Spicy Week: Exotic Destinations

Baltimore Maryland:  a short photo essay.

This is the view from school.  Facing south you can see the harbor, Butcher's Hill, Fells Point and a tiny bit of Canton. And you can almost see our house.  Most of the following pictures are taken around these neighborhood.

The Pagoda in Patterson Park is very art deco-ish and has great view of the city.

The local street art is pretty good.

The crab knocker is so appropriate.

The city is filled with old treasures like this.

Yay for bowling!

Pottery Mosaic WITH mirrors - yes!

Hope you enjoyed your tour!  Come visit for real - it's even better in person!

Spicy Week: Yum

Good blogs feature food, right?  Yummy food that is easy to make and pretty to look at.

So...here is a great recipe for a quick and delicious appetizer.  Thanks to my mom.

What you need:

Asparagus (thin is good)

horseradish

mayo

lemon juice

sliced ham deli meat

crescent roll dough

Parmesan cheese

Step one:  mix up a little mayo, horseradish, and lemon juice - you just need a bit.

Step two:  spread some of the mixture onto a piece of thinly sliced ham.

Step three:  wrap the asparagus in the ham

Step four:  unroll the crescent roll package dough into a long strip (don't split into individual rolls).  Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out super thin.  Maybe sprinkle with some parmesan cheese.

Step five:  slice dough into thin (1.5-2 ince strips)

Step six: spiral wrap the dough strips around the asparagus.

Step seven:  bake at 300 F - watch them - they don't take long to brown up since the dough is so thin!

Step eight:  serve warm or cool!  Yum!

Sadly - I have no pictures of the final product.  I was too busy eating.  

Mommy much?

Usually after I finish an exam or a paper I zone out a bit - kind of like eating a big bowl of ice cream right after you finish a long run.  Still not good for you but you feel more justified doing it.  Life is a process people...I'm working on it. 

Usually this means I catch up on The Office (Jim and Pam!) or cyber stalk my friends on facebook.  The other day I was reading a blog entry - post paper writing - and I hit the "next blog" arrow up at the top.  It takes you to a random blog somewhere on the vast interweb - like a mini surprise!

Somehow it wasn't so surprising that I hit about 20 mommy blogs in a row.  You know, the ones titled "The XXXX family - fun and frolicking in fabulous Florida!" which have thousands of pictures of the kids and the dog, family updates, a Christmas photo, random musings on parenthood, links to their outdated webpages, videos of their son taking his first steps...wait a second.  

Am I a mommy blog???  (Jon does still post occasionally, but I'm thinking of highlighting his sections as a featured guest.  Is that a challenge?  Hmmmm.)

I think the answer is yes which isn't really a bad thing.  We did start this blog as an update mechanism so our far away family would feel more in the loop.

BUT - a little bit of spice doesn't hurt anything.

So, in an attempt to up the piquancy, I've identified characteristics from other mom-written blogs that might help.  Let's see how we measure up to the top five:

1) They are usually crafty, creative, and have great tips (I created our semi-finished header.  Does that count?)

2) They get to the point and don't blab.  (uh, whoops)

3) They contain interesting, thought provoking, witty essays. (Come back Jon!)

4) They feature awesome, artsy photos of adorable families,  exotic locals, fun ideas (Got adorable down pat.)

5) They post regularly. (no comment)

On the spicy scale I give HP View a mild to bland rating.

Never fear, however!  Gina's mystery mexican nights have already livened up life around our little abode!  Get ready to party because the chile train is coming!  

(total inside joke - woowoo!)

What's new.

This is what Owen is up to these days.  He's one busy, busy boy.  

Thanks to Gina - who finally was able to capture his new trick after I failed several times.  

Indescribable.

If you've known me for awhile then undoubtedly you've heard me mention (brag?) that I went to Space Camp in middle school.  There is a fine line between awesome and nerdy and I think I walk it well.

I was going to be an astronaut at one point and I couldn't wait to see the view from space.  

I'm happily planted on solid ground now but my mind still wanders star-ward from time to time.  I just can't wrap my brain around a light year.  Or the fact that our galaxy is so tiny compared to the universe.

