We had a great time with my parents this weekend. They got in on Thursday afternoon. On Friday morning, Dad and Darby took the train to Chicago for the Blues Festival. I had to work, so Mom and I drove up later that evening. We got pizza at Pizzeria Uno (meh) and then walked down to the lake. Mom and I put our feet in the water but immediately regretted it when we had to walk back to our hotel in wet, sandy sandals. :)

On Saturday morning, we got up and ate breakfast at the West Egg Cafe. I had strawberry banana pancakes...yum! While the guys went and listened to more blues, Mom took me shopping! We went to an outlet mall that had an Ann Taylor Factory Store, so I was in heaven. I don't know at what point you're too old for your mom to buy you clothes, but I'm glad I'm not there yet!

For my dad's 50th birthday a few weeks ago, I gave him a certificate for a homemade birthday dinner. I gave him several choices for entree, sides, and dessert, and he could pick his favorites. So on Sunday I made the meal. He chose prosciutto and fontina-stuffed chicken, bacon-wrapped grean beans, grilled corn (which actually ended up being oven-roasted because I ran out of propane), and cherry-o cream cheese pie. I forgot to take a picture of the meal, but here's Mom and Dad eating their pie.

I was sad that I didn't get to be at home to celebrate my dad's 50th birthday, so I was glad we could do something while he was here. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful parents who take time to visit (and pay for everything when they do) and to have a wonderful husband who gets along with family (sometimes better than I do!).

Little fun, big fun

I cannot believe it's already June! It seriously feels like 2010 just started. This summer has been so fun already. Even though Darby and I both work every day, it feels like we have a lot more free time. It's nice to be able to do stuff in the evenings without Darby having to worry about homework. We're enjoying the small pleasures of summer:

• Grilling (hot dogs, corn on the cob, chicken, s'mores)
• Eating at Custard Cup (although, really this is a whenever they're open thing, not a summer thing, but we do sit outside in the summer!)
• Watching the church softball team
• Tuesday night game nights with the Basyes and the Jumpers. Now that LOST is over (don't even get me started on the finale), the group of us that used to watch together gets together to hang out.
• Taking walks. A couple of weeks ago, we walked to the farmer's market and back (about a 4-mile round trip). There are few things that give me more satisfaction than walking somewhere. I enjoy walking anyway, but when you have a specific destination, it's even better.

And, we have quite a few big things to look forward to this summer as well:

• My parents are coming up tomorrow and we're going to Chicago for the weekend. Dad and Darby are going to the Blues Festival, and Mom and I are going to shop. Woo-hoo!
• At the end of June, Darby and I are going to Texas for my friend Carolyn's wedding. While we're down there, we're going to see as many friends and family as possible. Should be fun!
• On the 4th of July weekend, we're going to St. Petersburg, FL, with our friends from ACU, Dylan and Andrea. We've rented a beach house, and I'm so pumped! If there's oil on the beach, oh well. We'll still have fun hanging out, eating at restaurants, etc.
• In August, Darby is a groomsman in his friend Ben's wedding in Hot Springs, AR. They've rented a lakehouse for all the attendants and spouses to stay in for the weekend. Nice!

And, of course, I have a real summer for the first time in a long time. My last day of full-time work is next Friday. I've made a list of projects I'd like to get done during my free time. Hopefully, this will keep me motivated not to spend all day watching TV. It will be nice to have a break before I start school in the fall. I have a feeling it's going to be a teensy bit difficult for me to get back in the swing of things after several years of no studying. But, I'm super excited!

P. S. Thanks for the advice on my last post. I knew you guys would come through. I forgot to mention that I do wear Olay moisturizer with SPF 15 every day. I'm all about the sun protection. The general consenus seems to be that makeup is the only way to brighten skin. I might try some bronzer. We'll see. Darby is not a fan of make-up, and while I don't think he has the ultimate say over how I look, I do try to respect his preferences. He's only really seen me wear fairly heavy makeup (prom, weddings, etc.), though, so I think he might be surprised by how natural makeup can look. I'll start slowly. ;)

Beauty Advice

Ok, as most of you know, I'm not much of a "product" girl. I don't wear makeup, use only a blowdryer and round brush on my hair, and can be ready in 20 minutes if I don't eat breakfast. But lately, I've been thinking I might need to add to my regimen. It seems that 25 might be the age when your skin starts to go downhill. Or maybe that's just me? I have been noticing a lot of wrinkles on my forehead and an especially deep crease between my eyes (from squinting). Darby says I'm crazy, but I swear, they were not there two years ago. Of course, I still get mistaken for a high-schooler quite often, so they must not be that noticeable.

But, besides the wrinkles, my skin has just seemed dull, for lack of a better word. I drink a lot of water, so I don't think that's the problem, although I do have very dry skin naturally. Do any of you have recommendations for moisturizers, exfoliators, masks, etc? I'm still hoping to avoid make-up for a while longer. But maybe there are some skincare products I should try? Help, please!

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

This week, I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It is the story of one family's attempt to eat only locally grown produce and meat for a year. It was entertaining, informative, and thought-provoking. Kingsolver definitely has a political agenda, as evidenced in this and other books, so I took some of the information with a grain of salt. However, overall, I think she made some very good points. I have always been very skeptical about organic produce. It is so expensive, and it's unclear to me how much it actually differs from other produce. Well, turns out my skepticism was somewhat founded. "Organic" food from large, national companies is very loosely regulated and often not substantially different from other produce.

Which is one reason Kingsolver advocates locally-grown food and/or maintaining a personal garden. When you know the farmer, you can be sure that his or her products are actually organic and that the workers are fairly paid. Another big concern of Kingsolver's is reducing fuel consumption. Each item in a typical American meal has traveled an average of 1,500 miles. The number of calories expended in producing, packaging, shipping, and refrigerating food can often be hundreds of times the calories available in the food itself. Some of this is understandable for foods that don't grow well in the Northern hemisphere, for example. But, the U.S. imports 1.1 million pounds of potatoes and exports 1.4 million pounds. That seems a little ridiculous, even to a non-tree hugger like myself.

The information about cattle and chicken farming was particularly disturbing. Animals are often forced to live in tiny cages, eating their own excrement and the by-products of their own kind. This greatly increases risk of disease, especially mad cow disease. The UK now tests 100% of its cattle for mad cow. The U.S. tests less than one-half of one percent. Yikes.

I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do with this information. I try very hard to keep our grocery budget low, and the prices at our farmer's market seem high to me. But, I could probably cut out some other items in order to afford more local produce and perhaps some grass-fed beef or free-range eggs. I could not rely solely on locally-grown produce, though. First of all, Illinois' growing season is fairly short. Second, I could not give up tropical fruits like bananas or pineapple completely. I will definitely look into the issues raised by this book more (in some less-biased sources) and take some baby steps toward changing our food habits.

If you're interested in gardening, cooking, or where your food comes from, I highly recommend this book. While I think sometimes it leans toward "the sky is falling" thinking, (the author predicts near-starvation conditions in the not-too-distant future due to the lack of biodiversity and fuel shortages), it does present a great case for growing your own food, eating more whole foods, and supporting small farmers. It also includes some good recipes.

