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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Hope To Be Back Soon...

I've been on a blogging hiatus on accident and on purpose ... Hopefully I'll have some good posts soon! Until then here is a picture I took with my iPhone the other night to hold you (if there is anyone out there reading this) over!

Share photos on twitter with Twitpic

- Laura Beth

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Cows, Corn & Country ...

Cows, Corn & Country ... these are three words that I've grown up around, three words that I use to take for granted and now I consider them to be three words that I wouldn't know what to do without!

The reason for this post though isn't to talk about the feedlot in my backyard, the spring planting, or the beautiful place I live! Cows, Corn & Country is actually the name of a blog I follow ... Well okay the full name of the blog is Cows, Corn & Country Girls and the author/writer is a fellow NDSU Alum and friend Jaime May Purfeerst. Even though I haven't seen her in two years I still feel that sense of 'social media' connection haha. Jamie is a communication major like myself and what comm girl doesn't love all the different social media outlets?! I've been following Cows, Corn & Country Girls for a while now and love everything Jamie has to blog about ... farming in MN isn't that different than here in good ole' ND (her husband even raises Black Angus)!

Jamie just had a birthday and in celebration she is having a Giveaway on her blog!! See Picture below ... a homemade key fob made by the lovely CCC girl herself, maybe I forgot to mention she is super crafty!!



So go now and check out her blog, follow her and sign yourself up to win this one of a kind Key Fob!

- Laura Beth

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Chicago

What seems like many many moons ago I was sitting in one of those super boring lectures at orientation on the campus of NDSU. Luckily I wasn't the only one who chose the far back row to sit in because it was there that I met my first college friend, Justine


Now I could go on and tell you all about my amazing friend and all the wonderful times we had in college but I just wanted to give a little info on how we met. What this post is really about is the fact that Justine is getting married (in 26 days, YEA) and for her bachelorette party she had the wonderful idea of going to Chicago.


I was beyond excited to get the invitation and fortunate I could fit it into my schedule! So April 27th I was off to celebrate with one of my favorite people and a great group of girls.


I've never been to Chicago and couldn't wait to see and do everything. Our hotel was right in the heart of downtown literally right across the street from Millennium Park, perfect location! 


We spent the first day walking around Chicago taking in the sites and hanging out in the Jacuzzi. We ironically had supper at The Gage (Gage is her fiance's name) then we ended the night with drinks at the John Hancock Tower, overlooking Chicago {Amazing View}, and dancing at Sub 51. 


Saturday was more of the same but of course we added shopping to the list of things to-do! And who goes to Chicago without getting some deep dish pizza and an ice cold beer?! Yum is all I can say to that! 
After shopping and pizza we did some more soaking in the Jacuzzi and got ready for our big night on the town. 
We ate supper at our hotel restaurant, Filini, then Justine opened gifts, we had some drinks are were off to our VIP service. One of the girls in our group has a friend who lives in Chicago and she was Awesome enough to get us a table at the nightclub Privét. If you just looked at the website and thought 'wow that looks amazing' you would be absolutely correct, we all had an amazing time there!! 
The night didn't end there because in Chicago they like to stay up all hours of the night, seriously bars don't close until 4-5am! I was one of the five ladies who decided that if you are in Chicago you have to do it up right so it was 4am when we got back to the Raddison Blu. 


Sunday none of us were feeling very hot, it is safe to say Chicago got the best of us Saturday night! We went to soak up the Champagne and Grey Goose at PJ Clarkes and sadly after that we all had to go our separate ways. 


Those three days were amazing and I can't wait for the next time I can get to the Windy City! 


Congrats again to my wonderful college friend ... I can't wait for your wedding!


Hanging out by The Bean

Justine and I

The whole crew at Filini


At Privet
- Laura Beth

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Blog Readers

Blogger recently changed their layout and one of the new perks tells you how many times people have viewed your blog. 


Much to my surprise our blog has had 1400 pageviews! Now to some people this may be nothing but those people probably have over 50 followers. We have a whopping ZERO followers...hmm interesting since I know people are reading. 


