Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Shower in Long Beach

My amazing college girlfriends threw me another shower here in Long Beach. Kristin and Morgan planned from afar (Seattle and West Hollywood respectively) along with the amazing Debbie Namain, who opened her home to 17 or so of my favorite women here in Cali.

We had fun with the giant chalkboard Debbies kids use to express their creative selves, played some super original games, and ate some AMAZING food. My favorite game was one where all the guests wrote down answers to questions and I had to guess who wrote the answer. Some examples:
Q: What is one thing the baby will do that will terrify Chelle?
A: "Eat meat while shooting guns."

Q: What is one thing Tim will do that will annoy Chelle?
A: "Film the baby's temper-tantrums instead of helping out"
A: "Only buy squeejay white V-necks"

Q: What is something baby Squeejay will do that will make Chelle proud?
A: "Plant his first plant/garden"
A: "love others well. be generous. recycle."

Here are some photos of the day. It was awesome.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Showered with love

Hi! What do you do when you wake up at 4:30am, an hour before your alarm goes off, and you're starving and you're mind is spinning with what you have to do today?? You blog of course! :)

So Tim and I have been soooo blessed by the generosity of friends and family at 3 different baby showers! We have inherited SO many hand me down items as well from Tim's buddies and their wives growing up and recently a friend at church just gave me about 15 fuzzi buns among other things! (If you're a hippy-greeny type mom your jaw just dropped...I KNOW!)

Our first shower was in Oklahoma and I had NO idea it was happening. We scheduled a trip in August before I had to head back to work for the school year.
On Saturday, Tim and I went to lunch with my second family out there and were all geared up for a day in Guthrie Oklahoma with Christi, Joe and Elle on our way back from lunch. But when Valerie and Maris pulled into my sister's driveway we saw a woman and a small boy running into her house! Me, being a brat sometimes, thought immediately..."what? she invited friends? I just wanted to have family time..." And then we saw the blue balloons blowing around on the lamppost in her yard and it sunk in...it was a surprise shower! I suddenly realized why my sister was so adamant that I borrow a pretty blue dress to wear to lunch instead of my jeans and t-shirt!
I started crying immediately. All of my favorite Oklahoma women were there, some from over an hr drive away. It was really really special.

Here are some photos....of me crying (happy tears), of this awesome OKC firefighter shirt his Great Uncle Chris bought him!, and of some really amazing women. Thanks for giving us such a wonderful gift of love sister. (and mom and aunt becky and gramma too) :)


More to come later on other showers...it's now time to get ready for the work day, and it's FRIDAY! :)

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Home Alone...

Welp, I just dropped Tim off at the airport for his week away for work up at headquarters in Cupertino. Of course, I miss him already and am not quite sure what to do with myself this Sunday morning. Which is super silly because there are several times when he has had to work on a Sunday or a Saturday and I had more to do than I could dream of getting done! I think just knowing that the person your life has become one with is so far away for so long makes you feel a little less like yourself.

BUT! I have resolved to be productive and active and enjoy this week as much as I can while I miss him. I plan to....
1. Order fabric for the baby's room crafts (pillows, curtains, crib bumper, rocking chair covers, changing pad cover)
2. Wrap up the last section of my thesis and send off to my chair.
3. Take norm to the vet to get him on some meds that may or may not have a side effect of "death". We've been holding out and keeping him on a special diet of chicken stew (I had to call my mom to remember how to cook a chicken!) and yogurt...but we're gonna break down and give him drugs if he doesn't get better. :(
4. make a few christmas presents with my crochet hook
5. read lots
6. practice my violin and guitar
7. take no-man (as baby aubrey calls him) on walks to the park
8. try to muster up the energy to cook myself some actual meals...I don't like cooking for 1.
9. figure out the swim hours at cal state's new fitness facility...if i'm gonna pay for 3 more semesters to get lil squeej into the CDC I might as well take advantage of the perks right?
10. face time with the handsome man I love.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Helloooo Norman.



We are crazy people. We got a puppy! He's precious and full of life and will be nibbling your toes one minute, tearing through the house with a toy the next, and will finally collapse in your lap and snuggle. The snuggling also includes some snoring, but it's mostly cute.

