The Art in Life

This & That

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Hannah

Some reading and viewing from around the internet to make your Tuesday less productive than it otherwise would have been. James: “You will love this video — it has all of your favorite things!”

Hannah: “Taylor Swift? Ponies? The color yellow?”

James: “Um….what? Seriously? The color yellow?”

Hannah: “You said my favorite things — I love yellow!”

James: “Ok no – but I promise. All your other favorite things. Just watch.”

Then I did watch this video and he was SO RIGHT. And then I watched this one too, and I just can’t get over it. I have a special nostalgic spot for the Bayside gang. I used to sneak “Saved by the Bell” episodes on super low volume while my mom made dinner, because for some reason it was deemed unsavory for my tender self. Hello nineties in all your different standards of TV purity!

Today marks day 30 of our Whole30 adventure! Don’t you worry — there will be a full-length post with way more than you ever wanted to know about my thoughts on thirty days of hunger, I mean, healthy choices, but for now, some other food articles that struck my fancy lately. Reading what 5 nutritionists eat for a day instantly made me feel the need to climb right off the high horse of dietary superiority that I’ve been riding the last month. That article led me to this recipe, the write-up of which reminds us that Carbs are not the devil, something proved especially true by James’ response to the Whole30.

It’s love day this weekend – are you celebrating? Hating? Holding alternate protest-parties? I love those, because they usually include cupcakes. In other love news, I just can’t get over this season of the Bachelor, in which the crop of women and the producers are managing to parody themselves in every single episode. I know I have shared way too many Bachelor recap links in the past for you to still respect me, but here’s one more, a Bachelor recap that expresses some of the psychologically intriguing things unpacked in the show.

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that my closet purge left me in search of booties (and boots), the items deemed missing and essential from my wardrobe. You all came through with some great suggestions! I crushed on these and these and these for awhile before finally committing to these, not because they were necessarily better, but because they were $20 after the bazillion coupons and discounts that Kohls hurls your way. I know, still new to this “pay more for quality” thing. Luckily, they have proved super comfy and were complimented by one of my students so I feel like a rockstar. Plus, the pair of booties I have worn devotedly for 3 years were $8 from Target, so I am not convinced spending more always gets you more.

The pictures in this post are from this series on the abstractions of reading by Joel Robison and I love them all. They basically sum up my entire life this semester.

I used to be a hardcore This American Life listener, but after the intensity of Serial, I feel a little bored. Anyone have any great new podcasts they are loving? James and I have been listening to Invisibilia lately, but I would welcome all podcast recommendations, as they are the thing that gets me through my runs.

You all know how I have long loved Ashley’s blog. Recently she wrote an awesome post that every Christian who is getting overly fired up about the wrong things (like yoga pants) should read.

My friend Christine started a blog that any of you with babies (or who, like me, have just been to so many showers that you are strangely fascinated by baby gear and fashion) should check out. It is highly probable that she has more style and class in her little finger than I have in my whole body, and she shares some great baby, home, and motherhood thoughts.

This article about an Ikea table had me in tears. TEARS. As in, water running down my face because of that bland lack table that so many of us transient souls have found in our living rooms. In a city where everyone is constantly here for “just a few years,” and constantly looking for the next best thing, it seems perfect to trace our lives through cheap furniture. (PS: one of our weekends as told by our own Craigslisted Ikea table.)

Finally, I don’t actually expect most of you to read this last link, as it is far less fun than babies, food, footwear, or Jimmy Fallon. But should any of you be interested, I read T.S. Eliot’s preface to his translation of Pascal’s Pensées a couple weeks ago for my exam prep and I keep rolling his words over in my soul.

“In this distinction Pascal offers much about which the modern world would do well to think. And indeed, because of his unique combination and balance of qualities, I know of no religious writer more pertinent to our time. The great mystics like St. John of the Cross, are primarily for readers with a special determination of purpose; the devotional writers, such as St. François de Sales, are primarily for those who already feel consciously desirous of the love of God; the great theologians are for those interested in theology. But I can think of no Christian writer, not Newman even, more to be commended than Pascal to those who doubt, but who have the mind to conceive, and the sensibility to feel, the disorder, the futility, the meaninglessness, the mystery of life and suffering, and who can only find peace through a satisfaction of the whole being.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged lists | 10 Comments

Good decisions.

