Trying out New Recipes

One of my favorite things to do is try to imitate my favorite restaurant recipes. I have tried a few out recently. This is my rendition of Stone Creek's smothered chicken. I cooked fresh green beans and bacon as a side. The smothered chicken is baked with honeymustard, green onions, mushrooms, and bacon under melted cheese.
I also tried Kung Pao Chicken with rice. SO GOOD!! I sometimes get caught on recipes when I really like them so I have a feeling I will be having this everyother week!! This dish is semi-homemade. I did not make my own sauce but did choose carrots, zucchini, peanuts, green onions, and red pepper to add to the store bought sauce.

Reality TV Junkie

Two of my favorite reality TV shows came to and end this week. Big Brother is probably my very favorite reality TV show. This year was a really great season because there was a secret alliance that stayed loyal to the end. Three of the original four members made it to the final three contestants. My favorite player, Brittany, was voted as America's favorite player so she won money too!! The following is a conversation between Brittany and another one of my favorite players.... Enzo.

I am going to miss the drama and suspense of Big Brother, but I know I always have the Real Housewives series, Amazing Race, and Survivor to fall back on. Did you hear that are adding Real Housewives of Beverly Hills starting in October??

Trip to Arizona

We recently went to Arizona to see my sister graduate from PA school! We had such a fun weekend celebrating and visiting too. We took a day to visit Sedona, Arizona which is breathtaking. Sedona is famous for the red rock formations that are near it.

There were "javelina" decorated around the town just like there are pigs in Indianapolis. Javelina are desert pigs! Ha ha!!!

After talking to a local in one of the shops, we decided to make a trip up to Jerome. It is a tiny little town with a TON of history. At one point the town was a thriving mining town and was know as the wickedest town in the west. Now it is nearly deserted except those working in the tourist industry. We spent some time just walking the streets and checking everything out. I swear Willie Nelson was working the door at one of the saloons!!

There were a few wineries in town so we did some wine tasting.

And overall just enjoyed the spectacular view!

Back to School

I can not believe how quickly the summer went by!!! Today was my first official day back to school although I have already been in and worked three other days in the last week. It was so much fun to catch up with everyone and hear how everyone's summer was. I am excited to meet my students on Monday! I think it is going to be a great year!!!!!

I printed some pictures that were taken on the day of our wedding. This is a personal favorite of mine. I can't wait to see the professional photos!!

Wedding Season Continues

Last weekend Brandon's sister, grandma, and aunt hosted a beautiful bridal shower for me. It was such a wonderful day. I enjoyed getting to know a few friends and family members who I had never met. The hosts planned a great day down to every last detail.

Cutest little decoration welcoming the guests to the shower.

Yummiest peach sangrias as you first walk in!

Delicious lunch!

Thanks so much to the wonderful hostesses! Three and a half weeks 'til the big day!!!!!!

Vegetable Garden

Brandon and I planted two tomato plants and a bell pepper plant in May and we finally got our first tomato. Eating fresh tomatoes is one of my favorite things about the summer. Hopefully we will have plenty more to come in the next few weeks!

Mother Nature

Mother Nature has been pummeling Central Indiana in the last week with severe storm after severe storm. Last Saturday we lost half of our tree to 65 mph wind gusts.
We had the tree removed...

so this is what the front of our house looks like now. Totally different!

Then last night my favorite restaurant (El Rodeo) was struck by lightening and caught on fire. Here is what is left. Luckily no one was injured in the fire. Hopefully they will be able to open in a new location.

Hello Blogging World

I'm back!!... and more than excited to be out of school for the summer with only 39 days to go until the wedding. Brandon and I are in crunch time and working out a lot of little details. It sure feels good to have the extra time to enjoy the process. Speaking of enjoyment.... last week I went out to celebrate with my best girls friends for my Bachelorette party.

We started the day out at the Vintage Indiana Wine and Food Festival in Military Park. If you have never been you should check it out. It is a yearly event and is always a relaxing day with live music, food booths, craft booths, and MANY Indiana wineries. After the festival we headed back to the Conrad for some chill time before heading out for the evening. It was so much fun to have all of my favorite people in one place! Thanks to you all for making it so special.

John Wooden

The pastor at our church has been doing a really good series on marriage which is perfect for Brandon and I. This week he shared a video about John Wooden and his life long love. It was the cutest video so I thought I would share it with you all. I don't know how to do videos on here so you will just have to follow the link.

First Home Improvement Project

I finished my class this weekend... YAY!! So I have three weeks off before my LAST class begins. It was a rainy day Saturday so we decided to work on a home improvement project. We picked out blinds for the kitchen and family room a few weeks ago and liked them so much we decided to put them in our bedroom, living room, and dining room. They are not anything fancy but are a drastic improvement from what was orginally in the house. We really like the way they look on the windows. We will be working on adding drapes as well.

Last weekend we picked up our new coffee table and end table for the family room.

