Around this home…there are pizzas that mate for life, and further food talk.

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Hannah

Heard around this home lately…

“Totino’s pizzas are like ducks… they mate for life. So if I eat one, you have to eat one too.”

houseview

We sing a lot of Les Mis mash-ups around this home. All of James’ versions end up sounding a lot like this:

“I LOVE YOU… even though there are TIGERS!!!….. without you, I’d sit at an empty table with an empty chair… because the TIGERS ate all the people who were singing….. then the TIGERS come again… with their voices all unhappy….”Parents' visit_10

James opens my Technological Graveyard Drawer, where things I break go to die:

“How many old broken ipods do we have???”

“Enough.”

“How can you have so many ways to listen to music… and yet so little taste in music.”

“I like all the music!”

“That’s what I mean.”fruit

“Ok, now you can go do the dishes.”

“But I’m still hungry.”

“No you’re not — we just ate a full and nutritious meal.”

“This would never happen if I had groupies.”

“I don’t think groupies have domestic skills.”

“Hot pockets.”

(And look — we can finally use the porch again!!!! )

porchConfession: James and I are not fish-eaters. But we’re working on it!!! In a [fairly successful] attempt to replicate a salmon recipe that I love, I made this for dinner. Despite being very skeptical, James ate it… fast. Then he pushed his chair back and declared:

“Man vs Wild: Home Edition– DONE.”

“Can I take a photograph of you and Instagram it with that caption?”

“No — then people will think I’m a picky eater!”

Picky eater or not, I’m so glad I married him:

“You’re just lucky that you get to be on this train as long as you shall live… it’s like a tatoo: it lasts for life.”

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I’m glad we don’t have kids yet.

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Hannah

This is one of those weeks where I’m glad we don’t have kids yet.

It’s not because it gives us the freedom to go out for dinner late at night, or to take off to New York for the weekend, or to watch 24 late into the evening when we should be doing productive stuff.

And it’s not because groceries are cheaper for just two, or because our rent just went up and I can’t imagine ever being able to afford an apartment big enough to hold more than just us and my clothes.

And it’s not even because I actually have very little baby experience and the thought of being in charge of the health, happiness, and well-being of other human beings is terrifying.

It’s because this week, I am so glad that I don’t have to explain to my children what’s on the news. I just don’t think I could do it.

I couldn’t explain to them why someone would plant bombs to kill and injure innocent people. I couldn’t even being to explain to them that those injured bodies can’t be put back together, or that lives ended because someone wanted to do something evil. I wouldn’t be able to explain to them why there is talk of needing armed guards in schools, because someone decided to slaughter a classroom of children in one state, while someone else tried to stab students in another.  I would fail to find the words to explain how someone could snip the spines of some babies and end the lives of countless others, and how a country as probing as ours could want to ignore it.

Because sometimes evil has no reason beyond itself.

How would I explain the news to them all week, and then take them to church on Sunday where they would hear of a loving and just God? How could I explain that? I guess there at least, I could just tell them the truth. He hates this evil too, I’d say. What breaks our hearts breaks His, I’d explain. It’s not meant to be like this, I’d promise.

So for this week, I’m glad we don’t have kids yet. I can only hope and pray that by the time we do, there will be fewer questions that are harder to answer.

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Celebrating, New York Style.

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Hannah

Defending my thesis last week was slightly anticlimactic because I dove straight into a weekend busy with a graduate conference, finally doing laundry, and clearing out my three different inboxes AT LAST (and oh that last part feels good!).

But now.

Now I am a Master.