Posted on February 4, 2015 by Hannah

Oh hi there.

It’s been a little slow on the old blog lately, with only one post in the last 10 days or so rather than my normal onslaught of lists you don’t really need and too many pictures of brunch. What – you didn’t even notice??? Thanks a lot.

Lately I have been trying to work on making good decisions, wise decisions, and finally doing some of that saying no that I woefully failed at last semester. It’s meant slugging through books on my PhD reading list instead of blogging, giving time to morning devotions instead of numbly scanning social media, dragging myself out of bed for early morning runs on the weekend instead of sleeping in, getting through another day of Whole30 even though I would sell my soul for some Totinos frozen pizza, and listening to podcasts in the kitchen while I help James with dishes instead of using that time to binge on my poor taste in TV. It’s been quieter, less photo-worthy, and deeply, profoundly, good.

This is not to say that life has been especially calm the last couple weeks. Yesterday I made tea and never got to drinking it ( I know, I know, my mom friends are like “STORY OF MY LIFE”), which meant that when I found it this morning, I just shrugged and reheated that day-old tea because it will be one of those days. Hashtag Live Authentic. Between James’ long work days and my own academic responsibilities, the only way we can get any of that much-needed calm is to pass on a lot of “fun” things. So that’s what we’ve been doing, and I don’t really regret it. I actually managed to turn down three fun things last weekend, one of which included uninviting the Bach Bunch to come over and catch up on Prince Farming’s search to find love and avoid psychopaths. Instead, I did 4 loads of laundry, studied a lot, and made a bazillion tiny fruit tarts for my soon-to-be sister-in-law’s bridal shower. But don’t worry – I learned my lesson and let Trader Joe’s provide a lot of the rest of the food.

Usually I take tons of photos at showers like these, but in continuing my spirit of creating some space to just enjoy things, I took all of 7, and then sat back and reveled in hosting a party for my brother’s impossibly wonderful fiancé instead of overdocumenting it. To top off a post about good decisions, I refer you to the above photos of Ruth blowing glitter in my face at our sparkly themed shower. Glitter is ALWAYS a good idea. That person who was all over the internet because he would let you send glitter to your enemies? That man is a HUMANITARIAN, spreading a little sparkly round the world. I also think his site proved to be fake, making him a doer of untold evil, promising glitter and failing to provide.

Anyway, I will tie these barely congruent rambles up with two pictures I did take. And by saying that I hope you all make good decisions this week, which is to say, find a way to blow glitter in someone’s face.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged party | 7 Comments

Whole30 Shepherd’s Pie

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Hannah

James: So… I really can’t eat anything tasty, can I?

Hannah: No – you can eat so many things! Just no sugar, dairy, alcohol, grains, legumes, or processed foods.

James: So… can I have granola bars?

Hannah: No.

James: How about beef jerky?

Hannah: No.

James: Pork rinds?

Hannah: No- and that’s disgusting.

James: I don’t get to have anyyyythingggggg. Basically my life will be all black coffee and bland crackers.

Hannah: Um, no – you can’t have crackers.

James: WHAT. So basically we are just surviving on pretension and snobbery… right?

If I had to estimate, the above conversation, in some version, happens approximately every day in our home as we both forge forward in this Whole30 business. I know that you are just dying for our full play-by-play of these thirty days, and I promise that it shall indeed come eventually, but for now just know that I feel great… other than when I feel hungry. Until we mastered the art of getting enough protein and calories in eating mostly veggies and stuff, we both felt pretty hungry and annoyed for the first couple days. But now, now we are champions.There are many great recipes clogging up the internet and boasting about being Whole30 appropriate. Some of them look good, while others look like suspicious blobs of food punctuated with strange colors and things like “coconut aminos.” I do not know what coconut aminos are, nor will you find them in my kitchen, my mother’s kitchen, or the shelves of a local Piggly-Wiggly (may they rest in peace). Which is to say, I promptly skip recipes that involve huge departures from standard practice and normal ingredients.

