First Impressions

Well, I made it through my first week of grad. school. I am soo tired! It has been difficult for me to get back in the swing of things. What's this homework stuff? :) I'm sure I'll get used to it soon, though. My classes are very interesting and all my professors seem nice. A few random impressions:

• Bigger does not mean nicer. One of my classes is in a building called the Armory. It is this huge warehouse-type building that's been converted into a gym/classrooms. It has at least 10 different staircases, and they each only go to certain rooms. The desks have got to be 50 years old, and there are still old-school overhead projectors in the rooms. Plus, the building doesn't seem to be air conditioned, or at least not well. I only thought Chambers at ACU was bad. :) Granted, Illinois does have some extremely nice facilities (like the rec center), but when buildings are bad, they're really bad.
• I have walked more in my first week than I probably walked in a year at my job. I'm enjoying the exercise now, but I'm not sure it'll be quite so fun when it's -20 degrees.
  
• I had no reason to worry about my first-day outfit. Several girls have shown up to class in workout clothes. ACU this is not. Nary a high heel in sight (see above point about walking). I fit in just fine. :)
  
• When you are bad at remembering names, remembering Chinese, Japanese, and Korean names is virtually impossible. I've got to get better at this!
  

Overall, I'd say the first week was a success. I'm really glad it's Friday, though!

Back to School!

I start classes on Monday, and I could not be more excited! I got to go school supply shopping, which I love. I'm all set with my Pilot Precise V5 pens, a 3-subject notebook (hot pink, what else?), and a very cute messenger bag from Target. I did a practice bus ride with Darby on Monday morning. Riding the bus makes me very nervous. If it's late at all, I worry that I missed it; I start getting so nervous when it's time to pull the cord for my stop—what if I pull it too early or too late?; and I cannot read the bus schedule to save my life. Good thing I have Darby. :) Despite my efforts to push it out of my mind, I've even been worrying about what to wear. I guess no matter how old I get or how many times I start a new school or job, there will always be a little of that 14-year-old girl in me, wondering whether her clothes are "cool" enough and nervous that she won't have anyone to talk to. (Thankfully, there's just a little of her in there; I'm much more self-confident than I was at 14—much.) Anyway, I'm just so grateful that I have this opportunity to go back to school (remind me of that in 3 months when I'm stressing about tests and papers)!

Darby's parents came to visit last Tuesday. Darby and I had to work on Wednesday and Thursday, but we were able to enjoy dinner and relaxing time in the evenings. And to keep herself occupied during the day, Debby stocked my freezer with her famous crescent rolls. Yum! On Thursday evening, we drove up to Lombard, a suburb of Chicago. We had dinner at a Weber Grill restaurant. Their pretzel rolls are delicious!

On Friday, we rode the train into the city. If you're counting, this was mine and Darby's fourth trip to Chicago in five months! We're practically locals. ;) Debby planned some really neat excursions for us this time. We did an architecture boat tour in the morning and a Segway tour in the afternoon. I had always been curious about Segways, and it was really a lot of fun! It took me a little bit to get the hang of it, but once I did, it was easy. Of course, we had to cross some incredibly busy streets and we got some strange looks and comments, but I figure I'll never see those people again! It was a beautiful day—sunny with highs in the low-80s—a nice break from the multiple 110-heat-index days we had in Champaign last week.

On Saturday morning, John and Debby headed up to Wisconsin and Darby and I came back home. It was wonderful visit; I'm so glad they were able to come.