We picked him up in Norman, Oklahoma. Hence his name. My mom and grandma watched him for about a week before we got there and I think they thought he was their new grandson (despite the fact that a very human grandson is growing inside me for them to spoil with love). He had a vast array of toys already from his gma and had gotten tons of snuggle time in with them. He was probably traumatized when his new parents made him ride a plane/sit in an airport for 6 hours (layovers suck) after having a big house and a puppy friend to play with for a week.

Now that we're here in Cali he's very much at home with us. We have wanted a dog since we got married but couldn't have one anywhere we lived. So we decided Norm would be Tim's bday present, and our Christmas present to each other. It's been really funwatching him figure out what things are...like stairs, or the shower, or my yoga ball. He put his paws up on it this morning and walked around the living room for a bit like a circus dog. Now if only I could teach him to fetch the mail and pay the bills and fold the laundry....
Here we are on a walk to the bank. He still has some shots to get before he's okay to roam free on a leash in the neighborhood...so we made use of the baby bjorn. He actually loved it. Except when there were other puppies he wanted to go sniff... :)


Sunday, August 21, 2011

Bixby Knolls

So we moved...again...for the last time (we said that last time) until we buy a house!! :)

It was a daunting move because I am, of course, pregnant and couldn't do much heavy lifting and Tim works on the weekends, which is when most of our friends can help, PLUS he has 2 hernias and can't lift much either. So we sent a desperate plea to our friends and were overwhelmed with their love and self-lessness. At one point I ran to get pizza for dinner for everyone and by the time I came home boxes were being UNpacked in every room...and these people only signed up move stuff from one place to the next! We have such amazing friends.

We absolutely love our new neighborhood. We're 2 blocks from Trader Joes, and 4 blocks through the neighborhood to an awesome park with jungle gyms (in oklahoma we call these "big toys", which I never realized was so un-clever until I was made fun of in CA) tennis courts, basketball courts, wide open space, a fenced in dog park, and a duck pond. We can't wait to put squeejay in the stroller and spend time there as a family of 4! Yes I said 4. We'll also have a cute little canine in tow in just a few days! We're also a 15 min walk to our church and live next to some beautiful homes in Bixby Knolls...so walks are fun as we compare favorites and admire beautiful places and gardens.

Here's Tim on our maiden voyage to TJ's for groceries with our granny cart! (soap box moment, I think this this new 10 cents a bag thing rules because people should have been bringing their own bags long ago, BUT I think the 10 cents should go to a non-profit for the environment or community...not back to the stores...they were profitable businesses before the ban on plastic bags and paid for those bags all by themselves...but alas, the rich corporations get richer...k, I'm done.) The last picture is from TJs parking lot and I was dying laughing.



So at my sister and mom's request, here are some photos of the new place...nothing much on the walls yet and squeejay's room is sort of the "where does this go?" room, but we're on our way.

View of the house (it's so easy to call this place a house! it's a building with 4 units, but it's so much more of a home than any of our last places...so we call it our house. :))

Living room shots

Tim's office is the desk + the closet next to the desk. The closet is (almost) entirely his for his business stuff which is a treat for him to feel organized and have his own space. (don't judge blurry pics pls)


My daddy's artwork we found up in my parents' attic last year. How did these treasures go hidden so long!?

Our Bedroom. Planning on ditching the verticle blinds for some nice curtains once the year-long+ search for a duvet I like is successful. So picky I am...

Baby's room! Our friends, Ben and Kim, blessed us so beyond belief with ALL the stuff in the pack and play, and the pack and play itself, and all the books on the shelf, AND more that we just couldn't fit in our car in one trip. We feel so fortunate to have them in our lives. They've given our kid a great start already!

Teensy bathroom!

Dining room with flowers from the lovely Prouty family.

Kitchen. We LOVE the kitchen. I'm pretty sure the previous tenants must have trashed the place because if you haven't noticed yet, with the exception of the bathroom, it's all pretty new. New carpet, new tile, new sink, new stove, new fridge, new granite counter top...so nice.


