Thirty Days of Thankful

Day 2
I am thankful for my best friend Rachel. No matter how much time goes by, no matter what changes happen in our lives, she is always there. I love that we can always pick up where we leave off. We always have the best time together and I always come away from our visits feeling refreshed and thankful that there is someone like her in the world who gets me the way she does. We've had over 10 years of friendship and I look forward to many more.

Thirty Days of Thankfulness

I haven't blogged in forever and since I don't believe that the entire universe wants to know my life story, I decided to post here instead of through social media.
I have always wanted to follow the "Thirty Days of Thankfulness" trend that happens during the month of November but have never taken the time to do so. Here is my best attempt at being thankful for thirty days.

Day 1
I am thankful to have a house with a roof over my head and a furnace that warms it from top to bottom. I can't imagine living without those things or being exposed to the elements on a regular basis. I realize it is a luxury that much of the world is fortunate enough to have, but I also know there are those who do not have it. I am thankful I don't have to worry about shivering in the cold trying to keep myself and my children warm and protected.

Thank you, God, for giving us this house and for the warmth and protection it provides our family.

Chopped Crap

I just finished watching an episode of Chopped. It was an episode with four female contestants. After the first round, the contestants were asked about what they thought being one of four women competitors. The woman to answer talked about how most people think a woman who cooks is Betty Homemaker. Then she promised the judges that she is no Betty Homemaker because she is a tough competitor. Another one of the contestants chimed in that she is ready to bang down the door because she is so tough. It was okay for them to bash Betty Homemaker! I was appalled. To these women, Betty Homemaker is a weak, non competitive low life who deserves to be mocked because she doesn't earn a paycheck. The epitome of how the world sees stay at home moms.
Needless to say, it got my blood boiling.
It makes me want to prove that women can stay at home, raise their children, take care of the household, be faithful to one man, be bad ass in all ways and be happy and successful in their role. Wow, it's like what God wants for my life exactly, but with more swearing.
And then I realize, it doesn't matter what these people think or what anyone thinks for that matter. The only thing that matters is that I make much of what I have been given.

Blessings. Two of them.

When the going gets tough, it isn't always easy to look at the bright side. It's no surprise that when Andrew is out of town, the kids and I seem to butt heads much more often. This week has been no exception. Judah has been giving me such a rough time this week. From tantrums to manipulating to lying, it's not his usual MO. For some reason when dad is gone, the rule book goes out the window.
On top of parenting by myself this week, we are all fighting off a cold. I have been feeling pretty under the weather and in turn have had very low energy. The weather has turned much colder and the thought of getting out and about does not seem appealing to me this week. I'd rather stay curled up at home in a sweatshirt, wrapped in blankets nursing my ailments.
I have been meaning to take some outdoor pictures of the kids with the beautiful colors of fall. There is a group of trees along our street that had lost it's perfectly bright yellow leaves this week. I drove past them several times, promising myself that as soon as it was dry enough we would walk down there and take some photos. Unfortunately, when I drove by this morning, the leaves had all been cleared away by a landscaper. I was so bummed. They were the perfect color.
We spent the afternoon at home, cozied up in the house staying out of the rain. At about 3 pm, the sun suddenly began peeking through my bedroom window. It cast a beautiful orange glow over the yard. It as then that I realized we have maple leaves in our own back yard. How silly of me to forget that our neighbor has a giant maple tree. You have to remember that I have only lived here three months.
I gathered up the kids, threw on our boots, snagged my camera and a rake and stomped outside. I raked up a few piles for the kids to throw around and jump in. Even though the leaves were damp, the kids were so happy. I did my best to snap as many photos of them with the sun radiating it's perfect amber beams on us. Judah became over the top excited and kept bombarding me in the legs and back with leaves. I was getting frustrated. I just wanted a few good pictures of them in the leaves and he was making it so difficult. I had to do a lot of coaxing to get him to face me, smile and throw leaves everywhere. Aren't kids just supposed to do that stuff naturally?
I hadn't looked through the pictures until this evening after they have gone to bed. I love how an instant on camera so perfectly captures their livelihood. The pure joy and delight in Judah's face when he destroys a pile of leaves is so eminent. He is grinning from ear to ear in almost every single picture. It made me stop and think: Let him be a boy. Let him be rough. Let him be silly. Let him break things that can be broken. Let him run wild.
And Audrey, my sweet Audrey. I cherish her free spirit. She has this carefree joy and delight that spills into everything she does. There are a few pictures of her with her hands thrown up into the air. It captures the very essence of who she is. I was reminded to never stifle that. Cultivate it. Give her room to run and breathe and be who she is.
I love my children. A given, I know. I needed that little reminder of skimming through those photos that they are such a delight. They bring me so much joy. I only hope that I can give to them the same joy and happiness that they bring to me every day.

I think it's safe to say...

