Awesome Homemade Sweet Potato Fries

One of my favorite things over the last year has been sweet potato fries.  I always order them when it's an option on the menu.  We make them at home a LOT.  They are easy, healthy, and cheap!  They are really good with burgers, brats, whatever. I love love them to snack on, and you get the satisfaction of "fries" but much healthier!  You can use any size potato, in this case we used one large and one medium potato which yielded over 2 pans of fries!  

Here's how we do it:

1.  Peel your potatoes.  I always do this, but I suppose hypothetically you could leave the skin on.

 2.  Chop into slices about the size of your pinky finger.

 3.  Put in bowl and toss with olive oil.

 4.  Sprinkle with ground pepper and sea salt.  You can toss this all together to fully coat everything.  We use this pink Himalayan salt for everything.  It is fantastic!

 5.  Place on cookie sheet.  We always use tin foil so cleanup is easier :)

 6. Bake at 425 degrees for 20-ish minutes.  Of course, this will depend on your oven.

\Sometimes they will get a little crunchy/burnt on the bottom, but personally, I LOVE that!  These are THE BEST and even keep well for leftovers.  As you can tell, they are pretty healthy as well.  You could also dress them up with other spices, Lawry's, cayenne, etc.  

ENJOY!

My Favorite Wedding Memories

Now that we have celebrated our one year anniversary with ourselves and with friends, for my own sake, I want to reminisce about our special day.  First of all, thank you to those who came to our small anniversary party and joined us for chocolate Kahlua fondue with strawberries, bananas, and fresh brownies.  It was a fun relaxing night and we really enjoyed it!

Now for the good stuff, some of the memorable moments from our wedding day!

*Having bangers'n'mash at our groom's dinner
*Seeing lots of people out at the bar the night before our wedding
*Waking up together and knowing that before the day ended, we would be Mr. & Mrs.
*My bridesmaids bursting into tears as I got in to my dress

*My mom being so overwhelmed that she couldn't even help me in to my dress

*Katie falling in her bridesmaid dress on the sidewalk and drawing blood, but somehow not ruining her dress

*Our first look.  I was falling apart, and Mike wasn't much help!  Also listening to our wedding party take the moment in as well.

*Everyone trying to balance on the swing in the sculpture garden, and Josh and Cody hoisting me off of it.

*Carmen accidentally tackling the assistant photographer and falling over

*Losing Jake and Cory during pictures, and them showing up with ice cream treats

*Everyone scarfing ham buns before the ceremony

*Mike accidentally walking himself down the aisle

*Our ceremony and walking music - Death Cab for Cutie & Bon Iver

*Anna looking at me before it was my turn to walk...I will never forget that moment.  My dad giving me a squeeze and saying everything's gonna be alright

*Hearing my bridesmaids sniffle behind me during the ceremony

*Making eye contact with Josh, our best man, during the ceremony and knowing he was so happy for us

*Choking up while saying my vows

*Surprising our moms with roses and words of thanks during our ceremony

*Walking down the aisle, together, and heading straight for the bar!

 *Team shots at Cooper Pub

 *The situation pictured below

*Our first dance to The Avett Brothers

*My crazy dance with my dad

*My grandpa stealing the mic during dinner

*Dancing with Bruce and Harriet Moir
*Kirsten DJ'ing and my bridesmaids dancing on stage where famous people have performed

*Bursting into tears in Cory and Joe's arms, know my best friends from college were in my wedding like we always said

 *My dad making everyone cry - Kirsten was the victim here

*Dancing with Dusty and him saying "Thank you for marrying my best friend"
*The fact that Mike's mom was there for us on our wedding day
*This moment:  which I just discovered when looking through pictures

*Having the best wedding party imaginable, and an amazing personal attendant 

*Being husband and wife and knowing that we shared our day with people we loved!

Thank you to everyone who has supported us for over five years!

How to Hem Pants

I am 5 foot 1, with hips, and a nice little booty.  Although I am happy about all of these traits, buying jeans that fit is near impossible.  I can think of about 3 pairs of jeans in my life that haven't had to be hemmed.  Crop pants and capris?  Yeah right, they never look good.  They never hit the right spot, since I'm short and curvy, and pretty much always make me look like a gnome.  Not attractive.

