Friday, August 28, 2009
House for Sale
We have decided to take advantage of the buyer's market and sell our house! Here are some photos. Will keep you posted on any offers we make or bites we get on our house. We have a few things in the works :).
Monday, August 17, 2009
In Loving Memory of Our Dear Friend Wade
Thomas Wade Ashburn, August 2, 1981 - August 16, 2009
beloved son, brother, golf super, music lover, ladies man, greatest hugger, dancing machine, dearest friend forever.
drew and i are overcome with grief over losing our friend. we can't believe this happened, don't understand why, and just pray for strength for wade's family and friends.
we are thankful for wade's friendship and the happiness, love and support he brought to our lives. i am thankful drew was able to spend wade's birthday with him two weeks ago and get one last bear hug. so it's goodbye for now but not forever. we will dance together again one day and when we do, you can dip me as many times as you want.
xoxo, amanda
wade at our engagement party at the christopher's, june 2006
wade at potts and meghan's wedding. june 2009
drew and wade rockin out
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Dream Cuisine
Everyone who knows me is well aware of my love of food (and carbohydrates in particular). I would never survive a low carb diet although I do try to eat them in moderation. Also, I am primarily a dinner kind of girl.
Breakfast
While eggs are one of the main staples of my diet and I absolutely love eggs benedict and soufflés, breakfast has never really been my thing. It’s usually option #1 - an egg or two, fruit and coffee, option #2 – oatmeal and coffee, or option #3- a non-breakfast food that is pretty healthy and of course, coffee.
Lunch
Lunch for me is mostly a necessity. I don’t like large lunches because they make me sleepy so I approach them primarily as providing me with fuel to make it through the rest of my day. Today I am feeling lazy and don’t want to go to the grocery store so lunch with be apples and peanut butter, maybe some sautéed zucchini or squash…or both. If I am going to eat leftovers, this is the meal I will do it. I honestly would probably skip lunch if my blood sugar didn’t require me to eat something. It’s just never that exciting.
Snacks
Snacks are few and far between too. If I am at work in DC, I’ll grab a piece of fruit or be bad and have a peppermint patty or whatever else my neighbor Maya and I are hoarding at the moment. I love to drink tea during the day- ginger usually because I try to only have caffeine in the morning, or green tea if I feel like I need a little caffeine.
Dinner
That brings us to dinner. Now that is where it’s at for me! I LOVE dinner. I love long dinners. I love cooking dinner. I love multi-course dinners. I am a realist and know this can’t happen every night, but I really love it when it does. And you can ask Drew, one of my biggest pet peeves is when people don’t put effort into making dinner. I rarely use our microwave but I honestly never use it when it comes to dinner. I love using whole foods for dinner and I love a balanced meal. I loathe highly processed foods in general but really can’t handle them when it comes to dinner. Drew has expressed his love of Stouffer’s lasagna several times but the thought of it just really annoys me to no end. Not in my house! Growing up my mom always cooked us a well balanced dinner so it is ingrained in me that this HAS to happen in my house. I love being the one to do it too.
Dinners at the Christopher’s usually consists of a protein which is almost always fish, chicken or turkey because I don’t eat red meat, brown rice and veggies. This might sound boring but we make it interesting, using recipes influenced by whatever type of cuisine we want that night. Lately we have been really into stuffed peppers, Indian recipes, light and low sodium versions of Chinese restaurant recipes and of course, always Italian.
I would be remiss if I did not admit though that we have been eating out a lot lately due to the craziness of trying to sell a house. Like most any other couple, when we are busy, we generally avoid cooking. While ordering takeout is not my favorite, we try to keep it healthy in sticking with wraps and meals from our local favorite thai place like basil chicken and lots of veggies. Of course every couple months Drew does sneak a pizza in there which I of course love to indulge in too. The fact that I am lactose intolerant and can’t digest pizza very well has been my saving grace – otherwise I think Drew might try to order it on a weekly basis.
Simplicity
Where my food comes from has always been important to me. Until this week, we’ve had all our produce delivered by local farmers in the area and all organic. I try to get to the farmers market every week to buy fruit and veggies as well. We are spoiled because we have a freezer full of wild caught fish from the many Christopher fishing trips this summer. We also buy fabulous wild pacific salmon from Costco that is affordable. We rarely eat Atlantic salmon. That’s a whole other issue but read about it and you won’t either.
When it comes to recipes, the simpler the better. It’s not that I don’t enjoy a challenge but I just love really enjoying and appreciating whole foods. Giada, the cook on Food Network, has some of the best recipes that fall into this category. You have to like Italian but generally her recipes are very healthy and very easy to make.
What’s the point?
So, this brings me to the real reason I thought of this blog post. I was trying to decide what to eat for breakfast and started thinking about what my dream cuisine for an entire day would be if I had access to any and all ingredients. I have so many different variations of this menu. Here is one version! Also, I should add that I would never be able to each this much in a day. Knowing me I would be full for the rest of the day after breakfast.
