Change, Change, We are Here

As you can sense from my absence I am in the midst of a transition, a evolution in what it means to live and breathe and love in this life of mine.  Many of you come here to see my lastest crafty endeavors, I am still crafting, I am just having a harder time finding time to photograph, edit and post my little creations, where as I would rather just enjoy them.  Some of you come to keep up with my family and more specifically, Adelaide.  And I must be honest, the longer I parent and blog the increasingly less comfortable I get with the idea of sharing much of our lives on the internet.  Certainly, what you get here is a small bit of the depth of what it means to be our family, it is edited, but it is still a part and I mindful of how sharing that part, even ever so small, might impact my family.

My ordination in 2008

Which brings me to probably my biggest piece to share.  I returned to work about three months ago.  After 15 unplanned, unexpected and delightful months staying at home with Adelaide, I returned to full time work in July. I am very fortunate to work in a vocation that is family friendly, in fact that is an understatement extrordinare.  I have been hesitiant to share much about what I "do" for a living out of respect.  Out of respect to a readership that is very diverse, out of respect for myself and my own sense of privacy and out of respect for the people I work with because I only want to represent my vocation and the people I share it with in the most positive way--because it is the most joyous of honors to be a part of this work together.  But for those of you that are curious, I am an ordained minister. 

At a ribbon cutting for our new building at my first church in 2008

I love what I do and as I already mentioned it is incredibly family friendly.  I work 4 days a week in the office and get one week day off to spend at home with Adelaide.  And in what other vocation is it not only encouraged but often expected that you bring your family to work with you one (or more days a week).  So unlike people in more traditional jobs Adelaide is only cared for by someone other than T and I briefly 4 days a week, instead of 5.  Also, her care? She started pre-school this fall at the church I serve.  In a culture that is not very family and motherhood friendly, I am SO grateful that my child's care will be onsite (actually about 40 feet from my office) where I work.  This is so rare and I am so grateful to have found work that is meaningful to me and that fits my family's place in life. 

Leading worship in 2009 at a friend's ordination

What does this mean for the blog?  It means that this past year I have had time to write and edit photos during afternoon naps and after bed, but now sometimes I will chose to spend that time differently, being more present to my family, our household and all that that entails (you know the glamourous parts of life--laundry, dishes, picking up raisins off the floor!).  It means that as I continue to wrestle with the balance of sharing your life on a blog that I may try a few new things, we shall just have to see.  It will be a balance I will have to live into, since photography is a love but as a few of you all know writing has always been my original love.  

P.S. The title of this post was inspired by a Pablo Neruda quote I first discovered here and adapted to reflect this new phase, this wild, open-hearted and crazy way in which things are constantly changing, the way we are invited to fling our hearts wide open and hope for the very best.  Change, change, we are here. 

Valentines and A Cake

print via

We had a really great Valentines this week.  In years past we haven't been big on celebrating Valentines Day since it was just the two of us and we could go out on dates any time we wanted and T never left me in short supply of fresh flowers just because.  But this year my sweet sister offered to babysit and since time together is at a premium we jumped on the chance.  Add to that that this is little miss's first Valentines and I wanted to just surround my little family in love.  Even if it is a silly holiday, it's a good time to teach and be reminded about commitments we have as a family everyday, year round.  So we celebrated as a family and then T and I went out.  I tried to do a few things to make this year special for little miss and our family.  And it was great to have a babysitter (thanks, sis!) so T and I could have the chance to hang out just the two of us Valentines Day or not!  

Last weekend I baked a cake on the fly for some friends that were coming over.  It ended up being super dense and moist and just wrong.  Just wrong.  And it really bothered me.  I don't normally make mistakes cooking or baking and what was worse is that I couldn't figure it out.  About three days later I realized what I had done--a simple and silly mistake.  I violated one one of the basic rules of baking when I was in a hurry and my little helper was being less than helpful.  Ah, but no excuses, eh?  And so to test my theory about my mistake I made a second cake for my loves on Valentines Day.  And I was right and the cake was right and all was well and everyone felt loved!

How was your Valentines Day?  

Over the {Holiday} Weekend

How did everyone's holiday weekend go?  We had a wonderful holiday weekend--it was equal parts restful and adventurous and full of family-time awesomeness.  