This is not to say that our past 16 days have not been without great food exploration and discovery. They have. But I draw the line at the point of Whole30 meals not resembling anything I would want to eat at any other point in my life. We have eaten some truly delicious things these past weeks, but as we moved into the end of the second week, I just started craving comfort food, the type of food that you want to eat on cold nights, curled in front of the fireplace (or “Fireplace for your Home” on Netflix for those of us apartment folk). Luckily, through a fellow 30’er on Instagram, I stumbled across Shepherd’s Pie. Y’ALL- SHEPHERD’S PIE.

There are two types of people in the world: Those who believe that casseroles are God’s gift to humanity, and those who disdain their food being presented in homogenous piles. I belong firmly in the first camp, having grown on the promise of potlucks and plates where everything was held together by a sticky layer of cheese. Why make everything separate when you can stack it all on top of each other and bake it with cheese? Of course, it doesn’t take the science of the Whole30 to let you know that casseroles are almost always bad for you. Therein lies their power. But the temptation of the one pot dish that cooks long enough for you to clean up the kitchen — I just can’t pass that up.

Cue Shepherd’s pie.For a long time, I didn’t know I loved Shepherd’s pie. It’s like a casserole without cheese, and that just sounds like a terrible idea. But then I had a Pie Encounter at the Temple of Gluttony, otherwise known as the Cheesecake Factory and I have never looked back. I unabashedly love chain restaurants, and if the Cheesecake Factory is the pinnacle of chain dining success and accomplishment, their shepherd’s pie is the pièce de résistance. The sauce around the veggies! The creamy potatoes on top! The total coziness that eating Shepherd’s pie inspires! I have never even tried to replicate their recipe because it is so good. Yet when I saw someone eating it on Instagram, I was intrigued. I was also starving, so they could have posted a big bowl of Stone Soup and I would have licked the phone. If you are Whole30-ing and are tired of endless days of chicken, eggs, and avocados, you should make this. If you are looking for an easy dish that you can assemble one day and bake days later, you should make this. If you are trying to sneak more veggies into someone’s diet and know that the mashed potatoes will distract them, you should make this. If you are budgeting but still want to make something impressive, you should make this. If you like good leftovers, you should make this. If it is winter where you are and you are hungry, you should make this. If you live right next to a Cheesecake Factory, aren’t trying to eat healthy, and have lots of money, you should just go get theirs to go. Or just make this one and then go pick up some cheesecake for dessert.

Whole30 Shepherd’s Pie*

3 Large potatoes/ 4 small ones
3 tablespoons ghee, divided
2-3 heap tablespoons coconut milk (make sure it Whole30 compliant)
1½ teaspoons sea salt, divided
2 tablespoons black pepper, divided
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, finely chopped
1.5 cup of carrots, diced
1.5 cup of celery, diced
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon of compliant tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup chicken broth or bone broth
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1.5 tablespoons minced fresh thyme
1.5 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary

Place the potatoes in a large stockpot and fill with water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes, or until fork tender. Drain well, place in a bowl and add 2 TBS of ghee and coconut milk and mash until smooth. Season generously with salt and pepper and set aside.
In a skillet brown the beef until almost all of the pink is gone, about 7 minutes. Drain and set aside. In the same skillet add the remaining 1 TBS of ghee and wait until melted. Add in carrots, onion, and celery. After about 5 minutes, add mushrooms. Cover and cook on medium heat until they become tender, 8 more minutes.
Next, stir in the tomato paste and garlic and sauté for another 2 minutes. Pour in the chicken broth, balsamic vinegar, herbs, and more salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Add back in the ground beef and mix until incorporated.
Transfer to an over safe dish – I used a deep 9 inch pie plate. Pour the meat mixture in and top with the potato mixture, distributing evenly across the top. You can either bake it now (450 degrees for 30 minutes) or you can keep it in the fridge for a couple of days and bake it later. The first time I made this, mine leaked out and made a mess in my oven, prompting my smoke alarm to scream for a solid ten minutes. The second time I was smart and roasted veggies as a side in the rack below. Caught all drippings, spared the neighbors, and the veggies were amazing.
VARIATIONS: If you are a white potato-hater, you could try parsnips or sweet potatoes, adjusting liquid and seasonings as needed. The Whole30 used to ban white potatoes, but started allowing them in August 2014 and I am all about that (in moderation), but you can be a purist if you so choose. I just feel like orange sweet potatoes on top looked really weird. If you are a vegetarian, double all the veggies, use vegetable broth, and leave out the meat. It should still taste really good, though you may want to bulk up on spices to account for the missing meat juices.