Random

Darby and I went out last night to celebrate him passing his qualifying exam and me getting into grad. school. We went to Jim Gould's, a nice restaurant in downtown Champaign. It was really good! We decided to get dressed up, even though it wasn't necessary. I wanted to wear my new dress I got on clearance at Ann Taylor Loft. I used the last of my gift card money from Christmas to get it. I believe that's the longest I've ever held on to a Christmas gift card; usually they're gone in 2 weeks! (Sorry for the fuzziness of the picture. It was underexposed, and I had to fix it manually, which makes it fuzzy; can't decide which is worse.)

I went and saw Letters to Juliet with my friend Megan yesterday morning (yeah, we went at 11:35 a.m.---we're that cool). It was really cute. Totally predictable, but who goes to a chick flick to be surprised?

Tonight is the LOST series finale. I've NEVER been this excited for a television show before. It is comparable to the excitement I had when the last Harry Potter book came out. I'm so nervous. What if it's not resolved satisfactorily? What if I still have questions that I'll never get answered? I don't know if I can handle it. I know Darby is probably happy it's ending. Every Tuesday night for the past 4 months, I've been rehashing the show with him for hours (sometimes days) afterward. He does not like to speculate like I do, so I get a lot of "uh-huh, hmmm, ok." It's probably better for both of our sanity that it's ending.

Goal Update

Well, with only one month to go, I'm pretty proud of my progress toward my goals. There are a few that probably aren't going to happen, but I definitely think I accomplished more things than if I hadn't written goals at all. And, I accomplished my most important goal (#4), so the rest are just icing on the cake. I think I'm going to do this every year. Below is an update on my progress. The ones I'm completely finished with are in bold.

1. Take a cooking class. I'm not sure this is going to happen. I found a class that looked fun. But, it's $35 for one session. I don't know if I want to spend the money, and I certainly don't want to ask someone else to spend it, but I don't want to go alone.
2. Bake one new recipe from each of my cookbooks. I only have one more to go!
3. Learn two new songs on the piano. Well, this one has become "re-learn" two songs. I didn't realize how rusty I had gotten. Yikes!
4. Decide once and for all if/when I'm going back to school and what I will study. Yay! This one is DONE! I am starting a Master's in Teaching ESL at the U of I in the fall. I've known for a little while (and most of you have also), but I didn't want to write about it until I had gotten everything squared away at work. I'm super excited (and a little nervous); I can't wait to be back in classes again. Remind me of that in six months when I'm stressed out and complaining.
   
5. Read 5 books that I've owned for at least a year.
6. Find a local charity to get involved with. I am going to volunteer at the Crisis Nursery, which provides emergency, short-term childcare to area families. I haven't started yet, b/c they want you to make a weekly commitment at the same time, and my schedule is about to change drastically.
7. Take another workout class. I didn't do this because of time/money issues. But, I did start a strength-training routine on MWF mornings at home (in addition to our TuThS gym schedule).
8. Start at least two more herbs. Sprouted basil, cilantro, and parsley from seed. Parsley's taking off; the others are a little slow. My chives miraculously came back to life after being outside all winter. And one of Darby's colleagues gave me a mint plant.
9. Visit St. Louis. We're trying to save money, so this might not happen before June 20. We did go to Chicago twice, though!
10. Devise and stick to a housekeeping schedule. We've been cleaning every weekend pretty faithfully since January. Darby and I have our assigned jobs, and it's working great.
11. Have 3 "dinner parties" (with party defined as at least two other people besides me and Darby).
12. Go camping/hiking. Not yet . . .
13. Try 2 new restaurants.
    

Recipes

I feel like I have been cooking constantly lately. Or, at least, the dishwasher has needed to be loaded and emptied constantly. Is it sad that with only two people we could seriously use two dishwashers?

I made these Fruit Bruschetta from Our Best Bites for my friend Megan's wedding shower. They were a big hit and very yummy. They are perfect for a wedding or baby shower. (Although Darby enjoyed the leftovers a lot, too; they're not just "chick food.")

As you might remember, I've been on a quest for the perfect homemade salsa for about a year. Well, I think I finally found it. It's this recipe from The Pioneer Woman. And the secret ingredient is Rotel. I never would have thought to add that, but it does give the salsa a nice kick without too much heat. I tweaked her recipe just a little. I added only one can of Rotel (because my food processor is not big enough for two), and I did drain some of the juice from the tomatoes first. You can always add the juice back in if the salsa is not the right consistency.

We've been enjoying the salsa with these taquitos from Our Best Bites. If you haven't noticed, I love Our Best Bites; it's probably my favorite food blog (and I read a ton). Every recipe I've tried from them has been delicious. They're usually simple enough to appeal to everyone and to make on a weeknight but unique enough to make for special occasions.

Have you made any good recipes lately? Please share. I have 300 online recipes bookmarked to try, but I'm always eager to add a few more. :)

Great expectations

So, I saved a lot of my textbooks from college---mainly literature anthologies. I wondered what was the point of selling them back to the bookstore for pennies on the dollar when I could keep them and own so many great works of literature. Well, for the past 3-1/2 years, they have sat on my bookshelf, unopened. I have moved them twice (and they're not light). Every time I walk by the bookshelf, I feel the burden of my own unmet expectations. Did I really think I would one day get the urge to reread "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" or "Measure for Measure"? I'm more likely to reach for Julie and Julia or Better Homes and Gardens than The Norton Anthology of Poetry. Who was I kidding? I also had the idea that one day my kids might need them for school. But then it occurred to me that by the time I have any kids in college, the books will be at least 25 years old. And I actually hope none of my kids want to follow in their mom's footsteps---better to be interested in science like their dad. (If their interest is English, I won't discourage them, but, let's face it, people who are interested in and talented at science are positioned much better for the job market.)

So, last night, I decided enough is enough. I'm going to get rid of these books and the guilt that goes along with them. I looked two of them up on Amazon's textbook buyback page. Sure enough, they would take them, and pay me $70! I'm now 20 lbs. lighter, $70 richer, and have a foot of extra space on my bookshelves to fill with "low-brow literature." Ahhhh...that feels better.

Anything to save a buck

This weekend, Darby and I went up to Chicago to visit my dad (who was there on business) and Darby's brother and sister-in-law (who, coincidentally, were vacationing there at the same time). My dad treated us to dinner on Friday night. (Giordano's pizza—yum! Our favorite Chicago pizza yet.) After we dropped him off at the airport Saturday morning, we had some time to kill before meeting Jeremy and Janice for dinner.

We didn't want to spend much money, so I looked around for free stuff and found out about the Chicago Botanic Garden. Admission is free, but parking is $20 per car! We decided we'd try to find somewhere else to park and walk in. We drove around Glencoe for a while until we saw a sign pointing in the direction of the entrance. We turned onto that street and decided to park at a school and walk from there. We walked and walked and walked, seeing no sign of the gardens. We then reached a street that I thought I remembered seeing online. So, we turned and walked and walked some more. Finally, we found the entrance. We had parked a little over a mile away! :)

The gardens were absolutely beautiful—lots of tulips and crabapple trees in bloom. After several hours of walking around, we were pretty tired, and we knew we still had the walk back to the car. (Did I mention I wasn't wearing tennis shoes?) We made it, though. We were planning to go to Evanston to walk around the Northwestern campus afterward. But my feet were hurting so much from the walk that we just ate lunch and then sat in a coffee shop and read the rest of the afternoon. I think it was worth it to save $20, but next time we plan something like that, I'll definitely wear tennis shoes.

