C is for Cookie... and Cherokee... and Church... and Cold!

Yesterday was unusual and excellent for several reasons.

1) Todd and I went to brunch at a little vegetarian diner with some of the August Gate crew. They had a full spread of things like hash browns and veggie crumble sausage (not bad) green curry with brown rice, brocolli cheddar quiche AND creme brulee french toast. Ridiculous.

2) After brunch, the boys split and the girls and I (there were 6 of us) strolled down Cherokee Row (the same street the diner is on) to browse the dozens of retro/vintage/folk art/antique shops and partake in the Cherokee Row Cookie Spree. All the shops handed out various cookies, coffee, hot apple cider (and one sweet old British man who owned an antique bookshop offered us some sherry too :). So we strolled the streets, sipping cider and eating cookies and trying to decide if anything was really a good deal.

3) I found several good deals. :) First, this table:

An adorable little shabby chic find, it goes perfectly with the colors of our living room (olive green, chocolate brown, cream and this orange). $20 bucks.

And...

Yay records! They were $2 a piece and the Stevie Wonder album is actually a 3 record anthology. SO. Awesome. The other ones that are harder to see are Mahalia Jackson's Sweet Little Jesus Boy (Christmas album that was a favorite of my Mom & my Mudear), the Jazz Masters (a classic jazz "mixtape", feat. Armstrong, Ellington, Basie, Goodman, Holiday, Hines, etc.), Peaches & Herb and the soundtrack to "My Fair Lady".

I also got a huge bag of vintage buttons, which I intend to use for various crafty things. Anyway, it was so much fun spending time with the girls and eating cookies.

3) August Gate is always a high point of the week :) it was our first Christmasy service and it was great to see everyone. After church, we had planned to go see The Civil Wars and Seabird at Cicero's, but I was worn out and Todd wasn't feeling great either. So we went home. I fixed us soup and sandwiches, we listened to some of our new records and then we watched Away We Go. About 1/2 way through, it started snowing. Pretty. :) It was a good night.

Speaking of my sweet, sick husband-- we gotta head out to the clinic, so I'll post again later.

What Do You Think?

Do you think that in Heaven, we'll have any recollection of life on Earth?

I assume we will, though I could easily be mistaken...

I think that the ability to remember our past life on Earth would make us that much more appreciative of Heaven. And perhaps we'd forget Earth eventually... but I wonder if we'll remember any of our old life and events on Earth, or if we'll just recognize people and know that we love them.

But to counter that, I wonder if there will be people in Heaven we recognize from Earth, who we still won't want to associate with. Will all wrongs be forgotten? Will all slates suddenly be clear? Will we pass through a "force field of forgiveness" and suddenly be reconciled with all the believers we had beef with on Earth?

I just wonder...

The Muses of St. Louis

I've become ridiculously domestic.

I mean, yesterday, I made lunch for my hubs to take to work, cut out two stockings (to be sewed on Saturday at a Christmas craft party) went grocery shopping, came home, made dinner for myself, cleaned the kitchen, spray painted our "Christmas Tree", made a batch of earl grey tea cookies, and then hand-sewed 5 Christmas ornaments!

I don't know where this came from. It's like I turned 25 and met Todd and realized I wanted to spend my life with him, and then slowly turned into Good Housekeeping McGee.

Well, more like Real Simple McGee or Domino McGee.

Actually, I can't put this on Todd... ever since working at Saffire and becoming work BFF's with Vinny, I've become kind of a foodie. I like new crazy things, but I love good comfort food. From every genre. I want to know how to make all of it and I want to feed everyone so they can experience it and love it too!

Also, since moving to STL I've found myself surrounded by a LOT of supercrafty women, juggling jobs and families and new mommyhood with a passion for creativity. Anyway, being around them has reawakened this part of me that wants to bust out the sewing machine and learn how to knit and DIY decorate my whole house. I mean, my mom has always been into things like that, and the two of us together tend to be pretty creative... but I feel like that part of me fell dormant for awhile, covered by college life or a full-time waitress gig and all the bustle of Music City.

