It's the most wonderful time...

Christmas treats that Abhay and I made for coworkers (these trays are for Abhay's coworkers): peanut butter cups, white/dark chocolate cookies, chocolate covered ritz/peanut butter crackers. chocolate covered marshmallows, Oreo truffles, chocolate covered chips, and brownie covered Oreo! :)

Our little Santa!

--MMR

Turkey Weekend Fun!

Abhay and I were unable to be with family over Thanksgiving this year. (This was my first thanksgiving without my family). Instead of staying home by ourselves feeling sad...we decided to take a little trip! We went down to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg Tennessee. We rented a cabin in the mountains complete with a hottub on the deck and a fireplace. It was a cozy, relaxing weekend! Just what was needed!!!! Here are some pictures from our adventure into the Smoky Mountains while in Tennessee!

Abhay and I @ The Great Smoky Mountain National Park

Hangman's Cove in the Smoky Mountains

Clouds! You can see how high up we were!

Water trickles that formed into ice

Diwali Fun!

We went to Chicago this weekend to celebrate the Indian festival, Diwali with some of our dear friends. Here are a few picture.

Abhay and I

Abhay, Shruti, I and Rajat :)

Shru and me!

Sheldon's B-day!

We celebrated Sheldon's 1st B-day on October 22. :) His celebration was some yummy treats! (We don't actually KNOW when his birthday is since he is a rescue dog. But numerous vets/groomers have told us his development and teeth look like he was born mid-late October)

--MMR

Happy 31!

My Birthday gifts from Abhay--an iPod touch and flowers...:)

--MMR

Family

Us!

Catch up

I'm catching up in one big post of pictures...:)

I got Mhedni at the Ethnic Expo in town! :) 10-09-10

Abhay and I went to a pre-season Pacers game 10/8/10

Here is us at our friend's wedding reception 10-2-10

Here is my "niece" Bailey and I. Bailey and her Mom/Dad came to visit us the last weekend in September. :)

--MMR

Cinnamon Toasted Pumpkin Pie Tarts

Today I tried out a recipe that i've been dying to try for the past few weeks...Cinnamon Toasted Pumpkin Pie Tarts. They turned out delicious...like mini-pumpkin pies. (This was my first time using cookie cutters for cookies, believe it or not) The recipe said to top them with melted chocolate, but Abhay and I put whipped cream on top of ours. YUM! For the recipe you can visit one of my favorite blogs Picky Palate.

Doggie haircut

Sheldon got a haircut today (he needed one SO badly). We also found him 2 new bandannas at the local Farmer's Market. I am a huge Snoopy fan so I was excited to find this fall Snoopy one. They are designed so the collar goes through them. This kind doesn't seem to bother him at all (he's hot a huge fan of the tie kind).

Almost fall

This is a tree that I look at everyday when driving to/from school. I LOVE that it's almost all the way red. Yep, I enjoy fall.

--MMR

Children's Museum fun

Abhay and I took a trip to The Children's Museum of Indianapolis today. They were offering free admission to Indiana Teacher Union member's and their families--so we figured why not?! I have been a couple times previously, but this was Abhay's first visit. The Museum is a very cool place--it's the largest children's museum in the world. They had two new exhibits that I had not visited: Rock Stars Cars and Guitars and Barbie: The Fashion Experience. I enjoyed them both very much. Below are a couple of pics from the Barbie exhibit--both Barbie and The Rockers items from my childhood.

I had the Barbie on the top left. :)

I would have LOVED this as a child.

--MMR

New Chair :)

Abhay and I FINALLY purchased my anniversary gift (yes our anniversary was July 6th)...a new chair. We found the one we've been "searching for" at IKEA today. :) It's comfy and stylish--and fits perfectly in our living room.

--MMR

Flying Dog!

We bought Sheldon and airline travel bag today. (We plan on taking him with us on the plane to Minnesota over the holidays) Here is Abhay starting to train him to enter in the bag. Sheldon did a great job...hopped in the bag right away. It's amazing what treats will make a dog do. :) We plan on getting the bag out every evening and getting Sheldon comfortable with it, so when it's time to fly he feels safe and secure in it.

Cooking fun!

We had a fun Sunday of cooking. We made a Beer Butt Chicken (basically it's a whole chicken with a can of beer+butter and spices stuck up the butt and placed on the grill for 2 hours) for the first time. It turned out super delicious. I also made S'more Stuff Brownies. You can find the recipe for them at one of my favorite blogs, Picky Palate. They turned out to die for good.

S'more Stuff Brownies. YUM!!

Beer Butt Chicken Fresh off the grill

Beer Butt Chicken just starting to cook.

--MMR

Niagara Falls

Abhay had the opportunity to go to Buffalo, New York for a training last week. On the last evening of his trip, he was able to go and see Niagara Falls. Here are just a couple of the pictures he took. We're already planning a trip there so I can see it!

--MMR

Day 45 - Farmer's Market finds

Our purchases from this morning's farmer's market: Honey Oat Bread, Sourdough Wheat Bread, Chocolate-Oatmeal Whoopie Pies, and a Peanut Butter Whoopie Pie. ALL DELICIOUS!

--MMR

Day 45

Here is the front of the house with our summer flowers!

--MMR

Day 45

These are my favorite sandals. Abhay ran over/parked on top of the left one today. :( But in his defense, it was my fault for leaving them in the way. I will be looking for some new ones JUST like these.

