Jan 22 2013

It’s A New Year

Happy 2013, everyone! For my (two) followers (because I’m sure most people have given up on me, ha!), I know you have been wondering where I have been. Let’s just say the last half of 2012 was … busy. And that’s putting it mildly. It got so busy that the Hubs and I let our diet spin out of control, eating out a lot, resorting to fast food, and just generally eating crappy. We both gained some weight. Ick.

But it’s 2013 now, and the bad diet is behind us. In fact, we’ve got a new outlook on how we eat that I will explain later. For now, here’s a quick recap of what’s been going on in our lives since I posted in August.

The last time I posted, I told you all about Mandy, my dog who was very sick. Mandy had a lot of ups and downs over the next few months and I spent a lot of time taking care of her. We ultimately had to say goodbye to her on Christmas Eve, just a few weeks shy of her 15th birthday. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, and it still feels strange knowing that she’s gone forever. I picked her out as an eight week old little ball of fur when I was nine years old, and since then, she and I had been through a lot together. This put a damper on our Christmas, as you can imagine. Still, we made the best of it. I miss my baby girl very, very much and I have a lot of sweet memories of her life.

In October, we finally closed on a house. FINALLY! We searched for six months and had offers on multiple homes that we did not get for different reasons. Six months of tirelessly, hopelessly searching for a place that Marcos and I could call our own. Where we could nest and be husband and wife like we dreamed of. But all of the searching was worth it because we found the perfect house, and I cannot wait to show it to you guys! Oh, and on that note, this blog is going to expand a little bit to include my DIY projects around the home! I’m so excited!

A lot of firsts happened in October. On the 12th, we closed on our home. On the 28th, we celebrated our first wedding anniversary! And on the 29th, we set sail on our first cruise. We left out of New Orleans, LA and sailed to Progreso, Mexico and Cozumel, Mexico. This picture was taken at the cruise port in Cozumel.

Other than that, I’ve been sick a few times (more than usual for me in a season – and I contribute that to a high stress level for watching Mandy’s cancer take her from her as well as a very poor diet), and I worked a seasonal job from September-December. And in between all of that, we had a lot of family come to visit to check out our new house, as well as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years celebrations. Oh, and my birthday was last week (and the Hubs’ birthday is coming up in less than two weeks!). So all of these things kept me very busy and neglecting this blog hobby of mine. And of course, my number one priority was my sick baby girl.

It’s only been a few weeks since Mandy has been gone, but our diet is revamped already and I have a lot more time on my hands. I am ready and itching to get going on this blog again. I can’t promise that I will post every day, or even every week, but I can promise that I will share every new creation I come up with. Here’s a sneak peak of a goodie I created a few days ago:

And of course, it is a healthy treat! The recipe will be posted soon… promise

xoxo,
Sarah

Jun 21 2012

When the Hubs is left alone in the kitchen …

This is what happens when the hubs says he wants to cook dinner.

First, let me explain. Wait, no, this one’s kind of hard to explain! You see, we had been on a very long bike ride, and let’s just say that I was a lot more tired than the hubs was. So he, sweet man that he is, offered to make dinner. I had taken out ground turkey so he used that, some fresh peppers, and some seasonings and presented me with … the turkey man?

Yah, I have no idea where he gets these ideas from!

Brown rice, asparagus, and teriyaki sauce went with it. Let’s just say neither one of us ever figured out how the teriyaki sauce came into play and why it even goes with a turkey man. And when I asked the hubs why he made the turkey into the shape of a gingerbread man, he had no explanation.

He’s a weirdo, but hey, he’s my weirdo!

P.S. – new recipe tomorrow, I promise! This past week has been a little rough – lots of personal things going on. But the posts will be regular again starting tomorrow

Jun 11 2012

The Best Day of My Life

Summer Blog Challenge, Day 11: Best Day of Your Life

Photo by Jenn Hopkins Photography

I spent my whole life dreaming, wondering, waiting to see what my wedding day would turn out to be like. Seven and a half months later, the hubs and I are still wishing that day hadn’t gone by so fast. I can’t count how many times we’ve said “I wish we could get married every year! Every month! Every day!” By far, without a doubt, not even close, is there another day. Best day of our lives.

