 16.

White Chocolate and Peppermint Brownies (what I made)
Make the above brownies according to the recipe. When cool, melt 6 oz chopped white chocolate (again, I used Ghiradelli) with 1 teaspoon canola oil and spread on top of the brownies. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup chopped peppermint candies; let set before cutting into squares. Makes 16.

*measure the flour by spooning it into a dry measuring cup, then sweep off the excess with a knife

It just occurred to me that I should probably change my title to "Meanderings from the 5th Floor Balcony".  Man I move way too much. Since we hope to only be here until the end of March...I'll leave it unless I learn otherwise and just use my imagination that I'm still on the 3rd floor.  :)

Fill in the Blank Friday

Happy Friday!  We made it to Friday - Woohoo!  I'm heading out to the burbs today to see my cousin who now lives in FL but is in town for a couple days and a bunch of other family members will be there. What a treat since I won't be home for Christmas this year. Hoping traffic will be on my side today but since I am pretty sure it won't be I'm super thankful for that the sun is shining. :)  Hope you all have a lovely weekend.  We'll be out in the burbs (again) finishing up our Christmas shopping and I am most excited to spend a whole day uninterrupted with Jason.  Our lives have been a little crazy busy with moving and getting our condo cleaned and painted while trying to get situated in our new place and doing Christmas-like activities that we haven't been able to spend much quality time together and I miss him! Enjoy your Friday and have a safe weekend all! xoxo

1.   My most favorite "little thing" is   my morning hug to Jason     .

2.   I give anything to  have an extra hour of sleep added to my day every single day      .

3.  I can't believe   I'll be student teaching in just 2 1/2 weeks     .

4. The one thing I'd like to achieve today is    finish cleaning the condo in Old Town    .

5.  The last thing I want to do today is    finish cleaning the condo in Old Town lol  .

6.  If I were writing my own blank today, it would say:  Thing I am most excited about next week is...attending the (big) Willow Creek Christmas service with my parents and Jason on Wednesday night- I cannot wait!!! If anyone wants more information, let me know.  Seriously it is a wonderful FREE service with music and dancing and everything that will make you so excited for the Christmas season. There are services beginning this Sunday through next Saturday. GO! You will not be disappointed!   .

7.  My favorite candle scent is    tree (christmas tree) by Bath and Body Works (and they don't make it anymore :(  .

*Join Lauren for Fill in the Blank Friday by clicking here 

I've been placed!!

Yay!! I've been placed for student teaching! It's at a school near the United Center. Right now it's with a self-contained classroom at the primary level but it's likely I can get it switched for the grade I want. The school is a technology school with a 1-1 ratio for I-pads - how unreal is that...especially for CPS!? I'm hoping to learn a lot, especially when it comes to assistive technology. Minus the commute (ummm I just moved from over there!) I couldn't be more excited to be able to plan and finally know I'm placed and will be done with school by the end of March!! Woohoo!!

Love

I love this dog!  This is me trying to eat a pretzel rod and him thinking he's cute enough that he'll get one.

Christmas Tree is UP!

Moving this past weekend has really put a damper on my Christmas festivities.  Jason was amazing and knew I wanted to have my tree up right away, so we went and picked out our first real tree last Tuesday and brought it to our new condo.  I had a real tree growing up until I was about 10 but ever since have only had artificial.  The past two years have been special since I have had my grandparents tree but this year we knew we wanted the real deal.  We went to a lot in Chicago and learned how outrageously expensive they are and ended up at Home Depot where we picked out the perfect tree.  I'm not going to lie, I was originally pretty disappointed going to Home Depot for a tree but in reality, it just adds to the city-living feel.  :) I love that we'll be able to laugh at that in years to come.

Last night we were able to decorate the tree and hang our stockings.  I absolutely love our tree!  I wonder where it came from and how old it is.  I hope someday we can go cut down a tree but this year our Home Depot tree is exactly what we wanted.

Broken Phone

On moving day my phone crashed.  At least that was what I thought. (great day to have your phone not working!)  So I went to the Apple store and learned that it did in fact die and that the last "back-up" was in September of 2010 so I would lose everything I'd done since then.  This wasn't true, I had backed up my phone about a week ago but of course, that somehow didn't "catch" or something.  (I heart Apple.)  So I was freaking out because I hadn't gotten our honeymoon pictures off the phone yet.  Jason saved that day and I guess had done something months ago that would automatically send and save all my pictures on my computer so I wouldn't lose my pictures. (I love him.)  After the Apple guy tried restoring it three times we learned it was truly was done for.  They told me I had to buy a new phone ($150 - WHAT!?!) or could get the new one for like $400 or something (again, WHAT!?!)  I was in shock that I had the darn thing for only 17 months and it crashed and there was nothing they (Apple) could do for me.  Everyone fears losing their phone, cracking their screen, dropping it in the toilet, etc...but I (for once!) have been responsible and have managed to still have my phone in my possession and in one piece but I still have to buy a new one?  Long story short, the guy remembered that he could try replacing the battery which would only cost me $70 and that could possibly be the trick.  Sure enough, that did the trick and I was able to get my phone back with all my "notes", calendar, pictures, contacts, texts, etc. PHEW.  I'm still in shock at how much an iPhone costs and why I am a sucker enough to actually own and "have" to have one.  I blame my husband for this...I used to be content with my little flip phone until he got one.  LOL  But truth is, I have to have it and am thankful that this time it only cost me $70 to keep all that is in that little 3"x4.5" piece of memory.  Crossed fingers that it will last long enough until I am up for a new one in 2012.

Lockwood/Russell Thanksgiving 2011

As I posted earlier, Jason and I were in Mexico for Thanksgiving and didn't get to spend the holiday with my family. (We share holidays with each of our families and this year Thanksgiving was the holiday to spend with the Russell's) Since we were gone over the real holiday, my mom ended up cooking us a big Thanksgiving dinner on our move-in day!  It was a little chaotic with having all our dishes packed and who knew where all our serving bowls, plates, utensils, etc were...but we figured it all out and were able to have a Thanksgiving feast with ALL the trimmings!  What a special way to break in the new home...with the smell of turkey cooking in the oven.  Thank you Mom for a delicious dinner!  We love you and Dad and are so thankful for all you guys do for us.

 Dinner cooking on the stove while the turkey is in the oven

(yes this is sideways...no matter how many times I try to fix it, it won't!)