Places to play in and pray in...

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul." ~John Muir

The author of the above quote is John Muir, after whom Muir Woods in Northern California is named.  If you've ever been there, you know it is one of the most majestic displays of nature here on earth - redwoods so wide you could drive a car through them, others towering so high they look like poles reaching straight to heaven.

The Texas woods are hardly Muir Woods but they're what we've got, and they are beautiful.

We got to enjoy the Cedar Ridge Preserve again with our dear friends Tommy and Linda.  Luci Belle is getting quite used to the Boba carrier, where she arches herself backward so she can see the tops of the trees.  I let her arms hang out so she can brush her fingertips against the of shrubs and flowers.

There are so many quiet places there to sit, reflect, pray.  And so many treasures, everywhere you look.

We wore the little girl out, so while she slept on my back, Tommy and Linda played...

Good Friday walk with Daddy.

On Good Friday, we spent some time with our lovely friend Kyle and enjoyed the perfect spring weather by having dinner at the new Gloria's Restaurant in our neighborhood. While we waited for a table on the patio, Kyle sipped a mango margarita, and we admired a huge, sloppy Great Dane who was sipping water out of a glass! 

Afterwards, we had an evening stroll around the Bishop Arts District and snapped these photos that make me happy beyond words.  I am so thankful for my little family...

Snow Day!

While my dear friend Amy was visiting last week, we had an incredibly rare 6 inches of snow and ice here in Dallas. It was certainly fun while it lasted, but I'm also glad it's over! Bring on spring, I say!

A few sunkiss'd days.

75 degrees in January

a few days of unexpected warmth, respite from winter cold

 socks removed, jeans rolled high above the ankles

Jason Mraz Pandora station

chicken salad, fresh fruit, avocado, sparkling water

lush grass for burying toes

playing peek-a-boo

sticky baby hands discovering crackly leaves

 drooly baby mouth biting mama's nose

finding treasures

blowing bubbles

golden glow as the day becomes long

priceless family

friends who feel like family

thankful life.

Homemade pasta night.

"Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking

if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity." ~ Voltaire

Paul and Brooke, Tommy and Linda, Moi, and half of Steven's head

Warm home on a chilly night.  Homemade sauce bubbling on the stove.  Fresh doughy pasta made of only two ingredients a la Jamie Oliver: organic unbleached flour, and farm eggs with bright orange yolks.  A knock on the door and another friend arrives, just off a plane from Nashville, yearning for an evening of community; the rest of us eager to feed her a good, hearty meal.  Silly photos are taken.  Chipped plates that I've had since college are piled with hot saucy ribbons and sprinkled with parmasan cheese. 

This, here, is the "simple life" - a rustic farm table with mismatched uneven chairs, hearty homecooked food, clinking glasses full of spicy red wine, and friends with which to share it all. 

By now, the scents of home cooking - freshly-ground coffee, pungent garlic, earthly herbs - are infused into our house's walls, walls that have held together countless parties and impromptu gatherings.  And homemade pasta night was another one to add to the repertoire, a wonderful start to the new year, and perhaps a new tradition.

Our little family.

Our sweet friend Michelle took these photos just before Christmas. They capture us so well, I think! Three peas in a pod...

Giving thanks.

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures." ~Thornton Wilder

Thanksgiving this year was quaint and quiet but everything Thanksgiving should be...

It began with a small gathering of friends a few days before...

A free range local turkey successfully brined and roasted by Josh & Terrica

Luci Belle being cuddled a lot as usual Our little family

Around the table

Then, on Thanksgiving morning, we had a small brunch at our house where Steven made his now-famous homemade cinnamon rolls...

...followed by dinner with Steven's parents - Luci Belle's Papa T and Halmani.  Steven made both fried and smoked turkeys and pulled pork, too.  And we splurged on Monster Cookies.  YUM!

Conscious of our treasures, indeed.

Gratefulness...

• Last year on this exact day, we awoke in the early morning, I took a pregnancy test, and within seconds, our lives changed when we found out we were going to be parents!  Today, I have a four-month-old with a precious little spirit.  She loves to giggle, to cuddle between us in bed, and is so curious as she discovers new wonders everyday, from her own fingers to a bird soaring in the sky.  I could never have imagined how wonderful it would be to have a daughter.
• Going out on the front porch yesterday evening just in time to catch this incredible sunset.  And right as I was taking a photo of it, I received a text from my dear friend Kyle sending me a photo of the same sunset from her house!

• Finding time to read again.  I usually get in a good amount of pages each day while I'm nursing.  Today, after three days of ravenously devouring every word whenever I had a spare minute, I finished The Hunger Games - oh my goodness, 5 stars for sure!  Tonight, I'm starting the next book in the series, Catching Fire. {Here's what I've read so far in 2010...}
• Steven's delicious loose-leaf tea concoction he's been brewing us before bedtime lately - cherry rooibos tea from Village Tea Company, to which he adds some fennel seeds, nutmeg, cinnamon, and Vanilla Creme Stevia.  YUM.
• The glorious weather in Dallas...heavenly 70s with a breeze, perfect for evening walks.   The light is just getting low in the sky - the perfect time of day - when I return home, with Luci Belle attached to me in the Moby.
• Speaking of, I'm so thankful for my good friend, Bre, who lives just two streets over.  We borrow books from each other, swap Netflix movies, share food, and just generally keep each other sane during these first several months of new motherhood.  Bre and I were pregnant at the same time and now her son Jack is Luci Belle's boyfriend.  Hey little buddy!

• Having a silly impromptu mommy/daughter "photo shoot" in the nursery yesterday...

...even though it started going downhill quickly...

...and didn't end quite so favorably for Mommy.  Ouch!