Gray

Poor black. It used to be the go-to color. Now it's gray this and gray that. Wanna guess who's wearing gray eyeliner and gray pants today?

Years ago, I didn't like gray. I thought it was sad and dreary. The new shades are almost cheerful. They are multi-tonal, textured, lighter, and brighter. When I wear them, I feel contemporary and hip. No, not hippy...hip, as in cool.
I often pair it with turquoise, eggplant, ballet slipper pink, coral, or white. But I always end up with black shoes.

What color shoes do you wear with your gray slacks or skirts?

Hey Hey

It's been awhile since I last posted. I had a raincloud hovering for awhile, but the sun's rays broke through, and now I'm singing a happy tune.

Oh no, not I
I will survive
as long as i know how to love
I know I'll stay alive
I've got all my life to live
I've got all my love to give
and I'll survive
I will survive

HEY HEY!

Butter Dish

Growing up, we had a small crock with a lid that was near the toaster, so there was always soft butter for toast. Not being much of a toast person, I primarily use butter for cooking. So for the past years, I've always had a stick of butter on the counter near the stove. It's not exactly house beautiful, but I was waiting for just the right dish.

One day, a friend told me about this cute milk maid butter dish from Anthropologie. I looked it up and was daydreaming about the yellow one. Then I snapped back to reality where no-way, no-how is a crinoline-wearing milk maid going to sit on a counter in the same room where my manly man eats supper. So I continued looking at the search results and found this.

http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=873278&navAction=jump&search=true&parentid=SEARCH_RESULTS
(Can someone hook a sister up with how to make a pretty link or add the link to the photo?)

Can I just tell you how wonderful this butter dish is? We have cobalt Fiestaware, but our kitchen is red, so it incorporates both. And if I ever get a green kitchen, I'll be set.

So it's sitting on the counter, my manly man, who does appreciate coordinated design elements, looks over and says. "That's a nice butter dish. Good purchase."

My heart soared, my face beamed, and I replied, "Thank you. How about steak for dinner?"

Revitalization

We found some rockers at a yard sale and borrowed a sander from a friend. I started with the 80 grit paper, but it just wasn't doing the trick. We upgraded to 60 grit, and I noticed an immediate difference. A couple hours of work, and we've got the beginnings of a beautiful pair of chairs. Our neighbor, who is everything wonderful anyone could wish for in a neighbor and who will hereafter be referred to as Mr. Neighbor, brought over his detail sander for us to use. It fits between the slats. Joy!

There is something so soothing about sanding off the old layer and revealing the beauty underneath...and the feel of a power tool in my hands is nice, too.

Pioneer Woman Recipes

I had a brilliant idea to cook and blog all of the Pioneer Woman recipes. But since they are added so frequently, that creates a moving target. So I'll just start making at least one per week and see where that leads me...to the gym.
Two weeks ago, I made the pot roast. It was the best pot roast I have ever made. May potatoes and onion soup mix never grace my crockpot again. The juice poured over the mashed potatoes was sublime, and the whole meal made my lunch guests wax poetic. It was a promising start.
Last week, I tackled Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich. My man said, "You could make this every week!" The meat was a little tough for me, but I sliced in a hurry, so maybe the meat was sliced parallel instead of perpindicular.
My husband is now noticing friends' fb posts about her recipes, and I have been granted free rein cook any PW recipes.
Tonight, we had tacos. He cooked the meat, so I'd have plenty of time to make Pico de Gallo. I went ahead and made some guacamole, too. It took about twenty seconds. The plastic cup method has revolutionized my guacamole making forever. I used leftovers to make the Mexican Layer Dip.
I'm well on my way. :)

Two Different Worlds

Growing up, I was educated in proper grammar, elocution, good manners, and the like. Apparently, I even coerced my college buddies into using perfect manners and required them to use different forks for each course. People thought I was a snob, but surely I wasn't...I just didn't approve of anything I considered to be low class or coarse.
And then I met my husband and knew that life would never be the same without him. We were engaged, and as we prepared to spend Thanksgiving with his family, he left me with the following gem...
"You know how your family uses china at Thanksgiving? Well, we use Chinet." I politely laughed, and then saw his face and understood that this was not a joke. And my world shifted. And ever since, I have been trying to reconcile the proper Southern belle with the fun-loving country girl. And I've decided I prefer a healthy dose of both.

