Four Years.

"He was my future husband, of that I was scarily certain, although I knew nothing more about him than that. It would become my repeated resolution to keep it that way. To know nearly nothing of him, and to expect nothing, for the long life of our marriage.

When we think we know someone, you see, we are already halfway to disappointment, and no one needs a head start on that.

This is not how we have learned to choose our partners, is it? This is not how we greet people, is it? With an open mind? With an eager hand? Like an unopened gift? Not when we make a life's work out of finding and keeping the perfect mate, the ideal match for our economic aspirations, political views, religious preference, height, weight, taste in coffee, and wardrobe sensibility - all ways we foolishly seek in another mere validation for ourselves. When we believe we know what's good for us, what's right, and what we're looking for - and believe me, we all do - we condemn all our current relationships and doom the ones to come."

                   - from Hand Wash Cold by Karen Maezen Miller 

Our Anniversary Getaway in Frederick, MD

 

 

 

 

Working out at the Gym. Acupuncture. Gorgeous weather. Eating tapas in the Sun. An amazing Toy Store. A Nap. A Bath in Claw-foot Bath-tub. Walking hand-in-hand. More delicious food by Carroll Creek. A Charming Inn. An uninterrupted Night of sleep. A killer Break-fast by a Fire. A 1/2 hour Massage. Hello Kisses and Hugs from My Girls

Seriously, I don't know how we could have added any more of my favorite things to our Anniversary Celebration. It was 24 hours of re-connecting and enjoying my Husband's company. It was a blast.

We hadn't done very much for our previous two Anniversaries, so it was extra-special to really celebrate making it through these last intense three years.

Here are a few photos from our lovely time in Frederick on Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lemon Verbena and Cinnamon Infused Vodka

What's my latest Obsession? Making Infused Vodka.

My husband and I have varying ideas about Gift-giving. But, when I mentioned this idea, he jumped on it. It combines my interest in Herbs and his interest (and his friends' and family's) in alcohol. It's perfect.

(Thanks Elyse for the inspiration)!

We have several friend's Birthday Parties to go to over the next several weeks, so now is the perfect time to experiment. We have some brave Herbs growing in our Back-yard (despite our neglect). I read this post and got some ideas for some pairings based on what we had on hand.

Papa Bear and I both like the taste of the "Lemon Verbena and Cinnamon Infused Vodka" and plan on making some more. We kept the Cinnamon Sticks in for 3 days (3 sticks in a large Ball Jar). The top photo shows what it looked like on Day 1 and the last photo shows how much the color changed by Day 3.

We kept on small Ball Jar for ourselves and left the Lemon Verbena leaves inside it. I want to see, if it can balance out the Cinnamon flavor (which is good but strong). Next time, I think I'll just leave the Cinnamon Sticks in for only 2 days.

What is your favorite Infused Vodka flavor?

Cocoon Time Method Program. My Valentine's Day/Birthday Day Present.

I am really looking forward to the present Papa Bear gave me for my Birthday/Valentine's Day. It's a teleseminar called Cocoon Time Method. It's a class that helps you prepare for a healing, restful, enjoyable post-partum time.

Haven't I already gone through this once? What else do I need to learn?

Yes, it's true this is my second pregnancy, but the first go-around was different. We were living with my in-laws and my mother-in-law had just retired, so she was home with me all day. We didn't have to worry about meals or cleaning the house. Every night, my in-laws took our daughter for an hour or two, so we could have some time together and rest.

Now, we have our own home and an energetic toddler to boot!

There was also the fact that my daughter spent the first 16 days of her life in the NICU, recovering from Meconium Aspiration Syndrome. The first two weeks (when my body was pretty banged up) were not spent at home. I wasn't prepared for how painful and how long my recovery took.

This time around, I want to be more prepared.

The Cocoon Time Method Teleseminar is broken down into four parts including: Building Your Nest, What to Eat During Cocoon Time, Support, Self-Care, & Self-Awareness, and Partnering through Parenthood.

Each recorded coaching sessions includes numerous worksheets (including: a cookbook, a grocery list, ideas for help with food prep, checklists for emotional and physical self-care, checklists for essentials we'll want in our house, ways of clearing out "clutter," handouts about cultivating support during our Cocoon Time and ways to prepare the most important places in our house for a smooth transition).

