things we have done in 2009

I made a list like this once on a birthday - I think 22, and it made me feel very accomplished and exciting...of course that year included my first job out of college, getting engaged and moving to nashville. This one might not live up to that, but I think it's still going to be pretty cool.

we joined South City Church (where Robert will do his intenship in 2011)
made the longest ever roadtrip to Texas with Rufus, who did quite well
the Taskers paid us a visit, which I think was the beginning of starting to like St. Louis
year one of seminary finished!
Robert got a new job at Schlafly and quit Starbucks
more Nashville friends, Chris, Dustin, Ben & Erin, moved here, making us SO happy
I nannied for the summer and fall, quit Alpine shop, and got a full-time position at the fruitstand
our third anniversary!
Robert had a reunion with all his BFFs from college and got to meet this little muffin
(along those lines, about a million friends had babies)
I have learned to like cooking (miraculous, really)
moved to a new house that gave Rufus a playmate and gave us some amazing neighbors
weddings for Kristin & John, Brooke & Brad, Chris & Lindsey, Kristin & James, Simon & Katie
went on my first real life business trip
saw U2 FINALLY! (as well as new york friends)
had a sweet (though brief) Christmas with Robert's family + the Taskers in Nashville, and then a fun surprise to see the Shays the next day back in STL.


we are so grateful for this year - it's definitely been hard at points, but as far as being able to see God growing us closer together, closer to our comunity, and closer to Him - it's been wonderful.
we already have new adventures planned for 2010 - and I will try to get back to my blogging ways so that I can let you know about them.

we took a trip

It had been fated since I met Mary Beth in RUF/Chemistry & Society that we would go see U2 together someday, so we did. We had been planning this trip since this past winter, so it was awesome to finally go. And Robert and I have spent a collective total of 2 minutes together this whole summer and fall, so he came along for NY, but not for U2. We had loads of fun and together time, and got to meet up with Steven and Hannah (our gracious hosts) and Sharee and Syndi and Jamison and Kat. It was so much fun, and only made us want to live there more! Here's some photo highlights:Right before U2 came out - Giant stadium was crazy looking!
Pausing in Central Park...
We went to Brooklyn Brewery, and Robert was a happy hippo.
This is halfway through a guava booty bun. So good. I miss these delicious treats already!

house tour

We finally got the house in fairly good shape. Most of our boxes have gotten unpacked, and there's only a few random boxes and things we had to stash in the closet/basement before we had our first little get-together over at the new place. I can't express enough how happy we are to have such fun landlords and such a wonderful place to live. Here goes the long-awaited (at least by our parents) house tour:

Front Door...yes, I did in fact letterpress that little nameplate for us - though I almost ruined the press in the process.


Entryway...our landlord, Mike, laid all that slate the week before we moved in.

This is Rufus' room - it's a little closet-room underneath the stairs where he sleeps at night and stays when we're gone. (Think Harry Potter at the Dursleys' house)


Bathroom with awesome blue tile


Living room, it's all one color (grey), even though it looks different with lighting.



Office/Dining Room/Middle Room-still kind of a work in progress


Kitchen - as suggested by Katie Rhea, we are calling this color "Love, Love" due to its tennis ball hue.


Bedroom....and


Rufus with his new friend and roommate, Rogue, who shares a backyard, hallway, and sometimes the house with us.

we went camping!

Here's why I haven't been blogging: 3, (now actually 3 + 1 consulting) jobs + husband with 2 jobs + trying to pack for our apartment move + housesitting/dogsitting/babysitting for 3 different people....whew! We are tired. Robert's been a champ, working really hard at both jobs until he goes back to school.

Since things have been so crazy, we decided to take one night and go camping this past week.

Rufus enjoying the creek with RobertAt the top of the mountain for the first time

I took my first iPhone video....here's us on the way up the mountain the first time.

You might have noticed I said "first" which is funny, because most people climb up a mountain, then climb back down. Well, somewhere along our hike, we must have taken a wrong turn and ended up hiking the whole 10 mile trail, which took us up the mountain twice. That would have been fine, except, thinking we'd be gone for an hour instead of 5, we only took one bottle of water for us and Rufus. We were so tired, hot, and thirsty by the time we found our way back. Next time, we'll learn some lessons like look at the map before hiking, get to the campsite before dark, and bring firewood.

