Crickets in Trees

DIY Infant Headbands

2012-02-11T13:42:00.005-05:00

Although my girl is not totally bald (she has more hair than I thought she would!), adding a headband to her outfit here and there definitely gives her a feminine touch. But I’m not a huge fan of really big headbands on a tiny baby’s head…large plastic flowers that cover half her head aren’t really my style. I tried to find some sweet and simple little headbands at Target, Baby Gap, Gymboree, etc, but I just wasn’t finding anything so I decided to make my own. And they turned out to be really easy and much less expensive than anything you could buy in a baby shop.

Here’s what you need:

1) 1/4" Soft stretch elastic, braided style

2) Fabric for rosettes, felt for bows

3) Hot Glue gun

4) Sewing machine (or you can hand sew)

I started by taking the elastic and wrapping it around Madeline’s head to see how long it should be. The elastic needs to be snug enough to stay on, but not too tight. Once you’ve measured around your baby’s head, measure the elastic length on a ruler—that way if you make more than one you don’t have to keep measuring your baby’s head. Then add an extra half inch or so to the length of the elastic before you cut it, and mark the extra length. This will be where you sew the overlap – I didn’t use pins or anything to hold it because the elastic is so narrow – I just held on to the overlapping section while I slid it through the sewing machine. And then you have the actual headband – easy peasy! Make sense?

For a rosette headband, make your rosette from a strip of fabric – my rosette was about 14 inches long and 1.5 inches wide. You can find tutorials for these rosettes all over the internet. Then cut out a little felt circle a bit smaller than the rosette, and hot glue gun the rosette onto the headband with the felt circle on the back. For the Felt bow, I just used some felt I had around the house to make this bow using a hot glue gun. Then cut another strip of felt for the back, attach both to a headband.

Done! All I had to purchase was the elastic, which came in at $1.60. Awesome!

Here’s my model:

Madeline’s First Week Home

2012-01-15T13:20:00.007-05:00

After 2.5 days in the hospital, James and I were ready to bring little Miss Madeline home to her new world. And I happy to say that I think she rather likes her new home. She has wasted no time in spreading her things all over the house – diapers, burp cloths, blankets, etc. Overall it has been a great first week!

We came home on a Saturday, and my parents were here until Tuesday morning. Then our sis Jessica arrived Tuesday evening, so we’ve had such great help as we transition to life with a newborn. Both my parents & Jessica have been willing to stay up with Madeline for the “first watch” at night, so I’ve been getting a few hours sleep before the feed/burp/change diaper cycle interrupts the night hours. That has been great! And we've had friends bringing us food and meals. Jessica has been off to the city for the weekend, so the last few nights have been our first taking care of baby just the two of us…it’s been going well, but I think we’re both excited for that day when you get a straight 6 or 7 hours of sleep again.

Here we are all ready to come home from the hospital:

We spent a lot of time cuddling with her this week.

She’s had her first baths, and hasn’t minded them too much.

Madeline is learning to make her demands known.

We are working on quality burp sessions in effort to minimize spitting up.

And since we aren’t hiring a professional photographer for infant photos, I’ve been trying to get a few photo sessions in with a new camera we got for Christmas from my parents. I haven’t hit any professional quality photos yet, but I have captured some of the many faces of Madeline.

We have absolutely loved becoming parents to this little girl, and I think it's still settling in to both James and me that she is ours to raise for the next 18+ years. God has blessed us so much with Madeline, and we are prayerful and excited for all that it means to be a mother and father to her. Here's to many more good weeks, kiddo!

Nursery Chronicles 3: The Grand Finale

2012-01-03T22:45:00.002-05:00

Here is my final Nursery Chronicles Post:

http://typezofa.tumblr.com/post/15276803248/nursery-chronicles-3-the-grand-finale

Waiting for Baby

2012-01-01T13:22:00.007-05:00

I realize that still waiting two days after your due date is not a big deal…a due date is an approximation and the baby could come several days (or even weeks) on either side of your due date. But after waiting 9 months, one becomes quite attached to that day – you want to meet your little child as soon as possible!

My parents flew in on Dec. 27 to stay with us and be here when the baby is born – they wanted to help out with all the new challenges that come in that first week after bringing baby home….laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. But so far we’ve had 5 days of them helping us sans baby. I think we are all getting pretty anxious for the big arrival, so we’ve all been happy to keep ourselves occupied in other ways.

What have we been up to?

1. Cleaning

Curtis and my mom have done all sorts of deep cleaning around our house that I don’t quite get to all the time (or ever!). Like Curtis dusting all of our kitchen cabinets & cleaning out the vacuum, or my mom wiping down all the slats in our shades and cleaning out the window grooves. Thanks, parents, for help with all this deep cleaning!

1. 2. Finishing up nursery projects

As much as I was hustling the last several months to prepare for this baby, our nursery just didn’t progress as quickly as I would have liked. As in, James and I were finally painting the crib with less than a week before our due date. So once my parents got here, they sprung into action and helped us finish up the nursery. James and Curtis set up the crib, my mom and I went shopping for some fun nursery accessories, and all 4 of us tackled making and haning a pelmet box over the window. The making of the box wasn’t too hard, but the hanging part turned out to be quite the difficult process. But I am very happy to say that our nursery is finally cleaned, clutter free, and fully ready for baby!

Curtis and me making the pelmet box:

Curtis & James on round 3 of figuring out how to hang it:

Mom & me doing some nursery organization:

1. 3. Prepping for teaching

At the end of December, James was offered a job as an adjunct professor in the philosophy department at Wheaton College. This turned out to be a HUGE answer to prayer for us…it will pay pretty well, keep us on Wheaton’s health insurance through July, and will provide James a job that he will love. And in the meanwhile he is still going to stay on in his master’s program part-time. But this did mean that James had about 2.5 weeks to prepare two courses from scratch – he’ll be teaching two sessions of Philosophy 101, and 1 session of Kierkegaard. So, in between all of our preparations for baby, James has been hustling to draft up course syllabi and assignments, read enough about Kierkegaard to be able to teach a 300 level college course on him, get books ordered at the bookstore for students, etc. No matter when our lady decides to show up, James will be teaching his first college courses starting January 9!

Eating & Shopping!

We’ve also managed to eat lots of yummy food, hit up a few fun restaurants (including a cool Greek restaurant for New Year’s Eve), and stake out the Wheaton College game room with Chicago Deep Dish for the Husky game. It was great – we had the whole room to ourselves, with pool tables, air hockey, foosball, shuffleboard, and a monster big screen TV. Would have been a perfect night if the Huskies had actually won! We’ve also explored several shopping centers, and sweet Curtis has tagged along with no complaints. We’ve purchased a Pack-N-Play at Costco, some organizational goods at Ikea, and some fun nursery accessories.

Out for New Year's Eve:

So I guess we certainly haven’t been bored, and it’s been really nice to have family here to help us finish prepping for the baby. But every night I go to bed hoping I wake up with labor pains…we’ll see what today brings!

(Less than) 48 hours in Seattle

2011-11-19T21:31:00.006-05:00

At the end of October I had the opportunity to travel to Seattle for a work trip. The way my schedule worked out, I was only able to go from Tuesday to Thursday and I debated if it was worth making the long trek to Seattle for such a short time. But I’m so glad I did! Given that I was only in Seattle for less than 48 hours, I covered a lot of ground. My first night in Seattle, my sweet family drove all the way down to Seattle just for a dinner with me…even my brother and his girlfriend came. We ate at Tutta Bellas, my favorite pizza place in Seattle. It has amazing Italian style brick oven pizza.

On my one full day in Seattle, I was able to reconnect with my dear college friend Laura inbetween work meetings. We met up for lunch in Pike’s Place Market with my little sister and a student that I brought on the trip with me. It was a lovely sunny day, and we strolled the market sampling fruit, cheeses, candied nuts, and smoked salmon. Then we finally settled on a lunch from my favorite cheese shop, Beechers, followed by dessert from a fabulous little French bakery, Le Panier.

Me & Laura.

Me & Krissy Kris.

Beechers Cheese Shop. Oh so good.

Where all the cheesy goodness is made.

Lunch!

Sally & Krista.

Yummy French pastries from Le Panier.

That afternoon I took some time myself to stroll through the shops in Freemont, and to take a quick walk through Gasworks Park. Then Sally and I met up with some Wheaton professors and went out for dinner at Anthony’s Home port on Shilshole Bay…this has been one of my favorite seafood restaurants since I was a kid!

View from Gasworks park.

After a meeting with SPU’s president on Thursday morning, I grabbed my little sister and Sally for a stroll through Queen Anne and some coffee at Ladros before heading back to the airport. It was so refreshing to be back in “my” city, take in views of Mt. Ranier, and smell the sea air. It was also great to see my family and reconnect with some of my old professors. And that was my last flight before our little girl makes her grand debut. So glad for my less than 48 hour trip to Seattle!

Birthday Weekend!

2011-11-06T10:33:00.008-05:00

My dear husband and my dear friend Emily have a birthday within a few days of each other, and Emily flew out this year to celebrate her birthday weekend with us here in Chicagoland. So I got to spend a weekend full of great birthday celebrating with the two of them!

I took a day off from work on Friday, and Emily and I spent a great day in Chicago in Wicker Park, strolling the quirky streets, shopping, and dining. We had a great fall day with sunshine to keep us warm amidst the fall chill, and then we spent the evening in Wriggleyville at Improv Olympics. James and I had been there before this summer with some other friends, and had a great time. But we’ve heard rave things about the Shakespeare Improv troupe, and had always wanted to go to one of their shows. Emily happens to love Shakespeare, and Chicago is the capitol of Improv, so it was the perfect opportunity to enjoy Shakespeare Improv. And. It. Was. Hilarious. Seriously, they were so good! Someone in the audience tosses out a theme for the evening, and our night someone called out “The Invention of Soap.” This troupe managed to weave a whole story line, in two acts, that threaded the invention of soap into their Shakespearean dialogue. I cannot wait to go back.

Saturday James, Emily, and I spent some time at Cantigny, which is an amazing park we discovered not far from our house. I can’t believe we lived here a year before I discovered it. I used to think it was just a private golf course, because it was all gated from the outside. And it does have a golf course. But it also has a huge property full of different gardens, statues, little trails, and a beautiful estate you can tour. It has what we’ve been told is an excellent military museum on the property, as well as a main building that people can rent for parties and such. This property was owned by the founder of the Chicago Tribune, and when he died he willed it to the public, in hopes that it would always be enjoyed free of charge. Again, we had fantastic weather to enjoy while strolling amidst pumpkins, mums, cabbage plants, and the last blooms of a late summer.

And Sunday, I threw a triple Birthday Bash for Emily, James, and one of my co-workers (Kristy) whose birthday was also right in the mix. We had an eclectic group of friends over for an evening of chili, fall treats, pumpkin carving, and birthday cake. This was such a perfect weekend, and I’m so glad I got to spend some time with Emily before I enter the world of motherhood—where impromptu gallivanting around the city is harder to come by. :0) Thanks so much for coming, Emily!

Annie, Joy, & Deanna

Kristy & Emily

Working hard carving pumpkins.

Scott gave James moral support throughout the process.

James' Seattle skyline pumpkin.

Marissa

Tamara & Adam

Love this Birthday girl!

