new kitchen....here we come!

my little 'old but turning newer' house is being revamped.
we are installing a new kitchen in a few weeks, and i.am.so.excited.

!!!

after 3 months of designing and planning, we decided, and eventually purchased our ikea kitchen this past sunday. i was a little nervous about the whole thing. ok, so a lot nervous. I felt like it was my wedding day or something! We picked out beautiful glossy white cabinets (cleaning ease) with rich walnut finish countertops. I am crossing my fingers hoping that we made a good choice. I am sure we did.

here is a photo of the previous 'kitchen'

yeesh!

soon to post photos of 'current kitchen' and then hopefully december/january will reveal the finish product of glory.

Re-post, April 15th 2007

I find this old blog strangely familiar, so I need to repost. It's extremely fitting, except my love is not 10 hours away anymore.


Title: The Important Things

I've been thinking a lot lately about what is important to me. My love for Chris. My family. My health. My gypsies. My art. Having connection with God. Not stressing and worrying about how life makes no sense at all sometimes. Work gets the better of me at times, and I forget how much I love what I do. Spending time with people I love. I wish all my friends lived here, cause then it would be the best place in the world.
I just returned home from a weekend in Maine, visiting Chris. We led worship together at a conference and it was so wonderful. When we are together, I feel as though my heart is complete, and it's getting harder and harder to say goodbye. But this summer will be awesome for us. Eventually we won't have to say goodbye anymore…and I will forget any pain my heart feels right now.
Also, I have a cold.
Boo.
I want to dream more. Do you ever feel like you put your dreams on hold because what you're doing at the moment distracts you? Or do you ever just forget to dream? Lately I have felt like I have tunnel vision…and I am forgetting to dream about the future. It's probably just because there's so much right now that demands my time and energy. Here and now gets so crazy that I am always rushing, never having enough time for it all. Which is probably why I am always late, always speeding, never getting enough rest…I don't really want that. I certainly need to be busy…I always need things to do…but I would love to not have to run run run all the time. It's like my emotions are running to and fro constantly. I figure that a long distance relationship adds to this heart tossing…or 'heart crunch' as my dad calls it. Sigh. But of course…it's worth it. Way worth it.

I'm just feeling a little restless that's all. And sometimes I just need to see/feel/hear/think/breath that my life has meaning. Day in a day out…sitting in my little office, working working on missions trips, struggling with issues, love sick, frustrated…but still finding peace, somewhere….small in my wittle heart.

random recent photos for enjoyment

my father in law's goofy face and my husbands tough face:


My sister in law's chihuahua, Bella, aka my dog neice:

Sass face posing on the bridge over the Susquehanna River:

A dam, on the beautiful river that runs through my city:

And last but not least, the random photo of our friends from CT that came down to help us drywall. That's a sneak peek of our living room behind us.

so my friend 's white couch

met my new ultra dark wash jeans last night....and they became bussom friends.

we were enjoying our wine too much last night to notice.


her couch is now light blue.



OMG.

honeymoon

Our wonderful 5 day honeymoon (toooo short) was a surprise present to me, planned all by my amazing husband. The morning after our wedding I asked him "where are we GOING??? tell meee!" and he said "Bonjourno Princepessa!" I was a gleeful giddy little girl.

He wisked me off my feet by taking me to Rome.

It was perfect.

jolly green giant

I am a health nut.
I'm an organic, juicing, herb taking, cloraphyll drinking, occasional carnovire who really loves her veggies. The farmers market every tuesday and friday, where the Amish farmers bring their fresh picked goodness, is my highlight of the week. I love to be creative with food.

but this past week, however, that was not the case. I was in Maine serving at a conference my Parents were hosting. I could barely sleep between: being the church cleaning lady, cooking for the speakers, running the registration, booktable, ushering...let alone eat right. Sigh.I still feel guilty about the food that I ate, so in an effort to purge my concience, I am making a list of everything I consumed:

Chicken Pot Pie
Pizza
Gummy Bears
Lots of Coffee
Cake
SODA!?
White Bread
Muffins
Cheesecake
Chips

!!!! Like.... Who am i?? Haha...when I told my husband that I ate a chicken pot pie, he looked at me with wide eyes and said "who are you?" Now, I'm going to go juice 10 carrots and feel better about my health. Cheers :)

all that rubbish

Since this spring, all my belonging and a majority of my wardrobe has been packed up in brown boxes piled high in the often flooded basement of my parents house. I was anxious to get packed before the wedding, so I started early. I imagined we would get an apartment and move the stuff in maybe...July. It's now sept 15th, and I haven't seen my stuff since March. I have forgetten what I own! And it doesn't look like we'll be moving in anytime soon either, with all the current construction and all. But I will get to that in a bit...

