My Help Comes from the Lord

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;

he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;

the Lord is your share on your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;

he will keep your life.

The Lord will keep

your going out and your coming in

from this time forth and forevermore.

Sunday Dinner

The last two weeks we've been to Jake and Kara's house for Sunday dinner. It feels like the way to end a Sunday - over a warm, home cooked, shared meal with friends. This week, it was our privilege to host and I made Chicken Pot Pie because one, it's officially fall and it's time for some hearty home cooking and two, I recently stumbled across an awesome pie crust recipe and now I want to make everything with a buttery crust. This, my friends, is not a waist friendly meal but, I promise, it's worth it.

I don't have much of a recipe to share with you, but this was heavily inspired by The Pioneer Woman. Her Chicken Pot Pie recipe isn't on her blog, but it is in her cookbook. I don't have her cookbook yet, but snuck a peak at the recipe when I was at a friend's house. (This cookbook just moved way up my Christmas list.) After I got home, I used her Leftover Turkey Pot Pie as a starting place.

A few changes we made - We cooked up the chicken in the pan, heavily seasoned, and then sautéed the veggies and the rest of the filling in the juices. Also, I put crust on top and bottom, because, like I said, this was almost entirely about buttery crust. Although, this time, I substituted 1/2 cup whole wheat flour for white all-purpose flour in my crust. It was a win!

This weekend we ...

1. Stumbled upon a roadside Volvo show hosted by the local chapter of the Volvo Club of America. I see membership in our future. We left with some official official gear and I think Justin is already dreaming of getting Ness* all dolled up for next year's show.


*Ness is our 1989 light blue Volvo 240 station wagon. She's more than a car...she's a lifestyle.

2. Walked up to the Dogtown Street Music Festival and St. James Homecoming picnic with the boys and some friends. The highlight of the music festival is a toss up between the man who was enthusiastically playing the spoons and the man who didn't seem to realize he was playing the hammer dulcimer out on a street corner. Also, I think that St. James has the exact same rides out for kids that they did in 1987 when I used to go with my Grandma Hessbabes. Also that lady working the car ride looked familier, too....

Please note that someone is still wearing their Volvo pin.

3. Scored some absolute classics from the records that were donated to my parents' church record sale. Four words: Baby, I'm-a Want You.

Say Something Nice

Thanks to Kara for sharing!

Barns, Weddings and Pies - Oh My!

My friend Jen got married last weekend! Jen and Chris had their wedding at Kuhs Estate and Farm in Spanish Lake. It was beautiful. Every last detail from hay-bales covered with quilts under the old oak tree for the ceremony to the gorgeous wildflower bouquets lining the dinner table was full of love, care and style. Straight off of a pinterest pin board. I definitely should have taken some pictures....I was too busy eating the amazing food from Entre and the homemade pies from Jen's friends and family.

Speaking of pie...I made not one, but two pies on Saturday! An apple for the new Mr. and Mrs. and a peach (without cinnamon) for my Mr. I was a little nervous about all this pie making, but it was a breeze thanks for the Pie Tutorial from Pam recently featured on the Pioneer Woman's blog. I mean, she makes a mean meatloaf so I figured her pie crust had to be worth a shot! (Seriously this meatloaf is amazing. Also, I wish I could watch her new TV show. Here's hoping its on the internets soon!)

I followed Pam's instructions to the letter. I used all better though since Leaf Lard isn't something I have any idea on how to find. Also, lard kind of grosses me out. The parchment paper for rolling out the dough is brilliant. That Pam, she's a thinker and I will be using this method for every pie I ever make. Ever.

Pizza & Plates

Last night we ate some very delicious end of summer pizza on our new plates!

Goat cheese. Yum. Yellow Zucchini. Yes, please. Sliced cherry tomatos. The perfect pop of color. Not only was it tastey, but also so pretty on our fabulous and newly gifted white dinner plates (Thanks Sarah, KC and Mel!).

Focus

I may or may not be addicted to blogs. I love them. Every day I can't wait for the first half of my work day to speed by so I can grab a few minutes with my good pal - Google Reader. It's a sad day when lunchtime doesn't find me at my desk catching up with my good friends (whom I've never even met) like Mamma Pea, drooling over to-die-for recipes, and ogling new ideas for our home on Apartment Therapy.   Let's not even get started on pinterest.com ok?

I say goodbye to the blogging world and head back to the wonderful world of accounting (insert sarcastic comment here) inspired. I have to contain myself until the end of the day before I let myself loose at the grocery store with a new recipes or browse amazon for just the right crafting supplies to recreate the one perfect photo idea for our wedding. I love being inspired. I love it.

And, it always makes me want to blog more often. To write up something snappy or thoughtful or creative. But then I find myself at a bit of a loss. Am I a crafty blog? I'm not really that crafty in real life. I mean, I don't even own a glue gun. Am I a cooking blog? A baking blog? My future sister-in-law Natalie already has a pretty kickin' food blog so why reinvent the wheel? I'm more of a random girl.

What do you think? Does a blog need a focus? A specific theme or feel or genre? What should mine be?

Summer Setting

This is it. The last official weekend of summer. Can you believe it's already here? Me neither. I've always looked forward to the fall. A fresh start. New school supplies. New beginnings. This year autumn brings with it the biggest new beginning of my life - our marriage.

Our wedding is just a few short weeks away. I'm unbelievably excited. I can't wait to wear the gorgeous dress that's hanging ready and waiting in my closet. I can't wait to stand in front at the front of our church and vow to live my whole life before God with my husband. That's amazing. Sometimes when I think about it I can't breathe from the sheer wonder of it all. I mean, marriage seems a pretty daunting task when I forget that the glory of Jesus is the point, the Holy Spirit will be always with us and that God is out for our good always. This isn't about two people making a marriage work. It's about the most incredible picture of God and his church and his faithfulness towards us.