Images from Alice in Wonderland, by the wonderful artist Scott GustafsonToday is the one year anniversary of this blog. It has been a really fast year! Thank you, all of you who keep coming back to see what's going on with me and my family, who encourage me in my efforts to stir up the sludge in my brain to think through and write about things. I appreciate you!
So let's have a party! (this is your cue to get up and get a cup of your favorite beverage and a treat. make it something decadent--after all, this is a party. Really. Go ahead--I'll wait. ; )
So let's have a party! (this is your cue to get up and get a cup of your favorite beverage and a treat. make it something decadent--after all, this is a party. Really. Go ahead--I'll wait. ; )
Ok, you got your party food, time for an ice-breaker! So here is your party task: please take a moment to leave a comment to this post, just quickly introducing yourself and saying where you live and how you are connected to me/this blog and what food you brought to the party! (I can't wait to see who comes. I hope someone brings dark chocolate. Mmmmmmmmmm.)
Great! Thanks for introducing yourself. And now, your party prize! In honor of my "bloggiversary" and to say thank you to all of you, I am having my first ever Give Away! The ice-breaker comment you posted was your entry ticket to the give away, so you are now eligible to win one of THREE awesome prizes:
1) A hardback copy of "Cold Tangerines" by Shauna Niequist (previously read by me! ; )
2) A cool bookmark embedded with poppy seeds; when you are done using it as a bookmark, you can actually plant it and raise your very own California golden poppies! (the state flower, in case you did not know)
3) Some really good tea! I can't send a whole package of tea, but I can send you a sample of one of my favorite Mariage Frères teas!
This is also the first day of Anti-Lurking Week! So anyone who has been dropping by to read but has never left a comment--now you have LOTS of reasons to leave a comment! Please do so, and welcome to the party! I'll randomly chose winners on Weds of next week. : )
OK. I'll step up. Alberta here. Savoring a cup of special coffee. You know, the really good stuff that my sister sends me for Christmas every year. I do have a rule at my house that we don't eat chocolate (aside from good cocoa) until after lunch. We'll celebrate your anniversary tonight with some really good chocolate. Congratulations on a fabulous year of blogging and many more to come!! (I'm really looking forward to posts about the upcoming "young adult" years with your kids :)) Love to you and your family. -A
ReplyDelete'ello!
ReplyDeleteI read this earlier and was about to reply...but then Lennon started fussing and I had to put him down. To sleep, not kill him...and actually, he's still in my arms so he's not officially down, either. Hm.
Anyway - I'm Desiree and I'm currently sipping coffee (out of a Beatles mug!) with chocolate mint truffle creamer (YUM).
I just ate a left-over calzone that was *supposed* to be my lunch, but I thought it would make a much better breakfast...shhh! Don't tell ;)
I "know" you through my bloggy...you always leave great (and long!) comments...and I thoroughly enjoy 'em :D
Hi, I'm Carrie and I've been lurking for about a month or two now. I can't remember exactly how I stumbled upon your blog, but I think it was probably something to do with living in small spaces (I don't, particularly - although I suppose my space might be considered small by American standards - but I do love the idea of it).
ReplyDeleteI'm English; I live fairly close to London, with my partner and two daughters. I'm currently a homemaker and thoroughly enjoying it.
It's actually dinner time here, so I come bearing my dessert, a pear tart with cream.
I know I'm too far-flung to be part of the giveaway, but it's nice to delurk. I love your blog.
Terry here, and after our delightful visit last evening, I am dropping in for another "visit." Last night I offered tea, and now I realize that I should have offered dark chocolate! I did have some and will save it for you. ;o) Does dark chocolate keep you awake or relax you?
ReplyDeleteI just had split pea soup for dinner, and a cup of hot cranberry cider.
We know each other because my job is to encourage you in your homeschooling adventure. Like many homeschooling moms, I didn't retire when my daughter graduated, I just looked for other children and moms to enrich my life. You and Sunny, Merry, Happy, and Smiley are a blessing to me!
Hey, it's your big sister! For anyone curious, my name is Rebecca and I live with my husband and two teenage daughters in Alabama. I guess I started reading your blog because Mom told me to! (just kidding) I'll raise my morning cup of tea to you tomorrow morning; it's way too late tonight and I've already brushed my teeth. Unfortunately, this has been a heavy homework week, and I haven't gotten my turn on the computer until late at night. Sweet dreams!
