Blogging tip

So I know some of you won't be interested in this post at all, but for those of you that have recently started blogging or are thinking about starting a blog, I thought I'd share a nifty new website I just came across and show everyone how to use it to edit the title of your blog.  Or for those of you that aren't interested in blogging, it's still a neat way to get access to some new fonts.

Here is how I created this new header:

1. Go to http://www.dafont.com/
2. Click one of the font types listed at the top (i.e., caligraphy, handwritten)
3. You can preview what all the fonts look for a certain word or phrase by typing it in the custom preview.  You can edit the size of the font displayed and the numbers displayed using the filters at the top
4. Once you've found a font you like, click download
5. Save the file (I saved it to the desktop to easily find it later)
6. Right click on the zip file on your desktop, then click "extract all"
7. Specify the location you want to extract the file to (or leave it on the default) and click "extract"
8. Once the file has been extracted, right click on the file then click "install."  These instructions may be slightly different if you are not using Microsoft Vista.  Click here for details.
9. When you open Microsoft Word the name of your font will automatically be included in the dropdown box
10. Experiment with the font until you've found the one you like, it's the right size, and it's the right color.  Make a screen print of the font
11. Save the file as an image
12. Open blogger, click on "design", then click on the "edit" button in the header section
13. Browse for the image, upload, and save
14. Click on "preview" to see what the new header looks like in your blog
15. Play around until you find something you like.  If you get stuck, post a comment and I'd be happy to help

Here's a little video I made using screen-cast-o-matic showing how I completed these steps.  By the way, screen-cast-o-matic is a pretty nifty tool in and of itself.  It's a web-based (and free!) way to record what you're doing on your computer screen.  Once you've recorded the video its super easy to automatically upload your videos to YouTube. 



If you liked this post, you may want to check out this post where I explain why I think everyone should have a blog, and how to use shabby chic blogger templates to customize your blog background.  Happy blogging everyone :)

Thank you anonymous donor

This Sunday Kevin's sister and brother-in-law offered us an impromptu invitation to go check out Lauritzen Gardens with their family.  His sister mentioned something about Christmas stuff and trains and since neither Kevin or I had been there before, it was free admission, it was close to downtown, and a good chance to visit with the family, it was the perfect invitation.  We spent about 15 minutes digging out gloves, hats, and scarfs, etc., assuming that since it was called Lauritzen Gardens that this little adventure would entail... well, gardens.  When we arrived, we were excited to instead find a nice warm building full of plants and model train sets.

Kevin's nieces and nephews were freaking adorable as usual.  I just loved the little headband that little baby J. had in in her hair!

My favorite part was as the neat wooden model buildings of historic sites around Omaha.  Here's the Woodmen building and Central High School (my dad went to high school there back in the day).

Thank you Mr. (or Mrs!) Anonymous donor who paid for all of Omaha's free admission into Lauritzen Gardens every Sunday in December.  We had a lovely time.

Oh and I hope you guys like the new look of the blog.  I decided I wanted a change from the teal and yellow.  Do you guys like the change?  Hate it?  I'll post something in the next day or two explaining how I created the new blog header.  Hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday.

Hair Styles of Christmas Past

Kevin prefers long hair and I'm lazy when it comes to getting my hair cut, which means my hair has gotten progressively longer since we met in early 2008.  Today I have the longest hair I've ever had in my life.  I've started getting sort of an itch for a change, so I thought I'd look at some of the hairstyles from the past... here goes the hair style flash back!

2010:  Long!

2009: Medium-ish with bangs

2007-2008:  Medium with and without bangs

2006: Short!

And just for fun... 1993 

Let's just say my mom's hair dresser skills left a little to be desired.  Love ya mom :)

Anybody have a vote?  What about a hair dresser recommendation in Omaha?

P.S. - Kevin looked at the computer when I was putting the pictures together, and was like "Weirdo, why are you making a collage of yourself?"  Ha!

