One Pot Pasta

Holland and I made this on Sunday evening. It was one of those nights where we were not sure what to make. I wanted to cook something easy but delicious and here it is! ONE POT PASTA! SO easy and easy to clean up and very tasty.

I found the recipe HERE.
I thought NO WAY can that taste good and work. It was ready within 15 minutes and while it was cooking I put together a salad and we were eating in no time.  Please give it a try and I will let you know if I come across other One Pot Wonders.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

ONE POT WONDER TOMATO BASIL PASTA

12 ounces linguine pasta
1 can (15 ounces) diced tomatoes with liquid * We also added 2-3 tomatoes from the garden!

1 large sweet onion, cut in julienne strips
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced( We used minced garlic)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
2 large sprigs basil, chopped
4 1/2 cups vegetable broth (regular broth and NOT low sodium)( We actually used the low sodium and it turned out fine!
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan cheese for garnish

Place pasta, tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, in a large stock pot. Pour in vegetable broth. Sprinkle on top the pepper flakes and oregano. Drizzle top with oil.

Cover pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a low simmer and keep covered and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes or so. Cook until almost all liquid has evaporated – I left about an inch of liquid in the bottom of the pot – but you can reduce as desired .

Season to taste with salt and pepper , stirring pasta several times to distribute the liquid in the bottom of the pot. Serve garnished with parmesan cheese.

Tending to the Home

Although we have been renting a house for the past two years I have to face that this is not only a house. It is our first house together, it is our home.

This is the first picture I took of the house to show Holland and talk him into renting it!

Holland and I both got an itch in late May to look into buying a house and the best way I can describe that experience it tiring, stressful and overwhelming.  We got qualified, put in an offer at a low price on a house in the same neighborhood and got denied- all we can do is laugh about it now. We had no clue what we were doing. We were convinced that although we could afford the asking price it was completely reasonable for us to offer 25,000 less than what the listing price was and also ask for closing costs. Needless to say, we ended up not finding the home of our dreams in time even though we looked at around 20 homes in San Antonio. We simply ran out of time since we had to resign our lease in the beginning of July. I was sad, but my heart was still happy because I love the yellow house we are already in. I love the neighborhood and I have the most fabulous neighbors in the world. Our neighbors watch Hannah and Bleu for us if we go out of town and I pay them with cookies. We have dinner and mini happy hours together as well.

July 2011 before we moved in

May 2013 

While we were looking at houses around the area I put some house projects on hold until I knew we were staying here for sure.  Once I knew we were not moving and staying for another year the first project I wanted to tackle was the bathroom. My mom is super woman when it comes to cleaning bathrooms. She shined my tub and helped me re-caulk the entire tub and toilet. Before it was looking black/brownish and moldy EWW! It is now looking brand new and I even went and bought some new bubble bath to celebrate the new look!

Next up was to organize our utility closet. Holland keeps some brewing supplies in here but this is the cleaning closet as well. We also store lightbulbs, house tools and cables and cords etc. When we first moved in I got a plastic shoe hanger for the door and I stuff all the cleaning supplies in there. This is SO much easier because you can see everything and its on the door instead of under the sink. We went to the container store and got some shelving and I went to target and got some bins and VOILA. I inspired Holland to organize all his tool pieces and put everything away nice and neatly. I think I am starting to rub off on him a little bit. ;)

The next project was our bedroom curtains. I have been wanting black out curtains for a while. I could never find just plain ol' grey ones though! The ones we have had for the past two years let the sun shine right through which usually isn't a problem because during the school year I wake up before the sun comes up but it is SUMMER TIME.  Plus, our room is always very warm since we have so many exterior walls.

Our room before black out curtains. 

I went to Joanne's and found the material to sew onto curtains to make them block out a majority of the sunlight and hopefully I will see a difference in the utility bill next month.  I have a 15% off teacher card with Joannes and the fabric was 50% off so I got the material for all 6 curtain panels for less than $30.00! I was sewing like crazy for a day and you can tell the difference below! It was also good to get the curtains and down and dusted before putting them back up. 

Panel on left has black out material and one on right does not! SEEEE!?

The last thing I did was crafty!!!! I made two new pictures to go on our entry wall. One on the left is a key to our house which will probably be more significant once we move away in the future.  I want to always remember our first home together.  The broach on the right was my grandmothers and I NEVER knew what I should do with it. Now when I walk in everyday I will always think of her.

Hope you are all getting everything you need to get done in your homes.  Holland and I are trying to keep the garden alive and we have plans to try and block out the yard and the area behind the garage since Bleu cut his paw yesterday.  Thank you for all your love  for him on Facebook! He is doing well and we meet with our primary vet tomorrow and he will get checked up on and get a bandage change.  I will post something on him later.

Happy Sunday!