After resting, we met Jeremy and Janice at Katerina's, a jazz club/restaurant, for dinner. Both the food and music were only so-so, but the ambience was good, and it was nice to get to spend a little time with J & J. We drove home late Saturday night. It was a tiring weekend, but a lot of fun. We are lucky to live near a fun city that people want to visit! I'm not sure we'd get near as many visitors (except our parents, of course!) if we lived in Idaho.

Third Eye Blind

For years, Darby and I have talked about how fun it would be to go to a concert together—the problem is, we don't really have the same taste in music. We finally decided that either Third Eye Blind or U2 would be enjoyable for both of us. U2 is super-expensive, so I figured that wasn't going to happen, and I hadn't heard of Third Eye Blind touring in years. A few months ago, I was listening to the radio and heard an ad for Third Eye Blind coming to town. I was so excited! They were playing at a small venue, so tickets were relatively cheap ($25). And since it was small, we were pretty close to the stage. It was awesome! I forgot to bring my camera, but concert pictures never turn out that great anyway. I figure I can always find a video on YouTube if I want to remember it.

The show brought back so many good memories. They played most of their very popular songs (except 10 Days Late—boo!). I remember listening to their first CD at my friend Melanie's house when it came out in 1997. At the time, it was very edgy, and we felt so cool listening to it. And, of course, true fans knew all the words to "Semi-Charmed Life," not just the radio version. I discovered the song "Wounded" when part of it was used in an anti-drug commercial (an irony that was lost on me until this concert). On the day of my high school graduation, I called my friend Desiree and blasted "Graduate" into the phone. Being a rule-following, naive, somewhat nerdy teenager, listening to alternative music was just about my only "rebellion" (well,
there was also my ill-fated relationship with a "skater" guy, but that's a story for another time...or never). :)

Unfortunately, Third Eye Blind is not as cool as they used to be. Most of the people Darby and I told about the concert laughed. This was very disheartening to me. They are one of the coolest bands I actually like; if they're not cool, I'm sunk. Darby told some of the students in his lab section (mostly freshmen and sophomores) about the show, and they looked at him blankly. He was telling me this, and I was like, "What?? I mean I know they were too little to remember the first CD, but their second CD, Blue, was also pretty popular, and that came out in 1999, so they would have been...7 or 8...ohhh..." Then I realized, it has begun. From here on out, it will only get worse. I'm going to be that old woman talking about stuff that no one remembers or cares about. I really did not expect this to start until age 40 or so. Oh, well. The show was really fun, so if going to it makes me an old loser, I'll just have to be ok with that.

Bad Endings

For about the past two months, I have been reading Lonesome Dove. It is a long (945 pages), dense book that was difficult to get into for about the first 200 pages. However, the story soon picked up, and I became attached to many of the characters. For the past few days, I read steadily, excited to see how the story would end. And then, last night, I turned to the last page, and it just . . . ended. Seriously, there was absolutely NO resolution for any living character. They were all miserable, and the author gave little indication of what their next steps might be. I don't have to have a tidy, happy ending by any means, but a little resolution, even if sad, would be nice. I was so mad. I literally started crying and threw the book down on the ground. I just felt like I had been cheated; I had invested so much time and effort in that book, and I didn't even get a satisfying ending? There is a miniseries based on the book; I'm thinking I might watch that. I have a feeling it will have more of a resolution, as television usually demands some sort of finality. I hope so. Otherwise, there's no telling how long it will take me to get over this.

Stereotypes

On my way to work for the past couple of days, I have heard the same commercial for Meijer, the grocery store I shop at. It's a group of women chatting, making fun of their husbands for all standing around the grill and laughing at how possessive men are of their grills. One woman says, "Yeah, but at least it keeps them out of the house." Then they all laugh knowingly.

This commercial is annoying for several reasons, but the main one is the implication that all men are just bumbling idiots who women have to "put up with." Darby and I are always annoyed at this depiction of men on TV. There's one particular commercial (I think it is for Stanley Steemer) that shows a man attempting to make a smoothie without the blender lid on. The smoothie flies everywhere as the voiceover says something like, "With kids, pets, and a husband, it's no wonder you can't keep your house clean."

These commercials do not in any way appeal to me. I mean, if men were that incompetent, why would we marry them? I didn't grow up with that model, and I certainly don't live it now. I would never think Darby incapable of fixing his own lunch, cleaning up his own messes, or operating a blender. I must confess, however, that I do sometimes tease him about his inability to find stuff in the refrigerator or cabinets...sometimes you have to move stuff around. :)

So, why is the stereotype of the bumbling husband still so prevalent? It seems like it must resonate with someone, or the advertising wouldn't be effective. Are women really living in marriages like this, where they just want their husbands to stay out of the house and out of their way? How sad. Do these commercials bother anyone else? Or, am I just taking them too seriously?

Blast from the past

So, I just rediscovered the old Xanga blog I had before I started this one. I'm not going to include the link, because, wow, it was dumb. It kind of makes me worry. In five years, when I read this blog, will I be embarrassed that I wrote it? I hope not.

Anyway, there was one choice tidbit I thought I would share with you:

Tuesday, March 15, 2005
(after a Spring Break Campaign to New Jersey)
I have decided that I NEVER want to live where it's cold. I got so sick of having to put on 30 layers of clothes every day. Snow is pretty, but only up to a point. Give me 100 degree heat any day. I guess I'm a Texas girl at heart.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha! I guess God didn't care about my emphatic NEVER.

It was also fun to remember some college events I had forgotten. (For that reason, I'm glad I had the blog, even if it was 95% stupid.) I had totally forgotten about the time there was a fire in our sophomore dorm on Saturday morning, and we all had to go sit in the Teague center (where there was an event going on) in our pajamas.

I had also forgotten about my famous aphorism: "You can't be sexy until you're 20." Emerald had a "little sister" through Big Brothers/Big Sisters. I think she was about 11. Anyway, one night we were all eating dinner with her at Mr. Gatti's. The girl had on a necklace that said "Sexy." And thus, the line was born. I still think it's a good rule. Although, maybe with my daughter I should say, "You can't be sexy until you're married." :)

Old

Well, I've officially turned Darby into an old man. Last night, we went to a friend's birthday party and then out to eat with some friends from church. When we got home, we we watched an episode of Seinfeld and got ready for bed. While we were brushing our teeth, Darby said, "Wow, this was a pretty late night for us." It was 11 p.m.

Tonight, we had a guy from Darby's lab, his wife, and their little boy over for dinner. They had to leave pretty early to get the boy in bed, so Darby and I went to Starbucks afterward. On our way home, Darby said, "Do you want to play a game when we get home?" I said, "Sure." Then he said, "Oh, it's already 9:30. Never mind." It's not just me anymore! :)

Happy Easter!

I made these cupcakes for our small group tonight. I am probably more proud of them than is appropriate, but I just think they're so cute! The top ones I made with stencils that Debby gave me in my stocking at Christmas. And I stole the idea for the bottom ones from a magazine (I think Family Circle).

I spent all weekend cooking. Without realizing it, I signed up to bring dinner for our small group on Sunday and dessert for my women's Bible study on Monday. So yesterday and today I made 3 9x13 pans of chicken and rice, carrots, 2 dozen rolls, 2 dozen cupcakes, and a pan of cheesecake bars. I'm tired! Of course, most of that is probably my fault. It's not like I had to spend 4 hours decorating cupcakes. :)

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter. We didn't do much to celebrate (besides going to church, but that's not out of the ordinary). I always think it would be nice to do a big meal for Easter, but I don't know how I would get it all done after church. Darby and I will NEVER miss our afternoon nap, so we have to be done with lunch by 2 at the latest. Usually, we're done eating and in bed by 12:30 or 1. I've thought about doing a nice breakfast, but that would involve getting up early. I guess I'm just too lazy to celebrate Easter (until I have kids that is, I'll get up early for them).

