Big Congratulations!!

Welcome to little Toren Hans Habbestad!! He arrived Wednesday just before 6pm, to proud parents Kristen and Greg Habbestad. He seems to be a little sweetie, and we can't wait to meet him in person!

August 27th

Lucy is 19 months old today! The time is zipping by...

Here was our day:

Fullerton Train Station, just for the heck of it. Lucy's really into Thomas the train, so I thought she might like seeing a real train. I love the Fullerton station... it's mission style with a hint of Italian villa.

Here comes the choo-choo! I made a little book for Lucy with the pictures from this morning, and she can't stop talking about it. "Train! Choo-Choo! Woo-woo! Chugga-chugga! Peoples off. Peoples on. Tracks!"
A succulent from my container garden, stuck in a bowl in my windowsill.

The Biola Years

I'm inspired by Ry-Bear to recount some of my college years. I can't say there were many crazy capers or exciting shananigans, and many great moments are shadowed by unfortunate alliances, but there are still some really fun moments there. Some of the things I remember about my years at Biola are colored by it just being the 90's, and about the changes I've seen in the school and the area since then.

Among many things, I simply just loved that I went to college during the grunge years. Wake up, put on flannel and ripped jeans, go to class. Or huge sweatshirt. Or huge t-shirt. With the sleeves rolled up. =) I loved the turn music was taking, and how raw but interesting some of the grunge stuff was. "Coffee houses" were new, and I remember going a few times to listen to some acoustic stuff in the night air with a mocha. I felt so cool.

My favorite moments, however often took place away from Biola. I was in Chorale, which was my little family. Two of my four Biola years began with a retreat up in Yosemite for a weekend. Gorgeous, gorgeous Yosemite with all your friends--priceless! Then there were the tours! Seattle, San Fransisco and Napa, The Eastern Seaboard. One day we drove from Providence, Rhode Island all the way down to Deleware, and it was like watching Spring arrive in a time-lapse video. Chorale always did "Celebrate the Son," which was this amazing, quiet church service of "Lessons and Carols." Worshippers entered quietly to the readings of the Old Testament prophecies, and the concert began with a single soprano quietly singing "Once in Royal David's City" a capella, while the Chorale joined in with more strength verse by verse. It was the most in awe I've ever been of the incarnation of Christ.

I think I will only say a few short words about one of the most important times of my college years: my semester in Washington, D.C. I made two dear friends there who have continued to be important in my life (well, one was already a friend, but you know...) I lived a mile away from the Capitol Building during a time when you could just walk in at will. I worked in view of that building and watched the Christmas tree being put up on the lawn in front. I learned two of the most important lessons of my life there: 1.) You must be free in any relationship to walk away from it, or it is not a real relationship, and 2.) When your circumstances are unfavorable, you have the most control over your own reaction to it.

Okay, this is probably way more interesting to me than it would be to anyone else, so I'll give it a rest!

Oh, and the sweater was FIVE squares! I swear, I did complete my math requirements in college.

News and Notes

Well, we're back from a week at Grammie and Grandpa's with my sister and the cousins. It was a wonderful but exhausting week. Lucy is just a bundle of curious energy, and when not in her own environment needs a great deal of looking after. But it was great for her to enjoy her cousins, her aunt and uncle, and her grandparents. Here are a few of the shots...

Yes, this is the cat's bed... and wouldn't you know it, as soon as we washed it, she wouldn't sit in it anymore.

Crayon nibbles, thanks to this blog. My sister provided the old crayons, and we had fun melting them in the muffin tins. Lucy liked to stack them, sink her teeth into them, and throw them, so not much coloring yet.
Out at Chinese food. Bean sprouts in her hair after using a huge spoon to shovel chow mein from Grammie's plate into her mouth...
Ice Cream sandwiches... Wouldn't I LOVE to show this to the "What to Expect" people? (They maintain you should only ever give your child food sweetened with fruit juice, and that only once a month.)
And this is what Stevador was doing while we were gone. I'm very happy with my new windows!!
Before I get too far, I need to correct the impression that my sweaters were hard! Trust me... we're talking 4 squares just sewn together. Totally easy or I would never have done them. =)

A big "hang-in-there" goes out to my dear friend K, who will have a baby any day now!

