Photos | The Lone Rager

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Wednesday, January 07, 2015

holiday goodness

I started to publish this post at my new site, but then I decided it had more of the trappings of a family update, so I’m moving it here. We had grandparents visiting for almost the entire two weeks of vacation, and we took trips to North Conway (snow! and the Polar Express) and Rockport. The girls are at a lovely age where they play together for hours, and our Christmas loot was a perfect manageable amount of stuff, which was the result of a team effort. Go team!

In other news, here are some random questions to which my family thinks I know the answers no matter how many times I do not know the answers:

1. What is that smell?

2. Where are my ______? (socks, books, keys, or Charlie’s favorite since seeing The Lego Movie, pants)

3. Why am I getting this “Everyday with Rachel Ray” magazine and are we paying for it?

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and that you’re feeling good about the start of a new year.

It snowed when we visited North Conway. Gorgeous!

Snuggling with her new loot.

Coloring is Vivi’s favorite activity.

Rockport in winter.

Not quite beach weather.

They enjoyed having a bed in the living room.

at4:35 PM 11 comments: Email This BlogThis!Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to PinterestLabels:Holidays,Photos

Wednesday, October 09, 2013

the hunt for red October

Around this time, it seems everyone in the Boston area is headed out of town to peep at leaves in other places…New Hampshire, the Berkshires, Vermont. But this year the leaves in our own backyard are spectacular (note: leaves below are not quite in our backyard but are on conservation land near us). I’m not sure what’s different about the weather this year to make the leaves so beautiful, but I can now say I truly understand what all those people meant when they waxed on about fall in New England. When it’s good, it’s GOOD.

Tuesday, July 09, 2013

photojournalism

{On the Range} is my weekly series (or sometimes semi-monthly series, I guess) where I discuss what we’re doing, reading, and eating. It’s a little bit 52 project and other photo projects, and a little bit {Did you Read?} and {In the Ranger Kitchen}

On the Range{Weeks 21 – 27}May 21 – July 8, 2013
“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2013″…

May 21 – 27: Hung out with Grandpa Jim and family in Charlotte and then in N. GA Mtns.

May 28 – June 3rd: Cousins time! Spent time at Auntie M’s and then settled in at Mom’s.

June 4 – 10: The start of a truly astounding amount of rain. Not much done outside on this trip, except camp.

June 11 – 17: Vivi and I got to eat lunch together at a camp cookout. I call this one “serious face with condiments.”

June 18 – 24: Vivi playing big-ball soccer. She has a blue ribbon on her head. You can tell she had no fun at camp.

June 18 – 24 (2): This is from Carnival Day, the last day of camp. We had such a good time!

June 25 – July 1: We went to Vogel State Park for a week for an annual family reunion.

July 2 – 8: We returned home to find record hot temps in the high 90s.

at3:22 PM 3 comments: Email This BlogThis!Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to PinterestLabels:52 Project,Atlanta,Family,Photos,Travel

Thursday, May 16, 2013

barreling along

I am am having this weird duality of personality this month; sometimes I am flying at warp speed and other times I can’t pull myself off the couch to unload the dishwasher. I am SO ready for summer break, and I don’t even have a job, y’all.

Well, right now I have a job. I’ve been jaunting back and forth to a birth, which could be why I am feeling so drained. It’s a good thing I got my new phone because I actually had to send eleventy billion text messages. I’ll spare you the boring story details about how I do not have the proper thumbs with which to text and instead will share some cute pics I took of the kids with my new toy:

at8:26 AM 4 comments: Email This BlogThis!Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to PinterestLabels:Aimless Digression,Photos

Monday, May 13, 2013

on the range {week 19}: Mother’s Day fun

{On the Range} is my weekly series where I discuss what we’re doing, reading, and eating. It’s a little bit 52 project and other photo projects, and a little bit {Did you Read?} and {In the Ranger Kitchen}

On the RangeMay 7 – 13, 2013

“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2013.”

Milestones

Vivi lost her first tooth! It was loose due to a falling injury last year, so I’m thinking this tooth would not have come out for years otherwise. Toothless is her new nickname.
A late Christmas/Mother’s Day gift for me was a new iPhone 4. Please share your favorite apps. I’m way behind on this whole neck-bending phone-watching trend.

