vie a la table » kris

monday miscellany

kris — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:32:09 +0000

the sun is shining gloriously, the stereo is keeping me on task with sounds of good music, and i keep refilling hot water into my cup of tea. although, by now, i think the tea is mostly diluted to just water. it’s been a good, productive monday…i’ve been slipping in the production category for the last week or so, but as i saw an upcoming deadline on my horizon grow closer, i knew i had to kick myself into gear.

i’m excited to be setting up a bit of life at the table at an event this thursday evening. one of my dear friends who is a fabulous hair stylist invited me to be a part of the irvington style lounge…a chic night of art, beauty, jewelry and food. kind of an open house of vendors selling work/jewelry and stylists offering beauty treatments like waxing and hair consults, in the midst of an artist’s home displaying his collection. and wil will be providing some great finger foods. if you’re in the portland area, and that sounds like it’s right up your alley, then please come by!

otherwise, we are just gearing up for a big day tomorrow…we finally are meeting with a realtor to get started on the home search!

too much on our plate?

kris — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:00:13 +0000

timing is a funny thing.

especially when we are not in control of timing.

i’m at the halfway point in the pregnancy (already!!!), so it seems natural to look back on the last few months, and look ahead to the next few. and i just laugh at the timing. we found out we were pregnant just a couple weeks after we were told we had 60 days to move out of our sweet little duplex. very funny god.

and then, over the course of those 60 days, you might remember me alluding to us wanting to buy a home after the new year, so that the apartment we rent now would be temporary during our house search.

well it turns out the date the lease expires on this place is literally days after i’m due. ha ha god…you are on a roll!

our hope is to start looking soon at what’s on the market, and if the timing works out, have escrow close around may, so that we have about a month to move in before i pop.

oh timing…i can see myself heading down a road of anxiety in the coming months when so much is going to be out of our control. waiting to hear if our offer is accepted. waiting to hear if we’ve been approved for a home loan. waiting for inspections. all the while hoping we aren’t forced to move too early and float two places financially, or forced to move too late when it’s down to the last days on the calendar.

did i mention we also have just listed our car (our only car) to sell so that we can hopefully have a lower car payment on a good family car, before our home loan gets approved? we really know how to line things up, don’t we?

in the midst of it all, i’ve struggled with the concept of a nursery, registering and where to mentally ‘put’ baby because honestly, there is no physical place. and there won’t be till june.

i’m so ready to just find a home, buy it and move in. if only it could be that easy! now it’s just a matter of making sure every piece falls into place at the right time. god, i sure hope my plan looks similar to yours!

dream of the 90′s

kris — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:07:38 +0000

by now, i hope you have heard of the show portlandia. it’s quirky, it’s silly, it’s outlandish, but what’s the best part is that it is NOT an exaggeration AT ALL. the longer we live here, the more we realize how unique this city is, and truly how quirky, silly and outlandish it is.

the first season started off with a bang with a hilarious opening song about the dream of the 90′s…people do buy & sell used cd’s here…people really like stuff when it has a bird on it!…and our employment rate here reveals how young people come to retire, and just maybe work in a coffee shop for a few hours a week and live in a house with 10 other people.

but it just got better, when they posted a ‘redux’ to the dream of the 90′s…the 1890′s that is. i love that i can think of friends (and ourselves) during most of the snippets in this song. so i just had to share.

to be completely ironic, we don’t even get the channel that this show airs on (ifc), but the 1st season is on instant netflix, and they post most of the clips (which are often better than the whole show, since it has a snl sketch type feel) online. hopefully it’s good for a laugh this thursday morning.

listening and whispering

kris — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:29:58 +0000

my sister’s birthday was last week and as an impromptu celebration my mom decided to hop on the train up to washington to spend a couple days with her…since the train passed through portland, i hopped on and joined her for the ride! we’re having an unofficial girls night (yes, our husbands are sadly bored and alone tonight).

this afternoon has been all baby talk…looking at furniture me sister has saved for me, talking about what’s a necessity and what’s not (she’s done it 5 times, so i definitely trust her opinion!), and even taking a peek at fun inspiration online.

and of course there was this moment that i love.

little miss eleanor (2 1/2) is listening very intently while mor mor is whispering sweet nothings into baby’s ears.

what’s in store

kris — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:57:30 +0000

we got our internet back! yipee. to be honest, it was a short lived break, as we were hooked back up (cheaply, yay!) by tuesday…it’s now saturday and i have yet to feel like i have anything interesting to say upon being reconnected.

i’ve had some more consistent, yet still fleeting thoughts about my connectivity to the internet and i continually wonder about scaling back. this week was a good one as each day made me feel like i was on the right path towards my hopes of more authentic community. we have since joined a home group in the last couple weeks, and although everyone was a stranger to wil and i upon the first meeting, i know it won’t be like that for long. i am eager to get to know the women (and men) better, especially as we delve into a new series at church about ‘real marriage’…not the fluffy christianese marriages but honest, sincere and friendship filled marriages.