The "Bar" corner of the dining room.

The AWESOMELY huge backyard! Well, for CA this is big. And we've already hosted some fun times back here with our array of lawn games. Can't wait to host the next bday, shower, BBQ back here. It's such a great space. Our land lady's a gem too and said we can put a garden anywhere we'd like, just as long as we share. :) Hoping to get that underway sometime soon along with a good compost system.


That's it! I'll definitely update as the baby's room gets underway, but here's a sneak peak at some swatches I've been eyeing...



Love, Chelle

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Belly Ethics

I have to say, people are BOLD when it comes to pregnant ladies bellies. I always heard stories of strangers rubbing bellies or asking if they can hold your baby (strangers!!!) but it comes to a whole new level of crazy when you're the one receiving the attention.
The photo is to appease my sister's request...Tim would be appalled at my horrible camera skills, plus you can't smile for real when you're doing a mirror photo like you're a 12 yr old on face book...it feels weird.

Tim and I planned to wait until 12 weeks to let the world know and finally couldn't keep our excitement in that long and started sharing pretty openly around 9 weeks. I'm glad we started telling around then because if we would have waited until now it would have been impossible to know how to react to the following:

@8weeks from a college friend: "your boobs are HUGE! are you pregnant??" (gotta love chelsea's boldness. :))

@10weeks from a co-worker: "I don't mean to insinuate anything, but it looks like you're going through a few changes..."

@12weeks from a stranger on the street when we were looking at her apartment for rent: Me: "oh it's a one bedroom, sorry we need 2", her: "yeah, plus you're pregnant, you don't want to live here this summer it gets way too hot". I don't even know you lady!!!!

@12-14weeks from various co-workers: "are you carrying something?" the oh so bold "are you pregnant", but mostly overhearing me talk about it with another person and then hearing all the "I was going to say!" or "I thought so, but I didn't want to say anything until I knew for sure" types of comments.

@13weeks from one of my therapists: "um, pardon me, but um, congratulations" :) he was so nervous to say anything!!!! :) I guess that's a scary thing to say to your boss.

and my personal favorite so far...
@14weeks from a parent I used to work with and haven't seen in almost a year: "HI! Do you have somethin' goin on down there?", while pointing to my belly.

I've had two unexpected belly touches, but at least from people I know and didn't mind so much...although one tickled my belly and started talking baby talk to it...sort of jokingly but weird nonetheless. I'm sure it only gets better from here on out! :)

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Squeejay's 12.5 week photo shoot!

Are you ready to see the cutest little fetus in my whole uterus!??



^^Mermaid fins!^^


^^fist pump like a rockstar!^^


So, apparently we're having an angry alien baby. EEK! The tech explained to us that bones reflect the most sound waves and his/her skin is still translucent. SO, when squeejay looks right at you (above pic) all you see are the bones under that cute little nose and mouth...which makes our baby look like it's from another planet. But that's okay, we still love you squeej.


Big Money Decisions

Yep, I know it's taboo to talk about money, but 1) if you're reading this I probably know and love and trust you, and 2) people should be more comfortable with talking about money in my opinion. and this is my blog. so there.

SO, with big change comes the need/opportunity to make big decisions in life and for us this has involved some serious numbers crunching.
  • Baby is on the way==>do we need a bigger place? when?
  • Baby is on the way==>my 2 door civic is already uncomfortable for me to get in and out of. Add 25 lbs to that me and then add a baby in a car seat being fit in the back like a tetris piece every day and Tim will have a very frustrated wife who needs lots of backrubs.
  • We don't want to rent forever==>buy a house? when is the right time? how much do we want to spend/do we need?
  • Not 100% positive we want to be in LB long long term==>rent bigger now, buy later when we're 100% sure about things?
  • We HATE our neighborhood right now (crime is skyrocketing, parking's wretched, and we currently have "baby's room" set up right where the dumpster will roll through the alley in the early dawn hours and others will rummage through for cans and finds all night long==>move to awesome 2 bedroom with a yard that Tim found in Bixby Knolls by church??
Phew! Well, we've made a few of these decisions. Yes, we're moving. We find out Monday if we got the place in Bixby Knolls. It's a 4plex, not a 16 unit building. We can have a small dog, a HUGE shared back yard, go on walks in a safe and quiet neighborhood, and PARK OUR CARS!!! and if you're a friend who we invite to visit for dinner, you can park your car too!!!! oh joy, what bliss!!! :) (we currently walk up to 1 mile+ some nights because there are just TOO MANY PEOPLE downtown. and they're angry people. and we're becoming angry people back. we gotta get out.