*A friend recommended this recipe on Instagram and I adapted from Brooke, @bitsofbbskitchen. Her Instagram feed is the most consistently awesome Whole30 recipe source I have found. So many hearty, cozy, comfort food favs!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Cooking, food, Gluten-Free, Whole30 | 43 Comments

Friday Feelings.

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Hannah

Hey y’all, it’s Friday, and these are my feelings.

Today my semester starts back with a day full of meetings and then classes on Monday. I mostly feel really sad to leave my awesome life of changing from night pyjamas to day-jamas and then back again, but a small part of me is, of course, singing this:

Tomorrow morning I have my first long run in a while and I am feeling pretty nervous. I used to be so hardcore, but I never really got intense again after the epic purple foot incident. 3 mile ~~run~~ ~~jog~~ shuffle three times a week, you are my friend. Nothing more. Still, my friend Bethany talked me into the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile race so tomorrow I will be dragging myself through a five mile run.

Yesterday I was able to walk in the March for Life and I have so many feelings about it. I mourn that we live in a world where it is necessary, where unborn life is not the most protected, yet I am encouraged by how many people — how many young people — were out there marching. And I am impressed by how that march was the most civil and kind imaginable. Polite marchers, respectful of rules and police presence, careful to leave minimal trash in their wake, and gently sharing their message is not what usually makes the news but it is what typified that crowd. James read me this speech the other night and I can’t stop thinking about it. I walked with my friend Anna, who shared here about why she walks, about how losing a child at 17 weeks makes you see what people are destroying. Let us be the generation that truly takes a stand on human rights- all humans. Oh, and this is Anna’s sweet baby Mollie, from a Christmas shoot that I never got around to posting. Because having a baby at the march makes you more legit. Remember when she was just a week old?

Speaking of babies, my butterball of a nephew is coming to visit and I am PUMPED. Also pretty excited to see his parents, but I probably won’t hold them on my lap and squeeze their cheeks all weekend.

I am on day 12 of the Whole30 and I feel AWESOME. Also like I would love some cheese. But mostly awesome. I’m looking forward to sharing some of the recipes that are keeping us going.

I’m feeling like Downton Abbey probably should have stopped a couple seasons ago. Either that, or it needs to get its stiff British upper-lip back and stop with the drama. I would like it explained to me just what is so great with lady Mary????

Ok, I promise to go back to blogging long stories about brunch and less of these glorified lists. But for now, it’s Friday. What are your feelings?

First image via here, because I feel like all we get is rain (other than that one hour on Wednesday that got me all excited) and I would really like some snow.

Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments

Taking Stock.

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Hannah

I’m not even going to try to pretend like this post is original. I’ve seen a lot of other bloggers do them over the years and I always enjoy reading their lives broken down into these little chunks. And behold, a bandwagon and away I go to jump upon its friendly self. But some days it is just a nice exercise to pause and take stock of life.

