living in less than 400sq feet.

Husband and I live in roughly 350 square feet. If that sounds small, our last place was 180, basically a closet, so actually 350 is lovely. This is how it works..



Welcome to our barn. We saw the place on Craigslist, sort of hesitantly went (it didn't show the front otherwise there would have been less hesitation), and instantly fell in love. How could you not? It's an old tool shed the landlord completely redid in the way far back of his property. We are surrounded by old eucalyptus trees that occasionally have iguanas in them (more on that later), roughly 15 sweet chickens, more feral cats than we know what to do with, and the occasional stray exotic parrot. Life is always an adventure.


To the left: the kitchen. Skylights throw plenty of lovely natural light throughout the place. Not so good in August and the house is an oven, however.
To the right: "dining room table" is a loose term, more like bar, art supply desk, produce aisle, wedding topper holder(those cute little lovebirds up there), and of course a place to house a giant amp, cause who doesn't need a giant amp in 350 square feet?

Past the kitchen: the living room, where none of our average height guests can stand up straight(i think it's about 6 feet, this place was apparently built for hobbits) houses our little gas heater, handmade shelves, another guitar, a banjo, more art supplies, Ugandan trinkets, my bone collection, the ring bearer "pillow" i embroidered for our wedding, and husband's closet. Our first home didn't have any closets, this one having two is an absolute dream (i'm very easily pleased as you can tell). And a photobomb by my sister's wedding bouquet.

Upstairs: bedroom, which is too small even for hobbits but it works out. also the stairs slide over so that's neat and fun

From the living room: my one thousand aprons hanging from the front door. All in all having a tiny space is great, you can clean the whole thing in 20 minutes tops, I can't be tempted to buy useless decorations or things we don't NEED, I learn to make do with what I already have, and we can't stay mad at each other and go away into another room cause well...there is no other room. Not that we're ever mad...

Diets and lack thereof

There's always something new. Juice. Don't juice! Paleo. Gluten Free. Raw. None of these are inherently good or bad, despite all the very opinionated soapboxers who have nothing to do but put down other people's idea of healthy eating. I'm just glad that the conversations have shifted its focus from low fat, low carb, low taste, to what's natural and whole. I feel like that's why people inherently don't like 'healthy' foods anyway, cause they eat the ones that are just as processed as the junk food kind, or even more so. For either health or personal reasons, i'm glad that people are starting to care more about food overall in its natural state without unnecessary processing. Being mindful of what you're putting in your body is a beautiful thing. I grew up eating boxed mac & cheese, junk food, canned vegetables, steak steak steak and more steak. Even though I guess I turned out alright (I dunno, you tell me), I am so fascinated with the idea of eating holistically and naturally. Being fully in charge of what I consume now has made me much more aware of everything food companies shove into those cardboard boxes.

One of the simple things I've discovered is instead of looking at the calorie content and nutrition facts, looking at the actual ingredients. Often I would hear people say "oh it has only 2 grams of fat!", but if they had looked at the ingredient list they would have noticed the second one was high fructose corn syrup. And i'm happy to see people slowly shifting towards the latter. Or even better, not buying things in a box at all. It is amazing how easy that is! My new rule of thumb is if I want something sweet/salty/bready, I have to make it myself. It's loads cheaper, my family is only eating ingredients we can pronounce, and most of the time i'm so dadgum lazy I just end up eating a banana anyway. Win win win.

A 'diet' (if you would call it that) i heard about recently is called VB6, or vegan before 6. And I realized that's almost exactly my lifestyle, in my case it's mostly vegetarian though. Eat nuts, whole grains, fruit and veggies for breakfast and lunch, and whatever you want for dinner. You probably think "ohh but it's bad to eat all your fatty foods at night", but after eating wholesome foods all day, your actually probably less likely to binge knowing you can eat what you want every night, not just on a giant binge cheat day one measly time a week. You can enjoy whatever tasty delicious real healthy foods you choose during the day, and then get to enjoy social gatherings to the fullest without worrying about calories. I don't know about you, but that sounds awesome.

All this to say that I got this dream of a blender system and i'll be occasionally posting recipes I make up. I haven't done a juice fast/cleanse as of yet, still researching and deciding which one would the best fit for me(and would hopefully tempt husband to join), but I definitely am a fan of morning juices. Today: one banana, one teeny organic apple, one carrot, some grated ginger, ground flaxseed, and a big bunch of kale.

#morningjuice #hello_juice

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.

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

Living Fully

I started a new book today, (thanks to Rachel for the suggestion!) and I've only gotten a few pages in and realized I probably can't read this on my lunch breaks unless I want everyone to see me weep like a little girl.  

In the opening chapters alone she honestly lays out what a lot of us are scared to admit even to ourselves, or at least I know for a fact I do. In the midst of incalculable loss,we can begin to question whether God is truly good, whether he really has our best interests at heart. With all the terrible slayings happening this past year, it's definitely something that sneaks into our mourning hearts. In our heads we know the answer, the one that most of us have grown up hearing in church pews. But it's our hearts that bleed and cry out...why. And how do we respond to that? Like her, I "hunger for filling in a world that is starved'. And I wonder how, in the midst of often mediocre, day to day living, to "live fully so I will be fully ready to die". Sometimes these things aren't even in my conscience, and yet I know deep down I worry over them. 

Now that I have to get back to work, teary-eyed and all, I am anxious to discover what she discovers about God's unending grace and love and perfect plan for his people. Keep you posted. And if anyone wants to start a book club, get at me, bro.

Dare to live an emptier, fuller life.