Thanks!

Thanks for all the feedback! Brittany and Kalyn (sweet, sweet friends that they are) suggested I get a dog (or two dogs and a cat). While that might provide some interesting blog fodder, I don't think getting a dog for blogging purposes only is much better than having a baby for blogging purposes. So, for now, I'll stay childless and puppyless. Nice try, though, guys.

My family seems to enjoy my posts about my childhood. Since my mom is my most dedicated reader, I will oblige her. I'm thinking about going through my old photo albums and scanning some pictures for your enjoyment (particularly pictures of my "awkward" stage). I ran out of time to do that tonight---it's already waaaayyy past my bedtime. So, for now, just a quick story:

I was about 12, and Hannah was about 10, I think. This was back in the day before cable internet, when going online meant tying up the phone line; crazy how much has changed since then. Anyway, Hannah was on the phone with her BFF, Sara, and I wanted to check my e-mail. I tried to check it, and it made that crackling, beeping noise on the phone. Hannah said, "I'm on the phone." For some reason, I was really anxious to check my e-mail, so I marched back to her room, grabbed the phone from her, and hung up. She, understandably, got mad, and kicked me. Well, she kicked me square in the knee, so she hurt her toe really bad. I, of course, was laughing so hard. She had to go the doctor; I think it ended up being sprained. (Edited to add: In the comments, Hannah informed me that her toe was broken, not sprained.) I don't blame here for kicking me; I was being really rude. But, at the time, l thought she had gotten what was coming to her. Mom didn't punish her because she said she had been punished enough. I don't remember if I got in trouble; I probably should have.

Inspiration

I am in need of some blog inspiration. I try to post at least once a week. For a while, I was posting 2–3 times a week, but now it's a struggle to do one post. I'm not sure why I have this self-imposed goal; I don't think any of you just sit around waiting for me to post (except for Mom, ha!). Maybe I should have a kid so I can just post cute pictures all the time. Just kidding. Kind of. :) No, really, just kidding. So, if anyone has any great ideas for blog topics, leave them in the comments. Otherwise, you can just keep reading my boring posts.

A couple of weeks ago, I threw a little birthday party for my friend Megan. When I asked her what kind of birthday cake she wanted me to make, she said "An Oreo ice cream cake. Can you make those? Or do you have to buy them?" I had never made one before, but sure I was up to the challenge, I told her I'd make one. I looked online and found a recipe. It was one of the easiest cakes I've ever made, and everyone went crazy over it! Seriously, every single person said, "I didn't even know you could make an ice cream cake!" So, if you want to impress people with very little effort, the recipe is below.

Oreo Ice Cream Cake
1 pkg. regular Oreos
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream, softened
1 12-oz. jar hot fudge sauce (warmed so it's pourable)
1 tub Cool Whip

1. In food processor (or in gallon bag with rolling pin), crush half of oreos into fine crumbs. Mix with half stick butter, and press in bottom of springform pan.
2. Spread half of ice cream on top of crust
3. Place remaining Oreos (reserve a few for garnish) in food processor and break into small crumbs (not quite as fine as the crust). Mix with hot fudge sauce. Spread on top of ice cream.
4. Spread remaining ice cream on top.
5. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze several hours or overnight.
6. Just before serving, top with Cool Whip. I crushed a few of the remaining Oreos and sprinkled on top for decoration.
7. To serve, dip knife in warm water and run between cake and edge of pan. Remove sides of pan and slice.

Note: My springform pan does not form a perfect seal at the bottom. When the ice cream started melting, a little seeped out the bottom. I would recommend wrapping the bottom of the pan in foil or plastic wrap before you start.

Sibling Reunion!

Hannah and Matt came to visit this past week. It was so much fun! Darby and I went to pick them up on Saturday from O'Hare, and we spent the weekend in Chicago. We saw a lot of the touristy stuff, but some of the most fun moments were crazy situations that we got ourselves into, involving me getting very mad at a Central Parking Service employee who threatened that our car would get towed because the machine where you pay for parking was broken, Darby getting very mad at Subway employees who almost refused to serve us because we had the nerve to come in 20 minutes before closing, and a guy almost jumping off the "L" train because he missed his stop. Aaahhh...memories.

Unfortunately, Darby and I both had to work all week, but Hannah and Matt seemed to have plenty of fun staying at home and playing Wii. And we were able to fit in a lot of game-playing between 5 and 11 p.m. I'm so glad they came; Darby and I are pushing for them to make it an annual trip.

Now, Darby and I are in Arkansas for his cousin's wedding. It's been a crazy but fun week. Below are a few pictures from Chicago.

Matt and Darby being dinosaurs. Wow. I had no choice in my brother, but I did choose my husband. What was I thinking? :)

Our reflection in "Cloud Gate," or, as Hannah calls it, "The Big Kidney Bean."

Hannah and Matt chowing down at Gino's East. We stood in line 1-1/2 hours for this pizza. I don't know that it was worth that long a wait, but it was pretty good.

What I've Been Doing Instead of Blogging

• Going to a women's Bible study at church. We're doing the Beth Moore study on Esther. I've done one other Beth Moore study in the past, Believing God. I think I liked that one better. Some of the homework for this one seems a little superficial, but I really enjoy the videos and our small-group discussions.
• Getting ready for Hannah and Matt to come. I'm so excited! Darby and I are going to pick them up in Chicago on Saturday. We're going to spend the night there and do some sightseeing, then they're coming back to our house until Thursday! Yayyy!
• Eating ice cream. My beloved Custard Cup reopened for the season last Friday, and, embarrassingly, Darby and I have already been 3 times. I told Darby last night, "We can't keep this rate up." We'll be broke and very fat by the end of the summer. But it's just so good!
• Enjoying the spring weather. The past two days we've had highs in the 60s! (A little rainy, but who cares?) I'm not getting my hopes up that winter is completely over yet, but I'm enjoying being coatless while I can.
• Being excited for my friend Kalyn. She is having a baby! I have been praying about this for a year (as many others have), and I'm so thankful that God chose to answer our prayers in this way. Baby Gensic will be making his/her (I think her, but Kalyn thinks his) appearance in October. Many excited phone calls and e-mails have been traded back and forth among the Fat Tuesday girls about our 2nd little addition to the group.

Happiness

So, last night I spent about an hour typing up a post about the book I just read, The Happiness Project. I went to publish it, and Blogger freaked out and logged me out. When I logged back in, a very early version of my post was all that remained. I believe this was a test . . . to see if I actually learned anything about being happy. I whined for just a minute, but then tried to put it in perspective. It was a blog post—it wasn't like I lost a term paper or something. I think I passed the test. I decided not to mess with it last night and re-create what I could in the morning.

I highly, highly, highly recommend The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin. It is the memoir of a thirty-something woman's year-long attempt to increase her happiness. I saw so much of myself in the author. She wasn't unhappy to begin with; she just felt like she wasn't appreciating her life enough:

I had everything I could possibly want---yet I was failing to appreciate it. . . .
I didn't want to keep taking these days for granted. The words of the writer
Colette had haunted me or years: 'What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish
I'd realized it sooner."