I'm a runner.
Over the weekend I completed my first half marathon. Hold up. What? Did I read that correctly? Yes, it seems I did. I just completed my first half marathon. Not only that, I did it with a pretty kick ass time: Two hours, ten minutes and six seconds. My goal was anything under 2:10, but I'll take it.
You'll have to pardon my shock and disbelief. The reality of my accomplishment is still sinking in.
When I think about how far I've come in one year, I am filled with disbelief. I was thirty pounds overweight, exercising from time to time, recovering from a stress fracture and bruised pride.
I decided it was time to do something about my weight gain and kicked it's butt to the curb. That itself is another milestone to celebrate. I've maintained my weight loss for a year. This is something I wasn't sure I would be able to do.
After I dropped the pounds, I started hitting the gym even more. I have to give credit to my sister in law who had just given birth and was trying to drop the baby weight. We were each other's support system and motivators for getting to the gym at least three times a week. My favorite class was body pump, a weights class. I had never seen results like that before from any exercise program. We continued on our quest for health. She also dropped about 20 pounds and is still looking better than ever.
In the spring, my sister asked me if I would like to enter a lottery to win a spot in the Nike Women's Marathon & Half Marathon. I decided it was worth a try. My goal of running a half marathon the year before was unattainable at the time after I suffered a stress fracture and was out of commission for several weeks. I wasn't sure I would ever take up running again after my huge disappointment and wasted emotional investment. I basically just said, why not? The outcome couldn't have been any worse than the previous year.
This particular race, as I mentioned before, was lottery style. We signed up as a team of three: myself, my sister and my brother's wife. We knew there was a good chance that we wouldn't get in. Oftentimes, women will try for years to be chosen out of the random draw without any luck. We waited a few short weeks, and voila! We were in just like that!
I started training right away. I was very cautious and wary that I might have terrible shin splints just like last time. To my surprise, training was much, much easier than before. I'm sure weighing 30 pounds less had a little something to do with it. I was able to increase my mileage and my speed without much trouble at all. I was still taking it easy and cross training most of the time. I ran about once a week until summer. I started running twice a week and continued to cross train the other 3 days of the week. My best friend asked me to try out a hot yoga class with her on the side. I was immediately hooked. I loved how the heat of the classes complimented my sore muscles after running and challenged my strength and stamina.
As the summer wore on, I continued to increase my mileage and the number of times I ran per week. I was feeling fantastic and was actually thinking to myself that I might be able to do this race. I hit a little bit of trouble a few weeks before the race. I was having terrible IT band pain. I decided to kick it down a notch and stick to cycling, hot yoga and one run per week. I knew that as long as my endurance was where it should be, I would get by on race day.
Race weekend rolled around and I have to say that I wasn't nervous about the race itself. I was excited and anxious to do what I had been training to do for so many months. I had finally made it to the place where I knew that I had the physical ability to run for thirteen miles. I didn't know if my mind had the same stamina. I had "run on eggshells" for the past six months, wondering if I would suffer another stress fracture or debilitating shin splints. It never happened. I had survived training.
As I ran across the starting line on race morning, I still had doubts about my mental ability to push through those blocks that told me I couldn't do it and that I didn't have what it took to finish like a champion. Even around mile six when I was almost halfway done, I was still battling those thoughts. I still kept running. When I got to mile ten, I realized that yes I was going to finish this race. I knew I could finish strong. The IT band pain that had been bothering me for the last few miles had suddenly vanished. I plowed up the last steep hill and down the other side. When I hit the 11.5 mile mark I wanted to walk so badly. My legs felt like jello. My arms were so tired from pumping at my side, but I kept on running. I knew that if I stopped it would mean defeat. My goal was just out of reach. I could taste the victory. I am still in shock when I write this and tears are spilling down my cheeks. I did it. I finished. I ran the entire race. 13.1 miles. The biggest doubter was me and I crushed those doubts the moment my feet crossed the finish line. I am a champion because I finished what I set out to do. A goal that seemed unattainable and virtually impossible a year ago was now reality. I now know what so many people before me have said. You can do anything you set your mind to. There is no excuse in the world that should stop you. Yes, you can do it. Don't cheat yourself. Those last two phrases have been my mantra during my training.
I didn't know if I would want to continue running after this race. I thought once I had reached my goal I would be ready to move onto something new. I was wrong. Where's the starting line?

Running Play List

I just put together a new running play list. I'm really excited about it and I cannot wait until this evening heat cools down so that I can lace up and hit the pavement.

• Run the World (Girls) - Beyonce
• Till the World Ends - Britney Spears
• Go! - Common
• Shake it Out - Florence + The Machine
• Drumming Song - Florence + The Machine
• Houdini - Foster the People
• Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
• Ni**as in Paris - Kanye West & Jay Z
• Human - The Killers
• Midnight City - M83
• Uprising - Muse
• Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
• Champagne Supernova - Oasis
• Where the Streets Have No Name - U2
• Bitter Sweet Symphony - The Verve
• T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever) -will.I.am
• Roll Up - Wiz Khalifa
• Heads Will Roll - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• The Kill - 30 Seconds to Mars

