Ten Things Today

In case you didn’t hear yesterday, I am writing a list of ten things I am thankful for each day. Here’s today’s:

1. A super-productive morning at work
2. Getting to leave early today
3. A day off tomorrow
4. A scanning copier (seriously I just scanned 109 pages to my email all at once! instead of one page at a time…)
5. Dipping below my starting weight for the first time in weeks (starting weight of my most recent resolution to be healthier)
6.  Impending pork chops with rosemary sauce
7. Someone telling me my hair looked cute
8. An outfit I feel cute wearing
9. A really great MK sales director
10. Elevensies (I’ve taken to eating a small breakfast, cheese at elevensies, and a small lunch, lovely!)

(Als0 — this is my fiftieth post! Yay arbitrary milestones!)

Thankfulness and Joy

Today I started attending a women’s bible study on the college campus where I work. The study is called “Growing in Joy”, and it’s led by the president’s wife. She is super tiny, and super enthusiastic. It’s possible I am the youngest woman there by about twenty years. The first page of the study folder is typed in Comic Sans.

And oddly, I couldn’t have been happier to be there. It was lovely to be around women who have been seeking the Lord for decades. Especially since seeking the Lord is something I’m pretty terrible at.

Our homework is to write down ten things each day that we’re thankful for. Er…for which we are thankful. I thought the ‘ole bloggeroo would be a good place for that.

Today’s Ten:
1. My loving husband
2. Creamy Earl Grey tea
3. A night at home tonight
4. Cheese
5. My job
6. A new journey I am currently embarking on with Mary Kay
7. The fact that I really like my boss
8. Having Friday off this week
9.  My wonderful church community and the fellowship we had together on Sunday
10. Having lost the few pounds I gained over the last few weeks

I’m going to try to keep up my ten things. I’m sure some days will be harder than others, but I think it will be healthy for me to do this kind of homework.

Check back tomorrow.

One Pot Pasta

One pot. For everything (sauce, pasta, etc.). This is my new favorite way to make pasta.

Here’s what you do: Fill your pot with water like you normally would to make pasta. Be sure to salt the water. Once it’s boiling, toss in your noodles.

When the noodles are almost done, you can toss in some fresh broccoli or asparagus chunks and they will be cooked perfectly by the time the pasta is done.

When your noodles are cooked how you like them, don’t just dump it out into a colander in the sink. Keep the noodles in the pot and strain out most of the water, either by putting a colander over the pasta, or using the lid. Leave some of the starchy water in the pot, you’ll want that to mix with the sauce! Toss in your sauce, and if you have any cooked protein ready, you can toss that in now. We like to microwave a few meatballs and toss those in. No need to heat it all again — the pasta and leftover starchy water will heat the sauce.

Voila, one pot pasta! Enjoy!

Notes: As far as pasta and sauce go, if we don’t make our own sauce, we like Wegman’s smooth marinara or tomato basil, and Barilla Plus (more protein!).

Wiped Out

This week is showing me who’s boss, and I’ll tell you, the boss is not me. I am sitting at work, thinking about the days to come in my head, and trying to plan a dinner where I can use many of the ingredients that are sitting in my fridge, just waiting to be made into something delicious.

Tonight? Nope, girls’ night.

Tomorrow? Nope, gotta use the Groupon that’s about to expire.

Saturday? Nope, we’ll be rushing to a hockey game from our all-afternoon church activity, so that will probably mean hotdogs and beers.

Sunday? …Maybe? But I have a recording session all afternoon and I’m at this point just expecting to grab food with the guys at the studio and call it a night.

It’s not that I’m complaining about all the beautiful events that are taking place this week. It’s just that I feel like I need a few days to rest in between. You know? So I don’t contract all the diseases the college kids at my job are inevitably trying to give me.

So, I’m wiped. But at least work isn’t crazy. What’s got you wiped out today?

Autumn Poems

I was just looking back through old posts and found one with some beautiful poetry by Rainer Maria Rilke, celebrating autumn. The season is creeping up, and I thought I’d share these poems again.

“Autumn” by Rainer Maria Rilke:

The leaves are falling, falling as if from far up,
as if orchards were dying high in space.
Each leaf falls as if it were motioning “no.”

And tonight the heavy earth is falling
away from all other stars in the loneliness.

We’re all falling. This hand here is falling.
And look at the other one. It’s in them all.