Media

A good part about blogging is when you are connected to others that are part of your métier. A bad part about blogging is when you are connected to Internet trolls. Unfortunately this mom got the latter after writing about her fears that her daughter might become a bully
One of my favorite bloggers, Kate, almost never writes any more, but it’s understandable now that she’s got an army-crawling, table-biting boy.
Nate bought a Kindle version of Jim Gaffigan’s new book, and I’m way psyched for it to be my turn to read it.

Meals

Pasta all’amatriciana with portabellas
Our Mother’s Day tradition: TACOS!
Vegan Thai noodles with chicken poached in water, onions, and Korean soy paste

at2:58 PM 7 comments: Email This BlogThis!Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to PinterestLabels:52 Project,Did You Read?,Photos,What’s for Dinner?

Saturday, May 11, 2013

soak it up

A break from all the fun with the film Robots. It’s a cute one!

Most days I love staying home with my kids, but I admit the little stinkers bring with them a fair amount of absurdity. Sometimes I find that my cup overfloweth with nonsense. But the great thing about having a grandpa visit is that grandpas are nonsense sponges. They ooze their own fun and silliness while simultaneously absorbing all the excess foolishness around them. Hence, Nate and I managed to squeeze in an actual relaxed adult conversation on a walk down to the hardware store, while the tomfoolery ship trailed behind us with Cap’n Grandpa at the helm.

Sorting, playing with, and keeping track of Legos is another of a grandfather’s many talents

Along our route, I noted that there were many edible plants, and I thought of Elle. I have been wanting to make salad from the greens that grow in public spaces, but what about dog pee? It seems to me that with all the dogs in our neighborhood, any leafy edible not growing in my fenced-in back yard would be anointed with animal urine. Perhaps it is a given that one should eat their own backyard weeds, but we seem to be lacking in them, possessing minimal dandelions, no violets or chickweed, nor any other weed that I can find. I’ll check back in a week and see how it’s going back there with the weeds.

In other backyard growth news, we have some seedlings at work now, and Vivi’s fairy garden is looking splendid, as our our lilacs. They really are the best of flowers, so fragrant and hopeful.

Our entire fence line looks like this. Thank you previous owners!

Tomorrow is the raising of the big playhouse, and I have pinned all my hopes of relaxing out of doors on its ability to entertain/babysit the girls, so I’ll let you know how that works out for us.

Strawberries, lettuce, future fennel, and mint. We will also do tomatoes, carrots, and maybe potatoes.

So, tell me, how does your garden grow?

xoxo
~J

at8:47 PM 5 comments: Email This BlogThis!Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to PinterestLabels:Family,Gardening,Photos

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

details

Even as I began making some plans the other day for what I would do this week and remarked to myself “I don’t have that much going on!,” I knew it wouldn’t last. Either because of jinxing myself or because life has a way of filling in the gaps, my moment of freedom was short-lived. I got a migraine followed in quick succession by Charlie catching a 24-hour vomit virus. Luckily no one else in the family caught it, but the laundry required by one child during such a night is astonishing. It really makes me pity the people who don’t have nearly industrial-sized front-loading washers waiting in their basements to do their sick clean-up bidding.

We’re all back in good spirits now, and I’ve returned to the sorting of the cold-weather and warm-weather clothes. This routine has a method: I find some clothes I truly hate–they seem to materialize out of nowhere, no?–and I stack them in the corner. Then when I come across an item I’m not sure I want to keep, I go over to the stack and sit the item on top. Immediately, I get a gut reaction that is either “Gross, it belongs there” or “Quick, pick it up, or it will be gone!” The key is that you actually have to walk it physically over to the stack, don’t just let it hang in the closet or sit in the drawer. The other key is you can’t listen to your brain’s hasty protests, like “I might wear these jeans to paint the house!” The irrational hoarding part of your brain doesn’t know what it’s talking about, for you will be far happier without the clutter than you would be if you kept those ugly jeans. I’m sharing my tip with Works for Me Wednesday, though I’m not sure this trick would work for anyone but me. But there you have it. Use it if you will.

So I guess I’m just checking in with the deets, but there’s not too much happening over here. What’s going on with you? Fill me in!

Yesterday we went on an impromptu picnic after picking up Vivi from school. We sat in the grass under a cherry tree and ate our store-bought tuna wraps in quiet satisfaction. Life burgeons all around us, and as happens so often to me as a mom, I want this moment to last forever. I try to stuff down that guilty feeling I get, wondering if I am enjoying them enough, because it is not a helpful feeling, and because I don’t think that part of me will ever be satisfied that I am truly relishing them as I should be. I get the same feeling about the spring blossoms; when I see them, I am both happy and guilty, somehow believing I am supposed to be getting a greater appreciation of them than just the joy I get in seeing them when I pass by.

