Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
1DoH: Pumpkins Galore
If it's Sunday, it's 100 Days of Holidays!
(19) Monday 10/12: Kate brought home her first school "art project" today. Obviously, she had little to do with making it, but it's still precious and I hung it on the fridge, of course!
(20) Tuesday 10/13: This is our anniversary week. October is my favorite month, which is why I was determined to get married in it and have an autumnal color scheme.
(21) Wednesday, 10/14: It's our third anniversary! To celebrate, Matt and I had a great Italian dinner (our favorite!) at Sole Mio and stayed overnight at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel. It was a very special date--swanky dates are rare these days!
(22) Thursday 10/15: Kate stayed overnight with Granna and Opa while we were on our date. Here she is playing with her socks and shoes after getting into her jammies.
(23) Friday 10/16: Popi came to visit overnight, since he was down our way for an event in southern Kentucky. Kate's bib says "A bottle of the house white, please!" Popi and Nala brought Kate that from their recent trip to Ireland (more Irish goodies to come at Christmas, I hear!) 
(24) Saturday 10/17: Family trip to the pumpkin patch! Matt and I said that if the owners charged a flat fee for cute-photo-opp, they would earn a lot more than they do selling pumpkins at $.25 per pound. (More pumpkin patch pics to come on Wordless Wednesday!)
(25) Sunday 10/18: This is one of my favorite fall decor items. I got it a few years ago on sale at Pier One. It's kind of heavy--all metal, and I love the batik pattern. (The painting in the background was done in the watercolor class I took a few years ago. I like it.)
Coming up this week: business trip and Kate's halloween costume!
(19) Monday 10/12: Kate brought home her first school "art project" today. Obviously, she had little to do with making it, but it's still precious and I hung it on the fridge, of course!
(20) Tuesday 10/13: This is our anniversary week. October is my favorite month, which is why I was determined to get married in it and have an autumnal color scheme.
(21) Wednesday, 10/14: It's our third anniversary! To celebrate, Matt and I had a great Italian dinner (our favorite!) at Sole Mio and stayed overnight at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel. It was a very special date--swanky dates are rare these days!
(22) Thursday 10/15: Kate stayed overnight with Granna and Opa while we were on our date. Here she is playing with her socks and shoes after getting into her jammies.
(23) Friday 10/16: Popi came to visit overnight, since he was down our way for an event in southern Kentucky. Kate's bib says "A bottle of the house white, please!" Popi and Nala brought Kate that from their recent trip to Ireland (more Irish goodies to come at Christmas, I hear!) 
(24) Saturday 10/17: Family trip to the pumpkin patch! Matt and I said that if the owners charged a flat fee for cute-photo-opp, they would earn a lot more than they do selling pumpkins at $.25 per pound. (More pumpkin patch pics to come on Wordless Wednesday!)
(25) Sunday 10/18: This is one of my favorite fall decor items. I got it a few years ago on sale at Pier One. It's kind of heavy--all metal, and I love the batik pattern. (The painting in the background was done in the watercolor class I took a few years ago. I like it.)
Coming up this week: business trip and Kate's halloween costume!Saturday, October 17, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
My Favorite Blogs
As I look through my Google Reader each day (via its little app square on my iGoogle homepage) there are some blogs I am always excited to see. Obviously, everything I add to my Reader is there for a reason--be it entertainment, professional enrichment, professional networking, or just keeping up with friends--but some I am always eager to click on first, because I know they will bring something fun, funny, or cute. (I know "insightful" and "thought-provoking" should be up there in terms of valuable content, but what can I say? I'm a sucker for cute baby pictures and interesting life-updates.)
So, here are five of my very favorite blogs. They are all much more widely read than I, so they certainly don't need any publicity I could offer, but you, dear readers, may just want to click on over and become their millionth and million-and-oneth readers and enjoy their writing as much as I do.
Kelly's Korner (http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/)
Kelly Stamps' daughter Harper was born two weeks before Kate and spent several weeks in the NICU from some unforeseen illness at birth. (Talk about scaring me to death--her pregnancy was totally normal and then the baby nearly died after birth.) Harper recovered and is now a totally healthy 9 month old. I love watching her grow and comparing (even though I shouldn't!) her milestones and all with Kate's, since they are so close in age. I also enjoy living the stay-at-home-mom life vicariously through Kelly. Her posts are mainly just day-in-the-life updates about what she and Harper are up to on their adventures to play groups and baby showers and other fun things. Kelly is extremely southern, so her writings on the Arkansas Razorbacks, Walmart, and down-home cooking are all very entertaining. Her frank discussions of her years struggling with singlehood (she was 33 or so when she married, I think) and then infertility, and her constant prayers for young women still dealing with these things are very touching. And Harper is famous for her giant hairbows. (Those of you who tease me for Kate's bows--you ain't seen nothin' til you read Kelly's blog!)
