I've been posting less this week. Moving is stressful, and on top of that I've been dealing with family issues.

My grandmama is one of my best friends. I try and call her a couple times a month (I used to call more, but it became more difficult for her to get to the phone, so I make the calls longer, but less frequent). Ever since I was born she and I have been close. I was constantly staying the night at her home. I helped her garden. I've been drinking coffee since I was 3 or 4 because I would sneak it from her cup. I would drag out all her jewelry and dresses and hats. Well, I still do that. She introduced me to GiGi, and Mrs. 'Arris Goes To Paris. Those began my love of Paris and Dior.

She took a fall this week. It wasn't until the next day that some neighbors we've known forever found her. She ended up in the hospital with pneumonia and some kidney issues from muscle damage because she lay there so long. I've never been so worried in my life. She's 81, and for the first time in a long time I began to panic. I simply cannot imagine a world where she does not exist.

She will be moving in with my parents after this whole ordeal is over. And I worry. All the women in my family are the same. We're stubborn, slightly perfectionistic control freaks, and independent. I've been dreading this day because I know how much she has valued her independence. And she's moving out of the home she's lived in since the early 50's. The home she brought my mother home to from the hospital. The home that is more tied in to my childhood than the house I grew up in. Going home this summer to pick up some things and help out knowing that the house eventually will have a new family living in it will make me incredibly sad. It will be a hard goodbye.

But I am grateful that my grandmama is okay. That I still will have time with her. My biggest fear in moving to England was that something would happen and I would just feel lost. Garret and I talked about how I cannot imagine having children who don't know this woman. This woman that likes to say she picked a good one for me (Garret). This woman who is ladylike, but plays the card game Bullshit against us, and tries her damnedest to win. This woman who I am so much like, who I have aimed to resemble. So for now, I have a lot to think about. But mostly I'm thankful for more time, more memories.

I will begin using this blog once we move back to the US and are making a place into our new home. Stay tuned!

Yummy Goodness

Tilapia topped with bread crumbs, parsley, garlic and onion powders with roasted asparagus.

Tarte Tatin.....we've made this twice recently. To Die For.

Originally I screwed up the crust for the tarte tatin, adding way too much sugar (I accidentally added the sugar that was supposed to be used with the apples), so I made cookies. The big design one is using my Chinese Moon Cookie wooden mold. And the thumbprint ones I did have cherry jam in them that my mom buys from this little old couple.

Tomatoes with bread crumbs, chopped garlic and parsley drizzled with olive oil and baked.

More french bread! And I am getting good at the cutting.

This is a batch of pizza sauce (which we also use on pasta and can be used on meats as well) that I whipped up and then filled the ice tray with so now we have a bunch of cubes in the freezer than we can pull out when we want some.

I also made 2 loaves of banana bread, but I must admit, we've pretty much eaten them. Totally worth it though.

The tarte tatin was my favorite thing to bake recently, even if I did end up with bad burns because of it. I'm working on a giveaway that will have something to do with it.

And I want to mention that I highly recommend if you really want to get into baking that you find and use an electronic scale to do weight measurements rather than volume. I have found it extremely helpful in getting consistent results. We have a Salter digital scale that even measures some liquids! However, if you do not have a scale, my biggest baking advice is that for flour, do not scoop up the flour with the measuring cup, rather use a spoon to scoop and fill. Before I got my scale I found that that kept my cookie baking consistent and more accurate rather than measuring heavy.

Thin?

My biggest rant lately has been this: every time I see acquaintances out (most recently at our next door neighbor's birthday party) I have these women gasping over me and telling me I am getting so tiny.

(This is the night of the party, and this was one of the better pics. Others tended to show more of a belly, but for accuracy of the way they saw me I chose this one.)

The thing is, I'm not tiny, not in the least bit (I will explain that in a sec), so I am not sure whether to be offended or not. On one hand, obviously it's great that others think I look great. On the other hand, it kind of makes you feel like you looked huge and horrible before. I had put on weight after getting married I was not even close to being at my heaviest. So while yes, I've lost a decent amount since my highest here, it shouldn't be so awe-inspiring. It's kind of been a blow for me, and hard for me to comprehend.