Laura Thompson Brady is a Pregnancy, Birthing, and Mama Wellness Coach and her "mission is to help every pregnant woman on the planet not only experience a powerfully peaceful birth but also enjoy a COCOON TIME that is defined by connection, support, rest, rejuvenation, recovery, bonding, time to grapple with what it means to be a Mom, and deeply felt love."

Pregnant Mamas (especially first-time Mamas) often spent much of their pregnancy researching and planning their baby's nursery, trying to figure out all the things you need for a baby's first year and preparing for birth. Usually not a little time is spent learning how to take care of your newborn and creating a post-partum plan.

The more rest and sleep a New Mama gets, the less likely she is to develop post-partum depression. I've been getting concerned about me developing post-partum depression because I have been feeling some mild feelings of depression this pregnancy. I want to do everything I can to prevent this from happening and am looking forward to getting lots of new ideas for my post-partum plan.

I meant to post some information about the class BEFORE the Early-Bird special ended, but that didn't happen.  If you are interested, the program runs from February 26  to March 19, more information can be found here.

Quick...Send Out A Valentine with Paperless Post

paperless post (Photo credit: 'smil)

Whoops. Time flies and you didn't get to send out the Valentines you wanted. What have I done in the past? Jumped over to Paperless Post and ogled all their pretty designs until I narrowed it down to a few pretties.

I've been a huge fan of Paperless Post for several years, now. I loved their designs so much that I used them for my Wedding Invites and every other significant event since then.

Once you create an address book, it's embarrassingly easy to send out cards. It's cheap, too. And, good for the Environment. You can even print them out, if someone REALLY wants a hard-copy.

I like Paperless Post much better than Evite. My Inner-Print-maker loves how you can see the texture of the paper and the dizzying array of envelope liners. It's amazing the variety of designs, they now offer. They've come a long way in a few short years. Can you tell, I'm a fan?

A Fun Valentine Date for the History Buff

Phrygian Bronze Pots (Photo credit: voyageAnatolia.blogspot.com)

 I'll admit it....I'm a bit of a history nerd. Always have been one, always will be one.

The costume box at my childhood home was in constant use...my favorite thing to do as a child was to dress up as a famous person and attempt to re-live their lives. I often found interesting people while flipping through our Encyclopedia. Remember those?

If you are a bit of a history nerd too....then I have the perfect cheap date night.

How about drinking some beer from a 9,000 year-old recipe? Dogfish Head has been brewing beer from some seriously old recipes for over a decade now. Their first foray into the world of "Ancient Ales" began when the company teamed up with a molecular archeologist to recreate what was drank at the funeral of King Midas.

When that proved to be a success, they moved onto ancient China (that's where the 9,000 year-old recipe comes into play).

My husband is the beer drinker in the family but even I got excited when I read about Theobroma. Chocolate???? Yes, please. (Check out the man behind the science).

So, what has that got to do with a "cheap Valentine date night?" My idea is to spend an evening preparing and eating a meal around whatever historic brew catches your eye.

How fun would it be to do a little research and pair an ancient ale with an ancient meal? Seriously fun.

Last Valentine's Day... Papa Bear and I drank Midas Touch while devouring a lamb and lentil stew (supposedly that was the meal consumed by all the mourners at King Mida's tomb). We ate the stew and some naan (also believed to have been eaten at the funeral feast).

The meal was a success! The beer was good (I'm not even a beer drinker) and the meal went perfectly with our beverage of choice.

We had such a blast, we'll planning on doing it again this Valentine's Day. This time we are thinking of going Italian with "Dogfish's latest Ancient Ale " Birra Etrusca Bronze Ale. Italy isn't just about the wines. I'll have a sip or two and tell you what I think.

Here are some of my ideas of excellent beer and meal combos...

Theobroma would work well with turkey and mole verde (and a honeyed yucca dessert).


Sah'tea would be nice with some pea soup, some Finnish meatballs and rye bread (and pancakes with jam for dessert).


Chateau Jiahu could be paired with any of these recipes.


