Make this post's opening weekend bigger than the Hunger Games'!

I know that, when I read, I prefer a minimum 3:1 graphics-to-text ratio, and I prefer picture as graphics rather than, for example, charts or whatever else I might still have to think about. Keep that in mind as I now apologize for not providing our Blogregation with any pictures recently! If you are Danielle's Facebook friend, you can check out our recent Spring Break 2012 pictures, but maybe if you are all real nice we will make an album of them available via the blog, too. You should be so lucky: we look sexy in them. 

Nextly, Danielle had a great cockroach incident over the weekend, wherein she was using our handle-less pizza cutter (you know the kind?) to cut some tortilla strips, and a cockroach crawled out of the darned thing! She made some noises, which I from the living room instantly recognized as roach-spotting indicators, but still managed amidst her shock and disgust to kill the bastard! Woot! In fact, despite my instant and accurate analysis of the situation, which resulted in a snap rescue effort, she had done the deed by the time I made it to the kitchen. So yay for Danielle! 

In other news, there is no other news to report. Therefore, we bid you all enjoy your week, and we look forward to talking at you again soon! Also, look for our pictures, which, you know, may well be a more real promise than our virtual house warming party, which obviously never happened:( 

Peace easy,

Rory 

Spring and News: Things Broken

Holy goodness, it has been too long Friends! We have two big items to report since you last heard from us, and I will start with good news first and then end with awesome news. So firstest: since this blog is published online, I guess this post is my official announcement that I have taken a leave of absence from law school as of earlier this month. I am currently looking for work in the Philadelphia area, so, you know, it never hurts to think of me if you hear of any openings! Please and thank you. I call this "good news" because it was a decision Danielle and I made together based on my goals and interests, rather than a leave in bad standing with the school or because of personal tragedy. I am excited to begin pursuing a new dream, and even more excited to figure out what that dream will be!

Secondest and most awesome, Danielle and I recently hosted my parents and sister on the East Coast for a Spring Break trip to New York City, Washington, D.C., and Philly! This six-day crazy fest was exhausting but absolutely a blast. Sparing the excruciating details (maybe):

NYC was our first stop, beginning with mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Midtown Manhattan. As it happened, our visit was almost exclusively within Midtown, but that is where the sights are! Like Danielle told me: people actually live and work in rest of the city. Before mass began we spent some time trying to find street parking, but eventually I got frustrated and turned into a parking ramp. Amazingly, the ramp charges a flat rate on Sundays, and pretty cheap, too. SO we took them up on their offer and left the car there all day. After mass we trekked up to F.A.O. Schwarz and then through Central Park to get to the American Museum of Natural History. I don't think we actually got any pictures there, but imagine a museum a lot like the one from Night at the Museum, since they are one in the same.

After AMNH we headed back in a southerly route to pick up the car and check into our hotel, the beautiful Affinia Dumont, situated three blocks from the Empire State Building and two blocks from a 7-Eleven! And, because it's New York, right across the street from a Duane Reade. The place was great, and, after checking in and relaxing for a bit (we must've walked a thousand miles that day), we ate at the Barking Dog next door. The food was decent, but our poor waitress spoke not-so-good English, unfortunately. Anyway, we capped off the night with a trip to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, the tallest building in the world at 103 floors until the World Trade Center topped it in 1971. Breathtaking, and better than advertised.

The next day in NY we spent another good chunk of time walking around, seeing the classic sights: Grand Central, Times Square, Rockefeller Center (including the Top of the Rock observatory), and a Circle Line Cruise around Manhattan. The cruise was (I am NOT kidding) a 3-hour tour around the entire island, and we saw such things as the Brooklyn Bridge, an up-close view of the Statue of Liberty, the financial district, the U.N., Yankee Stadium, so on and so forth. The cruise was also narrated, and a lot of fun! It really put the city in context for us. After that we headed to Top of the Rock, and then explored Times Square at night. In my opinion, there is nothing like Times Square at night. If you disagree, don't tell me. Tell Danielle and she can decide if I will be able to handle the criticism. Finally, we took the NY subway down to China Town and Little Italy, grabbing dinner at one of the many touristy restaurant's on Little Italy's Mulberry Street. The pasta was decent, the wine was awful (but I obviously drank it anyway), and the service was meh, but it's Little Italy: whaddaya gonna do?