(this is an outfit I recently wore because it's sweltering here and I needed something cool.)

You see, I'll be blatantly honest here. I am still a size 14 and staying strong at between 174 and 176 lbs. Now, I will admit all of my size 14's fit either perfectly or loose and I have plans to go down to a 12 (which of course I am hella excited about because quite frankly I cannot ever remember being this size). But I don't think I even come close to being "tiny." In fact, on a bad day I still feel huge. I think sometimes I let the numbers get to me, because I know on good days that I am looking pretty damn good.

Yesterday G and I were out and about and I bought a yellow cardigan on clearance for I think 8 dollars. I like the color yellow, but because of my skin, I tend to avoid it since the wrong yellow can really make me look bad. But this is a beautiful yellow, so I bought it. And when we got home I threw on a tulip dress that I pulled up into a tunic and threw on the cardigan to show G. He took a pic for me so I could see what I looked like (excuse my dead look, I needed to shower because it's humid like no other over here and I was exhausted).

The thing is, in this picture I look smaller than I imagine I look. ( in fact I was kind of shocked by the way I look in the pic, but G assures me it's pretty damn accurate) But I know I've also learned how to stand to look my best, so this is not the most accurate depiction of myself. So while I look vastly smaller, I'm not really. And I do wonder what these girls thought of me before if they went on for a bit about how thin I look. I can admit I do carry my weight well, I lose it and gain it evenly over my entire body. But this sort of "thin praise" can actually leave a person with a sour taste in their mouth.

Do I want to be smaller? Of course I do. My end goal is to be at a healthy normal weight for my height and structure, which is somewhere between 145-155. So I'm 20-30 lbs away and want to get there within the next couple of years. G wants to have kids somewhere in there, so chances are I will have to fight to lose baby weight to get there, but I will get there. I think I look good now, the end goal is more about being healthy and being able to live longer. I've been doing push-ups (something I am embarrassed about since I used to knock them out like no other and now if I can do 10-15 in a row I am ecstatic!). I've been attempting to run. And we tend to eat healthy.

Okay, gotten off track. I guess what I am wondering is if I'm the only one who finds it somewhat offensive when a group of acquaintances gush over how great you are looking, in a way that makes you feel you were a troll before? Am I over reacting? I handled it graciously, I think, but inside I was all sorts of feeling confused.

I know I've been absent lately. We're switching to nights, and it's exhausting. But hopefully I will have some pics up soon of what I am doing with the furniture we've acquired. We picked up the tea trolley today and I am whoa excited to get started on it and paint it for a drinks cart. I was very happy to note it is a good height.

*EDIT* After examining the trolley in the kitchen I have decided it probably will not be tall enough for a drinks cart. However, for 5 pounds, it will be a wonderful little thing for our closet to be able to pull out when I need it. I am thinking of painting it a bright white, lacquering it and then using it to store some of my going out shoes, jewelry and other accessories. That way when I am getting dressed up and trying to decide on things it can be wheeled out for me.

On another note, for those of you with children I think a trolley would be a fantastic little spot for learning toys to be wheeled out for "school." I am planning on doing a pre-school in our home, and possibly kindergarten and 1st grade (all for our own children, since I do have most of an elementary ed degree with those ages being the emphasis), so it appeals to me.

And after thinking about it I also think the trolley would do wonderfully at it's purpose of being a tea trolley for when I have girlfriends over and we are taking tea in the sitting room. It would be able to hold tea, cakes, sandwiches and make it so I wasn't constantly getting up.

(Can everyone tell my mind runs something close to 500 mph? Seriously all of that was typed within less than 3 minutes. I change my mind a lot!)

I'm working on a longer post about a bedroom mock-up, but for now I thought I would share a funny story.

I was lying on the couch last night checking my e-mail when G comes in fuming. He's holding something behind him but I cannot tell what it is, and I assumed maybe something happened outside (he was out back with Sophie). No, he had been in the laundry room and was switching clothes over. He says to me, growling really, "We are never buying Scotch and Soda again!" (Scotch and Soda is the brand of his new button down).

"What's wrong, hun?"