She set up a happiness resolutions chart (a la Ben Franklin's Autobiography), where she tracked her progress toward different goals each month. (Most of the goals were very specific, but each month had a general theme: marriage, parenting, work, fun, etc.). This methodical approach appeals to me greatly. Gretchen has a website where you can set up your own charts and other resources; I think I might try it.

Two major themes of the book really affected me:

• You aren't happy unless you think you're happy, and, conversely, you're happy if you think you're happy. This was a big realization to me. A huge part of happiness is believing that you're happy and acting accordingly. I always figured that I act happy when I feel happy, but really I have much more control over it than that. Why not act happy, and therefore be happy, now?


• Happiness is work, and it's not always as easy as it looks. Gretchen talks about how it's so much easier to be negative, critical, and cynical than to be upbeat, energetic, and encouraging. She discusses how we assume naturally happy people are that way effortlessly, but, in reality, they likely work hard to maintain that happiness—especially in the face of negative people who try to bring them down.

Several of Gretchen's specific goals struck a chord with me, as well:

• Tackle a nagging task. She wrote a 5-page to-do list of all of those little things she never seems to get around to and crossed them off one by one. I don't think my list would be 5 pages, but there are several little things (like getting renter's insurance) that I need to do. Remembering them takes so much mental energy; why not just do it now?


• Enjoy now. She discusses the arrival fallacy: the belief that when you arrive at a certain destination, you'll be happy. This is rarely true because (1) you've been anticipating the destination so long that it is already built into your happiness and (2) the destination brings more responsibility. This is a big one for me. I'm always looking forward to the next thing (in high school, college; in college, marriage; in my job, a new job). I'll never have this time in my life again; I should enjoy it now.
  
• Cut people slack. "Fundamental attribution error is a psychological phenomenon in which we tend to view other people's actions as reflections of their characters and to overlook the power of situation to influence their actions, whereas with ourselves, we recognize the pressures of circumstance." Busted again. I am really going to work on giving people the same slack I give myself.

As you can see, this book gave me a lot to think about. I could go on and on, but Gretchen explains it much better than I can. If you have any interest at all, I highly recommend getting the book. I'm going to be working in the next few weeks to come up with some "happiness resolutions." I feel like my list of goals before I turn 25 is a start, but I want to set goals for my attitude, as well as my actions.

Siblings

A few weeks ago, Darby and I were hanging out with some people who work in his lab. One of the women, an international student from China, had seen some pictures of our family Christmas on Facebook and asked if I had a big family. I said, "Well, I have one sister and one brother, so not too big. What about you? Do you have siblings?" She said, "No . . . we have a one-child law." (At this point, I felt pretty bad and ignorant, but she didn't seem offended.) Then, she kind of sighed and said, "It must be so fun to have brothers and sisters."

And, it got me thinking, she's right. It is really fun to have siblings. Sometimes I take that for granted. (Disclaimer: I know there are many happy families with only one child. I'm not saying that siblings are necessary for happiness, just that it's easy to forget what a blessing it is if you do have siblings.) I've shared quite a few stories about my sister on this blog, but I haven't shared as much about my brother (part of the reason being that he's not quite as crazy as Hannah). To rectify this, I thought I'd share some of my favorite memories of the three of us together.

• When we were little, Hannah and I would play school, and Matt always wanted to play with us. We didn't think he played the right way, though, so we'd make him sit in the other room and be the principal. I still remember him yelling from the other room, "Hey, aren't some of the kids being bad?" And we'd just yell, "Nope!" and keep on playing. (That was kind of mean... I'm sorry, Matt!)
• We loved to play church, mainly so we could take "communion." We'd get Saltine crackers and break off little pieces and eat them, along with our grape juice.
• Hannah and I would dress up in my mom's wedding dress, and Matt would be the groom (one of the downsides of having only sisters).
• On Christmas Eve, we would all sleep in the same room. We weren't allowed to get up until 6 a.m., but usually one of us would wake up earlier too excited to go back to sleep. Whoever it was would wake the others up, and we would softly sing Christmas carols to pass the time until 6 a.m. (I recently shared this story with Darby, and he seemed to regret that he had married into our family. I think he's afraid I'll try to pass these traditions on to our children... he's right!)
• Hannah and Matt (or Mom and Dad) are going to have to help me out with this one. I have a vague recollection of listening to some Christian rap/hip-hop (seriously!) CD and singing along and jumping on and off the couch. Did this happen?

And, because he doesn't get enough press on this blog, here's a story involving only me and Matt. I think this incident happened when Matt was about 10 and I was about 14 (a fact that will be very embarrassing for me when you hear this story). I went out to get the mail while Matt was playing with a remote control car on the driveway. As I was walking back up the driveway with the mail, Matt thought it would be funny to chase me with the remote control car. Well, I got really scared and started screaming and running toward the house. I tried to open the door, but the knob didn't turn, so I just smashed my wrist against the door and fell to the floor crying, scattering the mail all over the garage. I went in the house sobbing, telling Mom (and maybe Dad) how Matt had terrorized me with his car. In the words of Andy Bernard: "That was an overreaction." We still laugh about that one.

Simple pleasures

I've been trying lately to appreciate the little things in life. The winters here can be very hard. Even though it is staying light longer, February is always difficult because you are so ready for it to warm up, but you know that it will be realistically be about 2 months before that happens. But, even with the cold, wet weather, there are so many things to be thankful for. Of course, I'm always thankful for the big things like Darby, family, friends, health, financial stability, etc. But it also helps to think of all of the little things that bring me joy. Here are a few that I've been thankful for recently:

• A steaming cup of coffee in the morning
• Waking up and thinking that your alarm didn't go off and then remembering that it's Saturday
• Getting a card in the mail
  
• The sun coming through my office window in the afternoon
• The smell of bread dough
• Surprise coupons that print at the register
• Turning on the TV and happening to catch a favorite movie
• Someone bringing homemade goodies to work

What are the little things that make you happy?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Darby and I have never made a big deal of Valentine's Day, but we did have a nice little date on Friday night. Any excuse to eat out, right? We went to Red Lobster on Friday because I figured it would be less crowded than Saturday, and we went super early, so we could get home in time to watch the Olympics opening ceremonies. (How lame are we?) When I went to pick up Darby from school, he surprised me with a single rose and a package of conversation Jelly Bellys. So sweet!

I made dinner for our small group tonight. Now that that's over, I'm just relaxing watching figure skating. I love the Olympics!

Special visit

My mom and dad came to visit this past weekend. Darby and I always enjoy it so much when our parents come stay with us. I've always had a good relationship with my parents, but living far away definitely makes me appreciate time with them even more.

It snowed about 6 inches in the 24 hours before they arrived. Darby was at a conference until Saturday afternoon, so Dad got to shovel the driveway. Fun trip, right?

We had a fun time talking, playing games, going to see Sherlock Holmes, making food for our small group's Super Bowl party, and, of course, eating a lot.