Spring Cleaning

Well we are home from our amazing trip. It took a while to readjust to the time difference. Our sleep was off and we were waking up at 4 am to eat breakfast. It was a little bizarre, but things seem back to normal now.
I feel like my head is swimming lately. All of the sudden it seems like there is so much to do that I can barely think straight.
I discovered earlier this week that preschool enrollment begins in February at all schools in the area. I was way behind. I hadn't toured one single school or gotten any information at all. As most classes are nearly full, I am scrambling to find the right preschool for Judah this fall. He will be 4 in August. I can't believe how time has flown. Is he really old enough to start school?
Next on the list is my 10 year high school reunion. I did not know that I would be so involved in planning this event. It seems that the people who typically plan the reunion just don't have time or frankly aren't interested in planning. Because I liked the people that I graduated with, I want to make sure we have a good party. So I have stepped up to the plate a bit and am trying to figure out where we can have this event. Have I mentioned that it's only 3 months away and we have yet to determine a venue or a budget. Why is it so difficult to get people to respond? It seems like a good portion of our class is interested in attending, but when I ask for feedback I am greeted with silence. It's not making planning very easy. At this rate we'll end up with just a small group, but that might not be such a terrible thing.
Also on my plate is the task of getting ready to move. We won't be moving until the middle of summer, but we will be downsizing quite a bit. Therefore I need to pack our now 2400 square foot house to fit into about 1200 square feet. We are moving in with Andrew's parents to save a good chunk of money so that we can eventually buy a house. (If the bank ever takes back our old one. Yep, we're still waiting!) I need to come up with a way to make everything fit without having our new space feel cluttered and stifling. I am trying to pack away as much as I can beforehand and also get rid of all the junk and clutter that I won't want to put away in storage. I hate the idea of opening boxes full of junk in a new home. That would be the ultimate headache. The kids will also be sharing a room at Andrew's parents', which brings me to another task:
Moving Audrey into a twin bed. We need to get her out of her crib pretty soon here. We just took her pacifier away earlier this week. She has had kind of a rough time with it. The first few days were the worst, but last night she slept without crying for it. Today she even fell asleep for her nap without asking for it. I think she is on her way to forgetting about it. Now that she is pacifier free, I feel like we can move forward to the next step of getting her into a big girl bed. We'll probably wait a few weeks so that it's not too much change all at once.
In the midst of all of this, I am trying to make a budget so that we are saving as much money as possible. The more money we save the shorter the amount of time we will be living with the in-laws. We have gotten pretty comfortable with the way we spend money and we have not been very frugal. I would like to learn how to live more minimally and save as many pennies as I can along the way.
In thinking about a new house I have also been searching for new decorating ideas. Our hope is that we can buy kind of a fixer upper. That way it will be a less expensive home, but we can do some work on it to make it fit with our family.
Can you see why my head is spinning lately?

Au Revoir, Paris!

Yesterday was our last full day here. We had talked about heading to Versailles or doing more sight seeing, but what I really wanted to do was just shop around the city. First we had omelets at a cafe down the street. We had originally ordered crepes, but apparently they were out. The omelets were simple yet delicious. Mine had potatoes, Andrew's had ham and cheese. We ordered "American coffee". I don't know if it was American because it was "bigger" or because it was espresso American style. It was tasty, but nowhere near enough coffee for me to get going for the day. I forgot to mention that I had a tiny little espresso while I sat in the lobby before Andrew woke up. We decided to hit up Starbucks to get our full fix. How do Europeans function on such little caffeine? Am I just an addict who needs to go to rehab? Oh well, I enjoy being enabled by Starbucks. Andrew and I had a nice long lazy talk about life as we sat and sipped our lattes.
We started our shopping along the Seine where there are many street vendors who sell paintings of the city. We found a couple that we liked and bought them. Since we weren't far from our hotel, we decided to take the paintings back to our room so that we wouldn't be stuck carrying them all day. Next we were on the louvre. My aunt had told me that we might be able to find some prints of paintings that we liked in the museum. They didn't have what I was looking for, but I found some books with a painting style that I enjoyed. I took down the information so I could look it up and home and possibly find prints somewhere else. We snapped a few more photos outside of the louvre in the gigantic courtyard. What we didn't know until my aunt showed us, is that when you line up properly in the courtyard, you can see all the way down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triumph. The Eiffel tower was also nicely peeking out of the fog, which made for some lovely photographs.
We decided to grab lunch outside of the louvre. In Paris, many cafes have outdoor seating even though it's still quite cold outside. There are rows of chairs that face the street with tables in front of them. That way you can eat your meal and people watch at the same time. Our waiter was very friendly and helpful with good English. We ordered a ham and cheese baguette sandwich and a three cheese quiche. Both were quite scrumptious. People watching from the cafe front was almost as good as my glass of chardonnay.
Onward we went to the champs elysees. I was determined to find some amazingly fashionable French clothes. We went into several stores and I found a few things that I liked, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend fifty euros on a shirt. The bargain shopper in me just wouldn't do it. I know what you're thinking....it's Paris, you have to buy clothes! For me, it was satisfying enough just to look around.
We were pretty tired after walking all over the place so we decided to head back to our hotel and rest for a few hours. I took a lovely afternoon nap while Andrew read his book. When I woke up, he told me that he had found a neat little jazz club just down the street in the Latin quarter. Perfect! I had been hoping we could do something like that while we were here. A few hours later we made our way over to the club. It cost 12 euros for each of us to get in. The place reminded me a little bit of a dungeon, but in a cool way. Not in an "I'm going to lock you up and you'll never escape" way. After grabbing a couple of drinks at the bar, we walked down a flight of stairs to the literally underground jazz club. After about a half an hour the music started. I loved the style. It reminded me of the Glen Miller I grew up listening to. I couldn't help but think of my brother and sister and how much they would have liked a place like this. People started swing dancing on the dance floor. That in itself was fun to watch as well. Andrew and I were having a great time just talking and laughing and listening to music together.
At one point an older man approached a much younger girl and asked her to dance. She hadn't been dancing previously, just sitting with her friends chatting and having a nice time. Who knew if she could swing dance at all? Well she could. She was great. I couldn't help but be so intrigued by the dancing in general. I wish I could dance like that! I feel that couples dancing is such a lost art form. We don't learn it and we don't teach it to our children. Instead they learn how to gyrate their butts and grind up on each other thanks to MTV. Not exactly something to be proud of in my opinion. What has happened to learning basic dance steps? I myself would love to learn and pass it on to my kids, especially Audrey. It is such a gift to be able to dance and I would hate for her to ever miss out on that in life. I told Andrew we are taking dance classes when we get home. I don't know if it was because he was a couple beers in, but he agreed.
After a few more rounds of drinks, we decided we better turn in for the night. We had to be up early in the morning and we hadn't had dinner yet. Luckily there was a Greek gyro place open right outside the jazz club. I had been eyeing the gyro places ever since we got here. I had eaten them a few times when I was with YWAM in Madrid. They were so delicious then and I only hoped they were just as delicious now. Voila! They were! We walked with them in hand back to our hotel, finished eating and headed to bed, our ears still buzzing with jazz.

