Catching up

Well, my blog went on vacation at the same time I did, but here's a recap of the last couple of weeks.

I managed to take off more time at Christmas than I ever have. I drove home on the 23rd and stayed through New Year's. On my way to Tennessee I got to see some friends and caught up with a few there, but the trip was mostly about family.

Our Christmas was a little different than usual as we did things in shifts. There was only about an hour where all my siblings and I were in the house at once, but since I was in town the whole time I got good time with everyone. We spread out opening presents over a couple of days, making Christmas last a little bit longer.

Of course to me, the best part was spending time with my 1-year-old niece. She entertained us all for three days. Most of the time, we could just sit around and watch her. She has so much personality and is so smart (I know I'm biased but still).

One of the things you can very clearly her say is "It's good." This comes out as a statement but sometimes as a question about something.

She has a December birthday like me, and I spent a lot of time debating what I could give her for Christmas that would still be fun for her in six months since she was on present overload. I convinced my brother and sister to go in with me on this:

She was very cautious about it at first, but she ended up loving it. Of course my favorite thing is her looking out to her people, like a queen:

And here are a few other pictures I got of her with my real camera, not the iPhone:

She looks so much like my sister here.

Sitting next to the sign for the toy store my mom owned.

 Liking the big slide

I love her in this coat and bonnet. My sisters and I all wore something very similar when we were little.

The South

With all the SEC chatter the last few months, there has been much discussion about whether Missouri fits in the South. Feelings appear to be mixed in Missouri, but when I had this conversation in Tennessee, the answer was a resounding no.

When I stepped off the plane in Nashville, a recording of Phil Vassar welcoming people to Nashville was playing over the loudspeakers. That followed by a party of my parents' friends and the wedding party, where the accents were much stronger than I remember, had already convinced me. Missouri is not the South.

As the weekend went on, I continued to be reminded that I was in the South:

The rehearsal dinner was in a barn (a nice one designed for these events but still a barn), and barbecue was served.

There was not a toast where someone didn't say y'all at least three times.

Krystals were served at the end of the wedding.

Our favorite family member on one side of the family is not actually related to us, but is invited to the family weddings and shows up. (I was very glad to see her!)

The specialty at a breakfast place is the ingredients of a veggie omelet in a bowl of grits.

The wedding planner brings Chick-fil-a for the bridesmaids to eat for lunch.

And I'm not sure if this is really a Southern thing, but it cracked me up nonetheless. They passed out pilgrim hats and Indian headbands:

I talked to my best friend as she was driving and I was sitting in an airport, and she told me that my accent has leveled out just right. I don't sound like a Midwesterner to her, but people in Missouri say I don't have a Southern accent. At the end of the day, I will always be from the South and maybe I'll return, but I'm enjoying the culture of all the other places I get to live and visit.

And completely unrelated, a picture of the cutest baby at the wedding:

I'm alive

I know I haven't blogged in a while, but it has been a pretty busy few weeks.

I went home to Tennessee for my brother's wedding over the weekend. If you've talked to me recently, you know I might not have had the best attitude about it. But I have to say, I really did have a lot of fun. I got to see lots of family I rarely see and catch up with friends of my parents that care so much about us. It really is cool to stand up with your brother at his wedding and recognize everyone sitting on the groom's side.

I've said it before, but we were lucky to grow up in the same town our whole lives. The people that came to the wedding have known the four of us for either all of our lives or most of them. That's a pretty special thing.

So it was a lot of fun to catch up with people, dance with my cousins, watch my brother enjoy himself and welcome a new sister to the family.

Finally, a post

I know it has been a while since I've posted. There's been some life stuff going that I can't write about, and it's consuming my thoughts, so I've struggled to blog about anything else. But I'll try to catch you up on some other things.

It's summer. The students are gone, and I've pulled out my skirts and dresses. It also means flip flop season. Basically you'll see me in one of three pairs this summer:

I spent Memorial Day weekend in Tennessee. I spent a lot of quality time with this baby girl, wearing a dress from her aunt:

She is quite a fish in the pool and also looks very cute in her swimsuit.