Love,
Amanda

Briones Wedding Video

I have become semi obsessed with making video montages.  I just finished wrapping up one for some dear friends of ours, Amy and Elise Briones.  Words cannot express the amount of love that was felt by everyone on their Wedding Day. During their vows to one another there was not a dry eye in the crowd.  I am so glad to have been a witness of their dedication to one another on that special day.  When I finished making the video and I was previewing it I had tears in my eyes. Throughout all of the images all you can see are two amazing beautiful people in love.  Please enjoy and leave words of love for the happy couple.


                                       To watch click on this link: Briones Wedding Video

Note: Song used in the video- "A Thousand Years" was signed by a friend during the ceremony as part of Amy's vows.

I'M WORKING ON IT!

I love Holland.  I love how adventurous he is and when he goes off the crazy end it usually end up as a  funny joke and we all laugh about it later. However, recently he has been making my blood flow a little quicker and makes me question my ability to survive panic attacks where I have no control of the situation. For the most recent post on Hollands "adventure" please follow the link below. 

My boyfriend likes to jump in the back of strangers' vehicles.

It has taken me a few weeks to recover from Holland putting himself in harms way from the auto accident but I have moved on. He told me he would make it a point to THINK before acting and here we are as I write another post about my lovely soul mate.  So it was Wednesday July 3rd- We were hanging out on our dock at the lake house and watching the people across the lake pop fireworks into the sky. We cheered for them and then continued to relax and chat once they were over. It was around midnight when I decided to hit the hay and go to bed. I had my dogs and was facebooking when my mom came into the room and said 

"The boat house across the lake is on fire!"

My first thought....

I get downstairs to the dock and I see something similar to the image below. I think "well yup that is definitely on fire". I also think in my head that since my cousin just called that it should not get much worse than this.  Then I look at the jet ski ramp and see that  one of our jet ski's is gone...... then I start thinking out loud. 1) WHERE IS HOLLAND? 2) WHERE IS MY SISTER? 3) oh noo......

 Yes. Holland and my sister went over on the jet ski. Holland ran up the stairs to the huge house to try and let them know their boat house was on fire and my sister had a fire extinguisher from the jet ski that lasted about 30 seconds. She sprayed everything but the glowing never even slightly went away. Since it is completely dead on the lake and late you can hear very clearly. So I started yelling across the lake things in this kinda of order.

1) Okay..... I think y'all should come back now.
2) We already called so y'all can come back.
3) There is nothing you can do....
4) The fire department is on their way!!!!!
5) HOLLAND GET BACK OVER HERE NOW!
6) VANESSA GET HIM AND GET BACK OVER HEEEERE!!
7) THE BOAT CAN EXPLODE!!!
8) HURRRRY UPPPPPP!!!.

Vanessa was trying to get fire extinguishers out of their jet skis and then we hear her say that everything is really hot. Holland was on the other side of the boat house and I hear him tell Vanessa to go get him and she says she can't even see him.  In my head I just kept thinking that something could explode with them over there and I was so worried and frustrated.  Holland and Vanessa made it back safe and sound thank goodness and within minutes of their return the boat house went from having a glow to being completely engulfed in flames.

The other side of the lake is called Blue Lake and we live in Sunrise Beach.  Blue Lake has a volunteer fire department and so it took them a long time to get there. From the time we made the first emergency phone call it had been about 40 minutes until they got there and they didn't start actually putting out the fire until an hour after we had called. We sat there in amazement watching them try to control it. We could hear the firefighters talking and yelling to get more water and one yelled angrily " I'M WORKING ON IT!".  This became our theme phrase for the rest of the week like " Hey can you get me a drink? "I"M WORKING ON IT.  Hey ness can you come play a game with us " IM WORKING ON IT!"


We heard the firefighters saying that they thought someone has started a fire and then tried to put it out. We all looked at each other and thought maybe it was because they found the fire extinguisher that ness took over there.  I watched until the flames were completely put out and finally went up to bed around two a.m.

The next day we saw some people walking down and they were taking pictures and investigating the cause of the fire. It was pretty evident that it was fireworks because there were wrappers all over an area to the right of the boat house. We told them that two of our people came over and tried to put it out so thats why there was a fire extinguisher and they said that was okay and thanks for trying to help.

I cannot believe how quickly everything escalated and I am so glad that my sister and Holland got back before it got too crazy. When Holland rode up on the jet ski with Nessa I gave him the biggest stink eye. I told him he needed to start thinking of me when he was about to jump into something dangerous. He said he did think of me. He thought "Amanda isn't down here, so I should go across to the fire"
--____--
I am proud of Holland and all his bravery and willing to help rather than just stand aside but it scared the crap out of me. I called and talked with his dad to tell him the recent story about his son and his exact words were " Well Amanda, I don't know if it is every going to get better." TRUE. I am in love with a Lawrence boy and just with that last name you get a little crazy bug in you.