And Love this birthday boy!

Ode to Autumn

2011-11-05T16:05:00.002-04:00

New Types of A post here: http://typezofa.tumblr.com/

Labor Day Weekend

2011-10-16T15:41:00.006-04:00

When James and I found out that our baby was due December 30, we realized that would mean no trip home for Christmas. And we didn’t want to wait until after Christmas, because that would mean no trip home for well over a year. That’s too long!

So we decided to plan a little trip home over Labor Day weekend. And it was short, but very, very sweet. We had perfect weather – high 70’s, low 80’s; sunny clear skies, and perfect views of the mountains.

And our lovely mothers threw us an incredible baby shower! They went above and beyond in making decorations, preparing food, and hosting a huge crowd of friends and family for this special day. It was so fun to have grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, family friends, friends from high school, and even friends from college join us to celebrate the upcoming arrival of our sweet little girl. James and I were truly overwhelmed with all the love and support everyone showed us and our baby. Here are some pics of this fun occasion.

Our moms did a storybook theme for the party. I LOVE the little storybook garland they made.

Here's a closer up pic...each little book had pages from a Mother Goose book...so fun!

And here is the menu: Little Boy Blue Blueberry Scones, Peter Piper Prawns, Baker's Man Brownies, Little Lamb cookies, Mary Quite Contrary Salad, Goldilox tea sandwiches, Humpty Dumpty Egg Quiche, and Hush-a-Bye Bellinis.

Here's part of the spread...so much good food! Lois made these scones with fresh whipped cream, berry preserves, and this delicious lemon curd.

Lois also made these sweet little lamb cookies, each little one with a pearl and bow. They didn't last long...

And can we just say that our little lady was beyond spoiled! She is going to be quite well dressed...I can't wait to play dress-up with her! And she even got some clothing that James appreciates - Bob got her a little Carhart jumper with pink camo, and my Mom got her a little Notre Dame outfit. So it wasn't all ruffles and tu-tus. :0)

And I suppose this gift was more for me than my little girl...I always wanted a Molly Doll growing up, but never got one. So my mom finally broke down and got one for my baby...hopefully she likes Molly! I'm sure she will...I'll make sure to start reading her Molly books when she's three.

The rest of our weekend was lovely as well. My brother took James fishing with Jason and Bob, and they all caught some salmon. My brother also brought home fresh-caught crab, so we fully feasted on PacNW summer foods. While the boys were fishing, my mom, Lois and I all went out for lunch and strolled along the Bellingham Bay waterfront. It was perfect!

And the next time we return home, we'll finally have our sweet little girl to introduce to everyone. We can't wait!

Nursery Chronicles (vol. 1: Inspiration Board)

2011-09-21T11:44:00.002-04:00

I've got a new post up on the Types of A blog! Check it out: http://typezofa.tumblr.com/

Meet Me in St. Louis!

2011-09-17T18:15:00.006-04:00

At the end of July, James and I were able to meet up with several friends from grad school for a little mid-summer reunion. We met up in St. Louis, where our friends Adam and Alison were lodging at Al’s parent’s house for the summer before their departure to Switzerland for the upcoming year. Alison’s sweet parents hosted James, me, Karen, and Sara in the house that Alison grew up in. This trip was definitely one segment of the “Homeland Tour” that we had always schemed about (homeland tour meaning we visit all of our friends’ hometowns – fun, right?) We had a great weekend, and it was so fun to explore St. Louis with a native.

Our friend Sara actually flew into Chicago a day early to hang with us, and then we all drove down to St. Louis together. The weekend was blistering hot, so we did a lot of back and forth from the house to keep cool throughout the weekend. Some major highlights:

1. We met up with Adam, Al, and Karen at an Oster Bar in downtown St. Louis, then went to a Cardinals game at Busch Stadium.

Given that the heat index was 110 degrees, I think we're looking pretty good here!

Love the awkward boy pic :0)

1. 2. Celebrating Sara’s 30^th Birthday! This was a few months late, but we wanted to celebrate her birthday nonetheless. We had a big BBQ, and Alison’s mom Patsy grilled up some of the best pork tenderloin I’d ever had. Sara is a huge paleo fiend (read: eats LOTS of meat, veggies, healthy fats, and very few carbs), so we thought a meat cake would be appropriate for the occasion. :0) Don’t worry, we also had plenty of ice cream, hot fudge, and sorbet after our meaty feast.

1. 3. Playing LRC (left-right-center) with Al’s family. This was a game that we played with Adam and Alison for many of our Princeton holidays together, and we always heard how raucous it was when the Eitel family played it in St. Loius. And they delivered! It was a great round, and as you can see Karen rolled in the dough.

1. 4. Surprise Baby Shower! On our last morning in St. Louis, our friends surprised us with a lovely Baby Shower brunch. They know how much I love brunches, and this was just perfect! Our little baby was so loved, even at 17 weeks!

Our brunch menu:

I love that this lovely lady was a part of our shower!

Super cute onesie Cookies!

Looking forward to the next reunion, whenever that may be!

New Blog...

2011-09-17T18:06:00.004-04:00

I have started the journey of a new blog with some friends from grad school. We thought it would be a fun way to keep in touch now that we are spread far and wide (Chicagoland, Texas, Switzerland, and Philadelphia). The blog is called Types of A (a riff on the fact that we're all recovering Type A's!), and here is the address:

http://typezofa.tumblr.com/

I am still going to keep this blog up and running, as slow going as it is. This blog will probably continue to be random life updates, and I hope to post more on projects/crafts/fashion on my other blog. But I will put a link here to a new blog post whenever I do post on Types of A.

My first post on Types of A is "Pillow Talk." You can check it out here: http://typezofa.tumblr.com/post/10227487453/pillow-talk

Ravinia

2011-08-06T21:31:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago James and I got to experience one of Chicago’s favorite summer events – the Ravinia Music Festival. Ravinia is a beautiful private park, and in the summertime it features concerts nearly every night. The music ranges from pop music to classical, and we got to go one Friday evening featuring the Chicago Symphony Orchestra playing a variety of Brahms pieces.

We showed up around 6:00pm with a picnic blanket and a basket full of picnic goodies with our friends Adam and Tamara. There was some high class picnicking at Ravinia! People brought fancy table linens and vases with flowers and candles and Champaign and wine and cheese spreads. New time we might need to step it up a bit with our picnic spread.

Then the music starts around dusk, and there are hundreds of little white candles strung from the trees that get brighter as the sky gets darker. Brahms was delightful, we had a great time with our friends, and it was a perfect summer evening. We can’t wait to go to Ravinia again!

2011-07-13T16:38:00.005-04:00

My parents just finished up a two week stay at La Casa Rienstra, and I think we’d all agree that the highlight of their time here was a weekend trip to the Michigan shores. James and I have been on Lake Michigan in the Chicago area, but we’ve heard about how beautiful the beaches are on the Michigan side of Lake Michigan. So we took off during the 4^th of July weekend for Sagatauk, Michigan. Sagatauk is a great little artsy seaside town, with beautiful walkways along the harbor, fun shopping, good food, and fabulous beaches. The main beach in Sagatauk, Oval Beach, has actually been ranked by several travel magazines and was ranked by Conde Nast as one of the top 5 beaches in the US. Not bad for the mid-west, huh?

On our drive up to Sagatauk, we stopped for a picnic on the beach in South Haven, Michigan – another great little beach town. The place was packed – it must have taken us 45 minutes to find a parking spot! But once we got to the beach it was well worth it.

Then we carried on to Sagatauk, checked into our hotel, freshened up, and hit the town to stroll the harbor, sip margaritas, and enjoy an amazing prime rib dinner for my parents’ anniversary.

The next day we packed a lunch and took off for Oval Beach – and Conde Nast is right – this is a fabulous beach! It has a very East Coast beach feel – sea grass, sailboats, and rolling sandy hills beyond the beach. And the water is so much warmer than the Pacific shores that I grew up on – you can swim in it without feeling numb! We all came home a little toasty after several hours in the sun, but very satisfied.

We hit up a really cute little restaurant on the water for our Fourth of July Dinner, The Mermaid, and had some of the best calamari I’ve had in a long time. Then we rolled out our picnic blanket at the park for Fireworks over the Harbor with a package of fudge from the local chocolate shop. Pure Independence Bliss!

Memorial Day at the Beach (And thank heavens there is a beach!)

2011-05-31T19:55:00.003-04:00

Here in Chicagoland, this has been a colder spring than usual – so I am told. Thus I was thrilled to find out that we’d have a sunny, clear, thunderstorm-free Memorial Day of 91 degrees. Yahoo!

Of course, 91 degrees is HOT. And what does any sane person want to do on a day such as this? Go to the beach, of course. Now, I’ve lived on the West Coast and on the East Coast and so the beach is a viable option in either of those places. But now I live in the Mid-west, nowhere near an ocean. But to my very pleasant surprise, the shores of Lake Michigan feel very much like an ocean. You can look out at the water and see no signs of land, so far and vast is this expansive lake. Up to this point, however, I’ve only seen Lake Michigan in downtown Chicago. And while the waterfront is beautiful, it’s no beach. There isn’t a sandy spread to lay out a beach towel and an umbrella.

But the locals informed me that if one moves beyond Grant Park, you can indeed find sandy beaches downtown. And, in the northern suburbs, there are some amazing beaches. So James and I decided to go check out the beaches in Evanston. This is a great town north of Chicago, where Northwestern is located. It has great shops, restaurants, parks, bookstores, and, beaches. James and I were thrilled as we strolled the paths along the water…and the beaches were hopping for Memorial Day! Volleyball, massive family BBQ’s, sandcastles, soccer, ice cream, and everything that makes for a good summer day.

So my plan is this…hit the beaches as many times as possible this summer, to store up on some Chicago lovin’ before I hit the winter again. Because man, I really hate the winters here. But I do love beaches, and Chicago, it turns out, has a lot of them. Thank heavens.

A blustery weekend in Chicago

2011-05-15T17:07:00.006-04:00

Well, it is mid-May and our temperatures this past week have been extreme. It was 88 degrees Wednesday and 85 degrees Tuesday—and our house was about 83 degrees inside. Not comfortable to sleep in! So we turned on the AC, and assumed that we’d finally turned the corner towards spring weather.

Then our good friends, Ben and Karen, arrived late Thursday night and stayed with us for the day on Friday. We had tickets to the Cubs game, and thought it was supposed to be around 72 degrees. We knew it might rain, but thought it would be warm so we dressed for warm weather. And it seemed as soon as we sat down at the game, the wind started howling and the temperature dropped 20 degrees. And we could literally see clouds being swept through the stadium by the wind – BRRR!!!

Ben heroically tracked down a starbucks not far from the stadium and brought back Hot Cocoas, which kept me going until about the fifth inning. Karen and I stuck it out until the 6^th inning, and then we took off to warm up in the Starbucks. But we had fun nonetheless, and the Cubs won! Thanks for coming to stay with us B & K – way too short, but sweet!

