Love at First Scoop

I love pumpkin. It' one of the best things about fall. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin scones, pumpkin butter, pumpkin PIE! The only thing I don't really like pumpkin in is drinks- not a fan of pumpkin spiced lattes. I'll stick with my dirty chai thankyouverymuch.
Last fall I discovered another pumpkin love. Pilgrim Joe's Pumpkin Ice Cream from Trader Joe's.



Now, don't misunderstand me. I have had pumpkin ice cream before and loved it. It's one of those seasonal things I look forward to every fall. But THIS pumpkin ice cream blows all the others out of the water. or the park. or whatever..

I bought some last October and knew I had found something amazing the first second it touched my tongue. The rich creamy texture, the spices, and the amazing pumpkin flavor, all partying together in my mouth. Like a perfect waltz. I made a mistake, though, that has haunted me ever since. I only bought one carton. Thinking that it would be around at least through Thanksgiving I figured that I would be able to get another when we finished the first. Wrong. They  had completely sold out by the end of October! WHAT?? So I was left to only dream about this wonderful frozen goodness and cry myself to sleep at night wishing I could have just one more spoonful.. ok, maybe not that bad.

Anyway, as the cooler weather approached this year I was anxiously waiting to see if they would have it again, and when. About a week ago we got our newsletter from TJ's and I rushed to the store as fast as I could. Behold! There it was! and pretty well stocked, for now. Not wanting to make the same mistake as last year I quickly put three in my basket and headed home. Yes, that's right. I bought three. I am not ashamed. I am determined to make them last as long as I can. Or at least until Thanksgiving. To be honest, I don't know if I should even be sharing this with you because if you know whats good for ya, you would run out and get some as well. But then there will be less for me.. if I cant control myself. which I can.



Ya know what, forget it. Forget everything I just said. It's not that good. honest.

A Long Time Coming

We have been in Minnesota for a month now. Getting into a routine with work and daycare has been fairly smooth. I still miss Brooklyn everyday, but it's getting easier. God is so great and we are blessed to have jobs, a wonderful person to watch Charles, and to be close to friends and family.
One big joy for us was to finally be able to go to the Great Minnesota Get Together. The State Fair!
It's been many years for both of us so we were very excited to go, twice, this year. Our first visit was with my Rachel. Here are some highlights..

There was a great kids activity that we went through with Charles. He had to 'work on a farm' collecting corn, feeding the animals, getting the eggs, milking the cow, sheering the sheep, and riding the tractor. At the end he brought his goods to market and exchanged them for a box of oatmeal. So fun!

 

 

 

Chris dreamed about having his own motorcycle one day...

And of course Charles loved being with Auntie Ray, Mama, and Dada for his very first time at the State Fair! 

 

Our second trip to the fair was with the bible study from Margaret's house. On this trip we witnessed a lamb being born, watched the lumberjack show for the second time (the first being with Rachel and Jody), and ate more delicious fair food. 

Speaking of food. Seeing as how we haven't been to the fair in so long we were mostly looking forward to all the good things to eat on a stick. And boy did we make up for lost time! Oy Vey. Good thing we had a few people to share tastes with so we didn't have to consume everything ourselves. Sharing is Caring, after all. 

sweet starters: mini donuts and chocolate covered strawberries

 

Mashed Potatoes on a Stick. To. Die. For. 

Thank you Ish for sharing :) and yes, that is sour cream and chive to dip it in. 

 

Speaking of Ish, Charles loved spending time with his Uncle 'Issaboh'

Heaven in my mouth: Fried Apple Pie with cinnamon ice cream. ohmygoodness

 

For a more sophisticated pallet: Sweet Corn Ice Cream. so good. so so good. 

Also consumed were classics like cheese curds, sweet martha's cookies followed my unlimited milk at the milk stand, pork chop on a stick and strawberry shakes. Another new one for me this year that I was able to have a bite of from Ishabor was the Wild Rice Burger. wow. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. 

Dear Minnesota State Fair, 

It was so good to see you this year after so many summers apart. Thank you for the people watching, time with friends, birth witnessing, food consuming, and all around good time. 

Until next year, 

*J

From NYC to MPLS.. our move in pictures. Vignette #2

Some friend of ours helped us load up the moving truck on Sunday, August 21st. Early Monday morning we woke up to put the last of the things into the truck and say some quick goodbyes. Chris and a friend drove the truck from New York to Minnesota in one shot. They arrived in Minneapolis in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, back in Brooklyn, Charles and I had another day to be with friends before flying on the big plane Tuesday evening. With the house pretty empty we spent most of that day outside on the stoop and with our friends upstairs. Janet and Samuel come over to hang out with us too.

After making sure we had everything we needed out of the house, I closed the door to our Brooklyn apartment for the last time. We spent the night at Doug and Irene's house and Charles had his first little sleep over on the floor of their bedroom. He loved it, and so did they.

The next day was spent running a few errands and making sure to say goodbyes to my dear friends. There were a lot of tears and long hugs. Oh, and an EARTHQUAKE! what?? That evening the Knowles dropped us off at the airport and the tears and hugs continued. Oh how my heart still aches from leaving so many people I love.
Now it was just me and Charles. I was a little nervous about the flight with him but he did great. Our flight was delayed so we had to keep ourselves entertained at the airport for longer that we thought but once we finally got on the big plane Charles fell right asleep before we even took off and slept the entire flight. I had prayed that it wouldn't be a full flight and that we would have an extra seat next to us and thank God we did. I had thought it would be good to have it if he stayed awake the whole time but it was still nice to stretch out a bit so he could sleep more comfortably. Thank you Lord!