"Look, it faded," he says, holding out the shirt where clearly one part of the arm is much lighter than the other.

I have him bring it to me, and looking at it, I realize what's wrong.

I begin trying to not laugh hysterically as I explain to him that the shirt arm must have folded up somehow and stayed dry in that spot, because the spot was clearly dry compared to the damp rest of the shirt (he was transferring it to the dryer).

He realized his mistake and became horribly embarrassed, but consented to letting me share the story here.

The best part was later when I was in the kitchen cooking and I began to laugh hysterically. I couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard and I could hear him in the laundry room saying "Laugh it up!" In the end, even he was laughing!

I Went To Bed

And bumped my head.

Yeah, I am feeling like an old person today. I fell back on the couch last night and smacked the base of my skull on the arm of the couch. Somehow managed to land on the wood underbase hard enough that 12 hours later I still feel like crap. We ran to the ER because I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep but was afraid to. Head injuries freak me out, and thanks to the Natasha Richardson accident this year, they now really freak me out.

So off we ran to the ER where the doctor said I was probably okay, but to just watch it. The nurse had told Garret that the first 24 hours were critical so to try and watch me and make sure I was able to be woken up every couple of hours. G is a very good watcher. And when we finally woke up a bit ago he went and got Taco Bell while I laid in bed trying to relax, but hurting too much too. My head is still throbbing, and my neck muscles are sore from tenseness. And strangely it's cause sinus issues, so I feel floaty and stuffed up. They gave me tylenol and motrin at the hospital, and wow, that seemed to work quite well at the time! Probably because I don't like to take tylenol even when I chop part of my finger off (which happened the first day I was living in England).

So here I am, trying to keep calm and carry on.

Awesome Finds

Lately I have been a bit (okay, maybe a lot) charity shop happy. Since I finally figured out what I want our home to look like, I am now on the lookout for pieces that I feel would be fun and work well in our home. And thank God I have an understanding husband who likes old things too, because he let's me get away with murder. So I thought I would take a few minutes and share some of my new finds with you.

We picked up 4 of these champagne saucers for a pound! I am so excited to whip up a champagne punch for a soiree in our home!

A blue cut glass decanter we picked up for another pound! The plastic stopper seal was breaking from age, so I ripped it off, and we are looking for a way to replace it.

If not, we think they would make a kick ass pair of vases. The little one could be a bud vase for breakfast in bed, and the big one would be perfect for a couple of hydrangea blossoms.

We picked this little framed portrait for 50p. I want to paint the frame and use it in the living room or foyer.

This cut glass little pitcher is one of many pitchers we have picked up over here. I actually picked this up for free (great price, right? I have several glass pitchers and one heavy crystal one I've picked up for around that cost). We use the other little one we have for maple syrup when we make pancakes and french toast. It will be nice to have 2 so we can have maple syrup and a fruit syrup (blueberry or strawberry) as well.

We picked up this little container for free as well. I was whoa excited because it matches the candle holders we have for our living room window.

So my plan is to use a spare room's closet to keep a little plastic drawer of things to mix up the decor around the house. That way I don't get bored, but can keep from feeling the need to do a huge re-do. Our style can be slightly eccentric for our age. At 25 we sometimes like older things a bit too much, but we must confess to liking classic style. And I like to think it's going to be a blast throwing an old fashioned cocktail party once our home is all decorated with champagne saucers, cocktails and (hopefully) records playing in the background.

Stress Sanding

So tonight G and I went to pick up an old side table that I am sanding down and probably painting. It will be a long process, but the table was free (thanks to a person from our local freecycle), and in the end it might just end up in our closet to hold shoes or purses. But it's a fun project for me to take on before I begin dealing with more special furniture.

I also have begun sanding the paint off of the recipe box I got from my grandmother. It had quite a bit of rust on the bottom from being so old, and as I am sanding off (I took pics of the before so I can try and recreate the writing and flowers on it, maybe doing a blue and white version) I found it's steel, and looks so pretty. So perhaps I will keep it just the steel and lacquer it to keep it from rusting.

And then later this week G and I will be driving and picking up a tea trolley I won on ebay for 5 pounds (less than 10 dollars). I am whoa excited since I am planning on painting it and lacquering it until it gleams. The goal is to possibly use it as a drinks trolley in the living room with a decanter and whatnot.