Now it is time to celebrate.05841r

Next weekend we are headed to New York for a weekend of exploring the city together with zero talk of French literature. We plan on wandering a lot, eating way too much, and probably taking more Instagram photos than James would care for. Brooklyn-Bridge,-New-York-City,-New-York-1-3OECWV6Y8G-1600x1200

We are apartment swapping with some friends who live in the Upper East Side, and are planning to see some of the touristy stuff (and maybe even the Proust exhibit!!! I know I said no French lit…. but there are always exceptions), but I would love some recommendations for restaurants, since I wasn’t able to eat my way through all your suggestions last time (though not for lack of trying!). Where are some good places/neighborhoods that we should look into for dinner Friday and Saturday nights, or brunch Saturday and Sunday? Anything else that we should see to get the most of spring in the city? Leave a comment below with the must-eats for New York and any other advice!

Images from here and here. 

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Beauty in the midst.

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Hannah

It has been a crazy past couple of weeks. Studying for and taking my exams, editing and turning in my thesis, preparing for my defense (which happened yesterday!), and all the regular every day business of life. To top it off, I have done three engagement sessions in the past two weeks and with some weddings and travel coming up in May, every minute seems busy. This week my body finally let the crazy get to it and I missed two nights of sleep this week from laying in bed and being stressed about having too much to do and not getting sleep, which means that I am now fighting off a nasty exhaustion induced cold.

But there sure has been a lot of beauty in the midst of the busy. The beauty of spring finally showing up in all her flowered splendor, the beauty of encouraging notes tucked in my bag before James leaves for work in the morning, the beauty of longer days, dinners eaten on the sunporch, and sun-kissed cheeks. The beauty of seasons changing, life moving forwards,  milestones being reached, and fought-for accomplishments being celebrated. In general, the quiet beauty of everyday life.

In the May edition of Real Simple, the editor offers her critique of that book everyone is talking about about professional driven women, Lean In. Now I haven’t read the book yet, but I love how Kristin Van Ogtrop — a successful and professional woman — shared her opinion on the matter. Instead of a constant striving to be more successful, the Real Simple editor says:

“If a well-lived life is one of small triumphs, unexpected moments of beauty, and an abiding personal satisfaction, the most of us are on the right path. And it’s a joyful path.”

As I have been going through photos from the various engagement shoots, I came across these photos, ones that I took to check the light before having the couples pose. They are unexpected moments of beauty in the midst of this crazy season.

beautyinthemidstHave any of you read Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In yet? Any thoughts?

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Why I love DC: Zeke’s Donutz

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Hannah

Confession: It takes nothing short of a miracle to get me to work early. And by miracle, I mean being told that “there will be donuts  in the office between 9-10.”  I got there at 10:05 to find the office locked (which is how we know that this was the coffee hour hosted by the German department… the French understand being fashionably late and the Spanish don’t believe in time) but after some scrounging around the main office, I found the leftover donuts and taught  about fifteen minutes later fueled by an awesome sugar high.

Because people, I LOVE donuts. I used to work in a coffee shop and I was mildly obsessed with forcing people to buy donuts and keeping track of how close we were to selling out. When we pulled out the last tray of doughnuts, I would turn to my coworker and have the following conversation:

“Hey Sarah… guess what?”

***eye roll from Sarah***

“You know how there used to be a lot of Mohicans, then there were just a few Mohicans, and then someone made a movie about the LAST of the Mohicans?”

***Bracing herself for what is coming***  “Yes?”

“Well if I was a film maker, I guess I would have to call this The Last of the Donuts.”

And then I would dissolve in laughter at my own wittiness and shove my face with donuts. This scenario repeated itself every week. For three years. And it just got better every time.

I have been ready for the cupcake crazy to end for awhile now, and while I would really love for specialty scone shops to pop up everywhere, I am also totally fine with donut shops taking over. This past weekend I did a really fun engagement shoot that ended with the couple introducing me to the glory that is Zeke’s DC Donutz in Dupont Cirle.

Behold, sweet donut glory.
zekescollageZeke's donutz_1

What it is: Tiny donut shop that offers only a handful of different flavors of donuts but I’m pretty sure they are all perfect. They also sell cereal milk, which is obviously the only way to eat milk.

