December, lately.

Lately, we have been ...

... ordering kitchen cabinets. and kitchen appliances. and trying to finalize what seems like a million other design decisions. i am beginning to realize that i am WAY out of my league on this one - this whole kitchen renovation is big, and involves things like contractors and custom cabinets, and i do not know the first real thing about a renovation process that isn't completely do-it-yourself, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants and make-a-million-trips-to-home-depot.  but i did update my idea board from August to try and get a better handle on what i might like the floors to look like. thoughts?

PS Mark is planning to start demo this week, so if you have an opinion, now is the time to voice it!

... squealing over every picture of Baby Levi. and over how very adorable and tiny the Christmas jammies are that we bought for him. its kind of hard to believe that he is really real and on the outside, even after spending all day Christmas just snuggling his perfect little self. so excited to see him again (along with the rest of the fam!) in just a couple weeks

... crafting Christmas presents. i have most of them done and wrapped, but believe it or not i still have three half-done at home, and i just thought up two more today to add to my list. that's the upside of celebrating Christmas late this year - a couple extra weeks to get everything done!

... wrapping Christmas presents. i spent an entire Sunday with wrapping paper and the Gilmore Girls. it was a good day, indeed.

... visiting Gram and Pap. we got our first tin of candy when we visited at Thanksgiving, and i left that one at Stasi's house. we got a second! tin of candy on this trip, but unfortunately forgot it on Gram's kitchen counter. major sadface. we are going back in a couple weeks, but i am not holding out hope that there will even be much candy left, let alone even the slimmest of chances that our tin will still be there waiting for us.

... wearing Christmas jammies.  i dont even care that they are mainstream and cliche and i am probably at least four years behind the trend, but i got myself and my husband (non-matching) holiday sleepwear this year and it was downright festive.

... celebrating Julie's wedding! everything was absolutely GORGEOUS - the bride, the venue, the weather (50 degrees and sunny in late December, what!) and i think the only real crises involved the bridesmaids earrings.  there were zero casualties and only minor bloodshed. Julie and Nate are currently on their honeymoon, and i honestly could not be more happy for them.  SO thankful that i got to be a part of their big day.

thankful 2014: first edition

as has become a family tradition, i will be attempting to list 100 things that i am thanking God for throughout the month of November.  there is no particular order to the items on my list, although i am following the lead of my wonderful mother this year and intending to explain them each a little bit, rather than just list them.

1. my job. i have a very good job. it is stable, it is in the field i studied in college, and it has a traditional monday through friday work week. this means that i reliably have weekends off and can afford both the time and dollars to do things like drive to Pittsburgh for a few days to hang out with people i love. thankful for a consistent schedule.

2. Sophie.  yes, i named my car. i bought her with my own money (and my dad's co-signature) after graduation, and five years later i own her outright. she is a great traveling buddy, and she has facilitated most of my best memories in recent years. thankful for her reliability.

3. Gordon is broken. so while i was traveling this weekend i relied heavily on my backup GPS on my phone, which took me to my BFITW's house by way of my sister's house. she was surprised to have a trick-or-treater come to her house on Friday night, and even more surprised that it was me! thankful for backup GPS and spontaneous sister visits.

4. a BFITW. everyone should have a Best Friend In The World. i am especially thankful that mine isn't afraid to have the tough conversations, tell the hard truths, or share the awkward moments. and she gives the best hugs. thankful for her best-friendhsip.

5. work friends. its nice when the people you are forced to spend 40 hours a week with are also people that you genuinely like to be around. thankful to have people to joke with throughout the day, who speak my same sarcastic language. 

6. a captivating podcast. started listening to Serial while i was driving to Pittsburgh and back. devoured the first six episodes. a little disappointed that now i have to wait for new episodes to be released weekly to try and figure out who-dunnit. thankful for anything that makes a long drive seem to go faster.

7. my Momma. we have a standing phone date on Friday afternoons to chat about work and life and occasionally make pizza together. thankful to be close with her.

