Caribbean Cruise

As many of you know, a few weeks ago, Matthew and I went on a Caribbean cruise with my sister (Nealy) and her husband (Kyle). It was pretty much awesome. :) Here are some of my favorite parts...

1. The company. Nealy and Kyle were super fun to vacation with. They are just super fun to hang out with! Plus, the four of us like to do similar things on vacations, so it worked out perfectly! Oh, and it was wonderful spending a whole week with my husband. :)

2. The food. Those of you who have been on cruises can understand how much food is everywhere! For breakfast, the french toast with peanut butter and syrup was my fav. My favorite dinner food was cream of roasted garlic soup, scallop risotto with corn, or probably an Indian meal I had.

3. Diet coke with grenadine and cherries. This was my drink of choice on the boat. Yum!!

4. It was really fun getting dressed up every night for dinner.

5. Seeing the cultures of different places. Our stops were Barbados, Antigua, St. Lucia, St. Martin, and St. Thomas. We left from San Juan, Puerto Rico, so we also got to see that place. My favorite beach was probably the first beach we saw in Barbados. If I could spend a week anywhere, I'd probably pick St. Martin or St. Thomas.

6. Beaches. Some of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen!!

This vacation was SO much fun. I would definitely do a cruise again.

Bananas Foster

My new obsession in cooking is to see what things I can light on fire. :) First, it was Saganaki (a recipe from Nealy's blog). Yummy... fried cheese with lemon and brandy!! So after making the saganaki, I of course had to think of something else to make with this brandy I had bought. I thought of brandy alexanders, but then my friend Deadra (a culinary school graduate :) suggested bananas foster.

So, the other night, Matt and I had the pleasure of having Katie & Eli and Sydney & Brandon over for dinner. I always like to get a little "girl time" in when we have people over, so the girls made dessert and had girl talk in the kitchen while the gentlemen smoked cigars and sipped brandy in the other room. Just kidding. Anyway, the bananas foster we made turned out quite scrumptious, if I do say so myself. Nice job, ladies!

Bananas Foster

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

3 t vanilla

2 t cinnamon

1/3 t nutmeg

a handful of walnuts

6 bananas, sliced

1/4 cup brandy

vanilla ice cream

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and walnuts. When mixture begins to bubble, add bananas and cook about 2 minutes or until bananas are warm all the way through. Take off heat, pour brandy on top, and light on fire! After the flame goes out, let banana mixture sit until it's not too hot. Pour over vanilla ice cream. Makes 6 servings.

The Zeigler Wedding

Amanda and Stuart got married! Their wedding was BEAUTIFUL. Tiffany blue satin tablecloths, coral bridesmaid dresses... and Amanda looked "regal" (Matt's word). Like a princess, for sure.

J-Baby

So my little sister Jasey visited us last week... I met my her, my mom, and Wes in Iowa City for the swap. Some of the best parts of our week together include...

1. Blasting out to Miley Cyrus in the car.

2. Blasting out to Jasey Rebarcak in the car. Yes, that's right. My sister is an awesome musician--she made her own CD with songs she wrote!! She played all the instruments and then mixed them on the computer. This was actually the first time I had heard her sing, and her voice is awesome, too! I'm pretty sure she's going to be famous!

3. Going to the opening showing of "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants." There were a whole 10 people in the theater. :)

4. Watching High School Musical 1 AND 2 in the same day. Gotta love Disney, G-rated musicals!

5. Making and eating a LOT of puppy chow!

6. Going to the Grand Lux Cafe downtown Chi-town. Yum!

7. Talking J "back to school shopping" with mom's credit card.

8. Wearing our matching Wheaton Tshirts to bed. :)

9. Taking lots of silly pictures, and

10. Being there while J led worship at our small group... I was so proud! :)

Audrey's Shower

Today Melissa and I threw a bridal shower for Audrey. She and Wes (Matt’s old roommate) are getting married at the end of September. Of course I have to mention the food… it was a 10 AM brunch shower, so we had two kinds of quiche (spinach mushroom quiche with boursin—secret ingredient—and mozzarella and a bacon asparagus quiche with cheddar and swiss), cinnabon mini muffins from Costco, fruit salad, mimosas, and coffee. The shower was really fun… we played game, asked Audrey some questions which Wes had answered, and opened gifts. I was thinking during the shower about how each couple has “their story,” ya know? I love hearing how couples first met and how they ended up together… it’s always fun to see the bride’s (or wife’s) eyes light up as they begin to gush about the first time they met their husband, or the first few weeks of dating. I think it’s good, too, for wives to always remember how excited they felt when they first met their husband (and vice versa)—and how much they really wanted him to like her, marry her, etc. There’s my infinite, 6-month marriage wisdom. :) Anyway, the shower was a blast, and I’m super excited for Wes and Audrey’s wedding!

Amanda's Shower

'Tis the season... for weddings! It seems like everyone I know is engaged and planning a wedding! Ya know, I never used to get excited about weddings.... like, when people would tell me their colors, their flowers, their music, etc, I'd definitely politely listen, but it was kinda like in one ear out the other. After planning my own wedding, however, something changed! I can't wait to hear what the bridesmaids' dresses look like, where the couple is going on the honeymoon, what the bride is walking down the aisle to, etc. I think I remember how much fun it was to dream about every little detail...

So today was Amanda's shower... she and her fiance Stuart are getting married at the end of August. They will live exactly 6 floors below us in our apartment! In September, Deadra and her fiance Ben are getting married, and then a week later Wes and Audrey are tying the knot. So much fun!! (Wes and Audrey are going to live one floor below us in Wheaton Center... it's the place to be!)

