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9/30/11

there were some delicious things in my kitchen last night, thanks to chef p.

crispy broccoli

quinoa with pesto (we don't have a food processor, so we make pesto by hand & it is so good and chunky!)

and when I say "we" I actually mean p

yum on all counts!

(I'm feeling a lot better today & was a bit yesterday, too, so thanks everyone for the calls & prayers. And also thanks to bubble bath.)

2

9/29/11

what a roller coaster day, yesterday was!

by 9:30, p & i were both so exhausted that we just skipped all our work, climbed into bed & watched an episode of the west wing. with a bowl of cereal for me. :) it is so nice to be married, at moments like that, to someone who will just let me be me & loves me & goes to fill up the hot water bottle for me because my back is hurting. a grace-filled thing, marriage.

yesterday was all about super high awesome highs and really exasperating low lows. i got the most expensive parking ticket of my life (bad!) because i needed the car at school to get to a really amazing ijm staff & families dinner (good!). i had to come home and get in the bathtub in the middle of the day because my back was hurting so much (bad!) but after i read in the tub for awhile i felt so much better that i made it to my class and my advisor had written the nicest feedback on my paper -- that i had been so nervous about turning in -- that i've maybe ever gotten from a teacher (good!). and the whole day was like that. for the first time i felt like i knew what i was doing as a ta in my discussion section! but afterward, trying to find a place to study, i felt so lost and unfamiliar and a little bit alone.

basically, i've been tentatively diagnosed with a kind of chronic pain condition. it means that p & i are jumping into the "in sickness" part of our wedding vows right away, and it feels like a lot for a little young marriage to deal with! but it is also so amazing to have a partner in it. and what could be a better excuse to cancel my plans, curl up in bed with p and/or some books, and just relax?

[from pinterest]

now, that doesn't sound so bad at all! :)

warm, rainy weather

1

9/28/11

So far over here on the East Coast the crisp fall of Love Story and leaves changing feels far far away. Instead we have warm-but-wet weather.

It sabotages my hair. And it also makes it kind of difficult to get dressed. Ahh, the humidity! So I've been wondering to myself... What do you wear when it is warm, but wet? This is what I've come up with so far, but I'm definitely open to advice!

If you have to look nice, try...

1. a polyester dress that will dry in a snap

zara

2. a sleek raincoat

Nordstrom

3. flat jellies

zappos

If you can relax, try...

1. a panama hat

j.crew

2. a loose, long top

brass plum

3. cut off shorts

4. fun wellies

Land's End

And the extras...

Don't forget a scarf -- if it's hot outside, sometimes the a/c is still blasting indoors!

target

a bag that zips closed

target

& obviously try to remember an umbrella

urban outfitters

:-)

What do you think? Any tropical weather suggestions?

retreat day

3

9/27/11

P had a staff retreat today, so he got out early! We went on a little neighborhood stroll to Hello Cupcake, {because we heard that every day they make a gluten free flavor of cupcake} and to the library. Of course, we documented the trip with my phone. :)

The weather is weird and rainy-hot here, making getting dressed difficult. At least our umbrella adds a little color!

yum.

My day had started off sort of slow and dreary, but this afternoon pick-me-up sure turned it around!

stillness

2

9/26/11

As a rebellious college student dabbling in evangelical Christian campus ministry, I think I giggled the first time I heard someone say the term "quiet time" at a girls' Bible Study. It sounded so milk toast, like it involved some kind of childhood punishment and sitting in a corner. I am a Methodist, okay? From California. I hadn't heard this slang for Bible-reading, prayer and peace-seeking.

But I also hadn't tried anything like it before.

Discipline is not my strong suit, as you might have guessed. But when I meet God in the moments that I pause and pray, my spirit is changed. I feel slowed down. I like it. If I manage some stillness in the morning before I leave, my whole day is different.

And yet, sometimes I just can't get there. My mind races frantically, my wild hair demands taming, I distract myself with laundry or homework or mindless online robot zoning out. Sometimes I need a transition that is patient with my attention span.

