Happy Halloween from Popeye and Olive Oyl!

What's up with us

Um, excuse me? Where did the summer go? That's right, we're in full FALL mode right now! This house has been so much fun to decorate, even if I'm going for the minimalist-we-just-bought-a-house-so-here's-a-cute-pumpkin-for-decoration-deal-with-it kind of style.

Mike has been working a lot of overtime at work which is nice for our wallets, but I really do miss him not being here immediately after I get off work. Then again he could be working a lot later, so I count my blessings with that.

I have been busy with Pampered Chef, and had a great month in September. I do about 3-4 shows each month which is perfect for my busy life... about $300-$500 extra a month is nice to have! Work has been absolutely crazy for me, pretty much the worst it's ever been. Pretty much when I can't think it can get any worse, oh it does. Makes me so thankful that I have my PC business to give me something positive to think about.

I've also been sewing a lot more recently... here are some of my recent creations:

I sit down to write a blog post and nothing comes to mind though... we have been so busy with a lot of nothing... I clean a lot and like to sew, and Mike likes to watch TV. TV!! That's it!! We have some shows that we enjoy together like NCIS (that's not new but we both like it) and our Thursday night shows The Office and Outsourced, and of course Project Runway (Mike watches it with me sometimes!) On Monday nights we like The Event and Chase. I like Chase the most b/c it takes place in my hometown of Houston, TX.

Gosh we're boring.

OH! We have been going to a "Young Married Couples" class at our church (finally after 3 years of marriage we have a class like this!) and we have made so many wonderful new friends there. It's great! We have new friends to go out with and learn about, and it's so refreshing to have other friends in our same stage of life... especially now that Ryan & Laurel are gone.

And of course we're still loving our small group. We meet about every other Friday night and pray for each other and sometimes discuss the previous week's sermon. There are about 11 children between all the couples, and we have a blast. The kids really enjoy playing with "Mr. Couts" and he enjoys throwing them up in the air and hanging them upside down.

OK so that's all that's going on now.

Why do I have a blog again? :)

Arizona or BUST!

So last Sunday, September 5th, we said goodbye to my sister-in-law and brother-in-law and niece (Mike's brother Ryan, his wife Laurel and their 7 week-old baby Kaylee) as they drove off to begin their new life in Tuba City, Arizona.Laurel just finished her pediatric residency here in Indy. In med school she got a government grant that requires her to work in an "under-served" population to "pay back" the government after completing residency. She'll be working in a clinic on a Navajo reservation. It's pretty remote... the closest Wal-Mart is over an hour away! But she called the other day and said that they have a Sonic Drive-In! Ha!

Anyway, they left last Sunday, and the Sunday before that we hosted a going away party for them. It was the first party we've hosted in the new house and it was a success. We packed probably close to 40 people in our house! Wow! It was so much fun, and Mike's mom did an amazing job planning it and getting all the food together. Here are a few pictures from that day:

Look at all that food!

good friends, good fun

Laurel, Kaylee, and Aunt Dean (Mike's dad's aunt)

Kaylee and Aunt Rachel

And my favorite picture of the day: Mike holding Kaylee in church. He carried her from the parking lot and sat down in church, and she laid on his chest for almost the whole service! She loves her Uncle Mike!

So they packed up their Honda Civic and took a few days to drive out to AZ, stopping every 3 hours to feed the baby. Whew! We will truly miss Ryan & Laurel, for so many years they've been our go-to couple. If we were going somewhere and wanted to invite people, they were usually the first ones we would call. They are such precious people, and I'm jealous of the people in Tuba City! Even though we'll miss them terribly, we are so excited for this journey they've begun and look forward to visiting them!

The Emerson Sisters do INDY!

The 2nd week in August my sisters came to town! Holly came from Corpus on a jet plane and Melissa was kind enough to bring her sweet Jake, as they drove all the way from Savannah, GA! It was our first opportunity to host overnight guests in the new house and it worked out beautifully!

Friday we went to get groceries and cooked up a delicious meal for the men... while they cooked steaks on the grill. :) We ate dinner and had a great time taking pictures and swapping stories... I think we went out for a walk that night too... it all sort of runs together now!

Saturday we slept in (ahhhh...) and spent the afternoon at the Indianapolis Zoo. We felt like kids again as we saw the dolphin show, looked at the fish and other animals, and actually pet the little sharks in the pool! We even paid a dollar to feed a giraffe a slice of sweet potato.

After the zoo we went over to Riley Hospital, and I showed Holly (the Child Life Specialist) around. That night all of us went to the tennis courts and laughed a LOT as we just lobbed the ball over the net. Boys against girls wasn't as advantageous to us as we thought it would be.... after the tennis we came back to the house and opened up birthday presents for Melissa and Holly!