Our Thanksgiving Day was low key with a small get together with family and friends, hosted at our house.  I cooked a full Thanksgiving meal which was awesome--I love cooking especially in my own home for people I love!  And bonus, we were able to get my sis to snap a few family pics for the Christmas card.  This one is of just T and I, so it didn't make the cut for the Christmas card, but I love it so much I have to share it here.  

And we got a few pics of us girlies!  

We are not big Black Friday people, in fact, we have only ever made one purchase on Black Friday.  Really, the whole Black Friday thing seems rather counter intuitive to how we do Christmas with a budget and a plan, but hey, no judgement here if it's your thing (unless you pepper sprayed anyone and then, shame on you!).  So instead of participating in mass consumerism we decided to create some family memories and enjoy the crazy warm weather by packing up our cute little family and heading over to the FTW Zoo.  I mean really, where else can you spend a gorgeous day at the zoo in late November but Texas?  So we took advantage and took the little miss to see the animals.  

Little miss loved the penguins and turtles and then just really loved all the people watching.  The cooler weather meant that all the animals were out and very active, rather than in the summer when they are either indoors or lounging in the shade. We saw a zebra get a full run going, which was stunning.  

Aren't these two just the most handsome date to the zoo a girl could ever have?!

On Saturday we started decorating the tree for the holidays and met up with friends for lunch.  Little miss and I also got some time together so we decided to pop over to the mall to say "hey!" to a friend that just picked up a part time job there.  And I am so glad I did because little miss was hilarious!  Every time we stepped out into the main mall crowd she would grin and bounce up and down--she was definitely excited to be around all the people.  

Sunday was more decorating and resting and family time and just sort of soaking up the last bit of family time together before a hectic week.  

How was your Thanksgiving holiday?  

Thanksgiving Prep

Happy Thursday all!  We are getting very excited planning our Thanksgiving meal, cleaning the house and getting the china out.  Every time I think about using the china I have a little inner squeal of excitement (goofy and girly, I know!). It's little miss's first Thanksgiving, but it's also our first Thanksgiving in our new home and truth be told it will be our first Thanksgiving in our own home period.  I am really looking forward to hosting and making memories in our home this holiday season.  Right now I am debating what part of our menu will be traditional classic dishes and what new dishes I want to try out and maybe incorporate as new family tradition in years to come.  Do you keep the menu the same very year or do you change it up?  Any recipe suggestions out there?   

And remember we have our first giveaway going.  Enter here and check out the shop here.  I have a few really cute things I am working on for the shop that I hope to get listed this weekend.  And I might even be working on a few cute things for the house to decorate for Christmas!  

I Mustache Ask You A Question

As you might have caught the other day, I got a night out last weekend.  Since my sister has moved to town we have had lots of time together but no time where we have gone out just the two of us.  So on Friday night we decided that we would go grab a margarita and some mexican food at Uncle Julio's, as DFW staple.  

It was awesome getting the chance to just spend time together swapping stories and laughing but there was something equally as awesome that happened while we at Uncle Julio's...

Perched in my margarita was a stir-stick with a mustache on it.  Obviously we did what any two mature adults would do and took a few pics.

At the end of the night as we were leaving my sis says "I stuck that mustache in my purse, you never know when you are going to need a mustache."  

And of course it only took a day for us to realize it was the perfect size to hold up to give little miss that air of sophistication she had been lacking.  Oh, and she matches her grandpa now.  After we took this pic we put the mustache back in little sis's purse, you know for emergencies.  

Hilarious.  What would you do if you had a small portable mustache?  

Tuesday Crafties

Happy Tuesday, I hope your holiday weekend was fun and that you are off to the start of a great four day week! Usually these 3 day weekends totally throw me off but we got up and at em at our house and are tackling our to-do list. I am really excited to get back to my regular Tuesday Crafties post, I have really missed sharing them and have some awesome little projects I've been working on lately. 

My little sister leaving the nest and has taken a job to be much closer to our family here in Texas.  To say I am excited does not do it justice.  As I write this I want to follow each of my sentence with four or five exclamation points like I am a 13 year old girl, but I will refrain!  Anyhow, since she is getting her first place and has nothing, I thought I would pull together a care package of sorts to get her started.  