We made it to MN safe and sound and our first days here were filled with friends, family, food, and the fair! (ha! all F's!) Now we are getting settled into our place and a new routine. Chris and I both started our new jobs the day after labor day and are so thankful once again for God's provision; not only for jobs for us, and a place to live, but also for someone we know and trust to watch Charles.

waiting for our flight/sleeping on the plane
 

cafe dates at Rustica and Isles.. I could get used to this
 

Panera date with my little guy to celebrate mama getting a job!


Lake Calhoun, feeding the ducks cheerios
 

Garage sale find! A bike for mama $20! 


Charles and Papa


The Weavers are in Minnesota


more fair photos to come..

LOVING this song right now.

Revelation Song, By Kari Jobe


Worthy is the, Lamb who was slain
Holy, Holy, is He
Sing a new song, to him who sits on
Heaven's mercy seat

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

Clothed in rainbows, of living color
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor, strength and glory and power be
to You the only wise King

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

Filled with wonder, awestruck wonder
At the mention of your name
Jesus your name is power
Breath, and living water
Such a marvelous mystery
Yeah...

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come, yeah
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

A Bowl of Cherries

Last week a friend of mine gave me a bag of cherries. A sweet gift but I don't really like eating cherries by themselves. I do like cherries IN things so I decided to make New York style Cheesecake with a cherry topping. Any excuse to make, and eat, cheesecake right?
Ohmygoodness. So good.



This is the best cheesecake I have ever made. To be honest, I made it so I could use the cherries, but it really didn't need them. It was perfect all by it's self. High and thick just like a NY cheesecake is supposed to be. Perhaps it would have been better if I had used a darker/sour cherry or even blueberries or raspberries instead. Or maybe I just prefer my cheesecake plain. Simple. And gloriously delicious.

Mother's Room Redo

When Charles was born the 'mother's room' at church was a bare room in the back of the sanctuary. Aside from a changing table and a few church folding chairs (you know the type) it was pretty uninviting. I'm not sure how long it had been like that but that was how it was as long as I had been going to the church. However, there weren't really any babies until the year before Charles was born. Then, all of a sudden there was a 'boom' and we had six babies in the church all within about a year. My friend, and fellow mama, and I approached some people at church about sprucing up the mother's room and we were given a budget. YEA! Shopping and decorating is still fun even if it's not for you. After a few trips to Ikea and Target the mother's room was transformed from a cold, bare room, to a warm, colorful and fun place to take our little ones during the service to nurse and play.
I don't have a before photo of the room but are the afters.




The room has been without a curtain for a few months because my sewing machine has been out of commission. With the move home just around the corner, and two new babies at the church, I wanted to make sure I got them sewed ASAP. So Monday night I went to a friend's house and used her machine (thank you Kimberly!) and finally got the curtains done. It feels good. (side note: these are my first curtains ever! Such an easy sewing project.. a little sad that I wont get to use them, but excited that they are going to be used in the mother's room of a church I love by people and babies I love)

Window (looking into the sanctuary from the back of the church) sans curtain...



Curtain being sewn..


Window all dolled up!


I'm happy that the finishing touch for the room is complete and really pleased about the transformation. We use the mother's room every sunday during the service and it is such a better space now. I sure will miss the time in there with my fellow mother's room friends and babes. Here are a few of us..

Weekend Adventures

Getting ready for a move across country is a big task! First thing on the list? Downsize! I was just going to take a bunch of stuff to Salvation Army but a friend of ours is moving as well so we decided to pool our stuff together and have a stoop sale first. One thing I have learned about Chinese culture by living in this neighborhood is that they don't really buy things that have been used. If it's free, regardless of the quality, they'll take it, but used? nope. With that being said, we knew going into it that it wouldn't be a big money maker, and it wasn't.



On our second day, which was also our last, we decided to make a huge sign that said FREE for the last hour or so to see if people would take stuff and lessen our load of things to haul to the Salvation Army. Worked like a charm! We got rid of almost everything on our table as well as a lot of the clothes. Everything left over fit into a few boxes/bags in the back seat and most importantly, we got rid of a bunch of stuff! I am sure there will be a few more trips to Salvation Army (as well as some postings on craigslist for some larger items) in the next few weeks, but it feels good to make a dent.

On Saturday we headed for the upper west side to take in the Museum of Natural History. Some people feel obligated to pay the full amount of a suggested donation admittance, I however am not one of them. I paid a dollar a piece for the three of us (which would have cost us $32) and we spend the afternoon at the museum with our friends Dion and Janet and their new baby Samuel. Charles loved the fish, animals and dinosaurs- although walking into the room and seeing the herd of Elephants was scary at first!


(I apologize for the poor quality of some of these photos- they were all taken on my phone)







 


We had a great time with our friends.


Afterwards we headed to the Shake Shack. Ohmygoodness. Awesome burgers and one of the best chocolate shakes I have ever had. Ever. No wonder the line is always out the door!

 
We will definitely be going back there again before we move home- though I am really looking forward to finally consuming a famous Jucy Lucy at Matt's!
And to top off our fun weekend our friend Nate was in NY and we got to spend Sunday with him. Here he is with Charles who is shamelessly giving his girlfriend the flirty eye. Boy did he love making her smile! He is such a charmer!