Darby and Mom playing Dr. Mario. Mom has her game face on. :)

I always enjoy having company because it's an excuse to make lots of food. Darby was making fun of me because I actually made lunch on Saturday. Normally, we just eat whatever's available. For dessert Saturday night I made a "banoffee pie." It was very rich and very good. The recipe is below:

Banoffee Pie
Slightly adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy Gooey by Jill O'Connor

Filling ingredients:
2 cans (14 oz each) sweetened, condensed milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup (2 oz.) brown sugar (If I make this again, I might leave this out; the filling was a little sweet for my taste.)
4 Tbsp. (2 oz.) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 tsp. salt
boiling water, as needed

1. Stir together the milk, vanilla, brown sugar, melted butter and salt. Pour into a 6 cup oven proof dish. Cover with foil.
2. Place the dish in a 9 x 13 baking pan and fill the pan with boiling water until it reaches half way up the sides of the dish.
3. Bake the milk mixture, stirring every 15 minutes, until it has turned a toasty caramel color, 1 1/2 -2 hours. Remove from the water bath and let cool.

Make graham cracker crust following the recipe on the back of the graham cracker crumb box. Let cool. (You can, of course, use a store-bought graham cracker crust, but homemade is so much better and not hard at all.)

When the toffee has cooled but is still soft, spoon it into the crust, spreading it evenly. Refrigerate until the filling is set. You can cover the pie with plastic wrap and keep it chilled for 24 hours

Topping ingredients:
3 medium ripe bananas
2 cups (1 pint) heavy cream
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1. Peel and slice the bananas into 1/2” thick slices and arrange over the toffee.
2. Whip the cream at medium speed with the confectioners’ sugar until stiff peaks form. (Tip: Stick your mixer bowl and beaters in the freezer for 10 minutes beforehand, and the cream will whip up much faster.)
3. Pile the whipped cream on top of the bananas, spreading it toward the edge of the crust. Cover all of the bananas to prevent them from browning.
4. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

The rest of the story . . .

It's only fair that I now share about my role in the infamous piano recital costume disaster. I was playing songs from The Entertainer, so my mom had sewn me a flapper costume. It was a red and black boxy dress with sequins and fringe (which my grandma had found for some outrageous price). I had helped mom pick out the pattern, but when I saw the dress, I refused to wear it. I thought it was too flashy (which, hello, was kind of the point). Despite my parents' reminders of how much time and money had been spent on the dress, I remained adamant. I ended up wearing some pink dress my mom had in her closet. It didn't look 20s-ish at all.

This was 12 years ago, and I have only just now been able to think about this story without gut-wrenching guilt. I feel so bad for treating my mom like that! I didn't consider her feelings at all. It didn't help that the dress was hanging in my closet for years after the fact, mocking me. Now, we all kind of laugh about it, but it was not funny at the time.

The funniest part of the story is that the main reason I was embarrassed to wear the dress was that I had a crush on one of my fellow piano students (who is now married to my friend Whitney's friend, Jenna—small world). But do you know what he wore? A full lion costume! I don't know that I've ever told my parents that that was the real reason, but they probably guessed.

Sadly, this was not my worst bratty moment. No, that prize would have to go to the time I pitched a fit because I didn't like the color of the new car my dad had bought for me (and eventually my sister) to drive. My poor parents.

Fun weekend, bad Monday

Darby's brother Jeremy came to visit us this past weekend. He had training for his new job in Chicago, so he rode the train down for the weekend. We had a lot of fun---ate at some yummy restaurants, played Wii, and went to our first Illini hockey game. That was quite an experience; the fans are pretty rowdy. It was fun, though, and much cheaper than most of the other sports at the U of I. I'm glad Jeremy was able to come up; we don't see him that often. Hopefully next time his wife, Janice, can come too.

Darby and Jeremy

In other news, I found out on Monday that I will have to get a crown on the tooth I had a root canal on 18 months ago. Boo! The dentist who did the root canal said I most likely would not need a crown. Then, I had to switch to a new dentist to get the discount offered through my health insurance. From the beginning I didn't like the new dentist, so when she told me I'd have to get a crown, I was suspicious. I called the old dentist, and they told me to bring in my x-rays, and they'd take a look at the tooth.

Well, the new dentist gave me a PHOTOCOPY of an x-ray of that one tooth. Thanks a lot. When I got to the old dentist, the hygienist was really rude and made a big deal about my x-rays not being good enough (like it's my fault). She told me they would have to do more x-rays, and I said I wasn't going to do that and I would just wait 6 months until it was time for me to get x-rays again because I don't have dental insurance. The hygienist said, "Those are a different kind of x-ray." At this point I was really frustrated and started getting choked up. I did NOT want to end up paying for x-rays on top of the crown. I told her, "Well, maybe I'll have dental insurance by then or something." She said, "So, if we have to do x-rays, you're going to leave." I said yes. At this point, she decided she could ask the dentist if he could look at the tooth without x-rays. And, imagine that, he could! It took him like 5 seconds to determine that, yes indeed, I will need a crown. To the tune of $1,000. Ouch.

I am very glad I refused the x-rays, although I wish I had done it without crying. Everyone in the office was treating me so gingerly after that, like I was going to blow at any minute. They were like, "Have you heard about our payment plan, sweetie?" "Do you want to make an appointment now or think about it for a while." I do not have a good track record dealing with doctors. It's just horrible when you feel so powerless, and there's so much pressure to get hundreds of dollars worth of procedures done, and they don't give you any time to think about it. Ugh! I get so emotional. But, after a couple of days, I'm feeling better about it. I'm going to sign up for the 12-month 0 interest payment plan, so I won't have to take all of that money out of savings. And I have a plan to save money on groceries and entertainment each month until I get it paid off. By the time this is over, this stupid tooth will have cost me well over $1,500. Maybe I should have just had it pulled. :)

Open mouth, insert foot

I am an opinionated person and am generally unafraid to speak my mind. This has gotten me into trouble more times than I care to admit. I am trying to do better at thinking before I speak, but it is tough for me. There is one instance that sticks out in my mind as one of my worst truly accidental "open mouth, insert foot" moments. I had no mean intentions AT ALL. So, continuing the theme of stories from my childhood, here goes . . .

My sister and I both took piano lessons for about 7 years. Our first piano teacher would have theme recitals, where you dressed up according to what music you were playing. When Hannah and I were about 10 and 12, the theme was "Movies." I was playing songs from "The Entertainer," and Hannah was playing songs from "Winnie the Pooh." (This post will discuss Hannah's costume; the story of my costume might be discussed in a future post—Title: "My Brattiest Moments.") So, Mom had sewn Hannah a Winnie the Pooh costume. Back then, Hannah was a little pudgy—very cute, but definitely still had some baby fat. Anyway, she came out in her costume and asked how she looked. I, trying to be helpful, said, "Maybe you should take the pillow out of your stomach. It looks too big." Her face fell as she sobbed, "I haven't put the pillow in yet!." Oops. I tried to rectify the situation by explaining that it was just the fabric that was sticking out. Yeah, that didn't help too much. The damage was done.

I was telling this story at our women's Bible study a couple of months ago, and I started laughing so hard that I couldn't even talk. I was just picturing little Hannah in that costume and how her face just fell. She was so pitiful. And she really was such a cute girl. I went looking through my old photos just to find a picture of her in that Pooh costume. I haven't been able to scan photos for about a year, but I repaired my scanner (an hour-long process) just so I could share this. I bet Hannah's going to love me. She's partially blocked by a microphone, so you can't see the full costume, but you get the idea.

Now, since I've done this to Hannah, I will share the story of my costume (which is embarrassing in an entirely different way). That story to come soon.

Success!