8. my husband. when i got home last night, the house was clean. the dishes were done. he was folding the laundry. so very thankful that he loves me.

anatomy of a tattoo.

if you've known me for any amount of time, you probably know that i've been considering getting a tattoo for a long while. some of that consideration has been documented here, (and here) but the possibilities were bouncing around in my head even before i ever started sharing all of my thoughts with the interwebs at large.

when i was in high school, i thought i had figured out the perfect tattoo design - it was cool, it was edgy, and it would showcase my undying love for all things office-supply-ish - a safety pin, pinned through my calf. i think i still have my original inspiration picture (ripped from a magazine) stored in a box somewhere, but this one is pretty close to the same thing:

and i am SO glad that never happened. turns out i'm not quite as edgy as i considered myself to be in high school, with my baggy pants and duct tape jewelry. so instead of making a young and dumb decision, (that my parents would have never allowed anyway) i spent years pondering the physical, social, and spiritual ramifications of getting a tattoo. i determined what i considered to be the ideal spot for a tattoo, as well as a design that would be meaningful and hopefully still reasonably attractive on an 80-year old woman. i asked around and researched tattoo parlors in the area, searching out a safe, sanitary, and talented establishment. and i took very seriously the approval of my husband, since tattoos tend to stick around forever, and i plan on him doing the same.

after all that consideration, and even at one point deciding that i would be alright with never actually getting a tattoo, this is what i ended up with:

a matching tattoo with my BFITW! but what does it mean??? i'm sure you're really dying to know. so i'm really going to tell you - here is an annotated guide to my new tattoo.

1. Placement: on the top of my right foot. because i didnt want a tramp stamp, i didnt want to have to be in any awkward state of undress to get inked, it should age better here than on my stomach or arm, and i always have the option of covering it up without having to wear a turtleneck.  originally, we were looking into putting in on our instep, but we were advised by the tattoo parlor that it would not age well. (something about that spot of the body not absorbing the ink as well as on the top of the foot) they suggested that we consider the top of the foot instead, where the ink would not fade as much. so we ended up deciding on our right foot over the left because we wanted the words to read from heel to toe instead of the other way around.

2. Words: changed for good. this is a line from the musical Wicked, which is mine and Julie's favorite musical, which just so happens to have a story that loosely parallels our friendship: two girls that meet in college, initially hate one another, but then become best friends over time. just like Glinda and Elphaba, we feel that our friendship has changed us, and that we would not be who we are today without having known each other. in case you are not familiar with the song, part of it goes:

" i've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason bringing something we must learn and we are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them and we help them in return. well i don't know if i believe that's true, but i know i'm who i am today because i knew you... like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes a sun, like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood, who can say if i've been changed for the better? but because i knew you i have been changed for good." 

plus, a quote from that song was infinitely more appropriate and preferable over one from our other favorite:

"loathing. unadulterated loathing. for your face, your voice, your clothing. let's just say: i loathe it all. every little trait however small makes my very flesh begin to crawl with simple utter loathing. there's a strange exhilaration with such total detestation - it's so pure so strong.. though i do admit it came on fast, still i do believe that it can last and i will be loathing for forever, loathing, truly deeply loathing you my whole life long"

3. Cross: for my savior. the cross itself was added to the design as part of the most recent iteration, although the double meaning behind the phrase "changed for good" was always in our minds. our faith has been a huge part of our lives and our friendship: not only have we been changed by knowing each other, more importantly we have been changed by knowing Christ. definitely for the better, and definitely for good.