Tim and I have decided in our marriage to split certain responsibilities up rather than share in every task. and I'm the money manager. Mostly because I'm a control freak. Which can be bad in relationships, but it's a huge advantage when I'm figuring out our budget or calling credit card companies once a month to get a lower rate and a higher line of credit, just cuz I feel like it. Or when I notice a $5 fee that is arbitrary and I march my assertive little self down to chase bank and tell them, no thank you, you can give me my $5 back, thanks so much! with a smile on my face.
I recently found myself having a brilliant idea! (a rare occurrence) and feel compelled to share it here. We accidentally overlooked a portion of Tim's new benefits package that automatically signed him up for health benefits. This is bad because I already have him on mine and with the school district it's free (for baby too! so awesome!), not so bad because Tim's payment is only $30/paycheck. BUT we can't de-enroll til November. :( So we decided, we'd go without something we don't need for the amount of time it takes to make up the difference. Netflix rule, but we don't need it. Plus they just upped their rates by $5 a month. So, back atcha Neflix, we don't need you for 7 months. We'll read books and go on walks and crochet and watch hulu for free once House and Parks and Rec start up again (waiting very impatiently). We decided to do this for every "woops" in our lives. A traffic ticket, you name it. It felt like a really smart and good decision. Kind of punishing ourselves, but also rewarding ourselves long term by staying on budget and reaching our goals on time. :)

We also stopped by the Volskwagon dealership last night. We REALLY REALLY have our eyes set on a Jetta TDI wagon. 48 miles/gal people! lots of room, comfy interior, and 4 doors for the family we're growing into! We spent 2 hours there going back and forth on options to bring our price down, bring our payments down. They tried to get us to lease. Said 0% financing was unavailable on a TDI (which it wasn't when we looked less than a yr ago) and kept telling me we could afford the $470 or $437 payment they wanted me to sign off on. Which was very frustrating for me...they don't know our goals, my student loan bills, our other financial commitments. If I want to give $2000 to charity every month then I can and that's my business. What I can "afford" is entirely up to me, and I wasn't being listened to. I was SO proud of us when we finally said, "well it looks like you've done all you can to make this work for us, but ultimately it's obvious that this car is just beyond our means. It was our ideal car, but we don't need the perfect car, there are lots of options that are thousands of dollars less that we could get better financing on. Thanks so much and have a nice night". It felt good!
On the way home we talked about finishing the last few payments on the honda and selling it by owner to get a bit more for it and...are you ready...sharing one car for a while. Tim's work schedule is 8-5 forevermore so I can totally drop him off and pick him up. We'll save $300 a month without our honda payment + what we sell it for + about $100 on car insurance until we have enough to pay almost all cash or at least a huge down payment for a new car. If we get the apartment we want, it's also less than 10 miles for Tim to ride his bike to work on a nice day. I just want to wait until summer's over so baby and I can have air conditioning through the heat!

Welp, that's all. Just wanted to pat myself on the back for making what we feel were good, wise decisions with the money God's given to us. Now onto disability benefits for maternity leave and finding a good affordable daycare for the spring time! :)

Friday, June 17, 2011

It's Summer!!!

Ok. I know it's not officially summer according to calendars for like, 1 more week, or something. But to me, today was the first day of summer!

1. The kids were out of school. I still had to show up at my office but it was so nice to be at an elementary school and hear absolutely nothing but the soft sounds of my keyboard clicking and the clock ticking.

2. I bought lemonade from a bunch of kids on the way home! This picture isn't of those kids, they were a few years older, and my cup cost 50 cents...but it was tasty!
I'm so excited for beach time, bike rides, sun bathing, gardening, lawn games, yoga on the bluffs, popsicles, and pool parties.