Paris Day 3

I awoke too early again yesterday, but in turn I was able to read about five chapters of my book. We started the day with pastries from our favorite shop and none other than Starbucks coffee. I do enjoy the coffee here in Paris, but I needed a LARGE coffee and I knew that Starbucks wouldn't disappoint. Their mocha definitely tastes better here. The coffee, the chocolate and no whipped cream - delicious!
It was the day we would be spending at the Louvre which is the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19th century are exhibited over an area of 650,000 square feet. In short, it is enormous. It would take days to see every exhibit displayed. We had a few pieces of art in particular that we wanted to see like the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix. We found all of these works and of course many more along the way. We spent about three hours walking around when we both decided we were museumed out.

We headed back to our hotel to rest a bit. I was getting tired since I had gotten up so early. We were planning on seeing my aunt and uncle later in the evening and I wanted to be awake and feeling fresh for our visit. I took a two hour nap while Andrew read his book. Until this trip, I had forgotten what it was like to take a nap and wake up on your own. What a concept! I don't know the last time I took a nap and was able to wake up on my own at home. That luxury alone might be near the top of my "favorite part of the vacation" list.
Around 6 pm we hopped on the metro and rode to the outskirts of Paris to a neighborhood called Auteuil where my Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Henry Petit live. We found their apartment and rang ourselves in the front door. We sat with them for a long while sipping champagne and catching up. I see my aunt every few years, but I can only remember seeing my uncle when I was very young. He is a very nice fellow - cordial, hospitable and a good conversationalist. After champagne, we headed to one of their favorite neighborhood restaurants for dinner. It was a warm, cozy place with a wood burning fireplace. My aunt explained the whole menu to us. I chose the roasted duck breast and Andrew had the scallop and mushroom risotto. My aunt also had the roasted duck breast and my uncle had the steak tartare. Which by the way, I will never be eating. Go google search it if you don't know what it is. My meal came served with potato chips. My aunt told me they were made in house. They tasted much better than a bag of Lays. I also had a salad with what tasted like a dijon vinaigrette. This was definitely our best meal in Paris. We shared a bottle of wine with dinner as well. Even though I was stuffed, I knew I had to have dessert. If there is one thing I've learned during this trip, it is that the French make the best desserts. Andrew and I both ordered our own creme brulee with raspberry sauce. It was soooo delicious. I had pictured this tiny little order coming to me, but it was quite large. Andrew and I could have shared. I only had enough room to eat half of it. Sad day. I wish I could have taken it home in my purse. 
After a lot of nice conversation we said goodbye to my uncle. My aunt then showed us around her neighborhood and then took us on a tour of Paris in her car. There is so very much to see in the city. There are places that you would never know existed as a simple tourist. Europeans are lucky that their cities hold so much history. The architecture of the buildings alone is awe inspiring. Parisians live their every day lives with this history as a part of them. After about an hour of a guided tour, it was getting to be very late so she drove us back to our hotel. We said our goodbyes and promised to keep in better touch. It was a wonderful evening spent with family.

Paris Day 2

March 9, 2012

I had a terrible time sleeping through the night. I woke up at 4 am Paris time and even though my eyes were so tired, my mind was awake. I finished the book I’ve been reading and started the next one. I studied my French book to learn more words. I even wrote my first blog entry, but sleep wouldn’t come. Finally around 6:30 am, I decided to shower and get dressed for the day.  When I was all dressed and ready, I finally felt tired enough to fall asleep, but only slept for about an hour more. It was time to start the day.
Andrew and I set out to find a nice little café where we could order coffee and pastries. Unfortunately he “yelped” a coffee place that was supposed to be good. We ended up passing several nice looking cafes along the way only to find a small little coffee shop that wasn’t very inviting. We decided to make up for it by walking back to one of the patisseries and buying…what else? Pastries! I had a scrumptious chocolate croissant and Andrew had an orange croissant. Both were delectable.
Our next stop: Notre Dame. It is only a five minute walk from our hotel. Thankfully, the sun was shining beautifully today in Paris. The warmth felt so nice on our skin. I could see the steeple of the cathedral as we made our way closer. We crossed the Seine and there it was, Notre Dame. The architecture and carvings were nothing less than spectacular. Every tiny detail had been hand carved. We walked around and took many pictures in front of the church, and then entered the church itself. After touring the inside, we then waited in line for about 40 minutes in order to climb the inside steps of the cathedral and see a spectacular view of Paris. The climb was a good 10 minute workout. Do that five times a day and you’d be in fantastic shape! The view from the top of the cathedral was amazing. Paris seemed to reach as far as the eyes could see. The city is so densely populated, but it is also very flat making it very easy to get a grasp of just how enormous it is. We got some great photographs of the view, as well as the upper and outer architecture of the cathedral. I wish I knew a little bit more history about Notre Dame, but that is one of the things I’ll have to look up when we get home.

