i'm still living...

My goal was to make it to a year, but obviously I gave in to this all-time longest-over due post ever! I guess the title has summed everything up... I've been living! Which means, no time for blogging. A lot has happened since March 2011. First being, I am no longer 23... and well, a lot more. In a nut shell, which I don't want to bore you, so bullets!

• Joseph finished his 1st year of pharmacy school and did AWESOME! And to also say, he is one day away from finishing his 1st semester of his 2nd year of pharmacy school and he survived! (So did our marriage)... haha it was never on edge but the 2nd year of pharmacy school is the hardest! I totally agree and he is half-way there. He's got it!
• I finished my UAB internship, landed an amazing job and PASSED my RD exam. I am now officially Allison Drake, RD, LD who is getting paid. It is nice. I work at Lanier Health Services in Valley, AL as the Clinical Dietitian. Nutrition is my passion and I absolutely LOVE my job. God is good!
• Joseph's brother got married this past summer (June 2011) and they are now expecting their first child! So happy for them and can't wait for all the fun festivities that come with a new child. 
• Our good friends, Nick and Nichole, got married this summer too (July 2011). They now live in Auburn and we LOVE having our close friends CLOSE!
• We joined a church, Plains Presbyterian Church. We have made some wonderful friends and absolutely love the sweet spirit there. God has truly blessed us. 
• Joseph and I celebrated one, wonderful year of marriage (June 19!). Joseph is a wonderful husband and I am so blessed to have him!
• My beester B got ENGAGED! (Aug 27? I think). Her ring is absolutely gorgeous and I am so happy to have Matt to be OFFICIALLY in our family. Their wedding is set for March 17, 2012. We are so excited!
• My mom had a birthday (April 6). She is now the big 5-0 and is fabulous. Matt had a birthday (May 29) and he is now 29. OMG 1 more year til 30. I had a birthday (Aug 31) and I am now 24 and still act 12. Dad had a birthday (Sept 6) and is now 52 and is still riding like 20 miles+ a week on his bike. Beester B also had a birthday and she is 27. Dang, girl!
• Audrey, our niece had her 1st bday as well... June 21 (two days after our wedding day :)). 
• Joseph's brother, Wesley got engaged too! Leah and Wesley are tying the knot on March 10, 2012. We are already enjoying all the wedding festivities. 
• Our brother-in-law, Jeremy, returned home safely from Iraq! We are so happy to have him home!
• Obviously, I am forgetting a bunch of amazing things that have happened in the past 8 months- dang I could almost have a kid and y'all would have never known! Ha, but no, not yet! :) Overall, God is faithful, I am not. He always provides and we are so blessed beyond words!

Here are some pictures to re-cap the past 8 months!

"50" reasons why we loves mammers on her 50th bday. 

Fam jam pic at mom's bday celebration. 

Lanier is right on the Chatahoochie River, so I have AMAZING views a work. 

This is the view from our cafeteria. 

Official documentation. 

 1 year anniversary ring from Joseph. He is so sweet and thoughtful. 

 Flowers delivered to my work for our 1 year anniversary!

 Audrey's precious bday cake!

 Miss Audrey Grace

 Opening presents. 

 Time to dig in!

Rehearsal dinner for Nick and Nichole. 

Me with the bride. 

Bridesmaids pic. Getting ready!

Me with cute boy. We were both in the wedding.

Married, alas! Chowing down :)

 Dad and I celebrating our bdays together.

 I love that our bdays are only a week apart!

Bentley! He's so sweet. He is such a joy to our life!

He also had a bday too! He is now over 1 year old!! :)

Most recently, THANKSGIVING! 

 *Some* of the Drake men. Joseph, his dad, Wesley, and Jamesey boy.

 Caro with Bentle Mentles. 

 Me and Beester Bride. 

 Cute parents!

 It feels so good to be together, we were just missing Matt! :(

Ok, so hopefully you are somewhat up-to speed. Hopefully, I can at least try to blog every 3 months instead of every 8 months. I hope you enjoyed the quick up date on the Drakes! :)

kale, it's what's for dinner, tonight!

Since I have been working at the Diabetes and Nutrition Center at East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, AL I have been trying to brainstorm different vegetables to tell my patients about. If you have diabetes, you can have pretty much all the "non-startchy" vegetables you can think of, so I have been racking my brain for new ideas. Well, I have heard a lot about KALE and since my mother has always been an anti-green cooking person (ie.collards, turnips, mustards, etc) I have always shied away from things like that. I overheard some people talking about kale chips, so I decided to pick some kale up from Kroger (my second love) and give it a shot. I went online and found different recipes and they are pretty much all the same. Here is what I did:

Pulled leaves away from the stem, washed and dried in a salad spinner...

