The pursuit of happiness.

Last week was Ryan's final week at Starbucks Coffee Company.  Definitely the end of an era, for him- and for us (a combined 27 years, between the two of us).  The week was filled with goodbyes & a bit of coffee-amassing (we'll definitely miss our free pound per week)... Goodbyes, tax appointments, colds & fevers (that started with Hailey, & ended with me, in a big way), homework assignments... packing, playlists, & car repairs.  The boys were headed to the snow on Friday for an ice climbing trip.  Needless to say, it was a busy week.  He literally turned in his [company-owned] laptop and [practically new, company-owned iphone 5], picked up his final paycheck, & they were on their way.

So Hailey and I fended for ourselves for a few days... 

a little recovering, pizza & a movie {in bed~ the highlight of our weekend, for sure :)}, a bit of valentine shoppin', a high-adventure girl-scout-cookie-selling-dog-walk, an art walk, a day of cleaning (for all of the cleaning that was not done in the preceding days), & a big pot of short ribs... a welcome home dinner, a farewell to the week- to 27 years- and a hello to a new adventure.

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the aforementioned valentine's shoppin'... not surprisingly, my mom considered valentine's day another "big holiday." 
so do i. 
commercialism/forced affection/hallmark hoopla... bring it on.

~~~

a few of the treats i bought for the kids (not really valentine related, but sentimental nonetheless)...

...the book above (for my earnest, curious, book-lovin' boy)... a little set of worry dolls for each (do you remember these? thanks to mrs. habit i was reminded of them, & their simple wonder)... the little pig game!! (do you remember this?? thanks to kelle l was reminded of them as well, & their simple wonder ;))... a "beef-jerky-chocolate confection" (hmmmmm.) a little hello kitty pink cocoa (why not?), & of course, a few conversation starters.

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pure nostalgia.
 

Heartfelt.

hailey & i painted the town red over the weekend...

...if you give a mouse girl a cookie pair of scissors & some felt :)...

 

Eat your heart out.

               

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  (from the show that gave football an entirely new meaning)

 (...but don't ask me which team i'm rooting for.)

I may not know which teams are playing, but I do know we'll have a full house, full hearts, and a very full table.
  
...No baked beans this year {even though they were amazing~ i'd highly recommend}. This year is all about the wings, or drumsticks, rather.  I've yet to try either recipe- but how could you go wrong with a "spicy, sweet, salty" Sriracha glaze- or an authentic "warm up your belly" Jamaican jerk chicken (from one of my new[-to-me] favorite food blogs)?...diligently testing this recipe and this one tonight, cause the super bowl [menu] is serious business.  And I'd hate to put out anything but a winning dish.
  
...But really, sriracha, fresh ginger, brown sugar...

Can't lose.
   

Blueprint.

image scanned from bon appétit {february 2013}... best cover ever.

                                  

i've mentioned before that i have a love/hate relationship with meal planning. if i'm not careful, following a rigid plan for days/weeks in a row tends to leave us with an over-stuffed pantry and an empty bank account.

i try to plan according to what we already have... to work leftovers- and leftover ingredients- into the mix, and to remember little things, such as~ tuesday may not be the best day for a 13 ingredient-22-step-3-course-meal...

but still, i find myself over-shopping and over-spending, all in a effort to stick to the plan.

yet oh so many benefits come from having a ROAD MAP. not only time-saving benefits, but money-saving, which is a big area of focus for the coming year (more on that later)... less eating out, less ordering in, less starving kids scrambling parents...  for it to work, however, it has to have a LOT of flexibility built in- with weeks off to 'clear out the pantry' (some of the best meals come out of these clear-out sessions).

and in light of my recent post [our recent chaos], increased structure in this regard has been absolutely essential. we're a month into to 2013, and so far, it's been a huge success.
  
lots of recipes tried... {old & new} cookbooks cracked open... new blogs discovered... magazine tear-outs put to the test... so many keepers to share... 
  
one of the best meals to date~ derived from a "seven perfect pastas" feature in an incredible february issue of bon appétit~ was a wonderfully unique pasta dish that definitely held up to the "perfect pasta" claim...

{hearty but not heavy... rich but not creamy.  a strikingly [and a bit surprisingly] delicious stand-out dish that would absolutely hold its own next to the usual 'pasta-heavy-hitters'... & not even an ounce of meat.}

  

ditalini with chickpeas and garlic-rosemary oil
{or pasta e ceci}

1 medium onion, quartered 
1 medium carrot, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces 
1 celery stalk, cut into 1-inch pieces 
6 garlic cloves, 4 whole, 2 chopped 
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves 
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 
1/2 cup olive oil, divided 
Kosher salt 
2 tablespoons tomato paste 
2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, rinsed 
1 pound ditalini or elbow macaroni 
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

Pulse onion, carrot, celery, whole garlic cloves, parsley, and red pepper flakes in a food processor until finely chopped; transfer to a small bowl and set aside. Wipe out food processor bowl and set aside.

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat; add reserved vegetable mixture, season with salt, and cook, stirring often, until golden, 8-10 minutes. Stir tomato paste and 1 cup water in a small bowl to combine; add to pot. Cook, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until liquid has almost evaporated, 5-8 minutes. 

Add chickpeas and 2 cups water to pot and simmer for 15 minutes to let flavors meld. Transfer 1 cup chickpea mixture to food processor; purée until smooth, then stir back into sauce to thicken. 

Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain pasta, reserving 1 1/2 cups pasta cooking liquid. 

Add pasta and 1/2 cup pasta cooking liquid to sauce and stir to coat. Increase heat to medium and continue stirring, adding more pasta cooking liquid as needed, until sauce coats pasta. 

Heat remaining 1/4 cup oil in a small sauce­pan over medium-low heat; add chopped garlic and rosemary and cook until sizzling stops, about 1 minute. Divide pasta among bowls and drizzle with garlic-rosemary oil. 

                                                     