We got engaged last May, and were married in October. We originally planned for February, but after much talking, we decided to move it up. For reasons that even I didn’t know, I had been wanting to get married in October for a long time, but we didn’t want to wait until the following October. So the date was set, and it was perfect. I couldn’t stop thinking “How perfect of a wedding date is October 28? No day is better!” It was going to cut out 4 months of planning, but I knew I could do it.

I did all of the planning myself, with the help of awesome friends and family, and we pulled together an amazing day. I didn’t have a wedding planner and people called me crazy more than once, but I rarely found myself stressed due to the wedding and truly enjoyed every moment of it. The only thing I would go back and change is how fast the day went by. It came and went and before we knew it, it was over. I still cry when I think about the fact that we can never do it again. Not because I want to change anything, but because the emotions I experienced that day – the love from all of our family, and getting to marry the love of my life – it all added up to a day that I never wanted to end. It was just incredible.

Photo by Jenn Hopkins Photography

We got married at an old historic hotel on Jacksonville Beach in Florida. The courtyard outside hosted our ceremony, then we moved inside to the dining room for dinner, and back outside for dancing. The morning of the wedding, I woke up early without my alarm clock (this definitely does not come natural to me!). We had been up late the night before, trying to get the dinner area put together for our guests. There was an event earlier that night and we had to wait for them to clear and clean the area. Due to the event, which was Halloween-themed, our rehearsal was quite … eventful. Hanging ghosts and goblins were outside where our ceremony would be the next day and inside where our guests would eat dinner. Not exactly wedding-friendly. But we all had fun with it. They cleaned everything up before our big day, although they missed a couple things that my dad had to grab. No, I did not want the ghosts and goblins to make a flying entrance at our wedding!

The morning of, I did not talk to Marcos at all. We did not want to see or talk to each other until we walked down the aisle. Two of my bridesmaids stayed in my suite with me, and that morning we worked on a few last-minute decorations before we went to get breakfast. I couldn’t eat, hard as I tried. I think I had a spoonful of yogurt and a mimosa (thanks to the awesome guys upstairs who took care of us ). But I felt fine. I wasn’t tired and I just wasn’t hungry. Throughout the entire process of getting ready, I was cool as a cucumber. I was happy and excited, and I just couldn’t wait to walk down the aisle.

Then it hit me. Once my day-of coordinator came to tell me to “stand by and be ready,” I got really nervous. My bridesmaids and I started playing games to get my mind off of things. But my heart was racing. I went from calm, cool, collected excitement to a basket of nerves in .05 seconds flat. I have no idea why I was nervous. I wanted to marry him so bad. But the thought of walking down the aisle and looking the most amazing man in the eyes and telling him I wanted him forever was so overwhelming that I couldn’t even bear the thought. I was so lucky.

Photos by Jenn Hopkins Photography

After saying “I can’t do this!” over and over again, and my friends encouraging me “Yes, you can. You’ll be fine!”, I finally was walked down the aisle with my dad by my side. The whole way down, I stared at my soon-to-be-husband and cried. He was so handsome. He was just smiling at me, but I could see how nervous he was too. I blubbered through my vows and Marcos stumbled through his. But I wouldn’t change a thing. It was heartfelt and it was real. People told us that it was one of the most emotional weddings they had ever been to. You can hear our vows and watch a trailer video of our wedding at this link: Marcos and Sarah’s Preview Video.

There are too many amazing things for me to recount to really put my wedding day into words, so I won’t even try. All I know is, I am so incredibly grateful for the amazing video and photos I have of the day, and the unforgettable memories. I still can’t believe it really happened. Someone pinch me.

Photo by Jenn Hopkins Photography

Jun 8 2012

Summer Blog Challenge Days 1-8

I’ve decided to participate in the Summer Blog Challenge. You’ll notice I’ve added the button to my sidebar, so if you’re interested in reading posts from any one of the participants, this would be the place to find the links for everyone’s individual blogs. Basically, it’s a challenge to post a blog post every day and there’s a prompt for what to post. From this point on, I’ll probably include my blog challenge post inside of another recipe post. I’ve missed the first week, so here are my answers for those days, including today

June 1– Why are you doing this challenge.
I wanted to participate to encourage myself to post every day. I don’t want to forget about this blog at all and I know it will encourage my readers to come back if I have new content every day

June 2– Post a picture of you smiling.

