T and I have been very busy these last couple of weeks spending only about half of our time at home, and the rest in one of our favorite cities...any guesses where? Iowa City of course. Last weekend we kicked off the celebrations with T turning 30 (and thinking his life is over), an Iowa Hawkeye victory against Northwestern at Kinnick Stadium, and enjoying some of our favorite haunts...aaaaaah Three Samurai...what I wouldn't give to transport you to our sushi-less corner of the state.

 T and I at the tailgate this weekend.

Love my family.

This past weekend we found ourselves back in IC for some more tailgating, another Hawkeye football game, and celebrating T's brother's birthday. While we had a wonderful time, so much road tripping lately has left us wishing for some new music on the radio, a home-cooked meal, and a weekend without travel. I think these cranberry almond biscotti may just help us ease back into the routine!

H, myself and S (college roomies) tailgating together at Iowa's homecoming this fall.

Look who made it down for a game!!

Tailgating with my brother.

Gramps and the boys at the game this weekend.

Until next time...GO HAWKS!

Hearty Potato Soup with Corn and Ham

On a chilly fall day, there is nothing better than a warm bowl of soup. Seeing as there have been flurries in the wind over the last couple of days...and it's only OCTOBER...soup and hearty fall dishes are going to be showing up more regularly on my dinner menu helping to ward off the chill.

Yesterday, after the first showing of snow, I was inspired to get out some fall decorations. After unearthing them from a long-forgotton box tucked away in the storage room, I realized when it comes to fall decorations, my options are pretty limited. I tend to keep things around the house pretty simple and clutter-free, so I don't get too carried away with specific holiday decorating unless it's Christmas. I did however stumble across this little gem of a fall quote, and think it would be really cute to write on a chalkboard or use as a wall hanging.

Anyways...back to the soup. This soup, in addition to being warm and hearty, is super simple and inexpensive to make, and doesn't require hours of preparation. Woohoo! ALERT: You will want to have a crusty bread to serve alongside this cozy little dish.

Recipe adapted from Food Network

HEARTY POTATO SOUP WITH CORN AND HAM | Yield: 6-8 servings | Total Time: 45-50 min.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 stick butter
1 small onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp flour
8 medium russet potatoes, peeled & cubed (about 6-7 cups - OK to substitute different types of potatoes)
4 C milk
2 chicken bouillon cubes, dissoved in 1/2 C hot milk
1 can corn
1 pkg ham steak, grilled or broiled, cut into bit-sized pieces
1 C half-and-half
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Cheddar, bacon bits, green onion or chopped dill for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

In a soup pot, melt butter and saute the onion and carrots for about 8 minutes, or until tender. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add potatoes, milk and dissolved bouillon cubes. Cook over medium heat for 25-30 minutes, or until potatoes are very soft. Meanwhile, cook the ham. You can follow package instructions and grill or broil to your liking. Add the half-and-half, corn, diced ham, salt and pepper. Heat through and serve with shredded cheddar, bacon bits and green onion or chopped dill for garnish.

What is your favorite fall soup?

Lessons on Building and Buying a New Home

Hello Lovers. I'm alive! No, I did not fall off the planet in the last couple of months as some of you might have thought. I have, however, been beyond busy with moving to our new casa on 'The LG' (a.k.a. Lower Gar to everyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about). In the last month and a half, I have had the privilege of unfortunate task of yelling at our contractor, dealing with not one, but TWO major gas leaks, and unpacking about 200 boxes on moving weekend without the help of T, who escaped to be on call ALL WEEKEND LONG. A BIG shout out to my mom for coming to help with some of the unpacking in his absence.

T & I on closing day. So excited to finally be able to move into our new home.

The boxes. T is trying to hide himself from having to help unpack!

LESSONS LEARNED | Home Building & Buying

1. We loved choosing all the finishes and personalizing our home to our own tastes.

2. We purchased a spec home (a residence built without a particular buyer in mind or under contract, but designed to appeal to the maximum market possible) at a very early stage of construction and then basically turned it custom. Our builder was very disorganized, and never once shared a list of allowances for the various areas of our home. Read: all those finishes and personalization we love so much = upgrades. We are very pleased with the end product, but there was a lot lost in translation when it came to budget.

Image via pinterest

3. Communication. There was a major breakdown when it came to communication between us, the builder, the listing agent, and the bank handling our mortgage. The builder, who I mentioned did not share the allowances/upgrades with T&I, also did not share them with the listing agent who draws up the final closing statements. Therefore, the bank was not aware of any upgrades until the very last minute causing a mad scramble to have our home re-appraised, and the mortgage revised to reflect the adjustments. SIDE NOTE: Our own personal realtor, Kirk Stauss of Stauss Realty was a delight to work with, and we would highly recommend using their services if you are in the market for a new home in the Iowa Great Lakes area. 

Another example of breakdown in communication. The week before we closed, we were forced to change several major items, including, but not limited to: all faucet and bath hardware, countertops, and carpet. Seriously. All of these items had been decided upon and shared maaaaany months earlier, so on top of everything else that seemed to be crumbling around that time, this was another major stress to add to the pile.

image via pinterest

4. Timeline. When we purchased our home...waaaaaaay back in April, our tentative closing date was July 31st. Yes. July 31st. July came and went, August came and went, and the greater part of September came and went. We finally closed on September 25 (hallelujah!), after what is quite possibly the most stressful few weeks of our lives to date. NO. JOKE.

