SCUBA and Tuxes...

This past week flew by as I prepared for our national sales meeting to kick off the year.  We were also incredibly busy this week after work.  Monday evening we had our third meeting with Deacon Nick who is marrying Joe and I.  We started the workbook that we are going through and had a great time discussing our future and relationship with someone who has been married for years and raised 4 kids.  Tuesday evening, Kayla was having a mini girls night at her house where we enjoyed here amazing pomegranate pesto chicken pasta and angle food cake!  Wednesday I got to see the lovely Rialda and Elliot, who we invited over for dinner!  We had such a good time having them over for dinner and I sure do hope that they stay in Atlanta forever :)  Thursday evening Joe had some friends over, and then before I knew it, it was Friday evening and it was time to head up to our first SCUBA class!  Joe and I had been entertaining the idea of getting SCUBA certified for quite some time since we booked our honeymoon.  A couple weeks back we went to Divers Supply Atlanta to see how everything worked.  They told us we could take a intro class to make sure that we were up for the challenge before signing up for the full class.  Friday's class was a very informal class where you learned the basics of diving/dive safety then played around in the pool.  We had such a fun time at the class but there was a HUGE downfall.  The pool had just recently been refilled and the heater had broken the night before, so even dressed in wetsuits, the water was super cold!  We were standing around a lot listening to the instructor, so we did leave the class a bit early, but Joe and I were confident that we wanted to get our full dive certification.

The certification has about 8 hours of online class time that we can do whenever we have free time.  After the class work, it is time to put everything you learned to practice, and we do a full weekend of pull diving where you learn the basics of diving.  After perfecting your pool skills, we take a weekend trip to Florida to get our actual dives in to complete the certification.  You need 4 open water dives to get certified, which can be completed in a weekend.  We are super excited to start the process so we can do some diving while in Bora Bora and Tahiti!

After the class, Joe and I came home for dinner before having some friends over to hang out.  We went to Ivy for a bit but called it an early night after a long and busy week.  Saturday morning started fairly slow and we enjoyed sleeping in a bit before getting moving.  After we finally got up, Joe and I headed to Men's Wearhouse with one of his groomsmen to pick out the wedding tuxedos.  It was the next big thing on our to do list so we wanted to go ahead and get it taken care of.  After going back and forth for a while, we finally picked the tuxes out that we wanted and are all good to go!  I cannot wait to see Joe all dressed up because the tuxes look amazing! 

After we finalized everything, we headed to lunch before I went to the gym to get a good workout in before another evening of fun.  Saturday was Joe's best friend's birthday so everyone came down to our place to hang out before heading to the Virginia Highlands for the evening.  We had a great time seeing everyone, but did not stay out too late because really I think we are just getting old.

Sunday morning I wanted to make some ice cream with my new ice cream attachment that I had gotten for Christmas for my kitchen aid.  This time, I wanted to make a Peanut Butter Ice Cream with fudge and reese's chunks in it.  It turned out absolutely amazing and I am literally obsessed with the ice cream maching.  I cannot wait until I get to make more flavors!  It is such a quick and easy process and the ice cream is made in 30 minutes!  It is almost quicker than running to the store :)  Below is the recipe I used from the Ben and Jerry's cookbook that Joe got me for Christmas.

Ben & Jerry’s Sweet Cream Base #1:
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup whole milk
(makes about one quart)
1/4 cup chocolate (melted)
1/2 cup chopped Reese Cups

The basic process:

• Use an electric mixer and beat the eggs in a separate bowl, until they turn lighter in color.
• Sloooooowly, add the sugar while whisking the eggs. I usually use an electric mixer in one hand and then use the other hand to pour the sugar in a little bit at a time. Slower is better. When it’s all in there, mix it a minute or so more.
• Slowly add small amounts of the cream/milk mix until about a third of the cream and milk have been added. Then pour in the rest of the cream and milk and mix it all together, well
• Strain the mix into a container and let it cool for a bit before adding extracts that might evaporate. You can speed up this cooling step by putting the mix into a metal bowl that’s inside another metal bowl containing ice water. Add a teaspoon of good vanilla extract or ground cinnamon at this point to make those easy flavors.
•  Assemble your kitchen aid bowl that has been frozen for at least 14 hours previously.  Then turn on the motor so the dasher starts spinning, and pour in the mix.  Turn on kitchen aid to stir setting.
• It’ll take about 30 minutes, more or less, to churn until desired thickness.  About 2 minutes before it is done, fold in fudge then pour in Reese Cups and mix.
• Speed counts now. Get all the ice cream out of the machine, into containers, and into the freezer, as quickly as possible. After a few hours in the freezer, the ice cream will harden and be like what you buy in the store.

Sunday afternoon we headed up to Kennesaw for Joe's mixed doubles tennis match and I took Rox on a long walk.  After the match we headed to Joe's parent's house for dinner before heading to church.  Joe and I are doing quite well this year and are 2 for 2 on Sunday mass in 2014!  After that we headed home since Joe and I both had some work to do before starting a new week.  The weekend flew by, and now it is time to start preping for the sales meeting we are having this week!  Now, fingers crossed I get some good news and Amber is coming in town this weekend!!!!! Happy Week Everyone :)