The possibilities are endless. It's also a fun family night (no need to let adults have all the fun... although, obviously, the adults would be the ones partaking in the inspiration behind the meal). Find some music and games to play (maybe even a costume or two, if your kids enjoy dressing up) and you are good to go...

Do any of those meals sound good to you?

A Valentine for the Chef in Your Life

This is the present I made for my husband for our First Wedding Anniversary. It's sentimental, cheesy and practical...things my husband appreciates. He used the spices in this book several times a week for 6 months, until they were all gone! It made me smile every time I saw him use this present.

Not only does it make a nice Anniversary gift, but it could also rock somebody's world on Valentine's Day gift. Did I mention already that I like making books? I spent 45 minutes gathering supplies and 1 hour assembling the book.

I began by heading to the Spice & Tea Exchange in Alexandria (they have locations across the country, if you like to cook beware....this place is addicting and dangerous to your wallet). It helped that my husband and I had agreed upon a $25 limit on our gifts, so I knew I could only get 5 little packets of deliciousness.

My theme for the book was ingredients for a successful marriage. I tried to find things my husband would like to cook with but that also followed the theme. Some of them were a bit of a stretch...but I think it worked overall.

I chose olive salt to represent forgiveness. A lamb herb rub for gentleness. An onion sugar to symbolize kindness. A smoky sea salt to remind us to have courage through the tears. And, finally, a sweet Spanish paprika to represent the importance of keeping "spiciness" alive in your marriage.

I gathered scrapbooking paper that we used at our wedding and some blue electrical tape to make the accordion book. Accordion books are easy to construct (there are some great tutorials floating around, so I won't waste your time explaining how to make one). This book won't win any awards in the technical department but the smile on my husband's face was reward enough (I think his cheesiness may be running off on me).

If you are looking for a last minute Valentine's Day present for the Cook in your life...here's an easy, fairly quick project for you!

Go Raid Your Junk Drawer for This Awesome Valentine

Source

I was smitten with this Valentine a few years ago. Design*Sponge has the most amazing Valentines! For our First Valentine's Day together, I started making one for Papa Bear, but ended up giving him something else.

My daughter is too young for this type of project, but I am thinking maybe next year. I think this would be terrific project for a preschooler.

Puzzle pieces would be perfect. A wine cork, an old key, a popsicle stick, a pinecone, an interesting tiny twig. The child could paint all the pieces made out of wood and cardboard. An adult could spray paint anything made out of metal or plastic.

It would be tons of fun to harness all that energy and get your child to clean out their toy-box a bit. Everyone could paint and then the adult could hot glue the found objects down on some foam core. Amazing.

Can you think of any other found objects that could be used?

Heifer International and Valentine's Day

 

 

 

Is it too early to talk about Valentine's Day? I wanted to share with you one the most inspirational organizations I know (Heifer International) and one of my ideas for how to support this organization this Valentine's Day.

 

This gift is perfect for a Sweetie who is "socially conscious" and would prefer not to get a massive bouquet of red roses grown in Columbia or Ecuador. Instead of dropping $60 on flowers and a card, why not give a simple gift that has the power to change entire communities? For almost 70 years, Heifer International, has been fighting hunger and poverty one cow at a time.

 

The idea is that you are purchase an animal (or a share of an animal) in someone's name. These animals are given to a family struggling with poverty. When the offspring of the animal is born, they are then "passed" on to their neighbors. So on and so forth...

The animals provide the families with income to better their lives and you have provided the gift recipient with the knowledge that their gift has the potential to change lives. There is a very powerful book called Beatrice's Goat (it tells the real-life story of how a little girl got the opportunity to go to school because of her family's involvement with "Heifer International").

You can have fun coming up with creative ways of pairing your donation with something tangible (possibly edible).

Here are some of my ideas...

1. If you buy a share of a goat (starting at $10)...also give a bar of goat milk soap.

2. If you buy a hive of honeybees ($30) ...also give a bunch of honey sticks.

3. If you buy a flock of chicks ($20)...also give some peeps (you know those cute, fluffy marshmallow baby chicks).

4. If you buy a flock of ducks ($20)....also give a cute rubber duckie.

5. If you buy a trio of rabbits (a share for $10 and all 3 for $60)...also give a chocolate bunny (I've started seeing them in stores already since Easter is so early this year).