So that was New York. The next day, after safely taking the subway back to our hotel and getting a good night's sleep, we headed down the New Jersey Turnpike, through Delaware and Maryland, to Washington, D.C. Our first stop in the nation's capitol was Arlington National Cemetery. On a beautiful, unnaturally-warm March day we hoofed it past white headstone after white headstone, up and down hills, and finally made it to the Changing of the Guard Ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns. If you want to understand the significance of this stuff better, check it out on the internet. At the cemetery, we also saw JFK's tomb and other monuments, but really the greatest impact of the experience, for me, was the beautiful day and the endless hillsides of graves, and both the human tragedy and triumph which they represent.

After Arlington, we braved D.C. rush hour on our way to our hotel in Alexandria, VA. Honestly, the traffic was not terrible, so thankfully we made it just in time for our arrival, and then got supper at the hotel's restaurant downstairs. I had nachos. That night we also used our FREE PAY-PER-VIEW MOVIE in the hotel room to watch "J. Edgar," starring Leo Dicaprio as J. Edgar Hoover. The movie certainly provided some revisionist history and did not beat around the bush, but it was a good time. I would recommend "J. Edgar." Not only was it a good movie, but on our inaugural evening in Washington it was a great movie to get us in the national bureaucratic mood!

The next day we took the metro train from Alexandria into Washington, where we spent a full day touring the Library of Congress, Supreme Court building, the National Archives, and the Washington Mall. In these places we saw some books, sculptures, paintings, other art, old maps, including the roadmaps of our government, A/K/A the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, and LOTS of people. The day again was incredibly bright and warm and wonderful, and we all had a grand time wandering the city, our feet and thighs burning from the week of non-stop walking. We managed to cram in, however, a quick visit to the Smithsonian American History Museum, which included such sights as Michelle Obama's Inauguration gown and the hat and boots of "The Wizard of Oz"'s scarecrow:)

Lastly, we spent the waning sunlight of the day in the Washington Mall, taking the National Park Service's self-guided tour as conveyed via Android App! Seriously: if you are going to do ANYTHING touristy for free, see if there is a free app to accompany the activity. For me, the app really gave some great facts and background for each monument, told you how long it took to walk between each, etc. I found the park to be incredibly beautiful and inspiring, and a great cap to our excursion. Granted, afterward we grabbed a quick supper at Union Station before taking the metro back to our hotel, but in my mind the Mall was the cap.

The next day we checked out of our hotel and headed back to Philly, taking an alternative route: the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. I should look up some history and facts about that sucker, but rest assured it is neat-o! Reallly long, really tall. What's more, the drive took us up through a new part of Maryland and Delaware that sort of reminded me of home, except closer to the ocean. It reminded me of home because it smelled like farm and there weren't many people. Anyway, once back in Philly we took a walk to show my family our neighborhood and the Drexel campus, and the next day we did Philly tourist stuff, which you can check out in our previous posts from last Fall.

So what a great Spring Break! We hope you all enjoy this year's so-far warm weather, and love each other! We will continue to keep you updated as updates occur, particularly with Danielle's law schooling and my job search, since there is little else going on these days...yeah. So, like I said: love each other!

Peace,
Rory and Danielle

Spring Awakening

So, I know that spring does not officially come until later in the month, but I am ready for it now! And, with the way the weather has been lately, I'd say I am not the only one. It has fluctuated between high forties and low sixties with both rain and sunshine over the last couple of weeks, but usually on the warmer side of that range.

Because I am so ready to welcome in spring, I made a new wreath to hang on our door to celebrate the changing of the season (although Rory won't let me actually put in on the door until next week). I also got Rory into a craft store this weekend (and even helping me with craft projects) so we decided to spruce up the apartment to get it ready for its very own spring awakening!  Today's post is all about our fun craft projects.

First, the wreath. Last time I made a wreath it was with the beautiful autumnal colors that the fall season brought. This time, I wanted to highlight the brightness and life of spring by making a colorful, quirky wreath. Unlike the last one, I will actually give you some directions for making it, if you feel inclined to try your own hand at some home spring sprucing up.

Here are the supplies you will need:

• foam circle (any size you wish)
• various colors of ribbon (can use up some scraps this way) 
• 2 rolls of green ribbon (I used two different colors)
• Colorful buttons in a variety of sizes
• Dressmaker pins (just pins without any knobs on the end)
• Needle and thread
• Hot glue gun

First, take the foam circle and wrap the two green ribbons around it, coming from different sides with each color and making sure the colors twist in an alternating way around the circle. To start, pin the end of each ribbon into the circle and make sure to pin occasionally as you go to hold the ribbons in place.

Second, you will need to make the ribbon flowers out of the scraps or various colors. I made these ribbon flowers for our wedding; here is a good tutorial on how to do it: Ribbon Flowers. You can use whatever type of ribbon you would like, and even sew two types together as you make them to get a two-toned effect, or put them together after the fact. Also, you can save money by binding the ends of the ribbon with clear nail polish rather than buying the ribbon glue. 

Third, you will attach the flowers to the ribbon covered ring with the pins. Play around with how you want to place the flowers. 

Fourth, using a hot glue gun, attach the buttons to the middle of select flowers to add an extra punch of color. If you'd like, you can glue buttons onto the ring where there are no flowers just to spread color into the rest of the wreath. 

Finally, step back and admire your work. You are now done and can hang it on your door. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

I also had some fun making two other projects for the apartment. I even got Rory to help with one of the projects (and the picture below to prove it).

We wanted to add some extra color on the walls, and I had found a neat idea when I was looking for pin cushion ideas and thought it would work on our wall. So, these are actually dual purpose - decorate your wall and have a place for pins or tacks. Check out the canning jar pin cushion directions here. And, look at how ours turned out:

The final project came to us through Pinterest. Everyone had been posting these color crayon artwork ideas and it looked easy enough to do so we decided to try it. A tutorial for that project is here. Ours is definitely not as straight and pretty as the one in the tutorial, but maybe it's because we didn't keep the wrappers on the crayons? Anyways, we picked out some colors that matched the bathroom and tried it out (I didn't get a picture of the final work):

I hope you all enjoyed the project ideas. Let us know if you decide to try any of them out yourself. And, try to bring some early spring into your lives.

Love,

Danielle

Spotlight: Philadelphia VIP

I am very pleased and excited to announce to all our blog readers that I recently accepted a summer internship position with Philadelphia VIP. While this means that we will not be back in Minnesota for the summer, it is a huge burden off my shoulders to have our summer plans at least half figured out.


In honor of my impending internship, and because I already have a spotlight segment on the blog, today's post will shine a spotlight on the work of Philadelphia VIP.
Philadelphia VIP stands for the Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program. You are all probably much smarter than me, but just in case you also did not know what Indigent meant (I just learned it earlier this school year), here is the definition from dictionary.com:  Experiencing want or need; impoverished (as an adjective);  A needy or destitute person (as a noun).


The organization carries out its mission of  "promot[ing] equal justice for the poor by providing civil legal services not otherwise available, collaborating with other legal services organizations and promoting a culture of volunteerism by educating and exposing attorneys and law students to issues of poverty." Basically, this means that Philly VIP accepts referrals from a couple of the area legal aid services; determines if the client's issues are legal; and if the issue is best resolved through the legal process, facilitates the handling of the case by a private or public lawyer in need of a pro bono project. All lawyers are required to continue doing pro bono hours after practice because the American Bar Association (ABA) wants lawyers to give back to the community.


Throughout the process, Philadelphia VIP is responsible for the initial prep work, follow up with both the client and the lawyer on the case, and providing any educational materials the lawyer or client may need on the issue. The types of cases fall into four general categories: 1) Supporting Family Stability; 2) Preventing Homelessness; 3) Maintaining Family Income; and 4) Promoting Community Economic Development. The specific issues within these categories range from child custody to mortgage foreclosure to small business or nonprofit organization and everything in between. 


Another important aspect of the work, besides promoting volunteerism within the legal community, is the educational aspect. This takes two forms. First, Philadelphia VIP helps train lawyers on the specific issues facing the clients to better prepare the lawyers to take on the cases pro bono. Second, Philadelphia VIP prepares educational materials for the clients themselves if the issue is one which may be settled pro se (that is if the client can represent him/herself in the matter). 


Finally, the organization has an understanding that not all issues are best solved through the legal process. Therefore, if the specific client issue is best pursued through non-legal avenues,  Philadelphia VIP works with the client to find and refer out to other nonprofit service providers that are not legal in nature.


So, you may be wondering what all of this means for me and what my position will look like this summer. Well, the variety of experiences I expect to gain from this position is the biggest reason I decided to take the position. I will get to work on a minimal amount of direct client interaction through the intake process (my Spanish skills may come in useful at this stage!). Then, a lot of my work will be doing the initial preparation on client cases - meaning that I will be responsible for doing the initial research to see if the issue is best resolved legally or non-legally, and if legally what are the major issues involved in the case and the next steps. If the client will be pro se in a case, or there is a type of issue that comes up often, I will be responsible for developing the client educational pieces around these issues. Additionally, Philadelphia VIP works hard to structure the internship so that the interns can get out of the office and into the community - going to other nonprofits, court hearings, re-entry programs, lawyer meetings, etc. They really want to get the interns exposed to many different areas and fields and be making connections within the community.


Anyways, I think Philadelphia VIP is doing some great work in the community and I am very excited to be a part of it this summer!


Cheers,
Danielle

In New York

Salutations! Danielle and I recently returned from a stupendous weekend getaway to New York and would like to share our stories with you! It was a quick trip, but hey: it's New York, so the stories are never in short supply.

Our adventure began on Saturday, when we took the 11:30am Bolt Bus from Philly to Manhattan. We had, erm, slept in a little, so we were rushed getting to the bus. I was thus cranky from not having any coffee, and we hadn't eaten anything by the time we got off the bus at 1:30pm. SO I made a stop at Dunkin Donuts, and we stopped to share a slice of New York pepperoni and ricotta pizza, which was super duper delicious. With our refreshments in hand, and my headache fading, we began a walk up to Central Park. We had tickets to see Chicago at the Ambassador Theater at 8pm, so we had decided to spend our time before the show walking Central Park. We also stopped at a pharmacy to pick up some batteries for the camera. Finally, about 15 blocks later, we made it to the park. It was a beautiful, bright day, and pretty warm for February. We didn't even bring jackets!

Danielle with the NY Pizza at Times Square (plus one of our favorite T.V. shows is in the background).

Rory in front of a sweet tree bridge at Central Park.

No idea what this building is, but thought it looked cool through the trees at Central Park.

Danielle in front of the large lake at Central Park (and there is a wedding party taking pictures in the background :).

After walking through some of the park, we made our way west to 9th Ave, home of our favorite NY hang-out: Empanada Mama! Empanada Mama serves, obviously, delicious empanadas and great pitchers of red wine sangria for decent prices. The place is tiny and crowded, but absolutely worth the experience. We timed our date at Empanada Mama poorly, so by the time we had paid we still had plenty of time before the show. We decided to check out Times Square, where we (Danielle) did some shopping at Forever 21, Swatch, and Fossil. I will admit that it was a success: Danielle found a sexy yellow dress :) FOR CHEAP :D We also saw a dude walking an awesome goat with a NY stocking hat on.

Finally, it was time for our show. Chicago is a fun musical if you can get past the adult content. I remember enjoying the movie several years ago, but I would guess any musical is better live (at least if it is live on Broadway). We had a blast, and I've been singing "All That Jazz" for three days! I won't get into detail about the show, but I should mention that our seats were third row from the back of the theater in the balcony, but once the show started I forgot all about that. It was wonderful.

Sorry it's blurry! In front of Chicago Poster.

If you can't tell, the red sign in the background is for Chicago

Inside the Ambassador.

After Chicago, we went to Dave and Buster's near Times Square: we didn't get a hotel room, and our bus back to Philly was scheduled to leave at 6:30am on Sunday, so we needed to burn a few hours. We had also looked up movie theaters in the area and wanted to see Safe House at 12:50am...long story short, the wait at D&B was ridonculous, so we played a few games, got ripped off on tickets (meaning we didn't do well), and then left after buying two $10 bacardi/cokes. Instead of continuing to wait, we grabbed a table right away at Applebee's, ate quickly, and then just barely made the end of the previews before Safe House. I thought the movie was pretty good. Danielle and I are Ryan Reynolds fans, and throw in Denzel and it's like forget about it! Unfortunately for us, the movie let out a little before 3am, so we still had a while before our bus came.

A couple police officers on the corner outside the movie theater pointed us to an all-night diner a few blocks away, so we headed over there. I have to say that I have never eaten as slowly as I did at that diner. It was surprisingly packed, and we did not want to have to find another place to go. We stretched out Danielle's cheesecake and my eggs and pastrami for over two hours. Finally, we decided it was time to leave and headed to the bus station. We found a few pharmacies to hang around, and read magazines until the Megabus finally arrived. Once in our comfy seats in the second level of the double decker, we both crashed, not waking up again until our stop.

What a crazy trip! New York is a fun city, though, and totally worth it. After we got home and slept it off, Sunday evening it was back to real life, and again back to same old same old with school:( So that's all for now, folks. Happy Lent starting tomorrow, and be kind.

-Rory and Danielle

The Soup

Just in case anyone is interested in having the soup recipe from our Valentine's Day Dinner because Rory and I loved it so much, here it is: http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/rlentil.htm

Red Lentil and Apricot Soup

This is one of my favorite fall soup recipes. It's easy to make and tastes great.

I found it in a cookbook called Please to the Table that specializes in Russian Food.