Then today James had his half marathon in Chicago on the waterfront. Well, let’s just say that after two minutes out of the parking garage and walking through the rain and wind, we were both ready to turn around and go back home. But James persevered, and so did 3500 other runners. It really could not have been worse weather for a run this time of year – about 45 degrees, fierce wind, pelting rain…miserable. Most of the run went right along the Lake Michigan seawall, and James said that the waves crashing into the walls were being drawn up by the wind to douse the already soaked runners. I cheered him on at the start, and then took my numb body to a coffee shop to wait it out until the end. I caught him at the finish line, and was so proud of him for finishing. James has done two full marathons, but I think this half-marathon was just as much a challenge because of the nasty weather. So well done James!

And can I just say that I am not impressed with Chicago weather yet? After a freezing, long winter I was hoping for a lovely spring. Well, that hasn’t happened yet. Hopefully the Chicago summer can win me over!

Easter

2011-05-15T16:26:00.003-04:00

This marked our first Easter in Illinois, and James and I kept with our tradition of inviting a rather eclectic group over to our house for Easter brunch. We both feel like Easter is an excellent time to open your home to old and new friends, an opportunity for us all to share together in the joy of the glory of our risen Lord.

This was also a very special Easter for James and me, because we became members at Church of the Resurrection. We went through the Core class to become members (which involves three 4-hour sessions, plus an all-day retreat), and then we were confirmed as members during the Saturday night Easter Vigil. I am really glad we decided to become members during the Easter vigil, because it is an amazing service of worship and praise. It starts at 7:00pm and doesn’t end until after 11:00pm, but the time flies! A few weeks later when our bishop was in town, James and I were then confirmed into the Anglican Church. We are looking forward to getting more involved with church this upcoming year, and to continue meeting new people.

Easter was always a really special holiday for my family, with lots of fun traditions. It has been difficult to not get to spend it with family the last 4 years, but it has also been a real blessing to spend it with new friends and to create our own traditions.

Did you watch the Wedding?

2011-04-30T10:48:00.006-04:00

Those who know me well would not be surprised that I got up at 4:45AM to watch the Royal Wedding yesterday. They might be surprised, however, that I convinced my husband to join me. I sold it as an “early morning date” with tea and scones, and a little Royal Wedding on the side. James protested at first, grumbled for five minutes, but I eventually convinced him.

I loved the wedding for a variety of reasons.

1. The liturgy. It was a traditional Anglican wedding liturgy, which is beautiful. Even the wedding sermon was nice. And seeing as we are being confirmed into the Anglican Church on Monday evening when our bishop is in town, we rather like that kind of stuff.

The music. Divine. Complete with a boys choir. Amen.

Kate’s Dress. Her dress was lovely, classy, and elegant—a very Grace Kelly-esque wedding gown.

1. The Bridesmaids and Page Boys. Adorable, right? James likes to tease that we had an “army” of children in our wedding, but we only had 5, not 6.

Constitutional Monarchy. There is something really powerful about the way that the British Monarchy draws its people together. Yes, the monarchy has had its problems over the years. But when done well, within a system of checks and balances and with the goal of serving the people, I think the monarchy is a really powerful symbol for a nation. It was moving to watch the British people line the streets yesterday, and to hear them singing the hymn “Jerusalem” together as it was broadcast on loudspeakers throughout the park.

The Queen. God save the Queen! I really do love Queen Elizabeth II – I think she has had one of the most fascinating lives. As a girl, she lived through WWII in London while her father was the king. The Royal Family stayed in London throughout the bombings of WWII, while many others were fleeing to the countryside, to show support and solidarity for the people of London. Many mornings after bombings, Elizabeth was out roaming the streets with her sister, mother, and father greeting people and commiserating with them in their losses. And she became queen when her father died at the age of 26—she has been on the throne for 59 years now. Wow.

Well, Cheers to William and Kate!

"What God has joined together let no man put asunder."

Winter Trip Series: Volume 2

2011-04-18T22:33:00.005-04:00

A few weeks ago, I flew down to Texas to meet up with some good friends from Princeton for a three-day hiking trip. That description might give you the impression that the trip just fell into our laps. Oh no siirreeee. We went out and conquered it like men. Men who are wild at heart. In truth, planning the trip was a logistical challenge on the scale of moving an army of men and elephants through the Alps in wintertime. Our troubles began when 21 inches of snow fell on Chicago two nights before my flight was schedule to depart. I spent several hours on the phone the next day only to learn that composing the on hold music for major corporate phone trees must be the lowest paying job in America. By mid afternoon, I also discovered that the good folks at Southwest Airlines (and O’Hare, and my wife) took a rather different position than I had hoped on the viability of my flight the next morning. I don’t think the representative I was speaking to found my offer to fly the plane myself amusing.

Relaying this news to Adam and Ben that evening set off mad dash to find a new date that would work. The following evening concluded with a three way Skype conference call during which we all searched for tickets. Sitting there in my hiking boots, boxers, and headlamp, with a tall bourbon, I felt sure that we could make something work.

We had planned to meet up at the El Paso airport, and rent a car for the five hour drive southeast to Big Bend National Park. My flight to El Paso arrived two hours late, pushing our drive into the night. Around 9 p.m. we decided to just get a hotel for the night, get our packs ready, and drive down the following morning.

By the time we got the trailhead, it was midday and everyone was ready to get going, so we did. Which, three miles later, turned out to have been a mistake. A sun cured old Texas gentleman pointed this out to us when we asked for directions to our campsite. He gave us a very polite rendition of “you caan’t git der frum hir.”

Six hours later and three miles down the right trail, darkness was falling and we had to decide whether to try to make our original campsite or stop at the next one available. After some discussion of this matter wiser heads – i.e. not my head – prevailed and we made camp.

That night, I was awakened by the sound of Adam yelling, in a stage whisper, “Ben, Ben.” Ben was not responding, so I got up (and he soon did as well) and we spent the next 20 minutes huddled over him trying to fix his broken sleeping bag zipper. We tried safety pins, then we tried duct tape, then we tried straps from our backpacks. We did not succeed. We did manage to stumble into a few physically intimate encounters that were not among my hopes or expectations for our time together. Unfortunately, Adam was left to pass the night without much shelter from the freezing temperature.

The next day we took off on a loop shorter than our original plan, which led out to a ridge overlooking the valley. The view was worth it. Having done all of my hiking in alpine climates, I found west Texas ruggedly beautiful and utterly barren. From the ridge you could see dozens of miles into the valley without spying a single moving thing. We finished back at the parking lot and decided, for various reasons, to drive down to a border town for the night. The drive along the Rio Grande was nice, but the town was not. We stayed in a little hotel called The Three Palms, so named for the three palms planted nearby. The place was surprisingly hard to find, and without Drew’s sure navigation, it would have been harder. We rewarded Drew by making him sleep on the broken half of one of our two queen size beds (sorry!).

The following morning we drove back to El Paso, stopping at points of interest along the way. Took a very memorable drive through a little artist town called Marfa. Had the best Mexican food ever in El Paso. In the evening we went to a bar in an old train to celebrate Drew’s birthday. The bartender looked like a guy whose life was almost interesting enough for a Jimmy Buffett song. Fortunately, we were able to hear his life’s story, which confirmed my initial suspicion. The only other guy at the bar was a well dressed young business type, who started talking to us and turned out to be a real estate agent to Mexican drug lords. But a nice guy overall.

By the time we left, everyone was exhausted and spent. The trip didn’t go according to plan. But it was a wonderful time with good friends, hopefully the first of many.

Early Spring Brunch

2011-04-16T12:04:00.004-04:00

James promises me that he will soon be writing a post for his West Texas backpacking adventure, but in the meanwhile I wanted to post about our first spring event – an outdoor brunch! Yes, amazingly last weekend the temperature rose to 85 degrees and everyone in Chicagoland ditched their scarves and parkas for shorts, polos, skirts and dresses. It was glorious, albeit short-lived. But we took advantage of the day and had our spring break team of students over for a lazy Sunday afternoon brunch.

I love that our townhouse has a fabulous patio, with plenty of space for a party of 8 to eat and relax and drink coffee and OJ. And I can’t wait for our arched trellis to start blooming with the vibrant orange blossoms it had all last summer.

Here are a few pics of our stellar group of students:

After feasting on what is probably my favorite meal of the day (Brunch!), James couldn't wait to bust out the Bocce set for our first game of the season. Here's to more 85 degree days and lawn games!

Winter Trip Series: Volume 1

2011-03-30T21:17:00.003-04:00

Along with fun sewing projects to help pass my first Chicagoland winter, I managed to fill February and March with 4 different trips to keep me busy. James and I found some great flight deals, and decided that James should go on a hiking “man trip” in February with some grad school friends in West Texas, and that I should go on a “girl trip” to meet up with the ladies in Houston. Next James and I led a Wheaton Mission Trip to Denver in early March. Then I went on a quick business trip to Geneva College in Western PA with a professor and a few students last week, got home on a Wednesday night and took off on Thursday for a college girls reunion in Kansas City.

Needless to say, I succeeded in keeping myself busy this winter! But each of these trips was a great blessing, and I want to do a little post to share each of these trips. It makes sense to go chronologically, so first up on the docket: Houston!

One of my good friends from grad school, Sara, moved back to Houston after graduation (where she is from) and is now in law school at the University of Houston. She’s a smarty pants and a super motivated chica, so after 3 years of grad school in Princeton she’s tackling another 3 years of law school. Although I have no desire to visit Houston in August when it’s smacking of heat and humidity, Houston in February sounded great: 70 degrees, sunshine, shorts with a light cardigan, yes please! So two of my other friends from Princeton, Alison and Anna, flew down form their corner of the states and I hopped down from the Midwest and we had a fabulous weekend together.

I lived in a close community with these women during our Princeton years—classes together, studying together, small groups together, partying together, spring break trips together, Thanksgivings and Easters together, and more. And when you are in grad school on a tight budget away from your families, you also spend A LOT of time together in each other’s apartments. James and I have both really missed this Princeton community since we’ve left, and getting back together with them was like a breath of fresh air. Time with these gals is guaranteed to bring great food, lots of nibbles (as Al likes to say!), vino, time spent cooking, shopping, great conversations, and plenty of laughter. This weekend was also a time of encouragement and prayer, as I faced a real disappointment in my life.

I didn’t really take any photos while I was there, so these pics are from Anna.

Sara, Anna, Al, and me, after some serious damage on Chocolate and Carrot Cake.

I really have no idea what is happening here, but I think this pic is really funny. :0)

Sun-bathing at "The Houstonian," a super swank country club where we spent a whole afternoon. Yes, having come from -20 degree weather I was THRILLED to be laying out in the sun.

Me, Al, Sara, and Anna after a great brunch in an artsy Houstonian neighborhood.

It would be A-okay with me if a February trip to Houston became an annual event! Sara, what do you think?!?

Winter Projects

2011-03-27T22:15:00.003-04:00

This has been a LOOOOONG Winter here in Chicagoland. It has been cold, and snowy, and freezing, and grey, and living in this climate takes some adjusting for a mild Northwesterner like myself. Thus I knew that I would want some indoor projects this year to keep me busy, and I put a sewing machine at the very top of my wish-list. And what-do-you-know if 'ol St. Nick didn't deliver a Brothers Limited Edition sewing machine to my Chicagoland winter doldrums doorstep. Although my progress is slow, and I am still very much a beginner, I have LOVED doing small projects with a sewing machine. It has definitely helped pass the winter, and I am learning a skill that I have long desired to acquire.

