Emily: You made a tuna sandwich?

Matt: No.

Emily: You didn’t like the meatballs?

Matt: No.

Emily: You…broke a champagne flute?

Matt: Yea…

Emily: YES!!

Matt: (Extremely confused look on his face)

Emily: WE’RE TIED! Now I don’t feel so guilty for breaking that wine glass!

E: Matt, you need to blog!
M: I do?
E: Yes, you started this blog, afterall.
M: I don’t know what to write about.
E: How about life as a newylwed? Something about the wedding?
M: Why don’t you blog? I think it’s your turn. (Cue for mischevious smile.)

For those of you who keep coming back (Hi Mom, Dad, Megan, Claire, Christine and Abigail!) you may be curious to know what I think is super neat. I read a lot of blogs everyday (currently 87) and like to share them via Google Reader.

If you have it, copy and paste the following link to your subscriptions. Otherwise, click on the link and bookmark it. By the way, I should say (in the fast-paced, peppy voice at the end of prescription drug commercials) I don’t condone the content in what I post. I do read blogs that use language and ideas not shared by me. Sometimes they’re just too funny to worry about what you’ll think of me.

http://www.google.com/reader/shared/04430846032869127297

*Although, he probably does have the best and most thoughtful posts. Like this one.

This website, called SwagBucks.com, is a Google and Ask search engine that lets you earn “bucks” for searching. You can then redeem your earned bucks for stuff, like gift cards all the way up to iPhones. It’s fun to get something for stuff you already do.

If you want to join in the fun, click here or copy my referral link:
http://swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=258768 It helps if you make it your homepage, so you can remember. By using this link, you become my “friend” (hello, nice to meet you, Friend! What do you want for Christmas?) and I get bucks each time you search, too. It’s also all the more reason for you to get your friends involved.

And just to come full circle, I offer you this Office clip:

Although, I don’t believe this is a scam. I did several SwagBucks searches to find that out.

Other similar rewards programs I’m involved in are MyPoints, which you earn points by clicking on emails and clicking through on online purchases, and Ebates, which earns you money for online purchases. Comment below and I can send you referrals to those, if you wish.

Moving on now. Next post won’t be website promoting related, I promise.

I can thank my family for this. Christmas is a really special time, filled with many memories. My mom always decorates so nicely, with everything from garland to candles to candy dishes filled with red and green treats. I’m trying to replicate that in our new home, but that’s for another blog.

Getting to my point, yes there is one, I think the best way to conjure up these memories is through music. I love everything from traditional hymns to Alvin and the Chipmunks. Some years I manage to make mix CDs for my family. And I’ve been meaning to do that this year, but don’t think I’ll get around to it since my music collection is stuck on my wonky computer. So instead, I’ll spread my cheer through You Tube clips.

I’ve heard this Mariah Carey tune via Pandora, an online radio site. It really gets me amped for what I should really be dwelling on this time of year:

This next one is from “White Christmas,” which I have actually yet to see. I heard it through XM radio and thought it was quite fitting this year, with all the economic hardships and uncertainties. Plus, I have a thing for Bing!

The following continues with Bing (and Fred), but with a twist. It was shared with me by my college roommates and I believe it was from the Gap Christmas CDs. It’s a favorite of mine every year, but this year was my first time to actually see the movie.

That’s it for now, if I stumble on any more, I’ll post them. Enjoy!

In reading wedding blogs and forums, it’s interesting to see that many betrothed women are not changing their names. I, for one, am anxious to change my name. Mom and dad — it’s not that Atwood is a bad name. I really love it. I’ve had people tell me that it’s a perfect writer’s name. Sure, there was that boy Patrick in third grade who always called me “Itwood,” “Ofwood,” “Bewood,” etc., but the playground taunting didn’t really come into affect until I interned at a big company.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t change this,” my boss told me. “I guess your parents weren’t really thinking about email addresses when they named you.”

Yes, my first initial with my last name becomes: eatwood. As much as I tell people my email address is “E for Emily and Atwood,” they write it down and say “Oh, eat wood! Ha!” Sometimes a coworker will walk by my desk, mutter it out loud and laugh.

And then there was the woman who said, “Eat wood! That’s great! Like, go suck an egg! Go eat wood!”

Now, unless you lived with me during my last year in college (or you presented me with one major diamond beauty), you’re not allowed to call me that.

(Post-wedding Emily here, and you also can’t call me that because my name is officially and legally changed.)

