Of tarts and tart pans

Weddings are wonderful things. Besides being married to your best friend and sharing a home together there is one more thing that many people forget to mention.  But I am going to be honest here. Weddings are also great because it is a chance to receive gifts that you have always dreamed about. Of course David and I are EXTREMELY grateful for our generous friends and family. It is near impossible to set up even a small one bedroom apartment with out the help of others.

And while I am tackling the small mountain of thank you cards, I must also say thank you. And if you haven't received a thank you card I am WORKING on it. It is hard writing a thank you's when you have school, practicing, work, and organizing your apartment to do.

Nevertheless. I am here to say one of the most exciting things I received was additions to my collection of tart pans. Tart pans are very useful, if not just to make an ordinary pie look really fancy. I mean, look at them!

Who wouldn't  feel special eating a little mini tart? Or regal while eating a goat cheese, asparagus, and bacon tart from the rectangular tart pan? And don't forget the standard circle ones. It is quite necessary to have ones of multiple sizes. Recipes are fickle that way...

But here is a tart I made a few weeks ago from a Mary Engelbreit's cookbook: Raspberry brown butter tart. The middle had a very interesting flavor: a sweet, yet soft custard. There was an over abundance of raspberries in the tart, but if I were to make it again I would either add less raspberries or drench them in sugar because it made the tart a little less sweet than I was anticipating.

As I always say: If the unbaked filling is much more sweet and delicious and delectable than the finished product, tweak it.

PS... the unbaked filling tasted like caramel.  Oh my: HEAVEN.

One eye just isn't enough

It was just one of those days. David and I woke up a half an hour before we had to leave for school at 7:30 and in the rush of the morning I put just one contact in my eye.

Yes, just one.

Who does that? 

 This is my oh well face.

Of flutes and pizza

What could be better than fluting? Eating pizza with flute friends. Not at the same time of course, that would be blasphemous and very bad for the instrument. Every year my teacher April Clayton takes all the flute majors for our first class and we eat pizza at Brick Oven. I have decided that pizza is delicious. And yes, this is a very recent realization. It is not just delicious, but very addicting.

Oh my yum. And we got rootbeer. Which, I will allow myself to have every few months or so. Here's a picture of us all together and cute in our little private room where chatted up a storm, but not just on music.

We aren't THAT nerdy.

Organizing always creates a mess

I only have half my Mother's genes. I love to organize, but I get bored half way through and I take forever. I would much rather plan how to best go about organizing then actually organize it. Is that bad? Will this trait of mine ever do me any good?

That said, our apartment is still a mess. It's hard to organize when you have a bazillion other things to do. I try to clean a little bit everyday... Oh well.

BUT! We did accomplish the most important thing: We put up our books. Between the two of us we have two bookshelves full plus a bit in the entertainment center and in our desk. It is ridiculous. David is planing (and I concur) that the two largest room in our future house will be the kitchen and library. Beauty and the Beast style.

So, for my mother-in-law's perusal pleasure, here are a few pictures of our less than perfect apartment. :)

This is the before:

And this is the after:

Good Things to Come

Hello friends. I'm back from wedding and craziness and will try to make time for a post once a week. There will be glimpses into my life of school, wedding, cooking, David, craziness, family, work, and who knows what else.

But today's post might be a little different. No pictures, just a video I hope you have seen. If you haven't, please watch it. Or even watch it again.

Even though I got married to the man your man could be like, life is still hard. I think we all know this. Wedding bliss really only lasts a day. Now don't start imagining any problems I may have because you'll probably be wrong. But do know this, sometimes life goes a completely opposite course than what you planned or hoped for.

I know what it feels like to start on the path to London and end up in Kansas. Life is hard sometimes. I keep thinking of all those hymns with the message to endure to the end. "I need thee every hour" "Be still my soul" "Nearer my God to thee" "Where can I turn for peace" "Abide with me" And also all those lessons in Relief Society that teach about trials hardships. But what many lessons don't teach is the application. They don't usually mention how to get off the floor or how to not be bitter.

Of course the act of going to church and doing all that we have been asked to do helps us in our time of need. Of course. It gives us the spirit.

But much of the healing that happens, at least for me, comes from an inner strength. It comes from continually striving to become. It comes from not giving up on myself nor giving up on the Lord.

I know the Lord has great things in store for me even if I may not know how or what or when. And he is planning the same thing for each of us. All we have to do is keep walking. When life really hurts and the hurt doesn't go away, it helps to remember that "there is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don't come 'till heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be alright in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come.

Please watch: