Smoked Gouda and Rigatoni

Mmmmm. Found a favorite recipe tonight. I never thought to put shredded Smoked Gouda on pasta. You need less of it than you would Sharp Cheddar. Sauce is coarse chopped tomatoes, asparagus, chopped basil,some pinot noir (perfect wine for fall), retained pasta water, garlic and lemon juice. Then you mix in the pasta, and put on the Gouda.

I then made in the crock pot, cranberry chicken. Mostly to end up making chicken salad for our lunches. But it was amazing just by itself :) Welcome Fall I

LOVE you....I think too much.

Not only am I so looking forward to our wedding in 1 month yes, can you believe it 1 month...but I love apple cider, pumpkin festivals, hiking, leaves falling and getting to snuggle under a blanket again....I'm so looking forward to starting new traditions with my soon to be husband.

Mondays are for cooking!

Went to Wegmans on Saturday as you know, and planned our weekly meals, YES! We haven't done this since we lived together in college. Now I can track my diet and not buy lunch at work. So tonight I used two recipes from a cookbook:

It is backwards because I used my Macbook to take the picture. My M.I.L. bought this when she was traveling in Seattle only because of it's beautiful pictures inside, and she never used it for cooking and ended up giving it to me. And I love the pictures and the recipes!!!

Tonight I made whole wheat cous cous and Maple Dijon Glazed pork roast! It was quite the hit with my fiance! Can't wait to make it again!

The presentation isn't the best at the end of a meal but, just the effort of adding another post makes me happy :)

49 days in counting

It's been too long since my last post sorry about that. I took last week off of work and internship, so that I could focus on wedding stuff, and of course I didn't get all of it done like I had planned. Because working 6 days a week on top of extra paper work to do at home and still working on the house, makes you want to just lay down and watch TV!!!!

So yes August 30th we closed on our home!!! Soon I will post pics, of before and after. Even though it was a flipped house, we wanted to paint to make it more "home-e" feeling :).

We painted the family room and hallway that week and just have not had the time or effort to continue our project into the kitchen and dining room. We bought our new bedding, closet organizer (it's so tiny we needed something to help organize things). And of course the MR. told me I have too many cloths hehe!! But things are moving along. Yesterday we went to WEGMANS LAND OF FOOD, the wegmans in PA is just a regular grocery store, but in Northern Virginia it is the Land of OZ, for food of course. And since I have been having Eye allergies I couldn't wear my contacts, and I had just had a few drinks, just to get to the chase, it was hard to see :). So the MR. being tall and fast at walking had me hold onto the cart and he made us zoom through. Zooming through still took 1.5 hours.

So our fridge is full, and so are our stomachs since I made Ham and bean soup from scratch last night, yummmm.

Dog is great, no crazy health issues as of late, it's a good way to prepare for kids, learning indeed vets cost a lot of money. too bad their health insurance isn't as good as ours.

So I now just need to make my "love is sweet" sign for the cupcake table, make bridesmaids jewelry, clean the glass pear vases (since last night my mom cut herself and broke one), get the DJ list filled up and talk to wedding venders on any last minute things!!! How great is that :)

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur have flown by fast and now onto conquering my conversion again, now that the new Rabbi can breath again.

Good day mates

perfect favors

Going with the pear theme, we have chosen our favors...

It matches perfectly with my blog name as well, which I love dearly. It took me two hours or so to come up with something catchy. "A Perfect Pear" was already taken, but I am so much more in love with mine b/c my soon to be last name starts with a B. So not only are we about to "B" the perfect married pear, but I will also be Mrs. B pretty soon!

Green Fever!

Wedding SHOES are in! Successful online shopping! They are a bit high I do admit, but the MR. is 6'4''. The higher the heal the easier it is to dance with him. I'm so excited for the night before the cruise we are staying in Miami and we are gonna now go SALSA DANCING. I just can't believe it is 90 days to go.

I'm trying not to make all of my endings with exclamation points, I'm just that darn excited!!