Let's Glide, Not Plod

Years ago, I walked around the house balancing books on my head, always conscious of my posture. Now, I plod on in a hurry, paying no mind to proper positioning, and then wonder why I'm not pleased with the reflection in the glass.
A recent experience caused these memories to surface, and today I walked taller and straighter. I sucked in, lengthened my spine, held my shoulders back, and rediscovered how to glide.

Tuna Croquettes

I am a food snob. My husband and daughter are not. I created this dish tonight, and the response was, "Can you make this twice a week?" Um, probably not. But's it's a great option when I haven't thawed any meat and don't have other plans for dinner. And it's much cheaper than fast food. If I make a salad, I can pretend it's a spa lunch. Until someone asks for more tuna fish patties.

Lemon Pepper Croquettes (Fancy Tuna Fish Patties)
1 6oz can Safcol Lemon & Pepper Tuna
1 sleeve saltine crackers, crushed... See More
2 eggs
2 T vegetable oil
Heat oil in a skillet until sizzling. Mix ingredients together and form into palm-sized patties about 1/4-1/2" thick. Pan fry a couple of minutes on each side. Pick your favorite condiment and add a dollop, zigzag, or monogram to make it fancy. :)

The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow

...singing, "Just thinkin' about tomorrow clears away the cobwebs and the sorrows 'til there's none. When I'm stuck with a day that's gray and lonely, I just stick out my chin and grin and say,..."

Hope comes in waves, and especially with the upcoming holiday, it's tough. Yet still we wait, hoping and praying that God will move on our behalf.

Colors That Make Me Happy

So, I've been told the colors I like are like Easter eggs. I pulled all the colors I like, and sure enough, they do. Happy Easter!

Heirloom Tomatoes

There will be heirloom tomatoes this summer. We purchased an Upside-Down Tomato Garden, and I needed to buy the plants. After a little research, I discovered that Houston Plant and Garden carries Chef Jeff's Heirloom Tomatoes.

These varietals have been grown for generations and are not GMO. They also taste better, look cooler, and cost less than I expected. Each plant was a dollar and some change. That certainly beats $5.99 at the grocery store or highway robbery at a foo-foo restaurant.

Unabashedly Pink

I like pink and flowers, and that's okay with me.

Mikey

I can't tell you how many times I've heard the story. I've told the story myself more times than I can count, because it's funny and ironic.

Mrs. Glockson was Nicholas's teacher. She called him "Nick". When my mom insisted that he be called by his given name, she said, "Well, he'll just have to get used to people shortening his name." Years later, we were in Colorado on vacation and ran into Mrs. Glockson in the store. She told my mom she had a son named Michael.

"And how is little Mikey doing?" my mom asked.

Mrs. Glockson indignantly replied, "It's not Mikey, it's Michael."

The perfect response would have been, "Someone once told me, 'He'll just have to get used to people shortening his name."

Instead, she combined a "Hmmmmm" with an eyebrow raise, and assumed Mrs. Glockson got the point.

Guess who I accidentally found on Facebook today? Michael Glockson

The Multitasking Merry-go-round

It is fun when it first starts spinning, the world floating by like a cloud. Then the spinning gets faster and faster, objects start to blur, and it by the time you realize it's going too fast, there's no way to safely get off. So you hold on tight to the cold metal, close your eyes, and feel your stomach start to churn...

When will I learn to say "no"?

Still Waiting...

It is easy to get frustrated when we think about the amount of time it is taking, but then I think about my daughter. She is somewhere in Texas, going to school every day, wondering if someone will choose her to be a part of her family.
“Hang in there, Princess, we’re doing everything we can. And your grandmother is already making your Christmas stocking, just in case.”