I also got to show off my hometown to two of my friends from Virginia. Of course, I hardly took any pictures, but here's one of us checking out the view at the hang gliding launch, no we did not hang glide.

I've managed to stack three short work weeks together, four days last week, three days this week and next week. But I'm reminded that the last day before vacation and the first day back are pretty rough.

In co-op news, I just got beets. Last year, I decided I didn't like them, but I'm still looking for another way to eat them. Suggestions? I am going to try the leaves this time. I also got tomatoes and zucchini this time, and I am excited about that.

Some observations

I am back and actually unpacking my suitcase for a while. Not really sure how to recap everything but came up with this list of observations from my latest weekend away.

It is possible to have four flights in one weekend go off without a hitch. It just had never happened to me until this weekend.

I like flying out of smaller airports. I don't like walking three miles in the Charlotte airport, might be an exaggeration but you can get a good workout in that place.

I really confuse people when I explain where I've lived over the past nine years. People assume I've gone to the university in the town where I live or am attending there now, which brings up the fact I went to Missouri for school. And when my destination is Tennessee I have to explain that is where I grew up and somehow fit my time in Georgia in the conversation. So yes, I get strange looks, even more so when I say all of these moves have been in pursuit of a career.

I am not a morning person and even less so since I started living by myself. So while at home, I proceeded to ignore my family until I had some breakfast. But then a talkative guy (mid-50s and married, in case you are wondering) sat next to me while waiting to board a 6:15 a.m. flight. I don't generally like to talk to people on planes or airports, but at 5:30 a.m. you are really pushing me. Of course I had the conversation mentioned above, which made it even worse.

Tornadoes do come on mountains despite promises that this was not the case when I was younger. A major storm, and most likely a tornado, hit my hometown a few weeks ago. A tree came through my grandparents' house, and there was damage all over the neighborhood. My mom and I walked a trail nearby and found this:

"I think we might be grown-ups." A high school friend at the wedding I attended made this comment, and while I know it's true, it seems even more real when you are at the wedding of a friend you've known since middle school. Just have to throw in a (slightly blurry) pic with the bride:

 Attending a wedding in the same venue as junior prom and a party sophomore year brings back lots of memories.


The trips home where I don't make plans to see people are always the ones where I do see several. But it's good to be surprised by breakfast with a high school friend and seeing my Bible study leaders and their kids.


The longer I am away, the cooler my hometown gets or maybe my perspective just changes. Though it's been finished for a while, I visited the new art museum for the first time and enjoyed the beauty of the river. I also enjoyed some great restaurants.

It's always a blessing to go home and spend time with family, and this weekend was no exception. But I also realize after all these weekends of travel, I miss my friends in my current city. I'm looking forward to being present here and enjoying some fun things planned over the next few weeks that keep me in town.

Still alive

I'm still here. I've just been busy with life lately. I've been in and out of town and still have one more weekend trip to go. It's all fun stuff, but the homebody in me is craving some down time at home.

I spent some time with this baby girl:

And was grateful for the chance to spend time with the whole family.

This weekend, I tried to document spring before snow ruined it all on Sunday.

Hopefully, I'll get back to regular posts soon.

It's a random compilation of stuff today.

I had a wonderful weekend visiting this baby girl:

And yes, her bib says "My aunt is hot and single." These are the two pictures I have of the whole weekend, I was too busy having aunt-time. I just loved getting her all to myself. I have a feeling I'm going to wear out that road from here to there, all 350-plus miles of it. She's changed so much in two months, and it is so fun to see her smile. She also showed off and rolled over for me.

I also forgot how great being away for the weekend is. When I'm in my house, I look around and see all that needs to get done. But at my sister's I was able to read a book without feeling guilty and watch TV without multi-tasking. It was very relaxing. I also didn't feel as behind as I thought I would when I got home. But I am very glad it is a short week of work.

I've already complained about this on Facebook, but the tease of spring might have been too much for me. Over the weekend, the temps were in the 70s, and farther south at my sister's, everyone had skipped straight to summer, i.e. bikinis and short shorts. But I walked to work during a snow shower on Tuesday. I think if I hadn't been tempted by the warm weather, I could have survived another few weeks of cold, dreary weather, but now I've tasted spring and that's all I want.