The Mom Creative (http://www.themomcreative.com/)
I discovered Jessica Turner's blog when my husband Matt told me that the wife of Matthew Turner (author and acquaintance through the Nashville Emergent Cohort) had a scrapbooking blog I should check out. That was about two years ago, I think, because Jessica wasn't even pregnant then and now her son Elias is 15 months old. It has been fun to follow Jessica through her pregnancy and early motherhood, all about six months behind her. Elias being that nice interval older than Kate helps me learn what to expect and fun things to do or try when Kate gets a little older. Jessica works in marketing and PR, and applies the same interest-generating genius to her blog, so she has fun giveaways, interesting parenthood discussions, ideas for creative memory-making, etc., plus the awesome scrapbooking that drew me to her site in the first place. (She also has an online class at Big Picture Scrapbooking about scrapbooking your baby's first year. I signed up for that and would recommend it to others.)
Milk Breath and Margaritas (http://www.milkbreathandmargaritas.blogspot.com/)
Like Jessica Turner, Amy is also a working mother, blogging in the precious spare time she steals around board meetings, day care pickup, and crazy evenings with her two little boys, nicknamed "Shark Boy" and "Honey Bear." My favorite posts are "Shark Bites" and "Bear Bites"--basically her version of "Kids Say the Darndest Things." Those boys are hilarious. Amy posts pics of her awesome wardrobe and shoe collection, so the less stylish among us can live vicariously through her sophistication. She is also a great writer, her sentimental reflections on motherhood feeling more poetic than sappy. Read this blog for great photos, recipes, fashion inspiration, and snarky, witty commentary about modern motherhood.
Cake Wrecks (http://www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com/)
This is--in my humble opinion--the funniest thing on the Internet. I can't even remember how I discovered it, but enough other people love it that they have a book out now, highlighting (as the subtitle says) "when professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong." The blog and the book feature photos of bakery cakes with typos, bad grammar, unintentional innuendo, general stupidity, and general ugliness. Apparently a good number of grocery store cake decorators (AKA "wreckorators") are on crack. A fan favorite is the Father's Day cake that says "Happy Falker Satherhood." Huh? Some wrecks are the result of hyper-literalism in reading the order, as is the case in the cover image for the book: a cake reading "Good Luck Suzanne / Under Neat That / We Will Miss You." This site seriously makes me laugh until I cry.
Slacktivist (www.slacktivist.typepad.com)
Ok, this one actually is "insightful" and "thought-provoking," but it's also funny. Of the various commentary blogs I read on religion and the church, I find most of them boring. I know that's sad, given my profession and academic background, but I also have a short attention span. I started reading Slacktivist just on Fridays, when he does his snarky but incredibly insightful commentary on the Left Behind books. Covering only a few pages at a time, he dissects the theology, eschatology, moral framework, writing style, and everything else about LaHaye, Jenkins, and their bestsellers. In the past few months, I've started reading his everyday posts as well, and they are just as smart and snarky as "LB Fridays." The current focus of his scathing critique is the Conservative Bible Project. Fascinating!
So, here are five of my very favorite blogs. They are all much more widely read than I, so they certainly don't need any publicity I could offer, but you, dear readers, may just want to click on over and become their millionth and million-and-oneth readers and enjoy their writing as much as I do.
Kelly's Korner (http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/)
Kelly Stamps' daughter Harper was born two weeks before Kate and spent several weeks in the NICU from some unforeseen illness at birth. (Talk about scaring me to death--her pregnancy was totally normal and then the baby nearly died after birth.) Harper recovered and is now a totally healthy 9 month old. I love watching her grow and comparing (even though I shouldn't!) her milestones and all with Kate's, since they are so close in age. I also enjoy living the stay-at-home-mom life vicariously through Kelly. Her posts are mainly just day-in-the-life updates about what she and Harper are up to on their adventures to play groups and baby showers and other fun things. Kelly is extremely southern, so her writings on the Arkansas Razorbacks, Walmart, and down-home cooking are all very entertaining. Her frank discussions of her years struggling with singlehood (she was 33 or so when she married, I think) and then infertility, and her constant prayers for young women still dealing with these things are very touching. And Harper is famous for her giant hairbows. (Those of you who tease me for Kate's bows--you ain't seen nothin' til you read Kelly's blog!)
The Mom Creative (http://www.themomcreative.com/)
I discovered Jessica Turner's blog when my husband Matt told me that the wife of Matthew Turner (author and acquaintance through the Nashville Emergent Cohort) had a scrapbooking blog I should check out. That was about two years ago, I think, because Jessica wasn't even pregnant then and now her son Elias is 15 months old. It has been fun to follow Jessica through her pregnancy and early motherhood, all about six months behind her. Elias being that nice interval older than Kate helps me learn what to expect and fun things to do or try when Kate gets a little older. Jessica works in marketing and PR, and applies the same interest-generating genius to her blog, so she has fun giveaways, interesting parenthood discussions, ideas for creative memory-making, etc., plus the awesome scrapbooking that drew me to her site in the first place. (She also has an online class at Big Picture Scrapbooking about scrapbooking your baby's first year. I signed up for that and would recommend it to others.)
