7 Hoorays!

1.) Hooray for my hubby coming home! Definitely number one on the list. My husband comes home for 10 days starting on Tuesday. Hopefully we will fit in lots of snuggling, laughing, time with family, kisses, and a birthday celebration for a particular (almost) 21 year old lady. (Me! Me!) 

2.) Hooray for my job! This new job challenges me so much. I have to talk to a lot of people that I don’t know, most of whom are looking to me for answers, which is not a natural comfort zone for me. However, I have faith in the fact that God is teaching me lots of lessons (especially in patience) that I will need later on in my life. That is what makes me look forward to going to work every day, because I know God is molding me into the woman He sees me as. Also, the senior volunteers I work with are hilarious. On Friday, one described to me how she was "jet propelled" after eating a bran muffin the day before, if you catch my drift. 

3.) Hooray for coffee dates with friends! Claire and I have been friends for over 15 years and nothing ever changes. It was so great to catch up since I haven’t seen her since right after my wedding!

4.) Hooray for chocolate covered coconut nuggets! These little beauties are the perfect treat at the end of the day. I just keep telling myself that the dark chocolate is full of anti-oxidants as I pop my 1,000th one of the day into my mouth…

5.) Hooray for fresh fruits and veggies! I seriously went off the healthy eating wagon on Saturday night, accompanied with lots of red wine. This morning I woke up with a serious food hangover, but a nice smoothie and big salad and lots of water made me feel much better!

6.) Hooray for new babies! So many friends and family are having new babies soon. So along with belly pictures and bumpdates online, I got to listen to the grunts and coos of a beautiful 2 month old baby girl (with so much hair) behind me at church this morning. Talk about baby fever!!

7.) Hooray for a grateful heart! I am in such a great place right now and am so grateful for all the blessings God has showered me with. Things are not perfect, nor will they ever be, but things are pretty darn good. And I know it’s God! 

Love my Bloggy Bloggers!

Okay so confession time: I love blogs. I am not the best at keeping up with my own blog, but I love reading other people’s blogs. I especially love Bloglovin because it puts all my favorite blogs in the same place. My husband may or may not make fun of me for how much I love reading blogs. 

I have this fantasy where all my favorite blog writers and I would have lunch together and talk about life and our husbands and babies (if we have them. Not I... yet) . Really, that’s what I feel like is going on as I scroll through my Bloglovin. I feel like I’m getting an update on all my friends, even though 99% of us have never met in real life! 

Here’s the point to this little ranty rant. I want to meet you! I want to have a real friendship with my blog friends! Any of you ladies down? Email me! emilysuewalrath@gmail.com Be my friend! Let’s share our lives! Hey, maybe sometime in this crazy life, we’ll really meet :) I hope so! 

Love always,

Em

Good News and Great Joy

1. I am so happy to be working again. I love going to sleep at the end of the day knowing I accomplished something and I contributed to my family. 

1. I have gotten to spend some time with great friends and family since I’ve been home. I’m not all caught up with everyone, but it’s a start. 

1. I think I need to get some more aprons. I just love cooking in an apron. Mmmmm especially Anthropologie aprons... yes please! 

I mean come on… 

1. My birthday is just over a month away and I’ll get my hubby home for 10 days all to myself! Best birthday present ever! Now what to do...

1. I love seeing pictures of everyone’s new babies and baby bellies on Facebook and Instagram. Can’t wait to join the mommy club! (Haven’t gotten there quite yet...) 

1. I have loved this series we have just finished up at church. “The Imperfect Family” is a great description for every family. Each sermon has been dedicated to something different including men, women, raising children, and resolving conflict. If you haven’t checked it out yet, definitely do! www.northwood.tv

1. Last but not least, my hubby comes home on Tuesday! Hooray for weekends, not matter what day they’re on! Our plans include lots of kisses and snuggling, really good dinner my parents are going to make, fancy pants breakfast (I looooove me some breakfast), and just great quality time together. I haven’t seen him in about a month so I can’t wait to get my hands on him on Tuesday! 

Have a great rest of your weekend and start of your week friends!

