My mom had stacks of Southern Living magazine in a worn basket by our fireplace in the house where I grew up. Something about the covers from the 80s and 90s made it appear drab and boring; I was more into Disney Adventure & Hot Dog! magazines for kids (be careful if you Google that one...). Perhaps moving to France made me sentimental for the good ole South. I'm not one to always appreciate what I have until it's gone. As soon as I made my way back below the Mason Dixon line, I am pretty sure I became a Southern Living subscriber.
I love it because it highlights the best food and rustic lifestyles of Southerners. Each state has its own flavor and each town has its own twist on that identity. I am a (seer)sucker for a dozen different ways to do deviled eggs for entertaining and tours of elegant homesteads with lush gardens. I especially dig the information on where to go when sightseeing on a budget and style features with classy southerly ladies clad in pearls. Something about this publication makes the tradition of homemaking so refined. My rewards system for doing chores typically revolved around candy indulgences; sweets have all but been replaced by time perusing my monthly Southern Living. I would say it took the guilt out of my "guilty pleasures"... or so it was until today.
Do SL editors ever publish their periodical without one picture of a hydrangea? It's in the running for most southern plant along with the magnolias, azaleas, dogwoods, and the flora powerhouse combo of Spanish moss and live oaks. After so many photographs of these heavenly hydrangeas neatly hedging homes, I hoped to have some of these fresh cut flowers for my own. Wouldn't you know that our landscapers had planted some throughout our apartment complex last month? I have been eying these for weeks and devising a plan to get a bundle without detracting from the work these gentlemen have done.
Baby B and I took a stroll to our local library today to check out some dvds on sign language. On our walk home, my mind plotted how to best make my move on the hydrangeas as I envisioned a pom-pom arrangement in a mason jar. Baby B stood guard while I found an under-appreciated bundle of blossoms in the back of the bush. Surely no one will miss what they've never seen. With one quick snip, they were mine. We took the path through the woods back to the apartment; I hoped not to arouse suspicion and chose a route where we'd be alone. Once home, B and I celebrated our floral laurels with a round of water for everyone.
I feel like Martha Stewart for all the wrong reasons...
... but these are irresistibly divine!
Let me apologize to the following folks for my lack of self-control~ to the fine people who make Southern Living who can't intend for their readers to pinch posies, to baby B who witnessed his mother do something he shorn't do, to the management of our apartment complex who commissioned the beautiful landscaping, to the landscapers who planted flowerbeds around the property beautifully, and to my mom who only had the best intentions when she gave me the gift of my SL subscription. I'm sorry. I think it's high time I enjoyed a peppermint patty in place of my magazine when I complete tomorrow's tasks....
Well, I imagined having a lot to blog about once the baby was here. Fast forward about 3 months and I have to accept that I'm not good at making time to write. Turns out that dishes, laundry, and basically any chores increase exponentially with a third family member in the mix. If I were more laid back, I think I could let things sit a bit longer in order to blog. My problem is that my brain gets cluttered with my To-Do list so I can't concentrate on sharing my thoughts here. Throw my busted camera in the mix, and I don't even have tons of cute baby pictures to post when I don't have time to write.
We are in a new season now. Ushering in winter and doing this parenting thing for 3 months means it's time to mix things up. Time to carve out the "me time" and make some things I love happen. I've seen too many What Not To Wear episodes to know that it's a slippery slope in the realm of new mom-dom. When family and home become top priorities, you wake up one day 12 years from now with jeans that make you look like a human ice cream cone, a hair-do that suggests your hair dryer is somewhere under a sink collecting dust, and a faint memory of when you were called something other than mom (like your first name for instance). Perhaps I'm off the deep end worrying about this now, but I know that if you do anything (good or bad) for 30 days, it'll likely become a lasting habit. If you knew what kind of slothful living I've indulged in the last 90 days, you would fear for my future, too.
I have to add that I recently studied Proverbs with my women's Bible study class. As you may already know, this book ends with a description of one godly lady. She does it all, and she does it with so much grace that her hubs can't help but praise her. I am always convicted by her but even more so now since I've been promoted to parenting. How does she juggle all of that and still stay classy? Well, I'm pretty sure her secret is her relationship with God. Since I have him too perhaps I could achieve all that she does.