Making : Syllabi for my classes that start next week.
Cooking : eggs, always eggs – thank you Whole30.
Drinking : Good Earth Sweet & Spicy tea.
Reading: through my PhD reading list, which has me toiling away in the 18th Century at the moment.
Wanting: a Starbucks Salted Caramel Mocha… alas, it is not only this blasted “clean eating” that nixes that one (why do they stop serving them so soon???).
Looking: through photos from a bridal shoot I did at the National Gallery last week.
Playing: classical music because it’s my study jam.
Wasting: the chicken bones – many crunchy things have I embraced, but I just can’t make the jump to bone broth.
Sewing: um, no.
Wishing: that it would snow big soft blankets across this city.
Enjoying: my new morning routine that has me up earlier with time to soak in the quiet and spend some time in scripture before my day starts.
Waiting: for my computer to finish backing up into the cloud, even if it says it has 19.2 days remaining. (It has to be joking…. right? )
Liking: how James’ closet looks after we purged it last weekend and he let me organize the shirts by color.
Wondering: if I will actually succeed in learning to speak any German this semester.
Loving: how cozy my schedule is in these pre-semester days, just me, a lot of tea, and piles of books to plow through on my couch.
Hoping: for a snow day…. even if I work from home most days, just the idea of one seems magical, and having James home a little later in the morning wold be the best.
Marveling: at the snowflakes on my sleeves from where I just ran outside in my pajamas to see them. (I promise to do no more of these about the snow.)
Needing: to get moving around a little more today before my Fitbit starts heckling.
Smelling: the last of the Christmas candles that we can’t stop burning.
Wearing: my amazing fair Isle leggings that make my legs look like they belong at a slumber party for Nordic maidens.
Following: all the people on the grams who keep sharing Whole30 recipes so I don’t lose my mind.
Noticing: how much easier it is to wake up in the mornings these days.
Knowing: that that is partially do to the aforementioned cozy schedule.
Thinking: about the apartments we toured on Saturday, and the decision we made to stay in our little one bedroom one another year.
Feeling: like that was the right decision, even if I was yearning for more space, even if it is one that we made with me in tears.
Bookmarking: Ankle boots, alllllll the ankle boots.

Anyone else taking stock these days? If not, anyone have any good ankle boot recommendations?

Posted in Uncategorized | 18 Comments

Grace & Jonathan

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Hannah

I’m kind of ridiculously excited for this couple to get married. I love this whole family so much, and after photographing Grace’s sister Gen’s engagement a couple years ago, I was thrilled to come back to that same field (though in a little colder weather) for some more photos of people in love. Congratulations Grace and Jonathan! GandJ_001

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged engagement, love, photography | 4 Comments

What they should tell you when you are dating.

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Hannah

Two days after Christmas our bank called us to tell us that we were the victim of credit card fraud, that some person had spent almost three thousand dollars on our card. This person wasn’t very intelligent, using it to book a flight and pay bail, making their name very easy to track down. The story ended up ok, but it did mean headaches of hours on the phone with the bank, cutting up cards and awaiting new ones, and generally stressing. In the moment that it happened, I looked up at James and we both had kind of the same expression: Of course. Of course this would happen now, at Christmas, after a year that – if you have been following along – has presented itself as rough in multiple ways. Of course.

When you get married, you don’t think about things like “how will my spouse and I navigate tense moments like finding out someone blew through our credit cards.” You imagine all the happy things, and you imagine hard things too, but of the grand variety. Those things can break you, but they also prompt people to rise to the challenge. What I’m talking about are the little things that eat away at you, slow water over stone.

Honestly, when people said that the first year of marriage was hard, I laughed at them and I still do. The first year of marriage was so easy, so effortless and fun. The second year started out the same, but as we started rounding into that third year, this year, it got hard. I guess marriage didn’t get hard, but life got hard, got uncertain and stressful, got messy and busy, and marriage exists in real life, is made up of real life questions. The last 6 weeks of 2014 were by the far the hardest in our entire relationship. James was home, which was awesome, but we were still waiting to sort out some important job stuff and that stress hung over us, making us tense and on edge. Plus he was HOME, as in, constantly in the 600 square foot space where I work most days.

In those trenches of 2014, I learned a lot about marriage, a lot about the things that are essential that you don’t realize until it is too late and you need them. Humor me for some reflections on “What they should tell you when you are dating.” The alternate title of this post was going to be “You should break up,” but I learned the hard way that if you give a post a spicy title, people will just skip reading it and jump straight to vehemently disagreeing with you in the comments. But I’m serious – many, many people should break up instead of get married. Because I believe in a forever sort of commitment in marriage, I believe in not committing to just anyone. Everyone is always trying to “work things out” while they date, and I am in the background chanting – “Maybe don’t?” The traits that I have come to value as essential to marriage over the past year are the ones that we too often overlook in dating, and thus the ones that end up ending marriages. My mom used to remind me of the three most important characteristics of someone you marry, and I still think she’s right. Some things are non-negotiable. But on top of those things are other things, things that have nothing to do with the other person by themselves, but with the couple you make, the team you become. This year we learned a lot about how to be a team and what it takes to be a good player.