On house-hunting and marriage

I just had to share this excerpt I read today on A Practical Wedding, a blog that I follow. The writer, Sharon, perfectly describes my feelings toward the concept of soulmates and the role of choice in love. You should really read her entire post, but here's the part that made me tear up a little:

I think dating/deciding to marry is something like deciding to buy a house and make it your home. . . . [Y]ou will see many houses, and most of them will have some aspect of what you want. One will have the gorgeous bay windows and gleaming hardwood floors. Another will have the giant kitchen with the granite countertops. A third will have a turret and built-in shelves. . . . You can see yourself living in all of them. But the day comes when you decide that one house is the one you're going to buy. You move in. You clean. You do a bit of painting. You learn to live with the slight incline in the floors and to jump the creaky step in the staircase. You have dinner parties that last until 2am in this house. You host holidays in this house. You bring your babies back to this house. You could've had any of the houses you looked at, all those years ago. But you chose this one and it's now the only home you can imagine having.

I think this metaphor is so lovely; I wish I had thought of it. You choose to marry someone because you love them. But the very act of choosing, and everything that follows from that choice, helps you to love that person forever, creaky steps and all.

Goodbyes

We had to say goodbye to several people from church this week. Our friend Jon is leaving for Marine boot camp tomorrow. We hosted a going-away party for him last Saturday. We went to Olive Garden, then came back to our house for dessert and games. It was a lot of fun, but we are certainly going to miss him. His wife Katy will be staying here for several months longer, so we don't have to say goodbye to both of them yet. It will be very hard when they move to wherever he is stationed. Why do friends have to pursue their dreams? They should just stay where they are forever. ;)

The group at Olive Garden. Katy & Jon are beside Darby.

Wednesday night was my last time to have my little buddy Torin in the Cradle Roll class. I've been teaching him since he was 4 months old---17 months ago! On Sunday mornings he is our only student, so my co-teacher, Stephanie, and I have gotten to know him very well. It's been so neat to watch him grow from a baby into a little boy. He's incredibly smart; seriously, his vocabulary and ability to put together sentences is equal to many 3- or 4-year-olds. His parents are in our Young Marrieds group, and we will miss their whole family; they are moving to Nebraska. I keep saying that someone at church needs to have a baby, so I'll have a student in Cradle Roll again. But, I'm not volunteering for the job, so I guess I better keep my mouth shut!

BFFs: Whitney

Thanks for the advice on my last post. I did want to emphasize that I am very thankful for the friendships I do have. I have several friends that I know I can call anytime and that really do "get me." It's just that they live hundreds of miles away. And, while long-distance friends are great, and I definitely want to maintain those relationships, sometimes you just want someone within 20 miles, you know?

So, in that spirit, I thought I would do a post about my BFFs over the years. My very first best friend was Whitney. My family moved to Robinson Church of Christ when I was 6, and Whitney and I became fast friends soon after. Looking back, the funniest thing to me about our friendship was that we argued all. the. time. We didn't really get in a lot of fights, per se, just bickered back and forth like an old married couple. But, it didn't stop us from being close friends. I don't know how many nights I spent over at her house. Below are just a few of the quirky things I remember about our relationship.

• When the JCPenney Christmas catalog would come, we would call each other and flip through every page together. We were allowed to pick one item per page. (Not to have, obviously; this was some kind of weird fantasy world.) This wasn't just limited to toys; we'd also pick out women's clothes, men's clothes for our future husbands, everything.
  
• We used to make these crazy concoctions of raw eggs, spices, mayonnaise, basically whatever was in the fridge. Then, I guess we'd just throw it out. Not sure why we thought this was fun, but we loved it.
  
• In the summer, I would go with Whitney to visit her grandmother in Corsicana. We'd swim in her aunt's pool and watch soaps with her grandma. Her grandma was so sweet and would do all of our laundry before we went back home.
  
• After Princess Diana died, we bought all these tabloids and magazines and spent an entire evening reading about it (and looking for pictures of Prince William!)
• We became pen pals (yes, even though we lived in the same town). We would write each other letters and deliver them to church on Sunday. Not sure why we couldn't just tell each other what was in the note. :)
• We loved The Babysitters' Club and read all of the books. My mom took us to Dallas to see Ann M. Martin and get one of our books autographed.