So with all that in mind, this week I've tried a few things including reading a bit more, running a 5k on the treadmill, doing a little project for something at church, baking & cooking, and making a homemade version of Pinterest (I'll explain that in a bit). My friend Maria also told me about a way to earn a little money by doing a flu shot trial for nursing moms at Emory. My pediatrician recommended getting a flu shot anyways and this way we get paid just to keep track of our health following the vaccine and making a couple of office visits. I used some of our bonus income to pick out a dress for Kyle's company Christmas party. Pretty exciting! All of these things plus hanging out with friends and family are helping me from falling into the loss-of-self mom abyss.
I will say that I wasn't wild about running while still nursing. I've read that marathon women make it happen without so much trouble. I'll be running on the treadmill for the next few months (Bennett's too small for the jogging stroller plus it's getting arctic & dark here). Do any of you have tips or experience in this area? I love to run, but it's hard to be motivated to get out and do it.
Moving along~ Kyle didn't have to work for Veterans day. We've had a great day at home including a fun visit with my friend Laura and son who is 20 weeks away from being born. Kyle baked some spectacular bread and I played with Bennett lots. We got some fun pictures in spite of our wonky camera dilemma. Please enjoy a video of Bennett in action.
If that's not cute enough, I come bearing pictures...
It's business time~ that's why they're called business socks. Okay, so it's not "business time", but instilling the love of music in our young son's heart is serious business in our home.
Bennett & his pony friend are really marveling at Kyle's skill.
It's fun to have a tiny Ham.
The meaty sweetie
As for my home Pinterest, I received a huge stack of magazines from both my mom and Kyle's mom. I love getting fun ideas for things from them, but they were starting to take over. I've begun the process of going through and pulling the pages of things I'll actually use and then tossing the rest of the magazines that I don't really need making secret stashes of fire hazards under our sofa. As if I didn't have enough difficulty with our pitiful cameras, blogger has decided to flip my photos against my will. I just can muster the willpower to try to correct it; here's what I have so far...
My new & cute notebook
A sideways section for recipes
A sideways section for travel
Even a sideways section for fitness
I'm also collecting games (crosswords, sudokus, etc), pretty craft projects, and home design inspiration. It's going to be fantastic some day. While I made my cool notebook, here's what Mr. Hamilton did...
Do you think he could replicate this look for my hair on the night of the Christmas party?
And while Mr. Hamilton was baking fancy bread, here's what lil Mr. Hamilton did...
That is a hickey on my arm. I promise I feed him~ you can tell by his meaty thighs.
Well, time to tend to the fam. If you are interested on reading more about desiring to be a Proverbs 31 kind of lady, my friend Pat wrote this blog about homemaking. I think it's wonderful & highly recommend it. Later friends!
Merciful heavens~ It's been 34 weeks (well, more likely 32 weeks) since we got pregnant. The third trimester is flying by, and I can hardly believe it. For that reason Kyle and I have kicked it into high gear preparing for the littlest of Hams' great escape. Kyle's father/provider instincts are expressing themselves through shopping for a new car, testing out the car seat, and buying an external hard drive. How does that last one fit into the mix? Kyle looks at me last night and says, "What if something happens to one of our computers and we lose all our baby pictures?" Be still my beating heart. We don't even have any baby photos yet, and he is preparing for long term cherished memory storage.
For me I have been nesting big time working on lots of crafts and things for the nursery. I hope we'll do the big blog reveal before he comes; that is my goal. I've also been reading a lot on labor, delivery, and nursing. Lastly, I'm trying to reach a 300 miles in "Hamiltrots". I've been going to our apartment's gym and working it on the treadmill with the fan on full blast and a big ice water.
That baby seems high up and very pointy.
Notice anything different?
Ta-Da~ it's our new mirror! Kyle likes the arches so much he wants to paint them yellow a la McDonalds.
Last weekend we went up to Kyle's folks house to celebrate Independence day on the lake. While we were up there, we were given a few new things for the home (including our new mirror). Behold our new chair~
The seat is so wide that it could almost be a loveseat.
