A Flower Grows In Brooklyn

December 15th to December 25th

...and still growing

Wordless Wednesday

J Dub meets P Dub

Are any of you fans of The Pioneer Woman?? If you don't know who I am talking about you need to go check out her site. She is amazing. UH-MAZE-ING. Her blog covers a range of things including photography, home and garden, confessions and of course cooking. I have made quite a few of her recipes and they have all been fantastic. I love the fresh corn with wild rice casserole, crash hot potatoes, french breakfast puffs and my husband loves the apple dumplings. Ok, everyone loves the apple dumplings! Oh my goodness.. I could go on and on about her food!
So when I learned that she was coming out with a cookbook I was elated. I was even more excited to hear that she would be doing a book tour. I made plans with a friend to go to her signing that took place on Saturday. Now, my friend Becca went to her signing at the Mall of America and waited in line for five hours. Five hours! I'm telling you, P-Dub is one popular woman! This is where my wonderful husband comes in.
He wanted to give me her cookbook as a birthday present but wasn't able to get it before my birthday. No problem, we could just pick it up at the signing. Well, not only was he going to get me the book but he woke up early and went to the bookstore to stand in line for me so I wouldn't have to wait so long. The signing started at 11:00am and he was there by about 8:30am. When he got there he sent me a text saying "I'm here. I feel really awkward. It's all middle aged white women and they are looking at me like what the heck are you doing here." He is so sweet :) I didn't think he would need to do it but I am very glad he did. The line was LONG, so long I couldn't see it's end.

Thanks to my man we were right at the front of the line. This sign was posted to the window of the bookstore telling all who passed by that Pioneer Woman would be there signing her book. And we were there for it!

With our books in hand and the excitement building!

I had Charles with me and he had been perfect the whole morning. He slept through the majority of his first train ride into the city and had woken up as we waited in line and charmed everyone around us with his cuteness. He started to fuss a little as we got closer but I had a bottle with me so that kept him happy. It was almost our turn! What was I going to say to her? I was trying to juggle a baby, bottle, stroller, book and camera all at once. Luckily Kimberly was with me to help out otherwise I could have become flustered. HA.

Pioneer Woman was so sweet. And so pretty! She signed my book, took a picture with me and my fussy baby, said he was adorable (he is) and graciously accepted Chris's gratitude for her apple dumplings.

It was perfect. I only wish I could have sat down with her and talk for a few hours. It went by too fast!

We didn't get a chance to become friends..

Thank you Christopher for waking up early and standing in line for me. I love you.
Thank you Pioneer Woman for signing my book. For the yummy food and loads of butter. For stories of your life on the ranch with Marlboro Man and the Punks. And basset hounds. It was a pleasure to meet you.

An Explanation

I thought I better hurry up and explain what is going on in the photo from my previous post. I don't want people to think this is a repeat offense from a year ago.


It's not what you think. Really.

We saw these two giant anteaters at the San Diego Zoo. It's a mommy and her baby! See?

above photo courtesy of onlineanteater.blogspot.com

That's more like it right? We learned that momma giant anteaters carry their babies on their backs for up to a year. I think the one we saw hitching a ride must have been a year old or more. It sure doesn't look like a baby. I think it's about time for him to hop off and walk on his own four feet. 

Eight more...

Please attach these to the previous post:

21. Buy and use a tart pan
22. Go to the Top of the Rock
23. Wear my hair curly more often
24. Use my crock pot
25. Take a class/attend a workshop for fun
26. Start a bible study with Chris
27. Get a pedicure
28. Go on a girl's trip :)



And now, for something strange..  This was taken at the San Diego Zoo. Does anybody know what kind of animal this is and what is going on here?

My 28 things.. almost

So last year when my friend posted 27 things she wanted to do before turning 27 I thought "what a good idea, I would like to do that too". But that was it. So this year when she had her new list up for her birthday with her 28 goals for the coming year I began thinking about what I would put on my own list. After all, my birthday is less than a month after hers and I wanted to make one for myself as well.

I really like making lists. I make to do lists on a weekly basis. Sometimes daily. I love crossing things off my list and if I do something that wasn't on the list I will add it just so I can cross it off too. But this list was harder to make than I thought! My birthday was over a week ago now and I still don't have 28 things. But, to get it started and avoid putting it off further, I will share the first 20 items that I have so far.