I could go on and on. I have so many precious memories of Whitney. We didn't spend quite as much time together in the later years of high school, but our friendship remained strong. And we argued a lot less ,too! I'll talk more about Whitney when I share about my other best friends from the youth group. I am very blessed to have her a lifelong friend. Even though we don't see each other very often, we can always pick up where we left off. And now, I get to keep up with her through her blog. I love to hear her thoughts on books and Christianity and see how well she and her husband are doing in Ft. Worth.

And now, a little photo trip down memory lane.

Our earliest picture together (that I have). My 8th birthday party. Whitney and I are on the left. Hannah's the dork on the floor. :)

Sleepover at my house. Yes, I believe we are only wearing nightshirts, no shorts. We were very comfortable with each others' families.

Skiing in Monarch, Colorado

Our 14th (me) and 15th (Whitney) birthday party at Whitney's house. Probably way too old for a Veggie Tales theme. :)

Dressed up as Sonny and Cher (or at least our ideas of them) to sing "I've Got You Babe" during karaoke night at our friend Jessica's.

At Whitney's wedding 4(!) years ago. She's married to a great guy, Clint, who's in medical school now.

Happiness Project: Friendships

A few months ago, I shared my thoughts on the book The Happiness Project. I've been thinking off and on ever since about what happiness resolutions I should make in my own life.

One area that I really want to concentrate on is friendships. I am not one of those people that needs a lot of friends; I have always been content with having a few, very close friends. But, I've felt like things have been a little lacking in the friendship department ever since we moved to Illinois. Now, don't get me wrong, I do have several wonderful friends here, and there are a lot of nice, smart, fun people at church. But, I feel like I don't have that one special friend—someone I can talk to about anything for hours, someone I can call any time without worrying I'll bug them, someone who "gets" me.

I have been fortunate enough throughout my life that those types of friendships have just fallen into my lap. But that hasn't happened this time. I'm not sure what it is. Am I being too picky? Am I not trying hard enough? Am I just a complete dork? Just kidding about that last one. Kind of . . . I realize that it probably does become more difficult to make friends once you are out of school, but I know plenty of people who have best friends they met as an adult so it is possible.

After 2 years of throwing myself a little pity party, I've decided that I'm going to have to do my part to be more satisfied with my friendships. I came up with a couple of goals to help me:

• Twice a month, I will initiate plans with friends. I am very guilty of waiting around for someone to call me. I am often reluctant to ask someone to do something, thinking the other person will say yes just to be nice. But, that's ridiculous, and I've got to get over that. If they don't want to hang out, it's their responsibility to say no. And, probably, there are other people like me just waiting for someone to call them, right?
• Once a month, I will call one of my college friends. I'm pretty good about staying in touch with friends via e-mail, facebook, etc., but I think there's something different about a phone call. Any time I talk to one of my friends, I feel so much happier after I hang up. I'm not much of a "phone person," but I think once a month is something anyone should be able to handle.

Ok, everybody, hit me with your best friendship advice. How do you initiate a friendship? If a friendship doesn't immediately "click," how long do you keep trying? How do you keep up with friends from high school, college, etc?

3 years

On Wednesday, Darby and I celebrated our third anniversary. I'm so grateful for another wonderful year together. Our initial transition into married life was smooth, and it has only continued to get better. The longer we are married, the more appreciative I am of all of the little routines and traditions that make up our life together. Obviously, we love taking trips and going out for special occasions, and so forth. But those aren't the norm. The norm is waking Darby up after I get out of the shower, him doing the dishes while I put away leftovers, rushing home after church to start our Sunday afternoon nap, trying to beat each other to the punch on "that's what she said" jokes, kissing Darby goodnight in the office while he works on homework, sitting on the couch playing Dr. Mario, eating way too much ice cream, admiring our work after our Saturday cleaning sessions, Darby coming to meet me in the garage to carry in the groceries, getting up at 5:30 a.m. to eat breakfast together before I go to work at 7, texting each other to say "I need some encouragement" and getting a response 30 seconds later, going to Starbucks to read, working out together, and saying "I love you" twenty times a day.