With the coffee table and the drapes in the family room it is almost finished. We still need to work on updating some of the decorations in the room, but plan to do that over time. For now, here is what it looks like.

A Number Story

At school our teaching assignments have been somewhat up in the air for the last few months. Today we got some information and while nothing is set in stone it looks like I will be teaching math again. I enjoyed almost all parts of my job, but I did think that teaching math was fun. There were lots of puzzles to put together and I really enjoyed seeing all the lightbulbs go off!! So in honor of numbers, I will share a little bit about recent events with you.

This weekend I participated in the

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Over 40,000 people got together to try to raise $1.2 million dollars for Breast Cancer research. It was a chilly morning but turned out to be a great day. I had a great time walking and had even better company.

After the race,

of my awesome friends came over to help me assemble wedding invitations. They saved me hours of time and were awesome helpers. There are a few things still to do in order to get them ready, but we got a ton done. THANK YOU!!!!! And in case you are wondering, there are

days until the wedding. I could not believe it but theknot.com reminded me that time is running out!!! And finally.......

is how many school days are left until school is out. I was going to start the countdown at 30, but then you would have had to wait to hear my number story!!

Move is Almost Complete

Closing went great! So fun to see the SOLD sign in the front yard.

Thank goodness it was spring break this week. We had done a lot of packing in the weeks before the move so it made things a little easier... but as a result... this is what our 2nd bedroom looked like at the apartment!

We had a great moving team.... it was a family operation! But look out how systematically the U-haul is packed! It might have been more impressive in person... but you can't tell me that does not look good.

Thanks to our awesome families we are all moved in except hanging things on the FRESHLY PAINTED walls.

We made a few purchases to get ready to move in. First new sofa, love seat, chair, and ottoman. Thanks Ashley Furniture! Your store closing sale was awesome!

We also bought patio furniture from the owner. Not brand new but we can always update later.

Of course we needed a mower.... so we went with a John Deere. Brandon is excited to mow the lawn this weekend. Hope he is always as excited to mow the lawn.

And perhaps the most exciting.... a grill. We were really excited because our apartments did not allow real grills so we have only been allowed to use a George Foreman grill. Man do pork chops taste good on the real thing!

We have had a great week and feel pretty settled into our new place. We have met a few neighbors and they have been really nice. Can't wait until you all can come see it in person!

March= Moving

The past two weeks have gone by so slowly as we are waiting to close on our house. The date is set for March 25, and I would have happily begun packing on March 1. I just feel so excited and thought that if I pack.... maybe we could move early. Not necessarily the case, but I did start packing this weekend. I spent most of the day Sunday packing and got almost everything packed away that I could. Next weekend I will work on packing some more non-essentials so we are ready to move next week. We have been looking at different paint colors and thinking about what matches best with our furniture and accessories. It has been quite fun!!

5 Months To Go!

We are not just five months away from July 24th!! It feels like time is flying by! In the planning stage we are really getting down the details of everything. Last weekend we went back to Bed Bath and Beyond and are getting really close to finishing up our initial gift registry. We will probably change our minds after we get the house and know more of what we need, but for now we have a really good start. We chose to register at Pottery Barn, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and Macy's.

We will work on ordering invitations this weekend. We have picked out the ones we like and just need to work on the wording a little bit. There are only a few minor details to work out so the next few months should be pretty easy as far as wedding planning is concerned.... definitely a good thing since we will be packing, moving, painting, cleaning, etc. for the next month!!!

Palomino Meeting and Registering

We had yet another very full weekend. We got our weekend started with our initial planning meeting with the Palomino Ballroom (reception location). The meeting went really well. I felt like we were really prepared and had made the decisions that needed to be made. As a result our coordinator was able to really help us think through some of our thoughts and questions that we were not certain on. She was such a great help in assisting us with food and beverage choices as well as discussing what they could offer as far as decorating.

We also spent Saturday afternoon and almost all day Sunday registering for gifts. We got a pretty decent start but still have quite a ways to go. It is exciting to get to plan and design what we want everything to look like in our new house, but is was also difficult because we have only been in the house a handful of times. We devised a pretty good system of compromise and communication so that Brandon and I are both happy with the choices we made. Hopefully we can finish that process up in the next few weeks!!

House! and Wedding Update

January 6??? Seriously that was the last time I blogged? Well Brandon and I did joke about January being the most productive month of our lives. February looks like it will be similar... but I think mother nature knew I needed a slow down. Zionsville Community Schools cancelled school today because of the snow so I will take full advantage of the day-- doing some things that I wanted to do and some things that I NEED to do.


Well, I will get to the most exciting news first! Brandon and I bought a house! We definitely were not expecting to do this so fast but we began the process thinking that it would take quite a while. We actually saw the house on our first time out. We went out a few more times that week seeing roughly 20 houses. Each one we compared to our favorite from the first day. So here it is!!!