Dream Breakfast – inspired by breakfasts I used to eat at Grandma Mascelli’s
-shot of expresso, followed by some more strong café Americano (I am pretending I can have all the caffeine I want)
-plate of Italian cold cuts – soppressata, prosciutto, salami, etc.
-plate of aged Italian cheese
-fried egg
-hard Italian bread and butter
-blackberries
Dream Lunch – inspired by my love of southern food thanks to my husband
-small dish of shrimp and grits
-slice of bourbon pecan pie
-sweet tea
Dream Dinner – inspired by family recipes and one of the best meal’s I’ve ever had in Italy
- Italian wine pairings throughout
-1st course: mini salad w oil and vinegar and mini slices of homemade pizza margherita
-2nd course: porchetta or scallops over risotto
-3rd course: grandma’s homemade pasta and sauce
-4th course: Italian wedding cookies, limoncello
SO, what is YOUR dream cuisine? Have you ever thought about it?
Breakfast
While eggs are one of the main staples of my diet and I absolutely love eggs benedict and soufflés, breakfast has never really been my thing. It’s usually option #1 - an egg or two, fruit and coffee, option #2 – oatmeal and coffee, or option #3- a non-breakfast food that is pretty healthy and of course, coffee.
Lunch
Lunch for me is mostly a necessity. I don’t like large lunches because they make me sleepy so I approach them primarily as providing me with fuel to make it through the rest of my day. Today I am feeling lazy and don’t want to go to the grocery store so lunch with be apples and peanut butter, maybe some sautéed zucchini or squash…or both. If I am going to eat leftovers, this is the meal I will do it. I honestly would probably skip lunch if my blood sugar didn’t require me to eat something. It’s just never that exciting.
Snacks
Snacks are few and far between too. If I am at work in DC, I’ll grab a piece of fruit or be bad and have a peppermint patty or whatever else my neighbor Maya and I are hoarding at the moment. I love to drink tea during the day- ginger usually because I try to only have caffeine in the morning, or green tea if I feel like I need a little caffeine.
Dinner
That brings us to dinner. Now that is where it’s at for me! I LOVE dinner. I love long dinners. I love cooking dinner. I love multi-course dinners. I am a realist and know this can’t happen every night, but I really love it when it does. And you can ask Drew, one of my biggest pet peeves is when people don’t put effort into making dinner. I rarely use our microwave but I honestly never use it when it comes to dinner. I love using whole foods for dinner and I love a balanced meal. I loathe highly processed foods in general but really can’t handle them when it comes to dinner. Drew has expressed his love of Stouffer’s lasagna several times but the thought of it just really annoys me to no end. Not in my house! Growing up my mom always cooked us a well balanced dinner so it is ingrained in me that this HAS to happen in my house. I love being the one to do it too.
Dinners at the Christopher’s usually consists of a protein which is almost always fish, chicken or turkey because I don’t eat red meat, brown rice and veggies. This might sound boring but we make it interesting, using recipes influenced by whatever type of cuisine we want that night. Lately we have been really into stuffed peppers, Indian recipes, light and low sodium versions of Chinese restaurant recipes and of course, always Italian.
I would be remiss if I did not admit though that we have been eating out a lot lately due to the craziness of trying to sell a house. Like most any other couple, when we are busy, we generally avoid cooking. While ordering takeout is not my favorite, we try to keep it healthy in sticking with wraps and meals from our local favorite thai place like basil chicken and lots of veggies. Of course every couple months Drew does sneak a pizza in there which I of course love to indulge in too. The fact that I am lactose intolerant and can’t digest pizza very well has been my saving grace – otherwise I think Drew might try to order it on a weekly basis.
Simplicity
Where my food comes from has always been important to me. Until this week, we’ve had all our produce delivered by local farmers in the area and all organic. I try to get to the farmers market every week to buy fruit and veggies as well. We are spoiled because we have a freezer full of wild caught fish from the many Christopher fishing trips this summer. We also buy fabulous wild pacific salmon from Costco that is affordable. We rarely eat Atlantic salmon. That’s a whole other issue but read about it and you won’t either.
When it comes to recipes, the simpler the better. It’s not that I don’t enjoy a challenge but I just love really enjoying and appreciating whole foods. Giada, the cook on Food Network, has some of the best recipes that fall into this category. You have to like Italian but generally her recipes are very healthy and very easy to make.
What’s the point?
So, this brings me to the real reason I thought of this blog post. I was trying to decide what to eat for breakfast and started thinking about what my dream cuisine for an entire day would be if I had access to any and all ingredients. I have so many different variations of this menu. Here is one version! Also, I should add that I would never be able to each this much in a day. Knowing me I would be full for the rest of the day after breakfast.
