I Don’t Know About You, but I’m Feeling…. 23!

If you have stumbled upon or stalked my Facebook recently you know birthday week just finished up!  I am no longer under the stereotype jurisdiction of Taylor Swift’s song 22!  I don’t know about you, but feeling 22 – it was nothing like the lyrics of that song for me.  So here’s to hoping that no pop artist comes out with a song about feeling 23.

From start to finish, it was a phenomenal birthday week!  There were many adventures had and tasty meals eaten!  So many wonderful things that I don’t want to forget.  So, I will give you the highlights!

1) I am blessed to have fallen into the cross-hairs of William Pomeroy 2 years ago.  He not only helps make me a better person, but he blesses me all the time.  Will got me a special treat everyday last week!

Some of my treats from Hubster!

The awesome Bible WIll got me =)

2) I got to talk to one of my dearest friends who is currently in Ethiopia, and not just talk, but have some really good conversations with her.

3) On Wednesday we were able to help pack over 1 million meals for orphans in Haiti with our friends Brian and Peggy. That was a terrific way to be able to spend part of my birthday week, blessing other people and doing so with my friends!  Not to mention it was a pretty legit party in there as everyone was singing and dancing while they worked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4) Thursday, I woke up to chocolate chip waffles with honey on top, and Will met me for a surprise lunch date at Chipotle!  Which was pretty great.  Even better my parents got in town that afternoon so after work the four of us walked downtown for a delicious birthday dinner at Shakespeare and Co.  The best part about that unique place was that I was served gluten free bread before the meal!  I didn’t have to sit and pine over everyone else with their warm, buttery pre-meal snack!

Now I have to pause for a moment and brag about Moms and Pops.  Not only are they amazing people who balance each other out well, still flirt with each other nearly 40 years into marriage, love God and His people with all their hearts, they drove 10 hours to be here for my birthday, and while Will and I were at work they blessed our socks off.  I came home to a delicious smelling house, with a clean & restocked kitchen, a beautiful cake, dinner, and my parents. It was wonderful!  Besides that we also made a quick trip out to Evans Orchard for some fresh apples and pie pumpkins which we puréed later on.  They spoiled us this weekend, and even came to our rescue before heading home when Ellie decided to pick the coldest fall morning yet to act up and not make it to work.

Evan’s Orchard
Can’t believe I actually got pictures of the Moms!

Our adventures at Natural Bridge

5) My mom also canned some green beans with me, purred pumpkins, made homemade salsa from the veggies from our garden, made some pumpkin granola bars with me, and pumpkin cinnamon rolls.  Those recipes will be showing up on the blog shortly!   Will says I am becoming quite domestic after all the little things I learned from my mom this weekend– including how to get candle wax out of things!

Homemade Pumpkin Puree. Now I can make even more tasty things!

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Lattes and Pumpkin-Craisin-Walnut Granola bars =)

Like I said, it was a wonderful week, and if any pop stars want to write about being 23- please write a song about being confident in who you are, loving and serving others, being faithful to your family, living simply, and trying to be a part of something bigger than yourself.  That’s how 23 feels. That’s who I want to be this year.

 

my Cake =)

New Book Smell & Back To School Nostalgia

One of my favorite smells is “new book smell.”  Back in my homeschool days, I used to look forward to the day when the huge, heavy boxes of all my school books for the year would show up.  I would struggle to get them upstairs, rip them open, pull out all my books and start flipping through all the pictures of the things that I would learn.  As I cracked the covers open I would bury my face inside the pages to inhale a deep whiff of that crisp new book smell.

Yes.  I was a nerd.  I joined science club.  I hung out with nerds (and married one).  And I sniffed my books… there you have it all my deep dark secrets.

Now, I don’t know if you have noticed or not, but back to school is all around us.  The specials are on at the store, and outside the air is starting to change from summer to  fall air.  The school bus that stops in front of Will and I’s house has returned as a faithful alarm telling me when to leave for work, and the houses around us have been slowly filling up with the returning migration of college students (consequently so are the streets).

Last year at this time Will and I were eating dinners that consisted of chocolate covered raisins in the car on our way to and from bed, bath, and beyond or target as we were making exchanges and making a home.  I am not even sure if we had chairs at our kitchen table yet.  Needless to say, I didn’t notice the season of academia roaring into full force around me last year.

But this year, everyone is going back to school, and I am not.   What’s even stranger is that this is the second year in a row that I am not going back to school. I did take a year off during college to do an internship, so maybe missing one year of school did not seem abnormal to me.  Now here I am – at the start of year two.  I am out of school, with no plans of going back for a different degree or a master’s degree.  I guess that means I am growing up.

Carrieli, who used to be this little 12 year old who I threw rocks in the creek with the first time I came to Kentucky, is now in high school!  She is growing up!  I really must be growing up then….

 

Took her out for ice cream to celebrate the big first day of high school!

