return from the south

our trip to austin was loads of fun and chock full of activities. we spent LOTS of time with the overstreet family, hiked to the top of enchantment rock, partook of deepfried pickles (which are gluten-full if you were wondering), biked, drank purple margaritas, kayaked, took pictures, shopped, and...ATE. oh did we eat! food is such a splendid thing that brings families together.

we spent the first few days there in austin, eating turkey with the family. then on friday we took off for port aransas/corpus christi. it was very cold and spit rain for most of the time, but we still had a great time on our "vacation within a vacation"! rob, justin, court, brandon, and i spent friday night bait fishing off the pier. it was raining so hard that within 5 minutes each of us were thoroughly soaked.

we are exhausted now and happy to be home, although our systems had to do a rapid adjustment from the warm sun we enjoyed yesterday to the fluffy snow we found on the ground today. here are just a few photos...the rest are on our flickr site

travels and tales to come

i've spent the day doing the wash and trying to narrow down my list of items to take to austin. i am horrible at packing, truly awful. to top it off i always end up wearing the same thing over and over so i could just bring one outfit and be golden. anyhow, the progress is slow, but measurable.

we take off tomorrow to spend some time with erik and kayla, which i am thrilled we can fit in. i am also grateful for their willingness to cart us out to the airport.

our flight takes off monday for the lone star state and we are very much looking forward to being warm(er). it should be an interesting adventure trying to eat gluten free in the airports, but i am coming prepared with backup items if needed. sadly however, one cannot live on larabars alone.

hopefully we can get some GRE studying in during our flights and layovers, but we shall see how well our attention span holds out. i so want to do well and know that studying will help but pulling that huge book open feels like an insurmountable task!

meeting rowan

we think he is just the best!

we took off a couple days of work and school to hang out with our godson, rowan. he is incredible and perfect, and looks just like his daddy. we are pretty stoked on him!

here he is with his daddy, being chill.

he is thinking who the heck is this lady? yep, that would be his godmum!

logan and alyssa have one great little dude: he takes being mellow seriously and only cries when he needs a diaper change or to eat. what a way to be! it was hard to say goodbye, but we are looking forward to holding him again soon.

here's The Godfather

we also went to seattle to hang out with kemi & sara, which was loads of fun. they drove us around and put up with getting our city fixes (REI, asian food, freemont market, etc.). all i could think the whole time was how lucky i am to have such awesome girlfriends! sadly, we didn't get any photos.

then i met with a couple of my professors and asked them to write letters of recommendation for graduate school. both of them said they would have no trouble writing me positive letters, so that was a huge burden lifted. now the onus is just on me to get my statement of purpose put together....

our friend, the little guy

this is our newest friend, rowan. although brandon and i have not yet met the little guy, we are already enamored by him. we are quite possibly the most proud godparents in the world. what an honor! thank you logan and alyssa for choosing us!

we get the joy of meeting our godson this friday. we are going to awake early and head west so we can see him firsthand.

i must confess, i "stole" this photo from his momma's page, but i promise to have some original photos after our visit this weekend.

we can't wait to meet you rowan!

(doesn't he look just like logan?)

fall favorites

i think that my favorite fall day has always been daylight savings.
it is wonderful to be able to sleep in late and then to be able to shake off those feelings of guilt for your laziness--because really you aren't sleeping in that late. i, being the lover of sleep that i am, revel in that bonus hour of shuteye.
as the day goes on you keep thinking that surely it is later, then you look at the clock and remember "oh yeah, we set our clocks back." sweet, more bonus time!
because it gets darker earlier you begin to prepare to get into bed, with your body telling you that the time to sleep is drawing near. then suddenly you realize that you are in bed at 9:30!
daylight savings seems like the one day of the year when you aren't racing against the clock and i like that feeling.
to top off the beauty of daylight savings we had delightful, warm fall weather . although this photo is one i took a couple of weeks ago, it captures the feel of our day.

a night to dismember

friends of ours hosted a murder-mystery party on saturday night. each of us were assigned roles and then as the night progressed we found out more about ourselves and our "involvement in the murder". it turned out to be heaps of fun.

i was assigned the role of madame garlic, a flamboyant clairvoyant and brandon was the mummy of king aldrinktodat.
(click on the photo of brandon and i--it will take to the the other photos from the night.)

sadly (or perhaps not!), all i had to buy to transform myself into a gypsy was a pair of earrings, a bracelet and a ring--apparently i am not that far from being a gypsy in my day-to-day attire. hmmm...

fun with quinoa

tonight's dinner included gluten-free lasagna and a side dish of quinoa with sun-dried tomatoes! (don't worry mom, we had broccoli too!)

the quinoa was incredible--i would even recommend it to those not living a GF lifestyle. so delish! (p.s. quinoa is pronounced: keen-wa)

here is the recipe:

1 cup quinoa
1 tsp olive oil
8 sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed), diced
8 sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed), minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
pinch of chili powder

Instructions:
1. Place quinoa in a fine-meshed sieve and rinse under warm running water for 1 min. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat.
3. Add minced tomatoes and garlic and saute for 3-5 mins.
4. Add broth and bring to a boil.
5. Stir quinoa, diced tomatoes, and chili powder, return to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for about 30 mins, or until liquid is absorbed.
6. Let sit for 5 mins, and fluff grains with a fork to separate.

seeking through the doubt

there are few things that brandon and i disagree over, but my love for sara groves music is one of the constant sore spots in our marriage. our iTunes is of course full of sara groves music and when put on shuffle, he gets the opportunity to enjoy her also. iTunes seemed to have payed off, as he admitted to me yesterday that he liked one of her songs! of course he couldn't recall the title, but said it had to do with doubting god--a constant point of agreement between the two of us. i quickly identified the song as "maybe there is a loving god". here is our favorite part:

maybe i was made this way
to think and to reason and to question and to pray
and i have never prayed a lot
but maybe there is a loving god

maybe there is...

the tea enemy: secret ingredients

yesterday i bought some tea from the local co-op. when a small [very small] amount of gluten gets in my diet, i have a bit of stomach discomfort, so i thought this would be a good natural cure.

well i came across this yogi tea that is called something like "stomach ease". sounded like the perfect cure to my occassional wheat invasion so i bought some. i came home and had two cups in the afternoon and one before bed--don't mock me, it tasted so good!

i awoke in the middle of the night due to a certain feeling of stabbing coming from within my stomach. ouch. hard to sleep. quite uncomfortable. so i laid flat until the alarm had been "snoozed" too many times to count. i was utterly confused about where this pain was coming from, as it was exactly like the pain i often had back when i was a gluten-lush. i knew i didn't eat anything with gluten in it so what was the probelm?

the problem was not in the eating, but rather in the drinking: it was that damn yogi tea! the ingredients listed all sounded so nice and soothing, until i read "malt barley". what? who puts gluten in tea?

so the irony is that i bought the tea to ease the pain that the gluten causes only to ingest the cause of the pain. grr. here's to more reading material in my life as tea is no longer "safe".

family time at gluten-R-us

not only did we get the chance to celebrate grandma this weekend, we also got to meet ross' girly friend: jordan. what a great, down-to-earth, beautiful girl! hopefully ross realizes what a great gal he has in his life and treats her right.

alex enjoyed watching the ducks beat the cougs on the big screen. he was a big help when the party was over--he always has been willing to help out.

the family joined together after grandma's party at olive garden. mom and i found little on the menu that we could eat, although i salivated while reading the description for the ravioli. why must cheese and wheat go together so perfectly in taste and so horrendously in my body? it was nice to take a breath and eat with the people that we love!

is it just me or does ross look exactly as he did at eight? :)