So I'm thinking if you are reading this you should Join This Site ... or maybe just comment on posts everyone once in a while. Trust me I'll think that you are less of a 'creeper' if you publicly take the plunge and Follow our blog! ;-)


- Laura Beth


PS. My personal goal is to have 20 followers by our wedding * Help me out

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Engagement Pictures

"Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever...it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything." - Aaron Siskind

Many many thanks to Milestones Photography for coming out to our house to take engagement pictures for us! I'm so absolutely in love with them I could look at them all day long. 

We took the pictures April 14th and it was the only nice day out of the whole weekend, we were so lucky! 

I am so glad we could take pictures at the farm, we also went to The Crossing and to Sheldon...couldn't have asked for better backgrounds!

Here are some of my favorites. I hope they make you smile as much as they make me smile!

Thanks again Dave ... We Love Them! 

Copyright: Milestones Photography 

Copyright: Milestones Photography 

Copyright: Milestones Photography 

Copyright: Milestones Photography 

Copyright: Milestones Photography 

- Laura Beth

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Wedding Update

Plans are coming along great, March 8th was the 6 month mark and now it is almost 5 months away. Steven and I got a lot done in March!

Registered at Bed Bath and Beyond
Picked out Bridesmaid Dresses
Picked out Tuxes
Chose a Wedding Vocalist
Made Some Centerpieces (We Still Need Corks*Hint*Hint)
Decided on Wedding Flowers
Met with Pastor Brad
Registered at Macy’s
Chose a Cake Maker
Decided on a Reception Menu (now we need to decided on a caterer)

We only have about a dozen of things left on our ‘to do’ list so that feels pretty good!

Flowers, Tuxes, Centerpieces, Dresses


- Laura Beth

Gunner Baby

He isn't such a baby anymore. March 19th he was 7 months old and HUGE. I’m sure he will only keep growing because his paws are still not proportional to the rest of his body haha … Gunner is a great puppy and still hasn’t killed my cats so I’m very proud of him!

I found out he is a little skittish around muskrats as we had one hiding in the garage the other day. I was freaked out by the thing and was hoping Gunner would take it and tear it to shreds and be my ‘protective’ German Shepherd but nooo what does he do, barks like a little girly dog at it! He finally grabbed it by the neck after Steven knocked it out; we’ll have to work on Gunner’s fierce skills!

Here is a video of Gunner from the 17th we went for a morning jog and he loved the water, I think he went in every slough along the way.


Gunner Loves to be a Bed Hog!

- Laura Beth



Rylee Jo is 4

Our niece is already 4! Rylee was 4 years old on March 3rd. Oh my goodness I don’t know where the time went, I feel like we were just going to the hospital to meet her and now she is this smart little girl with a huge imagination.

Steve and I just watched some old videos of her and they made us feel entirely to old ... wow she has grown up!



Blog Posts Coming...

Prepare to be bombarded with some posts; as blogging has got away from me in the past month or two I’m going to play catch up with what has been going on!

Sunday, February 19, 2012

New Project

I've started a new project ... and I have a feeling I'll love the finished product. I got the idea from Pinterest of course haha seriously what can't you find on there these days?! Here is a link { http://pinterest.com/pin/5699936997960302/ } to the pin that inspired my latest Snapfish creation.

A 52 week book. It is a sort of journal, with a picture per week and then I recap what happened in the week. When I was in high school I would scrapbook by hand but it is expensive and way too time consuming so I figured this digital version would work great for me!

This book will also look really good on the book shelf with our anniversary books since I'm using the same company and layout!

The latest pages from my 52 Week Book

- Laura Beth

Friday, February 3, 2012

Party Food Recipe

As I go through the week I hear something and think ‘I should blog about that’ … but by the time I get home from work I am so sick of staring at a computer screen that I can’t even begin to write a post!

Today though I’ve decided to punch out a quick post! With the Super Bowl soon approaching I thought I’d talk about all those yummy foods that are not so good for you … because that’s what the Super Bowl is all about right?!

My question for you is what is your favorite party food??

About 5 years ago I found my favorite party food thanks to my future Mother-In-Law.  I think this is a favorite dip amongst everyone in Rotenberger household so of course I had to get the recipe. I made this dip over 20 times that year and it didn’t take me long to memorize the recipe. So if you don’t have this in your recipe book I suggest you add it!

