What I'm Into- October 2013

This is the part of the month where I get to look back on what I ate, read, watched, listened to, loved, and whatever else, thanks to Leigh Kramer's link-up. It's fun; you should try it!

Happenings

• Ricky and I celebrated eight years of marriage. We found a great babysitter using Care.com (which I must say is a great option for people who just moved thousands of miles and gave up two amazing babysitters back home) and went to see Over the Rhine in Alexandria, Virginia. It was such a treat. I already professed my love for Over the Rhine in last month's post, but they are truly amazing to see live. Some people sound better on their album; not them. They absolutely fill up the space with the most gorgeous, full sound and it feels like an otherworldly experience. 
• I've been going to the gym twice a week. This is a big deal. There's a gym within walking distance of our house that offers two hours of childcare per day, so really it's a win-win for us. The kids get excited to go see "gym buddies" and I get to work out on a regular basis. I'm starting small as to not scare myself away (that's how these things work for me), but I'd like to move up to three days eventually. It feels good.
• I've been writing more. I have a new project in the works that I'm really excited to share.
• We're looking for a church community. It's been slow-going, but there are few more on my "list" that I'd like to try out. Honestly, the sheen of living in a new place is wearing off, and I'm feeling the loneliness more acutely these days. We have a little joke about our new town--when we can't find something, it's just "hidden in the trees" because, well, there are just so many trees here compared to the desert we came from. So, I hope that our place, whatever it may be, is simply hidden in the trees and we haven't found it yet.

Reading

• I so enjoyed the memoir When We Were on Fire by Addie Zierman. I laughed, cried, and nodded all the way through it. 
• I took my time with All is Grace by Brennan Manning with John Blase, processing the difficulty of his story . It's a sad book, in a way, but also one of the most encouraging things I've read in some time. Grace is a mystery we try too hard to explain, I think. I have some more thoughts on this book that I'm trying to form into a post.
• I'm in the middle of The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church by Greg Boyd. I've wanted to start reading some of his books, and this seemed a good place to start. I hope to have some thoughts to share on that too. He addresses things that have bothered me for some time, but also challenges some preconceived notions that I realize I still have. It's a stretching read.
• Sarah Bessey's Jesus Feminist, which comes out next week, is definitely on my list for November and I've also been wanting to read Carry on Warrior by Glennon Melton. 

Eating

I'm back in a good cooking routine, making dinner every weeknight and usually one big meal on the weekends. When I was working night shifts earlier this year, I pretty much lost the will to cook; there was just no enjoyment in spending the time, and cleaning the mess, unless maybe I had a long string of days off and a wee extra bit of energy. I needed things to be as simple as possible. So, it's been nice to rediscover the catharsis of stirring, tasting, seasoning, and smelling at the close of the day, as the sun sets, or the thrill of throwing something in the crockpot at ten in the morning and knowing dinner's done. My favorites this month:

• Butternut squash lasanga made using a sauce with pureed cooked squash and thickened milk, with lots of warm spices.
• Pasta with the same sauce from the lasagna, with Italian sausage and cooked spinach, sprinkled with parmesan. Better than mac & cheese, in my opinion.
• Sweet and Spicy Chicken Drumsticks and oven roasted broccoli--just cut up a head of broccoli, toss it in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, and shredded parmesan, and roast on a cookie sheet at 425 degrees for 12 minutes or so. Even the kids devoured it, much to my happy surprise.

Listening

• Tiny Desk Concerts! Do you know about these? I recently discovered them and think they're so fun. My favorites so far are: Basia Bulat, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, The Civil Wars, and The Lone Bellow.

Watching

• This time of year, I just want to watch the Harry Potter movies. Ricky and I did the closest thing we could to a marathon by watching all of them in about two weeks. We may have been a little giddy about it.
• We also discovered the show Scandal. It's a fun political drama that's pretty well-written, even if the central romantic relationship is kind of ridiculous. Anyway, it's a good watch-together show. 
• We've been having living room floor picnics and introducing the kids to "old" movies on Friday nights: E.T., Disney's Aladdin, Lady and the Tramp, Robin Hood, and Home Alone (which was pretty inappropriate for our kids. I did not remember some of that stuff. Oops.) I want to do The Sound of Music, but I don't know if they'll sit for it just yet. 

So that's my October. How was yours?

