Chicago

Chris and I are no strangers to traveling. We packed up and moved across the country for goodness sake, twice. We learned some valuable lessons on this last trip to Chicago for my cousin Matt’s wedding. I thought these lessons might be helpful to share, in case you find yourself planning a trip.

1. If you are like me and have become accustomed to driving in a town where traffic laws are mostly abided by, and the speed limit is below 45 for the majority of the city limits, you may not want to rent a car and drive in the city. If you do, chances are you will utilize your horn more than ever before and get completely flustered by unorthodox (and dangerous!) traffic maneuvers that city folk are completely used to, therefore calling yourself out as a tourist.
2. Try all forms of public transportation, at least once. Our last day in the city we rode the train into downtown, took a water taxi to Navy Pier, a cab to the sushi restaurant, and a trolley back to Union Station. It’s much easier to sightsee when you are not focused on navigating through unfamiliar territory.
3. Just because you exercise semi-regularly, do not fool yourself that you are in good enough shape to throw down on the dance floor at your cousin’s reception without some repercussions.
4. Wear sensible shoes. Our plan on Sunday was to drive into the city, park, and spend the day at the Art Institute. Which was a great plan until we walked 10 blocks in the opposite direction, retraced our steps, found the Art Institute, realized we needed a smoothie from Jamba Juice, walked back 4 blocks or so to find one, then traipsed all over the museum for 4 hours. I thought that flip-flops were sensible shoes, but was sorely mistaken.
5. Purchase a map. (see number 4)
6. Bring an umbrella. Just because you live in the desert and never see rain doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen anywhere else.
7. Do not assume you will be able to sleep on the plane, and therefore plan ridiculous times to travel. You may be seated next to a very nice woman that decides to slam Coronas at 7 am and yell “Hey, Toots!” every five minutes at her niece seated in the next row.
8. Take a good camera, even if you have to borrow it. We wished we had something other than our cell phones to take pictures with the whole trip. I’ll post some pictures here so you can wish we did, too.
9. Be nice to your spouse, even if you’ve been up for 20 hours, are lost in the suburbs of Chicago at 2 am, and don’t have any change for the toll road. Eventually you will find your way to the hotel.

Overall our trip was great. We spend quality time with family we don’t get to see too often, and the wedding was perfect. I’ve never seen my cousin so happy, and that was definitely worth all the travel woes in the world.


Michigan Avenue



Navy Pier



-Katy

Putting On My Apron

Recently Chris and I determined that despite the hassle, cooking was way better than Subway for the third time in a week, or spending money on an over-priced restaurant. Our town has some tasty restaurants for a community so small, but only a handful. So if you’re eating out several times in a week, the same fare gets pretty old.

So I have re-opened the kitchen, officially. Chris is a happy man again.

Here is a tasty recipe I adapted from Terry Stirling’s pasta dish, found on www.allreceipes.com. If you haven’t discovered this website, I definitely recommend it.

Death By Garlic

½ cup olive oil
10 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (I used dried parsley, and it turned out just fine)
1 pound dry bowtie pasta
1/3 cup grated Romano or parmesan cheese
2-3 large chicken breasts
Cherry tomatoes, halved

1. Cook pasta and set aside
2. Cut chicken into small pieces and cook in a pan in oil. When the chicken is almost cooked, add garlic and brown, then add parsley and spices and remove from heat.
3. Toss pasta with chicken and add cheese and tomatoes.

Besides cooking, we’ve been trying to organize our house now that Chris has brought all our furniture for our house in Birmingham. So far I’ve got one room full of boxes full of stuff I don’t know what to do with. I don’t understand how we ended up with SO MUCH STUFF. Obviously we don’t need it all, since we’ve lived without it for 6 months. Our good friends Ryan and Tyler braved the long trip via U-Haul with Chris. It was so awesome to have them visiting in Bishop for several days; they were our first guests since we moved out here. We went for a strenuous hike at Yosemite on Mist Trail up to Vernal and Nevada falls, along with my friend Crystal and her family on vacation from Houston. I wish our camera wasn’t broken; it was so beautiful.

I am going to get my driver’s license renewed tomorrow, and be issued a California license. I guess it’s official; I’m no longer an Alabamian. But considering every time I open my mouth I get “Where are you from?” I don’t think I’ll shed my Southern roots too soon.

-Katy

How Great Thou Art

The church we’ve been attending has a wonderful worship program, with a complete band and mostly contemporary music. However, this morning we sang this familiar hymn and it was so beautiful and touching to me. For the first time I really listened to the words and they were very powerful to me today; perhaps because I’ve been spending so much time in nature lately. When I went home and looked up the lyrics to post here, I found out that it is based on a poem written by a Swedish man name Carl Gustav Boberg in 1885, and the melody is a Swedish folk song. I guess it was my Swedish roots coming to surface.
At any rate, I’m so, so blessed. We all are.

O Lord my God,
When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds
Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars,
I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout
The universe displayed.

Then sings my soul,
My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul,
My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art!

When through the woods,
And forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds
Sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down,
From lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook,
And feel the gentle breeze.

Then sings my soul,
My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul,
My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art!

And when I think, that God,
His Son not sparing;
Sent him to die,
I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross,
My burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died
To take away my sin.

Then sings my soul,
My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul,
My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art!

When Christ shall come,
With shout of acclamation,
And take me home,
What joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow,
In humble adoration,
And then proclaim:
"My God, how great Thou art!"

