kicking off the holiday season

on wednesday, we went to the annual christmas tree lighting ceremony at work.  the tradition dates back to 1971, and we absolutely love going each year.

every year the tree is a douglas fur.  this year's tree is 20 feet tall, with approximately 3,200 led christmas lights.  it takes eight men and a whole lot of patience to set up the giant tree.

as the community gathers around the christmas tree, each student club on campus places a handmade ornament on the tree.  everyone joins together to sing christmas carols, and then the president of the university flips the switch to illuminate the tree.

after, everyone celebrates with hot chocolate, eggnog, fruit cake, and christmas cookies.  it is such a nice way to kickoff the holiday season.

have a lovely weekend!

love, laurie

happy birthday, mom!

i am beyond blessed to have such an amazing mother!

happy birthday today to the world's greatest mom!

love, laurie

xoxo

oh, christmas tree.

on black friday, we kept ourselves far away from the crazy sales and the crowded stores.   instead, we stayed at home in our pajamas and we got in the christmas spirit by putting up our christmas tree.  i always love decorating our christmas tree each year.  it is so nice to unwrap each ornament and to take some time to remember the memories behind each one as we put them on the christmas tree.  christmas is such a special time, especially in our house, since we got engaged on christmas day.

we put our christmas tree in our living room and we decorated it with all of our favorite ornaments.  we also put up a miniature christmas tree in our bedroom too.  when we first started dating, i started a tradition of giving ryan a picture frame ornament each year, and we always decorate our miniature christmas tree with our picture frame ornaments.  (we're going to need a bigger tree for all of our picture frame ornaments pretty soon.)

of course, we had a furry little elf who "helped" us decorate both trees.  it is really amazing how much leko loves christmas trees.  luckily he is not as interested in climbing the tree in our living room as he was last year, but he still loves to chew on the branches and to play with the ornaments.  the poor tree.  we made sure that we secured the ornaments on both of our trees very tightly, wrapping the ornament hooks around the branches several times.  we thought that maybe the ornaments would stand a fighting chance this year, but we were wrong.  leko still managed to walk off with three ornaments from our tree in the living room, and last night he actually knocked the tree in our bedroom over.  it came crashing down to the floor with such a loud thump.  miraculously, none of our ornaments broke.  we're still working on teaching leko to be nice to the christmas trees.  it's a work in progress.  maybe we'll get there by new years.

i snapped a few pictures of ryan and leko while we were decorating the christmas tree in our living room.  i can hardly stand the cuteness of these two together . . . that picture of those two giving each other eskimo kisses is where it's at my friends.  i'm telling you, my heart just explodes from the cuteness overload every time i look at it.

love, laurie

bethlehem steel

we really enjoyed taking a trip to christkindlmarkt in bethlehem this weekend.  the market is held at the former bethlehem steel plant, which we had never been to before.  it was so neat to be there and to see the the old steel stacks towering over the old buildings left over from the operation of the steel plant.  walking around the grounds of the former steel plant was like taking a step into the past.  

the steel stacks are actually a series of five blast furnaces that were used in the iron making process.  instead of demolishing the historic mill, the site has been revitalized and transformed into an arts and entertainment district.  i just love when historic places are repurposed instead of forgotten.

you can learn more about the history of the bethlehem steel plant here

love, laurie

christkindlmarkt

on saturday we took a trip down to christkindlmarkt in bethlehem with our families.  christkindlmarkt is an annual pop-up holiday marketplace at the former bethlehem steel plant, featuring tons of handmade holiday crafts, food, and music.  we had never been to christkindlmarkt before, so we were excited to check it out.

our main reason for visiting christkindlmarket was to see ryan's dad sing holiday music with the wandering singers choral ensemble.   while we were there, we also walked around the market to look at the various vendors, check out the ice sculptures, and see an exhibit of gingerbread houses too.

love, laurie

giving thanks

we had such a great thanksgiving yesterday.  we spent the day at my parents' house and we really enjoyed cooking with my mom, spending time with our family, playing with the kitties, and of course eating way too much! 

hope your thanksgiving was lovely too!

love, laurie

happy thanksgiving!

happy thanksgiving!  we have so many things to be thankful for, and it is so nice to have a day set aside each year to reflect on what we are grateful for in our lives.

today i am looking forward to cooking thanksgiving dinner with my mom and ryan, spending time with our family, and of course digging into all of our favorite traditional thanksgiving dishes . . . turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, veggies, casseroles, cranberry relish, and pumpkin pie!

have a wonderful thanksgiving!

love, laurie

image source

roasted sweet potato and carrot soup

recently, i was looking for a way to use up a few vegetables that we had around the house.  i decided to roast our leftover sweet potatoes and to throw them into a soup with some leftover carrots, onion, and garlic.  the result was an absolutely delicious soup that was super nutritious and really easy to make.

this soup is loaded with veggies.  just think of all of those good vitamins and nutrients floating around in there!

the roasted sweet potatoes give this soup such a wonderful flavor.  there is a splash of unsweetened coconut milk in the soup to make it just a little bit creamy, and we topped it off with some sriracha for a bit of a kick.

the sweet potatoes and the carrots make the soup a great shade of bright orange.  (one of my favorite colors.)  it's the perfect thing to brighten up an otherwise cold and dreary day.

if you're looking for a simple vegetarian soup recipe, look no further.  by the way, if you substitute olive oil for the butter, this soup is vegan!  we're satisfying all types of picky eaters here . . . meat free, gluten free, and dairy free!

roasted sweet potato and carrot soup
prep time: 5-10 minutes
baking time: 20 minutes
cooking time: 35-45 minutes
yields: 6 servings

ingredients:
3 medium sweet potatoes
1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon salted butter
1 large onion, diced
3 large carrots, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon curry powder
32 oz. low-sodium vegetable stock
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/2 cups water

directions:
preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.  peel the sweet potatoes and dice them into small cubes.  place the sweet potato cubes on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.  drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and ground black pepper to taste.  toss to evenly coat.  roast the sweet potatoes for 20 minutes, tossing after the first 10 minutes.

in a large stock pot, melt the butter over medium heat.  add the diced onion and saute until tender (about 5-7 minutes).  add the diced carrots and cook until tender (about 5-7 minutes).  stir in the minced garlic and the curry powder.  add the vegetable stock and the roasted sweet potato cubes.  cook for 10-15 minutes.  use a blender or an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth.  stir in the coconut milk and the water.  let the soup simmer for an additional 10 minutes.  serve hot with sriracha.

enjoy!

love, laurie