Dream Breakfast – inspired by breakfasts I used to eat at Grandma Mascelli’s
-shot of expresso, followed by some more strong café Americano (I am pretending I can have all the caffeine I want)
-plate of Italian cold cuts – soppressata, prosciutto, salami, etc.
-plate of aged Italian cheese
-fried egg
-hard Italian bread and butter
-blackberries
Dream Lunch – inspired by my love of southern food thanks to my husband
-small dish of shrimp and grits
-slice of bourbon pecan pie
-sweet tea
Dream Dinner – inspired by family recipes and one of the best meal’s I’ve ever had in Italy
- Italian wine pairings throughout
-1st course: mini salad w oil and vinegar and mini slices of homemade pizza margherita
-2nd course: porchetta or scallops over risotto
-3rd course: grandma’s homemade pasta and sauce
-4th course: Italian wedding cookies, limoncello
SO, what is YOUR dream cuisine? Have you ever thought about it?
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Favorite Summer Picture
This is by far my favorite picture of the summer so far, taken on the 4th of July by Lindsay Conway. Looks like I am about to eat 100 hamburgers while getting spanked by Momma J at the same time. Now what Ryan and Drew are doing...who knows!
An Awakening Power
A friend recently gave me Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth (made famous by Oprah). I can't guarantee I will read the entire book anytime soon but I was blown away by the opening passage. Tolle describes flowers and their role in the evolution of our consciousness in the most spiritual and graceful language. I love this excerpt-
Seeing beauty in a flower could awaken humans, however briefly, to the beauty that is an essential part of their own innermost being, their true nature. The first recognition of beauty was one of the most significant events in the evolution of human consciousness. The feelings of joy and love are intrinsically connected to that recognition. Without fully realizing it, flowers would become for us an expression in form of that which is most high, most sacred, and ultimately formless within ourselves.
(From A New Earth copyright 2005 by Eckhart Tolle.)
I have always appreciated the beauty of flowers. I love sending them to friends and family, recieving my birthday delivery each year from Drew, and remembering the many arrangements that adorned every aspect of our wedding. My favorite bouquet of flowers will probably always be my wedding bouquet. It was so creative, fun and elegant - what I wanted in every way. When I smell the scent of gardenia's it takes me back to my rehearsal dinner night when I wore one in my hair.
My appreciation for flowers stops at admiring them though. I have never been interested in planting, cultivating and seeing the full potential of a flower come to fruition as a result of my care. I have always claimed to be too busy, to not have a green thumb, etc. I have never understood why my dad spends so much time planting and taking care of his flowers and garden (although I always admire them). Now I am starting to realize that I have been missing the whole point. Rather, I have been missing out on experiencing a whole other level of beauty.
As many of you know, we are putting our house on the market (tomorrow!) and moving closer to the city. Our intention though is to buy a house that still has a decent amount of land for us to enjoy. My hope is to be able to set aside some time to plant flowers at the new house and enjoy the process. I want to experience their awakening power and draw inspiration from them as well.
For now though, I am sad to say that our recent trip to Lowe's and subsequent purchase of a Jeep full of flowers had a purely business motive. We are hoping they will increase the curb appeal of our house. Here are some pics. (I hope to have some pictures posted of our house in the next few days too.)
Seeing beauty in a flower could awaken humans, however briefly, to the beauty that is an essential part of their own innermost being, their true nature. The first recognition of beauty was one of the most significant events in the evolution of human consciousness. The feelings of joy and love are intrinsically connected to that recognition. Without fully realizing it, flowers would become for us an expression in form of that which is most high, most sacred, and ultimately formless within ourselves.
(From A New Earth copyright 2005 by Eckhart Tolle.)
I have always appreciated the beauty of flowers. I love sending them to friends and family, recieving my birthday delivery each year from Drew, and remembering the many arrangements that adorned every aspect of our wedding. My favorite bouquet of flowers will probably always be my wedding bouquet. It was so creative, fun and elegant - what I wanted in every way. When I smell the scent of gardenia's it takes me back to my rehearsal dinner night when I wore one in my hair.
My appreciation for flowers stops at admiring them though. I have never been interested in planting, cultivating and seeing the full potential of a flower come to fruition as a result of my care. I have always claimed to be too busy, to not have a green thumb, etc. I have never understood why my dad spends so much time planting and taking care of his flowers and garden (although I always admire them). Now I am starting to realize that I have been missing the whole point. Rather, I have been missing out on experiencing a whole other level of beauty.
As many of you know, we are putting our house on the market (tomorrow!) and moving closer to the city. Our intention though is to buy a house that still has a decent amount of land for us to enjoy. My hope is to be able to set aside some time to plant flowers at the new house and enjoy the process. I want to experience their awakening power and draw inspiration from them as well.