-Katy

Officially Thirty-Something

This month I turned the big 3-1. The best thing about getting older (besides the alternative) is that I share this birthday month with four other June babies; wonderful, special people who have been very influential in my life: Elaine, Crystal, Rusty, and Kim.

I met Elaine the summer I turned 22, a naive and impressionable new Auburn grad starting my first job. Elaine was a nurse in the child and adolescent psychiatric unit that became my first bullet point on my resume. But because of Elaine, and other wise and caring co-workers, I got so much more from the three years I worked as a mental health associate. The job itself taught me so much about myself; Elaine taught me about the kind of person I want to be. Always calm under stress (and believe me, in a locked psychiatric unit, there was stress) she was an example of how to handle life’s changes, and the struggles of parenthood and marriage, with grace and patience. She was there to guide me and cheer me on through the biggest milestones of my life, including planning a wedding and embarking on a marriage as a clueless 24 year old. All the while offering her support and wisdom. Thank you, Elaine, for staying up all night making silk roses for my wedding, listening to me agonize over whether he was going to ever pop the question, and hosting me for American Idol when I didn’t have cable. And thank you for showing me what it means to be steadfast; a woman who fulfills many roles, and gives so much to those around her.

Crystal and I shared a boyfriend in the fifth grade. Perhaps that’s why we didn’t really hit it off until junior high, when our parents decided to enroll us in a Taekwondo class along with my best friend Michelle and Crystal’s BFF, Kristi. Before long we were skipping class to eat Dairy Queen in our karate uniforms and by high school were passing constant notes about boys and weekend plans. (I don’t know how I have a high school diploma, much less doctorate, btw.) Crystal and I dated the same boys, but what really bonded us for life was the loss of Kristi in a tragic car accident at the end of our freshman year. We had never known loss before; and at the tender age of 15 we only had each other and mutual friends to make sense out of it. I know neither of us can have a big life experience without thinking about what if Kristi hadn’t taken her mother’s car out that night. It is amazing to see someone you knew as a shy kid become a successful career person, a wife, and a mother. Without a doubt she will be a success at whatever she does. Thank you so much for letting me be a part of your life, Crystal, despite the distance between us. I can’t wait to see you soon!


Oh, Rusty, what can I say about him! For his last birthday, I sent him a list of all the things I love about him. I can’t imagine anyone NOT loving this man, and I have had the joy of knowing him since kindergarten! Rusty and I grew up a block away from each other, and many pre-driver’s license nights were spend carousing the neighborhood by moonlight, toilet-papering houses, smoking cigarettes (okay, Mom, I admit it) or just feeling rebellious. Like another big brother, I looked to Rusty for approval on the boys I dated, the clothes I wore (so maybe on SOME level I knew he was gay), and of course my soccer skills As hopeless as I was on the soccer field, he was the first to cheer me on. Along with Tommy and Eliza, our little neighborhood clan took on the world as we knew it. What would I give to go back to the creek and revisit one of those careless summer days. Rusty and I celebrated our high school and college graduations together; he spoke at my wedding and I hope to speak at his (or maybe just stand beside him in a badass couture gown, courtesy of Celestino). I love you Rusty, and love how our friendship never feels worn out or outgrown, but worn-in like a favorite t-shirt I’ll never throw out.


Last but not least, Kim was introduced into our circle of friends when she was one of my BFF’s potluck suitemate their freshmen year at Auburn. At first Kim was the quiet one, the laid-back almost pushover of the group. And then she blossomed into anything but. We lived together for two years in college and despite being exactly one year and a day apart, Kim and I couldn’t be more opposite. Despite fistfights from pushing each other buttons, we always had each other’s backs. Kim has lots of qualities I wish I had (first of all, she has the most awesome hair); her lack of inhibition, her athleticism, her generosity to a fault. Even though we don’t talk much, I know she still has my back. I certainly have hers. Happy birthday, my friend!

Diagnosis: Too Many Chimichangas

Apologies to my faithful followers for not posting in over month. I’ve thought about doing it. Even put it on my to-do list. However, as my to-do list gets longer, my motivation decreases. It’s the nature of an inverse relationship. When I have more crap to do, my willpower wanes.

I’ve also come down with a horrible case of the blahs. It must have come on slow, because I didn’t realize I was sick until it was weeks since I grocery shopped, I forgot all about my recent obsession with “Dexter”, and my snooze button was getting more action than I was. I haven’t quilted in weeks, let the housework go (well…that’s not very abnormal, let’s be honest), barely read anything more than a People magazine, and sat on my behind every waking moment outside of work, staring at the television. Blah, blah, blah. If you haven’t gotten a phone call from me in the past month, obviously you haven’t missed anything.

I don’t think I’m depressed. I think that working really hard and not taking care of my body the way I should has just caught up with me. For one, I know that I walk the halls countless times, lift patients, and exercise my writing hand for 8+ hours a day. But as my husband points out, this is not real exercise. To which I reply, if only in my head, “Who is it, dear, that has a DOCTORATE in exercise?”

But doggonit, he’s right.

So, there’s that. And the fact that fast food has stealthily crept back in to my diet (Damn you, taco bell!), especially when I’m in a hurry on my lunch break. And if it’s not the drive thru, it’s meals straight out of the freezer or my new fave from a local Mexican restaurant, a carne-asada chimichanga with rice and beans. Obviously, I have to make some changes. No excuses! As of today, I’m making a change, to cure my blahs.

Right after I eat this Snickers ice cream bar.

-Katy