We put it in our music area for the time being so that it's easy access to the living room when lots of friends are over.
I've been bad about blogging lately, but for those of you who have been keeping up with the Ham fam since our ad-FRENCH-ure, I have a treat for you soon! I also feel like sort of the pregnancy brain has inhibited my creative writing skills. I hope that'll turn around when I have two sweet fellas in the house to tell you about.
It seems my pregnancy clumsiness is as effective as malicious, hungry squirrels...
The inaugural use of this dish was a bust~ Ha!
I'll let you in on a secret~ I'm going nuts in the kitchen today (and yesterday). So far I've made banana nut bread for Kyle to take in to work to share with his co-workers and (gluten free) Chex Mix (or as we call it: Chex Mix a la KHud). This dish was for a fancy French clafoutis. No worries~ we have substitute dishes on standby so I'll reveal those results and maybe even what I'm making Kyle for dinner here later. For now I'm just sad that I never used this dish before I broke it (with heat on the stove~ not dropping it). Pregnancy brain made me a little careless I suppose...
Kyle and I were thrilled to complete our porch updates recently so that we could enjoy a nice shady outdoor living space. Between the super heat and crazy summer storms, we haven't been doing much porch sitting. Perhaps our presence would have prevented some of the catastrophes my poor little bird feeder has endured recently. Lame as it is, I have already blogged about squirrels attacking the homestead and squandering our birdseed on reckless living (or at least stealing it from our intended recipients).
Back in happier days, there was order and a perfect little bird feeder and patriotic drapeau.
Today I looked out my window and didn't see our feeder. I thought Kyle may have taken it down since we had sporty weather last night. Sometimes we take our flag down to prevent the wind from tearing it up. Well, the feeder was nowhere to be found~ until I peered over our railing. Lo and behold, it was in pieces on the ground below. *tear* I had hoped it had been the result of crazy storms, but deep down I already knew who was responsible...
A damaged little roof
The cruel critters tried to chew their way into the seed store.
They damaged a great deal of the house before they dropped it from the porch.
Less damage on the other side, but they still made their mark.
Aha! Somebody chewed right through the cord causing my little bird feeder to smash to the ground. This must be their revenge for me squirting them with a water bottle when I spot those crafty scavengers (yes, I'm the nut who runs outside spraying jumpy rodents who pillage from my porch).
WANTED: Nasty squirrels who ate & broke my bird feeder
Free food has been revoked from all Norcross wildlife chez les Hamiltons until we can come up with an appropriate response...
One of my favorite SNL skits of all time featured Mike Myers playing a hyperactive and hypoglycemic child named Philip. His mother has used a harness to strap him to a jungle gym where he encounters an Australian girl played by Nicole Kidman. Philip is a great character, but for me he is eclipsed by the genius of Gavin, an imaginative child portrayed by Bruce McCulloch in the Kids in the Hall (another Lorne Michaels sketch comedy show). Please enjoy my favorite Gavin skit~
Why did I share that with you? Well, it's the only thing I can think of when I'm painting. I believe the nesting instincts have kicked in like crazy, and projects have become my full-time occupation. Kyle and I painted something for the nursery that I will share when the room is finished (the suspense must be killing you...). We also decided it was time to give our coffee table a fresh look. Behold!
Before: A blurry & scuffed up table
After: A bright white piece of furniture
It's pretty bright, but I think we are happy to have a change. Speaking of changes, Kyle and I had a hot date to Ikea last Sunday after church to pick up some goodies (some for the nursery that I can't wait to show you). We got those blue coasters you see in the picture above; it was time for us to swap out our cardboard coasters we smuggled from every brasserie, pub, and bar we visited in Europe. We also got some fixings for our porch. I'd say it's finally complete~ I'm so glad it's shaded and we can enjoy it in the mornings and evenings!
A new white table (sense a trend?) and tray supply places to put drinks and things. We love our outdoor living room.