Some of my first projects were from Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Sewing Book, which I have found very useful and would recommend for any novice sewer. The book explains all the basic terms and techniques of sewing, and has all sorts of fun projects for beginners. I decided to start with a few baby items for little Jacob Lane, an adorable baby boy that my cousin adopted a few months ago. They live on a farm, and I thought it would be fun to send a “farm theme” baby package to them. Here is what I made:

Our grandpa was a dairy farmer his whole life, and I have fond memories of riding in the John Deere tractor with him. This fabric was a special reminder to me of Grandpa Russ (Jacob’s great grandpa). I embroidered his initials on the blanket (His first name is Nathanial, middle name Jacob). And aren’t the little washcloth puppets adorable? Who doesn’t think a pig and a dog make bath-time way more fun?

I am slowly but surely working on more projects, and I’ve got some fabric ready to go for reversible place mats next. I am hoping that I can challenge myself with an article of clothing at some point in the near future. If only I lived closer to Lois, my masterful seamstress mother-in-law, I am confident I would be cranking out dresses and skirts by now! But, as usual, I’ve got to give myself some time before I become an expert. :0)

2011-02-16T20:39:00.002-05:00

I have always loved Valentine’s Day – regardless of whether I was single or dating or married. Really, what’s not to love? Copious amounts of chocolate, pink, flowers, and hearts. I guess you could get all cynical and “anti-Hallmark” about it, but for me it’s an excuse to bake pink frosted cookies, cut out red and pink hearts to make cards, and to do something fun with friends and loved ones. This year was no different for me – I made cards for friends and family, made heart sugar cookies, and cooked up a special meal for James and me on Saturday night.

Then on Monday, James brought me red roses at work and took me out for a fabulous meal at Meson Sabika. In our married years, James and I have had a track record of good intentioned Valentine plans run amuck – we’ve gotten the flu, we’ve had a car break down on the way out to eat, and I’ve had to work until late. But this year, our plans went off without a hitch and James may have just picked the best restaurant in Chicagoland!

This is the five-course meal we each enjoyed (it’s a Spanish tapas restaurant, so thankfully each course was tapas-sized):

Mixtos de la casa- An assortment of toast points topped with Jamon Serrano and cheese, smoked salmon, roasted veal with sun dried tomato and Alaskan King crab mean with avocado relish

Tapas Frias Populares – Robust garlic potato salad, sautéed vegetables, and tuna filled cannelloni

Mixto de Calientes – Chicken tenderloin brochettes, dates wrapped in bacon, and grilled tiger shrimp

Mar y Montana – Combination of beef tenderloin medallions served with Vega Sindoa wine and lobster tail in a lemon butter sauce served with mashed potato and sautéed asparagus

Pasteles – White chocolate pistachio mousse layered with cherry custard and chocolate cake served with raspberry sauce.

White cake layered with French vanilla buttercream and raspberry marmalade served with chocolate sauce

James and I do not go out to fancy restaurants often, so this was a major treat for us! Meson Sebika is in a large, old mansion and each room is set up a little differently. It is filled with fantastic crystal chandeliers and beautiful wood paneling. Cheers to my Valentine lover for finding such a great place!

Hope you all feel loved this week and every week!

Meson Sebika:

Snowpocalpyse 2011

2011-02-04T23:25:00.004-05:00

Apparently we just survived the third worse blizzard in Chicago’s history this week. In 24 hours, we accumulated around 20 inches of snow, thunder and lightening, frigid temps, and massive wind gusts.

Fortunately, Wheaton College closed down at 3:00pm on Tuesday and was closed all day Wednesday. So we got to stay bundled up and warm in our home, despite the fact that we lost power for 12 hours overnight. Thank goodness for our fireplace! James has co-workers that have been working at Wheaton for over 20 years, and they said they’ve never had a snow day before. We were happy to catch one in our first year here!

After we lost our power on Tuesday night, we played checkers and drank cocoa by the fire for hours. There is something wonderful about having to live simply – no tv, internet, electricity, etc. Then we read by candlelight before we drifted off to sleep. Of course, it’s only romantic for a day and then I’d miss our modern amenities. But what a great reminder that simple pleasures can be so fulfilling.

Now we’re back to our regularly scheduled winter of 20 degrees and occasional snowfall. And I’m proud to say that I’ve made it halfway through our first winter in Chicagoland. Now I’ve just got to hold on a few more weeks until I’m heading south for a weekend getaway…

Everyone I talked to spent 3-4 hours shoveling their driveways. My husband managed to knock out the job in less than 2 hours!

Here is a view of our back patio, which is still a massive blanket of snow.

And a few shots on campus:

Christmas Break

2011-01-22T10:32:00.003-05:00

James and I were quite fortunate to come home for 10 days this Christmas – we knew that after graduation, our breaks would most likely be shorter. But working in a college environment has its perks, such as the fact that the whole university shuts down between Christmas Eve and New Year’s.

Even with 10 days home, things felt fast and furious. Lots of last minute Christmas shopping (it’s hard to bring much home on a plane), Christmas parties, and running around. But we loved it! It was so good to be back home with family, and so good to be back in the Pacific NW. This was the first time for both of us that we hadn’t been home in a year. This may sound cheesy, but it felt so true – my soul was THRILLED to see the mountains again, and the ocean, and the snow covered foothills. James and I went up to Mt. Baker with my mom, brother, & sister one day and it was fabulous – clear, crisp, snow-covered peaks. We had lunch at the lodge and went sledding and had cocoa, and it was perfect. I just can’t imagine a more beautiful place to live; the mid-west is nice, and Chicago is a cool city, but seriously – nothing beats the landscape of the PacNW.

Highlights of Christmas? Time with family, Settlers of Catan with the little sisters, Lois’ Christmas bread, a day on the mountain, James going fishing with my bros, sitting in the hot tub with vino, scaling down a cliff to forge a river in the rain at the Leenstra Christmas party: all good things.

This is the scenery that awaited us when we got back to Whatcom County; on a clear day, we have a near 360 degree panoramic view of the mountains!

Evan taught Jason and James how to tie their own bait for steel-head fishing.

My sweet girls!

And the views from up at Mt. Baker:

Playing cards at the ski lodge.

Now we’re back in freezing Chicagoland, but I suppose I’m gradually adjusting to the temps. Thankfully there has been lots of snow – cold weather seems better if there is snow on the ground, doesn’t it? We’re looking forward to spring, but in the meanwhile we have some fun winter trips planned to break up this long, cold winter. James is going on boys trip, back-packing with some friends in Big Bend National Park in Texas; I’m flying to Houston, and another friend is flying down from Princeton, to visit a friend at the end of February; James and I are leading a Wheaton spring break trip to Denver in early March; and then I’m meeting up with 3 of my “2^nd East!” (freshman year dorm floor) girlfriends at one of their houses in Kansas City at the end of March. So, I think we’re going to keep pretty busy!

Victory in South Bend!

2010-11-14T13:01:00.004-05:00

One of the highlights for James about living in the Chicago area is our close proximity to South Bend, IN. There was no question this year of what James wanted for his birthday - tickets to a Notre Dame game. So James did some research and found out that tickets to the Notre Dame v. Utah game were still available, and given Utah's success as a team this year we knew it would be a great game. Even better, some of our friends, Scott and Joy, decided to come with us! Scott and Joy are friends of James from Wheaton, and we've loved getting to hang out with them again now that we are living in the area. Scott also happens to be a Notre Dame fan, so Joy bought tickets for them for Scott's birthday.

And it couldn't have been a better birthday present for either of them! We started the day with tailgating amongst the ND fans. We had a fabulous spread: cheese, crackers, fruit, Guiness, wine, gourmet sandwiches, Hint of Lime chips, sweet potato chips...it was all delicious.

I made Birthday cupcakes for the James and Scott, although it was tricky lighting the candles with all the wind.

But we succeeded in lighting them, and they made their birthday wishes (I'm guessing something to the effect of, "PLEASE let Notre Dame, against all odds, win today!)

Then we walked around campus for a bit - I've only been here once before, but it is just as beautiful as I remember it! Here is the a picture of the chapel and the golden dome.

And here is the infamous "Touchdown Jesus," a mosaic on the library wall that happens to be in perfect view from Notre Dame's goal line.

This game couldn't have surprised us more - in a perfect way! After the initial field goal made by Utah, Notre Dame held them the rest of the game and scored 4 touchdowns, for a win of 28-3! It was the perfect upset. James is cheering after one of the touchdowns!

As the sky shows here, the first half of the game was super rainy and cold and windy. James told me the weather doesn't matter for true football fans, so I "ignored" the rain and my soaking wet jeans and stayed engaged in the game. (Although I did manage to create an umbrella "fort" over my lap and arms, which helped a bit)

It was senior day, the last home game of the Season. Here are all the seniors running out through the tunnel.

One of the final plays of the game...

And here is the end of the game, with the student section storming the field after the amazing win! We were all happily shocked at this point with the outcome.

Go Notre Dame!

In search of food....

2010-11-06T11:55:00.003-04:00

Last Sunday, after we finished as much staining and painting as we could do in a day, my mind turned to food. And I turned into a cooking fool, hoping to stock-up on pre-made meals for lunches and dinners throughout the week. In my ideal world, I get all of my groceries on Sunday afternoon and cook up one or two batches of something yummy and healthy for lunches throughout the week. I’ve hit a wall, you see, with sandwiches for lunches. For one reason, they start to just feel like a whole lot of bread after awhile—too big pieces of bread, with some meat and cheese stuffed inside. That equals a lot of carbs, and basically no veggies. Now, I’m not ruling out sandwiches completely. They’re great, I love them, and they’ll be back in the rotation. But for now, I’m trying to challenge myself to find new and different lunch options that include more veggies.

This last Sunday, I really got on a roll and cooked up four different batches of food for the week. James and I ate our way through these dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinners. Here’s what I made:

1. Roasted vegetable quinoa salad

This recipe is from cooking light June 2008 and I love it! It has such a variety of veggies you can throw in, it tastes delicious, and it stays tasting great all week. James also likes this one. Here is the recipe:

1 red bell pepper

3 cups water

1.5 cups uncooked quinoa

¼ balsamic vinegar

2 tsp olive oil

¼ tsp black pepper

2 cups chopped carrot

3.5 Cups chopped zuccini

1 ¾ cups yellow squash

1 cup feta cheese

1 garlic clove, minced

Crumbled Turkey sausage (my own addition for more protein)

Yields 8 servings.

Directions:

1. Preheat broiler

2. Cut bell pepper in half lenghthwise; discard seeds and membrane. Place pepper halves, skin side up, on a foil-lined baking sheet; flatten with hand. Broil 15 minutes or until blackened. Place in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let sit 15 minutes, then peel and cut bell pepper into strips.

3. Reduce oven temp to 500.

4. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in saucepan, and stir in quinoa. Cover, reduce heat, and cook for 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove pan from hheat and set aside.

5. Combine vinegar, oil, and black pepper in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add carrot to vinegar mixture, toss to coat. Drain carrot through a fine sieve, reserving carrot and vinegar mixture. Place carrot on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 500 for 10 minutes. Add zuccini and yellow squash to reserved vinegar mixture in bowl, toss well to coat. Drain zuccinni and squash through a fine sieve over a bowl, reserving zuccinni and vinegar mixture. Add zuccinni mixture to carrot on baking sheet in a single layer. Bake an additional 20 minutes or until veggies are browned. Remove from oven; cool completely.