4. Two Stars: for my best friend. why stars? partially because we liked them better than hearts or butterflies, and then as part of our extensive research we learned that stars are a symbol of femininity and mathematical perfection, among other things, which pretty much made it impossible to pick anything else. why two? because there are two of us: one of the stars is hers, the other is mine. originally, they were both going to be aquamarine, for our birth stones, but at some point we decided to go with our favorite colors instead: green for me, and pink for her. and what a happy coincidence that our favorite colors match up with Wicked again - green for Elphaba, and pink for Glinda. these stars are the only part of our tattoos that differ from each others: each of us has our "own" star as the top one. because we are totally individuals after all.

it's been almost three weeks, and my tattoo is at the tail end of its itchy-scabby phase, and soclose to being completely healed. there's a chance i might have to go back in for some touchups on the stars (there's a couple splotchy spots-have to see how they heal) but if i do, i'll probably wait until after our western vacation, since having a scabby healing foot might be a hindrance to awesome mountain-camping activities and i am so excited about that trip i dont want to limit myself if i dont have to.

but you know they say that tattoos are addicting, and i may or may not have started mulling over some thoughts for a potential second design... i'll keep you posted.

meal plan monday: july 8.

there are not enough words to describe all of the awesomeness that was crammed into the long holiday weekend.

 

 
but unfortunately, there are not enough hours in the upcoming week to contain all of the ongoing summertime excitement around here. so basically, we're not eating this week.

Monday: Mark plays softball. our lodger arrives with his cousin.
Tuesday: Mark plays softball. Amanda Jazzercises.
Wednesday: community group. the lodger's cousin leaves.
Thursday: Mark plays softball. Amanda Jazzercises.
Friday: birthday party for Aunt Denise.
Saturday: Amanda leaves town. Mark goes to the O's game.
Sunday: Amanda drives home. Mark starves.

meal plan monday: july 1.

so. gluten free week was... semi-successful. i did really well on Monday and Tuesday. and then on Wednesday i had a catered lunch meeting where i ate a delicious ham sandwich on a croissant and two cookies the size of my head. Thursday night i didnt feel like cooking dinner so we ordered a pizza. Saturday i went out for dinner with a friend to Noodles & Co. and then on Sunday we just ate leftover pizza. so... i made it 3 out of 7 days, and 8 out of 14 meals i managed to stay gluten-free. at best that's a 57.1% success rate, and at worst 42.8% depending on how you choose to measure.

i did notice that i felt better on the days and after the meals that were GF. i doubt i lost any weight this week, what with the cookies and ice cream i let myself indulge in here and there. (dont judge me, it was keeping my PMS at bay) and i didnt bother to weigh myself at all so i can neither confirm nor deny that. the new GF recipes i tried last week were DELICIOUS, so they will probably be repeated in the future and you should try them too.

Mark almost literally inhaled this steak, avacado and all. there were no leftovers.

based on this little experiment i'm guessing that i'll be able to manage one or two days each week that are GF, but its not looking to turn into a full-time lifestyle change in the very near future.

and that's really all i have to say about that.

Monday: citrus herb chicken with veggies.
Tuesday: chicken fried rice. (recipe)
Wednesday: 3rd of July party. typical cookout food.
Thursday: 4th of July party at the in-laws.
Friday: zuchinni, black bean, rice skillet. (recipe)
Saturday: lazy lasagna with salad.
Sunday: lunch out with college friends.

ps: MY BFITW IS COMING TO VISIT FOR THE LONG WEEKEND!!!
GET EXCITED!!!

this is my year.

i told you a couple weeks ago that i had a lot of thoughts about my birthday, and not a lot of time in which to write them all down. so this post for the past few weeks has been a work in progress for me - a place to try and sort through my thoughts a little bit at a time, whenever i had 15 or 5 or 2 minutes to spare.

i started writing a different post right before i left for birthday weekend. i only ever got as far as the title: "so tell me what i want, what i really really want." i had every intention of it being a deep self-reflective piece that would plunge into the depths of my inner mess and straighten out my jumbled up brain space into a coherant declaration of the really important things that were my truest desires. and then that didn't quite happen.

instead, i took a vacation day and headed to Pittsburgh to celebrate birthday weekend with my sister and my BFITW and her sister and whoever else we could rope into our shenanigans. and over the course of birthday weekend, i had an epiphany of sorts: i was really having fun, and i was hanging out with people who were really having fun, and it was all just a lot of really fun FUN. there was no stress. there were no tears (not even when we were driving dahntahn!). there was no worry. it felt awesome. and i realized just how much i missed that.

