Sunday, September 27, 2009

Dinner Divas!

So. Remember when I said a few weeks ago that I wanted to make some Non New Years Resolutions? Well I still haven't formalized a list, but the first thing that I thought of was my friends. Okay, first I thought of health. But I'm still stumped in that area, so I quickly moved on to friends. I want to spend more time with my friends. Actually, friends and family. I have so many people in my life that are important to me. I started dating Brett in November of 2005. So I spent 3 years and 4 months basically on the road to our wedding. We were friends for a year and a half or so before we started dating but as soon as our friendship transformed into something more, we knew right away that this was IT. We were in it all the way.

Dating is tricky! Anyone who has been in a serious relationship knows that. I don't think that it was wrong that my life for those three and half years centered around this transformation - what I have referred to before as "Becoming the Bacons". It was a great time in our life. But now that it is over, we both breath much easier! Like I said, dating is tricky. I'm not going to pretend that marriage isn't a lot of work, but honestly, right now, when we have only been married for 6 months, we are still enjoying the newness and the peace that comes from being THROUGH DATING! Being TOGETHER! Every day. Rain or shine. So far, this is much easier!

I didn't completely ignore my friends and family during the dating years, but now that I am married, I feel like I have the freedom and ability to be intentional about sharing my time with people other than my husband. Before, I had to work so hard to find time to be with Brett. It was easy to see my family because I was living at home. (I moved home when we realized we were ready to get married. I thought I would pay off all my debt before the wedding. Ha!) But I had to work to see Brett. Now it is easy to see Brett because we live together. If I want to see my friends and family, I have to work for it. That time is not a given. It takes an extra effort.

I say all that to say that I have every intention of staying connected to the people that I love. Brett and his two best friends from college are AMAZING! It's been years... I mean well over a decade, since they've lived in the same city. But they are so good at staying in touch. They call each other and they play online together, and whenever possible, which is usually twice a year, we go to see them.

I love my friends. And watching Brett with his friends has really encouraged me and shown me that it is possible to stay in touch with people that you love, even when life takes you in different directions.

My family has decided to have a monthly dinner at our parent's house. I meet Jennifer for coffee every other week. I'm hoping to set up something regular with Jenina the next time I see her. We are planning a trip to Houston to see Brett's friends, and as soon as we get back we will start planning a trip to Oklahoma to see Jeff. I go to dinner with my mom every Thursday of the month EXCEPT for one Thursday a month... which leads me to the point of this post. The Dinner Divas =-)

Once a month, my three college roommates and I (3 out of the 5 that I had in my college years) will be getting together for a dinner party. We will be trading locations between each others homes and enjoying an evening of food and fellowship. It's the perfect way for us to stay in touch and involved in each other's life!

Last Thursday, Jenn, Jage and Krista came over for our first dinner! I spent days getting ready! Not because I did anything elaborate, but because I wanted things to be clean and presentable. It was their first time to see our apartment. (hehe... I'm getting excited just TELLING the story because I'm remembering how excited I was last week!) So I cleaned and shopped last weekend. Then Wednesday night I did the bit of cooking that could be done beforehand, which was the main course. I made spinach stuffed shells. It's basically a spinach lasagna stuffed inside shells. Really tasty and really easy! It's the Better Homes and Gardens recipe, of course, and I really like it, but it's not Brett's favorite because of the spinach. So I prepped that Wednesday night so that all I would have to do Thursday is pop it in the oven.

Thursday morning I made a fruit dip which I only sort of liked when I made it, but it was SO good Thursday night after sitting in the fridge all day! I ran home at lunch time and chopped the veggies for the salad and also laid out the rolls. We bought some yeast rolls that, unbeknownst to us at the time, have to sit out on a pan covered at room temperature for 2-5 hours to rise. I am attaching a picture of the rolls at the bottom just because I was AMAZED by how they changed! At 12:30 when I put them on the pan, they were about the size of a walnut. When I got home at 5, they were a little bigger than my fist. So cool!

When I got home I popped the rolls in the oven. Then I mixed a coffee cake for our dessert. When the rolls came out, the pasta went in and while the pasta was cooking I mixed some mimosas and chopped the fruit. The girls all arrived a few minutes before the pasta was done cooking so we munched on some fruit and sipped mimosas while we waited for the pasta. And then when the pasta came out, the coffee cake went in and we moved to the table!

Dinner was great! The food was fine but the conversation was phenomenal! I LOVE these girls! Jenn got married a few months before I did and Krista and Jage both had new men to tell us about. It was GREAT! We laughed and laughed. That is without a doubt the best thing about the time with my friends... the laughter. I love being silly with them.

We scheduled an October dinner and next month we will be eating at Jenn and Jage's place in McKinney. I'm excited already =-)

I have a few pics... I wish I had taken a picture of the whole meal and not just the rolls! But I was too involved in serving. haha. Next month I will have a few more.






I deflated
a few on
accident.
Oops!















I was cuter
before all
the cooking.
This is
Jage, Jenn,
Krista and Me!

1 comment:

Krista said...

I loved our dinner party!!! :) It was so great catching up with each other and I can't wait to do it again next month! :)