Family Is Where The Heart Is

I cannot believe it is JULY! I am starting to get a little itch to start looking at school things. I have been on Teachers Pay Teachers and becoming a hoarder on my Pinterest board for 3rd grade. I am excited to start thinking about planning for starting another school year but I am also having so much fun having plans for outside and no plans at all on some days.

This first week of July did not disappoint at all. Holland and I both had family come into town. The Lawrence clan came in and spent a week in town. Holland and I spent a few evenings visiting with them in New Braunfels and we had a big swimming and fish fry bash.  I am happy to report that I can name EVERY person and how they are related to the the family. I could probably draw a family tree that is 95 percent correct :). Hollands dad comes from a large family and their children span about 25 years apart. Holland is one of the youngest cousins and most of his cousins have children so we had plenty of people to catch up with. We saw some of the family when we were in the North East area for Christmas but it was definitely not a long enough visit. This mini reunion the family came from Massachusetts, Conneticut, and North Carolina.

Waiting for the fireworks!

Gonyea Family. 

Aunt Sharon, Uncle Carl and Gribbles Neighbor DiJan. 

Ashley and Mr.Whit

Kevin and Allison Bailey

Uncle Mike and Ashley

Bryce, Ellie, Raya and Jana. 

Whittenberg family,  Aunt Diane, Cousin Beth, Aunt Janet, Whitney and cousin Jen. 

Two out of three of the Whitneys!

Bleu spending quality time with his uncle. 

So from all those pictures I still didn't get everyone that was there! I love how big Hollands family is and I cannot wait to see them again! We are thinking that a possible Cape trip in September might be the next mini reunion.

The next batch of family visit was from my cousin and her husband, Billy who now LIVE in Chicago. I emphasize the "lives" because she does not consider herself FROM Chicago. She still tells people she is from Texas ;). We did some fun activities like going to the shooting range(EEK) and painting with a twist.

PP, Tio Greg and Billy

It looks like I was crying.... I was on the inside! AHH 

On my moms birthday, we drove to our favorite place! The lake house is our safe haven.  I was telling PP that when she first moved away it was strange to be at the lake without her.  We spent every weekend there in the summer during college days and I cried on my first ride on the jet ski without her.  We agreed that the distance has definitely made our hearts grow fonder and as long as we have an estimated plan on the next time we are going to see each other it makes all the difference.

This is my favorite time of day on the lake. Around 6 p.m. Everyone is either eating dinner or taking a break from the water and it is so peaceful. The light hits perfectly on the other side of the cove. 

 PP and I  came to the conclusion that we are far too old for wake boarding anymore. We each did three rounds and although we got up we were beat up. How did we used to wakeboard all day? We went for a Kayak ride and exercised our arms and we exercised our legs going up and down the stairs throughout our stay.  

My sisters friends, Bibby and Kristi brought a piñata that we named Manclovio for my moms birthday.  We all thought we were going to get a few whacks at Manclovio but my mom took him out in three hits. All that was left was his head but we all got to enjoy the treats inside. 

My mom had her very own special fire work turned into a fire show on her birthday. That has to be a completely separate post because it CRAZY! Momma, I hope you had an awesome birthday and lake celebration. I love that place. It holds a special place in my heart. 

Liberty and Equality for All!!

I woke up this morning and  I am still so happy/proud/ecstatic for all the positive energy I felt from yesterdays Supreme Court Rulings. I could not stop reading all the updates on my Facebook newsfeed of all my friends celebrating.  I know the change is going to keep on coming and I just hope it doesn't slow down after this huge success.

I am sure that most of you reading this blog know my passion of being an Ally for the GLBT community. It all started when I was in 5th grade and my sister told me she was different, she was gay. I remember crying all the way to my tumbling practice in the car. It was something I always thought but to have her validate it made it real.  She was shopping in the boys section for shorts and I remember feeling frustrated because she was a girl! Like me! Why weren't we shopping in the same section? Through the years it was a kind of a hushed conversation because my family did not know how others would or wouldn't accept my sister.  I am proud to say that not one of my friends every loved Vanessa any different. I became prouder than proud of who she was and how she carried herself.  Although I was emotional and possibly even sad when she told me she was gay  I am happy to say that her coming out has been one of the most rewarding experiences I have had in my life.  I will never be able to express how happy I am that she is my sister and YES she is in fact Gay.  I don't even want to think of what may have become of me if she wasn't. I would hope I would still be on this side the right side of history but honestly there is no telling.