Explanation: T & I locked in our mortgage rate waaaaay back in mid-June for 90 days. This should have been more than enough time for our contractor to get the job finished, buying him an extra month and half to finish after our tentative closing date. We immediately saw the cost-savings benefit to us as the interest rates continued to rise for more than a month after we locked in. However, that 90-day lock is pretty concrete. As time closed in on our 90 days, it became apparent that our builder was not going to finish the job. After a serious talking to, he agreed that our house should have been completed long before this became an issue, and ended up paying for the extension on our mortgage to keep our rate lock. Whew! (For any of you out there in this situation, know that you are able to get a 15 or 30 day extension on a 90-day lock, but you'll have to pay a percentage of your mortgage in order for this to happen.)

image via pinterest

Lesson: When building a house, ask for a general timeline of what will be happening when, and always ALWAYS have it written into your purchase agreement that if the agreed upon date passes, it is the builder's responsibility to pay any penalties.

Lesson: Confidence. Clearly state your expectations from day one. If you notice things aren't happening, call your builder and demand explanations. If you are tied into a specific timeline based on your mortgage rate lock, communicate this early and often.

Lesson: If purchasing a spec home that you plan to customize, require a list of allowances before signing anything. We asked multiple times for a list, and never received anything in writing regarding the allowances or where we were at with upgrades until closing day. Unacceptable.

Lesson: Ask around the community you live in for recommendations on local contractors. Ours does nice work, but has terrible management of subcontractors, has too many projects going at once, and has very poor communication.

Ultimately, building our new home has had many ups and downs, and we've learned many valuable lessons. We are happy it is finished, we are moved in, and finally able to enjoy our new home. Would we ever do it again? T's not so sure, but I think now that we have the experience under our belts we would be better prepared for next time...

Do you have any extra advice to add about home building or buying?

Escape to Boston

As some of you know....since my latest post, T & I were lucky enough to escape on a little getaway to Boston. It was so nice to step away for a while and not be constantly consumed with the joy trials and tribulations of building a home. More on that later...While we were in Boston, we had a wonderful time taking in some American history and seeing the sights. An update from my camera roll...

FENWAY. One of the many things on T & I's bucket list is to visit as many Major League Baseball stadiums as we can. Fenway was listed pretty high on that list because of it's age and just general awesomeness. Opening it's doors in 1912, Fenway is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium in use. It has hosted 11 World Series, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was so much fun to be standing in an original ballpark that some of the greatest baseball players throughout American history have played in. Also fun...watching 8 home runs and a grand slam. The Red Sox ballplayers sure know how to put on a show!

FREEDOM TRAIL & U.S.S. CONSTITUTION. Taking in the sites. We chose to do a guided walking tour of the first half of the Freedom Trail. For anyone planning a visit, I would recommend this, as we learned a lot more about the various points along the trail than we would have on our own. One of the coolest parts of the tour was seeing the site of the Boston Massacre, and the balcony from which the Declaration of Independence was first read.

This is the Old State House - site of the original reading of the Declaration of Independence, and Boston Massacre.

Later, we visited the U.S.S. Constitution, the oldest commissioned Naval vessel afloat. Named by George Washington after the Constitution of The United States of America, the ship was launched in 1797. Nicknamed 'Old Ironsides', the Constitution is most famous for defeating five British warships and capturing many merchant ships in the War of 1812. Today, the Constitution is manned by 60 active-duty Naval officers and sailors and considered a special duty.

Old Ironsides herself!

That's a lot of cannons! Almost 50 are on this ship.

I couldn't resist the chance to get behind the wheel.

QUINCY MARKET & NEWBURY STREET. Shop. Shop. Shop. For any of you planning a trip to Beantown, Quincy Market, located right in the middle of the Freedom Trail, offers lots of fun people watching, quick lunch restaurants, and souvenir shopping. If you prefer a more upscale shopping experience, hop on the train and head to Newbury Street. Shops range from Urban Outfitters to Cartier, and seem to go on for miles - literally all the way from Boston Public Gardens to Fenway. You could easily spend an entire afternoon here.

SUNSET SAIL. T & I love to be close to the water, and knew we couldn't make a trip to Boston without doing a harbor cruise to take in the view. We decided on a sunset cruise on Liberty Tall Ships to cap off a long day of sightseeing before heading to the North End for dinner.

T & I enjoying a relaxing sunset cruise on Boston Harbor.

A view of Boston from the harbor at sunset.

T on the far left being impressed that there was literally a line out the door to get into this restaurant.

Worth the wait - only about 30 minutes in case you were wondering. A wonderful dinner. Can you believe this restaurant only has 11 tables!?! Read my review HERE.

WEDDING BELLS. The main reason for our excursion to Boston was to celebrate the wedding of S & C. They are such a lovely couple, and we were so happy to be able to share their special day.

T & I all ready to go to the rehearsal.

Photo Credit: AMW Studios

The bride and groom. Aren't these two stunning?

The wedding took place at The Cathedral of the Holy Cross (a cathedral that rivals St. Peter's Basilica and seats 5000 people), then off to the reception at The Union Club, a private club situated on Boston Common just down from the State House, and bordered by the Granary Burial Ground. This place was incredible. Original portraits of THE George Washington hang on the walls, and much to T's delight, he could enjoy a Sam Adams beer while standing next to Sam Adams grave. This may or may not have been the highlight of the trip for T.

The cathedral. 

The architecture of this cathedral is beyond amazing.

T giving me his best 'James Bond' look at the reception. Kir Royal was the signature drink. I think the bow-tie is a great look for T!

So happy for the new Dr. and Mrs. P.

The very last picture of the trip. Best Man (T) and Groom (S) enjoying a Sam Adams beer while looking out onto Sam Adams grave. A wonderful end to an wonderful week. For a beautiful slideshow and more pictures from the wedding click HERE.

What have you been up to lately?