XOXO

Em

The Imperfect Family

One of the biggest things I’ve missed about Mississippi (apart from our beautiful house... *tear*) is our church. But luckily for us, they’ve got technology down pat so I can watch live and past services all the way from sunny San Diego! 

The series they are in the middle of is called “The Imperfect Family” and it has included some of the best sermons I have ever watched. It has been wonderful and pertinent timing, being a newlywed and wanting to eventually grow our family. 

One thing I love about Northwood Church in Gulfport, MS is the music! Worship is led by the pastor’s son and usually includes one of both of his daughters as well. I always love worship, and it is evident that when these people sing, the entire room feels it. I’ve been in churches during worship before where everyone stands and stares at the band playing. Now you don’t have to go crazy, but have some joy! Rejoice! Praise your Father! 

Anyway, here is the link for the latest services at Northwood. I highly recommend the Imperfect Family series, but honestly, I’ve never seen a sermon there that I didn’t enjoy or get something meaningful out of. 

http://vimeo.com/86435462

Here is the link for all the past services at Northwood.

http://www.northwood.tv/Media/Services.aspx

Happy worship my friends!

God Bless,

Em.

5 Paleo foods I love most... at the moment.

This week my great-grandmother passed away. She was very old and led a wonderful life, but nonetheless, she was the matriarch of our family and loved immensely by family and friends alike. 

In my family, like most families, part of the grieving process is eating, and lots of it. And of course, it’s not eating things that are particularly good for you. For the first time in a very good while I ate lasagna, rolls, cookies, rolled tacos, chocolate cake, macaroni and cheese, a pulled pork sandwich, uhhh.... get the picture? It’s been a pretty awful week for Em’s guts. A few nights ago, my insides finally just had enough and I am back on the wagon of good, nutritious foods. 

I thought I’d give a list, just off the top of my head, of my favorite paleo/real food items that I will be eating in great quantities the next few weeks to heal and nourish my body after this time of poor eating!

1. Bone broth. I just made this for the first time last week and it’s hugely hugely healthy. You cook beef marrow bones in the crock pot for at least 24 hours (I did mine for about 30 hours) with some hunks of carrot, celery, hunks or garlic, apple cider vinegar, and water. Cooking it low and slow like this helps extract all the wonderful vitamins and minerals and collagen from the bones. The collagen is wonderful for your skin and gut health (just what I need), and the amino acids that are extracted from the bones help the body detoxify. Can’t beat it!
2. Coconut yogurt. I don’t handle dairy very well. In fact I never have. However, I feel very fortunate to have discovered coconut yogurt. It is delicious and you still get the benefits of the live, active cultures that good-quality yogurt contains, without any of the adverse effects that dairy may bring.
3. Kombucha. My hubs thinks I’m crazy for this one but I love love love kombucha and it has awesome gut-healing properties. It is a fermented beverage, which I don’t think we consume enough of. Kombucha is essentially a tea, which is converted into a fizzy bottle of goodness by a SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast). It’s delicious and fun to drink!
4. Almond butter. This one can get tricky. It is a great source of healthy fats but should be eaten in great moderation. You can go overboard with mindless almond butter eating very quickly! One of my favorite little snacks is a small bowl of frozen berries with a dollop of almond butter on the top and a sprinkle of chia seeds over the top of that, then microwaved for approximately a minute and a half. Stir that gooey mess together and oooohhh goodness... holy yum. 
5. Turmeric tea. Kind of misleading because this doesn’t actually use a tea bag but it’s so yummy an comforting. All it takes is a mug full of steamed almond milk, a dash of turmeric, a dash of cinnamon, a dash of ginger, a splash of maple syrup and you have yourself a wonderful comforting drink to end your day with! Turmeric is packed with vitamins and minerals and has great anti-inflammatory properties. 
   

Eat well my friends! 

XOXO

Em

A Silly Little Wedding Story

I’ve always loved “the dip” at weddings. I think it is super cute and romantic and makes for great pictures. So part of our preparation for our wedding, of course, was practicing the dip. And we just had to practice in the place best for practicing dancing: the kitchen! 