So back to my stuff- part of me is so excited to rip open and unpack those boxes. The other half of me is dreading it. Why? Because it will be the revealing of the rubbish. I am an unfortunate packrat. I have kept things from so long ago, I imagine I could be quite embarresed when Chris finds my years of summer camp counselor name tags. And college papers. And clothing that I am "sure I'll wear again" from 1992. And those bags of clothes that were actually headed to the salvation army but never made it past my trunk. Can i get an Amen?


I remember one day my mom forbid me to buy any more furniture. Apparantly I had taken up all the available attic space and room in the garage.

So, here I am already planning the yard sale of the century. I HAVE to get rid of stuff.
Hmm maybe the cash I make can go towards buying new stuff for the new house!?
(can anyone pick up the trend here...?)

Speaking of the new (old) house: It's our first house. Built in 1900. It's beautiful. Err, well will be.
We are doing lots of : demolition, tearing apart, expanding, opening up, moving walls, drywalling, relacing the kitchen and expanding the bathroom. It's an arduous process but it will be so rewarding in the end. Before the end of this year we will sit in our completed/updated house and be so proud. I'll be able to say "I fixed that light and put up that drywall. And exposed that brick in the dining room. I designed the bathroom and kitchen. I learned how to weld and do the plumbing.

I think it will be something to be proud of. Oh, the parties we'll have!

I'll post pictures of the process soon.

cold bed

today is day two of being away from my husband since the first time we got married, three months ago. It's not the best feeling to sleep in a cold bed alone. I feel like a introverted sad little waif. I'm certainly not going to fall apart helplessly, but I do appreciate how happy he makes me.
Absence does make my heart fonder for Chris. Oh, how sweet friday night will be when I am back in my lover's arms. Big Happy Sigh.

totally. MARRRRIED!!!

we're newlyweds :)



there's nothing more that I want to write at this moment!




goodnight!

totally. almost. married.

in 10 days, i will be totally married!

{omg}

Not planning to be married, or thinking of how the day will be perfect if 'such and such would happen, or if it wouldn't rain'... I just will be.

No matter what happens on june 8th, at the end of the day, I will be married.
A marrrrried woman. On my honeymoon. With my sex-ay husband.

husband.
hussssband.

i need to practice saying that!

I don't think anyone reads this, and can rejoice with me...but for all it's worth:

I AM SO EXCiTED!!!

lazy snow animals.

snow.covering the ground.
urging for spring.waiting for warmth.
restless. maybe bears and squirrels are happy in their little burrowing holes and deep sleep, but I gotta get out of this house. I'm ready for winter to be over. Come one March 20th.First day of Spring!

well, my blogging has been a-weebitirregular. July 23rd, last post? eh who cares.
I have this for my own pleasure of sussing, no-otherrealpurpose.
Sussing, in england, is a term used when someone wants to figure something out. Or gripe.

British Lesson for the day:

'Sod' means to 'forget it'. Like 'oh whatever, just sod it.

'Manky' means that something is gross, or rotten. Like 'this apple is well manky'


ok.back to the lazyass squirrels, i'm in maine, and it's time for grandpa winter to pack his bags and go to FL for some sun tlc.

i'm 23.


tee hee!

fun is self explanatory!

amazing birthday week ahead!

Let the bells ring out and the birds sing, cause it's freakin offically my birthday week!!

The tradition of extremely long birthday celebrations, i.e., week or even the entire month of july, began when I was a wee little lassie. Being an only child on spurred this on all the more- my parents had lots of money and attention for MOI!

The Festivities would begin with a birthday with my school friends. This normally consisted of: pool parties/ice cream cakes/pizza/water fights/relay races/neighborhood wide scavenger hunts/& talent shows.
If it rained, we went to Chuck E Cheese. (oh hell yes!)

THEN. Party with Auntie Jeri and Uncle Chris.

THEN. Every summer we went to Bulgaria, which meant:
Party with Grandma!
Party with the neighborhood friends, (who I couldn't talk to cause they spoke bulgarian, but who needs to talk to one another when you have a good imagination? and besides hide and go seek is the same in other countries...)
Party with Grandma's sister, Lela Peppa, brother Vucho Stoyan and his tacky wife.
Last but not least, party with Grandpa, Grandma's ex. That was always so much fun.
They fed me lots of dried sausage called Loufkana, and yogurt soup, and horrible cake. But I like watching my grandpa gum his food. His jaws moved in the most mezmerizing pattern. And they smoked and drank, which I remember liking being around adults who did that. And of course my grandpa would kiss my cheeks all night and they were always wet. He was a really happy guy, but every time a camera would go to snap a picture he would take on this rock hard stoic face. Remnants of communism maybe?