6. Combine quinoa, roasted veggies, reserved vinegar mixture, cheese, [sausage] and garlic in a large bowl; stir well to combine. Cover and chill.

2. Lasagna Tart

I found this recipe on one of my regular food blogs, 101 Cookbooks (almost all of my food blogs were introduced to me by my friend Alison, including this one0. This dish was really yummy, although I don’t tell James it’s lasagna cause it doesn’t have any noodles. And so I called it a “Rustic Italian Tart” so that he wasn’t expecting something else. I used a pre-made pie crust from the stroe that I just baked for 12 minutes before putting the tart together. And again, I added Italian turkey sausage to this recipe.

Weblink for this recipe, from which I pasted and copied below: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/lasagna-tart-recipe.html

Lasagna Tart Recipe

You can do this with any par-baked pie or tart shell you like. Next time around I might experiment with a Parmesan tart crust like this one, or add some herbs to this version.

2 medium zucchini, sliced into very very thin coins scant 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

Tart Crust 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or spelt flour) 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt zest of one lemon 1/4 cup olive oil scant 1/2 cup cold water

Tomato Sauce 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil scant 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes pinch of salt 1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese

Preheat your oven to 375F degrees, and place a rack in the middle. Oil a 10-inch tart pan and set aside.

Start by tossing the sliced zucchini with the salt in a medium bowl. Transfer the zucchini to a colander and let it drain while you make the tart shell and tomato sauce.

To make the tart shell combine the flour, salt, and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle the olive oil over the flour and stir that in as well. Drizzle the cold water over the flour and mix with a fork just until it is absorbed. Knead one or twice - just until the dough comes together into a ball. On a lightly floured surface use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a circle roughly 13-inches across. Ease the pastry into your tart pan and press it into the corners and up the sides without stretching the dough. Trim away any excess dough, and place the pan in the refrigerator for at least thirty minutes. When the dough is done resting, prick the crust with a fork a few times. Now line the pastry with parchment paper and fill the tart with pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the paper and pie weights, then toast the tart crust in the oven for another five minutes or so before transferring it to a rack to cool. Leave the oven on, but dial it down to 350F.

In the meantime, you can make the sauce. Stir the garlic, olive oil, red pepper flakes, and salt together in a small, cold saucepan. Turn the heat to medium-high and cook until the garlic starts to sizzle just a bit. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, bring to a simmer, cook the sauce down a bit, 10 minutes or so, then remove from heat.

When you are ready to assemble the tart, use a spatula to spread half of the ricotta cheese across the base of the tart shell. Now spoon about half of the sauce over the ricotta and arrange half of the zucchini in a single layer on top of the sauce (see image). If your zucchini is still quite wet, press it into some paper towels. I use my fingers for this next part. After spooning the remaining ricotta over the zucchini, push it around a bit with your fingers so that it forms a layer. Arrange another layer of zucchini and finish with the remaining sauce. You want the filling to nearly, but not quite fill the pan.

Place the tart on a rimmed baking sheet - in case you end up with an overflow - and bake for roughly 40 minutes or until the tart is cooked through. Remove and let cool for 10 minutes before serving. I would have dusted the top of this with a bit of Parmesan, but was out of it!

Serves 8.

3. Spinach Bacon Quiche with Parmesan

This was great. Nothing fancy, I just found a spinach quiche recipe on-line and added bacon and parmesan cheese, and the flavors mixed really well. James and I ate our way through this for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

4. Black Bean Chili-Topped Sweet Potatoes

We’ve had this for dinner a few nights now, and you seriously can’t find an easier, cheaper, quicker, healthier option. The recipe is from Enlightened Cooking, link here: http://enlightenedcooking.blogspot.com/2010/10/black-bean-chili-topped-sweet-potatoes.html. We ate ours with light sour cream and fresh cilantro. C’est tres bon!

Makes 2 hearty, main-dish servings

2 medium sweet potatoes

1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed

1-1/2 cups good quality, chunky bottled salsa (preferably chipotle)

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt (or dairy-free sour cream, if vegan)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Optional: Additional toppings, e.g., crumbled cheese (queso fresco or goat cheese), fresh herbs

Prick sweet potatoes with a fork in several places.., Place in a baking dish and bake at 425F about 1 hour.) (Alternatively , microwave on High until tender all the way to the center, 12 to 15 minutes

Meanwhile, combine salsa, cumin & beans in a saucepan over medium heat (or medium microwave-safe bowl; microwave on High until just heated through, 2 to 3 minutes.

Cool potatoes 5 minutes, then slit each lengthwise, pressing open, then spoon the chili into the center of each. Top each with a dollop of the yogurt (or non-dairy sour cream) , a sprinkle of cilantro, and (optional) other toppings.

Now it’s Sunday again, and I’m looking for new things to cook up for the week. I’m seriously considering the Lazy Day Peanut Noodle Salad recipe from 101 Cookbooks. http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/lazy-day-peanut-noodle-salad-recipe.html I’ll let you know how it turns out!

Building a library this weekend...

2010-10-31T00:03:00.003-04:00

It's no secret that James and I love books. We have a LOT of books. And something tells me that the digitized world of reading on our horizon won't phase the acquisition of soon-to-be-antiquated yet always-the-best-in-our-minds hard-copy books. In our last apartment we had five bookshelves brimming with books, but on our move to Chicago four of the bookshelves completely fell apart. (They were the cheap $30 grad-school-budget bookshelves from Target, so we weren't too surprised). Thier collapse was a minor tragedy, however, because James' "office" has been a disaster zone with 25 boxes of books spilling out all over the floor. He literally hurdles to his desk over boxes to work on grad school applications, and that makes me sad. I was so excieted for him to have an awesome office to work in when we moved into this fabulous townhouse, but alas, patience has been required of us.

But we have saved our pennies from month to month, and we finally saved enough to invest in new bookshelves! Hooray!

These bookshelves, however, have proven to be a whole lot of work. We bought an Ivar shelving unit from Ikea for 3 reasons: 1) they are real wood, and hopefully will not collapse on our next move; 2) they are streamlined, have open backs, and look different from the ubiquitous Billy bookshelves; 3) they are affordable. Some of our friends from Princeton had these bookshelves, and we always thought they looked great in their apartment. Unfortunately, Ikea is in the process of discontinuing them, and so they no longer sell them in finished stains. Thus we had to buy them as unfinished pine. What does this mean?

This means that I've spent many, many hours today using pre-stain on 18 shelves and 4 side units, then put one coat of stain on them. Tomorrow I will spend several more hours putting on a second coat of stain, and then a coat of polyurethane. Then, after the last coat has dried, I will sing the Hallelujia chorus and never stain bookshelves again.

The fun part of today? Painting our downstairs family room hunter green (We used Sabal Palm Behr paint). When we put our bookshelves against the wall, all that lovely green will show right through. And hopefully the rich, dark color that we've stained the wood in combination with our deep green will provide a thoroughly country-English-style library ethos.

Can't wait until this project is finished. Can't wait until James has a proper office. Can't wait until I've lit the fire and am reading Jane Austin in our English library. The end.

The Ivar Unit:

A few library pics I found inspirational. (both courtesy of House Beautiful).

28 Hour Road Trip Complete

2010-10-22T21:10:00.000-04:00

28 hours round trip, that is. James and I were off to a Princeton Reunion of sorts last weekend, and in our desire to pay $200 in travel costs rather than $800, we opted for the 28 hour road-trip rather than the flight.

It was an AWESOME time. We left Thursday and crashed in Philadelphia with friends Ben and Karen (West Philly, no less). Saw a new part of the city. Ben gave us a tour of U Penn’s campus (where he is going to law school), and we got to tour the awesome house that our friends Mike and Sonja recently purchased. It’s an old house that they are renovating, and they’ll be doing campus ministry at U-Penn and other nearby colleges. Great to see all of them.

Then off to Princeton to hang with our seminary homies. We had a big party Saturday night, and for awhile I forgot that I had ever left the CRW community. Hopping from one apartment to the next for 3 days, it felt like old times. Really, it’s only been 2.5 months since we left, but it feels longer for some reason. And going back to Princeton made me realize that we are officially done with that phase of our life – going to grad school, living amongst lots of friends in the same neighborhood, first apartment of our marriage, etc. Driving back to Chicago I was, I must admit, a bit melancholy. Our Princeton years were challenging in some ways, but overall they were blessed by God and marked by growth in a variety of contexts.

Sadly, I have no pictures because my camera has died. But there were lots of laughs over the weekend. And I do believe that James and I have made great strides in road-trip entertainment. This time, John Adams on audio by David McCullough kept us enthralled for much of the journey. Willy Nelson, Christmas chorals, and Aaron Copeland also kept us company. We were also blessed with miles and miles of vibrant autumnal foliage – the drive was beautiful! And we saw our first bear road kill…yes, we saw a dead black bear on the side of the highway in western PA. I’d hate to be the car that ran into that bear, but it looked like the car won.

Back in Chicagoland now, and it’s starting to get colder. We turned our heat on for the first time when we woke up yesterday and our house was 55 degrees inside. Deep breath, trying to prepare myself mentally for the winter to come!

Hyde Park Jazz Festival

2010-10-01T10:27:00.006-04:00

Last Saturday night James and I went to a jazz festival in Hyde Park. Hyde Park is on the South side of Chicago, and it’s also where U-Chicago’s campus is located. We met up with our friend, Travis, and checked out a few of the jazz venues on the University of Chicago’s campus. It’s been over three years since I was last on U-Chicago’s campus, and it has some spectacular buildings. The Rockefeller Chapel, for instance, is a magnificent neo-Gothic wonder. It was built around the same time period as Princeton University’s chapel (late 1800-early 1900’s), and I think I can safely say that neo-Gothic architecture just might be my favorite style. Ever. The detail in the interior ceiling structure is always incredible, the arches and domes provide such great interest, and magnificent scale (for a chapel or cathedral) truly lifts your mind and spirit heavenward. We listened to a jazz choir in the chapel for awhile, and I couldn’t keep my eyes from roaming over all the architectural details. J’aime les cathédrals!

We also listened to a jazz quartet in the Quadrangle Club, which is the faculty club on U-Chicago’s campus. I think it’s normally only open to members, but they opened it to the public for this jazz festeval. We sipped on wine and enjoyed the fruit, cheese, and crackers platters while relaxing in creamy leather club chairs. Not a bad way to end the evening.

U-Chicago's campus also has a Frank Lloyd Wright house located on its grounds - how cool is that? There was a jazz concert in the Robie House, but we got there too late to go. Bummer! I think I'll still try to take a tour of this house sometime in the near future. I've never actually been in a Frank Lloyd Wright house....something new to look forward to.

Jonathan Saunders

2010-09-22T22:46:00.003-04:00

Okay, I admit this blog has always been a bit random. Mostly it has been a venue for me to keep friends and family from afar up to date on what James and I have been up to, where we've been, etc. Every once and awhile I've posted an opinion piece. And every once and awhile I've posted a design-related piece. I've long had aspirations of getting a more stream-lined, topical blog put together. But that takes a lot of time and energy. So for now, dear readers (the few yet loyal that you are!), I suppose this blog will continue to be a bit random and sporadic.