The sanding and lifting boxes and moving things is a good stress reliever, which I desperately need right now before I decide G needs to be dropped in the Thames with cement blocks. So that is what I'm up to. Packing, stress sanding, oh, and baking! But that's a post of a different color!

Father's Day

Today is Father's Day, and it's the second one I've missed while living here. My daddy is one of the most amazing men I know. He's not perfect. I get angry at him sometimes. He messes up, he falls down, but he fixes it, he rises. G reminds me of him so much it's not even funny (what's that saying about girls growing up to marry men like their fathers? My mother reminds me of this all the time!). So I am hopeful that someday G and I will have a daughter writing things about him as well.

My daddy was the main person who tucked me in at night. He read me bedtime stories. He sang to me and my brothers to get us to sleep. He wrestled with us, played outside with us, and loved us. He's a man who isn't afraid of emotion, but sometimes forgets to hug and say I love you. He's working on it. I remember one time when I was driving back up to college after a long weekend and I said to him "Someday we'll be hugging because it will be the last time you'll see me in a while." At the time I didn't know it would be less than a couple years before that would happen.

My dad has worked hard my entire life to help provide for his family. But he also provided more than that. He provided a childhood. My dad and I are the best fishers in the family. We both sit quietly, enjoying the outdoors. He was always up for swimming with us when we were at the lake. When I was a teenager, Daddy was the one I wanted to talk to when things were going on in my life. He very seldom judged a decision, but offered advice.

Even as I grew older, there he was. Helping me learn to drive a stick shift. Getting out of the car at a stop sign on a hill to switch places because I decided I wasn't doing it anymore. He was there to walk me down the aisle, and was more emotional than I was, I think. His speech at my wedding was poignant, talking about how 23 years ago to the day, he and my mom had been bringing me home from the hospital.

(This was after Daddy twirled me at the end of our dance)

And he's been there for me since. When G and I would have a big fight and I didn't think I could do this any more, he was the one on the phone, calming me down, giving me advice. Because he and G are so much alike, he could offer suggestions on handling the problems we were having. He even now lets me prattle on about clothes, housing, decorating a new place.

My daddy is a quieter man. He talks much, but sometimes has a hard time saying the things he should. But I've never doubted his love, or that he's proud of me for the life I've made. And I love him, because for him I'll never be too big to curl up on his lap when I'm feeling small. I'll always be a daddy's girl. And I wouldn't want to be any other way.

Living Room Mock Up

(sofa and chandelier from Anthropologie, arm chair and silk curtains from Pottery Barn, Thomas Paul rug, hooks and curtain tie-back from Urban Outfitters, alpaca wool throw from Crate and Barrel, mirrored tray and ballerina statue from ZGallerie, the lock print is from the vintage moth, the coffee set and pillow are mine, and I apologize, but I cannot remember where I saw the keys)

I finally sat down with photoshop and all the items and images I was looking at for our living room and made a mock up. Because we don't know if we will be in a place that will let us paint, I left that out. And I still need to find a coffee table and small unit to put the t.v. on that fits this style of room.

I love, LOVE tufted furniture, and G gave it a thumbs up. Anthropologie has this sofa in both the blue and a natural linen. G voted for the natural linen, but gave in when he saw the mock up. It adds some color, and we can keep the arm chairs neutral. The pillows we already have will be sat on the chairs to give them some lower back cushioning.

I love the ballet figure. I have always loved to dance, and would love to find an adult ballet class to get into. I'm not usually one for figurines (we bought an Iladro figure for our cake topper and now it sits on our vanity in the bedroom, but I am always terrified I am gonna knock it over), however I love how this one looks.

All of the key and lock items would be overkill, but I was showing G the ideas, so I left them all in. Because we're a military family, we will be moving a lot. A LOT. And G loves old keys (and I must admit I am a sucker for them too). So when I saw all of the door knob and key items I knew he would love incorporating them into the living space. We're also borrowing an idea from John and Sherry over at This Young House and making a display of the places we've lived. Sadly, I don't have one of my apt. I was living in when G and I began dating, but we have ones from each of our parents homes, this house, and we'll continue to add to the collection as we move all over the country (and world!). I would really love to find a great carved frame to spray paint white and then display the keys under glass.