6. If you buy a share of fish fingerlings ($30)...also give some Swedish fish.

 

You get the idea? Let your creativity run wild! And if you decide to support Heifer International this Valentine's Day, please tell me about it!

Mushroom Gardening with Children

Oyster Mushrooms 8 (Photo credit: portmanteaus)

It is always heartening to hear about companies coming up with clever, sustainable ideas. One such company, Back to the Roots, has created an easy mushroom kit that starts fruiting after only 10 days.

In 2009, two recent MBA graduates, Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez, stumbled upon the idea of "growing mushrooms on used coffee grounds". Typically, mushrooms are grown on tree logs, but oyster mushrooms also do well growing growing on a "waste" material that usually ends up in the land-fill.

Arora and Velez knew nothing about mushroom farming, but when they found a free source of coffee grounds, they began experimenting. They started selling their oyster mushrooms to Alice Water's Chez Panisse and Whole Foods. Peet's Coffeehouse ended up paying them to haul away their coffee grounds, which means that Back to the Roots (BTTR) not only got their mushroom substrate for free, they were making a little bit of revenue from the exchange. Last year, BBTR, diverted 3.6 million pounds of waste from the land-fill!

After much tweaking, BBTR, designed a simple Mushroom Garden that only requires you to mist it with water twice a day. You cut open the window, mist using the spray mister included, sit the kit on a window-sill and then harvest your pearl oyster mushrooms! You can grow up to 1 1/2 lbs of mushrooms per box and will get at least 2 crops, maybe more. You can use the mix of left-over mushroom roots and coffee grounds as a soil amendment for any outdoor plants, when you are finished harvesting your crops. Pretty cool, right?

Each kit costs $20 and can be found in many Whole Food, Home Depot, Safeway, Nordstrom, Bed, Bath and Beyond stores. Or you can buy it directly from Back to the Roots. They even have a kit that you can decorate yourself. Talk about a cool hands-on Science Project for children. I can't wait to get ours!

Finding a Peaceful Moment Together During Your Wedding Day

On Tuesday, Papa Bear and I celebrated our 2nd Wedding Anniversary.

He had to work late but he sweetly brought home two fruit tarts for us to share. Sadly, we both passed out from exhaustion after we put our daughter to bed (and before we could devour those tarts together). Our Anniversary, didn't work out as planned (including our Anniversary Beach Trip where I ended up with a migraine for 2 of the 3 days).

Like Weddings (Life, in general)....things rarely go as planned (this is something difficult for my husband "the Planner" to accept).

One part of our "Bollywood Farm Wedding," I was really looking forward to was taking 15 minutes after we got married to hide away in a secret spot and be TOGETHER. I wanted a few peaceful, quiet minutes to savor together without being bombarded by the music and all the well-wishes from our very loving friends and family.

My husband didn't get it but he agreed to my idea. I had this idea that we would rush up the hill after getting married and race into the room we had chosen. And, then we would spend those 15 minutes feeling super-connected and staring into each other's eyes. It didn't happen that way...and that's okay.

We were constantly stopped on our way there, so it ended up taking at least 20 minutes to get there. I also didn't take into consideration how hyper and excited my husband gets in social settings. He was bouncing off the walls and peaking out the window to look at everyone. Not exactly the peace I was imagining but it was still a very special, beautiful time.

We talked about the ceremony and my dress and how amazing everything was while I put on more make-up. We tried to figure out where the van was going that we spied leaving (very generous friends were making a beer run ALREADY). We hugged and kissed and maybe squealed a little. It was just what we needed.

So, I try and tell folks planning their wedding, how very nice it is to have those little moment of Peace tucked into your schedule.

I will always treasure ours....Happy 2nd Anniversary Papa Bear!!!! Cheers to many, many more....I Lava You....

(Here I am in my parent's bathroom. This is the room we ended up being secluded in..no photos were taken during those 15 minutes, so this will have to do.)

A Blast From the Past...My 5 Favorite Posts From the Giving Month

1. A Bead Date

2. A Family Cookbook

3. A Music Basket

4. A Soup of the Month Club

5. A Rubber Duckie and A Heifer International Gift