Outlets

An outlet is a way you get through frustrations or disappointments. We all have them, at least if we are healthy and move past things.

One of my best outlets is music. It gets me IN my head WITHOUT focusing on whatever problem is going on which is usually a welcomed break. I think this is why I love music so much. It seems the notes express things that I can't articulate. I'm not a musician, and I am not particularly a good singer. More accurately, I'm one step away from tone deaf, but I love it!

Prayer is also an outlet that I definitely don't utilize like I should. That reminds me that I don't really live like a Christian. (my mom's quote) I live quite independent of God way too often, and by independent I mean denying the truth that every breath and sunrise is an act of God's sustaining power for the universe. Do you struggle with this? You're breathing and reading this so I assume you do. God is so faithful to meet us again and again. We recently had the opportunity to hear USC's RUF minister, Sammy Rhodes, preach at LPC and he said "God is much more willing to forgive our sins than we are to ask for it." I forget it's so simple. I hope this is a pleasant reminder of the immensity of God's grace. Also I hope God has given you ways to let out your struggles.

Also, one more is writing song lyrics in cursive. It's quite relaxing for me, and I never write in cursive so it's fun! Some albums that have been outlets for me lately are The Fray's new one called Scars and Stories. Get the deluxe version; they do a cover of Maps by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs that makes me smile. Lots of good songs Heartbeat, Turn Me On, 1961, 48 to go, Munich, Rainy Zurich, and Be Still. Then there is a group I shazaamed on 99.3 WXRY, Of Monsters and Men that is upbeat and folky. They're from Iceland and the male lead sounds like Mumford. Love them! Also a group called the Lumineers that have a song called Hey Ho which is so fun you can't help but sing along and smile. I hope you check out some of this and love it as much as I do.

Camping

Jim Gaffigan, a loved comedian in the Clark home, has a sketch on camping. He says things like "my parents didn't take me camping because they loved me" and "happy camper, a happy camper is the camper leaving the campground" and "hey in my family camping is a tradition; hey camping was a tradition in everyone's family before we invented the house" "I'm what you would call indoorsy" "if it's so great outside why are all the bugs trying to get in my house". So you get the picture? He's hilarious, but we love camping anyway. I love it in the fall and spring no thank you winter or summer.

This past weekend we went to the Brevard area in NC and camped at Cascade Lake recreation. It was beautiful scenery and weather. We did a little hiking on Saturday an saw some beautiful waterfalls. I love cooking outside on the Coleman stove. Genuinely I had a blast. We have kind of started a biannual tradition with some friends from college. I hope it continues.

Here are some waterfall shots. This is High Falls, Triple Falls, and Connestee Falls.

Garden

Ok so we planted our garden March 31 this year, and I have been a terrible blogger. I wanted to write a post so I could remind myself when things start to pop out of the ground. I wrote a post last year called inklings that showed the plants right after they burst into the world for sunlight...(so dramatic) I love gardening; it is genuinely a joy to walk out to the garden after work and see the growth from the day before or even that morning. You get excited like, I did that!!! Then you realize actually God did that!!! It's just nice to be a part of fruitful labor. So I took pictures I think around day 7 after planting and here are the babies...

Green Beans

We have six of these squash and zucchini mounds.

Cucumbers

Tomatoes

I then took pictures at about two weeks old. These would be so much

cooler if I had time for side by side editing.

Green Beans Week 2

Squash Week 2

Zucchini Week 2



Cucumbers Week 2



Roma Tomato Week 2

Bell Peppers, Banana Peppers, and Jalapeno Peppers
Week 2

So there is this years garden...we now have a few blossoms on the tomato plants...yay!

Words

I started this post 2 weeks ago, but here it is anyway...

I believe you know that I've been trying to "improve" myself by reading some "Classics." By the way, I had no idea what really made a classic novel; I guess I thought it meant it was liked and old. Apparently, being a classic is pretty subjective. Wikipedia helped me out a little, but basically most people refer to reading lists produced by Oxford or Harvard or Penguin. There was this one quote that I felt most resonated with my thoughts on classic literature. Italo Calvino wrote, "A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say." I even made that a facebook status one day. I just love it when people write something that I wish I could come up with.

I started by reading The Scarlet Letter by Nathaneal Hawthorne. He is a great writer; he wrote some things that I thought better described feelings better than I had ever heard. He wrote a thought provoking story about punishment for sin. I however, did not enjoy the read. I didn't know anything about the story, except that a woman committed adultery and was punished by wearing an A on her chest. If that is all you know then the story drags on about the details of the town, the woods, and the marketplace in crucial parts of the story where you really just want to know what is going to happen to these poor characters. I think it would be easier to read now that I know what is to happen, but my word to describe the story is torturous! I'm sorry if it's your favorite book. I think I have spoken with respect and given it credit where it is due, but seriously it took me a month and it's a pretty short book.

