Texas>California!

New Mexico: We made it through TX, and on to New Mexico! There's not too many pictures of this trek, we didn't really stop as this was the point where we just wanted to get there. I've heard really good things about Albuquerque though. The scenery was awesome, and we even got to snap a pic of the continental divide (pictured below). 

Arizona: We stayed in AZ for the night, waking up to head straight to the Grand Canyon. It was extremely grand, and sadly we missed this guy by just a few days. I obviously have photos of it for days..it's just so big.  

 

                                                                                                 Las Vegas: After we spent a good while there, we headed on to Vegas!!!!! I actually have never had a desire to go, but figured we had to do it. Just once. We got in pretty late in the evening, and booked our trump hotel room right before we pulled into it (go big or go home). But below, we found one of these right outside of Vegas, and had been dreaming of this moment since we left Orlando. Gotta start the night out right. 

After our nutritious In-n-out, we were ready. Actually, all I wanted to do was sleep in the worlds most comfortable bed and watch TV in our bathroom (???). But I powered through.   

 

 And thankfully we had our(complimentary!) Trump water to energize us- and we were ready to hit the town. 

 

 

After I watched Randy gave the city of Las Vegas a small donation, and after touring this crazy town.. we got a really good deal on these $18.00 slushies and called it a night. 

Our morning views were quite nice, and it was really hard to wake up. Seriously the best sleep of my life. But we wanted to try this breakfast place before it got crazy. 

Hash House A Go Go:I would definitely recommend this as a morning-after brunch. It was amazingly delicious  the portions were huge and the line was still pretty crazy already. It was a little off the strip, so parking wasn't insane and it was definitely worth it! We both had a version of their scrambles. I was full for 5 days after. They even have one in Orlando for all you O-towners!  

                                             

I had to throw this in, this was his main job on the road. We had to do this every 10 miles. Not really.. but pretty close. The bugs were intense. 

 LA: And finally we made it! Our last stop before our future home. We made it just in time for my sister-in-laws birthday party, and some delish food and fun celebrations! It was so nice to finally be in our state-home. The next morning, we set out and made it to our now home in San Francisco! Thanks again to everyone for you prayers/support/encouragement and hopefully for the future visits! Such a fun trip/will never do it again. But it's something everyone should do once in their life. Bucket List it.  

  

Happy Birthday Kim!

route66: Last but not least- as promised, a little slice:

(If you actually watched, I know that was the most exhilarating route 66 video you've ever seen! I don't pride myself in iphone technologies, but thought you'd get a tiny idea. It's much more exciting than that. And you can jump on it anywhere, but we read that the best places to catch is was around Arizona). 

Tennessee>Texas

As mentioned in the previous post, we braved the cross country trip and moved out west. So this is just be a brief overview and the things we thought were worth stopping at, if you're ever in those areas. There's a couple different routes to go, but because we started in Atlanta, these were routed for us. The first few were pretty boring, and the last few were cool at first (but after hours of driving through, made us lose our minds a little bit). I will say, I think everyone should do this journey- it really makes you realize how incredibly different each state really is, they feel like mini countries! 

ATL>Memphis:I have been to a lot of Tennessee, but I have yet to venture to Memphis. Probably won't go back, but it is the place where my first love Elvis resided aka Graceland (seriously- whenever I'd play house when I was little he was my husband). We also stopped by Sun studio for my studio guy, where Johnny Cash, Elvis, etc., recorded. (I really did enjoy all the history learned on this trip). And that's about it.. and this cool coffee shop we found called bluff city coffee. Their coffee/breakfast sandwich was amaze and their scones looked dreamy but being obvious foodies we had to save up for other places-stayed strong. The street this shop was on looked like it had some fun-potential, with trolleys and such (it was called Main Street after all). Above: random flag party in an ally. I appreciate those details.     

Memphis>Arkansas:
We just passed through, stopping around the Little Rock sign and walking through the cute downtown part to at least get an idea. I had this delish strawberry/basil handmade Popsicle from le pops. The town was nice and clean, while having a southern feel to it. Randy found out there was an "attraction" called the big dam bridge that seemed popular and fun to say for him , so we decided to check that out. I have a height issue, so my choice to walk the bridge was a sacrificial one-but worth it if you're into dams, etc. 