I watch the girls frolicking in the woods, giggling because they spied a ladybug, and I am struck by how little they look. Satisfied they are still my babies, I turn my attention toward the sun and lie in the grass, eyes closed, to soak it in. Just at that moment and not a second later, Vivi yells “Mommy, my tooth is almost all the way out!,” thus breaking my brief truce with the marching of time. Of course her tooth would fall out now. Despite my silent protests, it seems they will keep growing.

I am not one to quote poetry often, but my resignation to life’s continual passing brings to mind that Virgil poem Georgics from which we get the phrase “Tempus fugit.” Here it is:

Sed fugit interea,
Fugit irreparabile tempus, Singula dum capti circumvectamur amore.
But meanwhile it flees: Time flees irretrievably,While we wander around, prisoners of our love of detail.

at7:30 AM 5 comments: Email This BlogThis!Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to PinterestLabels:Aimless Digression,Milestone,Photos

Tuesday, May 07, 2013

on the range {week 18}: updated

“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2013.”

I can’t claim credit for my post title today. My aunt has a framed photo of herself and her sister as little girls, and she wrote a variation of this sentence below it. It always made me chuckle as a kid, even the thousand and fortieth time I read it, so I’ve been dying to steal it ever since.

Update: So, apparently it’s not a good idea to use certain words in your post title, for they attract p*rn sites. Thus, I removed a sentence in my title that said “A coupla [warm baby birds] standing around.” Except I didn’t way “warm baby birds” but other words that mean the same thing as those words. You got me? Sheesh, the stuff you learn blogging. It could fill a house. Or at the very least a single-wide trailer.

Milestones

Vivi came inside after playing to tell me with a serious look on her face…”Mommy, I’ve realized something. Bubbles are not fantastic, they are terrible and not fun. AND a mess.” Then she showed me her hands, which she then proceeded to wash carefully after throwing away the bubble stuff. Is she her father’s child or what? Ha! The whole scene makes me giggle every time I think about it again.
Charlotte is a common name up here, as is the nickname “Charlie” for boys, so one way I like to distinguish my Charlie is to give her lots of other nicknames. Chuck is my personal favorite (did you ever see that short-lived program, Pushing Daisies?). Lotti is not really that cute in my opinion, but it’s fun when you add something to it, like Lotti McSniffles when she’s sick. I change it up for added interest, like Chuckles McFussyBritches when she’s tantruming. Vivi’s been playing around with it too, but the other day she said something like “Charlie McFuckles,” totally by accident of course, and I still haven’t recovered from all the laughing.
My little brother turns 20 today. If that doesn’t make you feel old, I dunno what will. Happy birthday bro!

Media

You can’t spit without running into a fairy garden these days. They are the terrariums of 2013. But who cares? They are awesome! Whatever gets my kid in the dirt is ok by me. One of my favorite how-tos is this one by Beth of Remarkably Domestic. I think the pipe is too much for me, but I’m all for grouting some rocks onto an old pot I have lying around. Cute, huh?
Do you love IKEA as much as me? If so, you will love this Apt Therapy article compiling ideas for hacking their furniture to create cute stuff for your kids. I wish I were that crafty.
I’m not sure if this LA Times story would have always made me so steaming mad or if it’s partly because I just got done re-reading Lee’s novel. I mean, really, the nerve of people! Will we never live down the stories of old people being swindled by snaky men? Let’s hope she gets herself an Atticus-worthy attorney.
Yet another reason to love Jenny Lawson, cuz she ain’t gonna let no door tell her what to do.
I am so glad I know better than to “birthday jack” Facebook posts about my kid turning 5. So creepy. If this ever changes, friends, you know what to do.

Meals

Beef vegetable soup
I tried a new thing at Trader Joe’s, which doesn’t happen often. They are called aloo chaat kati, found in the frozen meal section, and they look like Indian hot pockets–except they are way more delicious. Like the samosas at TJ’s, it’s a vegetarian meal that is greasy enough that it satisfies me the way eating meat does–no easy feat in my mind.
In the interest of full meal disclosure, I had not one but two bowls of Trader Joe’s mango sorbet last night, with coconut sprinkled on top. So yummy.

at4:50 PM 4 comments: Email This BlogThis!Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to PinterestLabels:52 Project,Did You Read?,Family,Milestone,On the Range,Photos,What’s for Dinner?