We practiced several times before the wedding, but never really said “okay we are definitely doing this.” 

Flash forward to wedding day. We were both so nervous right before we walked down the aisle, but once we got up there, we were locked in on each other. Nothing else mattered. 

I knew the ceremony was wrapping up. Towards the very end I looked up at my hubs and whispered/mouthed “Are you going to do it?” Because of course I had to put my hands and everything in the right spot to be able to pull it off. 

Now what my husband heard was “Do it!” I’m glad he did because he wasn’t going to do it! We heard “You may kiss the bride” and we pulled it off! It turned out that that dip created one of my favorite pictures of our whole wedding, so I’m pleased with our little miscommunication. 

XOXO Em.

Disney Magic!

Well the Walraths had a fabulous, magical Disney weekend! We moved from Gulfport, Mississippi back to San Diego for the next 6-7 months. I've been back at my parents house and the hubs has been at rock crusher school so I haven't seen him all week. I missed him! We met approximately halfway between San Diego and where he is at his school, which happened to be Disneyland, also the spot where we had our first date almost 2 years ago. We had a blast!! Here's some pictures of our adventure! 

Day 1 of our adventure!

We eat healthy… most of the time

The happiest place on Earth!

Packed lunch!

New Cars ride. Awesome!

End of day 1 at Trader Sam's.

Beginning of Day 2! 

A Disneyland staple. Mint Juleps! This was about 37 seconds before I knocked the whole thing over into my lap. Boo. Luckily my hubby shared his with me.

We happened to look down and see Nate's hometown!

About 5 seconds before we both had very wet jeans…

Waiting for World of Color.

What a wonderful weekend we had together! Can't wait for our next adventure!

XOXO E.S.W.

The Happiest Place on Earth!

This afternoon, I will be making a semi-spontaneous trip to the happiest place on Earth. That’s right folks. I’m going to Disneyland! 

In a little baby recap, I am back in my hometown of sunny San Diego for about 6 months during the hubs’ deployment. He will be nearby the whole time so I will be able to see him periodically (yay!). It was the best deployment situation that we could’ve ever asked for so we are soaking up this blessing along the way. 

Anywho, earlier this week we looked at our calendars and realized that we should probably go to Disneyland while we are in California because, well, why would that ever be a bad idea? Disneyland was our first date and we’ve been one time since but not for a while. So hotel room was booked, tickets were purchased and the day is finally here! 

Necessity is definitely the mother of invention and we always need to stay on budget. We decided to reserve a hotel room with a full kitchen. It was just slightly more expensive that a regular room but in the long run, it will save us having to eat out. 

I did all our meal prep yesterday. Here is what we will be snacking on during our trip! 

Friday night dinner: Turkey burger tacos (homemade tortilla recipe http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2012/06/soft-homemade-tortillas.html)

Saturday/Sunday lunch and snacks: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (homemade sandwich bread http://www.thehungrymouse.com/2010/03/25/homemade-sandwich-bread/), kettle chips, veggies and hummus, strawberries, apples, Lara bars, Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter 

Saturday night dinner: out

Sunday night dinner: Italian meatloaf (http://paleomg.com/italian-meatloaf/), Lemony pasta salad (http://www.forkknifeswoon.com/food-drink/side-dishes/2013/05/lemony-orzo-pasta-salad-with-cucumber-and-feta/)

Dessert: Lemon Pound Cake (http://www.plainchicken.com/2011/10/lemon-pound-cake.html)

Hmmm I seem to have a lemon thing going on right now. But all these recipes are delicious and super easy! And more importantly, super easy to prep before you go and they will last just fine on the counter or in the fridge. 

Ps... I am so darn proud of that sandwich bread. I have always struggled with baking things that need to rise. Truth be told, I tend to half-bake them while they are supposed to be rising, which is exactly what I did with my first batch but I think I nailed it the second time! It helps that the weather in San Diego is 85 degrees in January. Madness!

