22.

Warning: There is a lot of shameless bragging in this post.  So if you don't want to read about how awesome my birthday was, or how amazing my husband is, that's fine.  I understand.  I don't really care for internet bragging.  But I figure, hey, I can get away with it every so often.  Especially around my Birthday.  

But in all honesty, this was the best birthday I've ever had.  

I suppose I've never been super enthusiastic about birthdays.  Yes, they're exciting I suppose, but I've never really had one that was that stupendous.  Enjoyable is the better word.  Which is perfectly acceptable to me.  I loved having just plain old enjoyable birthdays as a kid.  No pony rides, no blow- play-houses...just family, Olivia (my best friend), cake, and presents.  I didn't even go to a bar on my 21st birthday.  So what? 

But this birthday threw my entire birthday-world-view for a loop.   Golly, I never realized birthdays could be so fun before.  And all because my husband is super amazing.  Thing I've learned since being married: husbands make everything better.

Alex's Super Cool Boss told him he could go into work a little later which was wonderful.  I was brought breakfast in bed (delicious, fresh, warm chocolate croissants), and we were able to spend a good portion of the morning together which was so so lovely.  When Alex left for work, he beckoned down from the sidewalk for me to go to a window in the pantry.  Sitting on the windowsill was this iphone case:

and a note informing me that he had set up a special Birthday Treasure Hunt with one clue leading to the next (22 clues for 22 years).  I LOVE TREASURE HUNTS.  Each and every clue was very well hidden and cleverly worded.  I had to go digging in the salt cellar for one, and opening this pen for another: 

(see that little piece of paper in there?)

Every few clues there was a little gift to go along with the clue, like these lovely patterned tapes I'd been lusting over for weeks: 

There was a clue stuck to the back of this butterfly's frame, and one in our corkscrew...  (Did I mention that on the other side clue paper he had written a dear memory we had shared together?)

There was a rather tricky step involving some invisible ink.  I had to warm the paper with a flame, and, as you can see, the entire paper almost went up in flames in the process.  The word I eventually discovered was "Laurie". 

Laurie had given us this awesome silver urn that we have up on a shelf.  Inside the urn was this GOLDEN shimmer sugar (all I've ever wanted!) and a fortune cookie. 

Yes, the fortune cookie had the clue inside it.  He's just that good. 

This was one of my favourite clues.  You can read it for yourself.  The letters seen through the holes were V, O, D, and A.   

Add the K? Vodka. 

(Inside this wine cooler there was a Wusthoff Knife Sharpener.  EEE.)

There were clues hidden in the oddest places, like in the peep hole of our front door...

And the glass globe on the light fixture.  

Part of the hunt took me on a walk to Trader Joe's, where Alex had hidden clues on bags of Raw Almonds, Christmas Jingle Jangles, and under the shelves of the Honey Nut O's.  

Those clues brought me back home to the coolest chalk pencils!

The tile clue led me to a beautiful orchid, and an even more beautiful love letter.  Thanks, best husband ever.  

One of the most amazing things was that one of the clues led me to this cashmere J.Crew sweater:

I owned this sweater in the past (J.Crew stopped making it long ago), and it was my favourite sweater of all time (isn't it just perfect? Look at those lovely sleeves!).  Somehow I lost it at college, and I've been mourning its loss ever since.  I cannot tell you how many times I've looked on eBay or craigslist for this sweater but to no avail.  Leave it to my husband to find the exact same sweater and hide it in our bathroom towels as part of a treasure hunt.  Did I already say he's the greatest?  

The rest of the day did not fail to disappoint.  Luckily, Baby Burch cooperated all day so I was feeling good enough to go downtown.  We stopped in at the Art Institute for about an hour or so (free for Chicago Residents on Thursday nights!), and then went skating at the Ice Rink in Millennium Park.  Alex, for being "really bad at skating" did a remarkable job.  I hadn't been on skates in so long, and it was delightful.  

(What's extra awesome about this place is that it's totally free if you bring your own skates!)  