ReplyDeleteYay! It is always so depressing to throw a party and have no one come, so thank you so much you first five party-comers! : )
ReplyDeleteAlberta, since your name has appeared several times in this blog, it is about time you introduced yourself. ; ) Thanks for coming by, and for all the helpful and humorous and enouraging things you say in real life.
Desiree, I don't drink coffee, but ironically LOVE anything not coffee that tastes like coffee--you know, coffee candy, espresso chip ice cream. . . your chocolate mint truffle cuppa sounds DIVINE! Thanks for coming by! I just read your post about slowing down--can't wait until I have a chance to respond! As always, I like the way you think. : )
Carrie! My first official lurker! Thanks for coming out of the closet and joining the party! ; ) And I am seriously thrilled that this blog has transatlantic appeal! I actually have a little *thing* for England. . . my older sister Rebecca (hi sis! get to you in a second!) studied at the Wolverhampton Polytechnic for a year, and I got to go stay with her--I was a sophomore in college, and got a BritRail pass and went all. over. From Saltash to Coventry to Liverpool to St. Andrews in Scotland. Too bad I was there in January, though! I still recall the smell of exhaust on the frozen air, and the way my tongue felt when it had literally frozen in my mouth and I had a hard time telling the bus driver where I was trying to go. . . Ah, memories. Thanks for bringing them back, Carrie!
Terry, there is no way I would deprive you of your dark chocolate--unless it is not organic or has wheat in it. ; ) Oh, to answer your question, it might keep me awake, but concern that has never stopped me. Thank you for letting me come by last night, and I hope you got a good night's sleep! And thank you for the kind words here--YOU are such a blessing to us!!! (anyone local who wants to homeschool through Ocean Grove--I'll hook you and Terry up) ; )
Rebecca! You better come back with that cup of tea and have something TASTY to go with it. This is a party! And it sounds like you deserve a moment of relaxation after a hard week. So sorry to hear it--go have a good night's sleep! Oh, and tell Chris if he still occasionally reads this blog that he has to "delurk" this week too. ; )
To all of you, thanks!
Who else wants to join the party? Come out, come out, wherever you are!
Just so you all know, this morning when I blogged, I had a celebratory mug of Mariage Freres "Himalayan Rose" tea with my toasted and buttered and strawberry jammed English muffins with whole pecans on the side. And Alberta, if I had any dark chocolate in the house at the moment, it would have not made it until noon. ; )
ReplyDeleteHi Ive been reading for a week.
ReplyDeleteI currently cant go to the kitchen because Im holding a fussy baby.
Hi :) Happy bloggiversery.
ReplyDeleteI'm Shaunta. I think I found your blog through Emily's at under1000permonth. I've throughly enjoyed it.
Mmmm...as I read this I was eating my very first homemade gluten-free bread. It turned out amazingly delicious. Especially with Swiss cheese and tomatoes on one piece, and bacon and avocado on the other!
Hey, it's me again. We just got back from an U of A gymnastic meet. I'll have you know that I always start out my mornings at work with a "high octane" cup of tea (meaning good tea with caffiene, good creamer, bit of sugar- like a dessert!) then I stick with herbal the rest of the day. But I didn't have anything to eat with it this morning. Still, I thought of you and how it's been fun getting to know you better this past year through your blog. (Seems funny to say that since we shared a room for 15+ years, but then again that was awhile ago!) Oh, and Chris says,"but what if I like to lurk?"
ReplyDeleteNot a lurker and late to the party. I am so glad you are blogging so I can better keep up with your day to day. I was so lucky to see you THREE times last year! Once you are done nursing E (can't remember his nickname) we need to meet up for a weekend away!
ReplyDeleteAnyway - I am Susan in Colorado Springs because you USED to live here :( and I am connected with you by chosen sisterhood and A-ha 23 years ago. I am bringing popcorn with REAL butter because I enjoy salty over sweet. (OH - just had a memory of eating day-old popcorn in your parent's kitchen - yum!...also visions of you eating popcorn with brewers yeast in your kitchen in COS).
Love you!
Hi "zerohouse" (wow-that would be a great blog identity for me if I ever needed a new one. i just might steal it! ; )--thanks for stopping by even if just for a moment! We all understand the reading blogs while holding babies thing--the reason why I usually spend more time reading other people's blogs than writing on my own!
ReplyDeleteHi Shaunta! Oh, your party food is making my mouth water SO badly. Mmmmmmmmm. I ran out of store-bought bread yesterday and one of my goals for this year is baking. . . maybe I'll get inspired to bake some today.
