Category Archives: Uncategorized

It’s been awhile since I’ve shared anything here. Life has been full, in mostly really great ways. I’ve been seeing a lot of live music, going on bike rides, taking an art class, watching the leaves and flowers burst, and easing myself back in to a running routine.

Here’s a little (mostly) visual update:

Last week we saw three live shows: The Felice Brothers, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, and the Decemberists. Each at a different venue, each awesome.

The Felice Brothers had us all dancing and yeeehawing- the accordion was my favorite.

The Elvis Perkins show involved the trombonist in the crowd, that crazy marching band drum, and more dancing-

The Decemberists show was at a college (which apparently means ultra high security these days), in a gym, and it was rad. High-energy, wise cracks from Colin Malloy, and a perfect set list. I can’t wait to see them again when they come back around in August.

Spiffying up the porch and planting herbs and flowers

…And then we were invaded by winged ants. Hopefully they are packing their bags, because while I’m sure they were very nice ants, they were not welcome on our porch, ok?

Sculpting and painting and printing and drawing in art class

I’ve never been a good artist, but I’ve always enjoyed it. This class if full of nice people, and I always leave feeling relaxed and inspired. Playing around in an art studio is an excellent de-stresser.

Finalizing the layout on our wedding book (finally)

This baby has gone to print. Just a few tiny little wedding-related ends left to tie up. We should also pick a few wedding photos to enlarge and frame, but that task feels incredibly daunting.

Buying and riding my new bike

I love it, I love it! Hopefully the bike trail will be fixed soon. (Read about the gigantic hole and the repair efforts here. You can even chip in to fix it if you want!)

Enjoying this place

There is tons of stuff going on in the valley these days, and it’s been great to actually spend weekends in town taking it all in. This weekend alone is Northampton Pride, Twist, and Derrill’s Race (my first 5k in two years, eek). Oh, and my herbs have sprouted!

I continue to be unsure of what I want to write about here. I want to come back to it, and I will, I just have to figure out how I want to go about it.

Happy spring!

I spent yesterday afternoon at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. It’s just up the road in Amherst, sitting on a beautiful spot next to Hampshire College, in the middle of an apple orchard. The architecture of the museum is breathtaking and its contents are lovely. If you’ve never been there, I recommend a trip, with or without kids (and when you go, don’t miss the hands-on art studio).

WAMC‘s The Roundtable is broadcasting from the museum this morning– I’m listening while I work right now. Word has it that Carle himself will be on later in the morning. While no longer a Valley resident, Eric Carle’s influence is strong around here. Many people I know have personal and/or professional connections to the museum, the author/artist, and his work.

And guess what I just learned? Eric Carle has a blog! (I’m sure at least one of you reading knew this- Hi Meg!) There isn’t much there yet, but even online his words are gentle and his stories sweet. You can check it out here.

Have a happy, sunny weekend!

Last night, walking up the steps into the elementary school, I spotted four green bursts poking through the ground next to the building. Nature’s first green, right there, standing proud. I called to the 13-year-old girls walking in with me to come look. They dropped their aloof coolness for a moment to squeal with me: Spring!

The snow has retreated to just a few murky patches.
The light and shadows say brighter seasons are coming, hold on a little longer, we’re almost there.

*****
photo by me, taken one year ago.

Time for a little plug on behalf of some folks I really like– our wedding photographers recently revamped their blog. For some mid-rainy-day prettiness, check out the new look of Upstate Photographers. I adore Paul and Brenda. Wrapping up our book layout and final products is bittersweet– I’ll miss them! I’m sure we’ll be calling on them a couple years down the line for family portraits!

Cabin fever or spring fever or just a need for something new– whatever it is I’ve been mighty restless lately. In addition to letting out the occasional “argh!”, the antses in my pants have led me to:

• Sign up for an art class. Starting in a couple weeks, Julia and I will be channeling our inner Van Goghs at Art Always. We’re taking an eight-week course in which we’ll have the chance to explore drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, fabric arts and who knows what else. Divine.