It only took 2-1/2 years (3-1/2, if you consider that I started shortly after we got engaged), but I finally finished my wedding scrapbook! I considered putting this as one of my "goals before I turn 25," but I've had it as a goal so many times and failed to meet it that I was too embarrassed. For the most part, I'm pleased with it. There are a few pages that I wish I had done differently, but finished is better than perfect, right? Below are a couple of my favorite pages. Pictures of pages in page protectors really don't come out too well, but I just thought this post could use some pictures. Trust me that they look better in person. :)

Each of the little cards for the bridesmaids opens up, and there's a description of why I chose them to be my bridesmaid. I'm going to cut around them so you can open up the flap even with the page protector on. I just have to find my exacto knife (and convince Darby to cut it for me, since I will probably mess it up!)

Good week

It's only Tuesday, and this has already been a great week.

• On Sunday, I found out that when our lease is up in August, we will be able to renew for 3 more years at only $25 more per month. Woo-hoo!
• On Monday, Darby got official confirmation that his research assistant appointment for this semester went through, which means a substantial raise.
• Tomorrow, the temperature is supposed to get above freezing (barely, but I'll take it) for the first time in 2 weeks!

Competitive

Last semester, I attended a women's Bible Study on Monday nights. We always began the study with an icebreaker question. For some reason, these questions seemed to bring up all sorts of stories from my childhood, so I would often share. After one particular story (the one I'm going to share here), someone said, "You should write a book with all these stories." Although I don't think I have enough material (or sufficiently interesting material) to fill a book, I decided I could share some of these stories on my blog. And who knows? Maybe one day, I'll be famous and then people will pay to read them. :)

In the later-elementary and intermediate grades, I was obsessed with "The Baby-Sitters' Club" series. I was a member of The Baby-Sitters' Club Book Club and would receive 3 new books each month. This was a passion that my best friend, Whitney, also shared. Naturally, when The Baby-Sitters' Club movie came out when were about 11, we had to go see it in the theater (which almost didn't happen because someone got stabbed while we were waiting in line for the tickets, but that's another story). In our minds, the movie was AWESOME! So, we made a little wager: Whoever got the movie on VHS first got to be Dawn (our favorite character), and the other one would have to be Mallory (our least favorite). Now, just exactly what "being" a character meant, I can't tell you, but at the time it was super important.

A few months later, my mom and I were at the Scholastic warehouse in Waco, and I spotted the movie. Overcome with excitement, I rushed to show my mom. She, aware of the little competition, suggested we buy two copies—one for Whitney and one for me—so that both of us could be winners. I scoffed at my mom's soft-hearted nature; I had to win! I don't remember if my mom ultimately convinced me to get two copies, but I do know that I still laid claim to the fact that I was first to get it. Evidently, Whitney wasn't too hurt by my selfishness because we watched the movie together at least a dozen times and could quote the first 20 minutes or so (all the characters' lines, word-for-word, without ANY prompting; how sad is that?).

When I told this story at our Bible story, one girl said, "Ahhh, so that's when your competitiveness began." Busted! Although, in my defense, Whitney was pretty competitive herself. We spent probably a quarter of the time we were together arguing about something or other. But we loved each other! If I did write a book about my childhood, Whitney would be in a lot of the stories. We were huge dorks; I'm so glad we had each other.

Happy New Year!

New Year's Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. It's so low-key. You just get to laze around and eat yummy snack foods. And this year it's even better since it's a 3-day weekend. Darby and I spent New Year's Eve at our friends' (Jon and Katy) house. We played Rock Band, which is AWESOME! I can't believe I just discovered it. Other than that, we've just been spending our gift cards, unpacking our Christmas gifts, playing games, and doing a little cleaning. It's been great.

I love making New Year's resolutions. This year, I've kind of already made them (my list of things to accomplish before my 25th birthday). So, I thought now would be a good time to give a little progress update on those.

1. Take a cooking class. Haven't started looking into this.
   
2. Bake one new recipe from each of my cookbooks. Have done 3 of my 10 or so cookbooks.
   
3. Learn two new songs on the piano. The piano is at our house, so I'm well on my way.
   
4. Decide once and for all if/when I'm going back to school and what I will study. This is in the works, but I'm not ready to share details yet.
   
5. Read 5 books that I've owned for at least a year. I've finished 2 and started a third.
   
6. Find a local charity to get involved with. Haven't started yet.
   
7. Take another workout class. Looked at the Spring schedule; I'll start a class in a couple of weeks.
   
8. Start at least two more herbs. Will do in March.
   
9. Visit St. Louis. Hoping to do this in the spring or summer.
   
10. Devise and stick to a housekeeping schedule. Working on it.
    
11. Have 3 "dinner parties" (with party defined as at least two other people besides me and Darby). I cooked lunch for three of my girlfriends, so I'm counting that. We also hosted our Young Marrieds' group, but that was more just snack foods. If I get desperate, I'll count that one.
    
12. Go camping/hiking. It's currently 2 degrees (for real), so . . . no.
    
13. Try 2 new restaurants. Done. Old Time Chicago Pizza and Carmon's creperie (that one was easy!)
    

Home again, home again

Well, we made it back to Champaign. I think all total we spent 37 hours in the car. But, it was worth it. I still think I like driving better than flying; I was much less stressed out. And, in the future we can cut a lot of time off by taking more direct routes. We took a major detour this time to go to Abilene. My friend Emerald had a baby in September, so all of us Fat Tuesday girls (minus Kalyn---we missed you!) drove to Abilene to throw a little mini-shower for Em and baby Lily. So, it was Em's baby shower, but it was at her house and she made all the food. Ha! Carolyn joked that we should have gotten Em a hostess gift.

Look at this little cutie! I'm in love. She is such a sweet, good-natured baby.


Darby and I picked out some little footie pajamas for her. The next day, Em sent me a picture of Lily wearing them in the snow.

It was so fun to see all of the other girls, too. I was only able to stay for a little while, but I'm thankful for the time I had. After the shower, I met my friend Laura for a short chat. We've talked on the phone a lot since I've moved here, but we haven't seen each other at all. It was great to sit and talk face-to-face. I wish Darby and I could make it out to Abilene more often; it's not really on the way to anywhere, though.

When we got home, we got to unload this:
Yes, I am now the proud owner of a piano! My parents let me have theirs since neither of them plays. We almost gave up on bringing it back when we found out it would be over $400 to get a hitch installed and rent a trailer. However, our preacher generously offered to let us use his minivan to haul it. In spite of everyone's doubts, it fit easily in the minivan and wasn't too terrible to load or unload (not that I lifted a finger!). I can't get over how nice it was of our preacher and his wife to let us drive their van to Texas and back. Plus, he shoveled our driveway while we were gone and helped us unload the piano. We're so grateful! Now I just have to practice. I'm pretty rusty.

4 Christmases

Well, Darby and I are nearing the end of our whirlwind Christmas trip. We have had so much fun. I only wish we could stay longer. We left Champaign on Wednesday morning and drove to Searcy, Arkansas, for Christmas with Darby's mom's side of the family. We had the party at a beautiful building at Harding University. Here's the whole gang:
Thursday morning, we headed for Dallas. That was an exciting trip to say the least. It had rained over 8 inches in the previous 24 hours, and we had to drive through incredibly high, rushing water on the Interstate. And just to show I'm not exaggerating, here's a few pictures of the access road and surrounding area, just before we got to the water covering the Interstate:

They used this boat to rescue an older man from his house.

I feel sorry for the poor people who had their cars at this garage.