Your morning "high octane" tea sounds perfect, Rebecca. : ) And I understand why a guy might want to lurk on this pretty girly blog (let's see if my husband makes a comment this week!) but I have decided the FIRST MALE to make a comment to this post gets a special MANLY prize! Ok, ok, it is not completely manly, but less girly--a coffeehouse giftcard! Let's see if that gets any of the male lurkers motivated. ; )
Susan, I think THREE TIMES is just about right. ; ) Everyone, please meet the woman who is responsible for this blog. She is one of my oldest and most dear friends and has been blogging for many years. Susan, that is too funny about the popcorn, because I made some just the other night and as I ate the leftovers the next day of course I thought of you! And I have decided for Xmas next year I am going to ask someone for a stove-top crank popcorn popper, because all we have is an air-popper (from D's parents, of course, back in CO) and I end up melting REAL butter in the microwave and trying to mix it in--the old-fashioned crank machine will make the butter get spread around so much more evenly, AND you can make kettle corn with no extra work (salty AND sweet!).
Yum, that sounds good. If you like salty and sweet I may have to send you some chocolate popcorn. There's a new chocolate shop in town, and I must admit I was skeptical at first but it is fabulous. I also wanted to tell you that I love your party, and have so enjoyed checking in to see who came to your party. E is looking at how technology has changed communication within friendships for her science fair project, and I have been sitting here thinking that your online party is a very good example!
ReplyDeleteHey aunty!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's Emily. mom showed me this and i just HAD to comment (i have to be a part of the party! ;) ) haha! Mom mention chocolate popcorn in her last comment, and i must agree, they are the BEST! chocolate chips are very good too (ACTUAL Chips dipped in chocolate)!! YUM! :) Sometime we'll ship u out a giant box of chocolate so u can see just how great crazy named chocolate can be! :D
Carrie here again!
ReplyDeleteThose memories you have of exhaust fumes in frozen air and not being able to enunciate clearly because of the cold - yes, that's been me this past month or so. We recently had proper snow which lingered for a couple of weeks, and things ground to a halt - schools closed etc. We don't really cope all that well with snow here. I loved it though; it made us all slow down a bit, and that's never a bad thing.
I was at university in Birmingham, which is very close to Wolverhampton, and one of my dearest friends is from Wolverhampton too. Small world!
Hi Emily! Thanks so much for coming to my "party"! And I will be very interested in hearing about your science project when you have it all done. Your Uncle D and I were just talking the other night about the exact same thing, and about the phenomenon of Twitter (which I cannot even fathom--how do you tweet? What device is used for such a thing? etc. YES I am not nearly as tecno-savvy as this blog may lead you to believe. ; ) and how someone is making an application for i phones that would be like facebook except ONLY your REAL friends. A way for you and your local friends to keep tabs on one another in case,let's say, one of you decides to run to the mall and gives a quick shout out to her homies and then the others might decide they want to join her--quicker than a phone call to each friend. Anyway, it is all fascinating to me--great topic to study!
ReplyDeleteCarrie, If you were at student in Birmingham, then you probably at least once went dancing at that huge club there--help me out, Rebecca--I think it was called the Dome? My sis took me there during my stay once. : ) I used to order a bottled cider--Woodpecker?--which I don't think you can get in the States, at least not easily.
And here's for coincidences--the same Sis who went to school near Birmingham, England, now lives in a University town (Tuscaloosa) near Birmingham, Alabama! ; )
Hi Lisa!
ReplyDeleteWell, since you've kind of thrown down the gender gauntlet, I feel like I have to say that I'm secure enough in my masculinity to read even a "girly" blog like yours. I especially enjoyed what you posted about the Grotto of the Redmeption and the memorial to your dog Macey.
Also, (not really appropriate for a blog, but while I've got your attention), I just finished the last of the trail mix you gave me at Christmas. I enjoyed it very much, with Emily and I fighting over the one with almonds and pecans. Very nice gift, with a solid month's enjoiyment!
Aunt lisa.
ReplyDeleteHey! i'll give u ALL the deets on my project when it's through. :) i actually dont Tweet, but my friends do. it's something u do on the computer, or an iphone if u have the app. (very complicated huh? :) ) yeah, it's basically a shoutout to ur friends. but my friends use it to follow their favortie singers and actors. lol! i havent caught up to them yet, mainly on my father's half. he doesnt want to have to get ANOTHER thingy so tht he can check up on me. :) i just survive on facebook. lol! :)
Hi, I am a lurker-turned-public poster. My name is Laura and I live in the Midwest. I came across your blog from a linked comment over at Joanne's blog (I've followed her blog for years - she's the one whose tutorials helped me make the perfect bun for a daughter's church function and scrapbook paper covered letters to adorn the walls of kids' rooms). I am amazed at the fact that you live so well in such a small dwelling. I couldn't do it (had four kids and two dogs in 900 square feet), but now I regret moving to such a big house.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, I look forward to reading more of your blog!