But here... now... my house is my own. If I don't decorate it and cook in it, it will be filled with taupe walls (maddening, NOT soothing!) and ketchup packets and craigslist items (most of which are great. Todd is an excellent craigslist scout.) And I'm inspired! The creative ladies I know are all strong, hard-working women and great wives who love the Lord and are dealing with life just like everyone else. They take pride in their work and their great food and their households. And they've made me realize that these various forms of expression are not only enjoyable, but necessary.

I used to stay up really late every night. It wasn't uncommon for me to trade emails with my creative partners-in-crime after 2am. It was a regular occurrence for me to fall asleep in front of a word document covered in a character analysis or running dialogue or musings about my own future. But things are different now. I've merged my life into someone else's and even my sleeping schedule is not my own. I don't think it ever will be again.

I find myself dreaming as much as ever, but never getting much down on paper or screen. These days, my creative releases show up in my house decor, the color of my walls, my unpacking/organizational endeavors, my attempts to be thrifty with food other household purchases, the color palette on my eyes, the outfits I put together or-- my personal favorite... probably todd's too-- in the food I put on the table.

Also, I'm pretty sure that in the next few weeks, I'm going to chop off most of my hair. My real hair. But that's another blog post.

I guess what I'm saying is that my creativity is evolving... nothing has been lost... but there are definitely new facets.

And how about that, I'm actually spelling the word definitely correct on purpose.

it is a new era indeed.

Comidas

Okay, just to let you know, I've set a quiet, personal goal of writing 31 blog entries this month. I've tried to do this lots of times before and it hasn't happened. But I really need to write something every day and I really hope this month will be different. I'm just going to write when I'm feelin it. About whatever I feel like writing about... hence 2 posts in one day.

Just wanted to offer a quick cooking tip for-- anyone, really.

I'm a decent cook, but a messy one. I don't do time limits. I can't. I really, generally have no idea how long it'll take me to make something. And I usually leave the kitchen looking wretched, regardless of what I cook. So anytime I find something that helps me organize my time while cooking, I'm into it.

So here's my favorite simple, helpful hint as of late:

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. This is KEY. Don't put anything in there until its heated through. Otherwise the timing is all off.

• Get a glass pyrex pan and lightly grease the bottom of it. Then take any chicken breast, thawed or semi thawed (actually I'm pretty sure it'll work frozen too, I just haven't tried it), lay it in the pan and sprinkle it with your favorite seasoning (taco seasoning, lemon pepper, garlic, thyme and rosemary, cajun seasoning, whatever you want). Cover it with aluminum foil.

• Stick it in the oven for 25-35 minutes (30 is a happy medium for me, but it depends on your oven). In 30 minutes, you will have juicy, delicious, mouthwateringly fantastic chicken to put with whatever sides you can make in 30 minutes. Plus, while the chicken is cooking, you don't have to think about it!
  

My past 2 experiences with this have been amazing. The first, I did taco seasoning and topped it with salsa before I baked it. In 30 minutes, I heated up a can of black beans and microwaved a 90 second bag of spanish rice. When I took out the chicken, I sprinkled it with cheddar jack cheese. Yummy!

Today, I used thyme and lemon pepper with a little lemon juice. While it cooked, I made bow tie pasta and peas, mixed 'em up and seasoned it with olive oil, chicken broth, lemon juice, thyme, garlic salt, lemon pepper and sea salt. Took the chicken out, sliced it and laid it over the pasta. SO delicious.

Just thought I'd share. :)

Bumpy Road

About a week and a half before Thanksgiving, Todd and I did something we assumed was unthinkable in our first year of marriage. We applied for a loan to purchase a car, a black, all-wheel drive, 2003 Honda Element, with 115,000 miles on it. It's exactly the kind of car we need, for moving gear, for carpooling, for traveling with a pet and for navigating the treacherously snowy/icy streets of St. Louis when the winter hits.