              


Arkansas>Oklahoma: 
We arrived in Oklahoma pretty late, and it was a last minute we- need-to-get-off-this-road stay. The area where the awful tornado's had just blown through almost exactly a month prior wasn't too far, and decided to get a glimpse. It definitely made it seem real and not just something that happened far away.. another reminder to make every day count while we're here. Also it's obvious that while it has been a month, people there are still needing help, even if it's not getting coverage.(This is a great site for resources on how to do that if interested).  

Oklahoma>Texas:

To end this mid-west tour on a lighter note, we'll move on to Texas. We didn't really stop, except to get some his & hers essentials of M&Ms & Beef Jerky to make it through the last leg. And a picture with the state sign (it was our half-wayish point), and Randy's still convinced he heard rattle snakes right where I had originally jumped out..I think that's just how Texas sounds. Anyways, Texas is great, but the highway was a little tiring. 

 

Next up: a short route66 clip, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and LA- get excited. 

Great American Road Trip: FL>ATL

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." -Helen Keller 

     So much catching up to do! Starting with a job offer for Randy this past June to the west coast, to moving/driving across country, to a hardcore San Francisco apartment hunt experience (still hunting)from the day we arrived & currently experiencing a pretty crazy case of the shingles, I am now forced to lay low and take a breath. I'm excited about some things in the future with this blog/newfashioned/and the direction of it all and this new adventure we've begun! But for now I want to catch up those who've asked about it all and have been so supportive through this crazy new journey with cards, travel gifts, starbucks giftcards, finances, prayers, etc., that we've prayed about & truly believe God has called us to.  I'll start with our cross country adventure, in case you ever find yourself on the same journey and want to know some good stops. 

     With only a month to move we decided the most cost-effective way, since it's just the two of us, was to sell everything (the only thing my materialistic heart misses is my Jeep and a box of clothes if you're wondering) and pack up our tiny Scion with whatever we could fit. Mainly all of Randy's music equipment, suitcases for a couple weeks while we apartment hunt (not sure why we thought it would only take two weeks-more on that later) and one box of kitchen/picture stuff. After some hard goodbyes,celebrations, meeting 2343 people for craigslist deals, leaving 50% of our stuff at our apartment dumpster the day we left (oops), a few garage sales and getting a storage unit last minute,we left one day later than we planned. But we did it! 

I also just need to tell everyone that I literally have the worlds most amazing parents. The weekend we left they dropped everything they were doing, sometimes/usually past 12:00 a.m, to take things to storage, clean our apartment, move our stuff out, comfort me while I had crazygurl emotional breakdowns, praying over us, financially blessing us, and driving up right as we were about to pull out to tell us goodbye (for the third time), they're seriously the best and I miss them terribly. 

We finally got on the road Monday morning, after Randy packed/repacked our car literally for hours. Thankful for his attention-to-detail personality which made everything fit like a puzzle eventually. We headed to our first stop: Atlanta. We spent a night with some favorites, who were the best hosts (seriously who sings/plays the triangle for you when you go to their house?? exactly). 

We spent some much needed time catching up, playing hours of pictionary, eating some delicious Pure spending time with my bff sister Michelle and re-packing our car for another couple of hours. We realized we needed to rearrange the car-puzzle due to our only sleeping option, pictured on the right. We were a little closer to the windshield than we thought safe. BUT- we eventually left and headed to our next stop: Memphis. Stay tuned! 

Cross Country Travel Tips (maybe obvious ones):

*Get a storage unit if you're moving, it was so worth it and wish we would have thought of it right away. 

*Get a car bigger than a Scion.

*Start the craiglist process the second you take the job offer-don't wait a single day. ever. 

*For food/hotel/sights/stops we used: trip advisor, design sponge city guides, diners, drive-ins and-dives, man vs. food, and wherever Siri said was the closest stop when exhausted. 

*For hotels we used Priceline and booked name-your-own-prices 20 minutes before we arrived.

*Have a route, but be prepared to stop before or if you're feelin' crazy, past your destination. 

*Download some good travel apps- we started losing our minds around Arizona and that saved us for a couple hours. Madlibs is a great choice. 