Someone has signed me up for brides magazine, or by going to the bridal expo in town that is how I got signed up. I want to thank whoever did it because it is very exciting to get a magazine in the mail, but it's even more fun because it has a checklist and I am reminded every month of what I need to do. But since I only have 3 more months, I made the final check list along with the check list they give you and here it goes:

Rachel’s list:

Find place for dress alterations = check

Find wedding hairstylist

Buy wedding shoes = check

Make “Love is Sweet” Sign

Get family’s wedding photos

Pick out paintings for wedding

Get chalkboard for frame

Get corkboard for frame

Wash vases, and pear vases

Get guest book

Get bridesmaids gifts

Choose Tux’s for the boys

Get them measured

Help Mary with invitations

2 Months: go over ceremony details, with Rabbi

-do a hair and makeup trial with stylists

-mail the invitations

-order favors

-check how to get a MARRIAGE LICENSE!!!

6 weeks: print the programs

-buy wedding party gifts

2 weeks:

-submit shot list to photographer

-go for final dress fitting

-call anyone who hasn’t RSVP’d

-write rehearsal dinner and reception speeches

-Give playlist to DJ

-get a marriage license

-write out escort and place cards

1 week: Pack for Honeymoon

-Pick up your dress

-confirm details with all the vendors

-submit final guest count to caterer

-give ceremony readers their script

-break in my shoes

-assemble favors/ programs

1 Day: get a mani/pedi

-assemble wedding day tips in envelopes

-hold the rehearsal dinner

-reconfirm all pick up times and locations with limousine

Day of wedding: Allot time for hair and makeup before photographer arrives

-put on your dress 30 minutes before his start time

-eat small, light meals

-knock ‘em dead!!!

Home Buying

I'm not good with numbers, and of course the MR. knows this, hence he is an engineer. Thank God! I've been out with our realtor a couple of times by myself and she'll ask me what we want to pay per month. I should know these things, but I'm not the one that is in charge of the loan and lender, and mortgage for a reason. I just know our cap price range and what I like! And of course important things to look for (I'm not useless).

So last night we made our first offer and this morning they came back with a counter offer but it was still great so we snagged it! And just sent the re-signed offer back to our realtor!

August 7th is 90 days to our wedding. And we only started looking at houses this month. There was another house up the street that was a little bit nicer, but more expensive, so Tuesday night we did a run through of our house with both our parents which was great, b/c they pointed out things that we didn't see. Back to the point, we went to the other house and ran into the couple buying it, they are getting married Nov. 5th, how crazy is that! And they were so sweet, and he's a chef, she's a baker...perfect! He invited us over for a glass of wine once we are moved in, how great is it to find friends who love wine too!

I promise to write more.

Priceless Pets

So I walk in late last night from work, and come to find my mom was cutting up peaches, and a pit landed on the floor and within seconds it was gone....Thank god Sydney (my australian shepherd) didn't chew on it, since most fruit seeds contain poisonous amounts of cyanide to k9's.

Here she is above, she'll be 3 in Oct. 15th, cutest puppy ever!

So we went to the vet and ended up paying $247 for the 2 x-rays, some shots, and check up exam...the pit didn't even show up on the x-ray, way to go modern technology...money wasted! Well at least my mom luckily paid for half of the bill, since I'm a poor student.

So around 5:00pm a few minutes ago she threw it up! Thank heavens, because if that bugger got blocked, it could have been Thousands of Dollars!!!! But I guess she has a clean bill of health- no lyme disease or heart worms.

It's just the cost of having a pet, so I thought I wanted to get another dog; I think one at a time is good for us.

wedding band

In jewish thinking the wedding band should be one solid piece of medal symbolizing your relationship as not having cracks and being complete. But my band is so tiny that I feel like a simple platinum band would look puny by itself, esp. if I were to wear it alone.

So I really like the channel bands with some diamonds going halfway around. We went to the jeweler the other day and the MR. liked this setting a lot, but I just felt like I really wanted something fun, so I went today to three different jewelers in the area: Charleston Alexander, Mervis Diamond Importers and Jared (where he got my ring). And to be totally honest, I'm happy with Jared. The other names are just snobby, and it's like Tiffany's your just buying their name and a stiff price!

So I believe the Jared McLean store has a much better selection. And I found this very cool weaved band that goes halfway around. AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. But then I go back to the jewish law and think is this ring too separate is it too glam jewelry? So the MR. and I will have to go back and compare the two styles we like most. I do like the channel setting too. They both make me look like I'll be married when just wearing the one ring. But the weaved ring is so fun and me. But once again in the back of my mind I want to make sure in the future I will still be happy with it...to be continued....

Last Vender

So I was in between which florist to choose from for the last week. The florist from a shop who was $2400 for my wedding, or the florist from her house who charged $2700. Our price range is $2500, and I loved Ms. More expensive but, she wanted ME to put the pears and water in the vases and put them in their appropriate locations. A. I don't have a planner and B. thats her job.

