My Life as a Novel

One year ago today, my best friend celebrated the birth of her first child: Harper Wren. And 24 hours ago today, she celebrated the birth of her second.

I present, Mozelle Hope, or Baby Elle:

And with the birth of this child, I stumbled across my newest pregnancy goal: to look as good as Anna did right after she popped a baby out. Seriously. Unbelievable how good she looks, and this is literally less than 20 minutes after the baby was born. What an inspiration!!

Labels: Friends, photo

Until this past weekend, it had been exactly two years since we'd seen Alex & Jana. Two years ago (March 14 was the day I got my tattoo, and we were staying with them then), we went to Atlanta, saw an Explosions in the Sky show, stayed at their house for a few days, sleeping on air mattresses because all their stuff was either gone or in storage. They were moving to London for a while for Alex to attend seminary.

So it had been far too long. And we were really excited to get to see them this weekend.



We got in late Friday night, and were woken up by Cash on Saturday morning. Kyle LOVES Cash, so ... this was not really a problem at all! :)

And then Alex had an appointment, so after a pancake breakfast, we all headed to:


the tattoo parlor.




The not-finished product ... but this is as close to finished as I got a picture of. :)

The next morning, we got up and went to the 11 o'clock service of the church where Alex is preaching. They're planting a church in Newnan. They are meeting in an old theater-turned-bar. It's a REALLY nice venue!!









argh. crooked glasses!!!

This was an incredible weekend. And we can't wait to go back and visit again!

Labels: Friends, photo

So I did mention that Till likes to cook, didn't I? Oh the glory of the Lord is in my kitchen this week! He cooks. And he does his own dishes. (Except for the ONE time that I insisted and did a few of my own ... but only once because, yes, I will not argue if you say, "Leave that. I'll get it." Does that make me a bad person?)

Anyway. So yeh. Till likes to cook. And I like Till's cooking.


Till Mueller, Master Chef

On Sunday night, we came in from a long day at church to this:


homemade ravioli. Excuse me, people. He MADE that pasta. With his own hands.
I impress pretty easily, I guess but Chef Boyardee is the only man who ever made me ravioli.
I'm just saying.


These photos are kinda crappy because it was so dark in the kitchen, but ...
Spinach and Ricotta stuffed ravioli with a sage butter sauce.
At my house.
Wha???


Monday night, homemade lasagna. Yum!


Tuesday night appetizers:
"Russian Sushi" - steak and beets cooked with balsamic vinegar (love to hear him say "winegah"!) and a creamy horseradish sauce


Tuesday night main course:
Steak, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, onions, spinach, and some other stuff I'm probably leaving out ... cooked together and I'm not sure what it's called, but when I was done, I called it the Clean Plate Special. Yum!


Tonight was pizza night. And when I say the man cooks to feed an army, I ain't kiddin'!
There are two uncut pizzas still sitting on top of my stove.
He made the dough (without a bread machine! Wha??) and the sauce and the pizzas were great!!

Ok, his whole trip has been great. Kyle and I have both really enjoyed having him around. For more than just the fact that he cooks us dinner (though, let's be honest ... it doesn't hurt!). I feel like we haven't done all that much since he got here -- just our regular "stuff". But the weather's been great, so we've been able to sit outside together and just hang out. It's made for some great evenings. We'll be sad to see him go, for sure!

Labels: Friends, photo

There are lots of things going on in my life these days. Lots of fun things to look forward to, and a brighter outlook on everything, enhanced by my new-found nonsickness. (Yes, that's a word.) So today I will share a list.

Things I'm Looking Forward to:

• My sister is going to have her baby in the next couple of weeks. So while we're not planning to head down for the birth (head down... hahaha, unintended pun), there's a good chance that a weekend in our very near future will involve a drive down to Georgia to meet the new addition. Very excited to meet little Wesley Malcolm!! (I'm holding out for a Friday the 13th baby! The next generation needs to be able to carry on the tradition my mom and I have started.)
  
  
• Our friend Till is visiting from Germany!! He flies in this Friday and will spend several days -- maybe a week -- with us. Till was an exchange student who lived with Kyle and his family while we were all in high school. And we've all stayed in touch with him since then. He came and spent Thanksgiving with us in 2006, I think. (Was it that long ago!?!) And I learned on that trip that (a) he's a REALLY good cook and (b) he really LIKES to cook! So I'm looking forward to his visit for very selfish reasons as well as just looking forward to the visit.
  
  
• We're planning to visit our good friends Alex & Jana in Atlanta next weekend. We haven't seen them since just before they left for a year-long stint in London. And that was two years ago! So we're very excited about seeing them. Plus they're planting a church that's doing some pretty crazy stuff in Atlanta. And we're really excited to see what that's all about.
  
