My Favorite Soup!

Today I'm linking up at Kelly's Korner to share my favorite soup with you!

I used to hate soup. That may sound strange to you, but I think it's because my parents are BIG soup lovers, and I just got tired of it. I have since found so many different soups that I LOVE and especially on a cold winter's night, there's sometimes nothing I want more than a warm bowl of hearty soup.

This soup was first introduced to me by a co-worker who served it at our weekly girls lunch. I instantly fell in love and asked for the recipe. I couldn't believe how easy it was to make! It's a regular in my rotation of meals. Sorry I don't have a picture of it, but I hope you'll try it!

Tortellini and Tomato Soup with Rosemary

makes 4 to 6 servings

3 tbls. olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 can dice tomatoes, drained

6 cups chicken broth

2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary or 1/2 tsp. dried

12 ounces fresh cheese tortellini

3 cups chopped fresh spinach (I use baby spinach and leave it whole)

salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute 5 minutes or until softened.  Add tomato and cook for a minute.  Stir in broth and rosemary, bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes.  Add pasta, stirring to blend, and simmer 5 more minutes.

Add spinach, salt, and pepper.  Simmer, stirring often, until spinach is wilted and pasta is just tender.  Ladle soup into bowls and sprinkle with fresh parmesan cheese.

The Wonderful Delights of Moda Bake Shop

Hello again! It's been a while, but if you follow this blog, you've probably come to expect my unannounced absences. But I'm back this week for a couple of link ups that I'm so excited about!

When I first started sewing, I started looking at as many blogs as I could to see what others were doing and learn more about the art of quilting! I was so happy when I stumbled upon the Moda Bake Shop. Moda is an amazing fabric company that's constantly introducing beautiful collections from some of the best designers in the biz! But what I love about the Bake Shop is that they show you what you can make using their special pre-cuts. All of the tutorials are free and take you step-by-step through the process of a quilt.

I was so excited when my dear friend Stefanie gave me a Moda jelly roll for my birthday! I knew I had to head over to the Moda Bake Shop and find the perfect tutorial. I decided to use this one and hopefully I can finish it by Christmas! You've seen this picture before, but this is the last one I took.

The fabric is Jovial by basicgrey for Moda

The Moda Bake shop is full of other tutorials that I can't wait to try. I can't wait to show you the one I'm working on right now...but it must remain a secret until I give it away!

I pinned this one a while back, but I think I'll need some more practice before I can master it.

The bake shop isn't limited to quilts though! I am in love with these little coin purses! And they have the cutest projects for babies and kids! 

Even if you don't quilt or sew, there is enough eye candy to keep you coming back for more. Have you ever checked out the goodies at Moda Bake Shop? I hope you'll stop by for a visit!

Married to the Ministry

When I pictured my life as a kid and a teenager, even as a college student until Marcus and I started dating, I never imagined I would marry someone in the ministry. I'm not sure why, it just never occurred to me that that might happen.

Yet here I am, nearly two years into a marriage to the love of my life and wouldn't you know it? My husband is preparing to go into full-time ministry.  If there's one thing I've learned in my life, it's that God always has a way of changing your dreams for the better.

Being married to a seminary student is one of the hardest things I've done. But everyday, I'm so very proud of my husband and the commitment he has made to the Lord. It is not fun to deal with his ever-changing schedule and his late hours at the library, but I am constantly reminded that this is just for a season and soon enough (December!!) he will be done.  And then we'll continue the odd hours of weeknight church activities and the seemingly never-ending process of ordination in the United Methodist Church. ;)

Despite the trials of being married to a minister, there have been just as many blessings.  Marcus has a great job as a youth ministry intern that has not only provided scholarships for seminary, but wonderful friends and invaluable experience.

The life of a minister (and his wife) can be uncertain.  We're not sure where God will send us when Marcus graduates. But I know that I wouldn't change a thing about the life God has chosen for me. He continues to amaze, surprise, teach, and provide for me, and that is all I could ever ask for in marriage and in life.

Marcus and me after he preached at our church.

Today I'm linking up with other ministry wives at Kelly's Korner. If you're a minister or married to one, you should join us!

Ornament Swap

Ok, it's officially crazy time. Not only have I been busy working on Christmas gifts (I'm pretty sure my machine started smoking last night), it's also the busiest time of year at work. I've worked late every day this week. Granted it was only about 15 minutes each day, but still, working late is a rarity for me (not that I won't, my position just rarely requires it). But I digress.

Today I'm linking up at Mackey Madness to show you the ornaments I received in the swap she sponsored! I was paired with my new blog friend Kendra at Life in the Slow Lane. I was so excited to receive these little beauties in the mail!

Aren't they so cute? The first two were handmade where Kendra lives in Kansas.  And I have always loved that quote from Thoreau! Thanks, Kendra! To see what I sent, check out her blog!

Stay tuned for (hopefully) another post on Friday of all our Christmas decorations!

