Surprising Seeds

A year or maybe two ago I got a handful of seeds from my friend Bekah. I swear she told me they were black-eyed Susans, which I love. Here's what I thought they would turn into.


Boy was I in for a surprise! I planted the seeds and they grew pretty quickly into voracious vines that twisted and turned and latched on to everything nearby. Thankfully, some of them happened to be planted next to our railing so that they had something to climb. Pretty soon they developed buds and then beautiful, purple flowers. They continue to grow and produce what look like purple peas and they are attracting all kinds of butterflies and even hummingbirds. Every so often though, I'm having to clear the vines from in front of the door because they keep threatening to take over. I guess they are some sort of ornamental pea but I'm still not sure if they are edible.

The positive thing is that everyone seems to like them. Our neighbor asked if she could have some of the pods for the seeds. I gave some seeds back to Bekah yesterday because she really liked them too, but she had been just as surprised as me at what her original seeds produced. In any case, I have plenty more seeds if anyone is interested.

Adorable Babies

It's been so much fun to see babies growing and learning. We have friends near and far with baby blogs that I love to follow to see what they are up to. I am really looking forward to seeing my stepsister Shelly's beautiful baby Amelia when we go home for my sister Laura's wedding in a couple of weeks.

We have some friends with adorable babies in Charlottesville and we've been doing some babysitting for them lately. We babysat one night last weekend for Peter and Jaimee so they could go out to dinner for their birthdays but it wasn't too eventful because Ian was already asleep when we got there. :( I was a little disappointed because he's such a cutie and he's at such a fun age--walking and talking. He's really amazing because now he can remember everyone's names too.

Today we watched Elsa (who just turned one) for a couple of hours. She loves music and bopping her head to the beat. And she's saying a number of words now--some over and over. One thing in particular that she loves to do is look up at you very cutely and shyly and quietly say "hi" over and over. We had a lot of fun playing with her, trying to teach her how to say "robot" and watching her eat a whole bunch of solid foods.

Here are a few adorable moments I captured while playing. I love the scrunched up face.

Remnants of Summer

Look what I found growing this week! Our two strawberry plants hardly produced all summer and all of a sudden they are starting to flourish. Yum! What a nice surprise!

Although this weekend is rainy and cooler, summer seems to have been hanging on in Virginia the past couple of weeks. Last weekend we met up with our good friend from MN Aaron and his girlfriend Angel (who happens to be a MN Rollergirl). They were staying at a condo in Williamsburg for the week so we met them on Friday night.

It's amazing to be able to pick up right where you left off with certain good, old friends. Time and distance evaporate for a while when you get back together. The distance part makes me kind of sad, but the visits are always spectacular.

Aaron brought a delicious blueberry mead to share with us. Here are Aaron, Angel and Troy tasting it.

We had a great time catching up--I hadn't seen Aaron since he visited us in Oregon 5 years ago so we had lots of catching up to do. Plus Troy and I wanted to hear all about roller derby from Angel. Finally, we all snuck into the hot tub and pool for a midnight swim. It was a lovely evening.

On Saturday we headed to First Landing State Park to camp for the night. We took a long walk on the beach and Aaron and Troy went swimming. Troy brought a growler of the beer we brewed especially for Aaron's visit. Mmmmmm....beer and beach.


I always love discovering interesting things in the sand. Here are a few pics from the walk.


Later we spent some time in Virginia Beach, walking on the boardwalk and feasting on seafood. And later still, we had a wonderful bonfire and drank some more beer.

We had probably an hour-long conversation about bacon--which was hilarious. Aaron and Angel are invited to a party next month where everyone has to bring a dish that involves bacon. We invented a huge number of interesting combinations--one that we would try after dinner on Sunday night--bourbon-pecan pie with a side of bacon. It was surprisingly tasty because the very sweet is balanced by the very salty.

The next morning our plan was to get up and go for a swim, drink some coffee on the beach and then go. But we soon learned that Troy had other plans, beginning with--big surprise here--beer drinking...


and eventually leading to bacon and eggs--which he combined with our leftover crab cake and hush puppy leftovers from the night before. I know, I know, it sounds totally disgusting, but somehow it worked!



It was such a nice day that we ended up staying most of it. We did eventually go swimming but the day also involved kite flying, sand sculpture-making and relaxing.

The Change We REALLY Need

I just got back from an Obama rally on U.Va. Grounds that featured Michelle Obama, Jill Biden and Lily Ledbetter. It was inspiring to see the large, energetic crowd and to hear the words of these powerful, intelligent women. I SO want a president who will stand up for equal pay for women and for working people in general.

I have to admit that I'm feeling very jaded though. I was annoyed with a few things about the rally, like the gigantic American flag and the mandatory prayer and pledge of allegiance. The talk of helping the middle class when the poor and the working poor are suffering even more and the talk of rising co-pays when many are completely uninsured... I think they mostly get it but they don't completely get it. I understand that they are probably trying to reach the middle class and that to do so (and to make him "electable") they need to make Obama look like a patriot and a Christian but I'm wishing for someone who is a little more of a rabble-rouser--someone who isn't afraid to stand up to big corporations or for gay marriage.