I was also able to convince Kyle to get me a cute metal pot for my poinsettia plant. It had been in Christmas paper since December. Since I've proved I can keep our little houseplant alive, Kyle deemed it a worthy investment of $0.79 to dress it up!
My nesting instincts haven't stopped with decor. It was high time we made some space for baby in the kitchen (a dangerous task when every square inch is filled by some tool or gadget loved by my husband). After sterilizing bottles, Kyle got a little tutorial on how to probably assemble them (obviously he could have figured it out on his own, but with 5 pieces it would have required some trial & error.)
Baby's shelf in the kitchen
A goofy contraption to dry things
Baby's own drawer
A food update~ Kyle told me he loves when I prepare him a meal equally with when we prepare a meal together. Happy news for the girl who gets anxious about getting one super meal on the table a week. Last night we were still working through tasty produce~ asparagus & baby portobello mushrooms. Kyle thought of our go-to meal~ risotto! The results were lovely and delicious...
Sauteed veggies wait to be dropped in piping hot risotto
The glorious finished product!
Now it's time for me to try and get some rest. My little Mr. Hamilton and I have been up since 3am. Curious what we were up to? Click the tab at the top of the page labeled "bib-LEAH-theca". Ridiculous... A bientot!
Last Friday I wanted to surprise my sweet husband. I'm not a big chef, but I've been working on cooking one dinner for him a week to improve my skills. Well, I decided to go all out after about a month of meal prep. What was on the menu? Keight Duke's "I would do anything for loaf" (get it? it's meatloaf!). We made it once in France for an authentic American meal for our friends Jonathan and Andreas. As you may recall, we had a toaster oven for all baking needs. I didn't want to stray from what I already knew so I stuck with the toaster oven method~ crazy? Crazy awesome that I don't bake in it more... A meatloaf does not a full meal make. Remember how I mentioned the farmers' market goodies our friends shared with us?
I put those tiny carrots to work in the meatloaf & minced the baby onion to infuse olive oil....
Aromatics! That olive oil has been mixed with garlic, baby onion, and pepper. My mom gave us some fresh parsley which will be used in the same dish... Also, my laptop is my modern day cookbook.
My mom also gave us some asparagus. It is chilling by my meatloaf (pre-baked), a jar of sweet tea for me, and tasty beer for my hard working husband.
I didn't use the oven because....
...that's where I was roasting veggies at a hotter temperature! Farmers' market potatoes got dowsed in my olive oil mixture before feeling the heat.
Some seasoned veggies
A complete meal prepared by me! It was too miraculous not to share with you!
My happy plate~ Kyle and I both enjoyed every bite. He said it tasted better than anything he makes, but I think that's mostly because he doesn't always get a homemade meal prepared by me. He was profusely edifying!
Well, it didn't take me all afternoon to just prepare the meal. I had to make a dessert while I was passing the time.
The fixings~ peanut butter, sugar, an egg, and some vanilla extract~ PB cookies are the easiest to put together ever.
The sweet and tasty result
When Kyle got home from work, he wanted to capture this rare event for good. Seeing is not always believing but having evidence that I succeeded once in the kitchen means he can convince me to do it again. (Thanks Miss Ashley for the cutie apron!) Also, looking at the cutting board all I can think of is Dana Carvey saying/singing "chopping parsley" (but to the rhythm of chopping broccoli~ chopping parce-a-lee!)
No romantic dinner is complete without some candlelight and a battle of wits. Kyle challenged me to a Bananagrams match, and I came out victorious in the end!
The meal was a success!
At times I've felt ashamed that I'm not a better cook being the homemaker and having ample opportunity to prepare food. Perhaps it's silly to be so proud of such a trivial accomplishment. For me, cooking will always require effort~ I'm not naturally inclined to do it. I do want to serve my family healthy and balanced meals (and the pressure is on with the baby on the way), and I think blogging about it keeps me motivated. Hope you don't mind~ all the real foodies would be more impressed with what Kyle does in the kitchen. Perhaps I'll do a report on his bread making endeavors to show you that this kitchen has a worthy master. On a final note, if you want any of the recipes you can hit up Food Network's website. The roasted potatoes and asparagus were Ina Garten recipes and the cookies were all Paula Dean's. As for the meatloaf, you'll have to ask Mrs. Dukes... bon appetit et vive l'amour!