Tex-Mex Dip

  • 16 oz softened cream cheese (I use Neufchâtel cheese)
  • 16 oz sour cream
  • 2 tomatoes diced (or you can use 1 large can of diced tomatoes)
  • 1 small can chopped black olives
    • This is up to you if you would rather cut up whole ones it is totally based on preference
  • 1 jar taco sauce (mild, medium, hot is up to you)
  • 1-1.5 C of shredded cheese
    • You can use more or less depending on how much you like cheese
  • 9x13 baking dish
Directions

Thoroughly mix together the cream cheese and sour cream making sure there are no lumps of cream cheese. Once the mixture is blended add it to your container and smooth out.

Pour taco sauce over the mixture * note you might not need the entire jar; don’t drown the mixture just enough to cover it in a nice layer *

Next evenly distribute the tomatoes and olives over the sauce, and last layer on your cheese.

I like to let my chill in the fridge for an hour or more but it is totally up to you.

Enjoy and have a great Super Bowl Sunday!

Tex-Mex Dip I made during the NDSU playoff game
NDSU wouldn't fit, this was the closest I could get with the olives!

- Laura Beth

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Thirty-One

I became a Thirty-One consultant February 8th of last year. Almost a year ago already, my first year as a consultant has been great, I only have one recruit but that wasn't really my plan when I joined. I truly loved these products and still do, I'll admit I'm a bag lady! One of my big selling points in choosing this company was the fact that it's a company made by a woman for womem revolving around a Christian basis. A company that isn't afraid of letting people know their spiritual views is great to me. The founder of this company chose a verse from Proverbs 31:31 to name her company after. This verse talks about how women are Virtuous, and the rock of her family. Seriously a women empowering verse and a company based around it; who wouldn't want to be a part of it?!

I was reading a blog today and came across this post about Proverbs 31. I found the video in this post amazing and the post even more so, her strength while she battles cancer is empowering.
I'll always think of the company I work for when I hear about Proverbs 31 but now I'll also think of this video and remember that we are ALWAYS more than our outward appearance!!

My Thirty-One Website 

- Laura Beth

Friday, January 20, 2012

Cabo San Lucas 2012

Our trip to Cabo was nothing short of amazing! I hadn't been to Mexico since my Spanish class trip when I was a junior in HS so I was well overdue for some sun and sand. Steve had never been to Mexico and now I think he is hooked haha

We went with The Larson's and had a great time on their post-honeymoon and our pre-honeymoon. The week seemed to be over before we knew it and coming back to subzero temperatures wasn't something we were looking forward to at all. I still haven't had a full week of work in 2012 so Monday-Friday next week is going to be a shock to my system!

The Riu Palace was our home for a week and it was amazing. All the food and booze you could want, direct access to the beach and a great view of El Arco & Lover's Beach! The resort was amazing and I think we'd all go back there again!!
We put the word vacation to good use last week haha We played in the sand; drank way to much; slept; read; played cards; swam; ate way to much; soaked up the sun; drank some more and all in all had an amazing time!

2012 is off to a WONDERFUL start!

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- Laura Beth

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

New book?!

Has anyone read any good books lately?
Steven and I leave for Mexico in a week and I want a good book to read for the trip. Something I can't put down that makes me laugh, cry and has a love story (of course) haha if you have any suggestions let me know!!

-Laura Beth

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Wedding, Wedding, Wedding...

It's been four months since Steven and I got engaged and we have eight left to go until the big day, 249 days to be exact...but who's counting?!!

I've had Wedding on the brain a lot lately and I must say I've been pretty productive with the planning so far!

Steve and I got (almost) all of our Save the Date cards sent out the day after Christmas, that was a great feeling.

Last Wednesday I took the day off and my mom, sister and I drove to The Cities to find me a dress.  It was a great day and I found the perfect dress in two hours at the Wedding Shoppe in St. Paul. The dress is gorgeous and I'm glad I don't have it in my possession otherwise I think I'd put it on every night!!

This past weekend I decided to look at different wedding invite ideas and ended up making one online that I really liked so tonight I ordered it along with Reception & RSVP cards. The best part; each invite (stamp and all) will be around $1.25/invitation!!

I know I still have a lot to do for the wedding but eight months gives me all the time in the world ... in the meantime I'll just enjoy being engaged to this wonderful boy!!

2012 is going to be a great year ... I can just feel it already

Happy New Year!
- Laura Beth