Me and the hubs on our honeymoon in Jamaica

June 3– 15 interesting facts about yourself.
1. I love music! Especially country music. Music keeps me motivated while I’m cooking and baking. Currently I’m listening to “Drunk on You” by Luke Bryan. <3 this song!

2. I have a huuuuuge sweet tooth. No meal is complete without dessert at mi casa. This blog will eventually be covered with a lot of desserts, I'm sure.

3. I love dogs. Especially mine We have two, and you can see their pictures on my about me page!

4. My first job was at a veterinarian office. I worked in the kennel and took care of the cats and dogs by feeding and medicating them, cleaning up after them, bathing them, taking the dogs out to potty, etc. To date, this is still my favorite job I’ve ever had. Animals are just great

5. The hubs and I are moving our way towards no processed foods, but it’s not as easy as it seemed like it would be. I’m letting it be a slow process so that I don’t get overwhelmed. It’s something I’ve been learning a lot about lately and want very much for my husband and I and our future children. So far, it’s actually been really fun because I’ve had to become more creative in the kitchen with substitutions, making my own recipes, etc.

6. Along the same line, the dogs have been eating better than us for years. I’ve been feeding Mandy and Nova an exclusively raw diet for over six years now. The improvements in their health is really wonderful. They are always mistaken for being younger than they are (Nova is 7.5, Mandy is 14.5). For those who don’t know, a raw diet for dogs is exclusively raw meat, raw bones, and raw organs such as liver, kidney, heart, etc.

7. I have a hard time picking a favorite food, but I’ve always had a thing for mashed potatoes and yeast rolls. And brownies. Definitely brownies. And anything else chocolate. It’s a problem, really.

8. Our honeymoon in Jamaica was the first time I’ve ever been out of the USA. I miss Jamaica on a pretty frequent basis. One of the best experiences of my life … aside from our wedding day and the day of the proposal.

9. Speaking of the proposal, wedding, and honeymoon: I still cry when I think about any one of those days. To be fair, we’ve only been married since October, but I have to wonder if I’ll ever be able to talk about those days without crying and getting overly giggly and happy. Not that I’m complaining, because it’s really a wonderful thing! I’m so in love <3

10. The hubs and I are trying to get into running. We ran our first 5k last month, without any training. We really just wanted to jump start into it. How are we doing since then? Ummm...we haven't run very much ... at all. But we have a 5K next month we plan on entering, and we're determined to start training for it this upcoming week!

11. The hubs is much more social than I am. He makes friends wherever he goes. I wish I could do that. I'm the shy, quiet type. Until I get to know you, then you can't get me to shut up. You have been warned (har, har).

12. I've always been a computer geek. I once had an Aaron Carter fan site that made an appearance in J-14 magazine and was dubbed as "the grandaddy of all Aaron Carter fan sites!" My mom and I went out and bought all the J-14 magazines we could when that issue came out. Can I just make a note that I was, like, 11 at the time? So, no, I'm not embarrassed. haha!

13. I want to travel the world. But then, who doesn't? But the hubs and I have big plans to travel a lot before we have kids.

14. I miss my friends since moving to this city. But then, I love this city. The hubs and I plan to live here forever. I just wish my friends would all move over here too!

15. I love, love, love to garden and grow my own vegetables. It's so satisfying for me. I am currently growing jalapenos, red bell peppers, sweet heat peppers, fresno peppers, habanero peppers, oregano, basil, cilantro, rosemary, eggplant, japanese eggplant, three different types of tomatoes, sweet mint (because we love mojitos!), and some others that I'm sure I'm forgetting.

June 4– Meaning behind your blog name.
I spent way too long trying to come up with the name and I hope it sticks with people. One Sweet Heat has multiple meanings. One, the hubs is from Mexico, and he’s really sweet…and hot. So, yeah, that’s that.

