Christmastime is here.

It feels so good to be back on the blog.  I've missed writing more and more, especially recently.  I find myself thinking about how I would write something that happened to me during the day, or how I'm feeling, and turning it into my latest imaginary "post."

I told some friends this the other day, and they asked me the obvious question - so, why don't you start writing again? So, here I am!

More to come soon - but for now, a few glimpses into the happenings this season at our home:

• Made a Pinterest craft with rolled magazine pages
• Decorated for the holidays
• Made Christmas cookies with family
• Finished my internship at the Department of Education last week with a trip to the White House!
• Worked on papers and applied to grad schools with my husband over many cups of coffee
•  Visited Amanda, my college roommate for all four years, and her husband Tyler in the hospital to meet their new little girl, Leah! We love her already...
• Got our Christmas tree!
• Went to the cabin with friends to just relax.

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Rachel

Simple Giving Gift Ideas

This year for Christmas, I decided to give only handmade (or thrifted) items.  I did this mostly out of panic, at first, thinking I would be embarrassed with how modest our gifts would be because of our budget.  So I figured I could give more, and more meaningful, gifts if I could be creative.  Once I discovered how many fun and easy ideas there were out there for DIY gifts, I realized I could have fun along the way and personalize my gifts in a way I hadn't been able to in years past.

I wish that I would've taken more pictures of the gifts I made this year!  Somehow in the Christmas rush, I forgot all about pictures for later... I did find a few, which I'll share with you, and try my best to describe and link to any other sources that I used.

 

From Left:

• Vanilla Coffee Syrup: A big hit this year! (and unbelievably easy!)  Check out the original recipe at A Beautiful Mess.  I used a combination of my own, reused bottles and cute oil and vinegar bottles from Dollar Tree that I covered with my own labels and brown paper.

• Vanilla Almond Sugar Skin Scrub: A great scrub for winter skin after washing dishes, being outside, and for really any other reason!  I found the original recipe at RadMegan, and adapted it a little by adding both almond and vanilla extracts.  I also made a Pumpkin Pie version (with canola oil and pumpkin pie spice) for my sister.  It smelled so good that I had to gift a little to myself too!

• My friend Kensey's homemade Peppermint Vanilla Skin Scrub: I'm guessing this could easily be made by adapting the above recipe with peppermint extract instead.

• Apple Butter: This was the easiest apple butter recipe I have ever come across!  It is from Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook, a resource for tons of crockpot recipes in one book. The recipe calls for 7 cups applesauce (unsweetened) + 2-3 cups sugar (and then I just added as I tasted it, since I like it sweet!) + 2 tsp. cinnamon + 1 tsp. nutmeg + 1/4 tsp. allspice (or ginger if you don't have allspice).  Again, you can add the spices to taste.  Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker on high for 8-10 hours.  For the last hour, take the lid off and stir occasionally.  It will smell so good, so start in the morning and you'll have the whole day to let it cook and have your home smell amazing!  Ladle into jars and refrigerate. (Makes 2+ pints)

Peppermint Sugar Skin Scrub - Made by my friend Kensey

My own vanilla almond sugar skin scrub

Homemade Granola

•   Homemade Granola: This is my favorite thing to gift!  We had brown bags of granola that I baked for favors at our wedding, so it always has a spot close to my heart.  There are so many good recipes out there, but here are a few of my favorites: 
• From Cooking Light: Classic, Easy Granola
• From Joy of Baking: Granola with Dried Fruit and Maple Syrup
• From the "Recipe Doctor" (my favorite recipe!!): Coffee Granola (also called Cinnamon Dolce Granola)
• Other Things that I wish I had time to make but didn't this year: 
• Flavored Hot Chocolate Mix
• Ornament for Newlyweds
• Burnt Sugar Toffee

Christmas may be past, but it's never too early to start planning for next year! Most of these would be great birthday, housewarming, and just because gifts.  Not only will they not break your budget, but your friends and family will feel the love each time they use/enjoy your handmade gifts!

morning light.

I have been so distracted lately, and probably rightly so.  This past week, I wrote 45 pages worth of final papers, and wrapped up lots of loose ends that stood between me and the completion of my first semester of seminary.  What a good semester it was.   I learned so much about faith, politics, policy issues, and how to navigate public transportation {on my own}.  Actually, realizing what I can do on my own (navigate two trains a day, stay away a night or two a week from my husband, pack on the fly, deal with unexpected complications...) has been a huge boost for my self-confidence this fall.

It's my second full day without any schoolwork to do (once January rolls around, I have to buckle down and write a chapter for one of my professor's books that will be submitted for publishing in the spring).  Yesterday, I woke up feeling like I would have no idea what to do with myself, but I found plenty of wonderful, relaxing ways to fill my time (disclaimer: my definition of wonderful).  I had a lazy morning with cereal, coffee, and the Today Show.  I went out and stopped at my favorite thrifting stops, and then spent time wandering around the city library.  I came home with an armful of books that I can't wait to read.  Last night, I practically devoured a "for fun" book (it has been so long since I've read something with no purpose whatsoever).  I read all of White Oleander last night between dinner and bed.  It is a sad, mysterious book, but it has a lot to say about resilience and the people who make life meaningful.

Today, I'm being lazy once again, trying to decide which book to read next and where I will ride my bike to today.  I had a whole to-do list of plans for today, but I forgot that I was car-less and therefore can only be as productive as where I can walk or bike to.  So I will gladly embrace today as a quiet, lazy one.

Lately I've been taking lots of pictures of the late morning light in our apartment.  Although winter days can seem bleak, there is something so still and beautiful about the late morning light of the winter.  Taking pictures of the simple everyday spots that are transformed in the morning light helps me appreciate the places that I spend my every day.