She really loves Anthropologie for clothes and stuff and I really love them for their housewares but am I going to pay $20 for a dish towel, no thanks.  So I thought, I will go check out my local fabric store and see what they've got and sew her a couple of dish towels!  Here's what I came up with: 

I am pretty proud of myself.  I haven't sewn anything freehand with out a pattern in forever. And even though technically the towel was a rectangle, I used two different fabrics and added the ric-rac finish.  I am pretty excited and hope she likes them.  And I am thinking I might make some for my sister-in-law next, maybe as a Christmas gift.

How was your holiday weekend?  Did you tackle any projects?

They Say It's Your Birthday

As I mentioned already, we had a pretty great weekend.  We celebrated my birthday over the weekend.  My little sister requested vacation time from work over a year ago for my birthday and arrived in town on Thursday of last week.  I love it when she visits.  She and T had gotten together months ago and decided to throw me a pool party and invited our family and friends on Saturday.  It rained for the first time in a loooong time the night before and the whole day was cloudy.  Which would ruin a normal person's pool party but considering we live in Texas and it has been sweltering hot we actually enjoyed hanging by the pool enjoying the cool, grey day.  

Me and my sis

There were balloons at my party which somebody really loved!

And guess who got to debut their new sunglasses?!

My brother and his niece (taken with my NEW camera lens! Yippee!)

On Sunday, after church we had a family brunch at Le Peep with our family that had come to town.  My french toast was to die for and the company was the best!

This past year of my life has been full of lots of excitement, changes and adventure.  We settled into our new house we bought in Indy and made it feel like ours, found out I was pregnant, I left a job and vocation I loved dearly to move across country 9 months pregnant, sold a house, bought another, welcomed our sweet little miss into the world and I embraced being a stay at home mom.  I normally prefer quiet, low key birthdays, to big extravaganzas.  But this year it was especially nice to close this year of my life out and welcome this next year with a low key, but fun filled weekend surrounded by the people I love.  

When it comes to birthdays do you prefer a big and wild party or quiet and low key? Or does it depend on the year? 

Over the Weekend

We hit the road this past weekend and got out of town to our family in Oklahoma.  We had a great time and despite the fact that they have actually been hotter than us during this summer heat wave a storm/front rolled through Saturday night and cooled things off by about 30 degrees.  We sat out on the back patio that night, looking out over the golf course and the rain just poured down, feeling the cool mist on our skin.  Lovely.  

Here's the rest of our weekend in pictures:

I finished reading The Help--great book

Lunch date at Camp's

Double date with the folks and little miss at the Iron Star in OKC

Preaching gig in Luther, OK.  Tim sang.  It was fun.

Back home in the car, playing with our rattle.

How was your weekend?

Over the Weekend

Happy belated Fourth of July!  We had a great weekend, here's what we did...

My sister K came into town for the holiday and to visit the little miss.  What I love most about her visits is the laid back vibe her visits have whenever she comes town.  She is family that feels like family and not like a guest, so we spend a lot of our time making home cooked meals, catching up and just relaxing.  This time I had a little competition in the "chatting and catching up" department as the little miss wanted to talk her ear off and show her all her new tricks.

 I also love K because we have similar styles of cooking and similar tastes, but she always reminds me of stuff I know how to do but have forgotten, so her visits always jump start my cooking a bit. 

Sunday we made plans with the rest of the family here for a day at the pool and a cookout to celebrate the holiday.  Little miss debuted her ladybug swim suit with the red tutu and I was brave enough to snap some pics of the two of us together (and apparently brave enough to share them on the interwebs).

Little miss even got a little dip in the pool while the pool was still in the shade.  Don't worry we were super safe.  All you can see in this picture is the little cutie in her suit, but there were like 5 people surrounding her and my uncle kept a very close eye.  In fact he kept saying "watch out her cheek is 3 inches from the water!" It was very sweet.  

She loved the swim time, especially since the pool was bathtub warm.  Since I grew up around and with pools I just really love being able to slowly introduce the little miss to swimming so that she will be safe and love this activity as she grows up.  T, K and I loved the swim time because it was a great way to stretch our muscles in the heat playing volleyball, swimming laps and just goofing around.  

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and having fun not doing much of anything.  I am super excited for this week on the ol blog.  I have a few little projects to share in the kitchen and a few crafties to share as well, so check back a little later!

