On being 25

No not me. Husband turned 25 yesterday. And even though that's not really an 'old' age, I still thought that life would have been very different by the time we got here. How time creeps up on you. But this isn't about being old, it's about husband! Here are 25 reasons I love him, i'll try to not make it too mushy:

-He does the dishes cause knows how much I loathe them (i'd rather clean the toilet).
-His middle name is Laurence, I just think that's so cute.
-He is hands down the most creative person i know. I feel bad, I kind of loan him out to friends for creative projects, but I just love seeing his handiwork! And I pay him in cookies and pancakes.
-I love cooking with him. It's so relaxing and satisfying to create a meal almost silently, knowing what the other is going to do and how they're going to do it. Often the recipes are completely made up and although simple, those are my favorite.
-We both get just as obsessed at good television.
-I love that he always always has music playing. I usually forget about music completely, or can't think of anything good to play, and he somehow always picks some slightly obscure tune that fits perfectly with the day. Lately: this song
-His mustache. Self-explanatory.
-He doesn't mind that I fall asleep during ever. single. movie.
-It's funny and nice that we are both are kind of against the idea of "favorite" bands, movies, books, etc.
-One time he let me french braid his beard.
-He lets us share our meals...(well, he's still getting used to the idea)
-We have the exact same taste in children's names. Ha. I just hear stories of other people never coming to agreements until they practically have a nameless 6 month old (not really), and ours have been picked out for years and they're still perfect.
-He wears funny socks
-He has even more wanderlust than I do. Next stop: the concrete jungles of New York & Philadelphia.
-I just found out he (illegally!) skateboards all over campus.
-He wants a big beautiful goldendoodle. Can't wait till we have a house that will fit one!
-He doesn't mind that we don't have an iron and all his clothes are always wrinkly (actually he probably does but he's really good at not showing it).
-He waters my plants when I forget, which is pretty much every day.
-He has better handwriting than me.
-He folds sheets better than me.
-He wraps presents better than me.
-He does most things better than me, actually.
-He is always encouraging me to be creative, currently trying to teach me guitar (unsuccessfully so far, i'm a forgetful one)
-He has been the most supportive husband I could possibly imagine, during the fantastic times as well as the low times. I can't imagine going through life with anyone better (I was doing so good not being mushy!)
-He married me! That's a pretty good reason eh?



-R

two of my favorite men, who just so happen to share a birthday.

Dinner Misadventures

I decided to bust out my yeast last night.

Almost 5 years ago I went to Uganda and learned that people have ways of making very delicious things with much less than what was in my parents kitchen that was always stuffed to the brim and yet had nothing appetizing to make. Long sentence short, I had great aspirations to bake bread every day and live more simply. Last night, nearly 5 years later, I opened the bottle of yeast I bought for the first time. 

So I made pizza. Unsure as to whether it was still good, my first attempt at proofing the yeast went awry as I missed the fact you were supposed to put sugar in the water. Fail #1. Second try seemed also unfruitful but there was at least some action so I mixed the rest of the ingredients (oil, flour, salt) and things were lookin' good. I made a HUGE pizza crust, piled it high with fresh mozzarella, kielbasa and sweet potatoes. Excitement began to grow slowly, just like the yeast. Then I looked at the size of my little oven....fail #2. I decided to cut it into two pizzas, and with much difficulty put said pizzas onto their own cookie sheets. I got them onto the sheets with the help of husband, and (tried) to stick them in the oven.

And then I remembered the cookie sheets i'm using, the ones our landlords gave us for a Christmas present (what landlord gives Christmas presents!?), are too big for our oven. Why they gave us cookie sheets that are too big for the oven they know we have is another mystery. But by now, I had stared rather sadly at the cookie sheets that are sticking out of the half shut oven door for too long, and now the sheets were white hot and the dough had already begun to soften. We tried to slide the pizza onto a proper cookie sheet, and I watched it falter and the pizza started falling both slowly and quickly towards the floor, kielbasa strewn and mozzarella dashed of all its pizza hopes and dreams. This is where I just burst into hysterical laughter and instead of being normal people, we threw it back onto the sheet and shoved it in the oven hoping the 450 degrees kills anything gross. 

And it was delicious. And much more fun than going out and getting a pizza.

What did YOU do for dinner?

april and so forth

What a world wind year this has been. I had intentions for this blog to be where I wrote the simple pleasures in life these days, but as the days go by it seems God is causing us search a little harder for such pleasures. Not that they aren't there, they certainly are, but I almost feel challenged to really dig to find the gems. Here are some of them so far.

Our landlords let us get a dog! We have been searching through every single rescue and shelter in orange county hoping to find our perfect little companion. Every single one we have set our hearts on has been mysteriously snatched up two seconds before we get the chance. As our search continues rather fruitlessly, my mom has gotten the itch to get a pup as well. She rescued the most beautiful German Shepherd Dog, she's perfect even though she came to us sick and continually blowing snot and blood out her nose. So while we still hunt, we get to be cool aunts and uncles to Nico.

We're in three weddings in May! (you read that right) And while it might get slightly (ok, really) hectic leading up to it, each one of those days is going be such a blessing, seeing dear friends and my sister marry their one and only! What a gift. It makes me think about how far Ben and I have come since that October morning long, long ago(ahem) when we said our vows to each other, and how much sanctifying they have to look forward to ;)


After all the wonderful craziness that is promised in May, we figured we should take a little breather from life and relax a bit, so we've decided to go to the quaint, quiet town of New York City. For a girl who is ashamed to say she has never been east of Vegas, i'm a little excited.


And i guess the last piece of good news lately is this girl. My very belated birthday present has finally arrived! Ben drew and designed her, an interpretation of a painting by Alphonse Mucha, Czech artist in the 1800's. (Yes she's finished)

I guess I don't have to search very hard after all. 2013 is looking up

-R