Merry Christmas!!

Have a Very Merry Christmas!!

Love,

Scottie and Dave

Oh Chirstmas Tree...

We got our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. We headed out to High Springs to a Christmas tree farm. I grew up in a artificial tree house but Dave grew up with real trees so he insisted on a real tree. When we arrived at the farm they had a selection of potted trees and that is what we ended up getting. We are hoping to possibly be able to use it next year as well and then plant it. This is our "green" contribution for the year to recycle and reuse our tree. We also like the idea of supporting local farmers so we are glad we could participate in that as well. Maggie had a ball at the farm too. Coming soon, Christmas decoration pictures...

Giving Thanks...

We are thankful for our family, health and happiness. Dave and I are truly blessed!! Happy Thanksgiving to All!!

Nursing School

Well my first semester of nursing school is almost over and it went quick!! I can't believe it will be over soon. I have been really busy and feel like I am back in high school going to school everyday of the week! I am doing clinicals at the VA here in Gainesville and it is a interesting experience every Friday from 6:45am-12noon. Next semester I will move to another hospital and will have clinicals Thurs. and Fri. So far I have learned and been checked off on performing bed baths, vital signs and physical assessment on patients. We are wrapping up the semester with foley catheters and feeding tubes, hopefully I will pass the check off. I am averaging a B+, only 2 pts away from an A so I am hoping I can pull it off by the end of the semester, we will see!

Back to Blogland and Welcome Fall

It's been a while but I am back. Last post was in May and it is now almost October, how time flies. Here is what we have been up to in a quick summary. Dave and I enjoyed June with a trip to Boca Grande with Dave's mom's side of the family. I took a girl's weekend trip in July to the W in Ft. Lauderdale. We celebrated July 4th and Bernie's birthday here in Gainesville. In August we celebrated a beautiful wedding in Orlando of one of my former Hello Florida coworkers. Congrats, Lorraine and Chirs!! This weekend we are headed back to Orlando for Dave's cousin Allison's wedding. In between I have started a second job on the weekends at Spa Royale as well as nursing school! Life is very busy right now for me and the summer has been the peak of Dave's busy season. Coming up in the next month is Dave's birthday and following that in November is my friend Gina's wedding. I promise to keep things updated on here! The picture above was our dinner the other night, chicken and cheese ravioli and acorn squash. It was a yummy start of fall meal!!

Some of our summer pics...

Boca Grande sunset

Boca Grande


Girl's Weekend in Ft. Lauderdale

4th of July and Bernie's Birthday

Lorraine and Chris' Wedding

My girlfriends/co-workers from Orlando

Graeter's Ice Cream

Okay, so I didn't mention where I was in the previous post when I saw the peonies and envied the basement. Dave and I went to Cincinnati for Memorial Day weekend to see Lee and the Jobert family. Something else we BOTH fell in love with is Graeter's Ice Cream. We had their ice cream 2 of the 3 nights we were there. It is some of the best ice cream you will taste. It is specially formulated in a process called French Pot process. They create the ice cream just two gallons at a time. It’s the only way to achieve the irresistible creaminess that is Graeter’s. That last sentence was directly from their website: http://www.graeters.com/. Too bad there isn't one in Florida but if you happen to ever be near one, YOU MUST GO!! I had blueberry pie ice cream the first night and Tangerine Cream the next, it was just like a dreamsicle. Heaven on earth, let me tell you!! If you look at the ingredients it speaks for itself!! Fresh cream from farms that pledge not to use artificial growth hormones (rBST), Sweetened with 100% cane sugar, No hydrogenated oils, therefore no trans fats. Another popular flavor is Buckeye Blitz, chocolate and peanut butter, yum! You can also have it shipped to your house!!

Oh Peony, How I Love Thee...

Peonies are some of my favorite flowers along with Gerber Daises and Hydrangeas. I had the exact same shade in my bridal bouquet. Too bad you don't see them growing in the south like you do up north. This picture is from my sister-in-law's back yard, actually this is what you see when you look out of her kitchen window. I saw these within the first five minutes of being in her house and I fell in LOVE!!

