good memories: )

Although I have been CRAZY busy this semester, the days I actually have been able to spend some time with family and friends has been AWESOME! I definitely have made some happy memories over the past month!

We celebrated my birthday a little late this year with a YUMMY dinner at Tres Mexicanos! I did NOT wear the birthday sombrero, but I did open a few gifts: ) Thanks, Mom and Dad!




One of my favorite gifts this year were my heart-shaped baking pans! Aren't they cute!?! I have been baking up a storm...



This is my favorite recipe! They might be my best muffins yet!

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, yogurt and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in bananas and chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

My Changes
I use the Splenda blend instead of sugar, and I also add some nutmeg and cinnamon. I have made mini muffins instead of regular ones as well as heart-shaped muffins, and I like use mini chocolate chips. They bake about 16 minutes. AND...I don't use my mixer - I just stirred everything by hand to avoid more dishes! YUM!

Mom and Dad joined us for fondue in February! Part of Dad's Christmas present was for him to be our first fondue guest! We received a fondue pot from Mom and Dad at one of our wedding showers, and we finally put it to use! SO MUCH FUN! Fondue is a Wilkinson family tradition, and Nick and I plan to keep it going! We had salad, baked potatoes (and sweet potatoes), ciabatta rolls, and beef. So much fun: ) I need to print the photos and put it in my fondue scrapbook!



Nick and I went to a wine tasting at Pachamama's a few weeks ago. We had been wanting to attend one of the wine tastings for quite some time, but we had not given it a try yet. I was perusing their Web site one afternoon, and I saw that the next wine tasting would feature Santa Barbara wines! We knew we had to go! We dressed up a bit and spent a couple hours at the bar wine tasting and munching on hors d'oeuvres. The wines were delicious! One of our favorites was the Firestone sauv blanc!

We forgot to take our picture while we were out, so we took one at home: )


This weekend I met Malinda's little boy, Ethan, for the first time! He is precious! Erin, Jane, and I went out to Malinda's parents' house, and we ate pizza and watched the KU game - all while passing around Ethan: ) I didn't take a pic with Ethan, but I am sure I will in the next couple of days when I head to OK to spend a few days with Malinda and her little family! I can't wait!

Erin and Ethan


Jane and Ethan


Malinda finally enjoying an adult beverage: )


Saturday morning I woke up early and went for my long run. I showered up, and then I went to KC with Mom and Claire. We had so much fun! We wandered around Archiver's for a LONG time, and we bought so much cute stuff! I have done a pretty good job of keeping my scrapbook updated since the wedding (I am only behind on my journaling!), so I picked up some cute papers and stickers for my January and February pages. On our way home, we stopped at a new cupcake place - Smallcakes Cupcakery. We saw their sign and decided to stop, share a cupcake, and...take some pics: ) SO YUMMY!








I spent the evening with Nick and Callie: ) Nick and I have been catching up on the first few seasons of How I Met Your Mother (Sarah and Steve let us borrow them - thanks!) and really enjoying our time together: )

way TOO long!

I can't believe it has been such a long time since I have updated this! I really shouldn't be updating it now either, but I am exhausted and have no motivation to work on everything else I should be doing!

We had quite a busy January and February! I can't believe it is March already! Today is actually 9 months since our wedding! Time flies!

My college friends came at the end of January for the annual In-Betweenie celebration! Krista's birthday is two days before mine, and we have had a joint celebration spanning three days for almost all of the nine birthdays we have known each other! This year it was a few days before our birthdays, and we had SO much fun! I always feel so refreshed after spending time with my friends!

They came in Thursday night, and we went to The Flying Saucer in Kansas City. We had a GREAT time! We stayed up too late, and Krista and I slept with the lights on because we couldn't figure out how to turn them off - haha: )

Saturday we had lunch at Johnny's, and then we went to Katie B's to hang out with her and her 6-month-old twins, Owen and Abram. They are adorable, and it was awesome to see Katie and to finally meet the boys!




I drove back to Lawrence and went for a run, and then it was time to shower up for a night on the town! We ate at Free State Brewery (my fave!), and then we did our own Mass St. pub crawl. SO SO SO much fun with my girls (and NIck and Claire!)!!







The weekend was much needed, but it does make me sad because I do not know when I will see everyone again: ( Last year there was SO much happening - weddings, showers, etc. - but this year I do not know what the next event will be! Most of the girls are headed to TX in May, but I don't think I can swing it this year: ( I hope to make some other plans soon!

Oh yeah! I also made my first pancake EVER in January! I used Silk Pumpkin Spice Soy Milk and added nutmeg and cinnamon - DELICIOUS! I took a picture of it because I was so impressed with myself: )



The weekend after my friends came, we headed to Texas for the KU-TX basketball game in Austin. The trip was AMAZING!!! The weather could have been a little bit better - it was a little cloudy/rainy/windy - but it was much warmer than Kansas at the time! We had zero problems with our flights, so that made the trip even better! We flew to Dallas Friday night, and stayed at Jenny and Tim's. In the morning, we drove to Austin and started our trip watching KU beat Nebraska. We spent the rest of the evening on 6th Street, and we did our fair share of sining at Pete's Dueling Piano Bar. Great night!

On Sunday, we ate at Free Birds, and then we did a little shopping on South Congress. Sunday was the Super Bowl, so we went to a sport's bar to watch the game. Once again, we headed to 6th Street to cap off the night!

On Monday, we lounged around all morning, and eventually we ate WAY TOO MUCH at the Mellow Mushroom. After lunch, we played cards at the hotel for several hours! It was fun to spend some quality time with Jenny (my third sis!) and Tim (my one and only brother!)! I did some much needed laughing: ) After happy hour, we made our way to the game! ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!! The game was a blast - there was SO much blue in the stands! Nick has been to the last four game in Austin (I went with him two years ago!), and this was the first time he has seen a win! AWESOME!!! As you may have already guessed...we went back to 6th Street after the game and celebrated with many other KU fans who were out on the street!

I have SO many good pictures, but I will just share a few of them...











I can't wait to go back!

Since then, I have been CRAZY busy! I have been working many, many, many hours on my IT class. It is going well, but it takes up a TON of time! I am learning basic Flash design, and I have to post my projects using Dreamweaver to my Web site. I am enjoying the class, but it is wearing me out! I only have four more days of teaching (and one teacher meeting/work day) before spring break - I need it!

I have a little bit more to write, but I am exhausted and just want to chill on the couch for a bit! I will update again soon - PROMISE!