The In-Laws

Matt's parents, Jim and Mary Ellen, visited this weekend. The four of us had a great time. Friday night we walked to Gino's East for a "Meaty Legend" pizza then walked down the street to Graham's for the best ice cream in Wheaton. Actually, it's the best ice cream I've EVER had. (If you go there, you must either get a scoop of chocolate peanut butter in a sugar cone or a hot fudge sundae made with cookie dough ice cream... the best!) Anyway, Saturday morning we walked to the French Market then went to Egg Harbor Cafe for brunch. Next, the four of us headed to IKEA (a first for Matt's parents). Mary Ellen and I spent the rest of the afternoon laying out at the local pool (I have a really cool mother-in-law.... it's been awesome getting to know her better!) while the guys watched the Cubs game on TV. Saturday night we did wine tasting at Tasting DeVine downtown Wheaton (7 wines for 7 bucks--my fav was the pino grigio... yum). We then went to The Bank for dinner. Sunday we had lunch at Ted's Montana Grill in Naperville, had Cold Stone for dessert, and walked around downtown Naperville a little bit. It was a really fun weekend. :)

Dessert

It seems like just about every week, I vow never to make dessert again (hasn’t been good on the waste line :) However, it seems like most weeks I make it until like Wednesday or Thursday before giving in and baking something sweet. :) This week, I decided to make a snickers ice cream dessert… my take on a recipe I found on allrecipes.com.

Here’s how I changed it… I made it in a 9 X 9 pan instead of a 13 X 9 (so we wouldn’t have so many leftovers tempting us from the freezer). I used hot fudge instead of chocolate sauce, added a caramel layer to give it the “snickers” aspect, and used Spanish peanuts instead of regular. This dessert not only is rich and super yummy, but it looks pretty, too!

Snickers Ice Cream Bars

Adapted from allrecipes.com

1/2 cup hot fudge
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter

2/3 cup caramel sauce

Ice cream sandwiches (about 12-14, depending on the size)

1 (8 ounce) container cool whip, thawed

1 cup Spanish peanuts

1. Combine hot fudge and peanut butter in a bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds.
2. Line the bottom of a 9 by 9 inch dish with a layer of ice cream sandwiches. (You may need to cut some so they fit tight.) Spread all of the fudge/peanut butter mixture on top of the first layer of ice cream sandwiches. Spread half of the cool whip; sprinkle half of the peanuts; drizzle half of the caramel.

3. Do another layer of ice cream sandwiches. Layer with cool whip, peanuts, and caramel. Freeze until firm, about 3 hours (but best if frozen overnight). Cut into squares and enjoy!

Madeleine

Do you remember what it was like to be in elementary school? When your biggest concern was who you were going to play with after school? Being around my niece, Maddie, reminds me of what it was like to be little... she is so carefree, so uninhibited, and just likes to have fun. I guess Matt and I inspired her to start a blog, and I thought her first entry was so cute!

Yo . Dude. Hi.This is maddie speaking. I have 2 retainers in my mouth and they HURT. Well, I was the person that thought of making this blog. It's because my aunt ( she's really nice and my uncle is to.) made a blog and I, MADDIE,wanted to make my own blog. my last name is willis. So is my mom and dads last name. My mom got married to my dad JUNE 7, 2008. IT WAS AWESOME! I got a ring and a dad. Then we danced all night long. Well I have nothing left to say. I'm logging out. BYE :-)maddie-

6 Months

Last Saturday, Matthew and I celebrated our 6 month anniversary. :) The night before, we crawled into bed at about 11:30 and Matt kept me up talking until midnight so he could wish me a happy anniversary. It was really cute. Honestly, I barely expected him to remember, and even less expected him to get me anything, but he surprised me with a beautiful silver beaded bracelet from Tiffany’s. It was so thoughtful (and really pretty)! Anyway, the evening of our anniversary, we had the pleasure of going out to eat with Jen Lowry and Ben Erbes who were in town for the weekend. We went to an Italian place… and it was kinda fun because I ordered one of the dishes we had at our Italian-feast-of-a-reception—cheese tortellini with proscuitto and peas. Yum!

Some of the highlights from our first 6 months together…
- First and foremost, our honeymoon! Best week of my life. :) We are actually going back to Hawaii (Kauaii this time) for our one year—I can’t wait!
- Settling into our new apartment together and making it our own. It’s tiny, but it’s cute and it’s our own place.
- Both of us starting new jobs!
- Visiting Sarah and Dave Ling in Colorado. It was so much fun. In fact, the other night we were laying in bed and Matt, out of nowhere, was like, “Hanging out with Sarah and Dave was so much fun… do you think they’d want come to Chicago some weekend?”
- Attending LeAnn and Mike’s wedding in Iowa.
- Many nights cuddling on the couch watching our favorite shows or just talking. I hate to admit it, but I’ve kind of turned into a TV junkie. :) Prison Break has been my latest addiction. I never used to watch TV before we were married, but I think 1) because we have a nice TV, 2) because I can teevo—sp? my own shows, and 3) because I’m working now and sometimes need to check out of life, I watch more TV. Interesting. Perhaps the topic of a different blog entry. :)
- Spending our first summer together as a married couple in Clear Lake!
- Getting to know our friends in IL better, and last,
- Finding out that my sister is going to have a baby!

I feel very, very blessed by God to have married Matthew James. Not to get too sappy on you, but he is an amazing husband. He is unbelievably patient with me. He makes our marriage a priority. He truly puts my needs above his own. He prays with me and for me and loves God with all his heart. And I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that our marriage will only get better in the months and years to come.