After skating, we went home, ordered in Thai Food (another one of my favourite things), and watched a period drama.  Best Day Ever.  Thank you, Alex, for being the most thoughtful, kind, wonderful man I've ever known.  You make me feel like the luckiest woman alive.  

       

First Baby Clothes.

Baby Burch due June 14, 2014!

I cannot wait to see these lovely things on our little one.  (Thanks Mom Burch!)  

Weekend Snapshots.

1.  Our first Christmas Tree!  (Alex looks so handsome, even with glowing eyes...I am so blessed to be able to spend this Christmas with this wonderful man!)

2.  I wasn't feeling the best on Saturday, so after a long skype session with my family, we ordered in pizza and watched The Charlie Brown Christmas, which never fails to disappoint.  Alex had never seen it, but loved it.  That film will definitely be part of our Christmas line-up.  

 3.  We spent Sunday listening to Handel's Messiah and making this awesome, Pinterest-inspired, au naturale chandelier.  This is the website I found the image on, but there were no instructions, so we sort of faked it with wire and string. 

I think it turned out pretty okay! 

4.  I made one of my favourite (possibly the most favourite) soups for Sunday dinner.  Here is the recipe, because it is the easiest to make and the most delicious thing you'll taste: 

Butternut Squash and White Bean Soup

1 tbs. olive oil

2 c. chopped onion

6 cloves garlic

1 tbs. paprika

28 oz. chicken broth

3 c. cubed, peeled butternut squash

1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 tsp. rosemary

1 19 oz. can canellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 tbs. parsley

1 tsp. thyme

kosher salt

pepper

Cook the onion, garlic, and paprika in the oil until the onions are softened.  Add the squash, broth, tomatoes, and rosemary.  Bring to boiling; reduce heat and simmer until the squash is tender.  Add beans, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper.  Enjoy! 

5.  We also made our first batch of Christmas cookies (sugar cookies) Sunday evening with our Star Wars Cookie Cutters.  Alex was very enthusiastic about making Star Wars Christmas Cookies one of our Christmas traditions.  The dough was a little too buttery though, and the cookies stretched out a bit; though you can still see Darth's face, it's a little fatter than usual.  

6.  All day Friday, the refrigerator had been making the most awful noise--this loud, rackety banging and buzzing.  When Al got home that night, I brought it up because it had been so awfully annoying all day long and I wanted it fixed.  He said that he was pretty sure he knew what the problem was. 

Turns out, he had hidden a present for me under the fridge and it was that that was making all the noise.  (Best Husband Ever.) 

But now I'm just desperate to know what is small enough to have hidden under the fridge but big enough to make the entire thing tremble and shake and emit such awful noises.  I guess I'll have to wait and see.  

Bits and Pieces.

1.  I spent the day yesterday doing a much needed cleaning of our apartment.  My zeal for having a clean house took hold quickly however, and before I knew it I was in full blown "rearrange the whole house" mode.  I spent hours arranging and re-arranging, agonizing over every detail, and drawing diagrams of the house to test out positions.  Naturally, after all this work, I just switched two pieces of furniture and called it good.  I know, I know, I'm such an over-achiever.  Nonetheless, even this small change has made a lot of difference in the apartment.  It's much more open than it used to be:

the couch used to be where the black desk is.  given that we only have two pieces of furniture in the living room, there's not much choice in rearranging.

Maybe we'll get a coffee table and a bookshelf one of these days...another chair would be nice too. 

2.  I also spent a fair amount of time doing this: 

So whimsical.  

3.  Alex and I went to the thrift store on Saturday, and struck gold in the book section.  I was so pleasantly surprised with the selection.  It is so rare to find thrift stores with great books.  Also, I think we paid a total of $10 for all these:

This is why we can't buy a coffee table.  

Somehow, I haven't read Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping yet.   Gilead is on my top ten favourite books list, so it is somewhat of a shocker to even myself that I have not read anything else by this wonderful author.  

Freddy and Fredericka by Mark Helprin is one of those books that I oversaw my Cool Brilliant Older Sister reading one day and knew it had to be good.  Or at least interesting.  