Sunday, May 05, 2013

my love affair with England

Did I mention yet that I think I’ll try writing every day this month? Next month I’ll be taking a vacation from regular life, and it will likely be from the blog as well, so I thought I’d send off with a month of daily posts. Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

When we lived in England, I didn’t write nearly enough on the blog about what daily life was like. I chalk it up to typical me in my twenties. “Life will always be this interesting and therefore why bother talking about what I’m doing?” or something along those lines.

Now of course I see my lack of writing as a bunch of wasted material. From time to time, I think about sharing that journey with you, but it seems awkward to bring it up randomly. Hey guys, remember when I used to live overseas that time five years ago? Let’s talk about it!

But now I have my nose in another Jane Austen novel, at the same time as I’m reading a biography about the great William Morris and watching a Masterpiece version of Emma that I rented from the library (did I mention I’m obsessed with Victorian England?), so my travels have been rattling around in my mind. It seems like as good a time as any to bring it up with y’all.

Oh, first I want to mention the Masterpiece Emma. Have you seen it yet? I’m enjoying it so far. It has the naturally slow pace of a Masterpiece series, and it’s fun to see all the usual British suspects playing the beloved Austen characters. Who doesn’t want to see more of Johnny Lee Miller? So far, the most interesting distinction from the Gwyneth Paltrow film (an absolute favorite of mine, likely in the top 10) is the spotlight on Miss Bates. She was a bubbly caricature in the film, providing little more than comic relief–“PORK, Mother!” and such. But in this series, you get an in-depth look at how miserable her life must have been to have only her senile mother as a companion. You truly feel what Austen must have wanted us to see. A woman without fortune was certainly pitiable in that day.

In contrast, I don’t think it’s possible for an actor to improve the job Juliet Stevenson did with Mrs. Elton in the film version. I’ll share some pictures with you to honor my favorite of her lines, “People with extensive grounds are always so pleased to meet other people with extensive grounds.” Here here!

I miss living somewhere that there were other tiny towns a half kilometer away.

This one makes me tear up thinking of how perfect and calm my life was in England, nesting for my new life as a mom and taking in all the sights and smells of spring.

One part of the Masterpiece Emma I loved is seeing the fields of rapeseed again (the stuff that makes canola oil, with the worst name imaginable). They are so lovely you can’t look upon them without smiling. Add this to the list of things you want to see before your time is up.

The year we were in England, it seemed the fields burst into life the very same day as Genevieve, so I also always think of her when I see them.

Here are some from far away. Cool, huh?

What do you think, should I write more about England some time? I have many more pics I can share.at7:30 AM 4 comments: Email This BlogThis!Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to PinterestLabels:Books,Movies,Photos,Travel,UK

Thursday, May 02, 2013

{five}

Genevieve turned five years old this week. For some reason, five seems like a huge milestone. Perhaps it’s because I remember turning five myself…or rather, I remember the dreaded booster shot in the hiney. These kids today have no clue how fortunate they are that they can forgo this exercise in humiliation. But as I was saying, five is a huge birthday, and I’m hanging on for what is sure to be a wild ride of a year.

I’ll write more soon about the birthday party, but for today here is my yearly letter to sweet Vivi.

Dear Genevieve,

Over the past year, I’ve seen your four-year-old personality continue to develop, and much of what I said last year applies to you this year as well. It’s an extraordinary journey to be invited to witness the cultivation of your marvelous self. Mostly, I feel like you are molding me instead of the other way around. A new friend exclaimed, “Vivi’s face lights up at EVERYTHING. How wonderful!,” and I couldn’t agree more. Here are some of my favorite of your qualities:

:: keen eye for detail :: You have a precise and discerning regard, and you can often be heard from the backseat reminding me, “Mommy, it’s faster to go the other way to the library, remember?” What would I do without your help in getting where I want to go in life? Your keen eye extends to the fashion world too, and your nose crinkles when I attempt in my own fumbling manner to broaden your clothing horizons outside your limiting criteria of 1) pink, or 2) leggings (see also: ruffles). To your credit, this spring you are stepping out in frocks of blue and green (praiseallujah).

:: leadership potential :: What others might call bossiness, I see as the leader in you exploding forth. You direct the operations of many a household task or sisterly game, and I wouldn’t choose any other executor as my partner (with the one exception of your daddy). I hope you seek an opportunity to lead a team as an adult, for you will make a heck of a chief. May your brave quest to lead both men and women happen without or in spite of the limitations that both genders seek to put on women who lead my generation.