1. Go to Washington DC with Chris (and Charles)

2. Run in Prospect Park

3. Buy DSLR camera

4. Buy a sewing machine and learn how to use it.

5. Use sewing machine

6. Open/start Etsy shop and sell my onesies (and maybe other things too)

7. Explore NYC more

8. Go home for the Minnesota State Fair

9. Take the NIC Interpreter's exam (and pass!)

10. Lose 30 lbs

11. Make my own baby food

12. Paint something (other than the walls)

13. Get back into the habit of writing cards/letters to my family and friends. At least one a week.

14. See (another) broadway show.

15. Strive to live a more minimalist lifestyle. ie: get rid of things we don't need/use and don't buy things we don't really need.

16. Plan ahead and cook more meals at home together

17. Make my own greeting card sets using photographs I have taken.

18. Be diligent with keeping Charles' baby book filled in and up to date.

19. Watch the original Star Wars films

20. Start a book club

I will try my best to get the last eight things added to this list over the weekend. I'll put it on my to-do list!

And now for something cute to leave you with...

Palm Trees, Mini Golf, Koalas, and Fellowship

Last weekend we attended the EFCA Rebound Conference in San Diego. It's a time for youth leaders (and their spouses) to get away and be refreshed. There was a speaker, worship, and time for fellowship with other youth leaders from all over the United States. Right away on the first night we met another couple who work at a church in Baltimore and we hit it off.

On the first day we had the afternoon free between lunch and the evening session so we headed to Pelly's Ocean Adventure for some mini golfing with them and another couple. It was just how I would have imagined a golf course in California. Palm trees, sun, khaki and sunglass clad golfers lined up at the driving range hitting their golf balls towards the hill in the background.

I'm not the greatest mini golfer to begin with and was a little unsure how it would go with a baby hanging in the front but I must say it went pretty great. I think I came in fifth place out of six, but that's ok. I don't think I would have done much better sans baby. Honestly, I love my Moby. I carried Charles in it pretty much the whole trip.

We were kind of a slow bunch, but mini golf is a serious sport to some people. We had to take our time ya know? Three groups of kids passed us as we putted our way through the course.. oh well. We had a great time.

On our second day after the morning session we headed to the San Diego Zoo with our new friends. We took the tour bus around the zoo, walked through the reptile house, and saw the koalas! We were told by the bus tour guide that one of the koalas had a baby in her pouch and that recently it had started to poke it's head out. We were hoping to catch a glimpse of the little guy but he didn't make an appearance while we were there. Bummer.

Seriously??

Apparently I can't even keep a cactus alive...

This is (similar to) what my cactus looked like in the spring. This is the second little red cactus I have had. The first one was lasted a long time but eventually died last winter. I had it sitting on the window sill in our living room and I think it got too cold for it.

After the first one died I got a second one and instead of putting it in the window I placed it on a shelf. I was sure this would help it live longer. I mean, how hard can it be to keep a cactus alive? Right??

I don't know what happened. Everything was fine until about two weeks ago when I noticed it.. dead. The color was gone and it was wilted and sad.

Poor little cactus.

A Tradition in the Making

Neither Chris or myself are big on Halloween but it seems as though a tradition is in the making, at least with our friends. Last year after going apple and pumpkin picking I got together with some girls and carved pumpkins. As you may remember our German friends Domi and Bini were here living in Brooklyn for a while and we wanted to show Bini some of our American Fall traditions. It was a really fun time, so fun that we thought we'd do it again this year... with a slightly different crowd.

This year Norway was representing!

Our good friends, who used to live in our apartment, are here visiting for a few weeks and we all got together last Saturday for some French Breakfast Puffs, chai tea, legos, and pumpkin carving! It was a truly wonderful time.

I could spend every Saturday like this. I don't mean carving pumpkins every week, that would probably get old. But getting together with good friends over food and coffee, talking about life and God, and making memories, that never gets old. The pumpkins were just an added bonus.

Speaking of the pumpkins, here they are...

Since we got together in the late morning it was obviously not the best time to view our finished pumpkins in all their glory. But come on, you have to see them lit up right? Well the only dark place in the apartment was the bathroom so we put them in there to see how they looked. June did a good job setting them all up so we could see them together.

I think the momma and baby owls are so cute!

I always make pretty much the same non-original, slightly boring jack-o-lantern face on my pumpkins. This year I wanted to do something different. Something creative. The problem was I couldn't come up with anything. I was stuck. Ashley was making a cute little owl face on her pumpkin and Helene had a fun jack-o-lantern face for hers.. I had nothing. Then I looked at my coffee mug and got inspired.

It's not really 'Halloween-y'. At all. But I think it's pretty.