Where it is: 2029 P ST NW

Why you should be excited: Because those donuts taste like heaven. They are giant, hot, fresh, gooey, perfectly sweet and fluffy orbs of Awesome and you need one now. I had a salted caramel one, which meant that my fingers got stuck to eat while eating so I was “forced” to eat it in under ten bites.

Zeke's donutzAnyone know of any other DC donut places? I heard about the Astrodonuts opening soon and I am pumped to try it, as it specializes in donuts and FRIED CHICKEN, a logical food pairing obviously.

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The first of many.

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Hannah

This past weekend Spring FINALLY decided to grace the DC area with her presence. I turned in my thesis Saturday afternoon (pause for a long happy sigh) which meant that Sunday felt especially relaxing. With the lovely weather we decided — like everyone else inside the Beltway — to go for the first picnic of the season.

The original plan was to go picnic at the Tidal Basin under the cherry blossoms. This plan quickly died as we drove by and saw that everyone had the exact same idea. So many people. Every inch of the grass was covered with people determined to enjoy those trees and the line to park backed all the way across the river. Pretty or not, no trees are worth picnicking knee to knee with millions of people.

We headed down to Old Town to picnic by the river and had a less scenic, but decidedly more enjoyable time. firstpicnicMy goal for the next nine months is to picnic at least once a week, because someone gave us that awesome picnic basket as a wedding present and I intend to use it. My de-fault picnic dinner is always pasta salad,  summer sausage, cheese,fruit, and baguette, but I would love some new suggestions. What picnic foods do you always include in your spring or summer picnics? Feel free to share some recipes below!

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Puppy love.

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Hannah

I spend a lot of time thinking about puppies.

James won’t let us get one (ok, so really he is just backing up our landlady on this one… but whatever.) but that doesn’t stop us from chilling out in dog parks and trying to surreptitiously whistle other people’s dogs to come over and slobber on our hands. Saturday I was walking back from the bank and a sweet pudgy puppy got loose from it’s 5-year old owner and into a fight with another dog. People, I SPRINTED across that park to sweep up that baby pup and cuddled him for longer than was necessary before delivering him back to his owner.

I like to imagine what our life will be like, someday, with shaggy Grover Cleveland the Golden-doodle by our side and fat dour-faced Marcel Proust the Basset hound drooling all over the floor at home. Long before deciding to get married, James and I made a pact to name our dogs after presidents and authors. Truly Pivotal Relationship Moment, obviously.

In the absence of my actual dog, I have turned lately to cyber pets, and yes — I am aware that I sound like a modern cat lady. But don’t we all have a pinboard of fluffy friends for NO REASON other than to look through it on rough days? Studies do show that looking at baby animals is an actual de-stresser. People, this is science.

Currently, I am obsessed with Maddie the Coonhound. You might have seen Maddie around the internet, but if not…. where have you been? Maddie was a rescue dog whose owner, photographer Theron Humphrey, quickly noticed her amazing ability to balance on anything or hold humanlike poses with impossible patience. On his blog, you can see hundreds of pictures with great captions like “Here’s my number, call me, Maddie.” Here are a just couple of my favorites, because I did take a two hour break from writing/studying this week to look at ALL OF THEM.  Take a break this Friday to go over and do likewise.tumblr_mkmrheAktZ1r9164to1_500 tumblr_mhyz61B3Lv1r9164to1_500 tumblr_mhidnhdulc1r9164to1_500 tumblr_mhm5pmhOw91r9164to1_500 tumblr_mh5alhKPpV1r9164to1_500 tumblr_mixynrcqwY1r9164to1_500 tumblr_mheqiz19zL1r9164to1_500

(All photos from the website, Maddie on Things.)

Are you an animal lover? Do you have pets? Or do you just creep on internet animals?

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In which everybody dies and there are prostitutes.