:: sharp wit :: You’ve become a lover of Shel Silverstein already, and you laugh heartily throughout his poems. I’m thrilled to share a sense of humor with you. Your expansive vocabulary grows ever greater, and your hunt for information is nearly unparalleled in my experience (your schoolmate Jacob vies for first place in this area, asking his grandmother today, “How was Europe formed?”).

:: tender heart :: When I asked you if you wanted to make your grandpa a birthday card, you said “Yes! But I’m going to need a really big card because there are going to be lots of hearts.” I hope you will maintain your loving nature and with it, your ability to bring even the shiest of friends into the fold with your patient and kind ways. You are a genuine people lover, and I feel lucky to be loved by you.

:: endeavorous spirit :: Endeavorous is not a word, although I’d like to make it a new one for you because I feel it sums you up so well. You are willing and even excited to try new things, whether they be activities, sports, or food. You encourage our whole family to experiment with your love of life. Thank you for being a stupendous individual.

Love,
Mommy

Teaching Charlie to play baseball.

at4:09 PM 5 comments: Email This BlogThis!Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to PinterestLabels:Joie de Vivre,Kids,Milestone,Parenting,Photos

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

on the range {week 17}: in the dirt

“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2013.”

My week…

Has been spent with the front door open. As a way of explaining my absence–apart from celebrating the queen’s fifth birthday and the visit of a much-missed mother–note exhibit A below:

Media

All of my library holds arrived in the same week (does this happen to you?), so I now have in my possession a stack of books that make me out to be more intelligent than deserved. They are:
- A Victorian rebel: the life of William Morris by…somebody I can’t remember
- Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
- Lean In: women, work, and the will to lead (the sound recording) by Sheryl Sandburg
- The Sound and the Fury As I lay Dying by William Faulkner
- Persuasion (annotated version) by Jane Austen (and the annotator, name I can’t recall)
Mom and I watched a few episodes of “Bored to Death” the past few nights, and I chuckled a lot out loud, which is my only requirement of 30-minute programming. I recommend it if you can find it at your library.

I’m going now to catch up on the blogs, since all I could manage in the past week is Elle’s hilarious portrayal of the horseshittery (her word, stolen by yours truly) of fellow parents. Her mordant humor slays me. Also, I wish I could say I’ve been cooking, but apart from cranking out Dutch babies by the armful, I’ve been on a heat-and-serve kick. Must be all that spring fever.
What have y’all been up to while I’ve been gone? Do tell of your doings, lovelies. at11:37 AM No comments: Email This BlogThis!Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to PinterestLabels:52 Project,Did You Read?,On the Range,Photos,Spring

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

on the range {week 15}: see tot swim

“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013.”

Vivi: This picture is obviously not from this week, but I hadn’t gotten pictures off my little camera in a while, and this one is really cute of her while trick-or-treating in our neighborhood dressed as Batgirl.

Charlie: She had her last swim class this morning. I added a video snippet below.

On the RangeApril 9 – 15, 2013
Milestones

While Vivi is still unable to read, her artistry skills are moving right along. Recently she drew a picture of a paintbrush drawing a picture. I hadn’t realized that kind of perspective was possible for a four-year-old to create on her own. That’s good, yes?
Proving yet again that my life is an Abbot & Costello routine, I explained to Vivi that I was shoveling the fireplace ash into a bucket (specifically, my new old coal bucket from the trade shop) because I will save it to sprinkle in the compost. She replied, “But Mommy, why did you burn cash in the fire? That doesn’t seem like a smart idea.” And that’s the end of our show, folks. Please tip your server on the way out.
Here’s a video of my little fish, Charlie, on her last day of swim class (in which there were no other children due to it occurring during vacation week). We will miss her adorable, patient instructor. I’m sure there’s no way to request a teacher at the Y, they aren’t that organized over there, and they do seem to like to spread the wealth of talent; thus, Vivi has a teacher with braces who appears to be in seventh grade:

My week…

When it comes to home decorating and furniture organization, I am as useless as tits on a boar hog. Luckily my husband is semi-talented in this life skill and did some nice swapping of items in our upstairs rooms and then deposited an old dresser at Goodwill of his own accord. I’m looking forward to my mom’s trip in a few weeks so she can add her tasteful touch.
Though I sorely lack decorating skills, I am an excellent organizer and purger of junk. One item removed from the house yesterday was a Barbie-sized plastic toilet, and I shit you not (hee) when I tell you it had a tiny handle that could be flushed to reveal a colorful sticker meant to represent the stuff that goes in a toilet, with accompanying sounds of the stuff going in. I consider myself a real peach for allowing said toy to be allowed in the house for a whole year before it got the boot. I mean really, who are these toy producers anyway? Let’s leave something up to our children’s imagination, shall we? I choose the dolls’ bodily functions. I feel certain my children will some day forgive my stinginess.