 

While at A&M I was involved in an organization called Aggie Allies.  It started with a training that made you a safe haven for GLBT Aggies. Your name was put on an email server so anyone if they needed to could get in contact with you. I was involved with this for two years and then in my first semester of Graduate School, I met Lowell Kane in one of my classes.  Lowell is just the most AMAZING person ever.  He founded the GLBT Resource Center at Texas A&M and has recently moved to Purdue University and he started another Resource Center. He works tirelessly and with his whole heart to help anyone and everyone.  He asked if I would be interested in a Graduate Assistantship with the center for the following year and I happily agreed! My last year in grad school was fabulous and it was because I met so many passionate human beings and was involved with so many projects.  I was so sad to leave but I left with that fire still in me.  I will be forever grateful to Lowell and all that he has taught me.

 I remember when he first hired me he told me it might be a good idea to watch some of the documentary dvd's we had at the center. As the year went on and I learned more and more I accompanied Lowell to A&M classrooms to present facts and also issues that the GLBT community faces.  I remember being SO nervous talking and he told me " Amanda, you're going to be a teacher. You can do this and talk in front of people". I still do. Some friends still ask me questions and I get so excited to answer them the best that I can.  I got a text from a friend a few weeks ago that asked what the entire GBT acronym stood for.  In case you are interested it it GLBTQQIAP. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual and Pansexual. :) One of my favorite things we did was the Guess Who's Gay Panel. There would be 6-8 people on the panel and there was a mixture of identities. The group could ask anyone or the whole group a question like " What is your favorite movie? How many pairs of shoes do you own? What were you for Halloween? Any question other than are you gay, straight or bisexual? We would leave the room after 10-15 minutes of questioning and the audience would vote and give reasons why they voted the way they did. In all the times I did this probably 10-12 times I was only voted straight once.  It is a way to show you cannot judge a book by its cover.

My time at The Resource Center was golden.

Also, if you have never heard of the NOH8 Campaign check them out! NOH8 Campaign
The founders Adam Bouska and Jeff Parshley started the campaign in reponse to Prop 8 which is now gone!! WHOO. I was lucky to get to help out two times with the campaign. Once when they came to College Station and once in Austin.

Volunteers in College Station: October 2010

Volunteers in Austin: May 2011

There is still so much more to fight for but we do need to celebrate the victories from yesterday. Here are some pictures that touch my heart.  Love all of you, thanks for reading! Love is Love.

Our friends that are family. Elise and Amy Briones. Married in Austin on June 8, 2013.  It was the most beautiful ceremony I have ever witnessed.  Amy said in her vows "Growing up, I never fit in. I never had the homecoming or the prom. Today it's my turn.  Its our happy ending".  There was not a dry eye in that audience! 

Fellow Aggie, David Elizondo. David now works for the Human Rights Campaign in D.C. I love to see all the amazing pictures he gets in the press! Keep up the great work, David!

San Francisco City Hall

Karla and Haley recently moved to California. They were out celebrating last night!

US Airforce over California...... 
Just amazing that the united states government would prepare for a historic day and tell their pilots, tomorrow we will load your planes with color smoke and form a rainbow in the sky showing support to lgbt community. Taken from Lowell Kane fb page. 

Hands Across Aggieland march in my last weeks at A&M. 

Quinoa Stuffed Avocados and Roasted Cauliflower

Made this for dinner last night and it was  delicious and pretty nutritious if you ask me!

Quinoa Stuffed Avacados

Need
-4 large Haas avacados.
-can corn
-can black beans
-1 package taco seasoning mix
-1 tsp apple cider vinegar.
-1/4 cup chopped cilantro.
-red pepper chopped(optional)
-1/2 red onion chopped.
-1-1/2 cups cooked quinoa

Cook quinoa according to package. I use veggie stock instead of water to give the quinoa more flavor.

Mix corn, black beans, taco seasoning, apple cider vinegar, cilantro, red onion and red pepper.
Add cooked quinoa little by little and mix thoroughly with taco seasoning mixture. Depending on the quinoa you use, you might have some left over which you can eat by itself or use for another recipe later.

Cut avocados in half and peel off skin. I took out some of the filling to give more room for quinoa mixture.  Place avocados on a baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with cooking oil.  Spoon mixture into avocados- again you may have extra mixture!

Cook for about 15 minutes at 350. If you wish you can top with cheese after 15 minutes and bake again  until cheese is melted.



Roasted Cauliflower

I have become addicted to this. SO easy and SOOOOOO good.

Need:
-1 large head of cauliflower
-1/2 cup olive oil
-juice from 1 lemon
-1 tablespoon of minced garlic(I use almost double of this because Holland and I are garlic freaks!)
-salt and pepper to taste
-parmesan cheese.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Chop up cauliflower into florets. I like to make them bite size.  Line baking pan with foil, put cauliflower in and drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt and pepper. Toss cauliflower with hands to make sure everything is evenly coated. Bake at 450 for 20-25 minutes. Take out and top with parmesan cheese and bake for 2-3 more minutes.

Hope y'all enjoy these! Let me know what you think!

-Amanda