We're blessed to have two functioning vehicles at the moment, but during this vehicular transition time, all kinds of roadblocks emerged.

First, because of various lacks of credit, employment and a vehicle with over 100,000 miles on it, no bank wants to give us a loan. We're denied multiple times, even as the kind men at the dealership rearrange our application to try and work something out. We're sad because it's too expensive to fly to Texas, so this puts us in the gold Civic for 10 hours. There are a lot worse things, but I hated to tack that mileage onto our one high-functioning car.

Second, one week before our scheduled road trip, I hydroplaned in the gold Civic. Right into an exit ramp sign. I cracked the radiator and caused roughly $4500 worth of damage. We opted to get the car fixed and pay the $500 deductible upon pickup. But its not scheduled to be finished until Dec. 7th.

Then, there's Jade. Her engine has been growling and grumbling like metal in a garbage disposal for weeks now. She's okay for Todd to drive to and from work, but she's basically banned from long distances. So a few weeks ago, this Bosnian kid who works at Coldstone next to Todd's starbucks tells him that for $800, he'll buy the car as is and turn it into a racecar. So we print out paperwork and have everything ready to make the sale. On the day of my accident, the kid comes in with $800 in his hand to buy the car. However, his dad determines that since the car doesn't have power steering, it's not worth it. They walk out and the severe disappointment is mutual.

So Jade and I do that awkward, post-goodbye, "Hey! Thought you were leaving?" "So did I!", reunion thing. I peruse car rental discounts and wonder how in the world this is going to go.

Then, two days later, the call comes in. Miraculously, we got the loan for the Element. We are in shock and unbelievably grateful. We travel about 100 miles in one day getting the paperwork signed and picking the car up. We pull over into a parking lot and get out and fold all the seats up and down and marvel at our little transformer. We name him Rufio. We are so happy and can't believe we get to drive to Texas in our dream car. :)

Then, the day before our trip, my phone completely freaks out. The touch screen has a meltdown and the entire contraption is just batty and unresponsive. I take it to the Sprint store, hoping they can fix it. While I am there, some dude hits on me and I have to flash my ring at him. Sprint takes my phone, and gives me a old, loaner flip phone... which is nice of them, except that it has no texting. And of course, no internet or GPS.

We pick it up Friday morning. Todd calls in favors to get out of work earlier on Tuesday so we don't have to leave for Dallas at 4am on Wednesday morning. Everything works out beautifully and we're scheduled to leave at 9:30am, Tuesday morning.

The phone rings.

It's Todd's manager, who's on vacation. Due to bad decision making on one of the other staff members parts, Todd ends up having to wait around all day and go in to work from 3:30pm-5pm, thus delaying our trip by a considerable amount of hours. I sit in Starbucks, waiting, brooding and slowly realizing that despite all the setbacks, I really have SO much to be thankful for. (I was going to write a blog about it, but I ran outta time because in the next moment, my phone rang, telling me my new Instinct had arrived and I could come pick it up. For free. Praise the Lord!)

We drive to Texas in our new ride on Tuesday night. We have an amazing thanksgiving weekend with my family. We drive back to STL, full and happy and grateful-- trusting the Lord for all the little frustrations that will work out in His perfect time.

Growing Pains

A couple nights ago, we arrived home from Dallas after driving for 10 hours. We left Dallas at 5:15, so we didn't roll into STL till around 3am. Our car was packed full of stuff from my parents insisting upon boxes of things we "needed" to have in our new place. (Most of it was my old stuff that they've been waiting years to be rid of.) We listened to a lot of different music on the road, but for some reason, Michael Jackson's "Rock With You" had stayed glued in our heads the entire time. If ever there was a lull, one of us would mumble "feel that beat... and we can ride the boogie..."

Anyway, we pull up to the house, running on caffeine fumes and I insist to Todd that we unload the car now. There have been far too many window bashings in the past few weeks to leave our beautiful, brand "new" vehicle stocked with thief bait.