i realized that i have spent the last few years being kind of bogged down by life. i got caught up in the seriousness of everything - what with graduating college, landing a job, getting married, buying a house, fixing up said house, making dinner every night, keeping up with dishes and laundry, and just generally attempting to perfect my all-grown-up-and-responsible persona. i wanted my life to be perfect, i was trying really hard to achieve that, and i felt bad anytime i thought i was failing even just a little bit.

stress at work followed me home and turned into pointless stress-fights with the hubs. spending time on new projects meant saying no to spending time with friends. piles of laundry meant i was failing at life. 5 minutes spent on pinterest was all i could take before i became aware of just how much i wasn't doing right.

and i forgot. i forgot about spontaneous luau's. playing outside all afternoon. giggles. wacky tennis ball catch in the parking lot. living with a complete lack of self consciousness. the simple joy of balloons. the calming effect of that little jingle at the beginning of an episode of Gilmore Girls. so many simple little things that bring me great joy.

maybe its a little bit of wisdom coming with age. maybe its wistful nostalgia for a past that i can never get back. maybe it was just finally getting a taste of sunshine and warmer weather. but i have a better handle on what i want now. an idea of what i want to do and who i want to be and how i want to live.

 embrace imperfect. live. laugh. plan more. plan less. focus on family. relax. and enjoy. focus on friends. read. craft. create. be present. seek joy. share love. play. smile.

be gracious. accept grace. have fun.

this is not to say that i am going to become irresponsible an unserious - because the laundry and dishes arent going to do themselves - but i am learning that there is a place for both in my life. so these are my goals for this year. for my 26th year. this is my year.

i'm already off to a great start: may this be the best year yet.

meal plan monday: march 11.

well. i guess i should know by now that super-fantastic weekends...

 

 

... most often make for less than stellar mondays. but i am totally ok with that. this weekend was SO worth being just slightly behind this morning and scrambling to assemble a plan and a grocery list for this week. more than worth it, actually. (i promise i have MUCH more to say about birthday weekend, but that will have to wait a day or so) but since these monday posts are supposed to be all about the food-stuffs, here goes nothin':

Monday: grilled chicken penne pesto pasta.
Tuesday: fish, rice, and veggies.
Wednesday: crock pot chicken tacos. (recipe-ish)
Thursday: soup from a can.
Friday: veggie omelettes.
Saturday: turkey burgers. (recipe)
Sunday: breakfast for lunch, grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner.

my other christmas card.

i'm pretty sure that in the past i have claimed that every weekend i spend with my BFITW is the best. weekend. ever. some people might think that i'm exaggerating. but i'm not even.

the highlight of our most recent weekend together was our mostly-annual tradition of picture day! one of these days i'm going to get my act together enough to scan in all of our mostly-yearly pictures (dating all the way back to freshman year!) and write up an attempt to explain this kind of insane tradition, but for now, since i'm knee-deep in holiday crafting madness of the very best kind, you'll have to settle for pictures of our pictures since our online album is not playing nice.

aren't we cute?! 

in the past, we have always gone to the picture place at walmart for picture day, since they usually run some pretty sweet deals. but since the walmart closest to my house doesnt have a picture place, we booked an appointment at a legit photo studio at the mall. (ps i think i have had more professional pictures taken with my BFITW than i have with my own family)

we took full advantage of their offer of holiday backgrounds and even an outfit change, and walked out of there not only with a fantastic picture of us in our cute matching sweaters, but also 15 free christmas cards featuring our tacky holiday sweaters. and heck yes we totally mailed them to some of the most wonderful people people in our lives who completely understand and appreciate our particular brand of awesome.

its a wonderful thing to have a best friend in the world, and i'm so blessed to have found the very very best.

meal plan monday: dec 10.

i love a good weekend. i really love a great weekend. and this was a really great weekend.