The chandelier is a wee bit out of our price range, but since we both thought it was awesome (very over the top art deco era-ish) we added it to the mock-up. Who knows, we might just find something like it, or save like mad men.

The peacock blue throw is a good thing to add a brighter punch of color, but also I love it because it's alpaca wool. Here's the thing: we have an organic farm/nursery school near base. They have alpacas of all different colors. Kalee loves these alpacas. Kalee loves them so much that every time we drive by she calls out to them. And yes, I am speaking in third person.

The rug obviously ties in with our coffee set. We figure if we end up not loving it in the living room that we will put it in the dining room under the table and chairs.

And I love the mirrored tray. I plan on sitting it on the coffee table or ottoman permanently with a stack of books or something. I also want some mercury glass votives. And we are planning on putting a big mirror in the living room as well, but haven't chosen between some strong contenders.

Overall I am just really thrilled to be able to actually plan a bit. It helps things seem more real.

Up In The Air

In 2 months we'll be back in our hometown visiting family and friends. Two months. Kinda freaks me out, if I'm honest. It's been over a year since I've seen my mom, almost a year since I've seen my baby brother, and over 2 years since I or Garret have seen anyone else. Which makes it where things are going to be crazy busy when we do go home. We have family and friends to see (listen up people, if you have any events you want us at, let me know....I am gonna make a schedule for us!), a car to buy (we're thinking of getting a Honda Civic.....anyone have an opinion on them?), stuff to pack up, dogs to deal with. It's going to be a roller coaster, the time will fly by I am sure.

Two months and my life is going to change dramatically. We're desperately hoping for a day job (and plan on fighting for one if at first it's shift work). We'll find out in August if G has made Staff Sergeant. We'll be moving from sheep country to a bigger city (which I am whoa thrilled about!). And we'll be eventually starting our family.

Which is where we are at now. Stuck. Trying to decide when the best time for us to start a family would be. We both want a baby now, but there are a lot of factors playing into our decision. My weight loss is one. I kinda plateaued, and now am working harder to lose more and be healthier (if I could only quit making yummy french bread, that would help). And I am loving being able to run again.

We've also been told about all the amazing things there are to do in Baltimore, and how much fun we are going to have. Which leaves us with the question, will we be able to do all those fun things with a baby? If we lived near family we would be able to work out some nights to have them babysit so we could go out. But moving to a new city, having to start over with new friends, I think unless we really hit it off with some people, I might be too terrified to leave the baby with anyone. New mom thing I guess.

The problem is it's breaking both our hearts. It's a huge decision, and both sides have appeal. G works a crazy schedule which oftentimes leaves us exhausted or running errands when he is home, so as much as the blog constitutes our outings, we've lost a little bit of the romantic time together. We were looking forward to having a more normal schedule to plan some things like taking a cooking class together. On the other hand, we're as ready as we'll ever be to start our family and move from the 2 of us to a little family of 3. And if G doesn't become a Daddy in the next year and a half I think I will seriously have to watch that he doesn't try to adopt a child on the sly and bring them home like a lost puppy. Seriously, he's a sucker for babies!

So that's what's going on here in our household. So many emotions. Excitement, confusion, anxiousness, and hope. Yes, we're looking to the future with hope.

Four Day To Do

1. Get caught up on laundry. (this may take all day)
2. Pack up books, making a list on the computer of all of them.
3. Pack up clothing that is not going on the plane with us.
4. Pack up kitchen items not in regular use. (I packed up the waffle iron last month, and we just do pancakes now)
5. Sweep, vacuum, and mop the floors.
6. Clean bathroom.
7. Take clothing to the charity shop.
8. Go to market and enjoy a butterscotch ice cream cone.
9. Brush Sophie out. Repeat. Wash and repeat. (she's got more hair than any other dog I've ever known.)
10. Polish silver and pack away.
11. Dust furniture.
12. Watch the last 2 HP movies in preparation for next month's big event!
13. Look into flights to get back to our hometown.
14. Bake some French bread.