What I'm Into-September 2013

Here's a fun thing. A new-to-me blogger, Leigh Kramer, hosts this link-up for people to share what they read, listened to, ate, and otherwise engaged in for the previous month. So if you're at all interested in what I did in September, stick around! Otherwise, you know, um, don't. Or something.

Happenings

• September was full of happy events. As I posted here, we finalized our daughter's adoption on September 3rd, a mere two weeks after moving across the country. 

• Ricky turned the big 3-0 and we celebrated with dinner, presents, and a salted caramel cheesecake. In the spirit of youth, I surprised him with tickets to go see Macklemore in November. Maybe we'll feel silly, but it should be fun. I'm on the lookout for a babysitter starting now. 

• Nicolas turned seven. It was a little sad to not have the usual friends and family around to celebrate with a big party like usual, but he took it in stride. We made the day special with lots of balloons, a special breakfast, funfetti cake (hurts my teeth to just think about it), a new bike with NO training wheels, opening packages he'd received in the mail from family, and a fun night at his school carnival (it also happened to be his school's 40th anniversary that day.) The next day was Saturday so we took a trip to the Lego store. It was actually not huge like we thought it would be, and therefore a bit anticlimactic for the adults, but he loved it.

• We joined a gym that offers two hours of childcare daily. We're mostly alternating days, but we did have a "work-out date" on Saturday. I was so beat afterward that I had to take a nap. Aaaand that's what I get for working out with Ricky. It was fun though.
• Silas, Aimee and I are staying home quite a bit. I'm not planning on looking for a nursing job until January, so this is a nice break. I'm still spending a lot of time unpacking and "cozifying" the house, and we frequent the neighborhood parks and head out to the gym a few mornings a week. Our schedules revolve around naps. It's simple and sweet, and I can actually appreciate it because it's temporary (funny how that works.)

• We've been to three churches here, two of which are promising. I'll share more about that in the coming days, as we figure things out. 

Reading

• I read Nadia Bolz-Weber's new book Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner and Saint. It was refreshing to read something both gritty and vulnerable, and I came away from it encouraged in my faith. As Nadia writes, Christianity is really just a continuous process of death and resurrection, rather than a ladder we climb. It's freeing to think in those terms. I also really enjoyed listening to her interview with Krista Tippett, particularly the part where she discusses her tattoos and their meanings, and notes that tattoos often carry with them a profound story or hard-won truth. My one tattoo (the second one is brewing, I think) came from my years of grief following my father's passing and the desire to hold onto God's goodness. It's a hope really, more than an assurance. It sure is difficult to explain to curious passers-by in one or two lines! Anyway, I suppose I'm deeply curious about why people get the tattoos that they do, so this was fascinating to listen to.

• I'm still plugging away at America's Women: Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines by Gail Collins. It's truly interesting material, but I suppose my brain is easily pulled away by social media and such after a bit of reading in this book. It's a good one for my nightstand.

• I just started All is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir by Brennan Manning with John Blase (whose poetry I've really come to look forward to.) This one's been on the list for a while. 

Listening

• I've mostly been listening to Over the Rhine's new album Meet Me at the Edge of the World. It's my favorite work of theirs so far. Their music is gorgeous as usual, but there's a sense of peace and groundedness to this album that's really special, in contrast to the tensions they expressed in previous albums. We saw them in Albuquerque in 2010, and I remember they talked about how so many are interested in the stories of how people meet and fall in love, but they were more interested in the stories of what happens after people are married. It's infinitely more meaningful to hear happy stories when people have shared their sad and confusing times as well. All that to say, I sure like them.

• I'm a big fan of Jonathan Martin's sermon podcasts, and often listen to them while getting stuff done around the house. Thank God for my internet pastors :)

Eating

• I was curious about the cauliflower pizza crust I see everywhere, so we tried it out last Friday night. It's so, so good! I used this recipe.

• I'm enjoying fall-ish recipes. Chili in the crockpot, roasted acorn squash with taco meat and melted cheese, butternut squash lasagna....you get the idea. 

• Yesterday I discovered this little gem. It's every bit as good as it looks.

Watching

• Breaking Bad, along with most everyone else. A few years back I watched an episode and a half with Ricky and decided it wasn't for me because of the violence. At some point though, the story drew me in and I've been watching it religiously since. I did see the final season including the series finale before I finished all the in between episodes, so it's all a bit of a mishmash in my head. I think I like it as much as I do, despite the violence and difficult subject matter, because the characters are so layered and remind me of people I know in real life. To me, that's one of the marks of a well-written show.