Pre-baby bucket list

  

Most people that know me well, know that I love to plan.  I was planning for college when I was a freshman in high school; I vigorously planned myself through college and ended up finishing my undergraduate degree unexpectedly early; I bought my first house before I was out of college; I diligently obsessively planned our wedding and honeymoon; and would you expect anything less, but I'm already planning the next big phase in our lives:  babies!  Don't get too excited yet mom and dad.... keep reading :)  This time, I'm determined to not rush into the next phase but to to thoroughly appreciate and enjoy the present.  I know this is extremely sappy, but I'm so very much in love with my husband Kevin, and want to just enjoy our time as newlyweds.  And I know he's going to make a fabulous dad one day, but it doesn't need to be tomorrow, or next month, or even next year.

So in that light, we've created a pre-baby bucket list of all of the things we hope to accomplish before we tackle our next big adventure.  I say hope, because sometimes life takes some unexpected twists, and by no means would our lives be devastated if a baby came earlier than expected, but I'd love, love, love it if we could make it through this list first.

So here it goes, my pre-baby bucket list!

1.  Visit two foreign countries.  Mexico and Canada don’t count.  Maybe somewhere like Istanbul, Turkey and South Africa??

2.  Take a cooking class together.

3.  Go on a vacation with our friends... maybe to go watch the Nebraska Cornhuskers play in the Big 12 Championship or heck, maybe even at the National Championship (we can hope right)? 

4.  Go camping, sleep in a tent, and build our own fire.

5.  Get in the habit of praying together often and out-loud.

6.  Pay off Kevin’s car and my MBA loan and save at least $2,000 dollars to spend on baby stuff.

7.  Get in the habit of keeping my bathroom and closet clean.

8.  Get good at yoga.

9.  Be the maid of honor in Emily’s wedding.

10.  Have 15 sleepovers with our nieces and nephews (and my little brother Jonah!) and spoil them rotten (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen)

11.  Finish our MBA’s and throw a huge party to celebrate.

12.  Do something nice for our parents, like… really nice (Kevin's parents, My parents).

13.  Take up photography.

14.  Get a fish and keep it alive for a year.

15.  Get a tattoo  : )

So there you have it - 15 things to accomplish!  Am I completely crazy or does anyone else have a pre-baby bucket list?

Big 12 championship!

All the stars lined up last weekend and both Kevin and I had to travel for work to the Dallas area (I spent last week in Fort Worth, and Kevin is in Shreveport, Louisiana this week).  We were able both able to extend our work trips to meet over the weekend in Arlington, Texas and got to go to the Big 12 Championship game over the weekend.  Thank you Union Pacific!  Our good friends the Trout's from Minneapolis joined us and we also met up with a bunch of other friends that came down for the game.  It was an awesome day until the very last minute of the game... Good guys lost, Bad guys won!  Huskers 20; Oklahoma 23.

Even though we lost, it was a great trip.  The weather was beautiful, we had a great day with friends, and the stadium was absolutely incredible.  Trivia fact:  The Cowboy's Stadium is the largest dome in the world with the biggest HD television in the world.  Doesn't it sort of look like one huge space ship just landed right in the middle of Texas?

Please forgive my obnoxious sunglasses in all these pictures.  The finest the gas station had to offer! 

And of course, I brought the flip along for the ride.  Friday at the piano bar, Saturday at the game.


Big 12 Game from Amanda Kohler on Vimeo.

Quick and yummy dinner by Kevin

Don't you love it when you stumble across a new recipe that's really easy and yummy?  Better yet, when your husband stumbles across the recipe and makes it for you while you sit your lazy butt in front of the TV :)

Here is Kevin's Tikka Marsala over Basmati Rice:

He sauteed up some chicken, big chunks of green peppers, and onions, added the can of Tikki sauce, and 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream (he actually added 3 tbs of butter, 1/4 cup of half and half, and some Greek yogurt since Hyvee was out of their organic heavy whipping cream).  Put the whole mixture over some basmati rice, and voila an easy and tasty Indian dish.  Sure, he could have made the Tikka Marshala sauce from scratch, but this sauce was so yummy and you could actually recognize and pronounce all the ingredients!  Do you guys have any easy dinners you'd recommend?



If you're a fan of True Blood...

then you should definitely check out AMC's new series The Walking Dead.  Interesting story line, good acting, and some really creepy supernaturals.  The Walking Dead just aired this season and is about what happens to humanity in the aftermath of a zombie plague.