This soup is great on it's own, but I like to use it as a sauce for pumpkin raviolis that are available at my neighborhood pasta store only at this time of year.

Reluctant Gourmet’s Tips :

Using a hand blender to puree the soup in step 4 is easier than transferring to food processor.

Red Lentil and Apricot Soup
makes 6 servings

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/3 cup dried apricots, chopped
• 1-1/2 cup dried split red lentils, rinsed
• 5 cups of homemade chicken stock
• 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 3 ripe plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• Salt and pepper, to taste

PREP WORK

Chop the garlic & onions.

Chop the apricots.

Rince the red lentils being sure to remove any small pebbles.

Peel, seed & chop the plum tomatoes

You are ready to start cooking this wonderful soup.

HOW TO MAKE AT HOME

1. In a large soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and dried apricots. Sauté until the onion is translucent, about 12 minutes.

2. Add the lentils to the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.

3. Stir in tomatoes, cumin, thyme, and salt and pepper. Simmer, covered for another 10 minutes.

4. Remove half the soup and puree it in a food processor or blender. Return the puree to the pot and season with the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for another 2 to three minutes and serve.

A Birthday Valentine

Hello Everyone!

We are currently celebrating many happy occasions - this time in February has always been a big time for us.

Last week marked the 5 year point in our relationship. Wow - 5 years! That is more than 1/5 of our entire lives now spent together.

This week we celebrated Rory's 24th birthday and I thank God that I've had one more whole year with the love of my life! I tried very hard to make Rory feel like a special birthday guy even though it was a Monday and we had to be in school. I let him pick anything he wanted for dinner, and he picked two types of Suddenly Salad and sandwiches. It was a very good choice, and very Rory-ish. Then, I let him take a birthday nap. And, he got to open all the cards and gifts that people sent him. So, thank you to our parents, Auntie Kathy and Uncle Mike, and Auntie Debbie and Dale for sending cards. Here are some pictures of the event:

 
Then, today and tonight we celebrated Valentine's Day!  I only have one class on Tuesdays, so rather than go out and spend lots of money Rory let me plan a fancy dinner to make at our apartment. I skipped home after class with a smile on my face as I made a few last minute purchases (bread and a rose). Once home, I got busy turning the table into a fancy restaurant scene. Complete with centerpiece (hence the rose) and a fancy table setting. Check it out:

I took a piece of pretty scrapbook paper and put it in this silver frame, then I put the rose on top of it, sprinkled paper hearts that I had punched out of red paper, and finished it off by placing candles at each edge of the picture frame. I even took out some of our fancy dinner plates to make a two-toned effect to the place settings. I love this stuff!

Next, I got busy with the meal preparation. I would not do this every day but, for every once in a while, it was a very pleasant way to spend 3.5 hours. I turned on some tunes and got busy. I wanted it to be just like if we had gone out to a fancy restaurant and spent lots of money. So, I decided that 4 courses would do the trick, all of which were accompanied by freshly made italian garlic bread (thank you day old Jimmy John's bread).
Course 1: Red Lentil Apricot soup (which in our case ended up being split yellow pea apricot soup because the grocery store didn't have split red lentils). This was the first time I made the soup - I found the recipe online and looked for a pureed type of soup. We thought it was very good, and Rory even told me to make sure I "hold on to that recipe."
Course 2: A classic caesar salad, but with a Danielle twist. It had the romaine, some italian cheese, and the dressing like normal. I just punched it up with some red onion and carrot - I love when my food is colorful (makes me feel healthier)!
Course 3: Main entree! New York style pork chop (so a wine based marinade/sauce with onions, thyme, garlic, and parsley) over a white/wild rice mix served with a side of asparagus topped with bearnaise sauce.

Course 4: The to-die-for course; dessert of course! Honest to goodness, homemade from scratch CHOCOLATE MOUSSE! I had made imitation mousse in the Magic Bullet before, but this was the real deal - the actual rich, delicious mousse that you get when you go out. This was served in a martini glass with a strawberry on top.

After all that food, we retired to the living room to sit on the couch, drink some after dinner coffee, and write this post while our food settled.

And, as Rory's Valentine's gift to me, he is going to do the dishes while I watch Glee! Then we can both watch New Girl together.  After that it will be bed time, and back to the normal drone of school. (At least we have New York and Broadway to look forward to this weekend- look for a post on Sunday or Monday of that adventure!) But, for now we will just relax and relish in the romance for a little longer.

Hope you all are having as "sweet" a Valentine's Day as we are.

Sending you all our love, hugs, and kisses-
Danielle, and Rory