So that's why July is my birthday month, and THIS is my birthday week!
Saturday- dinner party at Niki's! Scrumptous food and bubbly to go around!
Sunday- big gala at my house (my parents are throwing me a surprise party, but since they are out of town, they needed ME to PLAN it. hahah)
Monday- family b-day dinner
Wednesday- actual day of birth.
Friday- The boy is taking me on a date
Saturday- Pinic at a vineyard, and bowling!

And THAT, ladies and gents, will conclude my most amazing and fansatic birthday week. And then I'll be 23! I whole new year for me...whoopie!

Yay.

I'd make a great Nanny, except I don't like other people's kids

So every once in a while, I THINK I like kids.
Just like I THINK I like Puppies.
And then the nostalgia or the 'romance' in owning something small and in need of care every few minutes wears off.

The other day I thought I would love to be a music teacher. Why? Because these two girls were watching me play piano, and they were impressed, and they asked me to teach them my song.
I was flattered of course. So I taught them and boy did they learn quick. Everything was going great...until they started arguing over the parts they were playing. And I was like noooooo.
What was I thinking? How could I have forgotten? I don't like kids!

I was a nanny once. For like 2 weeks. Hah. I did not like it. I got paid well...but I was so bored!
I would pick the girls up from school after waiting in line for an hour with 15oo mini vans & stay at home moms. Drive to their house while breaking up their fist fights like 5 times. The girls would make themselves a snack. The older one would immediately computerize herself and stay on the Zwinky website for like 4 hours. The younger one would first put on her princess Jasmine costume, then put on a movie. So I would just SIT there. Reading Oprah or calling my boyfriend. It sounds like an easy job...but I was going out of my mind! They didn't NEED me to do anything. Just drive them around and make sure they didn't bleed. I couldn't handle it!!! I NEED more stress than that in my day to survive! More adreniline! I am NOT a good sit around do nothing person.. So I quit. The mom was disappointed of course. But I said something lame like, 'an opportunity in my line of work has presented itself to me, so in my best interest, I need to take it. Which wasn't a lie, at all. There WAS another opportunity. It was to go and work for an antique dealer. Which meant I would be doing anything and everything that she didn't want to do. I.E.:

Taking her whippet, Jack Shaw, to the vet
Taking Jack Shaw for a ride
Picking up her sushi
Grocery Shopping at Whole Foods (LOVE THAT)
Babysitting Jack Shaw
Picking up her mail
Picking up her dinner

I was on full time booty call. She would call me whenever, wherever. And you NEVER said no to Tara.
"Hey Yana Baby....can you do something for me, are you free, are you around town?"
"Hey Ms. Tara, of course (wipe the food off my face, rinse the shampoo out of my hair, speed down the freeway) I am free and around town (lie)
"great....pick up Jack, pick up my photos....come to my house, drive across town, come back, waste your gas, come back to my house, go to the warehouse, pick up lunch, and come back. Can you do that in 25 min? Thanks Yana Baby. Love you! Buh Bye!" Click.
"SIGH. Where can I buy a gun and some vodka?"

I'll be a wife someday?

Let me set the record straight- I'm not engaged.
But I will be.
Eventually.
Once my sweet love stud buys it for me.
What an exciting day that will be.

4 words that make such a huge shift in one's life.

chris and I have known for 8 months now that this boyfriend-girlfriend relationship is going to end and marriage will begin. So I have known that this is the man I will spend my life with, but I know that being officially engaged will change everything.

What does it mean to be a wife? I think I'm a pretty good girlfriend...I'm pretty good at figuring out his needs and giving him everything I can. I'm great at cooking and making sure he eats enough. And I love him like crazy. So I think i'm on the right track.

We are making initial wedding plans now. How crazy. It's normally not kosher to pick your date, find a venue for a wedding and reception, and make budgets BEFORE oneself is engaged...but my life has never been normal. I'm ok with that.

moldy water

well, as it turns out, water gets moldy.

who knew? i certainly didn't. It never occured to me that lemon water could take a turn for the worst until I swallowed. After pouring myself a glass of strange consistency water, and noticed it had a silky texture. 'Strange' I thought to myself...but I drank it anyway. A moment too late I looked in the pitcher to find green moldy circles growing on the side.

ughhGG)(**F(AF!!!!

My only thought was to kill the bad bacteria with good bacteria. So-I ran to the fridge. Opened my bottle of apple cider vinegar. Drank too much of it. Felt quite ill........afterwards....but I think I did the right thing. The end.