I made chicken salad in my food processor last night. I don't know why this has never occurred to me before. Usually I don't even chop the chicken, I just mix chunks with mayonnaise and celery by hand, and it suffices, but it's not my favorite chicken salad. But in the food processor it actually combines and is more restaurant-style. This is one sign I've been trying harder with food during the off-season. I also have a lot of chicken in my freezer I need to use. I made this roasted chicken for my sister and brother-in-law over the weekend, and I still have two chickens in the freezer plus some already cooked chicken.

On that note, it's time to sign up for the co-op again. There's no question that I'll be doing it again, but I'm thinking of dropping the chicken. Last year I thought I would want the meat, but it turns out that the produce was enough, hence the two chickens in my freezer. Anyway, I am now in countdown mode to the first pick-up.

That's all I've got!

Christmas Eve

Here's another Christmas tradition I thought I would share.

When my mom was pregnant with the twins (my younger brother and sister), she was put on bedrest for the last three months, which was most of November, December and January. (The twins arrived in February.) And so you can picture it, I turned three that December, and my sister was five and a half.

I remember a few things about this time. I know I got up and dressed myself every morning (in clothes my mom picked out) and made my bed. I took my hairbow and brush to my mom in bed and then waited for my ride to come. It depended on the day, but I always went somewhere: Preschool, a play date, a home day care, etc. My mom's friends stepped up to make sure I made it to every birthday party and event I needed to be at. The same went for my sister who was in kindergarten.

When I got home in the afternoons, I would crawl into my mom's bed to play paper dolls or read books. She also kept cookies with her to bribe me to play with her upstairs. I don't have any negative memories from this time, and I think it made me a pretty independent kid. It also meant that when the twins were born, I was so excited to have my mom back to normal I didn't think to be jealous of the babies.

During this time, my mom's friends and our church also supported us with meals. My dad came home in time to feed us dinner every night, and we did pretty well with all the casseroles and chicken pot pies we received.

But for Christmas Eve, my dad wanted to make a meal for us. My dad is pretty capable in the kitchen, but at the time most of the things he knew to make were appetizers and "party food." So that's what he made. My sister and I helped him, and my mom was able to come to the table to eat dinner with us that night.

And so it became a tradition for us. My siblings and I all have specific things that we make with my dad pitching in. He does the grocery shopping and planning, and we pull off a pretty great meal every year.

I don't remember what we made the first year, but our menu usually consists of: lobster bisque, hallelujah ham rolls, shrimp remoulade, sausage swirls, Tex-Mex dip (my dish even though I don't eat it), spinach dip, baked brie, crab dip and usually a red meat of some kind. Yes, it is a ton of food, but I think we like it left over almost as much as on Christmas Eve.

I agreed to work at Thanksgiving and even Christmas Day sometimes just so I could be there to cook on Christmas Eve and eat this meal with my family because Christmas Eve is definitely "our holiday." We're changing it up this year, adding some people and shifting location, but we will still gather around the table as a family and remember how this all started.

Caroling

I thought for the rest of my posts for this week, I would share a couple of Christmas traditions in my family.

When we were growing up, we had several families we were good friends with that all had kids around the same ages. I'm not sure if my mom and her friends were trying to fulfill some picture of the perfect Christmas or just liked to throw parties. But one year when my younger brother and sister were still toddlers, they decided we should all get together and go Christmas caroling.

There were four families, consisting of 15 kids (though not all were there in the beginning) and eight adults. We rotated houses every year, gathering to eat dinner and then hit the neighborhood singing. I wouldn't say that we were the most talented group, and we had a limited selection of songs to sing, but I think our neighbors were pretty pleased to open their door and see 23 carolers. (Sidenote: On Sunday night, I actually had the experience of being caroled to for the first time, and it is pretty fun to open the door to singing.)

There are some funny memories from that time. We often tried to get complicated with our songs, but then no one would know the words, so we'd just break into "We wish you a merry Christmas." I think Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer were our most frequent songs. And one year my mom put together songbooks to add variety.