I am so excited for the weekend over here.  Ben has had a ton of work lately, so a break is much-needed.  We've been taking weeknight mini-trips this week to break up the work days: driving in the country and looking at lights plus a trip to Sonic for milkshakes, stopping by Toys R Us last night (yep, my husband is a kid at heart - and I love it) and getting fountain sodas on the way home, and tonight, we're itching for more lights and I'm itching for a night of no cooking.  The last weekend before Christmas!  What a good one it's going to be.

“I embrace the messiness of life, I find it so beautiful actually.”
Brad Pitt

“I watched the early morning light pass over and through the windows of colored glass, leaving streaks of red and green and yellow on the stone floor.  Now I know it is like happiness-- it is there or it is not, you cannot hold it or keep it.” Karen Cushman

In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.  Aaron Rose

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas {over here}.

new post.

At the Newlyweds' Apartment

Us at Hannah's Wedding

For Sale! Check it out here.

Fuel for the Way!

Flowers for H's New Apartment

Visiting Hannah's Street

Road trip with my mom to leave flowers at my sister's apartment while they were on their honeymoon + a wedding + vintage finds (now at eBay) + fall weather

                                                          = Life is good.

Today is for {relaxing}.

Today I decided that I am just going to relax and do all the things that I enjoy most in a day all to myself.  It's not that I do so much in a week (not nearly as much as Ben manages in his busy weeks!), but this week has felt particularly busy and my stress level in handling it all has not been my most admirable...

So it's time to just relax, and refocus.  Before Thanksgiving, I need to remember all that I have to be thankful for, and in turn, live with a deeper sense of that gratitude and let it shape me more in to the person I would like to be.  More thankful, more peaceful, and more loving.  Less petty and less worried.  More gracious, thoughtful, and creative.  That is the life I would like to embrace - because I know it's in me, I just need to find it and choose to live that way.

I'm ready for flowers at market, browsing my favorite place (Salvation Army!), enjoying the quiet of my messy home, reading my new books, and writing thank you notes to those I love so much to thank them just for being them.

I'm thankful that I can have a day like this, that my schedule allows it, and that I am given the grace each day to live, mess up, and start all over the next day with new things learned.  So here goes today!

A Wedding Weekend.

Wow, {what a weekend} we had!  Hannah, my younger sister, got married on Saturday afternoon.  She was a beautiful bride, and everything went smoothly without a hitch.  It was so fun to be a part of the day with wonderful people and lots of joy.

Looking back, it is a blur to think of all that happened this weekend, and to realize that after all the celebration, my little sister is now married and on to a new step in her life.  I am experiencing a bittersweet range of emotions.  Although I'm feeling more sadness than I expected about her moving further away (this weekend has brought on many more tears than I expected!), I also am so excited for her and her husband, Zack, all the new and exciting things ahead of them.  It's amazing how much emotion change can provoke.  Change is simultaneously such a wonderful and scary part of life.  Also inevitable, so I guess it's one that we'll always have to learn to live well with!

More to come...{[15]} Minute Monday and an update on my cooking/freezer day yesterday!

Pictures from a {Snowy} Weekend

It is unbelievably beautiful to see the streets transformed by the snow that has been steadily falling since this morning.  So far, this weekend has been just wonderful, and it's not even over yet! We got together with great friends last night to carve pumpkins and drink hot cider, and then this morning, I woke up to a delicious pancake breakfast from my husband!  Everything smells so good - a mix of cinnamon, pancakes, banana bread candles, and bacon.  Most of the day was spent lounging in sweatpants, working on homework and watching Law and Order...our kind of day!

Photos from A Weekday Rendezvous in the City

I am utterly relaxed on this week off of school.  We are so excited to be able to get away for a day or two to one of our favorite cities.   A few of my goals for the break are to::

- Catch up on sleep (already doing a good job on this one!)

- Catch up on reading (school-work reading)

- Relax and enjoy it without guilt

- Go out for a nice dinner with my husband to celebrate his new, upcoming job! (so proud of him)

- Watch a good documentary

- Catch up with my blog a little bit...this is always the hardest thing for me to fit into a busy week.

- Get back into an exercise routine.

Notice a pattern? A lot of "catching up" to do.... but I think I'm going to enjoy doing it!

Pictures from a Rainy Weekend.

Rainy weekends call for none other than a good house cleaning.  There's finally no excuse to ignore the piles of dishes, dust, and clutter that has accumulated (at least that's what usually constitutes cleaning at our house...).  This weekend we did all of that, thanks to the help of my willing husband and some laundry assistance from my parents.

I took advantage of some down time on Sunday to start working on better organization for my kitchen.  I made a good start, but I know I have more to do, which first will involve reading/researching a few good ideas for organizing a small apartment kitchen.

Just a few before and after photos of surface-level organizing:

Before

 (Yes, I do like to watch Hulu while

working in the kitchen.)

After

And then I was finally able to get outside and survey the state of our very wet fall garden.  We still have a few things going - kale, pumpkins, eggplant, tomatoes, and hot peppers, not to mention a few cantaloupes and maybe squash (we're waiting to see what will happen with those).  I would have snapped more ground-level photos, but the bugs were at me non-stop, so I made as quick a stop as I could!

Tomatoes, squash, kale, and pumpkins (look hard!)

LOTS of tomatoes!

(You can see the effects of a few days of rain 

from looking at the pots on our fire escape!)

As you can see, we still have burgeoning tomato plants, which means that more salsa is in the works this week (maybe with a little extra kick since we have so many hot peppers and we're not really spicy-eating people.)! 

I am already looking forward to next spring and the garden planning and experiments that it will bring.  But for now, we will enjoy the last simple pleasures of our wet fall garden. 

"...I have great faith in a seed.  Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders."               -- Henry David Thoreau