1. Cooking for one. My meals typically consist of crackers.
2. Taking out the garbage.
3. Being warmed by the heater, not a hug.
4. No one to laugh at my jokes…but myself.

One upside is that my parents had me over for dinner the past two nights. Although, my mom said that they’ll have to invite Matt over without me to keep things fair. Somehow I think they would let me in, too.

]]> http://emilyandmatt.org/blog/happily-married/the-list-goes-on/feed/ 1 http://emilyandmatt.org/blog/happily-married/in-the-kitchen-with-christine/ http://emilyandmatt.org/blog/happily-married/in-the-kitchen-with-christine/#comments Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:27:46 +0000 Emily http://emilyandmatt.org/blog/happily-married/in-the-kitchen-with-christine/ I love to bake. Well, the act of baking isn’t nearly as fun as devouring the sugary goodness that comes as a result. Bridesmaid Christine also likes to bake, so we decided to make pumpkin bread to celebrate the coming of fall–which weather wise is about to come any day now here in the Bay Area.

Matt took the camera that day, so unfortunately we have no fun photos to share. So, to keep things interesting, I’ll post a fun picture of us:

Now do you recognize her, wedding readers? Good! It’s so funny, people always think we’re sisters. We are also birthday buddies, so the first part of August is always a blast. Anyhoo, back to baking…

We doubled the recipe and had so much batter that we had two attempts to mix the dry and wet ingredients. We filled a bundt cake pan, two mini loaves and a star pan. Turns out, a star pan is really hard to cook evenly, in case you wanted to know.

Here’s the recipe, which we followed to a T, except that we added chocolate chips and had a little less pumpkin to work with:

Pumpkin Spice Bread

Cook Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 can (16 ounces) pumpkin purée
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
Preparation:
Grease and flour two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, stir together the pumpkin and oil.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture; add pumpkin mixture. Stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350° for 1 hour, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

Makes 2 loaves of pumpkin bread.
(Source)

We also made whipped cream, which Christine’s baker friend, Maxine, told us was actually sweet butter because we blended it too long. Whatever it was, it was absolutely delicious complemented the bread well!

This baker friend also had informed Christine of a time-saving, “green” tip: preheating the oven isn’t necessary for modern ovens. I tested this out last night with pizza and it came out just fine without preheating. This was great news for me, since I am an impatient cook who likes to save money and energy when possible!

My mom, dad, Mama and I headed to a fairly new little Italian restaurant near my old digs. We all enjoyed the nice, quiet dinner and conversation and couldn’t pass up the dessert menu. None of us could remember what panna cotta was, so I pulled out the trusty iPhone and looked it up.

Mama, sitting next to me, remarked about the world today and the technology we literally have at our fingertips.

While I consider myself as up-to-date on technology as the typical person on the street, I am reminded that I fall very short when discussing the coolest websites with my 14-year-old (going on 20-year-old) cousin. This all leads me to wondering what I’ll be like in my older years when I’m trying to connect my iPhone 20G to my Back to the Future 2 microwave thing to cook dinner.

Maybe it would go something like this:

Everything went fine and dandy. They laughed when I said “awesome,” because apparently teachers and adults in general don’t say that. But right before I was about to start, they introduced me and the class started giggling. Apparently there was a girl there with my new name. She looked uncomfortable and to be honest, I was a little bummed.

I have never met anyone (in person that is) with my same “old name.” But now there’s a country music singer, interesting children’s clothes designer and a local elementary kid who all share my name. And, as Matt is learning and everyone close to me knows by now, I’m not good at sharing.

The ceremony was held at Joaquin Miller Park. I’ve always loved this venue, with the cascades and the fountains. The reception was held at a golf course in Alameda, I can’t remember the name.

What a classic and beautiful bride! I love the subtle pattern to her dress. Maybe she could trim off the bottom and make it a cocktail dress!

At the reception we were surprised to find Sandy and Dan there, with baby Ethan Andrew in tow. That little dude was only five days old at the time!

I love this shot of Ethan. He’s already a big personality!

With proud dad, Dan:

One of the favorite parts of the night was getting caught up with some old friends, Sandy and her mom, Shannon and her parents. Back in fourth grade, we three sang “I’ve Got the Horse Right Here” from Guys and Dolls:

It was a reunion at the wedding, but once Ethan is a little bigger, maybe we’ll get a reprise.

Several times during the night, I thought to myself “how did we all get to this point?” Regardless, I am glad we’re still friends and am happy for all that we have accomplished in our lives.