Maintaining that Work-Life Balance

At any given time I have a lot going on. Work, school, friends, family – and it takes it’s toll. It’s hard to tell you a weekend when we have no plans. One weekend I had evening plans without James on both Friday and Saturday. Add in my evening classes and my husband’s fairly regular late evenings at work + trainings that are days to weeks longs, and well, we rarely see each other, or so it feels like.

Maintaining work life balance | More than a military spouse
On a recent easy hiking trip. Photo courtesy Jessica Hall

So what’s a girl to do? I want to be able to do all of these things, but I must have time for my husband, and me. As a friend told me the other day “self-care is really important.” So I try to set times that are off-limits. This is easier said then done but here are my attempts:

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Baking Bread: Challah

I have a confession to make: I am newly obsessed with making my own bread. It started last month when I caved in to years of prodding from James about it. On principal I had avoided baking bread because of the time it takes. Waiting for it to rise. And rise again. It’s a pain. I would make quick breads like banana and zucchini breads, which totally aren’t fast since they bake for A LONG TIME, but that’s besides the point, they don’t require rising, hence quick. Anyway, that is besides the point…I finally decided to face my fear.

I first made this french bread recipe from Our Best Bites. It was simple and ended up delicious. It was a basic bread, James said it could be a tad saltier. But all in all it was good. We used it for sandwiches, toast, and garlic bread. I enjoyed it…and forgot to take a photo.

But then I made my all-time favorite bread, and one that I have trouble finding a good one at all times of the year in Washington (except Trader Joe’s): Challah. The Jewish egg bread is SO GOOD. Seriously beyond versatile. You can make sandwiches, french toast, etc, etc, etc. It’s the best bread ever. I scoured the web over and over to find the perfect recipe. After looking at a lot, I settled on making some edits to a chocolate chip challah that I made (well helped make) with one of my best friends Anna a few years ago.

It turned out great! I will probably never buy challah again. For reals. Just look at how pretty it is! (And giant.)

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Homemade Pretzel Bites

I have a blog post in the works that discusses my disdain for baking bread and my recent conversion to loving it, but I made these pretzel bites for a birthday party this past weekend and had to blog about them ASAP.

The party was German themed and my mind immediately went to pretzels. I remember seeing a few pins on Pinterest so started there for inspiration. I decided to use a recipe from Our Best Bites, a blog that I love and have had great luck with their recipes in the past. Here’s a sneak peek at the final result:

Pretzel bites

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