Thankful Thursday

This morning has been tough. I love Thursdays. They are my early yoga days, my free lunch days, my relaxing at home in the evening (usually) days. But this morning I woke up with a mind-numbing headache (it woke me up every hour during the night!), which is really unusual for me. I never get headaches, so I generally don't know how to deal with them. So I powered through yoga, grabbing my head to stop the throbbing every time I was upright. Now it's lunchtime, and it's ebbed a tiny bit, but still throbbing. So I can't help feeling like my Thursday has a bit of a damper on it.

Regardless, this morning I also read 1 Peter 4:7-11 during my BART ride (aka the time in which I do my bible study), and these phrases really stuck out to me:
"Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply...Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling."
Do you ever read something that makes you go, "OH. That's meant for me." Yep. Hello, action items.

I've had to be extra diligent about feeling thankful today, though I know there is certainly a long list to be thankful for. Like:

1. I'm thankful that my brother and sister-in-law got to visit last weekend. It was so great to spend quality time together and just have fun.

2. I'm thankful for good general health. When I have little complaints like today, I have to step back and realize that they are just that: little complaints. I know several people who have honest-to-goodness health issues, and it makes me so thankful that I don't, and that my complaining is about stupid things that are few and far between.
3. I'm thankful for met needs. There have been a few worries on my mind lately, that I won't mention here, and it seems like once I get to the point of thinking, "Ah, how is this going to work out?!", the answer comes along. Jehovah Jireh, indeed.
4. I'm thankful for our vacation coming up! Nothing helps us reset and relax like travelling, and this is going to be a genuinely bizarre trip for us, since it involves neither a language change nor a currency change. Plus: we get to have dinner with our dear friends in DC while we're there - bonus awesomeness!
5. I'm thankful for good breakfasts. Don't laugh! It's true. Nothing starts my day off better than a tasty, sit-down breakfast with Nolan. I've gotten several of those lately!

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

So. It's Thursday night. Let's get our thankful on, because I need me some sleep.

1. I'm thankful I can sleep in a little tomorrow morning, courtesy of working from home. Last night my phone started ringing off the hook with unidentified numbers from 11:30pm on, until finally we decided I had to pick up (sidenote: I wasn't picking up because last week I had the California College Republicans calling me at midnight. WTF were they thinking? Also: I'm not a Republican NOR am I in college.). It was Nolan's colleague, calling me to reach Nolan, and letting him know that his schedule had changed and he was expected at work an hour earlier and therefore he was late. Thanks a lot for letting us know ahead of time that the schedule changed. On that note:
2. I'm so thankful that Nolan isn't in a specialty where such things will be the norm. I couldn't handle that.
3. I'm thankful for the sunshine and warmth this week, and long daylight hours to make everything seem so chipper and summery. It's just a happier time of year!
4. I'm thankful for a couple days with my brother and sister-in-law this weekend. So excited!
5. I'm thankful for our ladies small group. I'm really loving learning and growing with this bunch of girls this spring!

What are you thankful for?

Somewhere along the way, I forgot the point of this post...

Friday was an incident. In which I lit the barbeque wrongly, and almost blew myself up/lost all facial hair. Fortunately, I just singed the tip of my eyelashes and some peachfuzz on my cheeks that I don't care about. Nolan took great joy later on in pointing out that part of my eyebrow and my hairline were singed too. Sigh.

Since running has been so successful lately (no knee pain!), I thought I'd try something else forbidden:

I have athletic passes to the pool on campus and figured I'd better use them at some point. I had a whole lane to myself and the sun was shining and it was amazing. This is going to have to happen more often. 

Saturday morning we had our breakfast together and then played Stone Age, and I felt so antsy (I hadn't exercised yet!) I did NOT feel like finishing the game or staying indoors. So I pouted. And Nolan made it into a semi-artsy picture.

I also did a lot of cooking and baking. We're talking several times a day, food for the day, food for the week...snacks for bible study. Which are these this week:

Mmm, black-bean brownies.

And garbanzo-bean blondies!

But I swear, you wouldn't know they were healthy (or beany!) if you tasted them. 

