Hello Strangers! It’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted. I’ve posted a million times in my head but, unfortunately, none of those have made it onto the page.  So, here is a bit of a recap of the last few months…

Fall was FILLED with activities.  A lot of travel.  In September, I went to Mexico with my cousins.  We were celebrating my two oldest cousins’ birthdays.  We have never done a cousin’s trip before; it was a long time coming.  It was spectacular!  

And while we were there, I told them how husband and I put an offer in on a house but we didn’t get it.  Sad face.

Then, I was home for a couple of weeks.  Which included making a second offer on the house (still no dice) and a family wedding.  The wedding was beautiful and so much fun.  It is so nice to get back to celebrating and being together.

End of September and into early October my mom, sister and I went to Spain.  Yes, SPAIN!!!  This trip was booked for 2020 and we were finally able to go.  None of us had ever been to Spain before.  Honestly, I never had the desire with all the places there are to see in the world.  Well, that was real dumb.  Spain is truly incredible.  The weather, the people, the culture, the food.  Everything about it.  We were lucky enough to visit Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona with some small stops along the way.  I want to go back right now.

While I was on the way to dinner in Spain (to make the paella pictured above), my husband called me to tell me we had another chance to get the house.  He and our realtor put our house on the market while I was IN SPAIN!  It was exciting but very emotional.  Also hard for a control freak like me.  Definitely a whirlwind.  

I came home to a “For Sale” sign in the yard and then we celebrated our girls’ 13th birthday!  Woo Hoo!  I have two teens now.  So far, they still like me and I still like them.  I’m thankful for every day they still like me.  They really are the best!

Back in February or March 2022 we had booked a trip to Hawaii for their 13th birthday (which was a surprise to them).  We got a smokin’ deal so we jumped on it.  Little did we know, our house would sell the week before we left and our offer would be accepted on the new house (which is a very old house btw).  

So, we packed our bags and headed to Hawaii.  The phones weren’t far as we were going back and forth with both the buyers of our house and the sellers of the new house.  So many i’s to dot and t’s to cross.  Thank god for our Realtor, Sheryl Babor!  She was truly fantastic.  She worked so hard and definitely was our advocate through the entire process.  I would recommend her to everyone!

Aside from the house stuff, our trip was the perfect timing.  The girls weren’t psyched about moving to a new house (no, they don’t even have to change schools), we knew the move and new house would consume the next year of our lives, and our girls were the perfect age where they still want to hang out with us, but they are old enough to be on their own too.  I will never regret taking that family time.  Plus, apparently our girls could be world class surfers… who knew?

Then we came home, we moved, the girls were in a play, Thanksgiving, and so on and so forth.  That was all within 9 days.  It has been absolutely BANANAS!!!!  

We are still unpacking and getting used to living in this beautiful old house with radiators and a scary basement and amazing woodwork, high ceilings and plaster walls…. so much.  Another bonus of this house, I get a Christmas Tree Room!  We don’t have furniture for all the spaces yet so I’ve decided to only keep a desk in this room for now and every December it will become the Christmas Tree Room.  

Everyday it feels a little more like home.  But it is going to take a while before it is exactly what we want.  There are still boxes to go through and construction projects that will need to happen and apparently I will need to make a lot of king cakes for Mardi Gras since I found my “bag o’ babies” while unpacking.  Still can’t find any table runners, but mini plastic babies I got.

I am still cooking all the time.  Just haven’t had time to share the recipes with you.  Our current favorites are baked brie and this sour cream dip I made that goes great with roasted potatoes and raw veggies.  These have been our snack foods for football and basketball lately.  Even though I wrote the recipe down, I didn’t take any pictures so….

This blog might change a bit over the next year.  It might be a little more of my personal diary than a food blog. I need a place to clear/organize my head.  This is it. I could just step back for a while but I missed not sharing with you all.  I hope you stick with me on this journey.  There will still be recipes along the way.  Just not as many or maybe not pictured… but I won’t share them unless they are good.  I promise!

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2023!