Sunday we went to church and then the Indians game. We happened to go on Souvenir Sunday and all walked away with our very own red Indians cereal bowls! Score! We had nice seats in the shade, which made it even more fun. AND Holly caught a soft baseball that gave her a FREE $5 footlong at a Subway restaurant all the way in Corpus! After the game we went to Ryan & Laurel's to see them and of course sweet baby Kaylee.

All in all, it was an amazing weekend. We had so much fun cooking together and just hanging out and talking. We hadn't seen Jake & Melissa since their wedding last September, and Holly since Christmas! And we had never even spent much time with Jake b/c the first time I met him was the weekend of their wedding when everyone was going in different directions. We all got along so well, and I was especially pleased to see Mike and Jake fitting in so well with us. It bodes well if he plans on spending Christmas with the Emersons too....

I love my sisters very much and hope this can be some sort of annual thing! We'd love to travel to Savannah or even meet up in Charleston, or Corpus on the beach!

Sorry there are no pictures on my computer to upload! However, if you want to look at ones that I took, you can visit my facebook page at www.facebook.com/rachelcouts and check them out!

Falling behind again....

I am finally catching up! Look out!

Rachel's Fab 4 (2010 edition)

I made a list like this last year and thought it was time to make a new one! These are 4 things that have given me joy or less stress, or just made me laugh in the past couple of months.

1. Pandora.com

Oh, Pandora, what would I do without you? After years of doing my job every single day, longing for some stress relief, I finally discovered Pandora about a year ago. If you're not familiar with it, it's like online radio... but you decide what type of music you want to hear. For example, one of my stations is the Steve Tyrell station. On this station I hear Steve Tyrell (obviously) plus a lot of Sinatra, Dean Martin, Michael Buble, Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, etc. I also have stations that play music from GLEE (actual Glee music along with lots of 80s classics), Wicked (more modern Broadway), Thoroughly Modern Millie (old Broadway), Selah (praise & worship) and of course I have a Christmas music station.

Listening to this music puts me in a better mood so that I can go about my day. Thank you, Pandora!!

2. E-mealz.com

I love to eat. I love to cook. I'm a Pampered Chef consultant, for crying out loud! But I still struggle with grocery shopping and not over-spending due to poor planning. This is where e-mealz.com comes in. You pay $15 for 3 mos worth of recipes, grocery shopping lists, and meals plans and it is WONDERFUL. I get online every Thursday to print out the meals for next week and make my grocery list. I usually cook at the most, 4 meals/week b/c I'm often times gone in the evenings for meetings or volunteering. Not all of the recipes are tasty, but for the most part they're good. I have to substitute a lot of times b/c the meals call for dried noodles in a bag (for exampe) which I will never make. I still make a ton of PC recipes and try to mix them in with the e-mealz recipes as well.

I have chosen the option to have "Low-Fat Wal-Mart meals for 2" as my weekly meal plan so I'm not throwing away lots of food. You can choose almost any store in your area, and any type of food like low-fat, low-sodium, vegetarian, etc. I love it! AND if you enter the coupon code "Dave" (Dave Ramsey) then you can get your 3 month subscription for just $12! Thanks, Kim, for recommending it to me!

3. LA Gear Walk & Tone shoes

Remember LA Gear? Remember HOW COOL it was to have a pair of LA Gear shoes and not the Target knock-off? I do. 4th grade, baby. Well for a while I've been wanting some of those toning shoes, with the balance-ball-inspired technology. I found some! Here's the irony... they are LA Gear and they hail from the shelves of Meijer... now LA Gear is the cheap knock-off! Either way, they are great. When I wear them, my legs get tired quicker so I know they're working. I wear them when I do ordinary tasks like housework or shopping. They work, y'all! My shoes look just like these:

4. Brother Label-Maker

Oh how I love thee! Mike bought this for me the week before we moved and I was PUMPED. Then it got packed away in a box and I actually forgot we had it! Since I found it, I have become a labeling maniac! I started with the binders on my bookshelf, and made it to my closet...oooo the possibilities! Can you tell I'm excited? I labeled all of my sewing stuff and my PC things. Plus, since it's almost back-to-school time, folders and binders and those plastic totes with lids are all on sale! Organizing makes me so happy in this house! Finally, everything has a place!

What is part of YOUR Fab 4?

The newest little Couts

Nooooo, not us...

This is our very first niece, born July 15, 2010 at 3:21am. We are so happy to have her in the family, our sweet little Kaylee Marie! Congratulations, Ryan & Laurel!