Pss... Check out my lovely friend Madi’s post today over at www.homegrownhostess.com This girl is my soul sister and when we got together for lunch the other day, we realized we both decided to go to Disneyland the same day! So we will be meeting up tomorrow, probably squealing at each other across Main Street. 

I'm choosing...

Life is full of choices. It seems like if you just pay attention, every second you are making a choice, and those choices dictate your mood and how your whole day goes. Furthermore, that dictates how your whole week can go. We only get 52 weeks of 2014 so each we have to make each one count. I am really trying to focus on enjoying every moment this year and trying to make the best out of each one.  

So I am Choosing:

God

Fun

Kisses and hugs

Cuddling with my hubby as much as possible.

Less worry

Laughter

Automatically looking for the best in people and situations instead of the worst

Long, drawn out lunches with lovely friends

More prayer

Being silly

Cups of tea and good books

Enjoying every single morsel of food

Dressing to feel my best

Being me

Joy. Always choose joy.

Happy Monday

Mondays get a bad rap. Like most, I tend to not want to get up and go back to work after a fabulous weekend with my husband. This Monday, I could be particularly bitter seeing as how I've been pretty darn sick all weekend and have only started to feel better as of a few hours ago. However, I choose to be thankful this Monday because I have so many things in my life to be grateful for! In a random, stream of consciousness kind of manner, here is what I'm thankful for this Monday.

1. My wonderful husband. He has taken such good care of me while I have been sick and I definitely wouldn't be feeling better if it wasn't for him.

2. Wonderful friends who spent their Saturday helping us move.

3. This time being sick has given me a chance to reflect and prepare for this upcoming adventure.

4. Being able to cook dinner for my husband and I in my beautiful kitchen.

5. I am so thankful for this time I've gotten to spend in this house. It has been a wonderful place for Nate and I to start our own, new life and it has been the most blessed time. I will miss this house so much!

6. I am so thankful that my family is so excited to see me and I can't wait to see them!

7. Tea. Cups and cups and cups of tea have me feeling much better and are just good for the soul.

That's all for now!

XOXO Em

Southern Key Lime Pie

Truthfully, I'm not sure what exactly makes this recipe southern, except for the fact that I'm in the south and I'm baking it. However, this is a favorite of mine and my husbands. It's super easy to boot! So easy in fact that I can sometimes justify making it… oh… about…. twice a week. Enjoy my friends! 

Crust ingredients:

40 Nilla Wafers

2 Tbsp. sugar

1/4 cup butter

Crust Instructions:

1. Put Nilla wafers in a gallon size Ziploc bag and smash those suckers into smithereens. Meanwhile, it is perfectly acceptable to munch on the rest of the box of Nilla wafers. No judgement! 

2. Combine Nilla wafers with the rest of the crust ingredients. When completely combined, the mixture should resemble wet sand, like so. 

3. Pour your crust ingredients into a pie pan and press it down along the bottom and the sides.

4. Bake your beautiful crust at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until golden brown. 

Filling Ingredients:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup lime juice

1 tsp. vanilla

3 egg yolks

zest of 1 lime

Filling Instructions:

1. Combine all filling ingredients in a large bowl. Be sure it is thoroughly combined but do not over mix. 

Look how pretty that lime zest looks in there! 

2. Pour your filling into the crust after it comes out of the oven and cools a little bit. 

3. Throw your whole pie in your 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

4. Let cool on the counter for 15 minutes then put it in the fridge until cooled all the way.

5. Cut yourself a slice and enjoy!! 

PS… We like to enjoy this with some whipped cream on top… or even better… combine heavy cream with softened cream cheese and sugar and whip away! 

XOXO Em

Welcome Friends!

Hi! My name is Em. I'm a twenty-something lover of God, food enthusiast, fitness nut, Navy wife, and 50's housewife wannabe from San Diego, CA. I love to laugh, learn, and create things for my home and my family.

After saying "I do" to my sweet husband on August 10, 2013, I packed up my bedroom in my parents house and bought a one-way ticket to Gulfport, Mississippi and wifehood.

My life has been one crazy and blessed ride and I can't wait to share more with you! Gather around and share some love at my table.