even after a regular home group meeting on tuesday, the girls hanging out wednesday night, and the guys meeting for happy hour last night, i am already thinking of more ways to spend time with these people. i also loved getting to catch up with another friend over candy and a chick flick on thursday while wil closed at work. although i am quite an introvert, there are seasons where i crave social interaction and feel lonely. also just in light of our circumstances…being here for 2 years already, starting to stick with a church, having a baby, etc. i am seeking to grow, yet tighten a circle of people around ourselves that we call good friends. people that speak wisdom and truth into our lives, people we can serve with, and honestly, just people to hang out, share meals, and live life with.

with this in mind, i’ve seen myself habitually clicking the twitter button on my phone and by the time the feed loads, losing interest. or realizing it’s been a week before thinking about another post on here, and being ok with it. i don’t necessarily feel like i spend too much time online, but more so feel like there is this subconscious obligation to spend time online (for etsy, followers, etc) when really i am seeking the face to face. and i don’t want to feel like i have to give in to this obligation that is clearly not founded upon anything except being made up in my head.

where am i going with this? who knows. but i know god is continually working in my heart, even though i don’t know what he’s doing. i am excited to see what he’s laying out for me and wil and our new family, but i do know that he won’t be disappointed in me if i don’t tweet or blog about it.

bummer

kris — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:10:36 +0000

We knew it wouldn’t last forever, but each day we would turn on our tv or log on to our email and be amazed that our cable was still going.

You see, we never called to turn cable on when we moved December 1st….it just magically was still on!

But as luck would have it, the internet stopped. Boo. And now we are undecided on how to continue…call them up and get started? Look into a different company? Go without? Use our cell service to tether a network? We are trying to eliminate and/or lower as many bills as we can right now.

Bleh. So, as I’m typing this with my phone, bear with me as I might be gone for a while. There’s only so much I can do on my phone before I get frustrated with typing with one finger and staring at a teeny screen. Such first world problems!!!

Don’t worry, the shop is still up and running as I can still recieve orders and emails. Have a great week, all.

instafriday

kris — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:07:02 +0000

it’s funny that i would jump on this bandwagon now that i no longer have an iphone. but i loved instagram while i had it, even in it’s old non-updatable version. when i realized i still keep my iphone around the house and docked for music (since it’s still essentially an ipod!), i realized i could still snap a shot here and there.

this week has been pretty uneventful. which is a nice break after holiday traveling, and also nice to allow us to get some important things done…like getting the car emissions test, a windshield replaced, new wiper blades (are you sensing a theme here?)…yes, we hope to sell our car and trade for a different one. but most of the days and nights it’s been mellow.

- this is what the girls look like about 21 out of the 24 hours a day…

- i am trying to better plan my time. i know i previously mentioned about being more on top of meal time. i also just visually wanted to see how the time is allocated on off days, work days, and days wil is at work and i am at home (supposedly getting things done). so i laid it all out and tacked it to my closet door. i don’t think i gave myself any unreasonable goals, and there are definitely lots of open spaces, but if i can just hit some of the hours i set aside for certain things, i think i’ll feel better about my days.

- i may not be craving pickles and ice cream, but this week has been all about smoothies. remember when we picked an insane amount of blueberries? lucky for me i froze most of them (and other farm berries), and then forgot about them in our deep freezer until we moved this past month. today it was greek yogurt, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, banana, apple, flax seeds and honey. the crazy thing? i didn’t like smoothies before pregnancy…now it’s the highlight of my day!

- last night, i probably had plenty of other more important things to do, but instead i made a little coat for the dog’s sock monkey. ridiculous, i know. i promise, it was purely for longevity, as the sock monkey is ava’s current favorite toy, but the main part of the body had a bunch of holes in the weave letting out stuffing…this way the jacket stays on and covers all his injuries! (goodness, i want to find out what we’re having soon, so i can make baby things instead of messing around with dog toys!)

i’m off to work the next couple nights and the week will begin again…have a great weekend.

cooking for my husband

kris — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:15:55 +0000

it’s been a long while since i’ve cooked a decent dinner for wil. or even a regular dinner. like months. blame it on the pregnancy, moving, our schedules or whatever. deep down i know it’s probably that i didn’t realize till now how unorganized i was with my time. more often than not i would cast the blame on the thought that we had a really weird schedule of closing nights and nights off. but when i honestly looked at a normal week, we pretty consistently have 4 nights at home together. there’s no excuse!

last night i cooked a really nice dinner for him. it was definitely more than the usual affair and kept me occupied all day. the vintage linens and my handed down china made an appearance.

i set up a bar (for him only of course), as he was recently gifted the supplies for a dirty martini; and this man loves a dirty martini.

we dined on a couple courses…i can’t really take credit for the recipes themselves as i spent the days prior poring over old food & wine and bon appetit magazines for inspiration. i really wanted this dinner to be special, while taking into account what i can and can’t eat right now. we went with an apple, watercress & endive salad with a french shallot vinaigrette for our first course. and for dinner we had an herbed salmon over a vegetable quinoa pilaf, topped with a spiced creamy sauce.

i forgot to take pictures of the rest of the meal, but i hope that means we just enjoyed the food and the conversation too much to be distracted by anything else.