There's no one else I'd rather share life's little (and big) moments with. I am a blessed woman.

Florida!

We just got back from the second annual Hewitt/Wann 4th of July trip. Last year, we met our friends, Dylan and Andrea, in Nashville. This year, we decided to go to St. Petersburg, FL. The Wanns live in Georgia, so they were able to drive down. Next year, we'll go somewhere near us, like Chicago.

We had a wonderful time! We stayed in a cute little beach house in a town called Pass-a-Grille. We could easily walk to the beach, and our little section wasn't crowded at all. It was a fairly rainy weekend, but that didn't stop us from swimming, looking for shells, and going on a dolphin-watching boat ride. Thankfully, the rain let up long enough for an awesome fireworks show. And, of course, playing games, eating ice cream, and chatting don't depend at all on the weather. And, as you can see from Darby's forehead in the pictures below, we got more than enough sun. :) What you can't tell from the pictures are that my legs got burned completely unevenly. I was sitting cross-legged on the beach reading a book, so only the insides of my legs burned. It looks pretty strange.

Darby and Dylan goofing off in the water. This was the beach right next to our house.

See what I mean about Darby's forehead?

Andrea and Dylan. On the 4th, we grilled out on the porch of our house. We had yummy steak, potato salad, and corn.

Dolphins! About a third of the way through our dolphin boat tour, it started pouring. The lower deck of the boat was covered, but it was easiest to see the dolphins from the uncovered part, so we stood in the pouring rain for about 30 minutes. It was worth it to see the dolphins, but...

we ended up looking like this! The funniest thing was, when we got back to our car, which was parked on the now-deserted beach, we saw two dolphins swimming maybe 30 yards from shore! Oh, well, it was an adventure.

Another year, another great trip. It was so nice to just relax and spend time with our good friends. I wish we lived closer, but living far apart is a good excuse to take mini-vacations together!

Texas Trip: Part 3

We drove back to Waco late Sunday night. On Monday, mom took me to get a pedicure while Darby cleaned out his old bedroom. Tee-hee! That night, both sets of parents took us to Chuy's to celebrate our birthdays. Yummy. Afterward, we ate dessert and opened gifts at my parents' house. My mom made me an Oreo cheesecake, and Darby's mom made him an apple pie. I had a little of each. ;) I got a new wireless printer and Wii Fit for my birthday. They were shipped to our house, since we were flying. My printer came Wednesday, and I love it. I can't wait to get my Wii Fit!

On Tuesday, we headed to the airport---after a healthy breakfast of cheesecake and apple pie. It was such a wonderful, busy trip. I always wish we had more time to spend with everyone, but I'm so thankful that we were able to see so many friends and family.

Now, we're headed to Florida to meet up with some friends from ACU for the holiday weekend. Pictures to come. Have a happy 4th!

Texas Trip: Part 2

We left Dallas Saturday night and drove to my Aunt Lea's house in Abilene. On Sunday morning, we went to church at Westgate, where Darby and I attended for four years. It was wonderful to see everyone again. Darby and I have so many fond memories of Westgate.

After church, we went to lunch with the Ashlocks (our preacher, his wife, and their two kids). Darby and I absolutely love Rodney and Laura, and it was so great to catch up with them. We were close with the Ashlocks' daughter, Bonnie, when we were at Westgate. She's now going into her junior year of high school and is so beautiful and mature. It was fun to see how much she had grown up. All of the kids we knew had grown so much. It was crazy.

Rodney Ashlock, just before performing our wedding

The hostesses at my bridal shower at Westgate: Connie McSherry, Jackie Lee, Sherry Gumm, me, Laura Ashlock, Laura Carroll. I got to see most of these lovely ladies at church on Sunday.

After lunch, Rodney took us on a tour of the new welcome center at ACU. It was beautiful! And, I got to see several people that I had worked with in Student Life and other various on-campus jobs I had as a student. Seeing all of the new students brought back so many good memories. I, of course, got mistaken for an in-coming freshman. Sigh...

