It's been awhile...

This was so amazing/thought-provoking/angering that it's brought me back to blogging:

I love her. She remains cool and mature under some pretty ridiculous heat. In the words of my friend Brandy: "She rocks it."

Little Things...

I think the reason I've become bad at blogging is because I think I need to sit down and write a huge long update every time I blog. And since I don't always have the time or inspiration to do that, I end up not writing at all. So instead I'm going to try and blog some short entries, just a few thoughts each day.
Just like Martha Stewart, it's often the little things that make my day.
Here are some little things I've been enjoying lately:

This Young House blog is the life and design of a super cute couple John and Sherry. They share design tips and secrets from their own house and also give advice and make inspiration boards for reader submissions. I've already gotten so many ideas for our new place from this blog, whether it be furniture arrangement or color schemes. I love how they blend modern style with classic, clean design. Check them out!

Pacing the Panic Room is a husband's account of his wife's second pregnancy. For 39 weeks Ryan documents the baby's growth through super cute, creative pictures and a little note on how the pregnancy is progressing. You can skim through just the photos or read the whole blog for the entire story. His wife, Nicole, is so photogenic and stylish even when it's obvious she's uncomfortably pregnant. Though the pregnancy photo series is over (baby Tessa was born on June 29, 2009!), Ryan has already added a week 40 photo of mama and baby. He blogs that he is not sure if he will continue the series now that their baby is here, but I sure hope he does! I am so inspired by the beauty of the whole thing: of Ryan's obvious adoration for his wife and family, for Cole's glow and quirky smiles as she looks at her pregnant belly, by the care that this couple has taken to document this time in their lives; it's all so beautiful!

Ok, that's all for now. Be ready for more (but little) updates!

Summertime

I know, I'm bad at this blogging thing. But, I'm going to get better, I promise! It's funny because during an average day I think of like 3 things I want to blog about. It's all about getting it down on paper (well, webpage, but you know what I mean). Comment a lot friends, so I'll stay inspired :)

Yesterday Travis and I pulled the first big harvest from our garden. We've been using herbs, but those grow so fast, I don't count them.

Here's a starting photo of the romaine lettuce:














Here's the start of the whole garden (from St. Francis' perspective):




And here's the bounty!!!















And that's only like 1/10th of it!!!!!!! Woo-hoo!!!

While we're on the picture train, here's a sneak peek of our new house:














It's such a secret garden house:















Especially the back yard:














It has a mudroom!!!















Awesome HUGE front room:














We had the inspection yesterday and everything seemed to go pretty well. Sure, there are things that need to be fixed, but nothing that's a deal-breaker. Yay! New house, here we come! We close on June 15th, so cross your fingers that everything goes smoothly between now and then.

Lesson of the day: we're officially old. Growing vegetables and buying a house? Yep, O-L-D.
(I secretly, or not-so-secretly, like it)

A confession...or a couple

1. When I came to divinity school I was not familiar with the word "theodicy," which deals with the issue of evil in a God-created world. When people would bring it up in class, I thought they were saying "The Odyssey," as in the ancient poem by Homer. Needless to say, I was confused about why we were talking about this in seminary. Even now, knowing what it means, when someone says this word I am still confused for a split second.

2. I can name many of the capitals of central and South America. This is due to a song I learned in high school. I never took Spanish, but the kids who did got to listen to a catchy song that taught them most of the capitals of Spanish-speaking countries. Us French kids were jealous and wanted to listen to it too. Our teacher said no. My friend Chip and I would surreptitiously take the tape player to the back of the class and secretly listen to it during class. Our teacher would look around and ask "Who's singing?" But we never got caught and this information aids me today because I can answer many geography questions on Jeopardy.

AHHH I'm back!