Oh, and our love is a sweet heat. I’ll stop there.

Aaannnnddd… I like to cook with a lot of spices, and bake with a lot of sweets So, sweet heat!

This is less having to do with the blog, but it still fit: we just moved near a beach (by near, I mean 30 minutes away), so finally, I can say the Florida heat is pretty sweet. It was not sweet when I was living 2 hours from the beach, it just sucked! Now I enjoy bike rides at the most beautiful beach, concerts on the beach, fishing on the beach, etc. Life is pretty great over here.

June 5– Short term goals for this month and why those goals.
1. To work on this blog a lot and really get it going. I have big plans for this baby

2. To focus on getting the word out about my photography business that I’ve just started. Trying to start a new business is not easy, especially when you’ve just moved to a new area. I want to get out and about this month and see if I can find some businesses that will let me drop off some business cards.

3. To make my own yogurt. This is step 1 for us to save money on our grocery bill. We use a lot of greek yogurt, so I’ve decided to start making my own. But we’ve gotta use up what’s in the fridge, first

4. To focus more on God and the bible. When we make God the center of our lives, we are happier together and individually. Unfortunately, without our small group and our church that we loved so much, it’s been harder for us to keep Him the center of our lives over here in our new home, and though we still pray often, we study the bible less and talk about Him less. We desperately want to change that. This is really the biggest goal, and more of a long-term goal, but it’s a goal for this month nonetheless because we are longing to be close to Him again.

June 6– Nicknames you have & why you have them.
Oh gosh, the hubs has a million nicknames for me. Which is funny, because I really grew up with next to none. Everyone always just called me Sarah.

Some of his nicknames for me are Chumper Love, Chumpers (which came from the first one), Baby Boo, Honey Bun..and tons more. And I have no idea where any of them came from! But they sure are fun and I love it when he calls me any of them He has plenty too. In fact, we never call each other Sarah or Marcos except when we are referring to each other in conversations with other people. Towards each other, it sounds so weird to call each other by our first names!

June 7– Picture of something that makes you happy.

The hubs. Duh! Yeah, he’s pretty much the greatest. Even better is this picture: The hubs in Jamaica. Can we go back?!

June 8– Not including blogging your favorite guilty pleasure.
Brownies. But I think I mentioned that up there ^^. Sooo…hmmm…cleaning. Yes, I love to clean, and yes, it gives me pleasure. I love to clean during the day while hubs is at work. I turn up the music, then start cleaning the house. I dance to music while I’m vacuuming, doing dishes, etc. It’s fun, I swear!

Alright, I told y’all that it’s hard to get me to shut up, so I’m sorry for being so wordy! But like I said, from here on out I’ll post the blog challenge prompt in that day’s individual post.

May 30 2012

One year since his proposal

Recently, my hubby and I celebrated the one-year anniversary of his proposal. In honor of that, I wanted to share our proposal story. It’s one that, even if it weren’t my own, would never get old to me. Marcos certainly made it a day to remember. That day not only marked the beginning of our life together, but also an even greater journey to become even better for each other, through God.

Marcos and I met at his aunt’s house on New Years Eve 2009. You see, our lives crossed paths for many years but we never met. Timing really is everything. My cousin just happened to be Marcos’ first friend when he moved here as a middle-school aged kid from Mexico. My cousin doesn’t speak Spanish. Marcos didn’t speak English at the time. I still don’t know how that friendship developed and lasted, but I thank God that it did!

Marcos and I hit it off as soon as we met and the distance wasn’t going to stop us. At the time we started dating, Marcos lived 6 hours away from me. Soon after, he moved back home with his parents, making him just 2.5 hours away. This was still a killer but much better … we would have never seen each other if we lived 6 hours away from each other! Thankfully, the shorter distance allowed us to see each other at least once a month, and a year after we started dating I moved over to his city to be closer. I got an internship during my last semester of college and moved into my aunt’s house (the mom of the cousin who’s also the best friend … following me still?). On April 30, 2011 I graduated from Florida State University. Marcos paid off the ring he had on layaway on May 5 (in true Mexican style on Cinco de Mayo, ha!).