Sunday afternoon, I had a chance to chat with my good friend Laura for several hours. It's the longest time we've had face-to-face since I moved, but it still wasn't enough. We could talk for days and probably never run out of things to say. I'm so blessed to have her as a friend. We just "get" each other. I really wish we lived in the same town.

Right before going back to Waco, we went to dinner with my aunt, uncle, and cousin Robert. I had no idea Rob was going to be in town, so that was a fun surprise. He's moving to New York to go to school in a couple of weeks, and I'm so excited for him. My aunt Lea has always been so generous with letting us stay at her house. (Darby stayed with her many weekends when I was a freshman at ACU.)

It was a crazy 24 hours, but totally worth it. I get so nostalgic when we go back to Abilene. I used to think that I would never want to live there. But now that we've been gone a couple of years, I think I would really enjoy moving back there. I don't know if it's a case of "the grass is always greener" or "you don't know what you've got till it's gone." I know things would be quite different if we lived there and weren't in college. But, it really is a special place. Everyone is connected to everyone somehow, and there are so many Christians! (There are probably more churches of Christ in Abilene than there are churches total in Champaign-Urbana.) Of course there are negatives, as well, but I really get a "warm, fuzzy" feeling when we go back to visit. I just wish it were closer to anything else, so we'd have more excuses to go out there.

Texas Trip: Part One

We flew down to Texas late Wednesday night. Darby's parents picked us up from DFW, and we drove to Waco. On Thursday, we went to our favorite used bookstore, ate out twice, and went to see Toy Story 3 (sooo cute!). Hannah came in Thursday night, so we went over to my parents' house to chat and play games. On Friday, Debby took us to see the recently-opened mammoth fossil site in Waco. It was pretty cool. All of our families ate lunch together, and then Darby and I headed up to Dallas.

We spent the night with my Grandma Katherine and Aunt Katina. Grandma made us a wonderful meal, as usual. On Saturday, we went to the wedding of a good friend of mine from ACU, Carolyn. She married a wonderful guy named Josh. It was a sweet ceremony, and, of course, she looked gorgeous. It was so fun to see all of the Fat Tuesday girls (minus Kalyn, who we all missed terribly!).

Emerald, Brittany, Carolyn, Erin, Me

Darby and Me

Afterwards, we all (minus Carolyn and Josh, of course) went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Yum! Em's daughter, Lily, who's 9 months old, joined us. She is such a little cutie! And so good-natured. She let everyone hold her and play with her and hardly fussed at all.

Lily and Darby

It was so good to see my Fat Tuesday girls. It's getting harder and harder to find time to see each other, what with grad school, jobs, babies, and out-of-state moves. But I hope we always make time to catch up. It's so fun to hear about everyone's lives and see how well everyone is doing. And if the reunion involves cheesecake, then all the better. :)

25

I had a wonderful 25th birthday weekend. On Saturday night, we had a few of our friends over for pizza, cake, and games. I baked the cake and Darby frosted it. It was a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting, garnished with Reese's. Darby really liked it, but the taste didn't live up to my expectations. It looked pretty, though!

Darby hard at work. He did an excellent job. He's a much better decorator than I am.

The finished product

We played Catch Phrase and had a wonderful time laughing and talking for hours. We are very blessed to have these friends. We're all in our mid-20s, have been married between one and three years, and are childless. Of course, we enjoy being friends with people who are older, younger, single, parents, etc. But there's something special about spending time with people who are in the same life stage.

The beautiful flowers Katy arranged for me.

On Sunday, my actual birthday, Darby took me out to lunch at Olive Garden. And I enjoyed birthday phone calls and cards from many friends and family. It was a wonderful birthday weekend. And Darby and I get to celebrate both our birthdays with our parents when we're at home this week, so the fun isn't over yet!

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. :)