Today was a very languid day. Between sunny and overcast moments, I succumbed to staying indoors all day with a good book. Aren't these some of the most marvelous days of all? It was a favorite pastime of mine in France especially with those books that are hard to put down. In the states, though, I feel the burden of being busy and productive. I rarely yield to the desire to cozy up with a good read unless it is bedtime or a Sunday afternoon. Today I made an exception and will likely be rushed to finish some weighing tasks in the days to come, but let me tell you, it was worth it.
I just finished reading Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy by Eric Metaxas. It was so, so wonderful (and if you want to know what I really thought about it, you can pop over to facebook and read my book review). On a reading day like today, I was reminded of summer days and Saturday morning my sisters and I shared growing up. It makes me miss the good old days, but I know sisters are big readers where they are. So it's only distance that keeps it from being the same. I also hope to instill a love for books in my son. I daydream about Saturdays sans t.v. and each Hamilton letting their imagination run wild with books in hand. Perhaps it's not the most ambitious dream, but I think it's a good one. Anywho, I thought I'd leave you with a photo I found a couple of weeks ago while perusing childhood photos. Here are the Heim girls in their element....
Stairs, pillows, dolls, pajamas, blankies, and books (at Christmas time, no less!) We must have been a dream come true for our parents.
Well, this will be the final installation of home decorating at the humble Ham home. Every time I have the car for the day (since Kyle and I share an exceptional Volvo wagon), I feel like I need to make the most of it by doing every errand I can think of. Excellent for productivity's sake, but terrible when errands equal spending money~ especially on the first day of our monthly budget. However, I always remember when Uncle Ben Parker said, "With great power comes great responsibility." (Spiderman, anyone? This is my favorite superhero because I have been bitten by spiders on two occasions... still waiting for my spidey-senses & web slinging capabilities) So, I am ever mindful of getting good deals on shopping days. Some of the photos came out grainy, but I'll highlight the new additions...
Two new $16 framed pictures from Target
Another grainy look at our living room's new look. I think one of those pictures is crooked.
We added the sunburst mirror above the bed ($25 at Target), and a fancy framed photo from our wedding on the wall. I got the frame a couple of months ago on sale at Pier 1~I think it was $12.
This is nothing new nor did we buy it. It is, however, my favorite home decoration, and it's above Kyle's dresser. Kyle's mom got this while she was studying in France at some time in high school. Aux Champs-Elysées, aux Champs-Elysées
Au soleil, sous la pluie, à midi ou à minuit
Il y a tout ce que vous voulez aux Champs-Elysées
Nothing major, but my office is finally organized!
Kyle brought these flowers home along with some fried chicken, and let me tell you~ this pregnant girl couldn't have been happier!
A work in progress for the nursery
Kyle is hard at work on a Friday night.
Two new framed photos of landmarks in Metz, France (our old home)~ the frames were also purchased on sale at Pier 1 some time ago for $15 each (but I had a gift card for Christmas that covered them!).
Temple Neuf (our old church) on the Moselle river in Fall 2009 (my step-dad Jan took these pictures). Our church was commissioned by Kaiser Wilhelm II and built by Germans during their occupation of Metz in the years 1870-1918. The kaiser himself laid the first stone of the church intended for a reformed congregation.
Pictures of pictures~how silly... This is Cathedrale St. Etienne (or St. Stephen~read about him in Acts!) It's an imposing building on the town's skyline. This church is called "God's lantern" because it has more square meters of stained glass than any cathedral in all of France.
Sorry~I got a little history lesson-y on our wall art. From here on out, we are focusing all our attention on the baby room and making a nice home for our honey Ham. We are expecting some smoke-free cushions for our new (re: used) wicker porch furniture from Wal-mart.com in the next week or so. I'll likely not resist posting photos of Kyle living the high life porch sitting (you know, it's his favorite thing to do!)
I alluded to Aux Champs Elysées earlier, and I'd like you to enjoy this video with this classic song that everyone who's taken high school French has heard dozens of times.