In the vein of random and sporadic, this post is about London Fashion Week. In particular, it is about the Jonathan Saunders show and the FABULOUS pieces that he put together this year. I often see fashion bloggers putting up their favorite runway shows, and they are usually pretty hit-and-miss with me. Runway shows are interesting and creative, but rarely do I see pieces that I would wear right off the runway. What usually happens is companies create designs for the public masses that reflect the ingenuity of designers, but at a far less dramatic and costly level.

This Jonathan Saunders show, however, is different. I would wear every single piece as is, straight off the runway. (Although, I would probably want these dresses and skirts to be a little longer - if you're not a six foot tall model, perhaps they're just the right length?). In any case, these pieces are fun, feminine, flirty, colorful, and classy all in one stroke. Do I dare look up how much they cost? No, better not. Just going to cross my fingers that Jonathan Saunders is the next designer to do a line for Target.

*All of the images are via The Sartorialist.

Lately

2010-09-20T21:26:00.003-04:00

Things have been very good lately for James and myself as we continue into this new mid-western Wheaton adventure. I have to admit, the honeymoon of our new house and my new job and our new little town is over. And that has created moments of me wondering how in the world I’ve landed myself in Illinois, in exile from friends and family on either coast.

But the weather is fabulous – mid 70’s, mild-to-no-humidity, and the early signs of fall crispness in the air. And these fabulous days are to be treasured in the mid-west (and the east coast). After a summer of heat waves, I’m loving the cooler weather. And I’m also aware that I’m soon in for a freezing winter. All that to be said, I treasure these early fall days. They have made me want to get out and about as much as possible, to explore and enjoy this area before we get stuck inside with shorter days and lower temps.

Two weekends ago James and I stumbled upon a great nearby town called Geneva. I think it will be our new “Lambertville,” in that it similarly has a large river and all sorts of cute little shops and restaurants. And we happened to hit upon it during its annual “Festival of the Vine.” We got there on a Saturday night, and enjoyed the food and street bands and wine samples so much that we went straight back Sunday after church. We sampled briquette and Cuban sandwiches and banana pie and brats and sweet potoato fries. (And I wonder why I haven’t dropped any weight this summer?) In any case, it was all great food! And there are plenty of undiscovered shops and restaurants coffee hang-outs yet to be explored there….i’m gonna save up on those coffee shops for the winter.

This last week was the inaguration of Wheaton’s 7^th president, and thus James and I attended all sorts of events. By far the favorite was the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, who performed an inaguration performance in Edman Chapel. We dressed up and went out to dinner with my co-workers beforehand, and the concert itself was phenomenal. It was a Mexican conductor who danced his way through the performance (literally), and they performed all Mexican songs in honor of Mexico’s bicentennial this past week. James and I promptly downloaded our two favorite songs after the concert: Danzon No. 2 by Arturo Marquez, and Huapango by Jose Pablo Moncayo. Download them! You won’t regret the 99 cents on iTunes – very fun and festive songs.

Also, James was just hired last week by Wheaton College to start a full-time position in the library, so he’ll be starting up this Thursday. We are so excited for this job - God has definitely blessed us here so far! Soon enough James and I will be having lunches together again.

That’s about the short and the long of it. Notre Dame continues to wrench our hearts. I continue to drag James along for random craigslist finds. We’re finally getting back into a decent running routine. I’m saving up for a sewing machine, to fill my winter with novice sewing projects. Life is good.

Honey Rock!

2010-09-01T21:53:00.004-04:00

Wheaton owns a huge property up in Northern Wisconsin called Honey Rock, and James and I both got to head up there for my job the second week of August. James had been up to Honey Rock as a student leader one summer, and I got to go up with a bunch of Wheaton student leaders this year.

Honey Rock is an awesome place! There are tons of cabins (I think Honey Rock can house over 500 people), and lots to do. They having sailing, water-skiing, archery, horse-back riding, a shooting range, biking, canoeing, kayaking, hiking - it's an outdoor lovers paradise! James and I were thrilled at the chance to go sailing a couple of times - we made it through most of our second session before completely capsizing in the lake.

It was also a great chance for me to get to know my colleagues in student development, and a bunch of Wheaton students. I am already looking forward to our trip up there for next year!

Birthday Fun!

2010-08-20T12:58:00.005-04:00

Oh, Chicago! Oh, Chicago!

You know that song sung by Frank Sinatra, right? Yes, well, I had the song in my head all day long on my birthday because I spent the day enthralled by the wonders of Chicago. My lovely husband planned an absolute gem of a day in this city--our new "backyard" city - couldn't have been better! We hopped on a train from our local suburb train station and spent the morning roaming Grant Park, Michigan Ave, and the pathway along the harbor. Then, out of the blue, James puts together a fantastic picnic spread for us in the Art Institute Gardens--he'd smuggled all the goods with him in his bag, and I had no idea! After our lazy and leisurely picnic, James shepherded me along to the favorite part of my day - an Architectural tour of Chicago given from a boat along the Chicago River. It was a divine compilation of two of my favorite things: architecture, and boating! I love how well James knows me.

Here we are on the bridge above the Chicago River.

The famed Chicago Tribune Building - a unique blend of Gothic and Art Deco styles.

The Chicago River.

One of the other Architectural Gems of the city.

A view from the Art Institute Gardens where we picnicked.

The orchestrator of this fabulous birthday.

The steps up to the Art Institute - with a multitude of gorgeous flowers.

I've also been completely spoiled this birthday with several cards and gifts from family, including this monster birthday package from my momma. More than the gifts themselves (which were so much fun), it meant so much to me to know my Mom put so much time and effort into this package. She wrapped up a whole assortment of goodies, and I felt giddy like a five-year-old on Christmas Eve. (I know adults aren't supposed to care about opening presents, but we can be giddy like five-year-olds every once in awhile, right?)

Perhaps my favorite part of the birthday package were all the little notes attached to each present, a tradition my family has that was started by my Nana (I don't know where she got it from, maybe her Mom?). My family always attaches little "notes" to each gift to give a hint or idea of why we thought the gift would be meaningful or fun to the recipient. It may seem silly to some folks, but to me it's always been just an extra touch of personalization to make someone feel loved.

Thanks everyone for all the Birthday Goodies and calls and emails - even though I only spent time with my hubby on my birthday, I felt loved and appreciated by people from all over.

World Cup Time!

2010-06-16T18:22:00.006-04:00

It's World Cup Time, and James has me on the edge of my seat with all of the excitement! I am not going to lie - I didn't really care much about soccer growing up. The last World Cup James and I were living in Seattle, and James was pretty into the World Cup at that point. He and his room-mates went to soccer bars in Seattle at 6:00am to watch games with hashbrowns and Guinness.

This time around, James has snagged me into the fan-hood as well. We kicked off the fun last weekend with the US-English game on Saturday. I made some patriotic white chocolate covered pretzels, grabbed some patriotic Sam Adams beer, and we had a bunch of friends over. Then on Monday, James invited some guys over to watch the Dutch game at 7:30am. He prepared apple pannekoeken (Dutch Pancakes) in honor of the Orange. And now, here we are at 7:30 am on Saturday, watching the Dutch play Japan.

So cheers to team USA!!! (and to the Dutch!)

Here are some of the guys chowing down during the Dutch game on Monday.

Easter Sunday! (a little late...)

2010-04-27T11:47:00.005-04:00

Easter came and went so quickly this year, but we had a great time celebrating Christ's resurrection with some friends from our small group. It was a perfect afternoon- low 70's, sunshine, and great food and mimosas!

While we were waiting for a few folks to show up, we decided to take some "prom style" easter photos by this gorgeous blossoming tree. Who doesn't take prom photos on Easter, I ask you? Here we have the lovely Abby and Scott on the left, and Ben and Karen in the center.

Abby, Karen, and myself.

Scott, Ben, Marc, and Jamser.

And a couple of pasty white love birds, who clearly haven't seen much sunshine yet!

Ben spent the afternoon trying to entertain Wendell, but I think he entertained all of us even more with his special faces and noises that he made for Wendell.

And yes, here are the boys polishing off what was left of the sticky buns. I think all of the sugary carbs is what eventually led to the group break-up to go home for naps. Great Easter Brunch, all in all!

Sunny San Diego

2010-04-11T23:47:00.003-04:00

San Diego! Emily has been house-sitting/dog-sitting for a family she knows in a little beach town just outside of San Diego here and there, and for this time she invited me to join along with her. We haven't seen each other in a year and a half, which is crazy - how did that happen? (we live across the country from each other, i guess). Anyhow, it's been such a great time to spend with her - time on the beach, shopping, biking around Coronado Island, and chilling out at the house with the two lovable golden retrievers - Kobe and Owen. The weather has been great - low 70's the first few days, and mid-60's the last two days.

Here is the beautiful hotel Del Coronado - I've been here before, and love visiting this place every time. (all these pictures are Emily's, from her awesome Canon camera)

Biking was a great way to spend the afternoon here.

This chandelier was in the lobby of the hotel - love it!

This is Owen - so rambunctious and lovable!

And this here is Kobe - much more relaxed than Owen, and a super sweet dog. I've decided I'd love to get one of these dogs, as soon as I have a yard, a mud-room, and a kid old enough to take it for walks. Might be a few years!

Kobe

Owen

Surprises

2010-03-28T23:42:00.005-04:00

I think it would be fair to say that this last month or so has been somewhat difficult for a variety of reasons, and I've been anxiously awaiting spring to move into a new phase of life. Well, it's currently 40 degrees outside and dumping sheets of rain, but there have been some sweet surprises in the last week to tied me over until I can wear shorts and flip-flops.

After two crazy weeks of mid-terms, French compositions, and cranking out job applications, I decided I needed a night to myself to completely relax and unwind. And what do you know, but I come home to a beautiful bouquet of tulips, the next Harry Potter movie I've been wanting to watch, movie snacks, and a sweet note from my adorable, precious (and yet 0h-so-manly) husband James. Thanks love!

And then, a few days later, we received an incredible package in the mail from the Rienstra family - our St. Patrick's Day package. James looks forward to a St. Patrick's Day package for months before St. Patrick's Day, and it was no less true this year. Check out all these green goods!

James was thrilled with his loot, and he even shared some of his black licorice with me. I was also thrilled with this package - thanks family!

NYC with Stevie...

2010-03-09T10:16:00.004-05:00

Several weeks ago now, James and I went up for a day in the city with Steve. Despite frigid temps, we still managed to cover a lot of ground. Steve took us to his favorite cafe in the lower West Side for brunch, Cornelia Street Cafe. After a nice, leisurely breakfast we took off for the Modern of Museum Art (MOMA). Neither James nor I had ever been there before (it's hard to pull yourself away from the MET), so it was fun to see what the MOMA had to offer. We have to admit - not as big of fans of modern art. Some of the pieces are quite incredible. And then you see exhibits full of things like yogurt containers and a deflated soccer ball. And there is supposed to be beauty in the "everydayness" of these things. Maybe it wasn't as thrilling to me because I eat yogurt every day. But c'est la vie!

Not really sure what this was, but there was a huge line of people waiting to get into this thing. We passed over it....