We also attempted carrying candles one year. Why any adult thought that was a good idea, I don't know. Even worse, we had just had an ice storm and were slipping everywhere as we walked through the neighborhood. It may have been the next year that we loaded up in the back of a pick-up truck for a "hayride" between houses. This was a good idea, but somehow the youngest of all of us was stepped on in one of the unloadings and ended up with a broken collarbone. She is also the one that was born one year during caroling, and so we get to celebrate her birthday every year. She turns 20 this year if that gives you a time reference.

It's been several years since my mom withheld food until we actually went caroling, but up until last year we still gathered for dinner and time to catch up. By now of course, everyone has spread out, and there are four married kids so it's just not feasible to get us all together anymore. But I have to say it was a pretty good tradition for us and pretty cool that 20-some odd years later we were hanging out with friends we've had since birth.

Last year was the end of the tradition, our parents all had dinner but the kids were not obligated to go. I was actually flying home that night, and when I got to where my layover was, I ran into one of the guys that was part of this caroling group. We got to catch up, and just like when we used to carpool everywhere, our parents just dispatched my sister to pick up both of us.

Cooking for the family

So as much as I love cooking for just myself, it is more fun to have others around to appreciate my meals.

Before I drove to my parents' house, I picked up my share and was excited about all the winter squash I got. I said before I don't remember being exposed to winter squash, and I soon learned why.

It turns out that my dad does not like sweet potatoes, and pretty much all of the winter squashes taste similar to sweet potatoes. To fully illustrate my dad's dislike of sweet potatoes, my grandmother told me that when he was a kid, he said sweet potatoes and onions would be worse than coal and ashes from Santa Claus.*

But I have continued to cook the things I planned and let my dad fend for himself. My mom seems to enjoy my dishes, and my sister says they are better than other squash dishes she's tried.

So far I've made the butternut squash soup (I tried cooking the squash for less time but it was kind of a pain to peel and chop at that point) and this butternut squash and goat cheese pasta that was excellent. I also experimented with the pumpkin brownies again, using a brownie mix, and they turned out well but not very pretty. I also discovered how easy this pumpkin muffin recipe from Natalie is. My pizza crust was also a hit last night.
 
The good thing about cooking here is the help I have. I've recruited my mom, dad and sister to do various tasks, and I haven't done very many dishes here!

*I did warn my dad that this was going on the blog, and he says he is still ahead of me in terms of food he likes. But I say mincemeat pie doesn't count.

Outside the box

This blog thing has been more fun than I expected. I've enjoyed the chance to write about something besides the financial world, and it has kept me motivated as far as cooking. But I've also enjoyed the interaction with my friends and readers through comments, conversations or emails.

But sometimes in this world of instant online communication, I forget how great snail mail is. I recently got an unexpected card from my dad, encouraging me in everything I'm doing, including this blog/cooking thing.

It reminded me that a few months back, I also got a card from my aunt commenting on my blog but also reminding me of a great vacation I took with her and my uncle. She included a photo that reminded me I did occasionally try new things as a kid.

Yes, this is when I discovered I liked lobster (apparently I wasn't fazed by putting the live ones in to cook and then eating them).

We were spending the week in Maine, staying in a cabin on a lake in a small town. I was about 9, and my aunt and uncle who lived in Connecticut at the time also came up with their kids.

Most of the time I was floating in an inner tube in the lake, fishing or canoeing. In the evenings we'd go for ice cream and then sit on the dock and practice our loon calls. (I'm thinking this is a vacation I need to repeat as an adult.)

I distinctly remember being hesitant to try the lobster, but by the end of the week, I couldn't get it cracked to reach the meat fast enough.

My uncle was always telling me, "Just try it once." This applied to both food and waterslides. And most of the time, I was willing to try it again, it's just finding the nerve to step outside my comfort zone.

In his card, my dad told me he was proud of me for stepping outside my box (i.e. comfort zone) over the last year, both food-wise and in life.

I think in some ways I needed a physical move and a chance to start fresh in order to do that, and I was intentional about changes I wanted to make in my life when I moved here a little over a year ago.