reason the first: my BFITW. she called me a couple weeks ago and said "it has been too long since we have been together. i am coming to your house." and it was awesome. we hung out, we shopped, we got our nails done, we ate Chipotle with friends, we continued our picture day tradition, we mailed Christmas cards, we watched Despicable Me, we laughed A LOT. because apart from my sisters, there's no one who understands me like this girl. she is the best.

reason the second: Christmas decorations. we've had our tree for a week, and it sat undecorated in our living room, just being a plain-ol' pine tree for a full seven days. but now it is finally decorated and beautiful. also: lights on the porch, nativity on the mantle, christmas dishes in the cupboard, sparkly ornaments in the lamps, and a big bow on the door. its beginning to look a lot like Christmas all over my house.

reason the third: zero obligations. no bathrooms to work on. no deadlines to meet. no schedule, no stress, no nothing. just whatever we wanted to do, whenever we wanted to do it. this was the first weekend we've had in a while that was just easy breezy go with the flow and i absolutely loved it!

it was fun, it was productive, it was relaxing. pretty much perfection.
(insert clever transition here)
so this is what we're going to be eating this week:

Monday: soup from a can.
Tuesday: grilled cheese and tomato soup.
Wednesday: crock pot roast, potatoes, veggies.
Thursday: tilapia with rice and a veggie.
Friday: dinner out before the Christmas play.
Saturday: Christmas party at Dutcher's.
Sunday: Cynthia's birthday party.

Birthday Weekend NYC

 yes, my birthday isn't for another 8 days. BUT my BFITW's birthday was 8 days ago. which makes today, the day right in between the two, the perfect day to tell you all about our most wonderful birthday weekend adventures! (also, because i forgot yesterday)(alsoalso, today is Pi Day. coincidence? i think not!)(sine cosine cosine sine! 3.14159!)(wow, nerd much?) 

we're turning 25 this year. (or 52, depending on how you hold the balloons)



apparently at 52 your back just gives up

turning 25 is the last birthday with any real reason to look forward to (cheap car insurance FTW!) so we decided to celebrate this year in style. New York City style. we made a few plans. but our overarching plan was just to wing it and have a good time. our good friend Nadine suggested that we make a list of 25 things that we wanted to do on our 25th birthday weekend. so we did.

and then we did all of the things on it.

1. Anything Goes. the main event of the weekend, and the one thing we had to plan in advance. we bought our cheapseat tickets and sat on the aisle in the next to the last row AND WE LOVED IT! seriously, there are no bad seats at these shows, and this one was freaking fantastic. the music was awesome, the premise was hilarious, and the dancing - can i just say "entire ensemble tap number?" dang, that was impressive.

2. Central Park. granted, we spent most of our time walking around looking for a bathroom, but we did manage to cover an impressive amount of park in our wanderings.



  

  

3. Times Square. is way cooler at nighttime than during the day. so glad that our random wanderings managed to get us there at the right time to enjoy all the lights. 

4. Toys R Us Ferris Wheel. for as many times as i have been to the city, i have never rode the big ferris wheel inside Toys R Us. and for as many times as Julie has been to the city (more than me) she had never even been inside the store. so yes, we were those girls who were obviously too old to be so excited to be riding in a Cabbage Patch Kid gondola and we didnt even have anyone under the age of 10 with us to use as a cover. i have no regrets.

5. Empire State Building. this part of our adventure included my sister with the babies (who are like all growed up into full-fledged kids!) and her husband. we bypassed all the lines with a VIP pass and took in the sights from both the 85th and 102nd floors. it pays to have an awesome brother in law who works in the Empire State Building.

6. Exchange Presents. this was the first thing we did, because we love presents and also because we didnt want to have to carry them around taunting us all weekend before we could open them. best friend necklaces, a pink sparkle clutch, and some gorgeous painted wine glasses were exchanged. happy birthday to us!

7. Go Out To Dinner. on our way to Times Square we stopped in a little cafe to eat. it wasnt a fancy dinner, but it counts.