I was delighted to find this massive, hardbound copy of Emily Post's Etiquette Book (49cents...what?!).  Though some of it is perhaps a little dated, it is necessary to have an etiquette book lying around, for all those uncomfortable questions you might have about who knows what. 

Alex stumbled across this hardbound copy of the Essential Dali.  Such a great find.  It has large colour prints of Dali's paintings (even if some of them are a little creepy).  I'm a huge Dali fan, though, so I'm so happy to have this book in the house.  

Finally, I was overjoyed to find the D'Aulaire Book of Greek Myths (even if it is softcover).  This was one of my favourite books as a child, with the most wonderful illustrations and gripping stories of the Greek gods and goddesses.  They also have written a book of Norse Myth which is probably even better.  These are necessary to have in the house when our children come along.  

I'm really going to make an effort during these cold months to read more.  Since graduating college, my reading has declined drastically, and I'm feeling the effects.  Good thing I have Words with Friends to keep my vocabulary in working order...

4.  I have been very very good about getting all my Christmas shopping for Alex out of the way.  (First Christmas! Hurrah!)  Most of the time it's very easy to buy for him since our taste is very similar and he's so excited about gifts in general.  That being said, I've definitely had to restrain myself from putting the entire internet on a credit card.  Kidding.  But really, it has been difficult not to buy him things I really want to just steal for myself.  Like these awesome Star Wars iPhone cases: 

want.  need.  

5.  I know it's Winter and I am supposed to be wanting to eat warm thick soup and bread all the time, but honestly, all I want to eat is this Lobster Roll and Fried Scallops from the Red Barn, the best seafood place in Maine:

I would pay $50 to have one of these right now.  Easy. 

6.  We finally bought our tickets to Maine for the holidays!  We're going in early January for the feast of the Epiphany.  I cannot wait to see this...

the lake behind my parents house.  

...and to get Alex involved in one of these...

Advent Putterings.

Crafting, baking, crafting, baking, crafting.  That's how I spend my time these days.  That being said, let me also say that there have been many successes...as well as many failures.  My two most recent projects were: 

1. Making Peppermint Bark

2. Re-upholstering two chairs I found at Salvation Army

Can you guess which one of these was a failure?  

WRONG. 

It was the Peppermint Bark.  

(beautiful beginnings...) 

 I've made Peppermint Bark thousands of times.  It's easy.  All it is is melting chocolate and then putting it on wax paper with crushed candy canes.  How can you mess that up?  That's what I thought.  I mean, I'd just re-upholstered a chair.  Forgive me if I thought I was invincible.  Turns out, it's very difficult to make Peppermint Bark without a double-boiler.  Steeped in hubris, I thought "I'll just pull the old melt-the-chocolate-in-a-bowl-in-a-pot-of-water trick!"  Easy.  Two hardened pounds of chocolate and six burned fingers later, I was mad Googling how to fix my mess-up.  (Apparently adding 1tsp. of warm water and then mixing ferociously softens the chocolate.  It worked...somewhat.  I think my right bicep has grown in size after all the mixing.)   The chocolate was still too thick after about thirty minutes of stirring, but I slopped it on the baking sheets (Some jerk posted online also that if you don't have wax paper that non-stick baking pans will work fine.  This is a lie.) and covered the mess with the damn candy canes.  

Granted, it doesn't taste awful even if it looks like a car crash.  It's just too thick and an all around disappointing experience.  (Luckily, Alex loves it, and because it's now useless as Christmas presents, I'm just letting him eat it all.  Thanks, best husband ever.)  

But as for my re-upholstering, I am very pleased with how it is turning out for my very first effort!  (Thanks, Mom Burch, for the coolest new fabric!)  Here's a sneak peek: 

B.C. 

A.D. 

"Because Who is Perfect? Get Closer."

Please take a minute and watch this video.  