During Andrew’s first trip to Paris, he had recalled walking through narrow alleys that were densely packed with shops and restaurants. We decided to walk in the area that he thought it was located in. We ended up walking in a big circle and seeing some beautiful sights of the city, but we still did not find what we were looking for. Our stomachs were beginning to growl, so we decided to head back towards our hotel and stop at the shops next to the patisserie. There was a cheese shop, a meat shop, a wine shop and more. We ended up buying some cheeses and wine to bring back to our room for later. We went back to the patisserie for a quiche lorraine and a sandwich on a baguette. We felt very French with our arms full of delicious food as we made our way back to the room. We nibbled our Parisian fare with our balcony doors open and the sounds of the city filling our room.

After lunch, I decided that I needed to get in contact with my aunt Cheryl. We had been trying to get in touch with her since we arrived and still hadn’t any luck. I sent her an email to please call me in our hotel room since we would be back there for a few hours. We decided to take a little snooze since I was still exhausted and very sleep deprived. About an hour into my nap our phone rang. It was aunt Cheryl. It was lovely to speak with her. She invited us to her home tomorrow, which is about a 30 minute metro ride to the outskirts of the city. We have plans to drink champagne, eat traditional French fare and tour the city by car.
After I woke myself up a bit, we decided to make our way to Moulin Rouge. More than anything, it was just an opportunity for a photograph. It is located in Pigalle, which is basically a street filled with sex shops and strip clubs. Classy, I know. While walking toward our destination, we stumbled upon the streets that Andrew had been looking for earlier in the day. It appeared to be the heart of the latin quarter. The streets were very lively with many patrons eating and drinking in the store fronts. It looked like a fun place to have dinner, so we planned to return at some point. Then we were onward to Pigalle. We walked about a half mile from the metro, passed all the raunchy shops, took a photo of Moulin Rouge and hopped back on the metro. Our next stop was to be Rue Cler. According to Rick Steve’s, it is one of the best places in Paris. I don’t know if it was because I was tired and hungry but we got there and I was less than impressed. A few bustling restaurants, but most of the shops were closed for the night. I was disappointed. Maybe Rick Steves knows about a secret opium den or a pot dealer that the rest of us don’t know about.

We decided to go back to the lively latin quarter and have dinner. Since we had eaten French food for the past several meals, we decided to go with Italian since there were so many Italian restaurants to choose from. Andrew ordered a shrimp linguine and I had the lasagna. Neither dish seemed anything authentic to me, but they were still very good in their own ways.

We finished up dinner and made our way back to the hotel. When we arrived in the lobby, we asked the front desk clerk for a knife. He looked at us very worriedly and asked us what for. Andrew said, “You know, a knife…for cutting…we bought some cheese and we want to cut it in the room.” The clerk still looked very concerned and hesitated a moment before he told us sorry, that the kitchen was closed. We laughed so hard when we got up to the room later. The poor man probably thought we wanted to stab him or stab each other or maybe both.

Paris Day 1

March 8, 2012

I boarded my flight in Seattle on Wednesday March 7^th at around 2 pm. I still could not believe I was on my way to Paris. It felt so surreal. Somebody pinch me, please!

After Andrew being away on business for nearly two weeks, this was a very welcomed getaway for the two of us.

Air France was nothing short of pleasant. First of all, the plane was enormous -two rows of two on either side and a row of four across the middle. I was seated at the rear of the plane next to a French woman. We exchanged our hellos and then enjoyed a quiet nine hour flight.

I realize that this being a transatlantic flight meant that I paid a pretty penny for it, however,  I couldn’t help but feel a little like royalty. We were served champagne within the first 30 minute of the flight followed by one feast of a dinner and dessert. Dinner was accompanied by wine. Finally we were offered a “digestif” of cognac. 
I snoozed for a few hours on the flight, watched a couple of movies, and read my books and magazines. The movies were at no additional cost by the way, and the selection was vast. The lovely accompaniments and what felt like extras certainly made me feel like we get gipped when flying domestic.
About 2 hours before our arrival we were once again served a large breakfast with endless amounts of caffe. I was still nervous to use the very small amount of French I have learned in the past few weeks with the flight attendant. I was afraid that if I said one or two French words, he would try to unleash the entire French language on me, so I refrained.
We finally arrived at our long awaited destination 9 hours later. The flight passed quite quickly for me. It was 8 am in France and to me, it felt like it should be 8 am. Andrew was due to arrive around 10:15. I had to get through customs, find my bag and make my way to the terminal where he would be arriving from Copenhagen. A lot of walking, a few shuttles later and I had arrived at Terminal 1 where Andrew and I were reunited.
We made our way back to the RER, the regional express train, which was about a 20 minute train ride into Paris. We then connected with the metro and found our way to the hotel. When I first stepped out of the metro above ground, it hit me. I was in Paris! This was really happening. We stowed our bags at our hotel as our room wasn’t ready for us yet. We were both starving, so we started around the neighborhood to find some lunch. We happened upon one of the many cafes and decided to venture in. Thankfully everyone here seems to speak English because Andrew and I barely speak French. It was a little awkward stumbling around the menu but we managed ok. The café quickly filled up with other locals who were ready for lunch. Andrew ate the mushroom stuffed chicken breast and I had steak au pouvoir. This wasn’t exactly a gourmet meal, but it still left a nice impression on us, especially considering the dessert that followed. I had crepes suzette and Andrew ordered the brioche pain de purdue. (After watching Chopped, I actually knew that was just a fancy way of saying French toast.) My crepes were only ok, but his brioche was amazing. I’d go back just to eat that dessert.
We left lunch stuffed to the rafters and made our way back to the hotel. Thankfully our room was ready. My dad’s sister Cheryl lives here in Paris and has for many years. We had plans to visit with her on Saturday night. She left us a nice surprise of a welcome package at our hotel front desk. It was so pleasant to be welcomed by family in a foreign country. We were quite disappointed that our hotel didn’t seem to have internet access. We wanted to be able to stay connected back home especially since we are without our little sweeties. Our last hope was to find a place that had free wifi. Andrew is a well traveled man, and in his experience McDonalds always has free wifi. We hoped to run across a McDonalds at some point.