And did I mention that we were driving a borrowed minivan? Yeah . . . fun times. But, we made it to Dallas. And just in time. About an hour after we arrived, they shut down many of the highways because of ice.

We enjoyed Christmas with my mom's side of the family. Ate way too much, played some crazy games of Catch Phrase and quoted The Office incessantly.

Girl frousins

Boy frousins

On Friday evening, it was back to Waco for Christmas with Darby's immediate family, then Christmas with my immediate family on Saturday. Today we're relaxing before we attempt to load up my parent's piano in the minivan! (And when I say we, I mean Darby, my brother, Darby's dad, and my dad; I'll be staying out of the way with my mom.) Tomorrow, it's on to Abilene to see Em and her new baby Lily, and then back to the frigid North. Hopefully the drive back will be much less eventful than the drive down was.

Hope you all had very merry Christmases!

Indianapolis

Darby and I started the tradition last year of going on a little trip to celebrate the end of the fall semester, so we went to Indianapolis this past weekend. It was a lot of fun, despite the cold snowy/drizzly weather. We stayed in the Westin downtown. I had gotten a really good deal on the hotel through Hotwire. I must say, though, if I had paid full price for our room, I would have been pretty ticked. The lobby of the hotel was gorgeous, but the halls and rooms were a little dingy and dated. It looked like a sloppy renovation of a less nice hotel. Oh, well. The room was pretty big, and at least they had free Starbucks coffee.

On Saturday we went to the Indianapolis Art Museum (which was amazing and FREE!) and the zoo. They have a "Christmas at the Zoo" thing in December with all kinds of lights and music. There are a lot of indoor exhibits, so we still enjoyed ourselves despite the snow.

In the "Oceans" exhibit, they had a tank full of sharks you could pet. I was too scared (even though there were parents dangling their toddlers over the edge to touch the sharks), but Darby did it. Here he is in action. So brave! :)


Other than that, we just ate at a lot of good restaurants and relaxed. It was so nice to have a whole weekend to spend together since the past couple of months have been busy with schoolwork for Darby and holiday stuff for both of us.

One funny story from the weekend: Darby and I went straight to a restaurant when we got in Friday night around 7:30 p.m. The restaurant was nearly empty and they started cleaning up while we were eating. We thought it was kind of weird that a restaurant would close at 8, but just chalked it up to it being a small local place. When we got to our hotel, we noticed that the clock in our room was an hour ahead, so we changed it back. The next morning, we slept in, ate breakfast, and went to the art museum. We got there about 11:45. Several staff members told us about a tour that was starting at 1 p.m. We thought it was strange that they were pushing the tour so hard when it was only 11:45. Then, we get up to the floor where the tour is taking place, and it is just starting. At that moment, Darby and I both look at each other and realize that it is 1 p.m. Indiana is in a different time zone than Illinois. Duh! I'm not sure how we ignored all the signs, especially the clock in our room. I'm really glad we noticed before we left, so we didn't get a late check-out fee!

One week

I cannot believe Christmas is a week from today! December has gone by so fast. It seems there's never enough time to do all of the "Christmasy" things I want to do. Maybe this is why people start celebrating right after Halloween! I really wanted to bake sugar cookies this year because it was so fun last year. I don't think that's going to happen, though. Darby and I are going to Indianapolis this weekend (which I'm really excited about; it just doesn't leave much time for cookie baking). However, instead of thinking about all the things I didn't get to do, I'm going to be thankful for the things I did do.

1. Admired the Christmas tree. Darby's really good about remembering to plug the lights in, so we look at it every morning and every night.
2. Went to 3 Christmas parties—one for Darby's lab, one for our college group at church, and at our friends' house.
3. Listened to Christmas music. Both Amazon and iTunes were offering free downloads of Christmas samplers, so I loaded up my iPod.
4. Made Christmas treats—red velvet cupcakes with peppermint cream cheese frosting, M&M popcorn, and toffee. Toffee is something my mom makes every year, but I've never made it on my own (without her supervision). My first batch was pretty good but not as good as mom's. I'm making several more batches for gifts next week, so hopefully I'll improve. When my siblings and I were little, we loved "helping" mom, by spreading the chocolate on top of the toffee because when we were done we got to lick the spoon. Licking the spoon is still quite fun as an adult. :)
5. Went to a Christmas church program. One of Darby's co-workers was singing in a Christmas program at Twin Cities Bible Church. It was a beautiful program and I love singing Christmas carols. I really wish our church foucsed on Christmas more. It's always so neat when I visit other churches. It's very difficult to focus on the reason for the season when it's barely mentioned at church, the one place you would think you would focus on it.

And, of course, I'm so excited about all of our family Christmas celebrations coming up. It will be kind of a whirlwind trip, but I'm so happy we're able to go and spend time with so many people. We are missing Christmas with my dad's side of the family. :( But, I think 4 Christmases and a baby shower is pretty good for 6 days (including 30 hours of driving)!

An early Christmas gift

My Christmas gift from Darby came in the mail on Friday! We had already decided that I could just open it up as soon as it came because I was so excited. It's one of those Shiatsu massage cushions. The two little balls at the bottom move up and down your back. It also has heat. It's awesome! On Friday night, I sat in it for like four 15-minute cycles. (That was a mistake; my back was really sore on Saturday. But that didn't stop me from sitting in it again!) I LOVE it!

I realized I never got around to posting more of my favorite ornaments. (And I'm sure you were all waiting on the edge of your seat.) Here they are:

This is the one we got in Santa Fe. I really debated about buying this once since it's not really "Christmasy," but I do think it's pretty and represents Santa Fe well.

One of my aunts (I can't remember which one!) gave this to us the year we got married. You can't tell from the picture but it's very shiny and glittery.

My "s'mornament" from my mom. I don't know why, but I think these guys are the cutest things ever.

Another one from Darby's mom. So cute! And it's very similar to our wedding cake topper. (It wasn't bears, but it was the groom holding the bride, and her veil was made of fabric.)

My grandpa made a lot of ornaments before he died (when I was 3). This is one he made specifically for me. It has a stocking with a "K" on it. I was trying to get more than just the stocking in the picture, so it's kind of hard to tell.

My mom gave us this Starbucks ornament because Darby and I have always loved going to Starbucks together.

Of course, no tree of mine would be complete without a Hello Kitty ornament. :)

Merry Christmas!

Darby and I actually put our tree up several weeks ago, but I'm just now getting around to taking pictures of it. I love our tree! I think it is the perfect combination of pretty and sentimental. Not all of our ornaments match, but we do have a predominantly red/silver theme. That will change as we get more and more personal ornaments, I'm sure. I'd much rather have ornaments that mean something than a tree that's perfectly coordinated anyway. Below are a couple of my favorite ornaments. I have a few more favorites, but Blogger is not letting me upload them right now. Grr... I'll try to post them in a separate post later.

Darby's mom gives us an ornament every year. I think she gave us this one the year we got engaged? We dressed up as the King and Queen of Hearts for Halloween (for several years), so this was so perfect for us.

Darby and I got this ornament in Niagara Falls on our honeymoon. I just thought it was so beautiful. That started the tradition of getting an ornament every place we go on vacation. Unfortunately, that has proved a little difficult. We have ornaments for Santa Fe and Springfield (vacation being a loose term!), but we didn't find one in Chicago or Nashville. I know we'll be back to Chicago again, but I might have to order a Nashville one online.