Something else I LOVE about the north are the basements. I would actually consider moving north if I could have a basement, I hate cold weather but I think I may be able to cope if I had a basement. There are just so many uses for basements as well as lots or storage space!!

Question, can peonies be grown successfully in Florida? Anyone out there?

Chilly Bone

Maggie's favorite toy!! She loves it and it is one toy she can't destroy. You don't know how important those two things are, she plays with it for hours and it is indestructible. Aunt Leanne and Uncle Drew gave it to her for Christmas and it is still in one piece. Maggie loves the texture of fabric toys but usually they are all destroyed in a week or less. One toy only made it a couple of hours in our house. Needless to say we have saved on toy expenses since this came into our lives. THANK YOU, Leanne and Drew!!

Test!

They keep growing...

Here are more pics of our tomato plants, they keep growing...

(grape tomatoe type)

Strawberry Trifle

I made this for a coworker a while back and it was so yummy! It was the first time I whipped my own cream, awesome!! Also, I prefer this recipe to others because it doesn't use pudding, I hate pudding. Okay, exception, banana pudding is good only because it has banana slices and nilla wafers included, but pudding alone, no way!! Oh, and the almond extract, one of my favorite things (more on that in another post)... ENJOY!!

1 large, store-bought angel food cake (about 10 inches, or 2 smaller ones), cut or torn into cubes
3 pints strawberries (I usually use two quarts), sliced or quartered
1.5 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
almond extract
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1 pint whipping cream, chilled
vanilla extract

1. In a bowl, mix the strawberries with the granulated sugar and some almond extract. Set aside to macerate.

2. Beat together the cream cheese, sour cream, and 3/4 cup powdered sugar until smooth*. In a separate bowl, beat the whipped cream, adding 3/4 cup powdered sugar and some vanilla extract when it begins to look almost done (firm peaks). Fold the whipped cream gently into the cream cheese mixture.

3. Layer the ingredients in a large bowl or trifle dish, starting with cake, followed by strawberries, then cream. You should be able to make 3 layers. The trifle is best chilled for a while before serving.

*the cream cheese mixture can be lumpy if your ingredients are too cold. You can use a food processor if this is a problem.

**I used pound cake instead of angel food.

Happy Birthday!

Where has the month gone? I can't believe it is almost over. Thanks to everyone who made my 30th birthday a special one. Many celebrations, thanks for everything, I am a very lucky girl!!

National Geographic

My work is like National Geographic. The doctor I work for is an avid hunter who loves the outdoors and it is obvious by the way our office is decorated and where we are located. Yesterday a patient put it perfectly when she said to me "this place is so full of life for being filled with death" referring to the dead animals decorating our office.

So last night after work Dr. Stoer was out feeding the turkey and I had to ask him a quick question so I walked out to the back porch and he said "come here, you gotta see this." Let me preface this by saying we have been seeing our resident gator "Stumpy" sunning on the bank of our pond. Stumpy got his name because he is missing a chunk of his tail, as a result, we think, from a battle earlier in life.

Anyways back to the story, I reluctantly go off of our back porch to see the "must see." I walk over to the pond and Stumpy is lounging in the water and I am about 5 feet from him. I was pretty nervous but Dr. Stoer said "don't worry he is too full to try to get us," meanwhile I am not so convinced. He said "come over here, you won't believe this," I said "what, did he get a turkey?" He said "No, bigger than that" Then I see it, the poor deer, submerged in the water and it's backside gone. The gator had killed it and had been feasting on it. Circle of Life/Survival of the Fittest

So today my co-worker Chris and I decided to go take some pictures. We walk out to the pond looking everywhere for the gator(s). There has also been a second gator on the property in the last couple of days, at one point one gator was seen chasing the other. It is mating season so I guess they are even more aggressive/feisty. We got to the deer first then we saw him resting on the bank, Stumpy. He heard us coming and he started moving so we didn't get too close. He was still guarding his kill about 10 feet apart.