Thankful Thursday/Hello, Mr. President (again)

This week has been good. Real good. And I think we started it off with a bang - Nolan made his first real prepared meat dish, and it was fantastic! He marinated a porkloin for over 2 days (haha!) in some orange-y, garlicky delicious marinade (for which I still need to make him send me the link), and we roasted that sucker until it was juicy, dripping, and oh-so-good. Paired with a chilled white wine, asian salad and miso dressing, and my healthy tiramisu...what could be better?

le roast


Nolan and Josh were just, you know, hanging around Atherton this past week, and found out Obama was in town again (I knew it - that's the only time I hear huge loud helicopters buzzing around), and they went to go stalk his ride from some fundraiser. It's ridiculous how often he's been in our 'hood since we've moved here just 2 years ago. Where there is money...

Anyway, here is a picture of Mr. President. Behind black windows, anyway. But he's there! Nolan also has a several-minute video of the whole procession but I'm not going to force you to watch that when the only "exciting" part is that picture below :)

Nolan also finally remembered to send me this picture of my first "real" sushi experience. See? Photo proof that I really do like fish now! Yummmm!

This week I also tried buying a new brand of espresso. Saw this brand, recognized it as the kind we loved in Europe, bought it. Same price as the weird brand - so why not? Here's why not (taken immediately after opening):

Apparently in Europe, they only sell you half-cans for full-price. Boo.

But there's more to life than espresso, right? Like...

1. I'm thankful for sleep. Lots of it. I've been sleeping a lot (and a lot better!) these past couple weeks, and OHMYGOSH I feel almost like a new person. I woke up this morning at 4:30am (still got 7.5 hours of sleep though!) for yoga, and felt so energetic, awake, and ready for the day. I remember sitting at my desk this morning around 9:30am, eating my grapefruit, and thinking, "I feel GREAT today. I've felt great for days! This is a great day!". No kidding. Amazing what catching up on sleep can do for you!

2. I'm thankful for sunny days and flexible schedules. Monday was an incredibly slow day at the office, so mid-afternoon when Nolan texted me that he wished I was home and we could go for a bike ride...I said okay! It was glorious.

3. I'm thankful for fun new recipes/tips. Discovered way to make plain old shredded chicken in the crockpot in 4 hours; enough for the week. BEST thing ever. Especially when I mix it with a big batch of my vegan smoky bbq sauce. Pulled chicken FTW!

4. I'm thankful for time with Nolan recently - we went on a date to a latin seafood place last night, had a slow breakfast together several times this week, and got to sleep in together more than we're used to. Let's keep this kind of schedule up, please.

5. I'm thankful for family. I got to see everyone at Easter, then this past Friday had an impromptu dinner with aunts and cousins and uncle and Oma. And now family is coming to visit the next two weekends! So many fun plans and good times! And possibly games of Warcraft.

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

Waking up this morning for 4:30am yoga with the rain drizzling down outside and my cup of hot coffee with me inside was the best way to start my Thursday. Seriously, is there anything better?

Best way to end it? A glass of wine and going to bed at 8:30. Hah.

This has been a week of challenges in many ways. From choosing what to eat and wear to solving relationship/friendship puzzles and dealing with the aftermath of taxes this year (ouch!) to even just feeling like I'm in a rut with my workouts...I'm glad for a couple days this weekend to sort things out. And relax! And bake. It's going to be glorious. I got a text from Nolan today that he bought a pork roast and made a marinade for it to set in (a little random, a lot appreciated!). Saturday night meal? Done! Speaking of appreciation:

1. I'm thankful it's almost the weekend! I'd like a day of nothing with a side of Nolan, please :)
2. I'm thankful for a husband who tells me I'm beautiful when we're just being silly. Talk about an ego boost!
3. I'm thankful our vacation is coming up soon! It's been awhile since we really got away (and may not be much longer until we can get away again!)! I'm also grateful that we're able to travel and do the fun things that we do - this time in our lives is short and we need to enjoy it as much as possible.
4. I'm thankful for a brief respite at work this week and next - it's nice to have a chance to catch my breath between big things!
5. I'm thankful for a challenging new small group this spring. There seem to be all sorts of things for me to figure out and face; both relational and internal. Yay for growth opportunities?