So we unload the whole car, hauling food, Christmas decorations, luggage, boxes, art supplies, pillows, sleeping bags and a vintage accordion up two flights of stairs. By the time we finish, we are exhausted. We fall into bed around 3:45am and both settle in, snuggling our pillows and brushing our toes together, which has become a habit.

Suddenly Todd pops up and looks at me.

"I have the Growing Pains theme song stuck in my head."

I laughed at him for a second, and rustled through my theme song memory bank, which was very fuzzy considering the hour, to try and remember. Finally, I hit on something.

"Is that the one that goes, "Show me that smile again..."

Todd: "Oooh show me that smile..."

Together: "Don't waste another minute on your cryin..."

We proceed to sing through the entire song very dramatically, (fudging only a couple of words), all the way to "sharin the laughter and-- sharin the laughter and looooooove." Then we both crack up and fall asleep.

I love my life. :)

It's early... well, it was...

I've been up since about 6:17 AM, cooking greens for thanksgiving lunch at the rec center. Apparently, after cooking the bacon and onions and cayenne pepper, I'm supposed to throw the greens in and boil them in apple cider for 3 hours.

I bought 6 pounds of greens from the market last week. Six pounds. I pulled all the leaves off the stems yesterday while watching the cast of NINE be interviewed on Oprah. I cut them up and washed them three times. No small task.

And now I'm up. It smells like bacon and apple juice. I think I put in too much cayenne pepper. But it works. I thought I'd go get back in bed with my husband, but I'm too afraid of our gas stove to leave it by it's onesie for three hours unattended.

So laid on the couch and watched the sky lighten up. I looked for a replacement for Todd's beloved, dilapidated Jack Purcell's online, even though we can't afford them right now. I researched natural hair styles and salons in St. Louis to help me in my upcoming transition back to my "napptural" hair. I'm sort of terrified. I have no clue how to maintain that, (especially in the snow?!) but I'm gonna give it a shot before I just cut all my hair off.

I stirred the greens.

I drank some orange juice. I answered the phone and the door at 7:10 when Emily came by to drop off her stuffing for the rec center before she leaves to teach school. It's gonna be a great event there today. 250-300 kids and old folks, coming for a buffet thanksgiving lunch at the local rec center. We set up tons of tables and chairs there last night and they've been cooking food since yesterday.

Yesterday, Todd sent out message into the Twitterverse, asking if anyone has connections at UMSL in the HR dept or otherwise. (I've got 3 applications in over there, 2 positions I could actually use my degree for). Last night, a totally random dude (who turned out to be a professor) emailed him and happens to be a good friend of another professor in the media department, which is precisely the department I applied in. After come conversation, we sent him my resume. So we'll see how it goes! If it works, I'll probably sign up for a Twitter account out of sheer gratitude.

Also, I broke our good car on Tuesday. Hydroplaned into the exit ramp sign on the highway. I'm fine. But I smushed the radiator. And the hood. Car's in the shop. Thank God for State Farm, but our deductible is no joke either. I really need a full-time job.

On the other hand, my part-time gig is going great and I'm VERY grateful for it. I'm a Brand Ambassador for Coke Zero. Which translates to, I load up giant coolers at university events and concerts and smile and hand out cans of Coke Zero to anyone who will take it. It's fun and the crew I work with is great. I'm very grateful for the income.

Time to stir the greens. I think two hours might actually be enough time, my stove is pretty beastly.

Also, I've pretty much peaced out on Nanowrimo. I'm never going to catch up. But maybe I'll upload the words I have, just for kicks. 3000! Woot! But good on all of you who have pushed through, maybe I'll join your ranks next year.

Okay, I think the greens'll be done in 36 minutes or so. And since it's soggy and gray outside, I'm gonna go crawl back in bed for a bit.

Speaking of countdowns that begin around the number 36... Christmas. 35 days. So crazy!