Poor Deer

Stumpy

Who needs National Geographic or the Discovery Channel when you have Dr. Stoer's office at Serenola Plantation. This is one of the many things I love about being back in Gainesville!!

Tomatoes

Here are some pics of our upside down tomato plants, not the most attractive thing in the Firehouse sub pickle buckets, but hopefully they will produce great veggies. This is all Dave's doing, they would have already been dead if it were up to me. I can cook the food not grow it!!

Breakfast for Dinner

I have never been a fan of breakfast, especially for dinner!! I am not a fan of eggs, I only eat them in omelettes or in casseroles. They have to be well disguised, I will never eat them alone, never ever!! Also, pancakes and waffles are not high on my list, but for Dave breakfast is his FAVORITE!! So he requested it and I made it. I was talking to one of my friend's while cooking dinner and I told her the request and she said "What is he, 8?" I said "yes!" Anyways, it was quite good if I do say so myself. I made breakfast casserole see picture below as well as pancakes. I made plain for Dave and blueberry for myself. I think Dave ended up liking the blueberry the best. To top it off we had blueberry syrup from our trip to the mountains in December as well as venison sausage in the casserole from my dad. It was all very yummy!!

Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring!

I am sitting on our back deck right now while Maggie is playing. Everything in our back yard is covered with pollen, everything including me now since my eyes are starting to itch. Hopefully we will get some rain soon!

Although I can't complain too much! This is probably my favorite time of year. The weather is perfect. The azaleas and dogwoods are blooming, gorgeous!! And I know warm weather will be here soon! I am a true Floridian, I hate cold weather!

Cheers to the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring tomorrow!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

This is early but better than late!! Actually Dave and I woke up thinking it was St. Patty's day today, I realized before I got dressed, Dave was already gone to work. He didn't realize until he started the corned beef in the crock pot this afternoon. So we had our corned beef and cabbage tonight, is that bad luck to celebrate early? Anyways, I hope your day is green and great!!

Happy Anniversary!

It made it a year in the freezer, it was Dave's idea to put the topper and the rings on it for the pic!! :)

I can't believe it has been a year. Time definitely flies! We celebrated our one year anniversary this weekend in Savannah, see the post following this, great time!!

Savannah, GA

Driving over Talmadge Bridge to our hotel on Hutchison Island

Ferry ride from Westin to downtown Savannah. Savannah is the 4th largest port in the world.

View of our hotel from Downtown Savannah. Thanks to Gina for the hotrate!!

Our first stop, Moon River Brew Co., good food and beer!

Downtown Savannah

Our hotel ferry

Check out the parking garage with the stairs to nowhere?!

City Hall, 24 karat gold roof

Savannah Cotton Exchange

Steep stairs, this picture cannot really show how dangerously steep the stairs are all over Savannah. Nothing in Savannah is level from cobble stone streets, stairs, thresholds, etc.

Yes, the uneveness of the city got the best of me. The place I hurt my foot, the uneven threshold!!

Love you!!

Dave loves mahi-mahi, so I took the pic for that reason. Now the pic also has more meaning for me, when we were on our Savannah trolley tour I learned the meaning of the pineapple in the south. It is a sign of hospitality, women used to put out pineapples to welcome guests or to let others know they were having a party. When they wanted the guests to leave they just took the pinapples away and that was the polite way to say the party was over/go home. Love it!!

Pic 1

Pic 2, they say Savannah is the most haunted city in the US. Look at this pic vs. the first one, see the white spot, that isn't the moon and it isn't in the first pic. I guess it is one of those ghost/aura things, spookie...

We also saw places named for our family members, Bernie's Oyster House...

This is for you Nana...

This is a couple we met at our hotel bar. It was their first year anniversary as well, we were both married on March 1, 2008.

Happy Couple

5 Guys Burger, yum!

Beignets at Huey's, double yummy!!

Pontchartrain Omlette with cheese grits, triple yummy!!