And yet there is Someone, whose hands
infinitely calm, holding up all this falling.

“Autumn Day” by Rilke as well:

Lord: it is time. The summer was immense.
Lay your shadow on the sundials
and let loose the wind in the fields.

Bid the last fruits to be full;
give them another two more southerly days,
press them to ripeness, and chase
the last sweetness into the heavy wine.

Whoever has no house now will not build one
anymore.
Whoever is alone now will remain so for a long
time,
will stay up, read, write long letters,
and wander the avenues, up and down,
restlessly, while the leaves are blowing.

One whole year of happiness

Happy anniversary to my dear love, Elliot. Yesterday marked one year since our marriage, and I look forward to many more years spent with you.

Photo by Bethany Beams

Photo by Bethany Beams

This year has been filled with so much. We cooked our first Thanksgiving dinner, spent our first round of holidays as a married couple, bought a house, welcomed many friends’ babies into the world, and spent so much time with people we love. We are so blessed to know so many genuine folks, both in our families and in our community here in Rochester. We are continually blessed by our church family. We are just so lucky.

Here’s to many, many more years together. We will hit hard things and overcome them. We will seek out the beauty in life as much as possible. We will cherish each moment and each other.

The Weepies!

Well friends, it has been a hella long time. In the last six months, I have gotten a new (awesome!) job, and had a really busy summer, so I’ve not had a lot of time to sit down in front of the computer. You can check out my blossoming food blog and my husband’s blog here.

But this post is about The Weepies! Husband and I flew down to NYC for a whirlwind 30 hours of tourism, excellent food, and most important, a concert by our beloved Weepies. We arrived about an hour and a half before doors opened, so we were about fourth in line to get into the standing-room-only venue.

After making some friends in line and sending Husband on a Starbucks run for reinforcements, we got in and beelined for the front of the venue. We ended up right at the front of the stage! It was a great spot to be able to watch them play.

They mentioned that their goal of this tour was to play like they do at home, sitting in their bedroom or living room, hanging out and playing together, their kids dancing in the background. And it was just that. It was comfortable. It was homey. They sat on vintage-looking white kitchen chairs and played the most heartfelt show I’ve ever seen. They glanced at each other during the songs and made jokes between numbers. They were charming.

Some may consider some of their songs “hokey,” as their songs can come off as being overly cute. But seeing them perform, it was clear that they believed every poetic phrase, and it made us all believe.

I would highly recommend going to see them if you get the chance, though I suppose I am biased. I sang along all evening. It felt like singing with old friends, and as we sang, and I could hear Husband singing along too, I realized how intertwined their music is with our love story, and it made my heart just swell.

Enjoy some photos of the evening below (all taken and edited with Camera+ on iPhone 4). Thank you, Deb and Steve, for making music that lets us know it is ok to believe in love.

[slideshow]

some things i like

In lieu of any words that could potentially be encouraging, inspiring, or just thought-provoking, I’d like to share some things that I’m particularly enamoured with lately.

Music:
Brave at Sea – Some people I went to summer camp with. Sort of old-timey, soulful, beautiful harmonies. Can. not. stop. listening.
Einsley – I just found out about these guys (thanks Cool Fam!). A family band of sorts, with interesting and catchy tunes!
Joni Mitchell (as always) – Uh, duh. She is amazing. Forever. The end.

Books:
Dori Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours” – Great cookbook.
Rob Bell’s “Love Wins” – Really enjoying reading this so far. I feel myself sighing in agreement a lot as I read, but I haven’t finished it yet and refuse to form an opinion until I do.
Sundry other cookbooks such as Baking Illustrated and the Bon Appetit Desserts book that came out last fall. I’m a little obsessed.

So that’s a fairly small list. I’ve pretty much been spending every spare minute in my kitchen baking fiendishly, hence all the cookbooks on my book-list. How very practical of me.

I feel vastly uninteresting. Every time I sit down to type it’s like every interesting thought gets zapped out of my head. I’ll have to try a little harder going forward. Sleep tight, friends.

i’m here.

I’m here. Thinking about what I possibly could have to add and how I could possibly sum up the last 4 months.

…beautiful…

I love being married. I love learning about flour and sugar. I love life. I love genuine-ness.

There’s more coming friends. I just need to start again. I want to share recipes. I want to share my love for this beautiful world.

There’s more coming. I promise.