On Wednesday, May 18th I got dressed and went into work just like any other day. In the middle of the afternoon, my boss called me into his office to ask if I could run out to the beach to pick up a package for him. He said it was very urgent and he had asked other people in the office but everyone was busy with something. I had no problem with it – who wouldn’t want a little get away in the middle of a work day? So off I went to pick up a package from the Courtyard Marriott.

When I got to the hotel, I walked into the lobby and asked for the package for my boss. It was handed to me and then to my left I heard a familiar voice call my name. It was Marcos’ sister. She and her cousin were at the hotel (coincidence, huh?). They said that they were waiting on a friend who was in town and staying at the hotel. He was in his room getting ready and they were going to go get something to eat. This same “friend” spent all morning building a huge sandcastle on the beach and they were trying to get a good picture of it but were not having any luck. Since they knew I liked to take pictures, they asked me if I could run outside on the beach real quick and catch a picture before I went back to work. Sure, no problem.

When we got out there, I started snapping some pictures. Right then, I heard someone run behind me and fall into the sand. I was supposed to go over and ask this “random guy” if he was okay. I wasn’t doing it … my mind was racing … why does this guy look strangely like my boyfriend, even though he is covered up in a sweater? Why do I recognize those ugly shorts he is wearing? And … are those his legs?

After waiting on me to ask him if he was okay – which I never did because, as I said, my mind was racing – Marcos’ sister walked over and said “sir, are you okay?” at which point this “random guy” turned around and yep, sure enough, it was Marcos.

Now, anyone that knows me knows that I ask a million questions. So at this point I start questioning Marcos.

“What are you doing here?!” To which he replies “What?! I just wanted to go for a run!”
“Ummm… but you’re wearing a sweater in 95 degree heat! On the beach!”
“So what?” he says.

In an effort to get me to shut up – ha! – he flipped it around and started asking me questions.

“Do you like the sandcastle?” Of course, it was pretty cool.
“What if I told you that I built that for you?” Okay, now my mind is really racing.
“What if I told you that this package is for you?” Okay, someone tell me what is going on! At this point I’m still asking “What’s going on?!” every 5 seconds … gosh I must be annoying. haha!

He starts to open the package that is for my boss and out comes a ring box. I start freaking out, thinking “This is it!” and begin to mentally prepare myself. He begins … “Baby, will you …” (he opens the box) “take these earrings?”

Okay, that is the cruelest trick in the world, and I told him before he proposed that if he ever pulled that one on me that I would kill him (obviously not seriously). But I did hit him a little bit. A playful hit, but man I was still completely confused! Why would he do all of this just to give me earrings? Especially the huge sandcastle!

Now he tells me that he does have one more thing for me. He asks me to reach down into the sand and pull on a string. So I do. And this string connects to a drawbridge on the sandcastle. As the drawbridge comes down, it reveals what is written in the sand underneath: “Will you marry me?” Uh, heck yes I will marry you!

Now his sister and his cousin have been there the whole time, but at this time his other cousin and two friends also pop out from their hiding places. He had someone taking video and someone taking pictures. Man, this guy thought of everything, didn’t he?! Well he wasn’t finished yet …

He tells me to turn around, look up, and wave to his dad. He rented out one of the rooms at the hotel so that his dad could watch me arrive in the parking lot and alert everyone, and then come outside the back balcony and watch the entire proposal. And there were snacks and drinks upstairs, along with his mom and a couple of his aunts. And this was after he took me for a little walk on the beach to a nice restaurant to get a drink at their bar. This is the same restaurant that we ended up having our rehearsal dinner at, and across the street from the place we got married.

Once we got up to the hotel room after having a drink, we had some snacks with his family before he told me about our dinner reservations. Man… could he have any other surprises up his sleeve? Oh yes he can, because at this point, he opens up the closet and shows me three dresses that he went out and bought. I could choose any of these three dresses to wear that night. I felt like Cinderella. The best part – they all fit perfectly.

All in all, up until our wedding day, it was the most magical day of my life. I truly have a guy that loves me – and I love him more than words can express. Now we’re just here, on our little journey through life, watching God’s miracles and loving every second of it. We are so blessed.