Marry someone who is patient with you. If someone loses their temper with you when you miss a turn while driving, when you forget to go to an appointment, when you don’t take out the trash even though they told you five times – this is a problem. We all have (should have?) patience when we are dating, but whatever patience you have in dating will be cut in half by marriage, and probably again in half by children. Start with a lot. Someone who is prone to anger will be someone who is miserable to walk through life with, because there sure are a lot of reasons to get angry. And before you get lofty ideas – I am NOT a patient person. But I married someone who is, who diffuses my frustration and elicits calmer responses in me, and then calls me on my crap when I fail. We might not be patient in general, but we are patient with each other.

Marry someone who is your advocate. You are supposed to be each others’ biggest advocates, to always want the best for the other person. Sometimes in marriage it seems like no one else, or nothing else, is going for you and you want someone in your corner who cheers you on, pushes you further. Someone who makes you better, but loves you when you fall short of that. Someone who is encouraging. I feel like that should be a given, but I am startled by the number of people I meet who are dating someone who discourages them. Life will discourage you, so pick someone who doesn’t.

Marry someone whose career you can get behind. This proved really true this year when James’ career meant he left me for 6 months. I remember sitting at Applebees in Coldwater, Michigan (because we are classy and love us some fiesta lime chicken!) when we were in college, hearing him talk about career plans. I remember the moment when I realized – wait, he will not be like my professor father who was able to be home at 6 for dinner. He will have a job that is constantly stressful, that is at the whim of voters, that doesn’t respect regular hours. I chose that, which meant when his career made our lives rough, I didn’t resent it (much). The same is true if you love someone who doesn’t want a career or constantly switches or has no clue what they are doing with their life. Figure out if you can get behind that.

Marry someone you like talking to about things other than your relationship. We all know those couples, right? The ones who are always having drama, and we all know it’s because they secretly like drama and don’t actually have much to talk about beyond defining the relationship? Yeah… that get’s old real fast in marriage. The relationship is defined. When we were back to talking on the phone and writing emails, it reminded me that I like James, as a friend, not just as husband. I think he’s interesting and funny. If I didn’t, life would be boring blah punctuated with a little romance. There was a point in James’ work where I may have said that all I knew about his job was that he sent emails all day long. In return, James gave me the gift of three questions I could ask each day that allowed him to share with me the key parts of his day, questions I wouldn’t have known to ask by myself.

So there you have it, my thoughts from my lofty wisdom perch of a whopping 27 months of marital bliss. I am no expert. Even beyond that, there are many different kinds of good marriages, and part of maturity is accepting that relationships don’t all look alike. But there are similarities in what helps couples navigate the frustrating times, and those are what I have tried to list above. I’ve been taking the time lately to take stock of my marriage, to be thankful for the blessing of it and be mindful of the areas where it needs more attention.

(A note: Married people are not an elite special race. The above qualities, invested in relationships with roommates, friends, co-workers, etc., also kind of just make you a nicer person. The only real difference is that if you realize late in the game that your friends are poor teammates, it’s a lot easier to walk away.)

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged love, marriage | 34 Comments

Back.

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Hannah

Despite the fact that I am not at all thrilled about giving up my vacation habits of general laziness, it feels really good to start this week, to be back. This week marks the first time since last May where James and I are back to our normal schedule, back to him leaving for the office early and that prompting me to drag myself out of bed and start the day. Back to regular little outings around our city and evenings with friends without feeling like we need to rush to squeeze everything in. This weekend just felt like it was back to something that I didn’t even realize how much I was missing.

I rolled back into town late Friday night and a lot of this weekend was spent easing back into life. I opened mail for a solid 30 minutes on Saturday, sorting out bills and opening stacks upon stacks of Christmas cards. That meant I spent another 15 minutes redoing the outside of our fridge, where it will now remain for the next 8 months as a shrine to all the people we know and love.We cleaned, worked on finding places to put Christmas gifts, and I decided that Sunday afternoon was the perfect time to purge all of my belongings. While the whole capsule wardrobe thing just doesn’t work with our professions and lack of storage for out-of-season capsules, I did want to use the basic concepts to do a total closet overhaul. While James calmly napped in the living room, I removed EVERYTHING from my closet and then made myself defend anything that I wanted to put back in. The result is a closet that I can open and easily sort through, 5 garbage bags of clothes to throw/give away, and a realization that while I need no clothes, 2015 needs to be “The Year of Investing in Better Shoes.” It was also humbling to see how much stuff I no longer liked that I have purchased in the past 6 months. Ouch. People, nothing makes me feel back on track like getting rid of stuff. I was stressed Sunday morning about all I needed to start doing on Monday, but by the end of my purge, I was basically zen.