Happy Summer everyone!

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Tim's first Father's day

June 18th, 2011

It's Tim's first father's day tomorrow!We got to see the baby last week on an ultrasound for the first time...it's little heart was pumping and looked like a little radar blip on the screen. It was a moment for me where reality sunk in just a bit deeper. There's a tiny human inside of me! you're the one making me so sleepy and irritable! But how could I be mad at a little lima bean.

Happy Father's Day!!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Just a virus...

blogs are meant for candid, open, spilling of maybe even somewhat embarrassing secretive things...right???

I've been sick for a long time now, about 3 1/2 weeks...I'm in the coughing stage. Fits of coughs that at this point make my abs hurt (at least I'm getting some sort of a work out!) and last uncontrollably for up to 2 minutes as I pray for relief. Here's the embarrassing part. Every time I cough like this, I pee a little. EEk!! My poor pathetic body just can't take it all. Every ounce of strength and energy is spent up as my lungs trying to fight for a deep, clear breath of fresh air and apparently my bladder just doesn't care anymore. Does anyone else have this problem? Am I doomed to the bathroom for the next ? weeks until I'm fully recovered? Sadly? this is just a virus...so despite 2 trips to the doctor's and one 3hr long visit to a clinic, I'm without the magic pills that make everything all better. Just drinkin fluids and resting and researching whether the people behind fuzzy buns (baby re-usable diapers my niece uses) make an adult size.

someone comment so I don't feel ashamed! (christi....please.)

Monday, May 30, 2011

I made a sweater! see?

Clearly it is not for me....and maybe I'm hoping a little baby girl will be needing a sweater this January...if not, we're going to have a pretty lil boy rockin this beauty. Took me about total 16 hours. No joke. First time you do a project is brutal! So much trouble shooting. I'm hoping now that I've learned some things the hard way and re-crocheted about every piece of this sweater 8 times I'll be in a better groove for the next one. :)

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Everyone at work is pregnant!

I swear...as I count down the days until we're telling everyone (still draft blogging ;)) It seems like each new week another woman at work is preggers. Who's going to take care of all the kids at school!!??? They'll just have to fend for themselves I guess. Four of my colleagues are due in November, 1 any day now, and 2 in July, so at least I'll be able to hold down the fort until January or so...I just might call it quits after winter break to be honest...let someone else take over for a bit. :) Even my office mate confessed to me today she wants to get pregnant...but mostly to get out of a crazy caseload and bounce out on maternity leave...also she really wants to for real reasons. :)

Tim's been so sweet. I've had a nasty cold the last 2 1/2 weeks and when I wake up coughing at 3am he goes and makes me a cup of tea and asks me if I need anything...last night he said he was just practicing for when a baby is the one waking us up. Ha! you'll get over that real quick mister. But in the meantime it makes me feel real loved.

There's something in the water...and the air, and the food and the everything.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Oh Baby.

I can't believe I'm JUST getting to "journaling" about this. We've known since, well we suspected, since my birthday...the day our little surprise was made. May 5th a test was negative, May 8th I took another just to be totally sure. Then...on May 14th we got a positive. So at this point, as I write this on May 22nd, I'm already 6 weeks pregnant (confirmed by a blood test at the doc's). He/She is the size of a lentil and is growing ears and a nose and arm and leg buds and is losing his/her tadpole tail right now.

I bolted that same day to get myself some vitamins and some books and have been reading and researching non-stop since! We definitely were not planning on this. We thought we wanted to wait to travel a bit more, let me get my BCBA, hopefully buy a house first....BUT nothing in life is what you expect or plan for exactly. So, we're due January 19th...and we're excited.

