thanks

feeling grateful today for:

skillet chicken parmesan;
an 8 year old boy who requested a pumpkin hat;
permission to enjoy my birthday month (thank you for the reminder, natasha!);
new-to-us furniture to replace old-to-us furniture;
election volunteers who call on election eve (no matter the candidate);
a healthy home.

reality check

i've been eating well this week. i don't often blog about food here (kind of ironic, considering the title of my blog and all.) i read beautiful foodie posts, and get tons of inspiration thanks to their mouth-watering photography. often, when i'm preparing a meal, i think i should take some pictures. but there are just not enough hours in the day for me to stylize my measured dry ingredients and freshly squeezed lemons. and usually by the time i think to photo the finished product, we're halfway through our meals and having a lively discussion about who is going to clean up the kitchen.

also, despite my love of words, and sentences of words, and paragraphs of words, a reviewer i am not. a few notes and my very scientific 5-star rating system scribbled into the margins of some old cookbooks tell me all i need to remember about a particular dish. (given that most of the recipes i use now come from the www, i rely heavily on "bookmarking." that and my uncanny ability to remember which bloggers make great chicken enchiladas, pumpkin cookies, rye limpa bread, or even a favorite sandwich.)

so, despite the fact that there are no photos, and i am not going to wax poetic about the amount of squash i've eaten in the past week, here is a sampling of what was served up at the erickson's house this week:

Turky Chili and Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie (Rachel Ray) *****

Shoo Vampire Soup (Martha Stewart)(no link to be found - i used my trusty 2000 Halloween Issue) ****

Stuffed Squash (Alton Brown) ****

Spaghetti Squash with meat sauce (Matty Erickson) *****

Mummy Sandwich (the lovely Joys of Home blog) ****

Chicken Mug Pie (Rachel Ray) *****

as i read back over this list,i am reminded of some lovely meals this week. and it occurred to me that (sometimes) weeks full of meals like this one are the exception, not the norm. my reality is that there is often a pizza night in the mix. (sometimes two!) my reality is that four out of five nights i am stopping at the grocery on the way home from work. and not for just one key ingredient. often i haven't decided on the evenings meal until five minutes before i walk out of my office. my reality is that my husband studied the culinary arts, and apparantly did not take one single class on washing dishes.

maybe i hesitate to share my cooking adventures, because of the lack of gorgeous photos, or a succint and savory review of the meal. maybe i think that my meals don't stack up to some of those that you have shared. (am i the only one that ever thinks that?)

unfortunately, i have stumbled with hesitations like this most of my life. a bit of the "grass is always greener" syndrome. i've wasted some precious time trying to keep up with the jones family (and the murphy family, and the smith family...)

but this week, we ate well. and added several recipes to our family favorites. we only ate pizza once, and that was after a late, chilly soccer game. but just in case you spend half a second worrying about keeping up with the erickson family, let me just put some perspective on it.



my reality: i can't make a decent looking mummy sandwich. don't get me wrong. i can see vast improvement over last year's attempt. at least this year's attempt "resembles" something "wrapped."



and truthfully? we would not have revisited the mummy sandwich this year had jack not declared it a "family tradition." (tradition? after a sad attempt one year? oh-kaaaaay...) but how could i deny my son his hallowe'en memories?

three!

i've given a lot of thought this year to my blog. if you were to ask my what i blog about, i really couldn't choose any better words than i did on that Hallowe'en three years ago...

in which i attempt to pay attention to the "little things" in life: the smiles, the quirky quotes, the entertainment factor of a now-5 1/2 y.o. son, split pea soup, homemade halloween costumes, cool fonts, my search for the perfect monogram, beautiful food and a dizzying array of my life's "amuse-bouche."

he is 8 1/2 now,
and there have been dozens of soups (three soup swaps!),
homemade halloween costumes are "itchy"
and i haven't yet found the perfect monogram.

and... i'm almost forty.

there are plenty of "little moments" yet to be found. thanks for sharing all of yours with me!

