Teaching a Class

I have had the opportunity to co-teach a class this month. We're half-way through the month, and I LOVE IT! Its a professional development class; I'm helping students with their career portfolio's (cover letters, resumes, references, master applications) and preparing for interviews. It's interesting to me how my students (most of whom are older than me) are completely unprepared to write a cover letter, and that the idea of transferable skills is so completely foreign that I had to not only define them, but give specific examples and even help people add to their list of transferable skills because they cannot identify them.

I'm enjoying the class, the grading process, and figuring out how to communicate effectively and help these students position themselves to find employment as they graduate from their respective programs. I'm excited to have more opportunities to teach, and hope they become more frequent!

Yesterday was the wedding. :) I took off work Friday at 12noon so I could handle the prep. By 8pm, I had the salsa, artichoke dip, broccoli salad, and garlic roasted potatoes done. I had the meat cubed and marinating for the kabobs, I had the spice cookies mixed and chilling, as required, the brownies baked and cooling so I could frost them, and the shortbread cookies coming out of the oven.

Then I went to a goodbye-dinner for my friend Cristi. Once I made it home again, I cooked the meat and sliced all of the vegetables for the kabobs.

It took us a while, but Josh and I prepared kabobs until 2 in the morning. 100 of them.

The frig, pre-wedding... I don't think it could have been much fuller.

My space for the food... I had the perfect set-up to set food out, and man the grill. What you can't see is a huge umbrella that provided the table, and me, some shade while grilling the kabobs.

I didn't get pictures when the food first came out... this was towards the end of the afternoon, after most of the platters and bowls were refilled, and people were full but still grazing. The artichoke dip was a huge hit!

The second round of the main course... things were fairly well picked over! :)

Relaxing on Sunday... we were completely worn out from Saturday's festivities! Josh and Donovan wanted to battle it out on the Heroscape board.

Audri and I made so no-bake cookies to go with our afternoon of Disney movies. :)

Good thing we have tomorrow off as well!

Catering a Wedding?

I'm getting ready to cater a wedding. It's my biggest cooking feat to date... I have catered a baby shower, but that wasn't quite the same. I have toyed with menu plans for weeks, and finally settled on one based on the budget, amenities at the wedding site, and number of people attending.

I'm feeding 50-60 people... the wedding is in our friend's backyard, and I have a small kitchen (with 1 oven, and no microwave) and a barbecue grill at their house. So, here's the menu:

Appetizers - cheese and cracker tray, fresh salsa, and artichoke dip.

Main Course - beef kabobs, chicken kabobs

Side Dishes - roasted garlic potatoes, broccoli salad, rolls

Desserts - scottish shortbread, double frosted brownies, spice cookies with pumpkin dip

Yes, there will be a wedding cake (that I'm not responsible for!), but the bride wanted some other sweet treats for those with a sweet tooth, as well as those who may not prefer cake.

Wish me luck! I'm excited, but a little stressed about the whole affair... I'll be taking most of Friday off to prepare; Saturday is the big day!

The Kids Have Grown!

The kids have grown! They are both getting so tall. :) They were here this weekend, and we caught them at some of their favorite activities:

Audri, set up on her computer while watching television before breakfast.

Donovan, playing Heroscape with Josh. He's grown 9 inches since October!

We had a good weekend; we mostly spent time around the house, but enjoyed the family time. Today we were able to take a walk, since it finally cooled off to the mid-70's. It won't last - we're supposed to be back up to the mid-90's by Tuesday. When the kids come back for Labor Day, we should be back to cooler temperatures, and will have more fun pictures!

Friends

I have been so blessed this week to spend time with my dear friend Heather, her husband Justin,m and their daughter, Serenity. Heather and I met in high school, and have stayed in touch over the years; she was in Boise for a training class, and we were able to get together a few nights this week for dinner. It has been fabulous! I won't list the meals I made (although they were yummy!), but I will say how much I loved having her here. It's such a blessing to know there are people I may not see every day or talk to every week, but can still get together with and continue as though we were never apart. Heather is such a sweet, funny, caring woman, and I am grateful to call her my friend.

Unfortunately, our camera is out of commission right now, so I didn't get any pictures. :( Next time... and we will be sure to have a "next time" soon!

Date Night

I love date night. I used to think it was kind of silly, since it's mostly just Josh and I, and every night is kind of like date night... but it's different, even if we stay home... date night isn't just the every night wind down at the end of the day watching a little TV night, it's the night we set aside to be special... sometimes to reconnect, sometimes to do something silly, sometimes to get out of the house, but always time that is just us, not focused on the stresses of life, not talking about cleaning the kitchen or weekend plans with the kids, not worrying about school or finances or the dirty laundry. Just us.

Last night was date night. :) I cooked us a fantastic dinner: steak in a mushroom sauce, and a side of sauteed vegetables (summer squash, zucchini, potato, onion, carrot, and green pepper). Then we had a pair of movie passes, so we headed to the theater. We were early for the show, so headed down the street and wandered through Cabella's for an hour or so, just planning for the future and mentally adding to both our camping gear and our survival kits, then back to the theater. We sat and held hands, and enjoyed the movie.

Nothing spectacular, but wonderful when we take the time to set aside an evening and focus on each other. I love date night.

Education Abounds...

Josh has started his MBA program! :) It's fun, because we should have the same classes for the next three months; we're both currently in an International Management class. I love having a partner in crime! :)

I've started putting out a few feelers for doctorate programs in higher education administration... I am not sure how quickly I'll start into that program once I finish my Master's, but want to know my options. Down the road, I'd like to move into the administration realm of higher education... we'll see. I'm not 100% committed to that at the moment, but it would be a natural progression, and matches my skills, abilities, and interests. Stay tuned!