In the midst of these changes, I've found a more relaxed attitude. I seem to have loosened my grip on life (or at least some parts of it). I used to be such a control freak, I wouldn't even ride places with people, and if I was going to be in a situation where I didn't have some control over what was happening, I wouldn't even participate. But I'm having more fun and more of those unexpected, amazing experiences now that I'm willing to let go of this need for control and live without always having a plan.

And that's a lot of what God has been trying to show me over the last year. My plans are not His, and I should actually be grateful for that. Instead of grieving over my failed plan, I should be celebrating the road I'm on and relaxing in the passenger seat.

Not sure how I managed to go from lobster to God's plan for me or if it even makes sense, but that's what I've got today!

The dinner table

My whole life, I dreamed of the day I would get to live by myself. I am one of four children and fall in the middle (the younger two are twins so yes there is a middle of four). While I love my siblings and really enjoy being part of a family of six, I never had my own bathroom. 

The four of us shared a bathroom until my older sister was a teenager when she moved to the bedroom in the basement. Once she left for college, I only had three years left before I was off too, and since my brother (the only boy) had shared a bathroom with his sisters for so long it only seemed fair that he should get the basement. So my sister and I were still left upstairs sharing a bathroom. (You should note that at some point my other three siblings all had their own bathroom while living at home. I’m not complaining just stating the facts.)
 
After all this sharing, the community bathroom in the dorm and sorority house wasn’t horrible. In fact, it meant (almost) never waiting for a shower and knowing it was cleaned by someone else on a daily basis. But after 22 years of sharing a bathroom, I was ready to have my own apartment with my own bathroom. Imagine my delight when the perfect apartment I rented in Georgia had not one, but two bathrooms. Yes, I used both of them daily.
 
So living by myself, even four years in, is still a dream come true for me and not just for the bathroom. But I think it has played a part in my less than ideal eating habits. I grew up in a house where we sat down for dinner as a family at least five nights a week. In the midst of our busy schedules, my mom made it a priority for us to sit down and eat together. It often meant eating in my soccer attire before practice or not making it to the table until almost 8 p.m. But it brought us together and established consistent time together as a family and encouraged healthy eating.
 
In college, I found comfort in sitting down for dinner at 5:30 p.m. every weekday night with my sorority sisters. I never had to worry about what I was going to eat, and I loved the social aspect of eating with friends.
 
After graduating, I remember one of my first nights off from work where I cooked dinner for myself in my new apartment. My apartment had a dining room, so I bought a table from Kmart to fill the space. I sat at the table to eat, and it was a moment when I felt both grown-up and alone. I didn’t realize how much I would miss something as simple as dinner with friends or family

For me, food became less important when there weren’t other people involved. I’ve never been a “foodie,” my picky eating post makes that obvious. But until the social aspect disappeared, I didn’t realize that it wasn’t the food I enjoyed so much, it was the company.

I am appealing to my competitive side with this challenge, but it doesn’t always have to be a solo thing. My friend Andrea has both demonstrated and reminded me that this is a great opportunity to open my home and share meals with friends.

Hopefully, I can make some dishes that are worth sharing.

Easter weekend

Easter is one of those holidays that can be hard to go home for, but it's one of my favorites to be there for. I never made it back home for Easter during college, but once I graduated and moved closer to home I started going back for Easter even when it meant driving in after work on Saturday night or working from my parents' house on Easter. 

I figured it would be a stretch now that I'm further from home, but when I found out my office was closed for Good Friday, I decided to take off two extra days and drive home for the weekend. It was a long trip, but totally worth it to start off Easter Sunday with this:

(Photo courtesy of my sister)

And I have to say the rest of the weekend was pretty great as well. I got to see family I don't see very often, have dinner with a friend from high school, hang out with my brother and sister, and enjoy some wonderful time outside in the gorgeous weather biking and hiking.

I also got to indulge in Sonic a few times, one of the things I've missed since moving. It also made 16 hours in the car a little more bearable.

My mom also provided some inspiration in the kitchen with the amazing meals she served all weekend, including Panera's Broccoli Cheese Soup, Pioneer Woman's Mashed Potatoes and my favorite broccoli casserole, all of which I intend to make sometime soon.


I'm exhausted from the road trip today and need to work on getting my life at home back in order. At least I only have four work days this week!