Lunch Break Make: Button Ornament

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  Friday night, Marcus and I decorated the house while watching Home Alone (one of my top five favorite movies of all time). I just love this time of year, and it's such a fun time in our lives as we create new family traditions and combine the traditions we grew up with.

My family never really had a tradition of making ornaments, but my mom insisted on keeping EVERY (and I mean every) single ornament I ever made in school or church and they ALL go up on the tree year after year.  We joke that we have the tackiest tree on the block, but it really is fun to see all our "artwork" and it's special to have a tree that's so personal to our family and full of stories and memories.  

This is the second Christmas for Marcus and me as a married couple and we don't have any handmade ornaments on our tree yet, so over Thanksgiving, I decided to make one!

This is a perfect Lunch Break Make. It takes about an hour, and once again, you can do this at your desk at the office, or on your couch, or if you're like my sister, on the train while commuting into the city!

Here's what you'll need:

Styrofoam ball, ribbon, glass-head pins, buttons!

Starting with a larger button, stick two pins through the button holes into the foam ball:

Repeat!

Continue to cover the ball with buttons, using small ones to overlap.

Tie a pretty little bow with your ribbon, and pin it to the ball.

And then you have a lovely handmade ornament! 

I used a combination of green and red, but you could use any color combo you like.  Wouldn't a white and silver one be pretty?

I originally saw this ornament at Curbly, and I'm linking up at Tip Junkie- check it out for lots of fun ideas!

Fill in the Blank Friday

I'm once again linking up at The Little Things We Do for:

1.   My favorite new blog of the moment is  Jamie Cooks It Up- her recipes look super yummy and easy. Can't wait to try some out!

2.   Something I am thankful for is our new heat/ac unit. It's getting cold here! 

3.  Something that made me laugh this week was  this "map" of the US .

via

4. An item that is currently on my wish list is  some fancy new fabric scissors .

5.  I am excited about  joining some ladies for dinner and a sewing lock-in tomorrow night- can't wait to show you my work!

6.  If I were a color I would be   gray- it's the new black these days. :)

7.  My favorite way to spend a chilly fall day is by  cuddled up under a blanket with my hubby and my pup, watching a good movie, reading a good book, and eating yummy food!

TGIF, y'all!

Introducing: Lunch Break Makes!

I'm so excited to share with you what will hopefully be the first in a regular series of posts here on the all-new Wish You Were Here blog! If you're anything like me, you've probably been spending a lot of time on Pinterest and discovering new blogs chock-full of inspiration for cooking, decorating, gifting, and wearing.  While my list of projects continues to grow, my time to work on them seems to get shorter. Many of the bloggers I follow are fortunate to call blogging their full-time job, but most of my friends do well to find the time to even read a blog every day, much less try out those awesome free tutorials they read about.

Thus, the idea for Lunch Break Makes was born.  In each post, I'll show you a tutorial for a project that I was able to complete in under one hour- on my lunch break!  It will be a way for me to tackle some fun and easy projects, and hopefully serve as some encouragement for all you working women!

So are you ready to get crafty? How about a really cute scarf to start things off?

This first project is one that I finished in exactly one hour. The best part is that the only supplies required are old t-shirts and scissors- so you can even do this at your desk without leaving the office!

I found this project on Pinterest and followed this tutorial at Kevin and Amanda. I had tons of t-shirt scraps leftover from my quilt, so I picked out some favorite colors and got to work!

I chose four different colors, but you can use more or less! I think if I were to make another one, I might go with a solid or two colors at most. After you have your shirts picked out, cut off the hems and set them aside.  Then, cut the shirts into strips, 3/4 inch wide.

I used my rotary cutter, but scissors will work fine. And don't worry about getting each strip exactly 3/4 inch (you can tell I definitely didn't!). The tutorial suggests 32 strips. If you want a longer scarf, cut more! I stuck to 32, so 8 strips from each color.

Once you've cut all your strips out, stretch them out! Then wrap them around your hand to create little ringlets.

Now take those hems you set aside and cut them into five inch strips. Then, just tie your ringlets together, and you have yourself a scarf!

I hope you'll give it a try!

This week I'm linking up at Tip Junkie for Tip Me Tuesday!

Fill in the Blank Friday!

I'm linking up with Lauren at The Little Things We Do! Care to join me?

1.   My favorite thing about this week was/is  taking a day off work to go shopping with my mom and grandma visiting from Texas!

2.   Colder weather makes me SO happy IF the sun is shining.

3.  Three things that make me terribly happy as of late are  my boys (Marcus the husband and Max the pup), family visiting, and birthday weekend!

4. If I could only wear one kind of shoe for the rest of my life, I'd choose  boots of any kind. Or maybe Rainbows...

5.  My personality type is  ISFJ...although this may have changed slightly since I last took it 5 years ago. I'm an extrovert trapped in an introvert's body!

6.  I have a serious problem resisting   shoes. Especially when birthday money is burning a hole in my pocket!

7.  My favorite color to wear is  black! And lately, royal blue.