How was your holiday weekend?

Happy Anniversary!

Four years ago today T and I stood in front of our friends, family and God and made public the private commitment we had made to one another years before.  That we would journey through life together, tackle whatever challenges and obstacles came up together and help see one another's dreams into reality together.  We have moved six times, lived in three different states, traveled to some really cool places, acquired a degree and a dog, bought (and sold) our first home, made two career transitions, and welcomed our beautiful daughter into the world together. I am grateful for him as my partner, my friend, my love.  

Here's to many, many more years and many more adventures.  

(The picture is from Eischen's Chicken in Oklahoma our first year of marriage)

Over the Weekend

Happy Tuesday!  I hope you had an fun and relaxing holiday weekend!  I know we did! 

On Saturday we started off by putting the baby down for her morning nap and tackling our overgrown yard.  It has been really rainy here, so the grass was high and the shrubs out of control.  T tackled the lawn while I weeded and tended to the shrubs.  Then I decided to join other countless Americans that keep our health system running on holiday weekends--no I didn't get in a drunk accident at the lake.  I manage to wound myself doing yard work.  So we took a little family trip to the local ER, where I got patched up.  Since they said I couldn't do yard work the rest of the weekend T finished up the yard (and it looks GREAT!)

After cleaning up from yard work we headed over to the family's to swim, cookout and just hang.  Little miss's cousins Will and Sam were in from out of town and so she got a lot of attention from her 2 1/2 year old cousin Sam.  He kept running across the room and saying "I want to hug the baby!" Then he would hug her feet and run off again (Side note, Sam hugs feet because his amazing momma taught him not to touch babies hands or faces, which is super thoughtful).  And of course Adelaide saved her biggest, gummiest grins for Sam.  For dinner the guys grilled the most delicious steaks and we sat around and enjoy each other's company.  

Sunday after going to church we came home and put the little miss down for a nap and this momma got some much needed time by herself.  Then we headed back over to our family's for more time by the pool and this time fajitas on the grill for dinner--yum!  After dinner we all hung by the pool in the cool evening air.  Little miss was per usual an absolutely wonderful little guest and totally happy to hang out with everyone.  

On Monday we decided to pack up and go on a little mini-adventures and take little miss over to Fort Worth to eat at the Star Cafe in the Fort Worth Stockyards.  The food as usual was tasty but the real reason we headed over was so little miss could see Betty again and meet Don.  They own the Star Cafe but they are also dear friends of T and I's and we want the little miss to hang with them as often as she can.  And as with the rest of the weekend she was a total doll and won the hearts of not only Don and Betty but everyone at the Star Cafe.   

We took a little cruise up Main Street in the Stockyards while little miss let the breeze blow through her hairs and take in the sights.  Then we headed back home where we relaxed, napped and soaked up the last of the long weekend together as a family.  I even got a few things done off my list from last week.  

How was your holiday weekend?

This Week

Good morning!  Hope your week is off to a good start!  We are rockin' and rollin' with one sock on, one sock off and our rock hand up.  We had an awesome weekend but it has left me with plenty to do around the house this week.  I am loving staying at home and me and the little miss are starting to get into our own little rhythm, which means this momma can start thinking about more than just the basics. For fun and for the sake of accountability (and because I love a good list), here's what I would like to get done above and beyond the usual grind this week between naps...

1. Unpack from our trip and put up the suitcases
2. Finish baby gift thank you's (we have been blessed with a flood of gifts and I am embarrassingly behind)
3. Finish unpacking china and putting it in our sideboard table
4. Figure out what kind of light bulb we need for our front light and go buy it
5. Change out said front light after bulb has been purchased
6. Pull together a few crafty gifts to send to a few friends and pen pals and get them in the mail  
7. Plant the basil plant I bought two weeks ago in a pot before it get too root bound in its container
8. Paint the frame of the mirror I bought at Trade Days in Behr's Steam White  
9. Hand the above mirror up in its new home
10. Trim out the guest bathroom so it can be rollered
11. Pull weeds from beds and yard

We'll see on Friday if I have been too ambitious. What do you have lined up to get done this week?