View from the Museum window:

One of VanGogh's lesser known paintings, but I really love the colors and the whimsy of this painting. (you could probably say that about every VanGogh painting, right?)

Princeton Snow Shoot

2010-02-28T19:17:00.006-05:00

Well, folks, the snow continues to fall on the Eastern Snow Board. Although at this point in the year, I'm no longer stoked for blizzards and snowmen. I'm just plain ready for spring, and flowers, and warmth. But mother nature always gets her way, and so I decided to join forces with her rather than fight her last Friday. We had a snow day, classes cancelled, but the roads actually turned out to be quite clear by the early afternoon. So I took off for Princeton's campus to get a few shots of the beautiful buildings blanketed in winter white. This is probably one of my favorite things about classes - the walks to and from each class. Given my life-long love of architecture, this place makes a girl's heart really swoon!

So here are some of my snow day shots; there is a lot of them because I don't have time or energy to edit right now. Guess we're going for quantity over quality right now...Enjoy!

Princeton University Chapel. This is where James and I will have our graduation ceremony this May.

E.ast Pyne - This is the building in which I narrowly make it through French each day.

Another shot of E. Pyne.

The Clock Tower.

Happy Valentine's Weekend!

2010-02-13T11:07:00.006-05:00

Despite the frigid temps (yes, it's currently 25 degrees) and massive blizzards, we've been staying warm and cozy and I've managed to find enough time for some fun Valentine's Day projects. For several years now I have loved making home-made Valentine's cards; there is something so perfectly Victorian about them. Perhaps it stems from the Meet Samantha book in which Samantha makes all those lovely cards with the lace doilies. In any case, it is one of my favorite things to do. (And for those of you who can spot your card in this photo, yes, they are coming to you a little late. Just trying to prolong the love for you!) I made this banner above by cutting out various pieces of red fabrics, and hot glueing them to a cream satin ribbon.

These fun pinwheels are a project I did before Christmas, but with all the snow and red being the official color of Valentine's Day, I've just left them up. I found the directions for these pinwheels on the Paper Source website, and they are super fun and easy to make for any party.

Last weekend, James and I hosted a big Superbowl party at our house, and since it was only a week before Valentine's Day I decided to throw in some V-day treats. (No, James didn't sanction the fusing of V-day and football; I just figured the person who plans most of the food around here has the right to do whatever they want with snacks!) These drinks below are called "Magic Juice" and consist of fruit infused gin poured over ice and lemonade. The recipe is found here on Design Sponge.

And these were my Valentine's attempt at Cake Pops. If you look at Bakerella's website, you'll find tons of fun and creative ideas for Cake Pops. I particularly loved watching all the boys holding their cake pops on a stick while yelling at the football game - something delightfully childish about it!

And here are some shots of our friends hanging out at the party - James and I are so blessed to have such wonderful friends filling our lives!

Eastern Snow Board

2010-02-10T17:10:00.003-05:00

It's been pretty cold out here on the Eastern Snow Board the last few weeks. In fact, most mornings that I've checked our handy weather station (thanks Curtie!) it's been in the mid to high teens. For a mild Washingtonian that is mighty cold! It doesn't really thrill me to walk outside and have my cheeks immediately feel prickled by 'ol Jack Frost, so if it's going to be this cold my philosophy is: bring on the snow, baby! Given that I'm still a grad student, there is still that thrill of checking your school websites to see if classes have been canceled for the day. And sure enough, both the Seminary and University classes were closed for this Eastern-style blizzard. Yipppeee!!! That meant James and I had a lovely brunch with some friends this morning, hung out with our computers in bed, and went for a lively snow walk on the canal path behind our apartments. I say the walk was "lively" because the snow was actually pelting us in our faces from the icy wind, and little branches were breaking off from the weight of the snow in the trees. There was even some thunder in the mix. Has anyone ever heard of a thunderstorm in the middle of a blizzard? Weird. Anyhow, I tried to take some pics to capture the beauty and wonder of the snow around our house, but the rapidly falling snow made that pretty hard. Here are a few of the best ones:

This image makes me think of a "snow ballet." What is a snow ballet? not really sure, except that trees become so graceful and elegant in the snow it becomes a magical dance.

James tried to dig our car out so we could go to work, less than 1 mile away. But our car wouldn't budge.

I'm not sure if you can picture the sheer size of this snowman from this picture. but believe me, it was massive! you can see that the snowman's head reaches almost to the second floor level of the apartment building.

This is the view from our living room window - quite lovely.

A great 2009, on to a great 2010!

2010-01-09T12:44:00.006-05:00

2009 was a good year for James and I - we took a late January trip to a cabin in the Poconos with some friends...

Sister Jessica came to visit us in Princeton in March...

we finished up a very busy spring schedule and took off to Japan for 3 months...

we had a great two weeks at home with family and friends at the end of summer...

James and I worked like crazy this fall on school stuff (James applied to seven grad schools, I narrowly made it through a whirl-wind French course), we made it home for a very busy yet fabulous Christmas break...

and we rang in the new year with good friends! (Photos snagged from Rachel's blog--the host of this party).

James and B.J.

Working hard on a trivia game...

God has blessed us immensely, and we have been afforded many wonderful opportunities in our young marriage together. I know that 2010 will be another big year for us, as we both graduate from Seminary and prepare to move to a new place for James' Ph.D. studies and, for me, a new job. I pray that this year we learn to grow in the love and guidance of our great savior more more. Cheers to the new year!

The Ol' TImers...

2010-01-07T23:49:00.003-05:00

Back in our high school days, a group of our friends started having a "formal" dinner every summer and Christmas. The menus started off with 4-5 course meals, and we all dressed up quite formally. We've kept up these get-togethers for quite awhile, although the last several gatherings have been less of "formal dinners" and more of appetizer parties. But with people spread out and increasingly busy with new life responsibilities, I'm always happy when we can get together at all. This year we had a somewhat fast and furious get-together (hopefully next year I'll plan ahead a bit more), but it was great to see everyone that could make it.

The group shot:

Jay, Leah, and Trisha:

Carly and little Noah.

Christmas Parties Galore...

2009-12-30T21:39:00.005-05:00

Christmas came and went like a whirlwind this year! What happened? I'm not sure, but it was a lot of fun! James and I feel so blessed to have so much family located in one central place. It does call for a lot of party hopping, but Christmas is the perfect time of year to be party animals, right? We started off Christmas Eve at my aunt and uncles house; we did a "Lessons and Carols" session with some scripture and carols sung. My little cousin Aleah decided her role would be the angel, and she took this position very seriously. In her mind, angels prance through the living room during "hark the herald angel's sing" with a special star wand, and a very solemn expression on their face. She might be right...who can say?

Then we had a little immediate family gift exchange at my parents house...

Christmas morning we were off to the Rienstra's household for a fabulous day of gifts and merriment. Check out this monster mystery box...any guesses?

And look - it's a Bob in a bow!

We were graced with a choir girl in a snuggie...

And I'm so thankful to the Lord for my hottie sisters....who ever imagines they'll marry into a household of snuggie models? :0)

Later Christmas Evening we went over to the Noteboom Family Christmas...

And the infamous Christmas present game was as crazy as always...people even steal gifts from poor grandma!

We spent the next day with James' extended family, but sadly no photos of this event. All in all, we had a wonderful time with family - LOVE coming home to visit them. Now if we could only get them over to our side of the country... (wink wink!)

Been awhile...

2009-12-15T16:02:00.005-05:00

It's been awhile since I've last posted. Probably because there has been lots of reading and writing for final papers, memorizing French vocab for French tests, and editing of writing samples for Ph.D. applications (and might I add that James turned in his first application today, which called for Trader Joe's peppermint bark to celebrate!).

Despite the fact that I get to study in a library that looks like this, and that I sometimes pretend I live at Hogwarts and that my best friends are Ron and Hermione,

I'm still basically covered in books like this, writing papers on the moral significance of innovation. Thus my world is not quite as glamourous as that of Harry Potter, especially when I don't have a broomstick to grab and a quidditch match to go play.

So I still find myself day-dreaming in the midst of my studies, especially when I find posts like this one on the topic of English country houses:

(http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/12/past-present-english-country-house-diy-project.html)

And then I start looking on Travelocity for cheap tickets to go visit here:

And guess what - I found a killer deal with roundtrip tickets from NYC to London, including 6 nights hotel and 6 days of breakfast, all for the ripe price of $599.00 - are you kidding me!?! Anybody up for a jaunt to the continent?

Well, let me know, in the meanwhile - I'm back to the library...

Birthday Boy

2009-11-26T22:54:00.005-05:00

This post is late in coming, but on the eve of Thanksgiving I am immensely thankful for my husband, and for our friends who helped us celebrate James’ birthday this year, and for our family who sent James their birthday love.

James requested Red Velvet Cake this year, and after searching 4 stores I finally find red food coloring.

We went bowling for the evening, which was a grand time!

Karen and Al:

Me and Anna:

The boys having a team pow-wow:

Strategy:

James and Marc:

Ben, Karen, and Vivek:

Princeton v. Yale

2009-11-20T09:25:00.004-05:00

Last Saturday James and I went to the Princeton v. Yale game with a group of friends. This game is supposed to be the biggest rivalry of the year...and this year the Tigers won! The weather was really nice, a perfect fall day to watch a game. We had a lot of fun, but I can't imagine that watching this game is anything like watching a Notre Dame game....maybe next year we'll just happne to be in South Bend, who can say?

Philadelphia

2009-11-14T18:45:00.004-05:00

A few weekends ago we had the pleasure of having some friends from home come visit us here in Princeton. B.J. and Rachel Louws are friends from our hometown/SPU, and James has been good friends with B.J. for quite some time. They were out in Philly for a work conference, and then came and spent a weekend with us. It was great to catch up with them, and we spent an afternoon roaming around Philadelphia. Checked out the Liberty Bell again, Rachel and I visited the grand and large Anthropologie downtown, and we explored the grounds of Ben Franklin’s old house. I am always captivated by the incredible architecture in this city – so many fine and beautiful structures.

James and I on the grounds of Ben Franklin's home:

Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was drafted:

This building was the second bank established in the US:

Notre Dame Plays USC Tomorrow

2009-10-16T17:29:00.002-04:00

I HEART SEATTLE (Part Two)

2009-10-12T18:30:00.004-04:00

Surprise, Surprise...I couldn't fit all my "I heart Seattle" pics in the last post, so here goes round two. One of the things James and I always try to do when we visit the homeland is try to round up as many friends as possible, and this last trip we had dinner at Tutta Bella (amazing pizza) with Jay, Trisha, Evan, and Laura. Then Laura and I took off for capitol hill to meet up with Kristen at "The Garage," which is like an upscale bowling alley. Seem like an oxy-moron (upscale bowling)? It usually is, but not at the garage.

Here we are just outside The Garage with the neon sign in the background.

The girls at Tutta Bella.

And the boys.

One of our blessings on this last trip was the overbooked flight from Seattle to Philly - James and I volunteered our seats for flight voutures, a free night at a hotel, and one extra full day in Seattle. The day was sunny and glorious, and we spent it downtown at the Sculpture Park and Pioneer Square.

A silver tree in the sculpture park - I honestly walked right by it before James pointed out that it was a sculpture.