For Now, we're calling him/her SqweeJay. It's a silly name Tim came up with a long time ago for his first child someday. Luckily, the name won't stick around after birth...but in the meantime it's a small consolation I'm willing to make to avoid scarring our child for life. :)

So on my to do list:
1. find and move into an affordable 2 bedroom apartment (away from downtown and with parking and on site laundry)
2. OR figure out how to make our 1 bedroom work for the first few months of baby's life and save the extra 600 a month for a portion of daycare!
2. gather up as many hand me downs as we can and figure out what we need to buy
3. decide on a name
4. start swimming at the pool and doing prenatal yoga (already got the yoga goin)
5. tell everyone! (this is just a draft post now...muahahaha I'm so sneaky)
6. buy/borrow some maternity outfits for the fall (I shouldn't be too big for my jeans until late August.)
7. figure out daycare options/nanny options
8. figure out how my whale of a body is going to fit on a plane for Christmas in Oklahoma this yr...(i.e. figure out another plan for Christmas this year)
9. gather up all the wisdom we can about pregnancy, birth, and the first year of parenting from all our friends and family
10. start crocheting some teeny little sweaters for our lil lentil

away we go!

Monday, April 18, 2011

The Wilderness Calls


We're going camping!! It's our anniversary week and my birthday week next week. It's also my spring break and Tim got the whole week off work, so we're heading up to Yosemite. We've never been together before and we cannot wait!! We've spent some bday/anniversary money on some new gear and clothes...I've planned a menu (see very organized chart below)...and we have our guide book with tons of awesome hikes laid out to explore. Now I just have to get through the next week of work as I eagerly await our trip!

Yosemite 2011 Anniversary Trip Menu/Grocery List


Meal

Groceries

Total Quantity

All used for

L1: Mon Lunch

Cheese Quesadillas

Cooked tortillas

10

L1, L3, D2



Cheese

1 large bag

L1, D2, D3, D4

D1: Mon Dinner

Shish kabobs

Mushrooms

6 whole/6 chopped

D1, B1



Pearl onions

6

D1



Zucchini

1choppedL/2choppedS

D1, L3, D4



Bell Peppers

1choppedL/1sliced

D1, L2, L3

B1: Tues Breakfast

Omelets

Eggs

4 raw/4 hard-boiled

B1, L4



Spinach

1 med bag

B1, L3



Onion

1chopped/1sliced

B1, L2, D4

L2: Tues Lunch

Veg Brgr Sandwiches-3

Veggie Patties

3

L2



Bread

24 slices

L2, D3, L4, L5



Hummus

1 container

L2, L3, D3

D2: Tues Dinner

BRC Burritos

Rice

1 container-precooked

D2



Black Beans

1 large container

D2, D4

B2: Wed Breakfast

Yogurt + Granola

Yogurt

4 cups

B2



Granola

1 med bag

B2, B4

L3: Wed Lunch

Veggie Wraps




D3: Wed Dinner

Hot Dogs-4

Veggie Sausage

4

D3

B3: Thur Breakfast

Oatmeal

Oatmeal

4 packets

B3



Dried Fruit

1 small bag

B3, B4, Snacks

L4: Thur Lunch

Egg Salad Sandwiches-4

Egg Salad

Pre-make salad

L4

D4: Thur Dinner

Chili

Garbanzo Beans

½ can (premixed)

D4



Kidney Beans

½ can (premixed)

D4



Diced Tomatoes

½ can (premixed)

D4

B4: Fri Breakfast

Granola and Fruit

Soy Milk

3 cups in container

B4

L5: Fri Lunch

PBJ’s-3

PB & J

Prepackaged

L5

Snacks


Trail Mix

1 bag




Granola bars

4




Marshmallows

1 bag


Drinks

Hot chocolate


12 packets



Coffee


12 oz pre-ground



Creamer


1 container



Wine


4 bottles



Water


5 gallons


Kitchen Supplies


Salt & Pepper





Chili spice mix


D4



Shish kabob sauce


D1

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Goals:

I like writing out my goals. A good friend in college used to always ask me what my goals were and it threw me off guard at first. I was more concerned with the here and now...but then I realized, that way of thinking/living can be so stagnant unless you have someone in your life pulling you forward. So since then, I try to write out my goals. Tim and I did this together last weekend. Here are just a few from the list of things we hope to accomplish before the end of 2011.