8. Drink Something Alcoholic. thank you Jimmy! whatever it was that you mixed together in those glasses, it was delicious!

9. Minion Cupcakes. ok. so we saw this picture on Pinterest and decided that we absolutely NEEDED these cupcakes. they were fun and surprisingly easy to make, and they were some tasty artery-clogging goodness. note for next time: invite people to help you eat them all, and cover them overnight unless you really like super crunchy twinkies.

source



10. Shamrock Shakes! because its March. duh.

11. UnicornHockeyPuckMonkeyMonkeyUnderpants. is a mix CD we made in college. full of songs with wonderful keychanges. we made several of these mixes over the years. this was by far our best effort. also, wonderful tunes for driving, and an amazing Gilmore Girls reference.

12. Take at Least 25 Pictures on Each Camera. the last few times we've been together, we've forgotten to take any pictures. not this time. no way.

13. Eat Good Bagels. Abi went out on Saturday morning and got these from the best bagel place in the city, which just so happens to be in their neighborhood. ours had vegetable cream cheese and Lox. which is salmon. and surprisingly delicious.

14. Go For a Run. its been forever since we've run together, and it felt good to burn off those minon cupcakes from the night before. by our best estimate we did almost 3 miles without even realizing it. yay us!

15. Eat From a Street Vendor. the worst soft pretzel we have ever had.

16. Buy (think about buying/haggle for) a Knock-off. he just wouldnt budge on his price. so i walked away. i'm only a little sad about it.

17. Sushi. oh yes we did. Jimmy took us to a buffet right around the corner from his office. there were a few that i tried and did not care for, but for the most part everything was delicious and filling and the desserts were so tiny and adorable!

18. New York Pizza. remember that random place that we stopped for dinner on our way to Times Square? yeah, we count a slice of pizza and some mango snapple as going out for dinner.

19. Ride the Subway. we did it twice. all by ourselves. Jimmy pointed us in the right direction to get us down to Lower Manhatten, and when we wanted to get back we just picked a random subway station and it just so happened that we picked a good one and we rode it back north to Central Park.

20. Stop at a Convenience Store/Rest Stop. ok so at this point we were struggling to come up with things to finish our list. but we did it, both on our way to and from the city. and it was fun. honest!

21. Try Something New. for me, it was the sushi. for Julie, it was fish on her bagel. 25 things is a lot for one weekend, ok?

22. Get Gas in Jersey. we almost missed our chance on the way in, but stopped at the last rest stop in New Jersey for a snack and for gas that we didn't have to pump ourselves.

23. Ride the Train. Abi and Jimmy rode the train into the city with us in the morning. later after the show, we had to find our own way back. we only got a little bit turned around, (we were NOT lost) but we had to run through the station to catch the train back to Queens. so what if we added it to the list just to cross it off? it was all part of the adventure.

24. Parallel Park. in between two cars. go ahead. be impressed. i know i was. (Abi fixed it for me later. shhhh... dont tell!)

25. Sign the Brooklyn Bridge. this one was kind of a happy surprise bonus for us. we were trying to go to the 9/11 Memorial, but by the time we realized that we needed to get tickets to get in, we would have had to wait 2 hours just until we could get in line to get into the memorial, and we didnt have that kind of time. so instead we decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. (confession: we really only did half of it.)

and on our way back, we decided to sign it. just to let people know we had been there. you know, in case we ended up getting shot on the subway later in the day, we didnt want to be forgotten.

so that was our epic 25th birthday weekend celebration! sorry for the long post and the millionandahalf pictures, but it was a jam-packed weekend and i wanted to tell you all just how awesome it was! sometimes facebook albums just dont quite cut it.

if you're looking to have an epic NYC weekend, i know a place with a couch and an air mattress where company is always welcome as long as you dont mind being woken up by a 4-year old tickling your feet or a 2-year old jumping on your bed. but make your reservations soon, because they won't be in the city much longer!

so, anyone have any fun plans for Pi Day!?