For now though, I am sad to say that our recent trip to Lowe's and subsequent purchase of a Jeep full of flowers had a purely business motive. We are hoping they will increase the curb appeal of our house. Here are some pics. (I hope to have some pictures posted of our house in the next few days too.)
Monday, June 8, 2009
The Mailee and Amanda Show
Warning- the following pictures contain photos of me with no makeup on and no attempt at brushing my hair. I apologize if they blind you but I thought they were too cute not to share.
Drew and I traveled to Harrisonburg this past weekend to hang out with the Findleys and attend the wedding of Potts and Meghan in Covington, VA. Matt and Drew golfed The Homestead while I babysat Mailee and later shopped with the girls. We missed Mailee's 3rd birthday because of graduation so we brought a cake with us to celebrate. Thanks to Stephanie and Matt for the wonderful food and great company. And congrats to them on raising one of the sweetest most adorable little girls on the face of the earth. Enjoy the pics!
The girls
love this face.
i used to make this face when i was little - very attractive, i know.
monkey face!
mailee LOVES gia
cake time!
sadie knows something will be dropped.
Drew and I traveled to Harrisonburg this past weekend to hang out with the Findleys and attend the wedding of Potts and Meghan in Covington, VA. Matt and Drew golfed The Homestead while I babysat Mailee and later shopped with the girls. We missed Mailee's 3rd birthday because of graduation so we brought a cake with us to celebrate. Thanks to Stephanie and Matt for the wonderful food and great company. And congrats to them on raising one of the sweetest most adorable little girls on the face of the earth. Enjoy the pics!
The girls
love this face.
i used to make this face when i was little - very attractive, i know.
monkey face!
mailee LOVES gia
silly
cake time!
sadie knows something will be dropped.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Birthdays and Graduation Season
While the past three spring/summers have been referred to as "wedding season" in the Christopher household, it appears that the tides are changing. With six family graduations and probably 10+ spring/summer birthdays (many of which are milestone this year), we've hardly had any time to think about the weddings we are also attending this summer.
To give you an idea, here is a quick breakdown of graduations (please let me know if I forgot any!)-
Aimee Seitz, Trinity High School, PA- off to University of Pittsburg
AJ Mascelli, Chatham High School, NJ- off to Penn State
Lauran Seitz, Penn State - off to NYC
Emily Seitz, Loyola MBA- employed by Northrup Grumman
Matt Christopher, Lancaster High School, off to VCU
....and me of course!
Then we have Meg Mascelli starting grad school at American and Colleen Gallagher starting her MBA at George Mason. I have it on good authority that many others are contemplating an advanced degree too. If you see my little sis please pester her about law school.
I won't even start on birthdays except to mention that we celebrated a few important ones this weekend. Momma J and Uncle Danny (who turned 50), along with Uncle Rick's sister Anne. Drew, Gia and I slipped home to White Stone Fri night to take Momma J out to dinner and then made our way Sat to Mechanicsburg PA to celebrate Aimee's graduation and birthdays. Here are some pictures of the weekend. It was great seeing the Lenzi fam. Spending time with family and friends is our absolute favorite thing to do and we have lots of lost time to make up after this past insanely busy year.
Thanks to mom for finding us a dog friendly hotel so Gia could visit PA too!
Congrats Aimee!
Virginia (grandma) and I
50 birthdays- Anne and Uncle Danny, and the adorable graduate Aimee
To give you an idea, here is a quick breakdown of graduations (please let me know if I forgot any!)-
Aimee Seitz, Trinity High School, PA- off to University of Pittsburg
AJ Mascelli, Chatham High School, NJ- off to Penn State
Lauran Seitz, Penn State - off to NYC
Emily Seitz, Loyola MBA- employed by Northrup Grumman
Matt Christopher, Lancaster High School, off to VCU
....and me of course!
Then we have Meg Mascelli starting grad school at American and Colleen Gallagher starting her MBA at George Mason. I have it on good authority that many others are contemplating an advanced degree too. If you see my little sis please pester her about law school.
I won't even start on birthdays except to mention that we celebrated a few important ones this weekend. Momma J and Uncle Danny (who turned 50), along with Uncle Rick's sister Anne. Drew, Gia and I slipped home to White Stone Fri night to take Momma J out to dinner and then made our way Sat to Mechanicsburg PA to celebrate Aimee's graduation and birthdays. Here are some pictures of the weekend. It was great seeing the Lenzi fam. Spending time with family and friends is our absolute favorite thing to do and we have lots of lost time to make up after this past insanely busy year.
Momma J and I
Always coordinated Christopher fam
Thanks to mom for finding us a dog friendly hotel so Gia could visit PA too!
Congrats Aimee!
Virginia (grandma) and I
50 birthdays- Anne and Uncle Danny, and the adorable graduate Aimee
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