It's What's for Dinner, or Groceries and Recipes

I feel like we've divided the chores in our place pretty well. Mr. C has absolutely no interest in cooking whatsoever, so I do almost all of the food prep in our house. As payback, Mr. C takes point on laundry and also does most of the post-dinner dishes.

Overall, I probably spend around 2-3 hours over the course of a week gathering recipes, figuring out the best schedule for meals, and prepping our food. We go grocery shopping together, from the list that I put together. Here's what this week's list looked like:

Vegetables/Fruit

Zucchini

Broccoli

Spinach

Apples

Fish/Meat

93/7 Ground turkey

Chicken breasts

Frozen salmon

Carbohydrates

Whole Wheat Rotini

Whole Wheat Spaghetti

Canned black beans

Canned cannelini beans

Dairy

Shredded cheese

Reduced Fat Feta

Fat Free Greek Yogurt

Condiments

Rice wine vinegar

Light sodium soy sauce

Snacks

Vegetable tortilla chips

Pretzel rods

Honey mustard dip

This is pretty typical of what we buy when we go grocery shopping, which happens about every week and a half. Our pantry is pretty well stocked, so we only need to occasionally buy things like the vinegars and soy sauce. We go through quite a bit of pasta and beans, and I work hard to incorporate lots of fresh vegetables. 

So, you've seen the groceries. But, what do we actually do with them? To make planning a little simpler, I've loosely assigned cutesy names to each day of the week, to give me at least a little bit of guidance. Here's the list of what we're cooking chez us this week. 

Meatless Monday: Grown up mac & cheese with beans and squash

Turkey (or other poultry) Tuesday: Greek turkey burgers

Wok Wednesday: Crockpot cashew chicken

Thursday night I've got a meeting at work, so Mr. C and I are on our own (which likely means Subway for supper)

Fiesta Friday: Black bean quesadilla

Scrimping Saturday: Leftovers!

Seafood Sunday: Grilled salmon

Then into next week, it looks like this: 

Meatless Monday: Broccoli peanut pasta

Turkey Tuesday: Chicken with a homemade creamy pesto crust

Wok Wednesday: Spicy salmon stir fry

Lunches are made up of a combination of leftovers, soups we've got in the freezer, crockpot bbq chicken, and Mr. C often goes out for lunch with coworkers.

So, that's our meals. I'll try to share some of the recipes as we make them, and hopefully I'll remember to take pictures before we eat all of it!

The Question of Where, or Pick a State, Any State

We just wrapped up a very fun but very exhausting weekend at Mr. C's reunion. It was great getting to spend time with some of his friends, especially the couple who live down in New Orleans that I hadn't met yet. But, as I said, it was exhausting, and I felt like I spent most of the weekend telling people that we haven't planned anything for the wedding yet.

On the way down, we had a big talk about the beginning logistics for the wedding. This gets complicated very, very quickly. You see, I am from Iowa, Mr. C hails from Connecticut, and we now live in upstate New York. So, where do we get married?

Iowa:
Pro: Traditional for a couple to be married in the bride's hometown
Pro: Most of my family and many friends still live in Iowa.
Con: We would have to travel back to Iowa many times for planning, flights for which cost about $1,000 for the pair of us round trip, plus any days off of work.
Con: Mr. C's grandparents actually live in Upstate
NY, and a trip that far would be very difficult
Con: All of Mr. C's familiy and friends would have to travel

New York:
Pro: Where we live already, so less stress for planning
Pro: Easier trip for his grandparents
Con: No real emotional attachment for either of us here. We live here, but we don't necessarily feel like this is "our" place.
Con: Higher cost of living (aka cost of wedding) here than in Iowa
Con: Very small number of our friends live around here, so everyone would have to travel. I don't think some of my good friends would be able to travel this far.