No, I never did go to the Dome (that was indeed its name - closed now, though). Whilst a student I was a member of a Brethren assembly (I am no longer). I don't think clubbing would have gone down too well with the well-meaning but extremely straitlaced community of which I was a member ;-)
ReplyDeleteCarrie
We have our first winner! Chris, you win the coffeehouse gift card, you brave man. ; ) So, is there a Starbucks near you? I wish you and your family could have seen the Grotto of the Redemption--it is way more amazing (and garish! ; ) in real life. And thanks for liking my Ode to Macey--just this morning as I was sweeping, I remembered all the drifts of white dog fluff I would sweep in the mornings, and it made me sad. May your dogs be with you a while longer!
ReplyDeleteEmily, you have a GREAT dad for keeping tabs on you, even if it seems annoying at times--he does it because you are a PRINCESS and are worthy of safeguarding. ; ) And by the way, just this morning at breakfast M and G and I were talking about what they will do when they are young adults, and how they might go to college and maybe live away from home, and they got worried that they would have to cook and clean at that point, and then G piped up, "I think I will go live with Emily and Sarah! They'll be a little bit older and will have a house of their own." I thought you would get a kick out of that! (Not sure if she was implying that she thought you would be cooking and cleaning for her--I guess you had better learn just to be safe. ; )
Hi Laura! Welcome! From where in the Midwest do you hail? I am originally from IL. Yes, Joanne is a dear, and I enjoy her blog too. Thanks for coming over! Your comment that you wish you did not live in such a big house now is an encouragement--I have a feeling I would feel the same if we had a big house, so I will keep that thought in mind when I am feeling like our house is too small today! (Raining almost nonstop for 2 weeks--that is when the cabin gets small! ; )
ReplyDeleteCarrie, that Jan I was over visiting the U.K. I too was attending a small Christian university (in Indiana) and technically was not supposed to be dancing while away on break. But I don't think my choice to do so a whole continent away at all reflected poorly on my school, so its ok. ; )
Oh gosh. I missed all this! Sorry, Blessed! But I'm here too!
ReplyDeleteHi! I don't know if its too late for this party, but I just finished my cup of vanilla coffee. Not eating anything at the moment because i'm waiting for my crock pot whole wheat honey bread to finish cooking.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Renee and i live abroad (not sure if that disqualifies me on this blog) but prefer not to write the country all over the internet (don't mind emailing you if i should win).
I found your blog either through Emily's or Desiree's blog. Btw, I think your kids are gorgeous, and i love their nicknames as well.
www.PennilessParenting.com
Aunt Lisa,
ReplyDelete:) thank u! i feel like a princess now!!! And G can come over whenever she feels like crashing @ my place. i can cook...but cleaning i might need help w/! lol! hopefully my book will be published by then, so i might have a pretty decent place by then. i'd LOVE having the girls over though. im thinking about all the FUN TIMES we cld have together!!! :)
I love the fact the G thought of living with Emily & Sarah! That's so cute, and I'm so glad that the cousins have gotten to spend some time together so that they know each other.
ReplyDeleteI saw your comment about sweeping up dog fluff, and I must admit that there are times I wish our dogs weren't so fluffy. I'm not sure I'll miss that when they are gone someday! But there will be other things to miss, and hopefully we'll have our Maisy around for awhile longer. We've already discussed the fact that once Maisy goes we'll have to get another dog fairly quickly because Honey is not a watchdog and very social; if we leave her outside too long by herself she starts howling! (she has her head in my lap right now as I'm trying to type and keeps hitting my elbow with her nose because she wants to be petted!)
Hi Rosa! Glad you came by! (And you didn't need to win anything anyway, since you see poppies everywhere, and get to borrow all my good books whenever you want, and come over for a cup of great tea whenever you want! in fact, please do so--soon!) : )
ReplyDeleteAnd Hi Renee! Thank you for coming by! I have been to your blog before, and for some reason pictured you as living in NYC! So it is fun to think of you in some secret international location. ; )
Emily, so it's a deal then. You cook, G will clean. ; )
Rebecca, that is so funny about Honey--Smiley does the same to me while I am trying to type!