hello monday 3/26/12

I'm linking up with Lisa Leonard and sharing things I'm saying hello to this week.

Hello spring! Lots of decorating going on and the wreath is up.

Hello fresh table linens and colorful flowers.

 Hello clean dishes.

 Hello cookbooks and birthday cards.

 Hello Don Draper. So excited for Mad Men to be back. 

We are also saying hello to allergies - so much earlier than in the past. Trying locally grown raw honey to soothe symptoms.

What are you welcoming this week?

Celebrate

Today I turn 29.

It's not a big number, but at the same time, it's huuuuge for me. My last birthday in my 20s. Ack.

We'll see next year if I have a better attitude about it, but I don't know how I'll react to being 30.

Instead of being all melodramatic (because people get sick of me doing that in real life, so I will spare those in blog land), I will share what my favorite gifts are this year.

My new tea brewing system IngenuiTEA from Adagio tea:

I am a tea snob and make a ginormous thermos every morning of 5 regular and 3 decaf tea bags. 

Quite frankly, it's been tasting pretty bland and blah. 

Enter the fab teas from Adagio and this nifty brewer.

Now I enjoy a perfectly brewed thermos of ceylon sonata or Irish breakfast tea. Why should I save the good stuff only for the weekend?

An Amazon gift card. Because I can load up my Kindle or buy just about anything I want.

JFK the Director's Cut

Because when I get on a kick, I go all out.

New Lisa Leonard necklace

I had one made for my mother in law a few years ago that says live in the light.

My Illuminate necklace will say "let light shine" from 2 Corinthians 4:6

"For God who said, "Light let shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

Probably the best gift are the planned gatherings.

We had a perfect dinner with Freddy's family last night, are looking forward to celebrating with my family tonight, and have a couple of other meals with friends over the next week. Connecting with others is my favorite gift of all - actually sharing and enjoying time together. We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives - it makes life much more fun!

So it's really not about the material stuff at all (it's fun, trust me, I love a good gift), but about the real gifts that matter - a God who loves always, and people to walk this life alongside. Thanks blog friends for the trust, love, and awesomeness you share all year long. I appreciate our friendship, the emails, the comments, the thoughtful encouragement you share with me. Thank you for making this year a true blast.

Q&A 3/6/12

Erin shared some cool stuff about herself over on her blog today. Feel free to play along and answer some fun questions about you.

1. What led you to blogging? My friend Paige really encouraged me to start blogging about four years ago. I wish I blogged more back then (about wedding plans, my 366 photo project, the randomness that I seem to always leave out) because I remember things happening but would have a better memory if I blogged them.

2. What's one goal you have for your blog? To make new, encouraging friends. Not the deepest goal, but that's what blogging seems to have naturally done, so I'd like that to continue.

3. What's your favorite part of your home? I like our bedroom (when I put all my clothes away).

4. What would your closet or home (your choice) say about you? Color overload! 

5. Favorite meal or comfort food? Pasta any way. I love a great, zesty pesto sauce.

6. What item would you love to splurge on if money was no object? A luxury car. Ok that's being practical. If I was honest, I'd say an Hermes Birkin bag. I know, completely shallow, but I have been saying for the past five years that if I could afford one and not look like a moron carrying it (meaning I would need to have a very different life, I know this is never happening) then I would buy one.

7.If you had an entire day alone, with no responsibilites or obligations, how would you spend it? Probably a little thrifting mixed with reading and knitting. Maybe a movie thrown in there during knitting. Or a Mad Men marathon.

8.Favorite vacation destination? I would love to go back to London. It was magical.

9. Do you live near your hometown, or have you moved far away? I'm about an hour away from where I grew up, which compared to some who have moved great distances from home, it's not a lot. I just plug in my iPod and listen to a book during the drive to my parents'. 

10. What's your dream job, if there is such a thing? I think I'd love being a stylist. I watch shows now and like thinking about the outfits and checking out the details of the sets (not the actual structures, like decor, dishes, etc). It's almost like a treasure hunt scrutinizing the pasta pot used on Modern Family to decide if it's LeCreuset (it so is). Still trying to figure out those dishes though. Square Fiesta? I dunno.

11. Complete this thought. Ten years ago...I was in my freshman year of college. Eeek! I didn't even know my husband yet. Most of my closest friends weren't in my life then. A lot can change in ten years.

Current Reads

I have a goal of reading 30 books in 2012. It was also my goal in 2011 and I nearly reached it, but thanks to a few crazy long books, I came up short. So far I am ahead two books but that gap tends to close in the summer. 

We'll see.

My favorite book thus far is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

I listened to this because I don't think 

I would ever get through the actual novel. 

Oh my word, it was wonderful. Perfect narration, intricate story. 

Just loved it.

This book stuck with me, haunted me (in a good way), 

and will be a hard book to beat.

I haven't seen the film yet. I forget plots quickly, so I will wait a little while until I won't be picky about the missing plot points.

I also read the play Women's Minyan.

It was a quick read, but again, I felt so connected to the characters even though they are worlds away in an Orthodox Jewish community in Israel. I think this was a 1.99 Kindle download and it was definitely worth the price and then some.

After 44 hours of listening (and being freaked out, confused, and then terrified) I finally finished Stephen King's It.

My husband is a huuuuuge Stephen King fan. Has nearly every single one of his books. Loves them all.

I've always been turned off by the ginormousness of the books. Oh and the sheer terror that is supposed to accompany reading them.

But then 11/22/63 was being published and all the people who reviewed it were so thrilled about the links between It and this new book, so I caved.

It was really flipping long.

Realllllly long.

But it was satisfyingly good.

Now I am reading 11/22/63 and it is quite possibly in the top ten books I've ever read.

The story starts right up, no draggingly long back story, no set up, it just starts.

And bonus, it's not scary.

What have you been reading lately?