We also used this weekend to live it up before we started the Whole30 today. In theory, you should spend the week before trending towards the diet…. but in reality, we were all “MUST EAT ALL OF THE FOOD WE WILL BE GIVING UP.” Thus, District Taco on Saturday for lunch, waffle party Saturday night, Trader Joe’s pastries Sunday morning, and a potluck of “all the food from the pantry we can’t eat” for friends who came over Sunday night to kick off the Bachelor, complete with our scoffing menfolk in the background. There were brackets, lots of screaming, and high expectations for this season. I am now ready for the Whole30 to start transforming my life, thanks to no fewer than 3 hours spent grocery shopping this weekend and a major junk-food hangover reminding me that this is a good idea, because right now I basically feel like Tara from the Bachelor premier rose ceremony.

I know that January is kind of blah all around, but I am trying to remind myself the simple goodness of being back on a routine. Happy Monday folks!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged daily life, weekend fun | 23 Comments

5 things I love today.

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Hannah

As of today, vacation is over. After holidays spent building big fires and reading books in bed, it is over. Technically it was over a week ago, but I stayed in Kentucky for another week because there is nothing I love like eating all the food from my parents’ fridge. Today I am headed back to DC and the piles of responsibility that I shirked for the past three weeks. Good times. To distract myself from the unquenchable “excitement” I feel about buckling down and working starting tomorrow, I’m trying to focus on some of the things I’ve been loving lately. You know the drill.

This blanket scarf. Ok, blanket scarves in general because it is stab-a-tauntaun-and-climb-inside cold this week and having an entire blanket around your neck is just delightful. I got one similar to this for Christmas and as I was wrapping it on for the first time, James sighed and declared, “And that was the last time I ever saw her neck.” He’s basically right.
Adults acting out Bible stories as told by children. Promise you will at least watch until they sing “Let it go” and then describe the type of water you are given in prison.
These weekly Friday news roundups. Y’all know that there is nothing I love like a good blog started by a former Bachelor(ette) contestant, even if I am sad that her love didn’t last. I discovered Andi’s blog this week, and in true form, it is not all fluff. Not only did she rank the coolest women of 2014, but she also posts 5 important news events from the weeks on Fridays. I recently had dinner with my cousin, who just started her medical residency. She confessed that as a resident she has so little time to watch the news that she basically only knows what happens if it is on in a patient’s room or if I mention it in my blog. (Juliana, if you are reading, stop and click over to this link so you can get you some news! Love you. Go back to shoving tubes into people’s intestine.) While you are busy questioning my intelligence because of my aforementioned love of this franchise, I love that the Bach is back! And with it, I am pumped for Sharleen’s recaps, Andi’s recaps’ (YES), and Des’ bracket. My Bach Bunch will be watching it on Sundays so no spoilers!
This video of Bao-Bao’s first snow day. Because this is totally how I felt after eating way too much dessert over the holidays and then facing .05 inches of snow one morning this week. Just keep rolling.
In light of the atrocities committed in Paris this week, I keep on coming back to this poem. I read it for the first time when I was studying abroad in Paris and it has stayed with me through the years. I had my seniors memorize it when I taught high school and this week reminds us that it is as important and fitting today as when it was originally written. (English translation here.)

Ok, your turn. I feel like Friday is a good day of the week for some audience participation. What are some of the silver linings in your life these days?

Image via here.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 5 things I love today | 6 Comments

Holly & Cora

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Hannah

Right before Christmas I got to meet Holly and Cora, week-old twin girls. If one baby in a tutu is adorable, two is almost too much to handle. Congratulations Lauren on these two perfect baby girls!