Away We Go

Fifteen months ago we did this:

We fell in love with our cute little 1923 craftsman style house and took the plunge into home ownership.  More than homeownership, we took the plunge into making a home in a city that we had only intended to live in for a 2 year residency.  We took the plunge to turn friends we had made here into our family, to let our lives lay down roots and bloom here.  And these past fifteen months have been the best.  We are surround by two of the best sets of neighbors ever, we have cooked out, played cards and laughed with friends we have enjoyed some of the best successes in our careers to date.  This last success has led to an unexpected change for our family. 

It is with great sadness and excitement that we announce we are moving back to Texas.  A sign that looks quiet similar to the one we are holding above already rests in our yard and in a yard in Texas there should be a similar sign that represents the promise of a new house we will make into a home.  There are so many people and things we will miss in Indy and there are so many things we are looking forward to as we try to imagine our new life in Texas.  But this time has been blessed more than we could imagine, we know we will keep up with our Indiana family and that we will make new friends that feel like family in Texas.   

My Mister

The other night we were sitting at dinner at our kitchen table.  After we had finished catching each other up on our days, there was a lull in the conversation. 

Suddenly (because if you know me I am a bit spacey and random sometimes with my trains of thought) I said to to T, "You know what I have thought everytime I have looked down at my stomach today?"

He replied, "Holy crap! I swallowed a basketball!"

All I have to say is that I must not have too much of the crazy pregnancy hormone pumping through my veins because rather than cry or hit him I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair!

I am really lucky to be married to someone who is so funny and who has made this process so much fun!

*the picture is of T and Ranger from our first winter here in Indiana.

All Bets Are Off

Actually all bets are not off...they are lost.  As you already know, our beloved Texas Rangers lost to the San Francisco Giants in the World series earlier this week.   We were pretty bummed around our house.

T watched the final game in the series with some friends at thier house.  I had already gone to bed when he got home and when I woke up I had this vague recollection of him telling me something about the baby before he went to sleep.  

Later that next day I checked facebook and was reminded suddenly of what T told me the night before.

Apparently he has already gotten started on using the baby as a betting tool.  Sheesh!  You see, T's cousin J lives in San Fran and is due with a little one of her own about two weeks or so before us.  Apparently in all thier trash talking via texts, they agreed that the person who's team lost the World Series would have to dress their baby in the winning team's onesie.  

So I hope my little one looks good in orange and black...

Over the Weekend

I can't believe November is already here! Part of the reason October has flow by so quickly is that we have had three weekends in a row of houseguest.  Two weekends ago (I am late in posting this--oops!) my brother B and his girlfriend A came up from Oklahoma to visit.  They got here on Wednesday night sort of late.  Thursday I had to work but they met T at work to grab lunch and I think just re-charged from the draining drive up here.  That evening we hung out and made dinner. 

Over dinner the idea came up that we should go to Chicago on Friday.  Friday is my day off from work and T has hardly taken much vacation time this year, so we could go with B and A who had never been to Chicago.  I actually had never really been either, only to a conference in the suburbs a few years back.  So we all agreed that it would be a fun day trip.

Early Friday we hopped in the car a drove the 3 hours up to Chi-town.  Spent the morning at the Crate and Barrel Outlet (I had wanted to go to look at thier baby furniture line--that was super underwhelming, but I did get the dishes I had been wanting for fraction of what I would have paid in store full price.  So not a total bust).  By lunch time we headed into the city to go to Wrigglyville to see the staduim and eat at Lucky's. 

 

After lunch we decided that we wanted to at least drive down Lakeshore Drive to see the city.  When we got down there, as soon as I saw Navy Pier I wanted to go there and everyone else was really flexible and cool and agreed that we should go check it out!  Yippee!

While we were exploring the Pier we decided that it woudl be fun to go in the ferris wheel.  Ok, now let me tell you I was as gun-ho as the rest of the gang about it.  I have never been on a ferris wheel and thought it would be a fun adventure, especially since this one looked really tall and sturdy.  However, I have never been on one because I am afraid of heights.  Oh well!  It was fun (even if I was a bit nervous).

On the way home from Chicago we stopped at a the dairy store of one of the largest dairy farms in Indiana a got some cheese (everyone else go milk shakes but I am going to be honest, me and ice cream don't mix since I got pregnant).  Then we made it home in time to watch the Ranger's game against the Yankees.