After getting settled into the hotel, we decided to venture out and begin our sight seeing. First stop: the Eiffel Tower. We hopped back on the metro. By the way, have I mentioned that the metro is a genius invention? It makes it so easy to get around a huge city like Paris, or New York or Caracas. It can be a little intimidating at first, but once you get your bearings, it’s quite simple.
The Eiffel tower was so beautiful and elegant. It was everything I imagined it to be. As we approached it, I realized that it is probably the most recognized landmark in the entire world. I was trying to think of another landmark that compares as far as being world renown and the only one that came close was the statue of liberty. The sun was beginning to set, which cast the most perfect light for taking pictures. We walked from the park on the south side of the tower, across the Seine and on to the fountain to view it from another angle. We were thinking of going up the tower to see a view of the city, but since the line was so long we decided not to. I wanted to see the city in the daylight, and since the sun was setting I thought that by the time we got to the top, it would be too dark to distinguish the view. We may go back to do just that.

Next we made our way to the Champs Elysees, which is basically a large avenue filled with shopping. The end of the street is where Napoleon built his Arc du Triunf. We walked quite a bit of the champs elysees. We went into H&M and Sephora which were both enormous. According to Sephora, it was fashion week! Fashion week in Paris, are you kidding me? Maybe we can find a fashion show. I didn’t buy anything, but the more I think about it, the more I want to go back so that I can. Along the way, we found the McDonalds that Andrew swears had free wifi the last few times he had been here. No such luck for us. We were beginning to feel very worried that we wouldn’t be able to connect to the internet at all.
By this time we were both very hungry for dinner. We walked past many different restaurants but almost all were packed with patrons. We are still feeling quite intimidated by the language, so we were hoping for some friendly English speakers. We finally turned down a side street and found a nice little spot called Cafe Victoria. I was determined to at least ask the waiter if he spoke English (in French) but he beat me to it. He took one look at us and immediately spoke English. It was very comforting. Our dinner was fantastic, as was our service from the English speaking waiter. I had the duck shepherd’s pie and Andrew had lamb. Both dishes were rich with flavor and very enjoyable. We got to talking over dinner about how I think that Americans should be taught languages the way that Europeans are. The way that learning a language stretches a person’s mind would be so beneficial to every one of us. What a wonderful tool to be able to communicate with people, who otherwise you would never speak to. Yes, most of us learn a bit of French or Spanish in school, but I’m talking really learn the language. I am all for foreign exchange programs, because as far as I’m concerned, immersion is the only real way to learn a language. It made me eager to practice Spanish with the kids.
Which by the way, my natural instinct when trying to communicate with people has been to automatically switch to Spanish. I’ve never had to switch to anything else, so again this is a mind stretch.
We wrapped up our dinner and made our way back to the metro. We had to switch trains twice, but we made it back without any trouble. When we walked into the hotel lobby, we were ready to complain to the front desk about how the wifi doesn’t work at all. Instead we pulled out our phones and gave it another try. Voila! Free wifi. Merci beaucoup!

Back to School?

I have recently visited the idea of returning to school. I have always known that one day I would love to go back and finish. Technically, I did finish a degree, but not the degree that I hoped for as my ultimate goal. I had been planning on becoming a nurse before I got pregnant with Judah. Then we went down the parenting road and that has been one of my main focuses these past three years. Andrew and I are both open to our family growing in the future, but we both know that now is not the time. My thought has been this: If I am going to finish school, shouldn't it be sooner rather than later? If I wait until I am completely finished having kids, I'll have even more distractions that will be competing for my attention. If I finish now, I'll be set for the future when all of the kids are in school one day and I can return to the work force.
It's just a thought for now, but I've been toying with the idea and trying to get a handle on when the best time would be.
It's stressful, because I hate the thought of hiring someone who would basically be doing my job as a mom. In some ways it would be good, in others ways, I can't help but feel like it would be bad. It's silly though, because in reality millions of families do it every single day and it works out well. Can we be one of those families at least for the time being to prepare ourselves for a better future?
Giving up part of my mothering role would only be one of the challenges that I would face. I would have to study my butt off for something like 30-40 hours a week. Finding time to do that sounds impossible, but I know that harder things have been done.
I'm trying to find the motivation and the strength within myself to see if this is worth pursuing. I know that if I go for it, I have to go after it with all of my might. I keep telling myself that I can do anything that I put my mind to. I suppose one of the reasons I want to go back to school is to prove to my kids one day that it can be done even when the odds are stacked against you.

It's Christmas, so...

