Auf Wiedersehen Germany, Hello America

Tomorrow is our last day in Germany for Corey's first season of pro ball overseas..can't believe his first year is over already! We have loved living in Augsburg but we're both so excited to get back to the states for the summer. We enjoyed a little trip to Andechs Brewery outside of Munich, a Telekom VS. Bayern Munchen basketball game and an amazing trip to Prague recently so as you can imagine, we have had such a great last week in Germany. We have such a busy summer ahead of us too so it's definitely going to be an exciting and busy time for us.

We leave this Wednesday morning at 4:30am, we've got a 3 hour flight to Madrid, then a 6 hour layover in Madrid (who knows, maybe we can step foot outside the airport & see a bit of Spain!) then we've got an 8 hour flight to Boston. So needless to say, we've got a very long day of traveling on Wednesday. We're so excited to spend a few days in NH with Corey's family and then we're off to my house in NY on Sunday. We're planning on spending about a month or so in NY relaxing a tiny bit when we can but mostly meeting with a million people for wedding things! I feel like Cor & I have a bit of a unique wedding situation....our wedding isnt until July 2013 but I'm working at Brookstone again for the summer so besides for my 1 month of wedding planning this April-May in NY, then majority of my time is spent in NH for the summer and back to Europe where ever Corey signs. So even though our wedding is over a year away, I feel like I have barely any time to meet with people in person and decide who we want to book for DJ, videographer, florist, etc! Busy, busy, busy but anyone who knows me knows that I love it! I love being busy, planning and what girl doesn't love planning their perfect wedding day to the one they love?

Oh and I forgot to mention that I am actually 1 of 6 finalists for the Jorge Manuel Couture Wedding Gown Giveaway! We heard that over 300 people entered for this giveaway last year and even more entered last year so I am honored to have been chosen as a finalist. I never thought I would have a chance of wearing a $5,000 couture wedding gown on my wedding day but because of this giveaway...I may just be that lucky! I really hope to win so if you have the time, please vote for me anytime, once per email from today until April 30th here: http://www.jorgemanuelweddings.com/uas/upon-a-star-votes.php

But Ciao to Germany for now...who knows, maybe we'll be back in Augsburg again next year, or back some where else in Germany or perhaps off to a new country to explore. Regardless of where we go, I am so happy to have met all of the amazing people in Augsburg. We have made some really great friends and we will never forget how kind and welcoming everyone was. It was such a great experience and I had the best year of my life here....specifically 11.27.11, the day Corey & I got engaged happens to be the best day of my life (until I walk down the aisle). But enough of the cheesy stuff because I really am so sad to be leaving. It's actually starting to hit me today that tomorrow is our last day in Germany. But regardless of how sad it is to leave, I am so excited to get back to NY and NH! I miss my family, friends and of course my animals! I think it's going to be an amazing summer so I hope all of our friends and fam are excited to have us back for the summer! See you all soon in the states or again next year in Europe hopefully! Auf Wiedersehen!

Best Lightened Up Chocolate Chip Cookie Ever!

I was in the mood to make chocolate chip cookies tonight but had no brown sugar so I decided to make a few changes to a great recipe I found from http://kumpulanresepkoe.wordpress.com/. 

I made a few minor changes and came out with the most delicious cookie dough ever....Corey and I literally could have just eaten the cookie dough and not even bothered making the actual cookies because the dough was so delicious! But of course, the cookies were delicious too! I love this recipe because a lot of chocolate chip cookie recipes tend to have a lot of ingredients in them, mainly brown sugar that make them not the healthiest choice but this is a very lightened up version so you can enjoy a few of them and not feel so guilty! Let me know if you loved them as much as Corey and I did! 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 cup Stevia in the Raw or Splenda White Sugar 
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 3/4 cup light butter 

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Cream the butter with the sugar and the honey. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Add the flour and baking soda. 
3. Place teaspoon sized cookies about 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 8 minutes or until golden brown.

Chocolate Soft Serve

This is easily one of the healthiest and best dessert recipes I've ever had! It's so simple, literally 3 ingredients and all of the ingredients are delicious and good for you: banana, cocoa and skim or almond milk and of course an optional tablespoon of peanut butter if you're a peanut butter lover like myself! For an entire banana being in the recipe, the banana taste is not even that strong. The frozen banana is mostly what makes this dessert so delicious and creamy.

Best of all this recipe is easily changeable...feel free to add your favorite fruit, peanut butter, nutella, whatever you'd like... Enjoy!!