masquerade

frightfully fun

a fun martha craft that i've been meaning to do for several years. super fun to make, they cost next to nothing, and (say it with me) it's so easy, lelly could do it!!

did you see barb's? we both had the same great idea!



i love the bad lighting effect from my cameraphone. but, hey! it captured every single spooky dust bunny on my lampshade!!

happy birthday, barb!

a subtle shift

there are four daughters in my family. it was a little bit like growing up in "Fiddler on the Roof." minus one daughter. and a dairyman father. and a matchmaker. and religious persecution. dad was the local Scoutmaster - tuesday nights were his "break" from the heady estrogen stew that was invariably brewing at home.

in my generation of cousins, the girls ruled as well. out of sixteen cousins, three are boys (and i'm not suggesting AT ALL that they drooled.) but we girls definitely had the monopoly at family gatherings.

my sisters and i are all married now (many of my cousins as well), and raising families of our own. four daughters meant four husbands, which immeditaely leveled out the playing field. then, the arrival of jack opened the doors for a new generation of boys. jack, along with cousins max and felix and nephew-due-in-january have all of a sudden turned the tables in one generation. where the men in the family used to retreat into small tightly-knit packs of wild-eyed brethren resisting the urge to run, they now have found reassurance in their numbers.

grampie, jack, matty, brother-in-law mark

jack takes his responsibilities as oldest male of his generation verrrry seriously. after all, it is he who will introduce his cousins to legions of action figures. he is the one who carries a dog-eared copy of "The Dangerous Book for Boys." his will be the Cub Scout uniform that becomes the hand-me-down.

so far, he is an exemplary leader-of-the-pack. he tries new foods, he hugs his grandparents, he negotiates squabbles between his younger cousins. he can speak at-length about The Clone Wars and Transformers, and is moving easily up through his Cub Scout ranks.

now, if i could just get him to clean the bathroom...

amouse-bouche

a few weeks ago, the girls headed over to crystal's house for Girls Night In!! it turned out to be one of the best nights in a long time (we will NOT talk about the fact that crystal is moving away this week.)

finger foods and board games made a great night in. if you haven't played Curses yet, i highly recommend that you schedule a game soon! your abs will seriously love this work out! i unearthed laughing muscles that haven't been used in forever!

of course, i love any event that involves food, especially appetizers/fingerfoods/h'or d'oevres... a little amouse-bouche! my two selections tied in well with Fall, and inadvertantly, trees (huh. no that i've written that out, it doesn't seem very appetizing...)

i brought natasha's "pine cone" cheese ball


and miniature cupcakes with caramel "acorns" on top.


i love trolling blogs for foodie ideas. any amouse-bouche you'd care to share?

no, he does not twitter

the modern day playdate?
speaker phone? check.
laptop? check.
parents lurking around taking obnoxious photos? check.




(thank goodness there was a pal on the other end, and not a girl... i don't think i'm ready for that!)

did you know (that i've been in a funk)?

that i can't reuse a pool or shower towel that is slightly damp?
that i have a hard time unloading clean glassware from the dishwasher?
that i cannot stand the sound of other people sneezing?
that even though i am drawn to coffee shops, i stick with black coffee every time?
that i am addicted to social networking, and don't remember life before blogging, facebook and twitter?
that i don't bake because i don't like to feel flour on my hands?
that sometimes i don't like to hear my own voice?
that i currently feel claustrophobic in my small town?
that i am exhausted?

a bit of whimsy

michelle allen's creations are like eye candy to me! i don't know what is more appealing... the final product, or that she often shares her journey to the final product. i am such a sucker for other people's creativity!!

she's having a fabulous giveaway right now. go on. go ahead and check it out!

wordless wednesday - pumpkin hat edition

allison meets her new little brother, felix

check it off the list

we can now say we've been to Sonic!

all this just to say...

wha? what is this whirlwind going on? i know i need to stop! break it down now! (or at least organize my thoughts into something blogworthy), but...