Around this time every year, I find myself reflecting and evaluating where I am at spiritually, gauging where I would like to be, and scrambling to somehow bridge the gap between the two. This year seems to be just like the rest. I can't help but think about how I wish I were doing a better job of being like Christ. Try as I might, I feel like I fail time and time again. I usually end up journaling about it, because getting my thoughts organized makes me feel like I have some kind of plan of action in place.
So what's the scoop this time? I constantly find myself wishing that I were demonstrating more patience, kindness, and gentleness in my life. Let's be honest, I could definitely use more love, joy and peace as well. I know that if I had more of these readily evident in my life, they would be far reaching into every part of my day.
So what do I do and how do I get there? I know that the number one thing that I've been missing is a community of Christians to share fellowship with. Our family hasn't consistently gone to church since Judah was born. It is a crappy thing to blame our lousy church attendance on the fact that we have two young children, but it has sadly been our crutch for a long time. We've averaged about once a month this past year, which I can confidently say is an improvement from the year before. So, my new aim is to get to church twice a month.
It seems that when we are attending church "regularly" (I use the term loosely), I am drawn to read my Bible. The two naturally go hand in hand for me. It's not that the Bible is less important than physically stepping foot inside a church, but I know that when I do, the other will easily follow behind.
In turn I know that these two things will have a positive effect on me, which will spill over into my everyday life - my marriage, my parenting, my duties, my friendships, my life.
In conclusion, church is no longer an option. It is a requirement. No more late Saturday nights which cause groggy Sunday mornings for the whole family. No more putting sporting events in place of our spiritual health. No more lazy excuses.

Goodbye, FAT!

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I'm kind of shocked by this because it came so unexpectedly. Since January 1st of this year, I've lost over 25 pounds! I started off the year eating healthy and exercising. I didn't continue to eat the best way all the time, but I kept exercising and that alone helped me shed about 10 pounds.
About two months ago, I cut out all carbs and sugar. I've been eating lean proteins and tons of fruit and veggies along the way. I have continued to exercise (with a short break at the beginning of my carb hiatus) and I've dropped another 15 pounds. I feel great right now and I am so proud of myself! Even though I didn't get to run that half marathon earlier this year, I still managed to drop a significant amount of weight and have recently made a wonderful lifestyle change.
I have started integrating only healthy carbs back into my diet. I am trying to stay away from all of the excess sugar, flour, and basically junk that does nothing but slow me down and weigh me down. I haven't felt this great in a long time.
I feel that I've broken some of my bad eating habits, like eating late at night, mindless snacking and just over eating in general. My new rule is nothing to eat after dinner. It hasn't been easy because mouth watering food seems to be around every corner I turn, but I hope that everything I've learned can stick, especially through the holidays. Of course, now that the bulk of my weight loss is behind me, I am going to start allowing myself one day per weekend to just eat however and whatever I want. After all, part of living a full life is enjoying food!
I would still like to lose about 5 more pounds so that I feel like I'm comfortably in a good weight range that allows me a little bit of wiggle room.
My only complaint is that my wardrobe is quite loose. I had to invest in a good belt to hold me over until I am ready to start collecting clothes that fit me. It's definitely a good problem to have.

Last Days of Summer

We had a glorious month of August and early September here in western Washington. All of the sunshine that we were lacking earlier in the year seemed to (almost) be made up for. I had forgotten what it was like to long for warm sunny days until this week. I am already missing the boost in vitamin D.
I got some great shots of the kids in the pool last week enjoying the last bits of our summer sunshine.

And of course I can't forget our "white trash Friday" that we had last week with Erica and Elijah. The boys did a "car wash" with the hose, buckets of water and their favorite push cars. They were down to their underwear in the process. Then they had popsicles while sitting in the very small sandbox. Needless to say, they were a couple of very happy, sandy little boys.

I can't forget our "sick" day that consisted of stuffy noses, popcorn and the kids watching Despicable Me. The movie was so charming and cute. I loved it and so did they.

On the same "sick day", the kids got into some mischief. This has been happening more often lately, as the kids are becoming more friendly with each other and less competitive. I honestly would rather have them get into trouble with each other than fight. But here is what happened: I gave the kids their milk cups at the same time. I left the room for about 1 minute. No more, no less. I came back in the room to find that they had shaken their milk cups all over every single couch cushion in the living room. Not just a light sprinkling either. They were drenched with milk. I scolded them and put them in time out. Instead of feeling bad and ashamed of what they had done, they giggled and talked to each other throughout their punishment. I couldn't help but feel happy and thankful that they were enjoying each other at the moment. 

I stripped the couch cushions and got them out of their time out chairs. I put their milk away and left them downstairs while I ran upstairs to throw the cushion covers in the wash upstairs. Gone not 2 minutes, I came back downstairs to find them ripping the cotton threads off the inside of the cushions and throwing them everywhere. They were in complete destructor mode. I was again mad at them, but thankful at the same time that they were working together and not against each other. How silly is that? So...we ended up with 5 bare couch cushions and one bare ottoman cushion. The kids decided we should make a slide (and be naked at the time). I couldn't help but enjoy every second of them sliding butt naked down the cushion. The pictures are few only because there were so many full frontal photos that I wasn't willing to publish all of them on the internet. I love my kids, mischief and all. The chair in the background is piled high with couch cushions and covered with a blanket so that they wouldn't continue to rip the stuffing off of them.