The house is located in Zionsville and is really close to school. We will move in right before Spring Break.


We have also been really busy on the wedding front. Our first meeing at the Palomino (reception location) was supposed to be Saturday but was cancelled because of Friday's round of snow. We did not let that stop us and decided to make the day a total wedding extravaganza. We made three stops at Michael's to buy all of the materials needed for our centerpieces. Brandon's mom is making them for us and they turned out to be so beautiful. I can not wait to see the ballroom on July 24th! I think it is going to look great.


Tux shopping and bridesmaid dresses have also been on the plate for January/ Feburary. We were so lucky to get a knowledgeable and helpful sales guy when we went to the store Saturday. Our moms were with us too... with everyone's help I think we have picked out a great suit for the guys to wear. The bridesmaid dreses have also been chosen. They will be black and are super cute. The colors for the wedding have evolved over time but now we are definitely locked in on black and while, with accents of green. We are going to have the greatest looking bridal party ever!!


On a snowy day like today it is hard not to think about our honeymoon which we have also booked. We are headed to Mexico... close to Cancun, for a week after the wedding. Right now we have just booked the room and travel arrangements but hopefully we can look into an excursion or two. It will be a wonderful trip!


Next on our to-do list is picking out and ordering invitations as well as registering for gifts. Phew... I think I need another snow day tomorrow!

Under 200

Officially under 200 days until the wedding! In celebration of this, I present to you..............

http://theknot.com/ourwedding/ShannonYde&BrandonEaton

Our wedding webpage! Feel free to take a look, find out the scoop, and leave a message on our guestbook!

2009 In Review

I am so excited for 2010.... it is going to be a fun and eventful year! But I can't forget how exciting 2009 has been too!

The year started off with a wonderful family vacation to Keystone, Colorado. It was such a beautiful place to be. I had a good time relaxing and spending time with my family. Skiing was not exactly my thing but I improved and would even consider another ski trip.

I was fortunate enough to take a trip to Arizona over spring break. My cousins and sister live there not and it is a fantastic place to visit. There is great shopping, awesome weather, and a beautiful landscape. We decided to go on a hike in Sabino Canyon in Tucson one day. It started off as a long hike on a big sidewalk. Mom got adventurous, took us off the sidewalk, and we trekked down the long and winding way. It was a great trip..... we definitely earned our lunch that day!

Luckily when I was in Arizona, Brandon was shopping for a gorgeous diamond ring. He found one and propsed on April 11. We have spent a great deal of time in 2009 planning our wedding for July 24, 2010!

The summer months were BUSY months... as I tried to tackle three graduate courses, move (TWICE), and work on wedding plans. It was very stressful at times but I learned a very important lesson. For a teacher... the summer should be the best time of year! It was not for me and I made it my goal to make sure to take time out to enjoy life. I went into the school year with a new motto and goal of just getting through the work so that I could take time to play. This has been an important life lesson for me and I feel that it has allowed me to get back to my normal self.

We finished out the year with a busy Christmas season... trying to make visits to both sides of our families. We had such a good time and are thankful for a very supportive families. 2009 was such a great year and I can't wait until next year! It will be a memorable year.

Wedding Wednesday: Flowers and Topiaries

Hardest part of the wedding yet...... FLOWERS!!! I met with a great florist last week and she did a wonderful job helping me decide on the different things and types of flowers that I liked. It was not an easy job because this was one avenue where I was the most indecisive. I was also struggling because I was not able to visualize exactly what it was she was talking about. She as very patient, informative, and she was gracious enough to give me a small bouquet of the different types of flowers we discussed. I really like hydrageas-- green and white, roses, and other greenery. Here are the flowers that she gave me to play around with a little. Here is what my bouquet could look like (except more full). I also made a sample boutineer. I think that looks really nice.

I have begun to think about centerpiece ideas and what I might like. I really like the idea of using a topiary. See below in case you are like me and did not know what one was. This picture looks incredibly fake.... but I like the shape of the flowers and the types and color of the flowers. I could go for a different base though.

Two more days of school until a two week break. I sat down to write a list of everything I would like to accomplish for the wedding so hopefully by this time next week there will be quite a few things to update you on.

DONE!!!

I am so glad to have just finished up my BSU course for this semester. 8 down and only 2 to go until I graduate!! It has been a really busy semester so I am glad to have almost a full month before I begin my next class. What will I be up to???

• Wedding-- lots to do including register for gifts, shop for wedding bands, gather ideas for centerpieces, figure out flowers, work on planning our honeymoon, finalize detials for bridesmaid dresses
• Christmas shopping-- LOTS of this to do still!
• Read a good book-- I just started Shopahalic Ties the Knot and am looking for a second book to read over break
• Catch up on any Reality TV marathons that might be on
• Anything else that includes relaxation

4 schools days left until break!! OBVIOUSLY I am excited! :)