so a sneak peak of the chaos i've created:

soccer has started. i am not the coach. (i am the "assistant coach," but the coach is really good, so i've been doing a lot of standing on the sidelines encouraging the boys to, say, not beat each other about the heads with their soccer balls.) i'm such a great "assistant coach" that i actually missed the first game (it was raining. a lot. can i say i'm not sorry i missed it? does that make me a bad "assistant coach?")

i missed the first game because i was busy bagging 10,000 dehydrated meals with my fellow Rotarians. do you know about Stop Hunger Now? if you don't, you should. what a great, uplifting, fast-paced humanitarian activity. 10,000 meals in one hour. it pretty much rocked.

i traveled last week and stayed in a hotel that was NOT a hampton (*gasp*). i fell a little bit in love. there were seriously 15 electrical outlets in the room. i could plug in every blessed thing i brought with me, and i still had 12 outlets left over! there was also fantastic lighting (functional AND ambiant), and a huge king size bed all. to. myself. the lobby was filled with smart and fun techno gadgets and media pods and flat screen everythings. yeah. i'm surprised i cam home.

i think i've secretly discovered that i am a geek. i also think i need an iPhone.

i have a new nephew! Felix! don't you love that? Felix Daniel was born in Decatur, GA yesterday. my sister had a very successful VBAC after, get this, firing her OB one week before delivery!! she's crazy like that. just goes to show you that if your medical practitioners are NOT working with you, it's time to move on!!

so, Felix. and he's beautiful. and i stayed up too late last night knitting the most adorable pumpkin hat for Felix, and of course, a slightly larger one for big sis Allis. i might need to make one for myself ;)

forty is weighing heavy on me now. (two more months) i might, in fact, be having a mid-something crisis. i'm not sure what the cure will be (but Apple, Inc. (TM), if you're reading this, that iPhone sure would be fun!)

any questions?

lost and found

people leave the strangest things in their hotel rooms...

 

 

wordless wednesday

 

resistance is... futile?

just today, i have been the recipient of three "desperate" sounding emails:

1) we need more soccer coaches for the boys
2) we need Sunday School teachers
3) we need to create a "working moms" group at church

these are not the type of emails i need to receive.

these are the types of emails that cause me to overextend my overextended self.

(these are the types of emails that make me question if i'm doing enough.)

these are the types of emails i can't ignore...

spt - how i spent my summer vacation

i spent my summer vacation the way i've spent every summer vacation since i began working in the hotel industry. i spent a lot of hours in a hotel (of course, i wasn't "vacationing" in the hotel, but still...)

jack goes to day camp in the summer, so our routine is basically the same as it is during the school year (i just drop him off in a different place!) i was up, every day, six days a week. getting ready for my day. having a conversation with her:

as you might imagine, she and i spent a lot of time discussing the upcoming birthday (40!) how we feel about it. what we are going to do differently in the second half of our lives.

she looks older to me now. and not in a i-have-laughed-through-the-years sort of a way. it's more of a "tired" old. and i let her know that that look will just not do.

she is nervous now about forty. for a while, it was fun to put on a brave face, but now some realities are taking hold. (she even shared with me that it's even harder to work off pesky belly fat now. the horror!)

but she also reminded me that fifteen years ago, we were having a similar internal meltdown about turning 25. and that on that brilliant day in november of 1994, while on a much needed fall vacation, we stood on the back veranda of the biltmore estate, took a deep breath, and realized that it. was. okay.

i will be waking up in a different destination this year. i am looking forward to that moment when i will know that it truly is okay.

after all, i have spent my entire summer vacation planning for it.

photoless phriday - the "if you build it, they will come" edition

if you organize a 5K race for Labor day weekend, people will run it.