What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

The light at the end of the tunnel! I can see it...I think. These couple weeks have been bad. Especially this week. Not bad meaning there weren't some fun things I did, but just because I've felt the stress rolling off of me in waves. I've been longing to get to Friday evening for weeks, and now I'm almost there. So close! Today I finally got around to unpacking some more boxes at work, and I'm starting to feel a *tiny* bit more settled on our new floor. I even managed to snap a few pictures during the week.

movin' on up! well...6 floors, anyway.

The facilities team who coordinated the moving of all the impacted floors realized that they did a crappy job and tried to atone for it with a granola bar, a little note, and a Starbucks card. I can see right through these tricks! But I'll accept the gifts anyway.

 My new cube. Sigh. So depressing with the move stickers all over it and nothing on the walls. The boxes are behind me in this picture, so it doesn't look as impressively depressing. You also can't tell very well that I lost a couple square feet of space :( But! There are shelves in the locker units! There's a silver lining after all.

That move has been just one of many huge time-sucks that's dropped on these few weeks. So let me take a second and reflect on some of the really good things.



1. I'm thankful that I've still had time to spend with Nolan. Not as much this week as I'd like, but we got to spend each morning and evening together last weekend, and it was glorious. Renewing.
2. I'm thankful our women's small group kicked off successfully. With 23 ladies all coming together to study, it can be a bit challenging to plan...but I can already tell this is going to be a beautiful time each week.
3. I'm thankful that although overwhelmed, I haven't dropped the ball on anything either at work or at home (that I'm aware of). Knowing I had to fail or give up on something would have killed me.
4. I'm thankful for breakthroughs! Tomorrow is the last business-day of our fiscal year, which means I have some deliverables due. After much hemming and hawing, I finally had an "aha" discovery this week that is going to allow me to finish up strong, and hopefully exactly like I wanted.
5. I'm thankful for Easter this weekend and some really good quality time with family! Looking forward to hitting the "reset" button in many ways!

What are you thankful for?

when it's okay to play with your food

We have a friend who likes to play with food. Like, he and his wife hand-crushed mint-leaves and whipped up (literally) a fantastic mint-chip ice cream for Nolan for his birthday. I had 3 servings. I don't even like mint-chip ice cream! It was awesome.

He also created this little guy...who has been providing us delicious breakfast material for days:

After the party is generally Nolan's favourite part, I think. This is often what it looks like:

I can't actually remember a game night or party where Jacob hasn't been the last one to leave, and spent hours sipping wine or a G&T on the couch with Nolan, talking politics and life while I clean up (my mode of relaxation after a party).

 At the end of the night, the spoils left all fit on one handy tray for Nolan to take to the hospital with him the next morning. Considering how many of each of these we started with, I'd say we did pretty well pawning them off!

Mmmm, oreo cream cupcakes. I told you I'd get a picture of them eventually. How could I not?

 Per tradition, Nolan wanted eggs benedict for breakfast on his birthday. I think he must forget what it looks like, because I swear he takes a picture each time I make it for him. At least it's pretty! Though he obviously was hungry enough to take the picture before it was able to focus on the food.

In the morning, we had our breakfast and lattes together, opened presents, snuggled, and said goodbye for the day.

When he got home, we had another mini celebration, using his fancy new wine glasses to enjoy his favourite chilled wine, and a mini carrot cake with candles...because you have to have cake and candles on your birthday!

This weekend I stopped at Target to pick up a few things, and made a few discoveries. One: you can cut your finger swiftly and deeply on plastic wrap while inspecting a product...and not notice until you start to wonder why there is red stuff all over the items you're inspecting. Oops. Biohazard on aisle 12.

Two: 

Target is obviously thoughtful enough to manufacture special tape/handles to make carrying things like paper towels easier for customers. Strange? Yes. Genius? Yes.

Today was pretty excellent. I walked, did chores, took an hour and a half nap (supposed to be 20 minutes...whoops!) with Milo in the sun, cooked a humongous turkey meatloaf* for the week, baked banana-strawberry muffins, and just generally relaxed. I took this picture of Milo sunbathing in the office, and think it pretty much sums up how I feel too. Ahhh.

*Speaking of meatloaf: this food thing is getting weird. I added 3 more things to my list of things I didn't used to like that I now really love:

-meatloaf

-maple syrup (I know!)

-mint-chip ice cream, apparently