Advent Mutterings

As Christmas swiftly approaches (more quickly this year than the last...) it is difficult to pause and relish the wonder of the Advent season before the Christmas season arrives.  I find myself so wrapped up in Christmas shopping, craft making, and decorating that I rarely allow myself to have a truly fruitful Advent.  (Not that all this preparation is bad; not at all.  It is a good thing, and necessary!)  But I must continually remind myself in the midst of the sparkling material preparation that spiritual preparation takes precedent.  

  Advent is a time for meditating upon the beautiful mystery of the Incarnation, the mystery of God becoming man to save us:  

"Therefore because the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself in like manner hath been partaker of the same: that, through death, He might destroy him who had the empire of death, that is to say, the devil: And might deliver them, who through the fear of death were all their lifetime subject to servitude." (Hebrews 2:14-15) 

In Pope John Paul II's first encyclical, Redemptor Hominis, the pope writes on Christ's role as our Redeemer and the importance of the human person in the world.  I find this paragraph to be particularly wonderful food for thought in preparation for the Christmas Season: 

"Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. This, as has already been said, is why Christ the Redeemer "fully reveals man to himself". If we may use the expression, this is the human dimension of the mystery of the Redemption. In this dimension man finds again the greatness, dignity and value that belong to his humanity. In the mystery of the Redemption man becomes newly "expressed" and, in a way, is newly created. He is newly created! "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus". The man who wishes to understand himself thoroughly-and not just in accordance with immediate, partial, often superficial, and even illusory standards and measures of his being-he must with his unrest, uncertainty and even his weakness and sinfulness, with his life and death, draw near to Christ. He must, so to speak, enter into him with all his own self, he must "appropriate" and assimilate the whole of the reality of the Incarnation and Redemption in order to find himself. If this profound process takes place within him, he then bears fruit not only of adoration of God but also of deep wonder at himself. How precious must man be in the eyes of the Creator, if he "gained so great a Redeemer", and if God "gave his only Son "in order that man "should not perish but have eternal life"."

Another reason to make the most of Advent: beautiful, glorious Advent carols!  Below is one of my favourites. 

O Come, O Come...

Advent is finally (or should I say suddenly?) here!  It kind of snuck up on me as I have spent the last few weeks making Christmas crafts and counting down the days to the most wonderful holiday of the year.   But here it is, and I cannot be happier.  It really is such a blissful time, chock full of Saint's feast days, Christmas baking and crafting, decorating, and prayer. 

In Phoenix, Al's Mom had bought a bunch of fresh greens for wreath making, and I brought my wreath back to Chicago so that it could serve as our Advent wreath.  I've never really liked the purple and pink tapers.  I really wanted just to have white tapers with pink and purple ribbons, but I saw that Al's Mom had put up white pillar candles with ribbons and I just about died at how beautiful it was, so I dashed to the store the day after we returned home and grabbed some ribbons and candles.  I am so happy with how my first wreath turned out.  (The photographs make the purple ribbon look burgundy...It's more of an aubergine, and so beautiful...)  

O Lord, stir up Thy might, we beg Thee, and come that by Thy protection we may deserve to be rescued from the threatening dangers of our sins and saved by Thy deliverance. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Phoenix Thanksgiving.

Al and I spent our first married Thanksgiving (!!!) in Phoenix this year with his family.  It is difficult for me to accurately write out what a truly wonderful visit it was, how blessed we feel, and how we cannot wait to go back again.  Facing that difficulty now, I regret not taking more pictures of the trip, but oh well.  Here are the few that I have, none of which are of the actual Thanksgiving day, but nonetheless are things I am very grateful for.  

1. My wonderful husband.  (I really cannot imagine life without him.  Thank you, God, for giving me as my husband the best, smartest, holiest, funniest, and handsomest man I have ever met.)   

2. This cute cute cute mural. 

3.  These two little ones.  

4.  Trampoline Tricks 

5. Beautiful mornings. 

6. This sign. 

6. Reading Pals.  

Giving Thanks.

"Gratitude is a flower that blooms in noble souls." 

Pope Francis 

Cultivating gratitude is such an important task.  Parents first begin this cultivation in the simplest of ways such as encouraging their little ones to say "thank you".  But after our parents plant these seeds how do we continue to cultivate gratitude in our grown-up lives and how do we, as Pope Francis so beautifully says, foster a "noble soul"? 