(please note, this is an illustration, not a photo!!)

this will be the second running of the "Go, Jump in the Lake 5K and 1.5 mile Fun Run/Walk." we created this race last year, and were almost overwhelmed by it's success. if you are a runner (i am not), or have ever aspired to be a runner (i have), you know that a Saturday morning 5K is like Starbucks to the caffeine-dependent. people are inexplicably drawn to the opprotunity to sweat early in the morning. and... they will actually pay to do it!! (especially if you have great T shirts!!)

i have grown up in a family of opportunity creators. need a director for a community theatre production? someone from my family is there. need a youth group? scout troop? someone from my family is available. need a playground? yup, we'll pitch in and get it done. we have been raised with an uncanny ability to see a need for something. even better, we have been blessed with the enthusiasm to carry through with our visions.

it's exhausting. but it's also exhilirating! and it strikes me that too many people miss out on chances to create opportunities in their communities because of the overwhelming sensations that usually accompany such big projects. worse yet, maybe they just assume that "someone else will get it done."

if you've ever thought that, i hope you'll take a few minutes and give yourself a big pep talk! it can be overwhelming, for certain. it can be frustrating. heck, the project might even be a big flop!! it IS exhausting.

but, the exhiliration is so, so sweet. to hear an audience applaud for a show. to watch children play on a playground. and, yes, to cheer on those crazy, sweaty runners.

i wish you were in town. i wish you could join us tomorrow morning as the sun rises over Spring Lake and the 5K runners take their mark. i wish you could walk the 1.5 mile loop with me. and jack. and babies in strollers. and grandparents. i wish you could literally Jump in the Lake with us as we cross the finish line! (really, can you think of a better way to end a race?? forget the Gatorade. a quick swim is the way to go!)

you would look so great in the T shirt!!

SePTember is here...

aahhhhhhh...

allow me to revel in the day. september first. 72 degrees/73% humidity. sun. calm. a positive outlook (on my part). the *symbolic* end to what has been an insanely chaotic summer in the hotel business.

aahhhhhh...

it also happens to be pumpkin spice candle day in MY world!! unfortunately, i checked my stash this morning, and i don't have pumpkin spice on hand. but i have mulled cider!! and that will do. that will do very nicely.

it also happens to be a tuesday, and that has me thinking about self-portraits. and i've got a challenge for you.



how i spent my summer vacation

for the most part... kiddos are back at school and our lives are settling into their fall cycles. for many, that means soccer practice or piano lessons, scout troops or Seminary (see, i'm learning!), marathons or crop weekends. a little more structure, a little less daylight.

before you get caught up in the fall frenzy (school carnivals, anyone?) take some time to tell us how you spent your summer vacation. the challenge is this: you have one photo. one snapshot to tell your story. it might be a photo you've already taken, i photo you've already posted even. or maybe you will spend some time thinking about how to create "the perfect shot" that will showcase several months worth of you-ness.

you may be out of practice, you may be a first time spt-er. there's no pressure here. you've got time to plan. this challenge is due tuesday, september 8th, one week from today.

dusting off

it's been a few months of not-blogging, of this self-imposed hiatus.

a few months that have dragged their feet, plodding towards...

towards what? that is the question i meant to ask myself all summer: will i blog again? what will i blog about? what do i want from this little corner of the blogosphere? do i have a niche? do i WANT a niche?

and the nagging whisper, the question that wants to be asked, but not too loudly, "am i more than spt?"

in looking forward, i invariably looked back (and i know, i KNOW that breaks all the rules!) i re-read things i'd written two years ago. two months ago. i smiled at photos i'd forgotten to look at in a while. i wrapped myself in the warmth of your comments, stumbled upon misplaced dreams and journeys.

i soaked up words that i had written. and i remembered. i remembered that i started this blog because i am a writer.

huh.

i was sort of hoping that i would have had more of an epiphany. i was waiting for the "a-ha moment." (it hasn't come.) at some point, i might have even thought this post would be the glorious unveiling of a new & improved blog, complete with bells and whistles and widgets galore. well, this is not that post. and if you came here looking for that, i am sorry.

i don't think the vibe will change much around here, after all. i feel like blogging, and i am excited for what is yet to be written!

[i have some ideas for spt, as well, and i hope you will be ready to join me again on that journey.]