  

• Write. I don’t know what’s been keeping me from this, but it’s time to just do it, no matter how crappy it is. This project was a good jump start.
• Daydream about volunteer vacations. Habitat for Humanity’s Global Village program looks amazing. Not to mention the hundreds listed on Charity Channel. Reforesting, building schools, organic farming, trail preservation– there are so many amazing opportunities out there. I’d love to do one of these with the husband.

  

• Researching which bike to buy this spring. I am so done with my too-big, second-hand men’s mountain bike and I’ve been promising myself a new one for years. I’m currently drooling over this baby (the one in the photo above). I can’t wait to find out what it’s like to ride a bike that’s actually the right size for me. Here’s hoping there will be some extremely good spring sales on bicycles…

Along with the change in seasons, I’m hopeful that a little daydreaming and an injection of creativity will help me get over this fidgety feeling. If not, it may be time to think bigger.

photo by pat, delicious funfetti cookies by julia.

There are five minutes left of my 28th birthday. A Wednesday birthday (and Ash Wednesday at that) is never as fun-filled as a weekend birthday, but today was very sweet. There was a nice lunch with my co-workers, a birthday éclair the size of my head, funny voicemails and serenades, cute phone calls, nice emails, a couple of fun packages, and a plethora of Facebook greetings. My Girl Scout troop sang an enthusiastic round of Happy Birthday, Julia baked funfetti cookies (if you like funfetti cake you need to try these cookies), Patrick picked up sushi, and Lost was extra awesome. I felt loved, and there’s no better way to start off another year in the life.

*”Just like the day before, we waited together/Goddamn what a beautiful day” –Ash Wednesday, the Kamikaze Hearts

We have tickets to see Sarah Vowell at the Calvin on Friday! Can’t wait!

It is so easy to get lazy about food. If we don’t plan, we eat a lot of pasta and take out, and then feel bad about it (well, I do anyway). So last week I did the thing I plan to do every weekend, but rarely get to: I planned the week’s meals and I shopped based on the menus. And last week, we ate better than we have in a long time.

Over the course of the week, we made four new-to-us recipes. Nothing too fancy, just some new combinations. Our Week in Recipes went like this:

Sunday- zesty roasted chicken and potatoes (recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookbook) and steamed broccoli with garlic oil (from the January/February Everyday Food)

Monday- lemony shrimp with white beans and cous cous (February Real Simple). Here’s what it looked like (this was one of my favorites of the week):

Photo by Patrick. Forgive us for having red wine with seafood, that’s what was open.

Tuesday– crispy chicken (February Real Simple) and sauteed spinach with red onion (Giada De Laurentiis’ Everyday Pasta)

Wednesday- we ditched our planned meal of orecchiette with roasted broccoli and walnuts (February Real Simple) in favor of making pizza with Julia and Seth.

Thursday- Our weekly trivia night, so we scheduled leftover night. Despite planing this, we still have a bunch of tasty leftovers– great for lunches and dinners during this busy week.

Friday- baked pastina and chicken casserole (Everyday Pasta). I’m a sucker for anything involving pastina, a staple of my childhood diet.

Saturday- taco and game night at a friends’ house (ok, technically this wasn’t part of New Recipe Week, but it rounded out our week of home-cooked meals nicely!)

My favorite of the new recipes was Monday’s lemony shrimp with cous cous, followed closely by the baked pastina. Tasty tasty. This week was a bit heavy on the chicken recipes, but we had some to use up, and in addition to trying new recipes, I wanted to make use of things we had. I also planned some ingredient overlap to save a little cash.

When things got busy and crazy last summer (moving, family stuff, wedding), deliberately planned meals went out the window. We’re finally getting back on track. It’s overly ambitious for us to make four new recipes every week, but I hope that last week jump-started us on more consistent meal-planning and healthier dinners. The Extended Adolescence Meal Plan is out. It’s time to take a little more control over this part of life.