dessert was a skillet apple and pear crumble with whipped cream. i took this picture this morning, and it looks like somebody dug into it for a little more last night after i went to bed…

i think the one thing i took away from this meal was not necessarily guilt for not making him dinner more consistently (there was a little bit of that), but opening my eyes to how much he appreciates it when it’s done for him. he loves cooking, so much that he’s doing it on a day to day basis. but i often fail to recognize that when he comes home from being on the line for 10 hours, he certainly doesn’t want to ‘whip something up’ for himself or the two of us.

i regained a new sense of motivation on having dinner ready for him, when i can. because i love him, because i want to serve him, and because he appreciates it when i do. and when it all boils down, i’m not cooking for a chef every night…he’s just my husband, who’ll enjoy crazy gourmet things off a fine menu with a fancy glass of wine, all the way down to a plate of mac and cheese with hamburger and a pbr.

this past week in efforts of being better at forecasting our days together, i made ‘whiteboards’ for our kitchen. taking the picture out, i wrapped a textured neutral fabric around the matting/cardboard, and have written out our upcoming days on the front of the glass. we can hopefully plan meals and know what social/work things are ahead of us that week. (the other is to track pregnancy food & info each week)

here’s to being more purposeful with my time and serving my husband better along the way. and making him dinner a bit more frequently. ; )

(linked with life made lovely & miscellany monday)

reopening

kris — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:00:05 +0000

hey all, just a heads up the shop is back open. it was a nice break being able to focus on family, traveling and resting up from sickness, but it’s time to get going again if i want to get anywhere near my sales goal this year! it’s looking a little slim in there right now…i happily didn’t work on it at all for the last couple weeks, but now it’s sad and empty! for those of you who have purchased from the shop, or had hopes to…is there anything that you’ve been hoping to see in there? would love any of your feedback.

i have been throwing around the idea of a redesign and i’m not really sure where i want to go with that idea…refresh this blog, spruce up the shop, or just add new items to be sold. we’ll see. i don’t want to force anything, so if i get struck with a creative notion then that’s great, and if nothing comes, then that’s ok too. i think i’m giving myself another unspoken goal this year of focusing more on a genuine online ‘me’, versus just keeping up with what i see others doing.

if you’ve been along for the ride thus far, thank you! i was pleasantly surprised to recently find out i was only one away from 100 ‘likes’ on facebook, and even my twitter followers and google blog followers have quietly grown. it’s humbling and also nice feeling to know i can connect with you on some level!

hope you have a splendid week, friends.

old wive’s tales

kris — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:07:30 +0000

at 16 weeks i am beginning to look pregnant and less like i ate too much. : ) and for friends and family who’ve already known for the last couple weeks, the big questions i hear all the time are “do you know what it is?”, “when can you find out?”, and “are you going to find out?”

well, believe me, we are just as eager, if not more, than friends and strangers to know what we are having…but we still have a few weeks till we hear “it’s a ___!”

in addition to everyone’s questions (and guesses), people have mentioned some of the old wives tales of predicting what’s cooking inside. so i’ve had fun researching and reading as many of them as i can.

if you are carrying low it’s a boy, and high a girl
if the baby’s heart rate is higher than 140 beats per minute, it’s a girl; lower, a boy
if you are craving sweets, it’s a girl; sour and/or salty, a boy
according to an ancient chinese chart, you’ll be having a boy or a girl based on your age and the month at the time of conception
this one i had never heard of, and seems a bit insane to me, but pee in a cup, mix in a tablespoon of drano (of all things!) and watch what color it turns…green a girl, blue a boy
numerous number tricks…adding the age you were at conception plus the number of the due date month and odd or even says what it is. also if your age at conception and the year of conception are both odd or both even it’s a girl, if one’s odd and one even it’s a boy. i heard other variations of ages, months, odds, evens, and then some more!
do girls steal their mother’s beauty? if the mother is glowing, radiant, beautiful hair, etc, it’s a boy. and on the flipside, if the mother is breaking out, lackluster hair, etc, it’s a girl. wait, i thought all pregnant women were beautiful?!?!?
if you hang your wedding ring over your belly, and if it swings back and forth it’s a girl; swings in a circle, a boy (also heard about using a pencil and holding it over your wrist)
if you had bad morning sickness in the beginning (or throughout), it’s a girl; little to no sickness, a boy
is dad putting on weight during the pregnancy? if so, it’s a girl; if not, a boy
set a key in front of your belly…ask an unsuspecting friend to pick it up…if they grab the skinny part, it’s a girl; they grab the round part, a boy

to say the least, a lot of these gave me a good laugh. some are a little insane, and some seem to contradict themselves. a couple of these, within minutes of typing one of them, i’d read another version on a different pregnancy website telling me opposite results. ha!

one thing’s for sure, they are all correct in predicting 50% of the time! i think i’ll hold off on doing some of these…i’m happy for either a boy or a girl. a couple of the quizzes and tests i’ve done have already given me conflicting answers. and i don’t plan on buying any drano any time soon.

only time will tell!! any moms out there do any of these with accuracy during your pregnancies?