Moods

Yesterday’s bombing of the Boston Marathon is of course on everyone’s mind. When I found out it was for sure some homemade bombs and not a gas line explosion, my first thought was “the last time I lived in a major city that was bombed in this way was during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.” Then I thought about how sad it is that I have already lived in two cities that have experienced bombings in only 17 years. Then I thought about how fortunate we are as Americans not to experience bombings daily as they do in some places. So, yes, it’s an emotional roller coaster around here.

Media

It’s difficult to read the gruesome reports coming out about the victims of the bombing. This Globe article describes brothers who each lost a leg. They had been standing next to the family who lost their 8-year-old son. But my favorite article is on the Cognoscenti blog by a MIT professor of international security, and it’s called “They Picked the Wrong City.”
I’ve been pondering how to give the girls some good backyard play action, and I found this cute idea for an outdoor “mud pie kitchen.” It seems simple enough that even I could build it. I wonder if I can get my hands on old crates or other reclaimed wood.

at10:21 PM 2 comments: Email This BlogThis!Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to PinterestLabels:52 Project,Did You Read?,On the Range,Photos

Monday, April 01, 2013

Easter with southern flavor

Note: crocs and sneakers were the kids’ choices. But they did run around outside all day in them!

I’m titling this post with the name of one my favorite bluegrass banjo songs by Bill Monroe. I reckon it could serve as a mighty good soundtrack for this here post.

Maybe it’s the fact that I’m in the midst of re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird, or because I just always miss my family, but I decided to give Easter supper a southern flare. We had “hammus Alabamus,” as my Grandaddy would say, cucumber salad, potato salad, homemade bread with butter, pickles, and ambrosia. Basically, I ripped off my aunt’s traditional Easter supper, minus the bunny cake she always makes, which involves lots of coconut and is rightly gilded with plenty of jelly beans. Instead of bunny cake, I swapped in our tradition of hot cross buns (n.b.: cute video of Charlie in that link), except this time I made Jacques Pepin’s brioche and used Thomas Keller’s idea for how to put them in a pan instead of a brioche mold. Hot cross buns are supposed to be made on Good Friday, but I couldn’t get my act together by then.

The ham was so easy. I got a pre-cooked and spiral-sliced ham from Trader Joe’s that came with a packet of glaze mix. Ambrosia is easy too; I leave out the nuts and marshmallows and just keep it at pineapple, mandarin oranges, cherries, and coconut, tossed together with a little sour cream.

For an appetizer, we took half the Easter eggs (that hadn’t gone into potato salad) and made deviled eggs with them. Mine include salt, lemon juice, mustard, mayo, and dried dill or dill relish, with the obligatory sprinkle of paprika on top.

What did you do for the holiday? Hope it was tasty!
xoxo
~Jat7:43 AM 2 comments: Email This BlogThis!Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to PinterestLabels:Holidays,Photos,Recipe,Spring

Saturday, March 16, 2013

home again, home again

Circa 2005. Awwww.

Nate is home after a week away. I’m always glad to have him back where he belongs. The missing piece of the puzzle is back again, and all is right in our world.

I’ve been pondering writing about marital discourse and the ebbs and flows of love and intimacy. I’ve got stuff to say on that part of life, and I think they might be interesting thoughts. Where might such thoughts get published, though? I dunno. I prefer to keep the blog about whatever it is the blog is about, you know? Incoherent ramblings and such. I’m not funny enough for Jezebel, not witty enough for Slate, not pithy enough for the New Yorker. So what does that leave, Good Housekeeping? If you have thoughts on the matter, I’m open to hearing them.at7:30 AM 3 comments: Email This BlogThis!Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to PinterestLabels:Marriage,Photos

Friday, March 15, 2013

{this moment}: first light

. . . . . . . . . .
{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.
. . . . . . . . . .

via SouleMama
at8:18 AM 3 comments: Email This BlogThis!Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to PinterestLabels:Photos,this moment Older Posts HomeSubscribe to:Posts (Atom)

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