• I also have big plans to start season 4 of Downton Abbey now that Walter White and I are parting ways. Ricky and I like to keep up with The Voice on Hulu and I'll be checking in with Parenthood at some point. Yay for new fall shows to watch.

So that's September in a nutshell. What did you enjoy (or not enjoy)? Linking up with Leigh here.

Happy October!

flying

“You seemed so far away," Miss Honey whispered, awestruck.

"Oh, I was. I was flying past the stars on silver wings," Matilda said. "It was wonderful.” 

-Roald Dahl, Matilda.

a June getaway

We drove all the way across Texas to get to Galveston, and the beach. Sure, it's the Gulf of Mexico; the water is brown and the seaweed is abundant, but our little buddies didn't care one bit. Take kids to the beach and they know what to do.

We had reserved a charming-looking place on the beach and it turned out to be charming in real life too. 

Little Miss (her real name is coming soon, and we have an adoption finalization date...you may notice I'm feeling far less cautious about showing her precious face on here) practiced her new crawling moves. She just popped up on her hands and knees a few weeks ago and now, suddenly, we once again have a baby who's into everything. I couldn't be happier about it. Open those drawers, pull those bags down. We've been waiting for it.

The water was warm and the air was thick. I love humidity (well, below a certain temperature.)

After our last vacation with these three, we thought it would be best to keep things very low-key. Beach, naps, down-time, pool, meals, more beach. None of this running around amusement parks or touristy sights business. I'm usually the one who feels like we need to see the Sights and do the Things, but it's just not enjoyable with whiny kids and grumpy parents. It will keep until they're older. We were able to cook and do laundry in our place, too, and that made things even more simple. I think we're on to something.

Little Miss surprised us by napping on the beach. She's usually so particular about where she sleeps. I think the water was incredibly therapeutic (and therefore incredibly exhausting) for her little self. It was lovely to have so much time to just play with her. She has this whole curious side that's emerging. Parenting her is peeling off layers, Ricky says.

The boys loved attacking the waves and digging big holes. Silas is made up of rawr and sugar. Nicky has plans and ideas and dance/ninja moves. They're pretty fun right now.

We did venture out one night for dinner, an exploratory drive around the island, and frozen yogurt. We ate it on some wooden swings by the ocean, in the night air. That's my new favorite way to eat frozen yogurt.

Nicky was pretty fearless out in the bigger waves, and worked on body surfing.

And of course we "big people" had to be vigilant but we both enjoyed watching them take it all in. There's nothing much better than experiencing things all over again with your babies.

"Here, let me fix your hair. I know about this stuff."

After one final morning swim, we got cleaned up (and Nicky discovered the magic of soap in a jacuzzi tub) and packed, and headed to Austin for our niece's first birthday party.

We took a slight detour to pass through Lockhart, Texas, home of Black's Barbecue. It's soooooo good. Growing up, we visited our Opa and Oma outside of San Antonio every summer and they would make us food just like this: sliced brisket, homemade sausage, and of course all the sides. Yum. Silas pointed to the deer and said, "Hi, camels."

We had some seat belt disagreements, and some crocodile tears, along the way. Soon we rolled into Austin and helped Ricky's sister get ready for a very cute farm-themed party.

Tio Mark busted out the bubble machine. I decided we need one. I also decided I like birthday parties that involve mimosas and mini-quiche (aka tractor wheels.)

Emma and Little Miss only are six weeks apart. How cool is that? She's in the "hold my hands and take me walking everywhere, please" stage and has the creamiest baby skin I've ever seen, and we noticed that she and Silas make some very similar facial expressions. It was fun to see them all again, and I selfishly love that they live in the area of Texas they do because it's one of my favorite places.

Tia Lizette took Ricky, me and the boys to this very fun splashpad next to Town Lake. The boys were both timid at first but pretty much had to be dragged away by the time the water went off.

Then, time to pack up and go once again. Silas drove, while Ricky and I sat in the backseat and watched movies, took naps, and ate the snacks that were handed to us. It was awesome. Okay, so he had to be convinced to get into his own seat, a lot. 

Several park stops, ice cream, Curious George, the Karate Kid, the Lumineers, This American Life, silly singing, and big beautiful clouds helped us home.

My summer cup runneth over.