Connecticut:
Pro: Where Mr. C's family still lives
Pro: Not too far from where we are now, so it costs a tank of gas rather than a pair of plane tickets to visit for planning
Con: Not many friends or anybody other than Mr. C's immediate family in the area. All of my family and friends, and most of Mr. C's would have to travel.
Con: Higher cost of living than both Iowa or NY

We sort of agreed that if we're getting married out east, it may as well be here over Connecticut. So, really we're deciding between Iowa and NY. At this point, it is looking like New York may take the cake, for purely financial reasons. Flying back to Iowa for planning is EXPENSIVE, and that's money we could be using for the wedding itself rather than purely traveling. Plus, if I DIY anything, it'd be hard to transport there for the wedding itself.

Still, we have time and other people to consider before this decision is final. We are hoping my parents will be able to visit soon, so they can actually meet Mr. C's family. In addition to everyone knowing everyone, that'd be a good chance to talk about logistics and expectations. It doesn't look like that will happen for awhile, but hopefully before too much longer!

A Tentative Color Palette, or He Likes Blue

To be honest, I should have known better. I should have known not to get my heart set on colors without running them by my lovely fiance. And yet, I did it. We had talked a few times before our engagement about what the feel of our wedding might be. Elegent, soft, romantic, lots of candles. So, I came up with this: 

Tree backdrop, bouquets, bridesmaids, groom, cake, table number, table setting

Blush, grey, with little punches of cream and green thrown in. Wine corks, watercolor, soft fabrics, and dusty miller. All excited about it, I showed it to Mr. C. 

His response? I like blue.

So, back to the drawing board, at least in part. Because my groom loves blue, and to be honest, so do I. It is my favorite color. So I turned to The Perfect Palette, trying to find a way to work blue in. But, I began getting more and more frustrated. I loved the soft romance of the pink, and all of the royals, marines, navys, pools, and aquas looked too harsh. 

And then, I found it. I was browing the Perfect Palette's Pinterest page (try saying that five times fast) when I found The One. The Color. The one I'd been searching for: 

via The Perfect Palette

They even have an entire pinterest board devoted to Dusty Blue. It is soft, it is romantic, and it is already so close to what I was looking at. The bouquet on the right in my inspiration board up above? Switch the pink ribbon out for blue and we're set. Bridesmaids? Ditch the grey and put them in blue. It'll look better on everyone anyway. I'll probably still keep some of the pink around for pops of color, but man, it feels like this is moving in a direction I like. Granted, watch us book a recetion site with lime green or maroon floors or something like that. But for now, this is where its at!

The Imperfect Wedding, or How Far Can She Kick Those Shoes?

A few years ago, back when I was living in Cooperstown, I happened to be at the lakeside park when a wedding rolled in. They had chairs set up overlooking an arbor that was next to the lake, and it would have all been beautiful except for one thing.

The same view, just a few weeks ago

It had rained non-stop for the two previous days. And I don't mean cute little sprinkles, I mean a deluge that had flooded some of the roads. So, these lovely chairs spread out on the grass had all sunk about an inch into the ground.

The bridal party pulled up in one of the village's famous trolleys. Out popped the groomsmen and the groom, who took positions near the arbor. The bridesmaids stepped out, barefoot or in flats, and made their way up the while. Finally, the bride and her father. She looked lovely in her gown and heels, and on her father's arm took the first steps onto the grass....and proceded to sink right in.

What happened next was one of the best wedding things I think I'll ever see. Some brides would have panicked, kept trying to walk, or completely lost it at their big moment going wrong and bawled their way down the aisle. This bride? She hiked up her dress, kicked both shoes a good five feet away, then marched down to her groom and got married.

It was, in my opinion, the best metaphor for starting a marriage you could ask for. Things go wrong. Sometimes, you get stuck. But instead of staying stuck, or wallowing in it, you kick off your shoes and join hands with the person you love. I hope, as we move further down the road of planning this wedding, that I can keep in mind the shoe-kicking bride, and roll with any and all of the punches this process throws our way.