Jean shopping is one of my least favorite things.  I absolutely hate it and would definitely never let anyone else experience the madness along with me.  A few months back, Mike actually had to force me to go to the mall jean shopping.  "Go buy jeans!"  UGH.  If a guy has to tell a girl (much less their WIFE) to go shopping, something is wrong.  I love shopping, just not for jeans.

It makes total sense that the bigger your waist, the taller you are, right?  NOT ALWAYS!  It's not a perfect equation and fashion somehow has not figured that out yet.  And what's with the trend of having all sizes with the same inseam?  How the hell does that make sense?  ...See my frustration?!

So, for all of my life, my mom has been hemming my jeans.  Which means that even when I purchased new pants, I couldn't even wear them until we went to visit my parents and my mom could sew them.  It usually resulted in me being snippy and unhappy with her.  She's tried many different methods and it usually doesn't look that great.  But I can't be picky, right?  She does it for free and it generally works. I have a few pair that are definitely too short, but I wear them anyway.  And a few that are too long.  But hey, it's better than having a few inches dragging on the floor.

A little over a year ago, my mom snagged a sewing machine from someone in my hometown for 10$. She gave it to me and proclaimed that I would have to learn to hem my own pants.  Umm...thanks?

A few nights ago, Mike and I stopped at the mall quickly, and I surprisingly walked out with 2 pairs of jeans for 50$.  This included my first American Eagle purchase EVER.  Big girl!  Now...the daunting task of doing my own hemming.  To my surprise, a cheat sheet from the internet was in the sewing machine box, SCORE!  So I used that.

It took me about an hour, and a few needle pokes (one bloody one), less than 5 swear words, and voila!  Hemmed pants a-la ME!

The beginning

Here's how to do it:

1.  Cuff up your pants to the length you want.  Mine was about 4.5 cm I wanted "off".  Divide that in HALF.  For me:  2.25 cm

2.  Measure your halved distance from the current hem upward.  Do not include the actual hem in the measurement, measure from the edge of the current hem.

3.  Pin all the way around, make sure that your seams match up and continually measure your cuff. 

4.  Then fire up your machine!  Sew right along the edge of the current hem (the point from where you started measuring).  You can also do this by hand if you do not have a machine.  Try your best to keep it straight.  Also make sure to keep your opening apart, so you don't sew your jeans shut!

5.  Fold the new cuff up into the pant leg, and your original hem will still be your current hem.  Iron it flat to give you a nice flat cuff.  

6.  From there, you can choose to cut off the excess which is now hidden inside.  I chose to hoopstitch the cuff inside so I didn't have to cut anything.  That looks like this:

7.  And you're done!!  Mine are still a wee-bit long, but I have learned to keep them longer rather than shorter, because after a few washings and such, they will shrink up.

The end product!

My mom would be so proud!  Please let me know if you have questions or tips.  I have one more pair to go :)

Ladies, Let's Get Real

WARNING:  This post will be graphic.

I want to talk about menstruating.  And this is going to be good because I am currently in the lovely company and it's just freaking fantastic.  But first, let's talk about our lovely friend PMS.  Whatever idiot male said a few years back that PMS is not real needs to be slapped.  I don't turn into a different person because it is fun!

Luckily for Mike, I have been able to turn my emotions from psychotic-raging-a-hole to whiny-needy-child.  Everything makes me whiny.  I like to moan about my back, that I'm hot, what's for dinner, I'm bored, whatever.  Sometimes I actually just say "whiiiine" because I can't think of anything to whine about but feel the need to do so.

I personally feel special because many of my symptoms last from PMS all the way through my visitor...NOT.  For a few days now, I've wanted to eat everything in sight.  This month, I've been pretty good at controlling myself.  But, I literally asked Mike if we could eat only chocolate (currently wanting Nutella) and Doritos this weekend.  That's what I'm craving.  A whole bag of Doritos, and Nacho Cheese at that, even though I really love Cool Ranch.  And as I write that, why aren't they Cooler Ranch anymore?  I digress... I cannot freaking imagine what I'm going to be like pregnant if I'm already this bad.  Last night I indulged on dark chocolate, and tonight some Haagen-Das that Mike purchased "on a whim" at CVS.  Smart man, I tell you.