Crafty, crafty

I am enjoying the gift my mother-in-law gave me a few years ago... she taught me to crochet. My hands have always ached to have some kind of creative work to do, especially something portable. I tried cross-stitch once, and hated it. But then I learned crochet, and since have adored all the little projects that have come from my own two hands. They are all modest, nothing skillful or fancy, but something just feels right about creating. My mother is teaching me to knit, too, so I will likely have more projects in my head than I can ever catch up with.

Here are a few of the little things I am making. In addition, I'll add a picture of one of the two tarts I've made recently. Apologies on the photos... it's "Photobooth" again.

Here's the blueberry tart from Kristen's shower.

This is a sweater I made for my best friend from high school, whose baby girl is due to arrive in November.

Blocks for my sister-in-law's baby, due in October.

Sweater for the new niece, too. It needs a flower and a button still. It looks a little more grey in this picture, and a bit hard to see the ruffled edge I added, but it's essentially a stone/taupe color.

I made this, too. =)

Favorite Dinner this week

One of my favorites! Someone brought this to us when Lucy was born, and we love it!

Linguini Marvini

3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup butter, cut in small pieces
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon kosher salt or ¾ tsp regular
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
6 Tablespoons grated parmesan
Several sprigs fresh basil (about 14 leaves)
1 pound linguine
1 pound(ish) chicken cooked and cut in bite size pieces

*Start water boiling for linguine. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
*Add the garlic and saute until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and stir in the butter, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and 3 tablespoons of the Parmesan.
*Remove from heat. Add all but one sprig of the basil. Cover and let stand.
*Meanwhile, cook the linguine according to package. Just before linguine is cooked, add chicken to Marvini sauce. Toss linguine with chicken and sauce (if you add the chicken sooner, it seems to absorb the sauce and then there's not enough to toss. Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan and garnish with the basil.

Flutters and tingles

While you all know I am not friends with summer, I just put on some tunes that reminded me of a very good summer. It reminded me of the week I met Steve, which would've been right around this week 8 years ago. I was reveling in my independence, my job (which was new and still fun), my new office (a 22 year old at Biola with a WINDOW office??), and the whole discovering myself part of life. I remember driving home with the window down listening to these tunes, and putting them on makes my heart skip a beat. There were just possibilities all over the place! Fun to be had! Places to go! People to meet! Things to read! After a really dark time in my life, it was one of the best times of my life. And then it got better.

I met Steve when my office moved to a new location. We had all kinds of telecomm and computer issues we needed help with. The former were taken care of by a friend of Steve's (now friend of ours), and the latter by Steve. Come to find out later the telecomm friend sent Steve to meet the nice, single blonde out at McNally. I wasn't at all looking to date someone, as I was so content in my life. But every time I talked to Steve, I felt like I could've talked until the end of the day. I'll spare you the details, but that guy got under my skin, and thankfully some mutual friends gave him a kick in the butt and he asked me out.

So while I'm generally no friend of summer, there was indeed a summer not so very long ago that was the instigator of the very best of my life. I seem to be happier with Steve every year that passes.

It's getting warm out, but I put some water on the stove with fresh snipped lavender and a few splashes of vanilla and it smells lovely in here! We are having an antipasto platter for dinner, which means no cooking for me... what a nice day!!

Thank goodness

I'm so grateful that none of my friends ever treated me the way this person treats her friends with kids. I'm also thankful that none of my friends who had kids first ever treated me with the infuriating "you'll understand when you're older" air. You must read this well-worded response to a woman wanting to be told that her friends with kids are just kicking back all the time.
See it here.

Lunchtime: A Quadriptych

These are done with "Photobooth" on my computer, which I believe is sort of a nod to the Poloroid genre. The guy who took our wedding photos took some phenomenal Poloroids (not of our wedding). They were gogeous--definitely Art! But I digress.

Notice the apple is nearly the size of Lucy's head...


Let's hear it for the mighty apple!

I understand these will keep Dr. Cheng away... I've got a needle prick on my thigh that indicates otherwise...

Poster-girl for eating healthy!