--MMR

Day 44

Us enjoying dinner on the patio of Noodles & Co. :)

--MMR

Day 43 - Birthday!

It was Abhay's 30th Birthday yesterday, July 29. He was traveling home during the evening yesterday, we so we celebrated today. We went out for dinner at Tre Bicchieri, a hip little Italian restaurant here in town. And of course, we had cake for dessert. :) I think he had a good day.

This is the cake I made for Abhay's Birthday. It's Black Magic Cake (chocolate with a hint of coffee flavor) with cinnamon/coffee flavored frosting. I must say, it was super yum!

Abhay and his birthday present from me: a Flip Video Camcorder. :)

--MMR

Day 42 - Dinosaurs!

While going through my children's books in my classroom, I ran across this book--Dinosaurs. This was my FAVORITE book as a child. See all the wear on the corners? That was from me! :) I loved dinosaurs and learning anything I could about them. (As an adult, I am still interested in dinosaurs) I find it kind of funny that I liked these ferocious creatures so much. I was a very meek, mild, timid child.

--MMR

Day 41

Abhay is out of town for some training this week. This is how I spent my evening without him: Buffalo Wild Wings, Ben and Jerry's, and the movie Julie and Julia from Netflix!

--MMR

Day 40

This is a picture of Nienaber's Farm Market. We love going to this place in the summer for fresh Corn-on-the-Cob (and today we got zucchini, squash, and cherries as well) and in the fall for pumpkins and Chrysanthemums!

--MMR

Day 39 - Gray skies

This morning we FINALLY painted the one room we've neglected to paint since buying our house...the master bedroom. (Yes, we're pretty much professional painters by now) The bathroom was a tan/khaki color, but now is gray! (The paint name is Empire State) I am really pleased with how it turned out. It really brightens up that little room.

--MMR

Day 38 - BB

A new Best Buy opened in town today! We're so happy to have one in town...no more driving to Indianapolis to go to Best Buy!

(Ps. I know I missed posting yesterday. SORRY! My posts may not be as regular now that I will be starting to get ready for school :))

--MMR

Day 37 - Boxes!

You guessed it, this is my classroom stuff that has been stuck in storage for 3 years! My wonderful husband retrieved all the boxes from the attic of our garage! It must have been at least 100 degrees up there...poor guy. But of course, he did it without complaint. I was be able to look through most of the boxes.... I had forgotten about a lot of the items I have! :) I still have a few more boxes in our storage shed in the backyard to get out and look through. I'll bring them all to my classroom next week and get it set up! I'm so excited!!!! :)

--MMR

Day 36 - Rain Watching

Here is Sheldon watching it rain outside! :)

--MMR

Day 35 - Target fun!

I splurged in the dollar aisle of Target today! I just couldn't pass up the fun (and cheap) teacher stuff. I bought sticky notes, birthday stickers, name tags, picture name plates, and name plates for desks!

--MMR

Day 34- Steaks

This evening Abhay grilled lamb steaks (for him) beef steaks (for me), and baked potatoes on the grill. We love summer grilling. Only thing that was missing was some fresh corn-on-the-cob! :)

The lamb steaks were bought in Minnesota and we brought them all they way back here to Indiana (17 hrs) in a cooler filled with ice. We have yet to find a meat place locally that sells lamb and goat meat.

The goods on the grill

The Master Griller

--MMR

Day 33 -Sunny!

We bought these beautiful, huge sunflowers at the Columbus Farmer's Market. We went to the farmer's market one time last year, and it was lacking a lot. We had heard this year it was a lot better, so we decided to swing by. It was great!!! The market had live music and lots of fun vendors. Along with the sunflowers, we also purchased a loaf of homebaked sourdough wheat bread. YUM.

--MMR

Day 32 - Kindergarten

This is my Kindergarten school picture. Don't you just LOVE my hair? The dress I'm wearing was my favorite--Winnie The Pooh-and I still remember it fondly.

The reason for me posting this picture today, is that yesterday I was offered, and accepted, a kindergarten teaching position. I am totally thrilled. As many of you know, I've struggled to find a teaching job in the 2 + years we've lived here. I've worked lots of odd jobs in schools and got my name out and work out there for people to see....and it's paid off. Now, I have 1, yes ONE, month to prepare before school starts. I'm so excited to be back in the classroom with Kinder-kids. (You might remember I taught kindergarten for 2 years in Minnesota)

Cheers to a new adventure!

Day 31 - County Fair

This evening Abhay and I went and checked out the Bartholomew County Fair. It was a boiling hot evening, around 95+ degrees and humid, so we only stayed for about an hour or so. We enjoyed some good food (I had the BEST homemade ice cream) and saw some neat things.

Here is a food stand that was selling a some odd stuff--a pork parfait? And a donut burger, which is a bacon cheeseburger in between two glazed donuts. YUCK!

Here is Abhay enjoying his dinner. Can you tell it was HOT out??

--MMR

Day 30

I left my book on the couch while I ran some errands this morning. Sheldon decided it would be a good thing to eat! Apparently, he was NOT happy that I left him at home.

--MMR

Day 29- Watermelon

Sorry for the lapse in postings. We got home from vacation--and life got busy!

One of the best things about summer--juicy watermelon!

--MMR