My Take

I followed the Casey Anthony story pretty closely once it went to trial. I actually don't remember when Caylee disappeared in 2008 or when her little body was discovered later that year. I was pregnant with Judah at the time and then taking care of a newborn. My mind was a perpetual blur.
I was absolutely floored when she was acquitted of all charges in July. It makes me so sick to think that something as plain as day could be ignored. You don't have to be the mother of a toddler to become ill when thinking about what happened to little Caylee. All you have to be is human.
I watched Dr. Phil's interview with George and Cindy Anthony yesterday and today. I now feel that I understand why and how this happened to Caylee. Cindy readily admits that after Caylee was born, Casey was different. Her mind wasn't the same. She would lie about everything from play dates to her job. She stole money from her parents and grandparents all the time. These warning signs of serious mental illness were completely ignored. Cindy insists that Casey was a good mother and that she never saw any indication that Caylee was in danger. I now see that Cindy was completely blind to the fact that her daughter needed help. She was sick in the brain and the signs were right in front of her. Not to mention the fact that Casey and Caylee were living with George and Cindy. When the two of them disappeared for 31 days, Cindy never thought anything seemed off. She just assumed that Casey was being rebellious and trying to keep Caylee from her. She didn't want to deal with the problems that were staring her right in the face.
I'm going to guess that Casey grew up very spoiled. She probably always got what she wanted and had her mom wrapped around her finger from day one. Nobody thought to question her actions and that is why she got away with murder.
This whole story is so disturbing and frustrating, but I feel a little more at peace now because I see how this happened. Even though the whole truth will probably never be known, it is settling to know that judgement day will bring justice to Caylee's murderer.

Grilled Turkey Burgers and Grilled Watermelon & Arugula Salad

This is definitely not a food blog, though it could turn into one if I decided to go that direction. I just wanted to share what I made for dinner tonight. It was incredibly tasty, filling and best of all healthy!
I haven't watched the Food Network in a WHILE. I used to watch it all the time when Andrew and I first got married. I haven't been feeling very inspired with my cooking lately, so I decided that I need to watch the Food Network more often. I grew up adoring cooking shows. I couldn't wait for Saturday afternoons when PBS would air cooking show after cooking show. I've always loved to watch people cook. So, with some newfound inspiration, I made grilled turkey breast burgers and a grilled watermelon and arugula salad.
I sliced the watermelon into steaks, brushed the sides with olive oil and placed them on the well oiled and very hot grill for about 3 minutes per side. Basically just until the grill marks showed up. I layered a salad bowl first with organic arugula, then crumbed goat cheese, then the watermelon and repeated. I also made a simple balsamic reduction for the dressing and topped it off with more olive oil and salt and pepper. It was very different from an ordinary salad and very tasty. I was a little bothered by how much liquid ended up at the bottom of the bowl, but I suppose it was only because the watermelon was so juicy. Ingredients: arugula, goat cheese, watermelon, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper. Calories: 171

The turkey burgers were just mouthwatering. I took a pound of ground turkey breast and mixed it with chopped onion, Italian parsley, an egg and salt and pepper. I made those into patties and threw them on the grill with the watermelon steaks. I also whipped up a garlic aioli out of light mayo, smashed garlic cloves and salt and pepper. I topped the turkey patties with white cheddar and let them melt on the grill. I toasted a few whole wheat hamburger buns and sliced up an avocado, tomato and onion to go on top of the burgers. When they came off the grill, we were ready to dig in. Definitely a hit with Andrew. Judah wouldn't touch his and Audrey was preoccupied with the mountains of fruit that she couldn't stop shoveling into her mouth. She also begged for more and more avocado. Oh well, it just means that I will have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Ingredients: ground turkey breast, onion, parsley, garlic, tomato, avocado, light mayo, whole wheat bun. Calories: 489

Obviously you could cut some calories out of both recipes by omitting the olive oil, mayo or cheese and you could easily substitute the thick bun for those new lower calorie thin ones. 

I decided to eat the full calorie version as a reward for spending two hours at the gym. The first hour was spent in a body pump (weight lifting class). The second hour was spent shaking my ass at Zumba. I have to say that even though I'm not super happy with how my body looks right now, I was really excited when I realized how great my arms look. We had to do tricep dips for body pump and while I was looking in the mirror at myself, I noticed that my arm muscles look pretty great! It made me feel good to know that even though I have some areas that need a lot of help, I have at least one area that looks awesome.

Baseball Birthday Bonanza

Yesterday was Judah's 3rd Birthday party, which happened to be a very summery day. Our house and yard were full of family, friends and food. I asked Judah several weeks ago what kind of party he would like to have and he declared that he wanted a baseball birthday. I was delighted to find some very creative ideas on different blogs about what kind of food to serve and what decorations to make. It was a lot of fun (and a lot of work, phew!) to put it all together.
My favorite part were the banners I made. I wish I had gotten better pictures of them, but here they are Judah's pennant banners.

My least favorite part were the cake pops. I have made cake pops before and they were fabulous. I had no trouble with them the first time whatsoever. This time was completely different. I had trouble with them from start to finish. No matter, they tasted delicious - red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting. Note to any cake pop attempters: Use caution when making during warm weather and keep them in the fridge/freezer up until the very last second.

We served ball park food. Basically things you could order at an M's game like hot dogs, garlic fries, lemonade, peanuts, licorice and kettle corn. I only got messy pictures after everyone had dug in.

The kids enjoyed lots of bubbles, a sand pit and the slide. All in all, Judah was very happy with his birthday and is thoroughly enjoying his plethora of new toys. We were blessed to be able to share the day with many family members and friends.