Burt's Bees

My Burt's Bees order arrived today, and I am aglow with excitement.

Endless concoctions involving sunflower seed oil, coconut oil, and olive oil mixed with various other glorious oils from nature. So many different products that nourish your body with real ingredients.

I'm not sure why I'm so romantic about it all. Perhaps it's the smell. Growing up, when we went to the Barretts' to help harvest apples, it smelled like apples. When we walked along the fencerows cutting asparagus, it smelled like grass. When the sky clouded over and began to rain, it smelled gloriously like rain.

What do I smell these days? When I walk downtown, I smell the lack of public facilities for the homeless. At work, I smell my designer perfume, the institutional pink soap found in all bathrooms, and the last bit of coffee someone left that is now burning onto the bottom of the pot.
At the grocery store, I smell nothing, because all the flavor, smell, and nutrients have been bred out of the produce to maximize profit.

Why do I love Burt's Bees? For the same reason I love Mrs. Meyer's cleaning products, going to the farmer's market, and getting raw milk. Because it's real, and it's honest, and it gives me hope that a smidgeon of those qualities still remain in our fake, sterile world.

We're expecting!

We're expecting! We'll find out in a month or so the gender, exact age, etc. Right now we are excited, making plans, and trying to prepare ourselves and our families.

We want to expand our family, and God has led us in this direction. Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows that I have always wanted to be a mother, and anyone who really knows my husband has seen his compassionate heart. There is no other route to parenting that fits us better.

Just as any parent expecting their first child, we know there will be trying times and sleepless nights. But in time, when our child looks at us with trust and says "I love you" for the first time, it will be a moment we will forever remember.

I pray that our family and friends will support us as we become parents and welcome this new addition into our circle with open arms, hearts, and minds.

Away too long

I dreamed about hula last night. In my dream, I was in the dressing room, getting ready for this week's impact skit for children's church, and I heard Hawaiian music playing, so I started dancing. You often don't know how much something means to you until it is absent. The next few weekends are full, but I'm hoping to start back the first week of July. Three months may be a relatively short time, but it feels like ages.

Aloha

It seems like forever since I've posted and forever since I've been to hula. 2008 definitely has been a different year from the start. JT switched to full-time school, and I added part-time school. It was quite the challenge for me after so many years of mental atrophy, and I had to cut tennis, biking, German, and hula. I stopped shopping for groceries and cooking, so I put back on the fifteen pounds I had worked to take off.
The semester is over, and it is purely God's grace that has brought us through. Now comes the summer, and I am doing my best to not add too much to my plate. When stuff gets piled too high, eventually it all comes crashing down.
There are so many things I want to do! I must proceed slowly with caution and pray for wisdom.

Hilo morning

The weather this morning reminds me of my first day in Hilo...
We arrived in Kona the previous afternoon and awoke at 3am, ready to face the day. It was Ironman, so all the roads on that side of the island closed at 5am. It sprinkled off and on all the way over to Hilo. We speculated through the dark what the area would look like in the light. We saw the stop signs in Waimea that read, "WHOA". It struck me as funny. Most people would probably imagine Texans having signs like that, since we all wear cowboy hats and ride our horses to work. Preconceived generalizations are a powerful thing.
Anyway, we pulled into Hilo and headed for Ken's for breakfast. The banana mac nut pancakes were delicious, and we tried all the different syrups on them. The portugese sausage was absolutely fantastic, as well. And, of course, POG to wash it all down. It was sprinkling and overcast when we went in. It was pouring when we left. My sweetheart pulled the car up to the door so I wouldn't have to be absolutely soaked. I had originally planned on watching the sunrise from Coconut Island, but it was too overcast. We drove over to Lili`uokalani Park. The rain had stopped, so we walked around. There were several people out for their morning walk or jog, all with umbrellas in hand. The bay was gray, but it was still beautiful.
So as I sit here at my desk, listening to IZ, looking out at the hazy, drizzly sky, I can almost smell the air. Hey, let's go to the produce market tomorrow and pick up some mangoes and orchids.