First Anniversary

Last Monday was the husband and my first anniversary. I can't believe it's already been a year! So many memories have been made and I am really looking forward to many many more years like this one. I am one blessed girl to have this guy in my life. Happy anniversary, husband!

And for old time's sake, here's what we were up to a year ago on October 15th. 

Jake and Kik's Wedding (First Draft) from Justin Ridge on Vimeo.

Packers Game

If you know Jake very well, you know he is a huge Packers fan. Once every few years, the Packers come to Indy to play the Colts. Of course we had to go to the game! The bad news? The Packers lost. Horribly. It was ugly and it's probably best not to bring it up to the husband. The good news? We got to hang out with our friends Melissa and Nick (he's a Packers fan, too)! 

Hannah's Wedding

We celebrated my cousin Hannah's wedding this past weekend. It was in a beautiful church-turned-art gallery in Covington, KY. Take a look! Congrats, Belle!

Renaissance Festival

I hung out with a pretty cool youth group last weekend during their first trip to the Renaissance Festival in Mason, OH. 

We celebrated its opening bright and early.

I admired knit-bombed trees.

We had a royal welcoming from Queen Elizabeth.

We witnessed quite a joust.

We showed how loving our marriage is.

I even made a new Nordic friend!

Overall, great day!

Chautauqua

The family and I made our yearly pilgrimage to Madison for the Chautauqua Art Festival this past weekend. This year, Jake and I spent the day with our parents and my aunt and uncle. It's so neat to start to see our two families getting to know each other and spend time together. The weather was beautiful and I enjoyed being back in Madison for the day. It's always one of the fall traditions that I really look forward to.

Kale Chips

I'm the sponsor of my school's Garden Club and I'm starting to learn quite a bit about gardening and what you can make with the more unusual veggies that we grow. My newest garden discovery is kale. Some students had made "Kale Chips," which they said were really tasty. I was a tad bit skeptical, but I gave it a try. They really are good! They're quite crunchy, so it gives me the same type of taste as chips, but a ton healthier. Here's the recipe I used.

 

Kale Chips

Ingredients: 

1 bunch kale

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a non insulated cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. With a knife or kitchen shears carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale. Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning salt.
3. Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Miss Dawn's Wedding

Last Friday I had the pleasure of watching one of my very good college friends get married. Dawn looked absolutely beautiful and the wedding and reception were so "her," down to the polka dot ribbons in the bouquets. Added bonus at the wedding was reconnecting with so many of my Hanover people. Four years later I can still pick right up where I left off with each and every one of them, and that is such a gift to have in my life. Plus we can boogey down pretty well to some Journey songs, as was evident at the reception. :)

Congrats, Dawn and Justin! Here's to many more happy years together. Love you two!