as i mentioned, so much more to share in this regard. until then, any keepers on your plan that i should know about??

don't hold back on me now... 
   

When life gives you lemons...

                                   

 
...stop blogging.

That seems to be my approach, anyhow... looking at my very infrequent posting schedule this past year.  

Well, "life" [2012] has given us [Ryan] a few lemons ~ literally and figuratively.

It's been a rough year for my husband, and in turn, a rough year for all of us.

...first, a major health scare back in spring, then a whirlwind of stress in the form of difficult and extremely time-consuming assignments, on top of an extra heavy workload at 'the office'- all the while filling out cover letters and resumes, submitting profiles, and of course, interviewing (all of which, after being with the same company for over 15 years, is an emotionally-and-physically-grueling-labor-intensive challenge in and of itself) ... months of being buried, overwhelmed, stressed, and longing for brighter days... for the days he can get back into the garden, back into his kid's daily lives (he really has done his best in this regard), back into the kitchen (with yours truly)............. He wants his life back.

I initially tried to keep up with posting, [...sharing, gramming,...] but unavoidably, each post- each status update- had an underlying message [complaint] of "WE'RE DROWNING OVER HERE!!" and I realized [for your sake & mine] that it was time to step away... to take the necessary steps to pull ourselves "to shore"...  

[many, many steps later...] 

...an official letter of resignation, a very-close-graduation date of JULY 1st(!!), and for the first time in far too long~ a sparkly clean house,...  

getting there.
                                               

{On a side-note, we've done a few other magical things with those lemons [literally and figuratively :)]... 

We made lemonade of course, but better yet~ we made Melissa's lemon scones (my first time baking with spelt flour- in her words~ easy, healthy, and delicious).............. Turns out, lemons are not so sour afterall.}

                  

Next year.

the 'holiday list', revisited.

as i check in on instagram, and the other social media 'sources of inspiration' time-suckers sites, i continue to add to my 'next-year' list.  the 'next year' list that is 1/2 full of items/pictures/projects from last year that were supposed to be implemented this year.

well, the tree is up, shining bright.  the other decorations are well on their way.  new outdoor lights {'old-fashioned' ones... a 'to-do-this-year' task that was actually done} have been purchased... leon has arrived, and is monitoring as close as ever.  *homemade card supplies were ordered weeks ago...

...but still untouched.  advent calendars just put out yesterday... on the 6th of december. not the creative-thoughtful-diy kind either.  the cheap-easy-low-grade-chocolate-filled-paper-box kind.

looks like those pine cones may have to wait one more year before their trims are painted white as snow.  and those christmas card supplies might just be perfect for next year's holiday cards.   

ryan's in his last wave of classes, life is chaotic, our lists are never even closed to being checked off..... and 'in the big scheme of things' it's alright.  and it IS temporary (a necessary- daily- reminder).   
                      
but speaking of next year...

i saw a gorgeous olive wreath the other day that i'd love to try my hand at creating my own version...

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and also, a magnolia leaf one...

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both trees in which we have.  both very simple and seemingly doable.
 
next year.  for sure.
             

Nashville.

Are you watching this show???

 

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Well, you should be.

It's all sorts of 'Tami Taylor' goodness, y'all.

   

Santa catalina island.

 It's the Monday after Thanksgiving. and for the first time ever, I'm refreshed, relaxed ~ and ready to take on

THE MONTH OF DECEMBER.

{Remind me to never, ever host this particular holiday EVER again.}

I'm kidding.  And, as I mentioned before, there are other factors involved- as to why this "tradition" (the way our family celebrates 'thanksgiving dinner') was/is in need of "tweaking"... but needless to say- it was so very nice to switch it up this year... to not wake up to this. 

...to get away- mid-week- the day before Thanksgiving- to celebrate Ryan's birthday... the birthday that usually gets placed on the back-burner due to 'holiday busyness .'

For this, and for him... I am truly thankful.  

                          

The scenic road.

 

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Last week, an instagram friend {an incredibly successful, creative, kind friend} shared a quote from a [Californian-raised] New York-based artist, Tauba Auerbach {via the AW12 issue of the gentlewoman}.

"I've been moving in a straight line and now I just want to be able to move diagonally."

Living life in a thoughtful, focused- yet free- manner.  Free to question.  Free to explore.  Free to dig deeper.  Free to stay on course, but not to the extent of feeling stuck, forced, bored- or worse, boring.  Free to bend the rules, to step out of bounds, to step back... to step forward.  Much easier said than done for some [me], but somehow, a "diagonal" path sounds far less intimidating... much more doable.  

This year, I have decided to step away from hosting Thanksgiving dinner.  In light of everything written here and here, I decided that we needed a break.  My kids are off for the entire week, and for the first time in years, I'll be able to spend time with them.  Free time to try new recipes from my oldest cookbooks and newest magazines (but never have due to a pure lack of time and/or post-holiday kitchen-burnout)... Time to reflect on what I am thankful for.

We're not flying off to Hawaii- or celebrating solo.  We're not forgoing turkey, or my grandma's coveted stuffing- or pumpkin pie.  Nor are we permanently handing over the 'hosting torch.'  Just veering off the straight n' narrow route.  

Diagonally.

  

The usual suspects.

a costume parade & a classroom party... cousins & trick-or-treating... chili & cornbread... pizza & wine... spooky glasses & sparkling cider... pumpkin carving & candle lighting... dry ice & {state-of-the-art :)} jack-o-lanterns... charlie brown & tim burton... black nails & only-on-halloween 'fashion' embellishments... candy & more candy...

               

... and two utterly exhausted parents.