The upside to this was that our tent and gear were awesome, and we'll probably head back this fall now that we know a little more about what we're doing.

And big, fun goal reached in our big debt payoff. We now have no car debt! We got the official letter from the credit union yesterday along with the title in our name. So exciting, and very encouraging on our journey to get rid of all our debt ASAP!

I'll put up pics of the new place when we get moved in and painted, but it probably won't be for a couple weeks til we're settled!

head this way for a giveaway

I'm doing a giveaway on my design blog: mudpiemagnolia. Right now there's only a few people entered, so your odds are excellent. You have until midnight on Sunday to enter. Also, I'd love for you to add mudpie magnolia to your frequently-read blogs, so subscribe away, and tell your friends to enter my contest. No fear, this blog will not be going away, we've just been super busy with our combined 5 jobs...or actually, I guess it's 6.
Pictures of our new place are hopefully forthcoming!

it's summah-time!

We've been all busy, and aren't really slowing down now that it's summer. So here's some updates!

Robert finished his first year of seminary! Hooray! Finals are all done, and there's no more school til August. We're already getting to see each other more.

The day Robert finished finals, we went to go look at a place to live this fall...and we decided to go for it. It's on the bottom floor of a 2.5 story house. The people that own the house go to Covenant, and are going to let us share a backyard, internet, a doggie door, and most importantly....a fire pit for s'mores. We're going to be moving at the end of July and be in a cheaper place without mold on the ceiling and pee in the hallway and WITH an awesome park and a cool family to share the house with us. So yay!

Also changing for us is our job situations. As I type, Robert is at training for Schlafly (a St Louis brewery), where he will be working in addition to Starbucks - at least for now. Also, I quit the Alpine Shop because next week I start nannying 2-3 days per week for a 5 month old little girl.

We're also planning on camping and going to Nashy for a wedding, so our summer will be busy, but a lot more fun than studying...and it's so wonderful and warm!

If you have a minute to pray for our friend Ruthie, please do so. She was in a car accident in high school, and the injuries from that accident are keeping her in chronic pain. She needs surgery to help correct some of this pain, but that surgery costs $100,000 that won't be covered by insurance. Some amazing people are throwing a benefit concert for her in Nashville this week, so if you're in town and want to go, it'll be awesome. Or just pray for her and that this concert will raise a lot of money for her.

And Ross and Lindsay are leaving for Italy on June 15th, and need to raise more money to really cover their support. Pray that they'll be able to raise this money quickly, and that it doesn't get in the way of their transition to Florence.

We'll check in soon!

look at our fun weekend!

Robert's in finals, bluh. But once he's done, we're going to actually see each other - hooray!

No huge updates, but here's a few pics from our fun weekend with Nate and Cassie. We knew we missed them lots, but having them visit for a couple days made us realize we REALLY miss them, and there's no way we can go this long without seeing them again. Lots of fun, lots of laughs.





You don't quite get the full effect of the Arch here, but it's big. I also have to include my favorite quote by Cassie ever..."Sometimes, chocolate is the only good thing in a day"
That's why I like her.

Now that the Taskers left, we're diving back into work for a week, then heading to Nashville for Kristin and James' wedding.

Til next time...

hop around

This was quite the week....we had our friend Brooke Waggoner visit us with her band because she was playing a show here. Robert actually got to see them, I got off work too late (boo). We had Rufus' first training lesson with the amazing Hillary. He's almost angelic now. We considered getting another puppy, and had to pass on it because of time and money, which was sad (I was crying during church, which Robert said was good because it made me look legit). I have been working on several photo sideshows for rehearsal dinners. We both have been talking about job transitions and will be feeling out what that would look like over the next few weeks, so we'd appreciate your prayers on those things. We went to a very yummy Easter lunch with Josh and Caylee. Whew, it was busy.
Robert gets off Starbucks in about an hour, so we finally get to go to the Y together. I'm not going to be taking him to my step and sculpt class yet because I don't think he's ready for it. That, and I look awkward dancing around on a step like it's the early 90s.
We're going to Nashville in 2 weeks for Anna-Ruth's wedding, and are definitely looking forward to it. And, since we'll be missing the Taskers yet againin Nashville, they have decided to drop by St. Louis en route to tour dates. We are SO stoked to see them, because last time we saw them was right before we drove off in our moving truck.

