Grandparents Visit

I'm really close to my parents and they live 8,400 miles away (really, Google? That far?!) so there's almost nothing more magical and more special than when they come for a visit.

My dad was given a three month sabbatical from work. He spent the very first day of his sabbatical watching my nephew's adoption at the courthouse, going to the subsequent adoption party celebrating both my niece and nephew, and then hopping on an airplane with my mom that evening to fly to Thailand. Can you tell he loves his grandkids?

They headed back to Colorado almost a week ago, and I finally looked through my pictures tonight. May these memories carry us through to the next time we see them... we don't know yet when that will be.

~

Cora hadn't seen this set of grandparents since October, but she clearly settled right back into her granddaughter role.

Grace sliding down a water slide into Nana's arms at a waterpark on the roof of a Bangkok mall.

Precious.

Cora would have been terrified if she wasn't in Papa's arms.

The new school year began two days before my parents left, so they got to send off our little preschoolers. But, you'd better believe we kept our kids home the next day, the last day their grandparents were in country.

Happiness is a Warm Puppy

My take on the Charles M. Schulz's book, "Happiness is a Warm Puppy."


Happiness is...

June gloom in September. 

A half caff espresso with sweetened condensed milk.

A stroller rolling through crunchy leaves.

Malabar spinach winding its way up a netted trellis.

A kid who eats her spinach and broccoli. (For now.)

A babysitter, a real date, and a fig marmalade burger.

It Feels Like Christmas

When you wear spit up on a daily basis and often smell like sour milk, it's nice to wear a super cute pair of shoes. I recently picked these up at Kohl's. And the best part is that between the sale, the 20% off coupon, and my gift card, they only cost $3!

Pre-baby, I read about thirty books a year. I assumed that when Grace came, I would have to severely cut back on my reading. I was totally wrong! Caring for a baby means lots of breastfeeding which means lots of sitting still which means lots of time for reading. Since holding a baby and a book is a little tricky for me and since I've always kind of wanted one, I recently used some stocked up birthday/Christmas money to buy a Kindle Paperwhite. I love it!

What have I been reading? "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan (very interesting), "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein (not so good), and the cookbook "Deep Dark Chocolate" (very hunger pains inducing).

My in-laws also recently splurged and bought us this awesome BOB jogging stroller. I can't wait to get back to my evening runs and I can't wait to do the 5.5 mile hiking trail right by my house again, but this time with Grace!

Piano Time

Sara Groves is a wife, mom, and prolific singer/songwriter from Minnesota. I love her music which is always simple and varied. But for me, good songs are all about the lyrics. And her lyrics do not disappoint. They are incredibly poignant and honest.

Since playing the piano is one of my lifelong hobbies, I put her most recent of two piano books on my Christmas list and gave the list to my husband. It turned out that at the time he ordered it, Sara Groves' printing people were behind in the printing of songbook #2, so they mailed Michael songbook #1 for my Christmas gift saying that songbook #2 would come at the end of January... for free! Score!

Since getting those books, Michael and I have spent a good amount of time playing the songs, me on piano and him on guitar, sometimes separately and sometimes together. Since it's so hard to move my full term pregnant body these days, sitting at the piano is the perfect hobby.

Check her out! Here some of my favorites:

Favorite album: "Fireflies and Songs" ("Station Wagon: Songs for New Parents" too given the season of life we're in.)

Favorite songs:

• "Loving a Person" - A song about the challenges and joys of loving a person just the way they are.
• "Twice as Good" - A song that describes how I feel about marriage.
• "To Be With You" - A song about being with family for the holidays - reminds me of all I love about being with my family.
• "When the Saints" - A song that recalls real stories of people addressing social justice issues and prays that we would do the same. This song always gets me fired up!
• "Kingdom Comes" - A song about the small choices that build the Kingdom of God.

Childhood Memories

It seems that almost every time I visit my parents, they direct me toward a box of assorted items from my kid and teen years for me to sort through and bring back with me to California. Usually I am able to use the "our apartment has no room" excuse to weasel out of it, but this Thanksgiving, now that I live in a bona fide house, I didn't even try the excuse and came home with the rest of my stuff.

Sorting it has been entertaining. Here are a few favorites!

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't proud to have had a passport made at such a young age! World traveler from birth!

Here's a man I drew in preschool. I can't decide if it's the enormous left hand or the squished face, but something about him is truly frightening. 

A tree. I definitely don't have this creativity anymore. :-(

I found diplomas from all school milestones starting with my preschool "diploma." Pictured here with my law school diploma (holder), they represent over two decades of education. I'm getting tired just thinking about it!

In high school, I went on a life changing missions trip to Brazil and made an ugly scrapbook when I came home.

And in the back of the scrapbook was undeveloped film! I'll have to pull this out to educate the grandkids. Scratch that. To educate the kids!

**NERD ALERT**
I lettered in academics in high school. I also lettered in another area of high school life that begins with a 'B' and rhymes with 'land.' Though, believe it or not, my husband and I have compared our high school activities and decided that I was the cool one of us two. Scary.

I strongly dislike having stuff around the house that I don't use, but rummaging through these memories has encouraged me to save at least a few things from every year of my daughter's (and other kids') childhood and teenage years.

My Cute, Little Cup

I really like hand-painted cups. Especially when they are painted on the inside as well as the outside. This cute, little cup that I found at Marshalls even has a little hand painting on the bottom. 

The bottom-of-the-cup painting is like a little surprise waiting for me every time I finish my tea, or my Mexican hot chocolate, or my soup, or my strawberry Jello... I have already consumed all of those from my cup!


Sometimes the simple things make me so happy.

Indian Vegetable Curry

Beautiful ingredients make delicious food.

I have been craving really good Indian food for a few months, but my favorite Indian restaurant is over 1,000 miles away in Colorado, so I decided to make this Vegetable Curry recipe that I found in my favorite cookbook ever.


Once I saw how fresh and colorful the ingredients were, I busted out my camera and went hog wild playing food photographer.

The final product was so good! I daresay it even tasted authentic. Plus, it is super healthy and the ingredients are super cheap.

Here's the recipe:


Start the rice. Do Basmati if you're going for authentic! Heat until sizzling:

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds

Add and cook a little bit:

• 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic

Stir in:

• 2 teaspoons of hot curry powder

Stir in (all of these ingredients are approximate):

• 2 cups canned chickpeas
• 2 1/2 cups cubed sweet potatoes
• 2 cups cauliflower
• 1 cup chopped green beans
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• black pepper

Cover and cook until vegetables are tender. (~10 minutes) Stir together in a small bowl:

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoons flour

Add to the vegetables. Cook all until heated through. Serve over rice garnished with chopped almonds.

Happy Things for a Busy Girl

My posting has been slow recently because this girl has been plain, old busy. But, in my hustle and bustle I have been enjoying these little things.

Chinese Magnolias. These tiny, delicate trees have been blooming purple, teacup-sized flowers for weeks. If I ever own property in Southern California or another similar climate, I will plant a Chinese Magnolia.

Espresso and dark chocolate. If you ever experience a 3pm slump on a Monday, brew an espresso and eat some dark chocolate. It solves all your problems. Only, in my case, it kept me up until 2am that night. I am way too sensitive to caffeine.

Sprouting plants. I got a little package of wildflower seeds at an event that I attended. I recently threw some mulch in a pot (I didn't even have dirt) and sprinkled the seeds on. It's been fun to monitor their growth.