I’ll be honest, sometimes I day dream about school, reminisce the good ol’ days.  I definitely miss the social aspect of it.  I miss learning being handed to you; whereas now if I want to learn something I have to create that opportunity.  I miss some of the people I went to school with and the shenanigans we would get away with.  I miss taking a foreign language.  My Spanish couldn’t get past the 1^st quarter of Spanish 1, and my Chinese is nearly non-existent.  I miss being on a soccer team, all the hard work, camaraderie, competition, and laughs.  And yes, I miss the new book smell.

this is what happens at science club competitions

nationals freshman year

that’s my best friend’s car…. this happened regularly during high school and college. lol.

However, when I think back on those things, they have the flavor of nostalgia, rather than the flavor of longing.  I miss those enjoyable memories, but I do not long to repeat those days.  I miss the environment, but I am thoroughly enjoying where I am.   I guess that means I really am growing up.

Here’s to growing up!

 

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Growing Up, Maybe.

A year out of college, young,  married , and trying to figure out how being a grown up works.  For all of you out there who wrestle with growing up, or who married young, you spunky married women, and adventurous souls – I hope this resonates with you.

yep. we are mature adults. More on this to follow.

Since being shoved across the threshold of “Grownupdom,” I have begun to appreciate holidays more.  I have always appreciated Thanksgiving and Christmas for all the good eats, presents, traditions, and multiple days off of school.  But now as a “grown-up” there are a few more holidays added to the mix, and sometimes you even get paid not to come to work on them! That helps redeem the fact that I no longer get summers off.  =(

Growing up is a tough business.  As a kid growing up is a wide-eyed fantasy that sparkles with perfection and ideals, but you don’t realize that behind all the pixie dust is a lot of hard work, responsibility, lessons that have to be learned, boring days in the office, and the two biggest villains of them all no more spring break or summer vacation and taxes.

Sometimes I really don’t want to grow up.  Sometimes I just want to sit on the couch and eat cereal while I watch Batman and Spiderman save the world or that guy on This Old House build something awesome with really nifty gadgets (yes, I really did watch that show as a kid).

Excuse the quality of this picture; it was before my phone got smart.
This is how Saturday mornings used to be spent- lazy and eating my parents out of ice cream.

One of my most recent struggles with growing up has been realizing that short term missions isn’t really on the table.  I can’t take 3 or 4 weeks of my summer to go spread the Gospel and disciple teenagers.  Furthermore, I am married now.  I can’t just go globetrotting and leave Will in the lurch; so even if the possibility was on the table to get up and go; this stunning ring on my finger and the stud who gave it to me complicate things as well.

Seems ironic doesn’t it?  We pine over being an independent grown-up all through our school days and then when we get here we find out that we aren’t so independent after all.  But you know what- that’s ok!

Something I learned over the long weekend is that growing up does NOT mean you NEVER act like a kid again.  And being independent does NOT exclude you from hitching your wagon to someone else’s.

Will and I spent our long weekend camping at Rough River Dam State Resort Park.  I challenge you to go camping and not still feel like a fascinated kiddo.  The outdoors are SO BIG! There are so many things to see!  So many trails to explore! And when the marshmallows get broken out around a crackling fire, I know that you’ll have your little poker in there trying to make your gooey, sweet, messy marshmallow just perfect.  And I know you’ll probably eat more than you think you should because it’s so good!

Perk of Growing up- I can get close to the edge now! Although, Will tries to tell me not to.

At some point, out there in the woods with the siblings, getting eaten alive by bugs, having a good time even though the fish weren’t biting, joking around, and dreaming big- I took another step into Grownupdom.  Here’s my epiphany:

If being with Will means growing up then I am ok with growing up.  It really doesn’t matter where I am.  If I am there with Will then it is home.  It can be in the little honeymooner-sized house we rent, a hotel room, the farm, or a tent out in the middle of nowhere.  If I can hold his hand and sleep next to him then that is where I am supposed to be. We are a team.  We tackle growing up together.  He cooks over the super hot campfire that I don’t want to get that close too, and I bring him something to drink.  He picks ticks off of my back, and I pick ticks off of his.  Lol.  He finds a good place to pitch the tent, and I keep it all in order.  He blazes the trail, and I follow him anywhere he goes with granola in my pockets ready for the adventures to follow.

just another adventure =)
Side by Side – Better Together

That is the way it is supposed to be.  I am supposed to submit to him, respect him, follow him.  And he is supposed to lead me, shelter me, and cherish me.  I know that is terribly anti-feminist of me to say, but as the girl who refused to let her husband carry the food pack on our hike this weekend, I can say something like that without compromising my own strength and independence. In fact, it is possible to live like that and still be a strong independent female.  I wouldn’t have married Will if he wasn’t a great enough man that I could let down my walls and depend on him.  Likewise, I wouldn’t have married Will if he wasn’t a strong enough and respectful enough man to handle my streak of independence, stubbornness, and size complex (I think I am much bigger and stronger than I am…).

Here it is again.
I make him Brownies for the camp out; even left him extra batter to eat…. and this is what he does with it.
….we definitely aren’t grown ups yet.

 It is possible to grow up but still be youthful.  It is also possible to be independent and be submissive.

Going camping again this weekend if the weather holds up; so stay tuned for more epiphanies and tasty recipes =)