I'm off to scan more pictures, but here's Rufus (in the front) and Belle (my parents' dog) from when we were in Texas - exhausted from running around all day. They're pretty cute.

we went to texas: a pictoral adventure

Although you can't tell from my face in this picture Robert snapped, I was really stoked to be in Texas.











Danica came with us to Amy's Ice Cream, and we hung out with the cows for a while. This poor guy had lost his ear since the last time I saw him.











Robert had not eaten it off, though that's what he'd like you to think.












We got cupcakes from "Hey Cupcake" on South Congress. This is Kara, who is now as tall as me even though she's 11 years younger.

















Rufus knows how to swim now! He was a little nervous because he couldn't remember swimming with Aunt Grace when he was a baby, but once he got in there, he loved it.












I also got to see my friends Ashley and Bekah - BFFs since 10th grade.


I sort of stopped taking pictures halfway through the trip, but it also included seeing Lynn, Shelley, Christa and little Sada, Emily, Ceci and Tim, my family and Robert's family.

I'm also very proud of how well we did on gas money - we had allotted just the right amount (thank you eBay sales), and then ended up with some extra (thanks families!) and were able to put that towards our meals on the road.

We also had some money saved to do a little outlet shopping, and we both came away with some fabulous deals - for example...$300 jeans for $5. Yeah, we're amazing bargain hunters.

It was so nice to see our families and be in Texas. Also, on a side note, Mary Beth and I bought U2 tickets today. We will be seeing them in NYC in September. I decided this was the year - that even though it would cost a little bit to go see them, I would get to see MB and U2, and would just save up and enjoy it. So anyway, we have tickets to a sold out show. It's going to be crazy!

off to texas!

Well look at that - a month since my last post. Sorry, faithful readers.
I've been editing a lot and working - you know how it goes. However, the editing is slowing down for the moment, which is nice as far as having a break, but we will be missing the income. Boo. I'm currently looking for jobs, as I have been since we moved to STL. I might keep one of the three current jobs as a part time gig even if I find something else, but I've been praying hard about what God might be calling me to do. I hope it's not standing at a cash register - I've learned a lot of patience by doing that, but I don't want to do that long term.
I have met some super interesting people in the training that I do at the job I'm prohibited from mentioning explicitly on the web. Take a guess. Anyway, just in the past week, I met the first woman to dead lift 3 times her body weight - she holds all the weightlifting records. I also met someone who was involved in the Apollo 13 and Gemini missions as support staff. Then I helped another man who is in charge of much of the liturgical institute for the Catholic church. Some of these people are so super interesting, and I wish I could ask them all to a dinner party.
We're heading to Texas on Saturday - and taking Rufus with us. We're looking forward to seeing my family, and to seeing Mark and Connie's new place in Houston. We're obviously hitting up Amy's ice cream as much as our gift cards allow. Rufus has never made more than a 5 hour drive, so we're hoping he behaves himself. When we get back in town, he's getting personal training sessions - I guess it's his early birthday present. We hope it improves the inside (and outside, for that matter) rowdiness a little.
Yee-haw, see you when we return from Austin/Houston.

culinary adventures

I just had to rave about the chili I made on Thursday night. I used to completely hate cooking, but since we've moved to Saint Louis, it's started to grow on me a little. It's definitely making me put "dishwasher" on our list of must-haves when we move out of this place. Anyway, I've been reading a recipe site called Epicurious, and made Vegetarian Black Bean Chili with Orange and Cumin. I'm a big fan of orange flavor surprising me in foods, so it was awesome. I'm posting the recipe so that you can try it and love it - because it wasn't hard, and it was yummy. The only change I made was to half the amount of onion, which I felt was a good choice as the onion remained subtle. Subtle onions are always better. p.s. I sold my aforementioned jeans on ebay for more than what I paid for them. I'm afraid that I'm about to turn into the kind of person who sells stuff on ebay for their entire income. And that I'm also going to start being all Martha Stewart posting recipes on here. Get ready!