An old friend posted this video link on facebook.  It's broken into five parts - each about 9 minutes.  I'm not a fan of stadium-style, hype-it-up, emotion-driven preaching...but sometimes I get caught up in the 'enormity' of my life and the simple facts and images presented here about the universe re-calibrated my mind.  I've been thinking about the Indescribable nature of God for a few weeks now.

Here's part one.

Birthday!

This is how I feel about birthdays.

Mine was awesome.  29 is going to be a great year - I can just tell.

Here's some change.

I feel like blogging.   (I also feel like pouring a whole bag of dried fruit and nuts down my throat - but I already did that once and I don't want to be greedy.)

It's probably because I'm procrastinating doing homework and readings.  Or maybe because I'm hopped up on sugar.  Or maybe both.

Life is changing.

This morning we drove to PA for a quick visit with new nephew Blake.  He is so tiny and sweet and brand, brand new.  Trish and Dan have entered the world of two kids and seem  to be handling it wonderfully.  I asked Trish what it felt like to be doing this all a second time - she said it was so different.

I had a group meeting at school today.  I'm not a groupie.  But today - I was slower to correct obnoxiously, listened a little more intently, and overall balanced varied personalities just a tad better than the bull-in-china-shop approach I usually take.  I'm pretty sure it's an answer to prayers.  Life is to short to waste it on me being me so I'm always happy to see a little less of myself show up.

[I have one more story - though I can't tell it just yet.  But it's not about babies - I already told one of those.]  

Jon and I have noticed something.  It's not just the leaves that are switching out their green cloaks for something more festive, life is changing, something's afoot.

I've been thinking a lot the past few days about the plans God has in His mind for the world, and for me.  Frankly - blown away that He has plans for me.  And thankful - very thankful.

I'm gearing up and getting excited!

9 Happy Months!

A quiet little song woke me up this morning.  "dAAAbrrrababammaaa!"

Moments later a little finger shot up my nose.  Is there a better way to wake up? 

I think not.

 

Owen, my little two-toothed, army-crawling, babble-talking, wanna-walker...my world sparkles more brightly each month because of you.

He's done it again.

Family photoshoot #3!  

Here is a sneak peak of our session last week with the talented G.I. of Describe Photography.

More to come.  They are awesome.

I'm getting ready to commission a cool project from him - I can't wait!  But shhhhh...he doesn't know it yet!  

Clarity

Jon's last post gave our gentle readers a little taste of our early Christian days.  I'm fairly certain that there now exists an urgent demand (from our 8 subscribers and 6 follower - hi Mom) for an update!  Who are we now that there are no flashing, spinning, or blinking links on the blog?  So here is my stab at connecting the dots.  Oh, and I added a little link of my own.  Look who's the html wizard now.  

That last post unleashed a flood of memories, mostly happy scenes of our early days, weeks, and months together.  Months critical to not only the formation of our life together but also to our faith.

We were fiery.  Consumed, eager, hot, chomping at the bit, willing to jump, longing to be let loose on the world, sure of our role.  Impetuous in many ways.

The early blush of love is a massive force.  Under its influence you willingly belt out off-key songs on national television (or build a website with every flashing link known to man).  Possibly not the most effective use of your romantic energy, but accepted lovingly by the object of your affection, possibly with a tear or two. 

Then, as if to test the true intentions of our faith, Jon and I were taken through some seriously dark circumstances, where it seemed that the beautiful reality around us had been a mirage.  Trust me.  Everything that could be shaken, was.  We were left with only faith, hope, and love.  (and that is not meant to sound nice or cute - that is ALL we had, and hope was starting to fray a bit.)

Just as it seems we had hit the nadir we turned around and realized that actually, truth was closer now than ever before, closer than if life had continued.  And adversity had a secondary benefit...greater maturity.

The initial explosion of heat and light has left, in its place, something stronger, deeper, more lasting:  passion.  Still consuming, but measured now by the glow of a life's work, not a moment's sparkle.  Still eager, but paced and steady.  Still willing, but strategic.

Even more importantly, we were not alone.

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