This piece here seems to be the most widely publisized. James doesn't care much for it, but I've grown somewhat fond of it.

This exhibit is called "waves" and is cool to walk through.

Here is James by his favorite sculpture. wink wink.

The gorgeous pier-side.

The interior of Elliot Bay Bookstore, a beloved Seattle landmark that I had never actually visited before. It was grand - I spent an hour looking through a book on Italian Architecture.

All of the buildings around Pioneer Square are so beatiful - rich, textured details that harken back to a grander era (aka pre-modern square cement cold architecture).

Pioneer Square

The Pioneer building

This is the headquarters to Tully's coffee--I actually love the way they transformed this brick building into a colorful and whimsical landscape. It used to be the old Rainier Brewery building.

I HEART SEATTLE

2009-09-26T08:58:00.008-04:00

There is something special about Seattle that makes me love this city in a way that no other city could capture my heart. I’ve visited a fair number of big cities – New York, LA, London, Paris, Sydney, Tokyo, Rome, etc. and each city certainly has its own unique vibe. But there’s just something about the vibe in Seattle that speaks to me. I suppose part of my attachment to Seattle is that I lived there for 5 years, whereas I’ve only visited all of these other grand cities. But I’ve reflected on this before, and I think there are some intrinsic factors to Seattle independent of my time spent there that make it such a fabulous city. I am going to list five.

1. Small town city. Seattle is not a very large city on the scale of major world cities – it’s much smaller than New York, or Chicago, or Paris. And yet it’s place as a mid-size city allows one to get the best of both worlds – the breadth of arts and cultural events that usually only cities can offer, yet Seattle has almost a “small-town” feel to its space. It’s not too big; there is space to roam. After living in Tokyo for three months this summer, space is something that I’ve come to value quite highly.

2. Distinct neighborhoods. All cities have various neighborhoods—NYC has its boroughs, Tokyo has its “kus,” and so forth. But I do think that the neighborhoods in Seattle have such unique and distinctive flair. Take the artsy neighborhood of Freemont, with its eclectic sculptures and funky buildings. Or the Scandinavian mark on the seafaring neighborhood of Ballard. Then you’ve got Queen Anne, with its quiet yet regal homes and lamp-lined streets looking out over the water. Then, of course, there’s Belltown and Downtown spotted with fabulous restaurants, beloved happy-hour spots, and high-end shopping. What would Seattle be without Capitol Hill and the Hipsters whose pulse beats to the music scene? And we can’t forget Magnolia, or Greenlake, or Capitol Hill, or West Seattle…so many niches to carve your own space.

3. Geographical Diversity. I honestly do not know of any city that has the range and close proximity to such incredibly diverse landscapes. Seattle has the ocean, lakes, rivers, canals, boat locks, and the mountains that encircle the city. You can even take one of the many ferries out to explore the San Juan Islands or hop over to the Olympic Peninsula for a rainforest excursion. It’s no wonder Seattle is consistently ranked one of the most fit cities in America—with access to kayaking, swimming, sailing, reams of bike and running trials, mountain hikes, and skiing, there is no reason to stay at home and mope (one just has to learn to be active in the rain).

4. Industry and opportunity: Seattle is home to some of the world’s largest businesses, notably Microsoft and Starbucks at the top. Then of course there is Boeing (although I realize that it’s corporate office has moved), and Nordstrom’s, and Tully’s, and on and on. Also headquarters to several amazing NGO's, including World Vision and PATH. Seattle has imbibed the entrepreneurial spirit that keeps this country moving forward.

5. Coffee. Of course I cannot forget to mention the coffee culture that is pervasive in this city. Most people know about Starbucks, and Tully’s, and Seattle’s Best. But what most non-Seattlites do not know about is the local coffee shops that Seattlites consistenly frequent: the Ladros, and Zokas, and Verites, and many, many, more. I love the role that coffee shops play in Seattle: not only the best cups of coffee you’ll find in the world, but a place to meet with friends, to study, to play chess, to people-watch, to enjoy sumptuous baked goods, to journal, and to unwind on rainy days.

This last time that James and I were in WA we had the pleasure of hanging in Seattle for a few days and re-visiting some of our favorite stomping grounds. Here is a little photo-journal of our days of old (and hopefully our days of future). The pics from today’s post are all from Ballard, where James and I both lived the year before we got married. In the next few days I’ll try to put up some pics from our day spent downtown.

The main plaza in Ballard, with its funky Scandinavian statues.

A great music spot that James loved to chill in on Sat. mornings.

La Carta de Oaxaca, amazing Mexican food in the best designed Mexican restaurant you will ever find:

Great Harvest Bread - enough said.

The High Life - a restaurant in an old firehouse that has the best Happy Hour on Planet Earth: $3 woodfire pizzas, $3 Ceasar salads, and $3 wine, beer and well drinks. How in the world can you beat that?

Ballard Sip-N-Ship - great coffee.

Cafe Verite - great coffee and cupcakes.

Cafe Fiore - another great coffee stop. (see, Seattlites really do spend loads and loads of time in coffee shops.)

Bel Mar - a lovely swank little bar.

King's Hardware - a regular stop on the ol' pubcrawls.

The Lock and Keel - a definite favorite for James and his room-mates (BJ and BJ). Many a night's spent here chillin' out after a busy day serving at Maggie Bluff's.

Another great bar on the pub-crawl route.

Home, Sweet Home

2009-09-19T17:45:00.007-04:00

Upon our return from Japan, James and I were oh-so-happy to spend over two weeks with our wonderful families in the spacious and quiet town of Lynden. It was a stark contrast from Tokyo, and we were quite ready for the change. Our families loved up on us and spoiled us, and we had a fabulous time!

Here are some pics from a joint family BBQ:

James manning the grill with Alaskan salmon, compliments of Jessica:

Kris and Jennifer trying to play some kind of poker game:

The fam sitting around the BBQ pit:

And more BBQ pit...

And more BBQ pit.

Breakfast at Dutch Mothers with Leisha and Carly, and their babes - Avery and Noah

Blackberry pickin' - always a summertime favorite in the Pacific NW:

Silpada Jewelry Party:

Grandma Jean and I, sippin' some white.

Jennifer and Kris chillin' by the fire pit.

Lois and Shirley looking through the jewelry magazine.

The jewelry table:

Thanks, family, for the great two weeks at home!

Omotesando Break-Feast

2009-08-12T04:34:00.003-04:00

Every once in awhile you have to take a “break” from your usual yogurt, English muffins, or cereal, and you need to indulge in a true gastronomic morning feast. The other day James and I did just this – we went to my favorite breakfast stops in Omotesando (neighborhood where we work).

First we went to Anderson's Bakery, which is filled with so many perfect pastries that I can never pick one in under 5 minutes. I usually circle around multiple times, observing and smelling and guessing what the fillings are. James loves this. :0) Eventually I pick two pastries, which I do not feel guilty about because all of the Japanese women pick two or three and because they are all "petite" sized pastries. This last time I picked a cranberry streusel muffin and an orange tart.

I almost went for one of these adorable creme puff swans - next time!

Then we looped over to our favorite little coffee shop - the yellow van! Remember how I said that little vans are quite common here in Tokyo as food stands, like the curry van. They also serve coffee, and this espresso happens to be the best we've found in Tokyo for the best price. Can't argue with that!

And the van stand has a the cutest little punch-card - I will miss this coffee place.

2nd Anniversary

2009-08-12T00:25:00.003-04:00

James and I celebrated our 2^nd anniversary yesterday. Hard to believe two years have flown by so quickly, and yet we have done so much together in these two short years. Most of our day yesterday was spent at church, with the morning being filled by the craziness of Vacation Bible School. But we did make a wonderful dinner last night: salmon, grilled asparagus, roasted potatoes, wine, and a delectable peach cobbler for dessert. This dinner was really a labor of love, as it took four different stores to gather all of these ingredients.

But as we sat over dinner chatting about the day, and about this and that, I realized something very wonderful about our marriage. We have spent most of our days together the last two years as fellow students, and now we’ve spent every single day together this summer for our internship. And we work really well together. We never get tired of being around one another, and even at the end of a long day at work or in classes together – we still have loads to talk about. I think that really is the definition of a soul-mate, and we continue to praise the Lord that “the boundary lines have fallen upon pleasant places.”

Tokyo Bay Fireworks

2009-08-11T00:11:00.006-04:00

This last Saturday, James and I were invited to watch the Tokyo Bay Fireworks show from the apartment of a family here at TUC. Japan has a great love for summer fireworks shows, and they occur all throughout the summer in various neighborhoods of Tokyo. But this show is apparently the biggest show of the summer, and there were thousands of people that showed up to watch. Japanese people dress in traditional apparel, kimonos and wooden sandels, and it is a beautiful array of human origami that lines the streets. I must say, we were very glad to be watching from an apartment balcony and not down amongst the masses. The party we were at was full of food and festivities –over 50 people crowded into the apartment. Little children ran around in their own mini-kimonos, anxiously waiting for the big show to start.

And when the show finally did start, boy was it a show! I have never seen a fireworks display that came even close to this one – 80 full minutes of spectacular colors, shapes, and sparks filling the sky! Be sure to press play on the last photo - it's a little video clip of the show.

James and Isaku-san, the host of this grand party.

This little girl was adorable - spent the whole night running around and waving her fan, shouting out "butterfly fireworks" in Japanese.

The view from the apartment deck.

The sky turned a luscious shade of pink as the sun began to set.

And the fireworks were magnificent!

Here is a little video clip of the show - you can see the rainbow bridge in the background, which is the biggest bridge in Tokyo.

88 and One Classy Lassy

2009-08-07T23:59:00.005-04:00

This is Sheila Scotter, one of the first editors of the Australian Vogue and quite obviously still making fashion waves at the age of 88. This pic was taken in Melbourne by the Sartorialist, who was doing a photo shoot with her for a Saba ad campaign. I absolutely love this pic - so regal, so charming, and such a vibrant smile on this Aussie lady. I think I also love this image because it reminds me of my Nana, who precipitated my love of design and fashion and who I consider to be the classist lady I've ever personally known.

This picture reminds me (and should remind you!) that no matter what age you are, or what phase in life, you can still be a classy lassy.

Japanese Curry

2009-08-06T08:36:00.004-04:00

Like most Asian countries, Japan has its own special take on curry and it has been a very common meal for James and I during our stay here. It is really quite easy to make, is much more mild than curries from other Asian countries, and it tastes delicious.

Here is the recipe for the most common variety of Japanese curry:

Potatoes

Carrots

Onion

Chicken

Oil or butter

water

Curry mix or sauce

That’s it – that’s all you need. You can make the curry mix from scratch, but I’ve found that most people use one of the many curry mix brands that you can find in any grocery store. I was introduced to S & B, and this seems to be the most popular brand. Not sure if you can find it in the States, but I’m guessing that you can.

Directions: Cut ingredients to uniform pieces, put in large pot with the oil or butter and let sauté for 5-10 minutes (until the onions are cooked through). Then add water to pot so that top is just covered and bring to boil. Skim off the top layer of the water that rises to the surface, and then reduce heat and cook until meat and carrots are tender (about 20 minutes). Break the curry mix cubes into pieces and then stir until completely dissolved. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes, and then serve over rice and enjoy!