Vegetarian Chili with Orange and Cumin (from Bon Appetit)

yield: Makes 4 servings (plus leftovers)

active time: 30 minutes

total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 oranges
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 4 garlic cloves, pressed
• 4 teaspoons chili powder
• 4 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 15.5-ounce cans seasoned black beans, drained
• 2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes in juice
• Hot pepper sauce
• Sour cream or plain yogurt
• Chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

Grate enough orange peel to measure 1 1/2 teaspoons. Juice oranges. Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions; sauté 5 minutes. Mix in garlic and spices. Add beans, tomatoes, and half of orange juice. Simmer over medium heat until heated through and flavors blend, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Mix in orange peel and remaining orange juice. Season to taste with hot sauce, salt, and pepper. Ladle chili into bowls. Top with sour cream and cilantro. Pass extra hot sauce alongside.

a little update

Well hello, faithful blog-readers. I promised myself that I wouldn't update this until I had a real break from wedding editing. FINALLLLLLY.
So I have a little half self-imposed, half hard drive space-imposed break. Amazing how you can fill up a Terabyte hard drive so quickly.
Not too much is new here. Robert started a new semester, we had a real live snowstorm, I'm selling jeans on eBay for at least what I paid for them, hopefully more. I'm also trying to get all these boxes of stuff I've had for years out of the way. I realized that I've moved a lot in the past 8 years. Let's count, shall we? 10 times. And I realized that I really don't want to keep moving 6 shoeboxes and tubs with me each time I move. So I got a couple scrapbooks and got vicious on the memories.
Tomorrow we're going to Nashville to spend time with baby nephew Colton and the rest of the fam - I'm so excited. I got him the cutest toy ever....get excited, Colt.
This is not a very exciting update, but I'll leave you with some very cute pictures of Rufus and Franny (Jason and Megan's dog) playing in the snow. They do look vicious, don't they?

copycat

I'm copying the Littles' blog, where Caroline lists her favorite things and non-favorite things about living in Portland (in the winter specifically). So here is my version of this for winter in Saint Louis.

LOVE
The Monkey Woman coat I got in the fall because 1. it was a huge discount 2. i actually needed it
(same goes for my arsenal of SmartWool...and snowboots)
There is snow that stays on the ground
It snows
Scarfs are a necessity, not just an accessory
An excuse for hot chocolate

Don't so much LOVE
Ice that you slip on
Cold that never stops
Not being able to wear skirts and TOMS
Cracked hands - no lotion seems to help :(

Winter Award Winner
My very first space heater...mmmmmm. How did I ever live without this?

p.s. I have two categories of blog folders on my toolbar. One is "blogs" and the other is "stalk blogs". Basically it's people I know, and people I don't know. I think the fact that Perez Hilton is on "blogs" and not "stalk blogs" is telling. About something. Draw your own conclusions.

this is amazing

I MUST get this. I don't know this Etsy-girl, but I think she drew this for me:

AWESOME!

(and it's for a good cause)

ouch

On Tuesday, as I was leaving for work, I slipped on a patch of ice on our outside stairs and fell right on my tailbone. And I would think, "whatever, i'll have a bruise, no big deal". Well, it was way worse than that. I caught myself before passing out a couple times cause it killlllled. Robert was at class, so I called Megan, who came over and brought me a heating pad (magic) and grabbed me some ibuprofen.
Work wanted me to still try to come in, so I did...and it's really painful to drive/stand/bend/sit/walk. So yesterday, I got a little paranoid and went online to try and find out if I broke my tailbone or bruised it or what. Turns out, there's some pretty scary stuff out there. One website (coccyx.org) -I don't recommend going there, this guy has created a timeline of from when he first broke his tailbone, to when he got is removed to 5 years later, when he still can't ride in a car for more than 30 minutes. He also put up some rather gruesome pictures of the removed tailbone piece. Who does that?
Anyway, I'm feeling a bit better today - I was faster at getting out of bed - maybe my magical Danskos are helping. I sort of wish I had a better injury story, though. It just makes me sound downright clumsy that I fell on my butt....hmmmm.

A Camera!

Josh and Caylee let us borrow their digital camera until we get one. It's the same one that we used to have before silly thieves smashed our car window and stole it last year. So here's what we've been up to:

Taking pictures of ourselves - notice my awesome Sesame Street production staff fleece.


Rufus has been frightening Robert - and he ate my Bible (Rufus, not Robert).



We celebrated the New Year.



We have enjoyed drinking this: Trader Joe's Vintage Ale. Apparently you can age it...so we'll see when we pop it open our extra bottle next year.



That's it for tonight! More pictures will come soon - especially after I figure out how to wirelessly hook up our scanner.