On those days I go visit this blog.

It's not like mine, which is sometimes about spirituality but sometimes about silly things. Ann is a focused, farmgirl prophet with something good to say about faith. Her blog has soft piano music and photos of the country. It's where I go when I can't quite go there, yet.

[all images]
It's a way of easing into stillness. It's a way of being patient with my mostly-multitasking self. It's nice. :-)

conference!

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9/25/11

P and I just got back from a super quick trip to New Haven, Connecticut for a conference at Yale with some friends. It was so fun to be on our old stomping ground for awhile. We arrived Saturday morning, spent the day at the conference, had dinner with our old friends & then went to a birthday party for P's former roommate. It was so so so fun and inspiring. With school just starting, it was perfect to get an injection of excitement about scholarship while at the same time remembering the comfort of familiar faces. So good.

Here are a few photos P snapped at the conference.

But, as fun as it was, we are glad to be home. Laundry, homework and maybe a cupcake run await us now...

:-)

little wedding shout out!

0

9/24/11

Aww, the Washingtonian put us up on their wedding blog!

:-) Thanks!!

The Burning House

1

9/23/11

Foster Huntington is a photographer who is working on a project I really love, called "The Burning House." It is a snapshot of what people would save in a fire.
He writes,

If your house was burning, what would you take with you? It's a conflict between what's practical, valuable and sentimental. What you would take reflects your interests, background and priorities. Think of it as an interview condensed into one question.

It's made me wonder what I would save...the passport is a good idea! Plus, I think, the necklace my mom made for our wedding, love letters from P, my computer, a few journals, a nightgown P's mom made for me, cowboy boots from my dad, rocks that my mentor brought back for me from her trip to Israel and Greece & my special red high heels. :-)

What would you take?

so....

1

9/21/11

Part of the reason that we are trying this gluten-free diet has to do with a series of awful appointments at the GW hospital and mystery health problems that I am not excited about. My moods go back and forth -- sometimes I'm moping & throwing little pity parties for myself and other times I'm able to acknowledge that of all the places to live when your body throws a temper tantrum, right down the street from a fancy hospital is really not so bad!

Well yesterday I was just too overwhelmed to go alone, so P skipped out on work for a little while and went with me to the Dr.'s office. It was so much better! Plus, I snapped this snazzy picture of my escort in the waiting room.

I told him that he looked like an accountant from 100 years ago. "Exactly the look I'm aiming for," P responded.

It wasn't exactly fun, but dragging P along to the Dr.'s made it about a zillion times more doable.

Thank you.

:-)

come on in!

4

9/20/11

Over the weekend, P and I experienced a monumental moment together....

We finished moving in!

We unpacked the last box and put away the last book. Le sigh. It was amazing.

We are so proud of our little studio apartment. It is 491 square feet of HOME and it could not be better.
So I thought I'd take you on a tour of it today! With a little help from Instagram.

Here is the floor plan:

P and I are in a constant struggle to live more simply----you know, with less stuff that we don't need, & taking up not too much air-conditioned and heated space on this precious little planet. We're not naturals, but we are learning!! It's fun to think about making a space cozy & hospitable & beautiful {so that we are inhabiting art} without so much of the...how to put it....junk. Especially me. Especially clothes! It's been really fun to try to decorate on the cheap -- it really is helping us get creative! {Although if we were forced to go on an Anthropologie shopping spree, I think I know what I'd add to the place!}

Well, welcome to our studio!!

The Office
aka the hallway closet

This awesome zebra stool has solved many apartment problems!

The Bathroom

Mirrors that go all the way across the wall make me feel a bit like a movie star...

The Kitchen

Our Closet

This is my favorite thing: the sleek white shoe holder from Ikea that organizes our lives.

Look! The shoes are so...contained!! P and I each have a drawer.
And it's a good strategy for simple shopping. If there's no more room in the drawer...get rid of some shoes!

The Dining & Living & Bed - Room