Both of us:
1. Start composting again
2. Add 3 more planter boxes with food to the rooftop garden
3. Make all of our Christmas presents
4. Summit 1 14er
5. Ride bikes to church more often (this will be easier now that its spring time)

Tim:
1. Build adirondack chairs
2. Get a passport
3-7 or so are business related stuff for FlickerFilms

Me:
1. Read 1 book a month
2. Finish my thesis!!!!!!!!
3. Enroll for my BCBA
4. Play Handel's concertos for violin well
5. learn photo basics (Tim likes this one especially)
6. relearn guitar cords and 1 song
7. brew kombucha
8. surf a lot this summer
9. be able to do the splits. :)

Here's to living well!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Spring cleaning, gardening, resting, creating, learning.

There are times when I have to think of what to say on a blog and there are times when I have way too many things to pick from to share! My thoughts have been buzzing about and our lives are full with good things, I just love spring and the season of life we are in these days!

Cleaning:
I'm the type of person who actually enjoys cleaning and organizing, not because the task is fun, but because I REALLY enjoy the finished result. Few people can fully appreciate the picture below because I forgot to take a "before" shot, but if you saw our storage room before this past Sunday you saw literally a room that you couldn't walk through. If you took two steps in a row in any one direction you were on top of a pile of something. And then! I convinced Tim that with a little beer and good music it just might be fun to clean. :) We actually had lots of fun finding a place for everything. I actually said when we were finished that I kind of just wanted to hang out up there. Just sit in all the wonderful organization of our camping gear and instruments and luggage and snow sleds and books. :)
Tim and I have this misfortune of both being VERY particular people when it comes to certain things. It's something we both work on especially in our marriage. One of these areas is our aesthetic style preference, but the saving grace is that we both have VERY similar styles when it comes to interior design. :) He got something we've both been oogling for a while.

A mid century modern wall unit. He's badly needed a "proper" work station to be able to edit films and work on his business in the new apartment. So we invested in a few pieces of what we hope will eventually be a full wall unit. It's so pretty!

Here are a few more pics of the place now that we've rearranged a few pieces and gathered up some of our favorite things.














And of course, now that spring is here and we're feeling more settled in our place, we're ready for planting season! These are the winter crops we transplanted (chard and spreckled bib lettuce) plus some basil and a tomato volunteer a friend gave to Tim for the warm season. (ha, warm vs. cold in CA is laughable). Hiding in the back is Tim's project, a bonsai tree. I've learned the fun fact that "bonsai" isn't a type of tree, just a style of pruning/gardening. Any tree or shrub can be a bonsai. This one was sad inside the house, so we're trying to revive its spirits out in the wide open sunshine of our rooftop. This weekend we hope to get about 3 more planters built and filled with veggies and goodness for the spring! Also I have a little succulent garden in the house....probably the only plant that could survive in our little corner by the alley. :)

Our real hope for gardening is to be able to grow almost everything we eat. If you know me well you probably already know this, but when people ask me why I'm a vegetarian the really real answer is "because I'm a Christian". This isn't to say you're a sinner if you eat meat. You're not, and I get into trouble here with quite a few people...but honestly, I don't think that ALL Christians have to come to the same conclusions and life decisions to still be in keeping with scripture. BUT, for me, in today's society with all its complexities and corruptions and complications, the most simple way to be sure that the daily and necessary action of eating food honors God is to be a vegetarian. I won't get into it here...I want to...but I wont.... :)

Other than these small, but lovely things, life is really good. Tim and I celebrate a year of marriage in a few weeks. It's truly something wonderful to celebrate. I've loved being in a space of reflection lately over the past year and where life's brought us. I feel like we both busted our butts under the weight of society and the world and now we've been given a season to rest, and grow and create and explore all the things we've always loved but have been too busy and crazy to pursue. We're reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer's biography for a life group at church, cooking up new creations in the kitchen...Tim got a camera with our tax return that we hope to take camping in Yosemite soon, and a neighbor gave us a record player so we've been enjoying Dylan and Junip and JT and Elvis Costello on vinyl all the live long day. We also spent part of Sunday writing out our goals for ourselves and for our family for the rest of this year. I think spring is a good time to let the things that winter let lie dormant come back to life and grow.

Life is really beautiful.