I have began reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. From page one I have enjoyed it. I'm about 1/4 of the way through and still really enjoy it. Again, I had no idea what the story was about before starting it. I really like Miss Jane and find that I can relate to her in ways, but not her restless spirit. I look forward to finishing this one.

Something funny that I like about reading these Classics is these stories were both written around the 1850s and they use several words in common. Words that I know I've heard before but definitely don't use. Here's your 1850s vocab lesson for the day. Don't say I never taught you anything!

Ignominy- a noun 1.disgrace; dishonor; public contempt.  2. shameful or dishonorable quality or conduct or an instance of this.
Imp- a noun 1. a little devil or demon; an evil spirit. 2. a mischievous child.
Vogue- a noun 1. something in fashion, as at a particular time: Short hairdos were the vogue in the twenties.

2. popular currency, acceptance, or favor; popularity: The book is having a great vogue.
Zenith- a noun  1. the point on the celestial sphere vertically above a given position or observer. Compare nadir. 2. a highest point or state; culmination.

a common phrase "deuce take me" apparently means the devil take me. Very interesting!

Ok also I finished reading Jane Eyre. I really enjoyed it. I can definitely say that "It's a story that hasn't finished saying what it has to say." I love that even though there is love in the story, the theme remains about Jane's character and who she is.

Next up Call of the Wild by Jack London.

Surrounded by Amazing

On a daily basis I am humbled by the talent around me. I have a husband who can pick up anything new and excel at it. Just this past weekend he taught himself how to change all the spark plugs and coils (I don't even know what those are really) on his truck. It took him about 5 hours, and he saved us some serious $$$. He also has taught himself how to play the piano, guitar, and picked up my violin once and made it sound pretty great! Am I leaving anything out? Oh yeah he's pretty much great at every sport. Ok, so I have a very talented sister too. She sews custom drapes for designers for a living. She started sewing at the age of like 8, I think. She started with learning to crochet with my Grandma; after she passed away she continued and taught herself how to sew quilts and made costumes for us. I really need to post a picture of us in some of her stuff growing up...it would be AWESOME(ly funny.) Then in highschool she sewed her prom dresses and took some home ec classes and got hooked up with a seamstress who sewed for a designer. There she learned how to do a few things, but mostly realized she needed some sewing courses. She did that. She is now awesome and has this mind that can engineer all kinds of drapes, and as you've seen flower pots out of barnwood. My mom, not having tons of time, but can write, sew, and paint/draw well and bake so GOOOOOOD. Also, she did lots of crafts with us growing up and has an amazing green thumb both for the table and for pleasure. So with all this awesomeness you can get kinda down on yourself, but I don't. I like who I am, but mostly I focus on these awesome people. I should mention that Andrew comes from a line of awesomeness too...and I didn't take pics of Andrew's handy work, but here's my sis' latest awesome thing she did for me.

Andrew gave me a Kindle for V day, I promptly damaged the screen...just a little.
THANKFULLY it self healed, but I knew I needed a cover to carry it in.

Pretty cool it has this pocket front and back. You can stick whatever you like in...
I should mention I totally stole the idea from etsy.com. They had the
 idea, but none of theirs seemed sturdy enough to tolerate any kind of
 blow that might injure my screen. This has cereal box in it to
sturdy the fabric enough to protect the screen.

This is the one I stole it from, and when I decided it
 looked a little plain and to add my twine details. I
think we can agree...mine's better!



My Kindle. It slides in the top.




So you can see the cool details. I decided that this twine I had would make
 great fringes. I love this button. It has a really great contrast in the wood grain, which
is my favorite. Also, it's not even wood. It's recycled plastic. I have no idea how
they do it, or who they are, but it's awesome!



Oh yeah and this was on $10 worth of materials, I have a lot left over too! The covers I looked at on etsy and amazon were about 20-30 dollars. I am so excited about my cover.
Man I love being surrounded by AMAZING people!

A twist on a new Classic

Andrew and I have a favorite P Dub (that's my favorite signature that the Pioneer Woman uses) casserole...chicken spaghetti. I usually change it up a little, because I don't like cooked bell peppers. I love them fresh but only tolerate them cooked if someone else cooked them. So my latest change up was to add mushrooms to the top under the cheese, because I thought (and was right) this would allow the mushrooms to keep there texture better. They didn't get all mushy! Also I used a cup of sour cream as a sub for the second can of cream of mushroom simply because I only had one! Oh yea I'm not a huge fan of the pimento either, I just leave that out. Here's the link: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/chicken_spaghet/

Random

Ok so this is truly out of nowhere and not even really blog worthy. Icing or frosting? Is there a difference? Which term do you prefer? I personally think I grew up with icing and frosting sounds kind of funny? Do you ice the cake or frost the cake?

The End.

P.S. If you google icing and frosting you get similar but different images.

Teal...heck yes!