Friends, it's been awhile.
To catch you up, here are a few of my favorite things from the past few months:





Mr. Miles

Mr. Carver








Yes, after 3 months of not blogging, 2 of my friends have had babies!!! Miles belongs to Will and Chelsea, our friends in Durham. Carver belongs to Val and Ethan who live in Gainesville, FL. I'm sad because I haven't gotten to meet Carver yet, but I feel so lucky to get to snuggle Miles at least once a week. (I steal him at small group all the time.)
Of course, this leads you to ask: "Doesn't this make you want to have babies, Amy?" Well, yes and no. Holding Miles and looking at his perfectness and smelling his sweet baby smell definitely make me want a baby ASAP. Then I'll have a crazy busy week and can barely get myself fed and clothed and I think "Ok, not time yet!"
Just because I know it's not time doesn't make me want one any less though. It just makes me really excited thinking about when it'll be our turn and reminds me to soak up all the baby knowledge and advice I can. It's great to watch friends go through experiences and be able to take notes. Especially when those friends are really great parents and people in general. (Will/Chels, Andy/Anita, Val/Ethan, this means YOU!)
Thanks for being such great teachers guys!

The guy in the coffee shop thinks I'm crazy

Maybe it's because when he asked me how I was doing, I said: "Excited!!" I don't know if he was too, or just humoring me. I'm going to be honest; this morning felt a little like Christmas. I have plenty of things to say, I'm just not sure how to put them into coherent sentences. Check out my husband, Travis', thoughts on the election/Obama presidency here. He expresses many of my thoughts in a much more eloquent way than I am capable of at this time. I blame grad school on draining all of my creative juices.

Speaking of school, that's where I am now (or ALWAYS). Wednesdays are my long day. I get here around 8 am and my last class gets out at 5 pm. I realize this is a the length of a normal work day for most people, but when you're used to working independently, at your own pace on things, this long stretch is difficult. At least it is for me. I'd much rather be at school for 9 hours if it could be spent writing, reading or studying. Sitting in classes all day can be draining. I have a break (now), which is nice. I usually spend it with several of my friends, but today everyone is MIA. Thus leaves Amy, sipping coffee and trying to be studious and productive.

I need desperately to be productive because I'll be gone all weekend. I'm going home from Friday til Monday. Woo!!! I'm super excited to see friends and family, but also because I'll get to go to my friend Valerie's baby shower! I feel like I've missed out on a lot of big things in my friends' lives (engagements, weddings, pregnancies) in FL because we've been up here. It's so hard to be engaged in life here and keep an ear and eye on things at home. I talk to my family every week and still get a twinge of jealousy sometimes when they talk about things they did together. Most of my friends are spread out over the state, but at least they're still in Fl; they can visit more often and come home for big events and such. All this has lead me to realize I probably want us to end up in FL when we settle down. Not that I expect that to be anytime soon. I still have 2.5 years of school left and then we'll probably move wherever Travis wants to go to school/where I can get a job.

Settling down for me essentially means babies and career-focused jobs and buying a house. Most days I'm content to know that these things are a few years off. However, lately I've totally been feeling the maternal nudge. It most likely has to do with the fact that several of my friends are pregnant or have babies. I've known from a fairly young age that I was supposed to be a mom. Now that it's just a matter of time (hopefully), I'm getting impatient. Not that I feel particularly ready to be a mom.....but who does?

Now, don't all of you go out and buy baby clothes. I'm just saying that I'm excited. And maybe that I'll be ready sooner than I thought...

Ah democracy

It's not even 10 am on election day and I already feel like my blood pressure has shot up 10 pts. And I've been purposely avoiding watching/reading the news. That's a lie, I did watch Obama cast his vote. Which took like 15 minutes and is surely not an encouragement to those people who think they can vote on their lunch hour or something. Not that democracy should always be convenient, but still...

While perusing my favorite sites this morning, I did come across this: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2008/11/as-i-wreck-elect.html

Nothing screams "president" like baked goods.

I'm sure this won't be my last post today. Too much nervous energy makes Amy a good blogger, I guess.

GO VOTE!