You can watch the first episode for free here, and download the other two episodes for $3 on iTunes.  Super excited for the fourth episode this Sunday.

Only downside I can see so far is that Kevin has taken to saying "I'm a zombie" in an incredibly creepy voice...

  

Nothing like that new CD feeling

Is it just me or do you guys love getting new CD's?  I know iTunes is instant gratification, and sometimes I can't resist the temptation either, but in my opinion there's no better feeling than struggling to get that clear plastic wrapping off a new CD and popping it in a CD player. 

By the way, if you love getting new CD's every month, I'd recommend this website:  http://www.yourmusic.com/.  It's not that great when it comes to independent artists, but anything that's a little more mainstream they generally have.  For $6.99 per month they send you a CD of your choosing, which includes shipping and tax.  I forget about it almost every month so it feels like Christmas when I get my CD.

Kevin and I just saw Josh Ritter at the Slowdown with our new buddies Amy and Ross.  I used to be much more into the local music scene then I am now.  I hate to admit my interests have drifted all over the board lately (you know me... easily inspired means easily distracted.)

Going to this concert was a throw back to my college days, and I love my husband for being such a good sport.  Kevin isn't really the scene kid, concert going type, but he really enjoyed himself and we all had a lot of fun.  Here's a little sampling of Josh Ritter's music.  He's one of those rare artists which is way better live than he is on his CD, but my most favorite part was how throughout the the whole concert he looked like he was so happy and was getting a huge kick out of all of the people there to support him.  Gotta love a modest artist.

I love this first song... makes me think of a carousel ride.

Smoothie time

So I bought a new blender to make margaritas, and it turns out it has some other useful purposes... like making smoothies :)

I was inspired by one of my new cooking books, The Family Chef.  I've really enjoyed this book (thanks mom!).  The book is written by two sisters that work together as personal chefs in California for all sorts of famous people.  I think their writing about cooking in general and how it plays a role in their families is almost better than their recipes, although those are good too.

There are several recipes in this book for yummy smoothies, but one of their big themes of the book is being open to improvising if you don't have all the ingredients.  So, although most of their smoothie recipes included things like minced fresh ginger, coconut water, and milled flaxseed, I opted to use only the ingredients I had onhand. 

After making three successful smoothies with all sorts of ingredients, I'm convinced you really can't make a bad smoothie as long as you have have a small bag of frozen fruit, a couple globs (about 1.5 cups) of yogurt (I really liked the Horizon Organic Fat Free Vanilla), some water (you can start by adding 1/4 a cup and then add more later if your smoothie is too thick), and a little bit of sugar (or I prefer Agave Nectar in things like this). 

So there you have it, grab whatever ingredients you have onhand, throw it in a blender, and voila a wonderful breakfast or afternoon snack!

P.S. - Kevin liked the smoothies too.  The poor boy has learned to hide when the camera comes out, because who know when a picture is going to be deemed "blog worthy"  :)

Sleepover at Uncles and Manda's

Once a month we have a sleepover with some of our favorite kids (Kevin's nieces and nephews and my little brother Jonah).  This month we had Presleigh and Ryder over and had lots of fun. 

Here's what we did:  Went on the roof to check out the view of downtown, chased each other around in the shopping carts in the basement of our condo building, ran up all six flights of stairs, played seven rounds of hide-and-go-seek, watched Toy Story 3 while eating popcorn and cookies, tucked the kids into bed in an air matress in our room, woke up at 6:00 a.m., got everyone dressed, made waffles, had a dance party, walked down to the slides in the Old Market, got some hot chocolate at the Omaha Visitors Center, feed the ducks at the ConAgra lake, talked to 911 when Ryder pressed the emergency button in the elevator (oops!), returned them safely to their parents, and then took a long nap :)  How do parents do this full time?  Lots of caffeine?

Couldn't resist taking lots of pictures and video.  They are just so darn cute! 

Shopping Carts from Amanda Kohler on Vimeo.

Dance Party from Amanda Kohler on Vimeo.

Old Market Slides from Amanda Kohler on Vimeo.