I suppose I've been thinking about this question given that the holidays are swiftly approaching. During this time of year when we are encouraged to give thanks for all we have been given, we focus rather on what we don't have.  I find myself thinking much of the time, "oh we need that," or "oh I could use that," or "I wish that wasn't so expensive."  But this desire for more money or more things gives way to a darker type of desire, an acquisitiveness not limited to money or material goods. Now we desire talents we don't have, gifts others have been given that that we have not; our desire is not merely for a thing now, but for a thing someone else has.  This scares me, frankly.  It scares me because I know I fall victim to this train of thought so much myself.  Of all the times I've counted other peoples blessings, how often is it that I count my own?  How often do I focus on the positive in my life rather than the negative?  When I stop and think about this, I feel so embarrassed.  I know that the good in my life far far outweighs the bad.  And that being said, shouldn't I spend my days being grateful for every beautiful good gift I've been given rather than wasting time lusting over J. Crew catalogues and Pinterest boards, and wishing I was a world class pianist, athlete, and artist?  

Yes.  Yes I should.  

I'm not pulling a holier than thou card here.  I know that I'll always want to have more than I do.  I know that I will always struggle between being grateful and being ungrateful, and there will be many times when gratitude won't win out.  I know that just because I've written this trite blogpost, I'm not suddenly going to cast off my desires and become a Noble Soul in the blink of an eye.  But it's the struggle that counts.  

One of my goals from now on is to stop, at least for 60 seconds every day and think, "what do I have to be grateful for?" Not, "how am I luckier than other people," or "what gifts I have that others don't," but what should I be grateful for in my own beautiful life?  I have not answered all my questions;  I still don't know what a foolproof way to cultivate gratitude, or how to best foster a noble soul, but I know that I want to make an effort to pray more and through prayer open my eyes and recognize the  limitless love and generosity God showers upon me every day.  I want the flower of gratitude to bloom rather than wilt.  

Breakfast in Bed.

Breakfast is one of my favourite things.  Breakfast in bed is one of my most favourite things.  Al and I got up a few hours before he had to leave for work today (last day in the office before Thanksgiving in Phoenix with family!), and I decided to make scones with the time to spare.  Mmmm, scones.  Soft and warm and delicious--just what this cold, early morning needed.  I used Bon Appetit's Blueberry Oat Scone recipe, which is super super delicious, but substituted fresh cranberries for the blueberries (to get in the holiday spirit) and added chocolate chips for Al.  

They look kind of funny...I think it was the chocolate chips and the fact that they are dropped scones rather than cut (and also because I was just too sleepy still to snap a decent photograph).  Don't let the appearance tell you they weren't delicious.  Because they were amazing.  

Here is the recipe, but I'll write it out for convenience: 

INGREDIENTS

·    3 cups all purpose flour

·    1/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

·    1 tablespoon plus 1teaspoon baking powder

·    1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

·    3/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

·    11 tablespoons (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

·    1 cup plus 3 tablespoons old-fashioned oats

·    1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (about 5 1/2 ounces)

·    1 3/4 cups chilled half and half

·    1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·    5 teaspoons raw sugar*

·    *Also called turbinado or demerara sugar; available at most supermarkets and at natural foods stores.

PREPARATION

Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and coarse salt in processor; blend 5 seconds. Add butter. Using on/off turns, blend until mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer mixture to large bowl. Add 1 cup oats and blueberries; stir to blend evenly.

Stir half and half and vanilla in small bowl. Gradually add to flour mixture, tossing until dough just comes together (dough will be very moist).

Using 1/2-cup measuring cup for each scone, drop dough in mounds onto prepared baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart. Sprinkle tops with remaining 3 tablespoons oats, then raw sugar.

Bake 15 minutes. Reverse sheets and continue baking until scones are golden and tester inserted into center from side comes out clean, about 12 minutes longer. Transfer scones to rack and cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy snuggled up in bed with hot black tea and someone you love.