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Hannah

This afternoon at 1 I take my MA comprehensive exams, which means there has been a lot of studying lately. I have been reviewing all the books I’ve read over the past two years and tracing connections across genres and centuries so that I am ready to sit there and write all afternoon and into the evening. Preparation has been, in fact, surprisingly simple, as French books share a remarkably similar plot line. Since I am sure you are all dying to have the truth of all French literature revealed to you this morning, I give you the following flowchart, created by Kristen in her notes during class. French%20Literature%20Flowchart-2Any French literature fans out there? What are your favorites and how do they match up with this chart?

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Easter Monkey Bread

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Hannah

Happy Easter y’all.eastercollage

If you missed an Easter service yesterday morning, I’m sorry — I wish you could have all come to the one at our church because it was awesome. I might have been tempted to do a little holy fist-pumping at one point, but I tried to behave like an adult. Following church we headed to an Easter potluck where I gorged myself on deviled eggs, fried chicken, and way too much strawberry trifle.  Because we are crazy and I love food/socializing, we had also started the morning off early  with a pre-church breakfast at our place. You can see James’ excitement about the early morning deal, though he still put together that awesome Easter basket complete with Magnum bars, and way more Reese’s eggs than anyone should ever eat. But then again, in the words of one of our fine bachelorettes from last season, “The only thing better than a Reese’s Easter egg is nothing.”  Of course, one can not live off Reese’s eggs alone.

Which brings me to monkey bread.monkeybread

Monkey bread is pure bready, gooey, sweet, bad-for-you goodness. My mom used to make it for the morning after my birthday parties, when we would stumble downstairs groggily after playing truth or dare or Dream Phone all night long. (Pause to wax poetic in my head about Dream Phone. Oh Steve.)Easter_7

Then in college, the monkey bread would appear sometimes beside the soft serve machines, as if by magic. Oh Hillsdale.

Easter_8

The real magic? IT IS SO EASY TO MAKE. And when you whip it out at an early gathering, people are all “WHOA you made this THIS MORNING?” and you are all “Well, I am a domestic wonder,” when really you assembled the whole thing the night before in five minutes tops.

Monkey Bread

  • 24 oz (appropx 24) frozen bread dough dinner rolls (the little balls)
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 T butter
  • cinnamon
  • 1 pkg vanilla pudding mix (NOT instant)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup nuts/raisins if desired
  1. Melt butter and pour 2 T into bundt pan to grease bottom and sides.  Arrange rolls evenly in pan and sprinkle generously with cinnamon (I use a lot).  Sprinkle dry pudding over rolls, then nuts/raisins if using.   Melt brown sugar with remaining 1/2 cup margarine and pour over top.
  2. At this point, you may put it in the freezer  until another day or  proceed.  Allow to rise over night until rolls puff up to fill the pan.Easter_2
  3. Bake 25 min at 350. Cool 10 min in pan then invert on serving plate.
  4. Invite everyone you know over to pull off hunks of gooey bread and enjoy. Easter_13
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“For God to be a man, he must despair.”

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Hannah

Today is Good Friday, where we remember that God not only became flesh, but death.

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“The night on Golgotha is so important in the history of man only because, in its shadow, the divinity abandoned its traditional privileges and drank to the last drop, despair included, the agony of death. This is the explanation of the Lama sabactani and the heartrending doubt of Christ in agony. The agony would have been mild if it had been alleviated by hopes of eternity. For God to be a man, he must despair.” – Albert Camus The Rebel

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Next week I have my M.A. exams and I turn in my thesis (yay!) which means I have been sitting at the table working in my living room a lot over the past couple weeks. I’m writing on Albert Camus, and I keep on thinking about that quote above. Camus was a pretty hard-core atheist, but I think he still hits on a lot of truth. Camus is in the process of tearing Christianity and God apart, he can’t help but be moved by Christ and his despair as he writes of Christ crying out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” These are maybe the saddest words in the Bible, because they are the moment when our eternal hope  embraced despair and hopelessness.

So today let us remember Good Friday, a day which can only be called good in conjunction with Easter Sunday._MG_0106*Picture credit to Liz Essley.

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