Milk Breath and Margaritas (http://www.milkbreathandmargaritas.blogspot.com/)
Like Jessica Turner, Amy is also a working mother, blogging in the precious spare time she steals around board meetings, day care pickup, and crazy evenings with her two little boys, nicknamed "Shark Boy" and "Honey Bear." My favorite posts are "Shark Bites" and "Bear Bites"--basically her version of "Kids Say the Darndest Things." Those boys are hilarious. Amy posts pics of her awesome wardrobe and shoe collection, so the less stylish among us can live vicariously through her sophistication. She is also a great writer, her sentimental reflections on motherhood feeling more poetic than sappy. Read this blog for great photos, recipes, fashion inspiration, and snarky, witty commentary about modern motherhood.
Cake Wrecks (http://www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com/)
This is--in my humble opinion--the funniest thing on the Internet. I can't even remember how I discovered it, but enough other people love it that they have a book out now, highlighting (as the subtitle says) "when professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong." The blog and the book feature photos of bakery cakes with typos, bad grammar, unintentional innuendo, general stupidity, and general ugliness. Apparently a good number of grocery store cake decorators (AKA "wreckorators") are on crack. A fan favorite is the Father's Day cake that says "Happy Falker Satherhood." Huh? Some wrecks are the result of hyper-literalism in reading the order, as is the case in the cover image for the book: a cake reading "Good Luck Suzanne / Under Neat That / We Will Miss You." This site seriously makes me laugh until I cry.
Slacktivist (www.slacktivist.typepad.com)
Ok, this one actually is "insightful" and "thought-provoking," but it's also funny. Of the various commentary blogs I read on religion and the church, I find most of them boring. I know that's sad, given my profession and academic background, but I also have a short attention span. I started reading Slacktivist just on Fridays, when he does his snarky but incredibly insightful commentary on the Left Behind books. Covering only a few pages at a time, he dissects the theology, eschatology, moral framework, writing style, and everything else about LaHaye, Jenkins, and their bestsellers. In the past few months, I've started reading his everyday posts as well, and they are just as smart and snarky as "LB Fridays." The current focus of his scathing critique is the Conservative Bible Project. Fascinating!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Surprising Myself
On the drive home from work tonight, I was listening to a political talk radio show and marveled to myself, "Who would have thought I would listen to political talk radio?"
Up until about five years ago, when Matt was closely following the 2004 presidential race, I wasn't really interested in politics. Sure, I had an opinion about the big races and a few of the big issues, but I wasn't all that informed and certainly didn't spend a lot of time trying to become informed. And until I got XM with my Hyundai 18 months ago and discovered the POTUS station ("Politics of the United States for the People of the United States"), I could barely tolerate ten minutes of talk radio, insisting on switching to a music station instead.
So, as the call-in program came to a close this evening, I started thinking about other ways in which I've surprised myself over the last ten years--ways in which I've changed unexpectedly. For instance:
Ten years ago, I never thought I would be a Democrat.
Seven years ago, I never thought I would like country music. (Still don't love it...)
Five years ago, I never thought I would find a job that used my religion degrees.
Three years ago, I never thought I would love a job enough to keep working once I had kids.
One year ago, I never thought I would feel good about putting my child in day care.
Then again, some things don't change: I am still staunchly pro-life (though I've expanded that beyond to abortion issue to include opposition to war and the death penalty), I am still a big dork who loves historical drama television miniseries (now with a sweet husband who indulges my co-opting of the Netflix queue for things like "Scarlett," "Queen," and "Catherine the Great"), and most importantly, I love being a mother as much as I always knew I would...
... and maybe even more.
Now that's a good surprise.
Up until about five years ago, when Matt was closely following the 2004 presidential race, I wasn't really interested in politics. Sure, I had an opinion about the big races and a few of the big issues, but I wasn't all that informed and certainly didn't spend a lot of time trying to become informed. And until I got XM with my Hyundai 18 months ago and discovered the POTUS station ("Politics of the United States for the People of the United States"), I could barely tolerate ten minutes of talk radio, insisting on switching to a music station instead.
So, as the call-in program came to a close this evening, I started thinking about other ways in which I've surprised myself over the last ten years--ways in which I've changed unexpectedly. For instance:
Ten years ago, I never thought I would be a Democrat.
Seven years ago, I never thought I would like country music. (Still don't love it...)
Five years ago, I never thought I would find a job that used my religion degrees.
Three years ago, I never thought I would love a job enough to keep working once I had kids.
One year ago, I never thought I would feel good about putting my child in day care.
Then again, some things don't change: I am still staunchly pro-life (though I've expanded that beyond to abortion issue to include opposition to war and the death penalty), I am still a big dork who loves historical drama television miniseries (now with a sweet husband who indulges my co-opting of the Netflix queue for things like "Scarlett," "Queen," and "Catherine the Great"), and most importantly, I love being a mother as much as I always knew I would...
... and maybe even more.
Now that's a good surprise.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Sorta Kinda Walking
In the last week, Kate has been walking with her little push-cart toy. She can go all the way across the den and kitchen, then she gets upset when she hits the cabinets or bookcase, sad that it won't go any further. She's just a bit over eight months now--she may be really walking at nine months, like her daddy. Wow, Kate
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