Monthly Archives: April 2008

Drew interviewed with the UVA hospital a couple of weeks ago, and was told prior to the interview that there was likely not going to be a position for him in the Cardiac Care Unit (where he’s currently doing his final rotation, and his first choice for a job) but he went into the interview with his head up and let his light shine and…voila! The hospital called yesterday and said that he has a job in the CCU as soon as he completes his board exams this Fall. This is excellent news for Drew, as it’s his first choice, but also an incredible learning environment, and a really important step if he would like to continue in school for a third degree. For us, it means committing to another 24 months in Charlottesville, but the job is wonderful and Drew is just thrilled, so we couldn’t be happier!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost three years since packing everything that we owned into a horse trailer and moving to Virginia as very young newly weds. Although we are still close to the experience and to our youth, it’s impressive to think about how much our lives have grown and changed in the last three years…to feel grown up and still feel so young is a delicate and delightful walk. Although a little cheesy at the time, and perhaps more so now, I cannot help but think that Drew and I were mostly right in assuming that all we need is love in our wedding vows–well, love, a little elbow grease, chicken noodle soup and some fresh air now and again, but of these, as the story goes, love is the strongest.

Congratulations to Drew for all of his hard work!

Tis the season for short sleeves and wintery skin peeking out. I was thinking this morning that I wanted to get something to exfoliate with, and then–ah-ha!–came across another blog with a recipe for making a sugar scrub to scrub away with. I think that I will make this with lavender oil, as that’s what I have, though I also know that any cooking extracts would also work (coconut, vanilla etc). On the blog she said she uses canola oil, though I think the luxury of EVO might be worth it. If this doesn’t wake that winter skin up, I don’t know what will!

Ingredients
1 clear plastic jar
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
lemon juice (optional)
scented essential oil (optional)

Directions
1. mix the sugar and olive oil in the plastic container. I do not recomend using a glass jar for this, since you will most likely have this in your bathroom.
2. add any optional scents you like. I have discovered that adding peppermint oil or orange oil helps refresh you, while lavender is more soothing. My favorite oil to use is sandlewood.
3. to use: place some on a wash cloth and rub in circles anywhere you need exfoliation. After letting it sit for awhile the sugar may settle to the bottom, so it may be necessary to shake this up a little before using.

It’s kickball season! That’s right, Drew and I are back on with our playground athletic pursuit, and the first game kicked off with a win. That’s our buddy David up there missing the only ball that he’ll probably miss the whole season, but looking pretty amazing in the process.

In other sports news, Drew is running a half marathon this coming Saturday (I’ll be volunteering at a water stop…probably about as close as I’ll get to a marathon!) so we’ll all be cheering him on as he heads across the finish line. He’s been training for the last couple of months, and I’m sure that he’ll do well. I’m making some pasta sauce this week so that he can have a big spaghetti dinner the night before the race and then we’ll get up at 5:30 on Saturday morning and head over to the start line.

And finally, we just got tickets to a Cubs game–Drew’s first ever, despite his long running love affair for those guys–so it’s going to be really exciting to watch him watching the game…I mean, to watch the game! I have to say, Drew’s love of sports is pretty infectious, and I am really looking forward to my first professional game as well. So it’s root, root, root for the Cubbies…Happy Monday!

Being a 40 hour a week person, I fully comprehend the allure of Friday, but today, this Friday, kind of feels like a birthday party. The weather is gorgeous, the air is ripe with the smell of things in bloom and all of the windows and doors are wide open. It’s a day for exclamation points, and too-bright colors and lusciousness and perhaps a little indulgence. It’s a day for green grass, and early cocktails in the yard. It’s Gatsby.

So, while I’m off, out the door, I’m offering one of my favorite exclamations for a day, courtesy of a great enthusiast himself, mr e.e. cummings. (ha-I think I’ve posted this before, but I’m not searching the archives, so pardon my redundancy if it exists. What can I say? I love what I love!)

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any–lifted from the no
of all nothing–human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

We are having a truly glorious day in the neighborhood after what felt like weeks of grey. Lisa, on of my best friends from growing up, is coming tonight with her boyfriend to stay for the weekend, so between the 70 degree temperatures and the prospect of her waiting for us at the end of the day, I’m having a little bit of a hard time sitting still!
I’m making pan fried fish tacos with cornmeal tonight and wishing that I Daddy’s cornmeal on hand–I’ve been spoiled by that in the past and I’m craving it now…I’m also making an avocado and grapefruit salad that’s incredibly delicious and summery, especially when paired with mango salsa on the fish tacos. Warm weather on the plate and palate!

Here’s the recipe for anyone interested!

Avocado and Grapefruit Salad

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup good olive oil
4 ripe Hass avocados
2 large red grapefruits

Place the mustard, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until the vinaigrette is emulsified.
Before serving, cut the avocados in 1/2, remove the seeds, and carefully peel off the skin. Cut each half into 4 thick slices. Toss the avocado slices in the vinaigrette to prevent them from turning brown. Use a large, sharp knife to slice the peel off the grapefruits (be sure to remove all the white pith), then cut between the membranes to release the grapefruit segments.

Arrange the avocado slices around the edge of a large platter. Arrange the grapefruit segments in the center. Spoon the vinaigrette on top, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve.

Well, I’m sorry for being so bad at posting over the last week or so, but I think I’m back to full speed, so everything should be as normal as normal can be.
This weekend Grace found a whole new kind of torture…the sliding glass door. She has always been fine with all kinds of animals with the two specific exceptions of squirrels and deer. She will chase both, but particularly with the squirrels, she spends a great deal of time just watching them expectantly, waiting for just the right moment…
This weekend, I came into Mom and Skip’s kitchen and saw Grace quivering and pointing at the sliding glass door to their back porch. It turns out that Mom puts peanuts out for the squirrels everyday (and they get pretty fresh with her if she misses a day) and poor Grace spent hours starring at the door, tense in every muscle in her body, moving when they moved, and hoping against all hope that the glass would move and she would be free! Unfortunately, the pictures that I caught of this tango don’t really do the spectacle justice, but it does show just how close Grace came to having her dream realized. Eventually we did open the door (after all the peanuts were gone) and Grace followed the squirrels at mach 12 into the forest and up their trees to safety. The rest of morning was spent on the little rug in front of the door while we witnessed a pretty impressive stare down between dog and rodent.

Perhaps this weekend will hold all kinds of oddities…but nothing, I imagine, as strange as this:

Happy Friday!

Hi all–I’ve been on a little break from normalcy since Friday and so here I am, back at my desk, keys clicking away and all seems more or less right in my small world. With my days on the couch (taking in, I promise, copious amounts of deliciously terrible cinema and literature) I seemed to have missed some things–April Fools day, the first buds popping out on the dogwoods and the general bloom that is possesing the world right now. I just wanted to send out a thanks to everyone for all the kind thoughts and phone calls, there are few sweeter things than being well loved. Happy Wednesday!