Welcome to Murray, NE

Last week when  Patrick was here, we still weren't able to meet with our photographer for official engagement pictures.  On Friday we asked Sarah to come out to Murray, NE with us to take some pictures so we could have at least a few non-selfie couple pictures.  She did a pretty good job, don't cha think?

Taking these pictures must have put me in the wedding planning mood.  I think I did more in these last two weeks than the last two months.

Thanks for reading!

Homemade Runzas

And after a long break, I am back with another post.

I feel like I have been so busy lately! Keeping up with my new jobs, wedding planning, and various craft projects have been filling my day.  Important things I want to remember about this time of my life:
1. I found a wedding dress!! I love it! I am so so so relieved to finally be able to stop looking for one though.
2. I've really started to settle into the routine of my job (inpatient acute).  The first few weeks of the job were pretty rough, so I am relieved to be feeling more comfortable with being an OT.  I am also working one night a week at an outpatient pediatric clinic.  This OT thing is pretty great!
3. I cannot wait to share my latest craft projects :)

If you're from Nebraska, Runzas are a staple.  Beef, cabbage, sweet bread.  Life doesn't get better.
Here's an easy Runza recipe for those of you that happen to be living in Arizona and don't have Runzas around (or anywhere else outside of the Midwest for that matter).

*Fun Fact of the Day* Schuyler actually used to have a Runza Restaurant.

Dough:
-5 cups of flour
-1/2 cup of sugar
-1 tsp salt
-2 pkgs dry yeast
-3/4 cup milk
-1/2 cup water
-1/2 cup shortening
-2 eggs

Heat milk, water, and shortening until warm.  Add 1 3/4 cup flour, sugar, salt, and yeast.  Add eggs.  Use electric mixer to blend the mixture.  The blend for 3 minutes on med speed.  Stir/knead in rest of flour.  Cover with towel and let dough rise ~40 minutes.

Filling:
- 1lb ground beek
-1/2 cup chopped onion
-2 cups of cabbage
-2 Tbsps butter
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/8 tsp pepper

Brown beef and onions.  Melt butter in saucepan and add cabbage.  Cook cabbage till soft, stirring often.   Mix cabbage and beef mixture together.

Once your dough has risen, take a golf ball sized piece and roll it out.  You want to roll this pretty thin.

Spoon the beef cabbage mixture onto it.

Fold up and pinch the edges.

Flip over so the seams are on the bottom and place on a baking pan.  Do this for the rest of the dough and beef mixture.

You're supposed to let them rise for another hour at this point, but if you're really  hungry, I would just say to go for the gold (exactly what I did).

Bake them at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden.

Delish!!

Normally I dip them in ketchup, but guess which brilliant sisters never thought to buy ketchup?

The whole batch made about 10 of them.  I ended up just baking 2 and wrapping the rest in aluminum foil to freeze.

Thanks for reading!

The Shrine of the Holy Family

This past week Patrick came to see me! I love it when he gets to come, but the weekends always go so fast.  Cannot wait until next time!

We spent some time in Lincoln this weekend.  My family had a wedding to go to and we spent some time with some old college friends.  On the drive back to Omaha, there is a beautiful shrine built along the interstate.  We decided to finally stop there this weekend, and were so happy we did!

It was so peaceful and beautiful there.  I probably could have stayed all day.  Can't wait to go in the summer and walk on some of the trails surrounding it!

Credit where credit is due: Patrick took most of these pictures.
Thanks for reading!

I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore.

Not that anyone would really be able to tell the difference between a Nebraska and Kansas sunset, but the point is that I am back home in Nebraska!  Even better, I get to spend Christmas break at home on the farm until I start fieldwork on January 6th.

Last Thursday, Dad, Nick, and Sarah came down to Kansas City to help move me out.  Although moving is always so much more work than originally planned, we managed to have a good time.  Besides loading up all of my stuff and cleaning out my apartment, we managed to see lots!  We went on a Harley Davidson tour (Sarah and I went shopping during this), ate at Oklahoma Joe's, went to see the lights at the Plaza and the Crown Center, and went on a Boulevard tour.  

Unfortunately, when we finally got back to Omaha and unloaded everything, I realized I had a lot of unpacking to do.  (Sorry, Stacey, for leaving my stuff all over your house.)  But on the bright side, I get to live with my sister!!! Camp Sister starts now!

I have to say, I'm pretty excited for Christmas!

"Miss You" mugs

I completed this DIY a while ago, but couldn't post it because Patrick would have seen it.

I found the tutorial for these here.  I just loved the idea.  It was actually really easy and didn't take long at all.

You just use a sharpie and bake them for 45 minutes.  

If you're going to try it, here are a few tips:

-Print out a state outline to trace (work smarter, not harder)

-Use eyeliner to initially trace the state, then trace around it with the sharpie.  The eyeliner just wipes off!

-Get rid of all your long distance friends/boyfriends except for the ones that live in states like Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico.  Totally kidding.  But seriously, who decided on the shape of Maryland anyway?!?

The possibilities with a mug and a sharpie are endless.  

Thanks for reading!

GBR

Normally I am 100% a Creighton Bluejay fan.  However, living in Kansas/Missouri during football season makes me REALLY miss Nebraska. (Only 96 days until I get to move back!)

I just love all of the state silhouette stuff out right now, so when I found this Husker red chevron fabric, I knew that it was destiny.

This was SUPER easy to make.  All I did was print out an outline of Nebraska and trace it onto my fabric and then cut it out.  I used the blanket stitch on my sewing machine to sew it onto the fabric.  

The towels are just barmop towels from Target.  I love using these to make cute towels, but I think that they are just a little too short.  Sewing the strip of fabric on the bottom was an easy fix.

My sewing machine has an embroidery function, so this is what I used to sew the "GBR."

I'm sending one to my sister, Stacey.  Hope she likes it! 

Thanks for reading!