Ducks from Amanda Kohler on Vimeo.

We were really happy with all of the fun things we found to do with the kids without having to drive anywhere.  We love living downtown because of all the activity down here, but weren't sure how much there'd be for kids.  You don't really think of downtown as very kid-friendly, but we found lots of fun stuff to do, and best of all most of it was free.  Maybe our future kids will be little condo dwellers?  :) 

Vintage shoes

Happy Friday everyone!  I have some more Etsy finds for you guys: vintage shoes!  I've never had anything against used clothing, but have always had my reservations when it comes to shoes.  These vintage shoes are so cute it could change my mind.  Click here to see all the shoes she has for sale.  Some of my favorites that happen to be my size...  Kevin are you reading?  Never too early to start Christmas shopping :)

$32

$28

$32



Cute as a button

Kevin's been hogging the computer lately working on stuff for his MBA classes.  "Babe, what's more important, homework or blogging?"  :)  I still managed to sneak in a little Etsy browsing.  I love these earrings for sale on Etsy by Babbling Brooks.  So fun and pretty.

$6.50

 

$6.50

$7.00

DIY vase and Air Plants

The hotel I stayed at in Atlanta last week had some really creative ways of displaying fresh flowers.  I think making a vase like this would be a fun do-it-yourself project.  All you'd need is a big glass vase, some smaller vases, and some metal wire.  Wrap the metal wire around the neck of the little vases than string the metal wire over the top of the big vase and bend the wire into a few circles inside the vase to hold it into place. 

Or, insteady of putting water and fresh flowers in these vases, you could use air plants.  Have you guys heard of these nifty little plants?  I just discovered them a few weeks ago.  The best part about air plants is that they don't need any soil to survive (you just soak them in water once a week).  There are so many fun ways to display them:

source

source

 source

I haven't seen these little plants around in any local stores, but you can easily buy them online.  To see all the air plants on sale at Etsy.com click here!  I like the idea of an air plant subscription - this seller is offering 3 air plants per month for 3 months for a grand total of $32.50 (including shipping). 

Urban Outfitters

Found some great stuff this weekend on the sales rack at Urban Outfitters.  A pair of jeans for Kevin, and for me a cute pair of boat shoes, white frilly vest, a super comfy sweatshirt, and a dress with stars on it that can also be worn as a shirt, for a grand total of less than $100.  I also saw some things I had previously paid full price for on the sales rack, don't you hate it when that happens?  From now on, I'm determined to be exclusively a sales rack shopper!

Muchos gracias to my new and wonderful in-laws for their generous birthday present of a gift card to Urban Outfitters.



CB2... i love you

I couldn't believe my luck last weekend when I arrived at my hotel in Atlanta and right across the street was one of my favorite stores: CB2!  Owned by Crate and Barrel, it's sort of like an upscale (but still affordable) Ikea.  I've been an avid reader of their catalog for years and love checking out their stuff online, but had never had the opportunity to go the store... Omaha, NE is generally not the first place that the really trendy stores go.

So after work, I hurried my butt over to the store to check it out.  It did not disappoint.  Lots of cool ideas and beautiful accessories.

Of course I couldn't leave the store empty handed so I bought one of the most impractical things to take with me on the flight home... 8 new wine glasses!  Kevin and I love wine but have been drinking out of a bunch of old mismatched glasses.  I carried-on this box through 2 airports, and to my husbands surprise made it home with all 8 glasses intact.  Sheer determination :)

"Arc Style" and "Fushion Style"

And, I just found out they have a blog, and it's a good one!  I especially like the "how to" section.  Isn't this a fun (and cheap!) idea for a Christmas tree? 

source

Happily married for six months

Kevin and I got married six months ago on a beautiful day in May.  Man, can it really be November already?  I know most of you have already seen the pictures, but I couldn't resist taking another look at them today.  Is it cheesy that I just get so happy when I think about this day? 

Before the wedding

The Ceremony

Our favorite kids

Friends and the Trolley

Our Wedding Party

Us

More of Us

Details

Dance!

Thank you to The Moment It Clicks for our wonderful wedding photos!  

I created these collages using free software called Photoscape.  Check out the details here.