Those are my tips for now: stay tuned for stops in MEMPHIS. And a few other boring states! 

GF life: Mexican Lasagna

Gluten Free Mexican Lasagna!  

     About a month ago I was tested for some food allergies, and gluten was a major intolerance for me (along with little dairy and eggs, but I'm not willing to cut those out, ever). So I decided to try and give it up along with the rest of the world I know, but I think they're on to something. I have felt a lot better, so I'm going to keep sticking with it. All that to say, my babe of a husband gifted me the best GF cookbook for Christmas. Everything we've made out of it so far has been really easy and delicious, and even gives dairy free options. It's called Unbelievably Gluten Free by Anne Byrn. Rands blindly bought it, and I'm so glad he did, because we made a delicious Mexican Lasagna tonight and I had 3 bowls full. So I decided to share with the rest of the gluten free world! And I typed all of it out, because that's how much I want everyone to experience the delciousness. 

Mexican Lasagna

Ingredients:

• Vegetable Spray 
• 1 Pound Ground Beef (I used turkey, worked like a charm)
• Olive Oil (optional)
• 2 Cups frozen, canned or fresh corn kernels
• 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 container (16 oz) low-fat, small-curd cottage cheese
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup (1 oz) grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 clove garlic, crushed in a garlic press (I used garlic powder, and a lot because it's my favorite)
• 12 corn tortillas (8 inches in diameter)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

What to do:

1. Place a rack in the center of oven and preheat to 375. Mist a 13x9 glass baking dish with vegetable spray and set aside.

2. Crumble the beef (turkey) into a large nonstick frying pan and place it over medium heat. If the beef (turkey) is so lean it sticks to pan, add a little olive oil. Cook the beef, stirring, until it is cooked through and browned. Drain off any fat from pan. Add corn, tomato sauce, salsa, chili powder, and cumin to the pan. Stir to combine. Let the beef mixture simmer over medium-low heat until the flavors come together, 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, place the cottage cheese, eggs, Parmesan cheese, oregano and garlic in a medium-size bowl and stir to combine.

4. TO assemble lasagna, overlap 6 corn tortillas in the prepared baking dish (I actually ended up using 8 because I wanted the whole pan and sides covered and it worked out just fine- so do whatever makes you happy). Spread half of the beef mixture evenly onto the tortillas. Spoon all of the cottage cheese mixture on top of the beef layer and spread evenly. Layer the remaining corn tortillas over cheese mixture. Top the tortillas with remaining beef mixture. Cover with foil and place in oven. 

5. Bake until it heats through 30-35 minutes. Remove and sprinkle with cheddar cheese, then replace foil to let lasagna rest for 20 minutes. Any leftover lasagna can be reheated to an oven preheated to 350; it will take 20-25 minutes. 

*For a dairy free lasagna, substitute dairy free cream cheese, such as Better Than Cream Cheese, for the cottage cheese and omit the Parmesan and cheddar cheeses. 

2013!

     It's 2013! I think the last time I wrote in this was last year (hahahah it never gets old-but it really does). Anyways, I am back and it's been a crazy past few months! Those months brought me through some major challenges, but also led me to finally finishing my A.A., getting a third job (at Anthropologie) and continuing to focus on my Etsy store. Along with that, Randy's been working on finishing his website, and I'm so proud of all the effort he put into making it so creative and unique- (you can find it here: randy ketterman for all your recording/production/music/audio needs). 
    I didn't want to make this a long post, but just felt like I needed to catch those who read up to speed. We completed a little newfashioned video you can see here: newfashioned on vimeo, to give all of those who support and who buy (and those who are just interested), a little glimpse into the newfashioned life. I realized by watching this video how incredibly blessed I am with such talented friends & family. I have an incredibly creative husband who wrote the music, a rad brother who did the videography, a dear dear friend do the photography and a beautiful fun model who made the clothes look perfect! I am so grateful for all their time and effort they helped to promote newfashioned and what it stands for. I am so excited about this year, and have many expectations for my little family and all of those who are ready to let their passions take over! Happy New Year! 

 "May the God of hope fill you with joy & peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."- Romans 15:13 

Music: Randy Ketterman 
Videography: Zachary Stinson 
Photography: Alli Viscomi 
Model: Tiffanie Brunson