  
• Have I mentioned that Till is coming to my house? AND COOKING FOR ME!? I might get spoiled. (He made leek and bacon quiches last time ... with homemade pastry and everything. SO GOOD! I'm hoping for a repeat.)
  
  
• The Amazing Race. (Not the TV show, though it is somewhat "inspired".) It's a service project / fundraiser / camp-out / pretend to be homeless for a night weekend sponsored by the Journey Church. Kyle and I are on a team (probably the winning team, if I'm being honest) with the Jernigans. Not exactly sure what all will be happening, but you can bet there'll be a photo-heavy recap at the beginning of April!
  
  
• Sometime during April or May, my sister and I (and maybe Amy!?!? Ya wanna??) are going to spend a weekend with our aunts in Georgia so they can meet and spoil the new baby. And so we can rest and relax in a NORTH GEORGIA SPRING! How awesome will that be?! I love spring. And I love the mountains. So that combination works out well for me! Also ... YARN SHOP!!
  

Also, I should mention that, besides all the exciting things coming up on the calendar, I'm happy to announce that it seems my energy has made a dramatic return. I went grocery shopping and brought home a pretty big haul yesterday -- first time all year!! I cooked dinner and we entertained a few friends. I washed some dishes, and I had all intentions of doing laundry, but Kyle had band practice in the room that houses our laundry equipment. So ... I sat and cuddled with the pups while watching The Bachelor (can you believe that guy!?!?) instead. But there's always tonight.

Labels: Aunt Rita, Friends, pregnancy

Today is Chris Brown's birthday. And my mother-in-law's birthday. And is it even possible that Christmas is in three days? Eeek!!! (Happy birthday, you two!)

So I fell back off the blogging bandwagon for a couple of weeks there. Sorry about that. I'm sure there are so many of you out there just sitting by your computers waiting and wondering about what's going on in my life. And, yes. I'm so egotistical, I really do think that.

These past couple of weeks have involved turning some of these things into items suitable for gift-giving later in the week. I'm still working on two of those projects and really really hoping they'll get finished by Christmas. (Look for me this week and I'll be the one with her butt firmly planted, Christmas movie on, needles in hand.) And I also took some pictures of our friends and their families for Christmas. (And I didn't ask permission to put them on my blog, but ... come on. You had to expect this, right?! Just kidding. If you want them down, just say the word.)



The Jernigans
I love Eliana's face in this picture. I'm glad y'all picked this one! :)


The Mattinglys
Is Joshua Mattingly not a little stud in that gold tie? What a dude!

Labels: family, Friends, holidays, photo

Here is a picture of my new computer.

It's pretty much the awesomest. You can come see it in real life sometime.

Your friend,
Rita

Labels: Friends, photo

Labels: Friends, photo

We rolled into town on Friday evening around 8 PM. And it really was a pretty fantastic weekend.

full of everything deep-fried you could dream of, and a never-ending supply of lemonade


I tried so hard to get a decent picture of this particular room in this house. To me, it was the essence of Life in the South. While I do not always relish this "essence", it's easy to romanticize it for just a weekend.

Anyway. This is a picture of Kyle and James Moore, Sr. -- father of Kyle's good friend, James, who we haven't seen in years.


The front porch. What is Southern life without it? Add a basket of boiled peanuts and a fountain of Mint Julep for extra doses of Southernness.


Later we ended up (in the A/C) at Model T's. This lady was there. I'm pretty sure she captivates my idea of how excited people get about the Watermelon Festival.


Later, she fell asleep in the corner with a lit cigarette hanging out of her mouth.
We woke her up before she burned the building down.


And, once again in the A/C, we enjoyed the parade inside the pizzeria.
Yeh, Hampton has a pizzeria.


Let's face it -- this is what we really went to Hampton for.


Also, their dump truck got pimped out.

And then, there was a birthday party for this little lady, who turns TWO today!






And Joey. I hope I have a kid just like him one day. :)
"Hey!! There's a real nekkid behind in there!"

And that's all I have time for today. Because vacation starts on FRIDAY!!! And I have a lot to get done before I turn my brain off for a week or so!

Labels: family, Friends, photo

For as long as I've known that it's possible to adopt babies from China, I've thought that that's something I'd want to do. And if Kyle ever warms up to the idea, I'll have this little girl to thank.

Labels: Friends, The Hubby

Do yourself a favor and go to this website and listen to the first song in the player on the right. Do it now. Thank me later.

Labels: Friends, Music

Yes, I have to call them by their numbers now. No thanks to Clay and Erin* who also named their little boy Harper -- affectionately called Harper #2.

and Scout, fierce protector of Harper and the rest of the Langleys

*No bitterness! Harper is a great name!

Labels: Friends, photo

Labels: Friends, photo