I remember seeing Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke back in 2000 at the Target Center in Minneapolis. The excitement I felt at that rally was incredible. The possibilities seemed endless. I was getting a degree in "Social Responsibility" and I was ready to change the world. After 8 years under Bush's rule, I feel a little bit lost. I'm very disenchanted with my country and with the electoral process. And yet I'm not really feeling like I can do anything about it. I'm not excited enough about Obama (like I was with Nader) to get out there and canvas. I feel like it would be half-hearted. I think it has to do with the fact that it feels like Obama is willing to settle for incremental and piece-meal changes. I want a fucking revolution already!

Anyway, I'm interested to read/hear your comments about this.

Fashion Poll

This weekend I've really been trying to figure out what I'm going to wear for my sister Laura's wedding next month. I'm the maid of honor but my sister has graciously offered to let me and the other bridesmaids pick out our own dresses. Her one requirement is that the dresses be in fall colors.

It is harder than a thought to find fall-colored dresses. I went on Saturday with a group of friends to a few places and I've been looking online and haven't had much luck. I did find a very pretty dress at Belk, the last place that Liz and I went. I bought it but am leaving the tags on for now because it costs more than I really wanted to spend.

My friends Sarah and Jaimee graciously offered to borrow me dresses. Jaimee's was a bit too tight for comfort but Sarah's is a serious contender.

I'm terribly indecisive so I'm posting pics of me in the dresses and asking you all for help in deciding.

Dress #1: Sarah's dress

Pros:

• Free
• Lovely Vera Wang design with bubble bottom
  
• Could wear with black shoes (might not have to buy shoes to match)

Cons:

• A bit tight around the ribcage
• I'm not really sure how to tie the attached black sash
  

Dress #2: Belk Dress
The beaded top and bottom are very pretty. I included this pic so you could make out the detail.

Pros:

• Comfortable
• Very pretty coppery beading that brings out my hair color

Cons:

• Cost $200, plus I would have to buy matching shoes
• Might not have the chance to wear the dress or shoes again as it's pretty fancy

I created a poll on the upper right-hand side of the blog. Please help me to decide by voting for your favorite.

Cookin' and Brewin'

We've had a couple of busy weekends that have involved brewing and lots of cooking and eating. Last weekend Troy and I brewed a hefeweizen in anticipation of our friend Aaron's visit this month. Brewing takes a decent amount of time, and unfortunately we haven't done much of it in the past 3 years that we have lived in Virginia. But it's such a fulfilling process, especially now that we have a keg and don't have to wait as long for it to be ready as we did when we had to bottle it all. Here's a pic of Troy stirring the brew.
Also last weekend, our friend Dave had us over to make and eat pasta again. This time there was a huge group of people participating, making it even more fun. We drank a ridiculous number of bottles of wine and ate gigantic portions of tasty pasta and 4 different desserts. I didn't help much with the cooking, as there were already a number of cooks in the kitchen, but I did get to play with our friends Peter and Jaimee's incredibly cute little boy, Ian.

Here's Sarah and Ian.
Nick, Alli, Aurie and Peter - hard at work on the pasta.
Nick displaying the goods.
Dave and Jaimee - overseeing the pasta cooking.
Troy and Steve - standing around drinking beer.
Mmmmmm.....the reward.

This weekend I've been busy harvesting our garden. Our tomatoes didn't do well at all but we have had a number of beautiful and tasty peppers: serranos, poblanos, sweet Italian reds, and regular bell peppers too. The basil has done pretty well too.
Last night we prepared a Mexican feast with the help of Peter and Jaimee. Here they are with Ian, who kept coming into the kitchen while I was cooking and saying "HI Yissa!!" It was adorable.
Peter and Jaimee brought yummy shrimp ceviche for an appetizer.

Here's the ceviche. It was so pretty--hard to take a pic that does it justice.

It's a good thing we had an appetizer, because it took a very long time to make the chile rellenos and get all the other fixings together too. Troy made fancy blue margaritas with salty foam on top--they were fabulous. I have to admit, it was an outstanding dinner--worth the wait. I was so anxious to eat that I forgot to take a picture of the full spread!

Is it Fall Yet?

Summers always go by way too fast. It's hard for me not to get jealous of all of our grad student friends (and Troy) since they are (technically) off during the summer and I'm working. But still, summers are usually packed with fun things to do like camping and parties. I get used to having Troy around more during the summer so it's always a little depressing when the craziness starts up again.

In Virginia, it's been especially hard to adjust to the seasonal differences. It really stays hot through much of September, which makes me feel like we get cheated out of some of the summer since school has already started. I especially feel that way this year because I'm taking my first official U.Va. class. It's hard to focus (and get homework done) when I want to hang out and drink beer on the porch! I need to work on this so I'm not scrambling to get my reading done before class as I did this week.

The class is focused around learning how edit literary writing and also how to layout a magazine or small publication. I've been pretty nervous about it as I'm the only non-student in the class as well as (I think) the only non-creative writing MFA person. Kind of intimidating. But I get to create my own little publication and pick a fiction book to review. I've enlisted the help of my pal (and experienced creative writer) Catherine. Having her advice makes me feel a little less neurotic and self-conscious.

As for Troy, I'm about to tell him it's time to call it quits for the night since I need to get some shut-eye. He's hard at work on the new drum-bot and it sounds as if he's made some progress in the last hour. If it was up to him, he'd be up all night working on his creations. Someday when we own a home, I think he'll have to build a soundproof room.