My lower back has been hurting for a week, which is super uncomfortable in my crappy chair at work.  And a few days ago the cramps began.  At some ridiculous hour this morning I was woken up with terrbile cramps, so I chugged some water, downed some pills, and tried to fall asleep.  Normally I would use my heating pad, but um..it's summer.  {HOT.  sweaty.  Crampy.  Eww.}  Again with the whining.

I took IcyHot to work and popped pills all day.  It's not fun to be at work and feel like a small hooved animal is running a freaking marathon in your abdomen.  I feel like an old woman.  When does this END?  Oh yeah, never!  Until I'm actually an old woman.  And my mom and her monthly friend are still kicking so there's no end in sight for me.  Joy. 

I will breeze past the fact that sleeping is uncomfortable, I despise going to the bathroom while this shenanigan is going on, I drink less water because I'm trying to avoid the bathroom, I wear less attractive undies, the trash can is even less desirable than usual, and several other disgusting things that I will never get over.

The joys of womanhood.

Please tell me I'm not alone in this.

1 Year, 1 Week, 1 Day

1 Year, 1 Week, 1 Day...

That's how long I've been Mrs. Olson.

We celebrated one year of marriage on June 2nd, the one sunny day we've had around these parts in WEEKS.  We know how to pick 'em!  We got to spend Saturday evening (June 1st) having dinner with my MOH and her boyfriend, followed by a fire and some s'mores at her place.  She now lives with one of my other bridesmaids, so I got to see her as well, which was a fun way to reminisce and celebrate.

On our anniversary, we headed to St. Paul for Grand Old Day 2013.  We wanted to see Night Moves perform (they were the opener for the Django Django concert we went to), get some "fair food", walk, enjoy the sunshine, and spend time together out and about.  The weather was great, and I'm sure we walked close to five miles.

Delicious indulgences of the day:

CHOCOLATE mini donuts with powdered sugar and glaze

Sea salt caramels and pecan turtles from Just Truflles

Chicken-Avocado Arepa

We love lemonade.

Happy 1 year!

We of course watched Night Moves perform, and checked out some booths, but mostly just walked and talked.  And me, Mrs. Shop Anywhere, snagged a super colorful scarf, a 5$ tee, and a cloth headband.  We each got a slight sunburn, but enjoyed the day and time in the sun!

That evening, we went for a reservation at The Melting Pot, where Mike had roses on the table for me :)  We noshed on delish cheese, 6 different kinds of meat including duck and filet mignon, and finished with their desert course (we chose the marshmallow oreo one).  We went home happy and very full.

When we arrived home, I had to wait in the car for a few minutes.  Mike then essentially re-enacted our engagement story and successfully made me cry while "re-proposing" with another wedding band to match the one I have.  He's not a super emotional guy, but if you know/remember our proposal, this was very sweet and meant a lot to me for him to be so clever!

After one year of many amazing memories, I can definitely say I am ready for more.  I am so lucky that Mike has chosen me to be his princess.  We live, we learn, and there is no one else I'd rather have by my side!

Friendship

I would like to talk to you all about friendship.
Because some people seem to have some really messed up ideas of what friendship is.
And that's not okay with me.

Merriam Webster: 1 a : one attached to another by affection or esteem
                              2 a : one that is not hostile

Not someone who makes you feel like crap.  Not someone who takes things from you.  Not someone who makes your life stressful.  Not someone who cannot see your value.

I've touched on this a few times before, but you have the right to choose your friends, the people you spend time with, and the people you share your life with.

Source

Without spending hours searching, these two quotes do a good job of spelling out how I feel.  

My friends:  answer my messages, take as many dumb pictures with me as I like, listen to my not-so-funny stories, get up at 8 am on Saturdays to have coffee with me, appreciate my honesty, love my husband, cheer me up and steer me straight when I'm struggling, and most importantly choose to spend time with me and have me in their lives.  

I was the person in high school who had a LOT of friends, but not that many GOOD friends.  I have really tried to turn that around in the past few years and it has done me well.  I love my group of girls now and really love spending time with them.  They are busy, and I push them a lot to get together, but I hope they appreciate the effort to get everyone in the same place.  

As time goes on, babies arrive, people move away, I know that my "inner-circle" will probably get smaller.  I also know that the people in that circle will be absolutely precious and valuable to me.  I can't wait to continue making memories with my lovely friends.  

Source

Please know, ladies, that you mean SO MUCH TO ME.  If I am talking to you, know that you are important, have a special place in my heart, and I treasure you!