This is quite the list, but G will be home for 4 days so we should be able to knock a lot of this out quickly. I already did quite a bit of organizing and clothing management (hanging things up, putting things in bags to donate) this afternoon while watching You've Got Mail. I just love the end when Meg Ryan's character sees Tom Hanks' character and says

"I wanted it to be you. I wanted it to be you so badly."

Oh how I know the feeling! In my case I chose to date G knowing that the last time I had seen him 7 months before I still hadn't been attracted to him. So I wanted so badly for it to just spark between us when he came home that summer, and lucky me....it did!

Housewifery

When I first got married I wanted to be the perfect wife. I wanted to have the house sparkling, freshly baked goods always available, to make hot meals every night (or good cool meals when it's hot). My best friend and I had joked before G and I began dating that someday I would be a "Martha Stewart Stepford Wife." I considered it a good goal.

When I first moved over here, I had planned on getting a job so we could save more. But it quickly became apparent that because of G's schedule if we wanted time together, I would have to not work. He works 12 hour shifts, that switch every 4 weeks from nights to days. And with the switching I also saw some of my housewife goals go down the tubes. As the 2 years here have worn on, we've both noticed a decline in energy and health. The schedule is physically draining, and my house shows it.

I am slightly OCD about how things should be in my house (please don't let this put you off, I rarely notice any mess, no matter how huge you may think it is, outside of my own home). I like the place to sparkle, and when I get the energy you can find me scrubbing our stainless steel sink with baking soda to make it shine. I am not above getting down on my hands and knees and scrubbing a floor. In a perfect situation I like everything in drawers folded neatly, and things hung facing the same way in the closet, grouped by type (dresses, shirts, pants, etc.) and color.

But currently I have begun the habit of kicking my shoes off in our tiny entry way so that it's a bit backed up. My bed is rarely made. And my closet is most definitely not color coordinated. So I might have become a bit obsessed with the idea of the move, and the possibility of a normal day job for G. It will mean more energy for both of us, but also a set schedule. When we first switched to days this last time we would get up, work out, eat a fairly large breakfast together. I felt like we connected more even on the days he was working (whereas now we've slipped back into the exhaustion and seem to just be zoned out when he gets home at 10 at night).

I look forward to moving to MD. I look forward to the clean slate, the new start on our home. I've already began a list of things to buy to keep up more organized and the home looking nicer. We've sat down and discussed some rules we are going to set up to keep things looking nice and clean. But if he is on a normal day job, I don't want to ruin his weekend by having Saturday be the day we clean. I plan on keeping it up throughout the week, and then Friday nights just having him help me with cleaning the bathroom and washing the sheets. Those things can be done quickly or while we are relaxing with a movie, and it will leave Saturday and Sunday to relax and enjoy each other. And that is something that right now I very much look forward to, as we are both preoccupied with cleaning and getting things done for the move right now.

Are there any tips you have for keeping your home picked up and running smoothly? Any task you decided to just let go of? Please share, since I am working on getting this housewife thing right.

And if you know of any good organizational or cleaning blogs, please let me know! I'm always looking for tips to make life easier!

What My Weekend Was

My handsome husband in Thetford.

G asked me to go stand on the bridge.  

I love these tiles on this roof.  

This is the pub where we go dancing on the weekends,  It's got several rooms, a couple bars.  And on a Friday or Saturday night it's pulsing with music.

Chocolate, butter and sugar all melted together.

To make my French chocolate cake. 

Which is dense and divine.

Wee Art Cards

A blog that I have loved ever since I started mine is Chic Mummy.  Sarah is a stay at home mom to two wonderful toddlers in Australia.  She did a giveaway with Wee Art Cards and I won!  I cannot tell you how thrilled I was, they are wonderful black and white cards with a squirrel, butterfly, dragonfly, ladybug, bird and a worm.  Super cute, and I really think a baby will love looking at them.  They are made of heavy cardboard and have a matte lamination on them, making them durable for babies.  (I think if you have a particularly drool lovin' baby, you could probably take them and have them laminated more heavily). I really want their original collection, because it has an elephant, snail, and owl in that one, and those are all animals that will be special to our kids for various reasons (I love elephants, and one of my nicknames has something to do with escargot-----but not because I'm slow!).   

