My attempt at returning to the blogging world...

I finally went to look and see when the last time that I blogged a recipe was. Imagine the loud *gasp* that came out of my mouth when I realized that it had been almost a year. The sad thing is that it doesn't seem like that is even a remote possibility. The last year has gone by so fast, it is hard to believe that it has been almost a year since we got engaged. This makes life even scarier since I really need to buckle down and begin actually planning a wedding...what a concept. My goal is to start blogging at least once every week or two. Maybe even just doing a few recipes at a time once or twice a month. We have been making so many good things over the past year. Thankfully, even though I have been failing at the blogging, I HAVE been keeping up with pictures of all the tasty things that we have been eating. In my attempt to seem less pathetic for "not finding time" I am going to list a few of the reasons that cause me to seem to never have the time or energy to blog...

1.) Addition to the family-#1
Gus Gus
Puggle
Born: August 1, 2010
Brought Home: Early October
Nicknames: Guster Buster Douglas, Buster Stevenson, Gus-a-Bus, Bubby-Do
2.) School and Work:
Finally my research life will be settling down just a tiny bit, not near enough for my liking
though. Just this past Friday my boss submitted our grant to the NIH. This would give us funding for the next 3-4 years, longer that I plan on being here. Therefore, it has been really been crunch-time since January. I also started the process of cumulative exams (written doctoral exams) in January. You must pass 4 out or 10. Thankfully, my hard work paid off and I was able to pass 4 for 4 and be done! One of only 2 students in my year to do this, the other being my Ohio BFF :) Now, with great sadness, I have to start working on my ORP (oral doctoral exam) where I have to write an original research proposal, bleh. There things plus the normal stress of work have left little time to do much else.


3.) Trips and Travels:
August brought an opportunity to travel to Milwaukee, WI for an EPR workshop for my area of research. It was a really good experience and a lot of good talks where there.

We met up with Mom and Grammy in St Louis back in September to spend a few days. We had a great time and got to see a lot of really neat places. We also had some AMAZING Italian food, saw the arch, Zoo, Botanical Gardens (Complete with a few Chihuly pieces), and Anheuser Busch Brewery (with complimentary beer), among other things



In November Adam and I made an emergency trip home to Nebraska to see my Great Grandfather (93) who was very sick. Thankfully he pulled through and is currently doing well. We drove there and took Mr. Gus Gus with us, he was really good on the ride and super cute!


Christmas meant another trip back to Nebraska for me, sadly this time without Adam and Gus. However, this gave us girl time to go wedding dress shopping.

March brought with it a trip to Baltimore, MD for the Annual Biophysical Society Conference. It was a really good time and a friend and I even got time off to see the aquarium and Dolphin Show!


On top of this we had visitors a few times, needless to say, it has been a very busy year for us!

4.) Addition #2 to the family:
Bella
Cairn Terrier
Born: October 28, 2010
Brought Home: beginning of February
Nicknames: Bellzer, Bella-Rella, Bells,

I am hoping that this gives everyone a little bit of insight into what we have been up to lately and also will cut me a little slack for not blogging ;) I have a busy summer planned with work and research, let along real life. In July we will be heading up to Michigan for three days with Adam's Step-Dad's family at their cabin and lake. We are looking forward to the three day reality break to say the least! I will try to post a new recipe as soon as I can! Lord knows we have lots to post!