Wonderful Wednesday

There's so many things I love about this picture: that my home is full of people, that my table has lots of tea, that there are multiple babies in multiple tummies, that ten years has not dulled how much I adore these people, that a night of conversation is still more satisfying than all the facebooking in the world, that just small glimpses into these hearts inspire me deeply, that there are some people out there living meaningful lives consisting of far more than netflix and take-out, that God has brought us all through low valleys onto grassy knolls, that ten years ago we could not have dreamed up all the blessings we now share around the table. It was Thanksgiving in April.

Wonderful Wednesday

I love wrapping presents. It is one of the few areas where the creative side of me manages to be successful. And I like wrapping presents on the cheap. Some thoughtful women at a recent baby shower, saved this vintage wall paper from one of the presents for me to re-use. The ribbon was re-used and the flowers are the dried petals which fell from my orchid. I glued them on a round piece of paper. Their position was a bit tenuous but they survived the drive to the wedding and the subsequent gift table intact. I was quite pleased. :D Pretty wrapping is an anomaly in my family. I still get teased about the time Christmas was at my house and the night before, I took all the presents under the tree and added ribbons and bows and basically re-wrapped them. My family just doesn't understand. But I think it's wonderful.

Wonderful Wednesday

Not only does LA have great fish taco's but they have cool patios. By cool, I mean, not as warm as Texas and full of eye catching things like vintage looking iron works. I love iron works.

Wonderful Wednesday

This past weekend, I had a quick but fun jet set to Los Angeles to watch my brother graduate with his MBA (his second masters degree!). I've never been to LA in the spring and it was beautiful! So many cool plants that I didn't recognize - purple blooming trees and some trees with red bristle like flowers. I recognized the birds of paradise flower, my brother had HUGE white ones in front of his house. The weather was so gorgeous. It was very windy and at times a bit chilly for me; ironically, LA had a heat advisory (all about perspective). After the ceremony, John was fabulous enough to race me up to the Griffith Observatory which I had wanted to see. It is awesome! I wish the telescopes hadn't been locked up and of course going at night would be even better but for the two hour window before my flight, it was a great side trip. We had a party the night before where I met his friends, talked them into eating carbs (in Texas I'm a healthy eater, in California I'm a junky eater - once again, all about perspective) and watched Pitch Perfect. haha! All in all, a great weekend.

Wonderful Wednesday

I am a self-proclaimed recovering seamstress. For years, I put in a valiant effort to make my own clothes. I felt morally and financially obligated. The ensuing results were uniformly disastrous. Now I try to buy my clothes second hand to at least diminish slave labor and slowly work to use up my stash of fabric, redeeming past expense. My favorite uses are benign table runners, pho-quilts, and curtains. Straight lines, no curves, no geometry. I've always preferred calculus anyway. I'm particularly proud of this table runner which required just four seams. And since I get really tired of gift bags (most are unimaginative), I wrapped it around measuring cups, tied it in a bow and topped with a paper flower clip from Michaels. BAM. Take that sewing machine.

Wonderful Wednesday

Books on my shelf - photo compliments of Blake.

Wonderful Wednesday

What could be more wonderful than whole-wheat banana, chocolate, coffee muffins?? I got the recipe from one of my favorite blogs: The Vanilla Bean Blog. The pictures are sumptuous and the food itself is approachable. I tweaked the recipe a lot because I didn't feel like going to the store. I used coconut oil instead of canola/olive oil,  halved the expensive maple syrup and made up the difference with honey, left out the cacao nibs (they are expensive!!!) and used whole milk since I didn't have buttermilk on hand. The wet batter was disconcerting (I have trust issues with recipes) so I added an extra egg and an extra 1/4 cup of flour. They baked for around 20-25 minutes and came out delicious!!! 

*since so many people liked this - I've gone ahead and listed my alternate recipe below*

Wonderful Wednesday

A couple of weeks ago, I was going through a hard time and pointedly reminded Matt that I needed to be cared for. Sometimes, when a wife is strong, and life is busy, I think a man forgets to cosset her now-and-again. But she does indeed need to be cared for, especially if she is like me - prone to running around caring for everyone else. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), I am very open about my needs. :D hehe. Matt rose to the occasion valiantly with breakfast in bed (complete with my tulips!) Bravo, dear.

Wonderful Wednesday

Dinner parties are exhausting and wonderful. As you can see my dinning room faces full west. In the words of Lady Catherine de Bourgh 'a most inconvenient arrangement in summer'. None-the-less, the night was fun with excellent company. A thank you to my father-in-law for the lovely china set.

Wonderful Wednesday

A block from my house there is a large section of woods. Trails for mountain bikers weave between the trees and undergrowth. Neighborhood children claim this domain for their imaginary adventures. Sometimes, I take a walk on those trails, look at the birds, and enjoy glimpses of a woody flower. There's also a surprise in these woods, a remarkable, awe-inducing structure. The claims of ownership belong to no one and everyone. 'The Fort' is a lovely place to visit, to think, to breathe, to hear the squeals of happy children and to remember the joys of simple things. Sometimes, when all is quiet and still, I realize that adults need magical places too.

have friends, will travel

There's a group of girls I've been calling my friends for over half a decade. It started with a Bible Study but that isn't where it stopped. My favorite thing about this group is that we have real fun outside of our study times. We don't just describe our lives to each other, we experience it together.

[Please don't say that we "do life" because that phrase is disturbing - beyond the grammatical crime - because what if you don't 'do life' does that mean you're doing death? That phrase is a lazy man's way of saying nothing while trying to sound profound. End tirade.]

In March, for our [almost] annual trip, we went to Baltimore to visit bible study member and my former roomie Sara P. You may know that she went there for a brief educational hiatus. Here are some long overdue pictures from the trip - all compliments of Gaela Renee (pic hacking on fb is a forgivable offense, I'm told :p)

frame worthy



I love this girl!

nightime walking tour of Baltimore

Gaela is a great photographer :D

  I'm trying to convince them to sail around the bahamas in 2015, but we'll see how that goes.