Also, while exploring their site I found they have some freebies to download.  They have a test print with a lamb (with both the black/white and white/black sides) to print out on cardstock and use as you will.  I think that would be great if you wanted to see if they even interested your child.  They also have iron on patches to print out in both the lamb and butterfly.  For those of you interested in decorating kids clothing yourself, this would be fun!  If you have 2 young children you could do matching shirts in opposite colors!

Their site is a UK one, but I know that Land of Nod has some of their cards (not all, but 4 different sets) and that they have a store on Amazon that has all of them.  

I think you can do so many things with their designs, and once we are beginning our family I will be doing some projects with them and sharing those with all of you!

A Funny Thing Happened When It Rained

This past Sunday G and I decided to play hooky from church.  It sounds bad, but we both had horrible hacking coughs and noses that had minds of their own, and since our lovely church has so many ways of contaminating others, we thought we would be nice.  

So we headed to the French Market a bit early.  It wasn't as big as I had hoped, possibly because it was pouring, but eh, it was an adventure right?  We went and got some hot yummy potato dish to share, picked up a few homemade sausages (which was hilarious, because I was trying to gather the sellers attention in French when he was walking away before I got my full order, so I was dripping wet yelling, "Non, non, trois, trois, s'il vous plait!"), and considered spending a crazy amount of money on cheese (we ended up deciding to wait).  Walked back to the car in the rain munching on a croissant that was divine.

Then we decided to stop off at the Portuguese place for some coffee to warm up.  It was the first time I had the camera with me, so I snapped away.

That night I made wood pigeon for dinner.  I nearly had a heart attack doing it, because all the recipes and instructions I could find had varying oven temps and times.  In the end we cooked it for about 45 minutes.  I had roasted some baby potatoes beforehand, and while the pigeons cooked I sauteed up some green beans with onions and garlic.  The pigeon made me feel medieval since it was a bit hard to get to all the meat, but it was fantastic.  Too bad I haven't been able to find an online place to order them for when we move back to the US. 

 

And then this last pic is not of Sunday, but of Tuesday night when I was making funnel cakes and I might have powder sugared my dog.  She loves powder sugar (and flour, basically any white powder, which causes me to worry that some drug pushing dog will get her hooked on other powders, but I need to breath and trust that she will just say no!) and so I was tapping some out onto the floor when she saw me and got in the way.  She looked like she had a superhero mask on

Women of the World

So I have been going and reading the blogs of all the lovely ladies who came and gave tips and advice for saving when it comes to baby things.  And let me tell you, these are some fantastic women.  I'm in the middle of backreading The Vanderbilt Wife's blog, and I came to a post about hating body parts.  And I wanted to expland on that from my personal view.

I don't really hate any body part in particular.  Some I love, some I am apathetic about, and some I wage war against.  I have curves.  I've managed to lose over 50 pounds since my heaviest and still my breasts are the same size.  I've warned G they probably won't go away.  I have a long torso that seems to go on forever, which makes me panic about how short my legs look (and they are completely normal length legs).  And my hips?  Well, let's just say that when I get around to being pregnant, they will be revered for being "baby birthing hips."  But that's okay.  I like my curves.  After years of wishing I was a tiny waif of a thing, a fragile woman who needed someone else to hold her close and shield her I realized that that is a woman I will never be.

My breasts will one day feed my children.  My hips sway when I walk (which sometimes causes my husband to walk into things) and will someday be a good place to hold a small child.  My hips are strong, they allow me to twirl, dip and sway when I dance.  My legs will never be the shapely go-on-for-miles legs I dream of, but they are strong and can stand firm when things get tough.  I am not a tiny frail thing because I am strong.  Stronger than I ever imagined.  

My husband looks at me like the world's best dessert.  Maybe that is a crude way of putting it, but to him, I'm already exactly how I should be.  When I talk about getting smaller, he just checks to make sure I will still have these curves he's so crazy about.  Curves I've spent a decade trying to whittle away.  So enough.  Enough voices in my head telling me the curves are bad.  Enough distorted mirror images.  It's time I allowed myself to love me as much as G does.  Because I'm a woman, and as G declares often enough, I look like one.  

