Weekend

Though there were plenty of moments where I felt like I was drowning in lecture notes and index cards, there are several reasons why this weekend has been fabulous so far. First of all, it is perfect outside. The kind of whether where you can't help but spend to much time out digging in the dirt and preparing seeds to go in the ground. I actually really love the winter, but partly because of these weekends where you realize how incredible 60 degrees feels and how great it is to go for a brisk walk with just a t-shirt on with the mild possibility of actually getting some sun. Mmmm, bring on the vitamin D.

Anyways, a few highlights from this weekend...



Getting some good study time out on the front porch.


I LOVE fried eggs on english muffins!




Even managed to get a little pleasure reading in.


Now it's Sunday and I have successfully saved a large portion of my studying for these next 24 hours. So it's back to this...

Happy Birthday!

This may be a testament to how lonely I am for my best girl friend....

Happy birthday to my darling friend Kim! I've never met someone who makes me laugh so freakin hard that I am gasping for air and who radiates grace and love with everything that she does.

Now for the fun stuff. Just a couple of pics in remembrance of some of our best and worst times.


DC Cherry Blossoms - 2010


Buena Vista, CO - Summer 2005


Gauley River Trip - Fall 2006


San Antonio, TX - Spring 2009


Thailand Elephant Ride - Spring 2006


Who knows??





Summer 2007

Morning Glory

I just have to share this muffin recipe that I have been obsessed with this month. I found it thanks to one of my favorite baking blogs, Joy the Baker. These are muffins that help to get me out of bed in the morning...perfect for sitting down with a cup of coffee to read the news.

Here's the recipe: http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/02/gnarley-muffins/

FYI: I substituted whole wheat flower for the flax seed meal and oat bran (because I didn't have any), and I used 1 mashed banana and 1 apple instead of 2 shredded apples.

May your morning be glorious:)

Winter Routine

It is bitterly cold outside, which means that much of our time has been huddled under blankets with lots of wonderful books (the exception being those textbooks and notecards that make it in from time to time).

One of my Christmas presents that quickly became an all time favorite.



Finding a routine in the winter is a big challenge for me. I have high hopes of cooking a lot, having friends over, exercising daily (ha), tackling projects around the house, etc., but we have already reached the end of january and what have I accomplished?.....please refer to sentence #1 of this post.

We did make it outside today for a long walk around Hyattsville. We still love meeting new neighbors and this most frequently happens when we are out for a stroll. I have also found that these are the times when we talk about the future and all of the small things that we look forward to.

Today's topics: Bees, Chickens, Garden, Missoula, and Graduating

p.s. I am going to post pics of our latest projects soon, but here is a glimpse of my favorite space.

i am thankful for every minute i have with this person.

Joyful Joyful...

We just returned from 2 amazing weeks with family split between Chattanooga and Dallas. Oh the joys of being a student and looking forward to the end of a full semester. We relaxed on the couch for much of the time with good books (Harry Potter) and hot chocolate by our side...The rest of our time can be summed up as follows: SNOW!, laughter, dominoes, chickens, walks, frisbee, gumdrops, good wine, dear friends, and lots of caroling.

Enjoying the spectacular snow on Christmas day.


Adam spent 30 min letting Susie Q play with his hair. I was suspicious that he was mainly in it for the free head massage, but it was adorable nonetheless:)


Dad and Adam surprised us all with 4 hens and a rooster on Christmas. They were lovingly named Chester (rooster), Betsy, Sadie, Audrie, and Petunia and have already begun to lay eggs.





Contentment


We resumed our annual tradition of building delicious gingerbread houses that were dripping with gum drops and peppermint sticks.


I wish we could spend more time with these two. We laugh a lot together.

Home Sweet Sweet Home

Two weeks have passed and we laugh at how much we have grown in such a short time. Can we just throw it out there that purchasing a home is no easy feat...and at times (over the past 2 weeks), we thought that it might just be impossible at this point in our lives. However, after an exhausting number of phone calls (with some rather nasty words exchanged), signing our life and future children's lives away, and many moments of feeling defeated, we were handed the precious keys to our new home on Sept 30th.

Balancing the stress of two full-time grad school schedules and purchasing a new home, all while having to pack up and move out of our beloved rental, was a bit more than our 25 and 27 year old minds could tolerate. Many tears were shed and expletives shouted, but somehow it has made the joy of completion even sweeter.

I realized a lot of things about myself through the process...one being that I have some sort of mental block towards asking for help. In spite of my insistence that Adam and I were fine and would get the packing, moving, cleaning, etc. taken care of, our friends insisted on being there for us. Last Thursday, we skipped class (a big no no in PT school) and bonded over the smell of pinesol, ammonia, and windex as we tried to make the deadline of our inspection.

We scrubbed nasty floors. We vacuumed up cobwebs. We ate cold pizza. We danced to Glee. We dodged the rain. We had a hell of a lot of fun.

I will post more pictures soon, but for now...here is our new adventure.