Ingredients:
1 banana (frozen)
1/4 cup skim or almond milk
1 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp all natural peanut butter (optional)

Directions:
Peel then chop up banana into bite size pieces. Freeze for 1 hour. Blend the banana, cocoa, milk and peanut butter (opt) in a food processor until creamy, about 30 seconds. Enjoy!


Recipe adapted from: http://luxhippie.tumblr.com/post/6591042896/incredibly-easy-and-delicious-vegan-soft-serve

About 1 Month Left in Germany

Paderborn, Germany

Corey and I head back to US April 11th so almost 1 month left in Germany! I can't believe our first year in Europe is already almost over. It's been such an amazing, eye-opening year for us. I have to say that living in a foreign country is definitely not easy but it's really amazing to see a new part of the world and see the cultural differences. I've seen a lot of beautiful Germany (even if it a lot of it was from Corey's team bus), went to Salzburg, Austria and did The Sound of Music Tour, we're planning a trip to Prague the week before we head back to the US and I should have seen Rome if my mom and I hadn't gone to the wrong airport...oops, you live and you learn! I'll see Rome eventually I hope!

But Corey's team has a few games left and their goal is to stay in the Pro A...then lots of decisions will be coming our way. Corey will be deciding where he is going to sign for next year and once we head home in April, we have a lot of wedding planning to do! We'll be meeting with DJ's videographers and going wedding dress and bridesmaids dress shopping! Such a busy summer full of lots of big, important decisions! And I am very lucky to have gotten my job back at Brookstone HQ for the summer so I'll very happy to say that I'll be working in their Merchandising Department once again for the summer. So Cor & I plan to hang out in NY doing a lot of wedding planning from April until mid May then off to NH for the summer for us to work. Can't wait to be back in the States and can't wait for such an exciting and busy summer ahead of us!

Triple Chocolate Protein Brownie Bars!

This is one of my favorite recipes! I discovered it last week and Corey loved them so i'm trying them out again tonight. They're super easy to make and you can add no or the little bit of dark chocolate that I suggest to make them moist. They're very chewy but really a great healthy protein packed snacked. Hope you all like them too!

Triple-Chocolate Protein Brownie Bars

Adapted from http://www.busybuthealthy.com/

Makes 16 bars

1 cup oat flour or whole wheat flour
1 cup quick oats (not instant or old fashioned)
3 scoops chocolate whey protein powder (low sugar, low carb variety)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup Stevia
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (dark are my favorite!)
4 egg whites 
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce 
1 cup unsweetened almond milk (or milk of choice)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly spray an 8×8 pan with cooking
spray.  Set aside.  In 1 bowl, sift together all dry ingredients.  Add
in all wet ingredients into the same bowl and mix until blended.
Lastly, add chocolate chips.  Pour into pan and bake for approx 18
minute or until firm on top all over and toothpick comes out almost
clean.  Cool completely and cut into 16 bars.

Nutrition (per 1 bar)
Calories: 90  Fat: 2.8g  Carbs: 10.4g  Fibre: 2.7g  Sugars: 2.7g  Protein: 6.6g

Happy New Year!

It's officially 2012 and I am completely in wedding mode! The wedding venue is booked for July 4th, 2013 at The Grandview. That beautiful view above is where our ceremony will take place...right there overlooking the Hudson River! The Mid-Hudson Bridge is to the right where fireworks will be shot off at night so we'll have the perfect view of the fireworks! Isn't it so beautiful?

In my spare time, I loveee to do research for mine and Corey's wedding. Now, this summer is going to be probably one of the busiest summers for us! We'll be meeting with people, booking vendors, shopping for dresses...all fun stuff that I can't wait for! I'm crossing my fingers that I definitely have my job back at Brookstone's HQ for the summer which would mean i'd be living in NH again in order to save up some money for our big day. And in regards to Corey & basketball..he is doing so great this year! He is the 2nd leading rookie in the entire league and he's been as high as the 4th leading scorer in the whole league so Corey is doing great. He's loving playing basketball as his job and I'm loving teaching English to my new class! Things are going well and let's hope he gets a great offer next year! We're very excited to see where we end up next year so keep your fingers crossed for us that first off he gets an offer and secondly that he gets a great offer that we're happy with! Of course I always tell him that I would LOVE to live somewhere warm next year..I can always wish, right? Well back to some wedding research...I just found out today how many sites/contests there are to win free things for your wedding day so I am all over that! 

PS- this is a giant bucket drink from a bar in downtown Augsburg, Peaches...probably one of the biggest drinks I've ever seen! Me, Corey and Skyler thoroughly enjoyed this delicious drink!