autumn dreams

+have a celebrating Autumn party
+take a sunday drive to see the changing leaves
+bake pumpkin something
+make apple crisp
+find a good fall skirt (or, you know, ten)
+bike ride down tree-lined park streets
+hit the tree swing
+drink apple cider
+have a sleepover and stay up all night giggling

another year

I do not like growing older. But I am increasingly thankful for life and I am increasingly thankful that birthdays feel like an old chapter is concluded and a new one is beginning. The best part of my birthday is it is fall and I get to feel special. The sad part of birthdays as you grow older is it means your husband has to work late and you make your own cake and that regular life goes on. Dishes do not know it is a special day and conferences do not know that it is supposed to be your birthday weekend extravaganza.

For an old soul, I feel pretty young. Most  people here seem to be a little older than us and are often shocked at how young we are. But inside I'm doing the math for how long we'll be in school and how old we'll be and how old we'll be when we have kids and get a house and I don't feel young. I try to remember I love our life and that often the thought of Andy graduating brings sad tears to my eyes and time goes by quickly and so what if I give birth when I'm old. Besides, age is just a number and Andy and I are really already 70 year old crazy love birds in our souls.

Here's to another year of learning, loving, and working on that list. 

(The evening turned out to be magical with a walk to dinner at Caspian Grill, perfect weather for eating outside, and savoring that delicious pumpkin cake.)

good listening

The two chapel messages this week were such a comfort to my soul. I'm posting so I will remember them, but I hope they are encouraging for others as well. I feel inadequate to write my thoughts down at the moment, maybe that time will come some day. For now, I am thankful for hope. I am thankful the past two years my "Sunday school view" of the Bible has been shattered and prepared me for these messages. I am thankful for the Old Testament. I am thankful that after all the disappointments and failures and sin in the Old Testament, God was faithful and sent a King that finally could do everything perfectly. Links below:

for such a slime as this

hope for a weak soul

getting settled

We are beginning to feel settled in our new place, although there is still much to do. The move was bittersweet. I feel like Andy and I grew up in Fuller together. Maybe it is me because I never experienced a different city before, but I'm finding it changes you and makes you grow up. Fuller is where we learned to be married when everything was new, hard, and different.

It is nice, however, to feel like we have our own little place. We no longer feel like college dorm mates. Cooking is a million times easier. Doing laundry feels like I'm resting on a fluffy cloud eating chocolate to my heart's content. Our water pressure would be Kramer-approved. We like it here. It feels like home.

Traditional sleeping on the floor the first night in our new place.

Fuller, I do not miss your kitchen. (Yes, this was our kitchen, with a tiny refrigerator to the right.)

This is how we clean: spotless.

This is how we look after moving and cleaning.

Our new home! Our first home without an apartment number in the address!

My favorite view on my walk home.

Our first game in our new place--the squirrel game!

Thank you to everyone who helped us move! You blessed us more than you will ever know!

good food

I think our food rut is over. We've been enjoying new things and savoring new flavors. Andy has been saying, "Wow!" a lot. Dinner is a sweet time together now that we have a dining table. I'm still so thankful we like each other and get along. I'm thankful we like the same food. I'm thankful we think the same about food. I'm thankful he likes to cook. I'm thankful we both just like being home together. I'm thankful everything feels right again now that we have a schedule back in our lives. I'm thankful for our need for food, and how it brings us together. Sit, eat, talk, laugh, enjoy.

recipes in order from top to bottom:
+blueberry banana pie vegan overnight oats {this is becoming our usual breakfast}
+pico de gallo {this was made because I was gifted with all the fresh garden ingredients to make it!}
+this was something I made up and wish I had written down; mostly tomatoes, zucchini, Italian spices, onion, garlic, tomato sauce and served over spaghetti
+simple vegan lasagne asparagus {there are no words for how happy this simple dish made me}
+frozen banana peanut butter chocolate milkshake {where has this been all my life?!! we have had it for breakfast and dessert. I can't stop making it. I use almond milk and cocoa powder.}
+red lentil kofta and white beans {this is seriously the best meal we have had in a long time. I just want to shout about my love for lentils from the rooftops.}


p.s. all of these recipes pass my strict cheap, healthy, doesn't keep me in the kitchen too long rules for if I will ever make the dish again.