So women who read my blog, please, do me a favor.  Today look in a mirror and notice the good.  Let your friends, family and spouses love you.  Because I know sometimes letting someone love the parts of you that you yourself don't love is hard.  But you're worth it.  You're a woman---big, small, curvy, boyish, whatever shape you may be, you're a woman.  And a damn fine one at that.

Shopping and Packing

So, G and I have done a bit of shopping lately, you might have noticed.  When I found out that my beloved Noa Noa's Bury branch was closing, I got the 3 skirts.  But that was after buying things at TKMaxx like crazy the day or so before.  I told you about finding the great deal on the Elie Tahari jacket, but I didn't mention that we picked up 3 French Connection shirts at a huge discount for G.  He loves them because they're 100% cotton, and they are a slimmer fit.  And getting one in a charcoal, one in blue stripes, and one in brown stripes he will most definitely be wearing them often!  We also picked up a Scotch and Soda shirt from Javelin using part of the gift voucher they gave us for the VAT.  It's purple striped and G looks fantastic in it! It came with the cutest little cuff links, which swayed G.....he's been looking for shirts to wear cufflinks with.  

We also picked up 2 pillows for our future living room in Maryland.  We have a fantastic vintage coffee/tea set that we have decided to go with color wise for the living room.  We are planning on making a trip up to Soho in NY to go to the Thomas Paul studio to look at rugs.  We found one we love online, it goes well with the colors of the coffee set, but I want to make sure it's sumptuous in person.  It's a big purchase price wise, and we want to make sure it's worth it and will hold up for a decade or so (hopefully longer).  

Thomas Paul Rug Flora in Chocolate, Aqua and Green

The pillows have some similar colors, but are a wonderful stripe (and I LOVE stripes).  And since they're Belgian velvet and have down inserts, they will make a nice little pillow on some chairs we want to get eventually.  (all of this will be done/bought over time, but we're pretty good at coming up with a look and working towards it.  For instance I want some espresso brown silk dupioni curtains, but will wait until I can find a great deal on ebay.)  We're basically trying to make our home a bit more grown-up as we go along.  It's a slow process, but we're enjoying it.  I love looking at couches, trying to decide which ones will work best for us.  I want some more structured pieces for sure. 

This is the Pottery Barn Greenwhich Sofa, which I am lusting after majorly.  Structured, but not too fussy.

Silk Dupioni curtains, I want them in an espresso.  

Photo from potterybarn.com

And right now I am also packing up my clothes for the move.  I've pulled our 2 suitcases we bought before our honeymoon and am trying to see what will fit in them.  I've made a list of things we will want for a few weeks at home.  And some things will get packed just because if God forbid something happened to our shipment there are some things I would mourn if they were lost.  I know they're just things, but some of them are family things, like my antique old OLD mother of pearl and brass opera glasses.  I would die if things like that went missing.

So far I have found that the list works wonders.  It lets me see what I really need to pack, what is useless to pack, and helps me remember some things I would have otherwise forgotten.  Once the suitcases are packed, then the rest of the clothes that we are keeping is getting boxed up in totes.  It's the most organized I've been in a long time, and it feels fantastic.  I've also made a strict rule of tossing things out that we really never wear.  And this weekend they are getting dropped off at charities in Bury (since they get more turnover there, and can ask for higher prices, therefore making more money for the charities).  

I won't say it's been easy.  I tend to keep things "just in case."  But I am trying to stay strong and really streamline my closet, and our life.  We're looking at 2 bedroom townhomes in MD right now, so it won't be an itsy bitsy place or anything.  But as mentioned in the last blog, we are planning on starting a family at some point, so we won't always have a spare room.  And really, I like having fewer options for clothes, it makes things simpler.  It's not that I really will have a lot less clothes, but I am trying to think before I buy about what in my closet it can go with.  And how many different ways I can wear something.  I am also insisting things fit me now, instead of buying anything that I need to lose even a pound for.  Yes, I will probably lose that pound, but who needs that pressure?