Spread the leaves out on a cookie sheet with a silpat (or parchment paper), and drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes.

 THEN salt and pepper. I also added a little sugar and cajun spice. It is very important to add the spices AFTER they cook so that they do not become soggy! 

YUM!

I also sautéed  the other half of the bunch. I chopped about 1/2 cup of onion, sautéed the onions for about 5 minutes, added the kale with garlic cooked for 1 minute, added 1/4 cup of chicken stock. Covered with the lid and allowed to cook for about 5 minutes. It was very good!

Kale is a very healthy vegetable. It is low in calories (35 calories for 1 cup), high in vitamins A, C and K, calcium, and potassium. I hope you enjoy!

saturday in the park

... and our front yard. So a while back (like end of February), you know story of my life with this blog, we had a gorgeous spring-like day. My sister, Caroline, was town to run her first 5k! Sorry no pictures, but we both ran it and it was a lot of fun. As you probably know, I love to do races, but this was Beester's first race, ever! She did so great and ran it without stopping. I am so incredibly proud of her. Well, that day was absolutely beautiful. Joseph and I are blessed to live in a beautiful apartment with a pond literally at our front door. I know we are so lucky to have such beautiful scenery, and we both thoroughly enjoy its beauty it brings.

We also have little ducky friends that live on (or in??) the pond too. They are so funny to watch and are always quacking about something. Here are three that are BFFs, I'm convinced.

We enjoyed the unusually spring-like weather that day. 

Joseph fished. 

I read (some, like 2 pages, ha).

Beester chilled.

THEN, we decided that we needed to pack a picnic lunch and head over to one of Auburn's gorgeous parks. Its called Town Creek Park and Cemetery. I know, that sounds strange, but it is really nice. It was so delicious. I made some chicken salad and packed some other goodies. It was so NICE!

trashy.

Last night Joseph's pharmacy fraternity had a "white trash bash"  at a bar downtown.  Joseph and I went to Walmart that afternoon and bought some really trashy things. This is the creation we came up with...

 Can you believe that I found these jeans brand new at Walmart.

 Sorry to disappoint ladies, but I bought the last pair.

We looked pretty awful. It was a lot of fun creating our outfits, but then we realized that we were going to have to go out in public, downtown Auburn on a Friday night. I began to have second thoughts, but we set aside our pride and went for it anyway. Once we got there we had a blast! We drank old crow whiskey and danced to spice girls and brittany spears. It was so much fun!

love.

No, not because it is almost Valentine's day, but I am so in love. Cheesy sounding I know, but I am head-over-heals for "the one" that God gave me, Joseph. He is such an amazing person. He is studying so diligently... here is a small glimpse of "his life". (I know, this is what he always does, study)...

BUT he still thinks about me and does everything he can to please me. As he was walking upstairs (to continue to study) and as I just getting home from a wine tasting (hard life, I know) eating chocolate and watching TV, he said, "if you don't want to to the dishes I'll do them later tonight..." 1 of 12,345,468 examples of selfless-ness he shows to me.

When Joseph and I met, in February 2007, I had no interest in him or any "long-term" relationship for that matter. Well, then summer came. We both were in Dothan for the summer and I began to realize, O-M-G, THIS is who I am marrying. I remember vividly this moment. We were actually in Auburn for the weekend and I remember looking across the room at him and thinking, oh my goodness, I am going to marry this man and I don't even "love" him yet. It was the most exciting, craziest, scariest feeling I have ever had. Well, 3 years, 7 months later... I am married to him and I am in love. The Lord is great and amazing. We dated for over 2 years and we got to know each other. We learned about each other's prime times and not-so-prime-times. We formed each other and we made it so that we did not want live without each other. He proposed to me with the most perfect proposal (see previous blog post) and we have began our married life together and it has been the most wonderful 71/2 months of my life.  We are still getting-to-know each other and boy does it have its ups and downs. We both love the fact that we know we are going home to the person we love. I overheard Joseph telling his brother that, "It's actually easier studying when you are married because you know she is here." I loved that. I am here, forever.

Well, on a lighter note. I know I haven't blogged in forever. I feel like every post I am posting I am apologizing for this... Everyday, once I get home from work, I look at Facebook for about 15 minutes (ridiculous, I know) and then look at all the blogs I am following, so about an hour later, I usually need to get my butt up to cook dinner, go to the gym or do school work, and well no time for blogging!

Well for a little update! We celebrated the new year... Happy 2011!!

had a 25th birthday.. Mr. Drake (not me!)

 ran a 1/2 marathon (Mrs Drake, not Mr. Drake)

 walked in the park with Mr. Bentley and my parents

 and... just lived life. In love! 2011 has been a wonderful year thus far!