I e-mailed her today asking about her doing it, and time is money baby, she was going to charge $200 extra what a dink! I didn't want to have to deal with this crap on my wedding week, I just wanted it taken care of at a reasonable price. Plus on top of it I'd have to oh no "change her design" to fit my budget....boo!

So I ended up going with the less expensive florist in Fairfax, VA. And I'm soooo happy I did. It's going to end up being about $400 cheaper because of some idea changes. If anything is good about going to 3 different florists, it's that you steal their ideas and take them with you :)!

So we now have all of our venders signed and ready for our wedding in less than 130 days! Woot Woot

List of things left:

1. Buy wedding bands (we've been shopping and I found mine Today! and I still can't stop smiling)

2. Mom and I are going to sew our own table covers for the cocktail tables (because I'm too cheap to rent them each for $35)

3. Make the bridesmaids jewelry, and decide if I want to make vs. buy my own

4. Collect old photos of our g-parents and parents to display

5. finish any little secret crafts that we are doing for special touches

6. water color our table numbers

7. address envelopes

8. almost forgot I have to get my dress taken in and hemmed

9. Buy my funky Nina NY green shoes!

10. Start thinking of songs for our DJ to play: any suggestions?

11. Find makeup artist/ hair stylist

Summer Nails

I feel like I'm in 8th grade again with my lime green sparkly nails and aqua blue sparkly toenails!!!! I made fun of my mom for getting them, and I have to bite my tongue, its is so FUN, and I love it :)

Wedding

So below is a wedding I saw at our venue Briar Patch B&B in Middleburg, VA (picture is to the right). Its so quaint and adorable and the owners are as sweet as can be! Before I thought I wanted a fall color scheme because of us getting married in November, but I felt like it was a bit too strong with brown, yellow, orange and purple all coming at me. So once we saw this it was like a breath of fresh air...we fell in love instantly and haven't looked back. So our color scheme is green (pears), white, and plum (the bridesmaid dress color from Jcrew).

So along with the pear theme, it felt almost meant to be as well because Michael's grandmother is a water color artist who recently did a show with all pears! So in the main hall we can take down their photos and put up her paintings.

The pictures below are exactly what we are doing for our wedding too, well the flower arrangements that is.

Pears Inspired

I love hydrangeas

The picture below is from theknot.com and I love baby hydrangeas, this is what my bridesmaids bouquets will look like!

Parents and their Renovations

The picture is from angela adams, she is so creative and what refreshing take on rugs!

So my soon to be in-laws, have pretty much revamped their entire house, and it's amazing. They painted their whole house beige, and are very unique with their "art" choices so its not too boring. The contractor they hired is a dud I have learned that I'd rather fail myself than pay a contractor 10x the money and have them fail. M.I.L and F.I.L had their wooden floors sanded and redone, and the men that got hired damaged the floors, come on contractors you really can't hire people to get the job done PROFESSIONALLY? They messed up the tiling in their master bath and had to rip it all out and start over again, although they didn't have to pay for this "dudness" it adds stress, and loss of trust for future projects that you still have to have done.

Tonight I helped look for rugs with my soon to be M.I.L online and she ended up with wanting a felt shag rug, she needed texture, and I had a lot of fun looking at pretty carpets I know I can't afford, but I did find some inspiration in colors from http://www.angelaadams.com/

So on the opposite side I've been lucky to experience my dad doing the work himself:

My parents have resorted to do their own work on their house, although it takes a year or so longer to get projects done, it feels great when you have the end product and you can say I put hard work and sweat/tears into my house. You end up really appreciating the skills you've gained.

My dad tiled our kitchen floor, 1/2 bath, my bathroom upstairs, and he is now trying to finish up their bathroom. He has also installed a beautiful bamboo floor in our family room (it was so worth the money!)

Ambition

This is my first entry, I'm very excited for things to come! I plan on writing about daily happenings, work, life, planning a wedding, domesticated things: sewing, quiliting, cooking, decorating, being the best wife ever starting 11/7/10! Also sharing my interest and adventures (esp. in soon to be a new home owner).

Being Crafty overall, starting my own business and brand for jewelry. I love recipes, and can't wait to share my daily doses with you (although I've been kept busy, I'd like to at least go through a recipe a week). And writing what life is like for an urban Virginian.