Ode to Lauren.

/

Lauren & I at her home in 2006

Today is my dear friend Lauren's birthday.  Lauren is a fellow Jersey girl, but we first met back in '99 when we were both working for Grassroots Music in Houston.  We both soon moved to Nashville and then she returned to the South Jersey area when she got married.  Lauren is a gifted writer, photographer, creative soul, mother, and wife, and I'm thankful to have the opportunity to learn from her.

The last time I saw Lauren was in 2006 when I visited her home on a quiet suburban street in New Jersey just outside Philly.  I still vividly remember the moments we spent together that bright April spring day, sipping strong French press coffee on her screened-in front porch while her toddler daughter Ella played contentedly. 

I had the opportunity to make amends for my failings in our friendship, things that had been weighing heavily on me for years.  Of course, she accepted it graciously, and we started anew. 

When I later wrote about our time together, I said, "Lauren and I also talked a lot about her method of natural mothering, which I would like to model one day."  And I have.  As Lauren shared with me her thoughts on motherhood that day, I felt her words resonate deep in my soul.  It was the first time I had heard of the attachment parenting style and a more natural way of mothering.  What I remember is the respect and love in Lauren's voice as she spoke about parenting her daughter - trusting her gut instincts, seeing her child not as an inconvenience that needed to quickly adjust to her and her husband's world, but as a unique human being who was to be welcomed and celebrated and adjusted to.  Big changes came with motherhood, I could tell, both difficult and wonderful.  Talking with her made me excited about having children one day.  Little did I know how much the Lord would use this conversation in my life, how much I would draw upon it when I actually became a mother four years later.

So this August, I will pack myself and my daughter in my dad's Honda CRV and make the 2-hour-drive to Chester County, PA to be reunited with this sweet friend.  Lauren promises to give me a tour of the Waldorf school where she works and where her daughter attends, which is set on acres and acres of sustainable farmland.  Yes, please.  I'm sure there's also a hot French press and deep mugs of coffee in our near future, and plenty of time to mull over the joys and struggles of this imperfect life as our daughters play together. 

So on her birthday, I can think of no better way to celebrate Lauren than to say, "You have inspired me, my friend. And I love you."

Things I want to do in New Jersey this summer...

/

It's official ~ the tickets are booked!  Luci Belle and I will be spending the entire month of August in New Jersey, and Steven will be joining us for two weeks in the middle.  Bye bye, horrific Texas heat!

So I've been making a list...

Things I want to do in New Jersey this summer:
All photos from last August 2011

* Spend lots of time with these zany folks.

* Meet up with long-lost friends such as Lauren and Allison.  The last time I saw Lauren was in 2006 in Philly when I was on tour with Matt Wertz for Mocha Club.  Unacceptable.

* Go to lots of local Farmer's Markets - Madison, Chatham, and Morristown, to name a few. 

* Go hiking again at Jockey Hollow.

* Swim at the Madison Pool.  Of course.

* Visit my favorite Jersey Shore town - Point Pleasant - for the day, so we can swim and play in the sand and walk barefoot on the boardwalk and eat vinegar fries at Jenkinson's Pavilion.

* Perhaps also visit Cape May - I've always wanted to go and see those Victorian houses.

* Eat again at Fresh in Basking Ridge.  I've been waiting approximately 297 days to have this ice cream sandwich.

* New York City trip, take 2.  Last summer's trip was...interesting.  Let's just say that quick daytrips to the City are quite different now with a small child in tow!  Poor Luci Belle was teething badly that day and developed a 102 degree fever while we were there.  She threw up on me and Steven at the Union Square Farmer's Market, and he and my cousin Colleen had to buy all of us new clothes at Filene's Basement. 

This was taken when we arrived first thing in the morning, fresh and clean and non-thrown-up-on:

The following photo sums up the 15 minutes we spent in Central Park.  I was so excited to show her the park, one of my favorite places on earth and where her mommy and daddy got engaged, and as soon as I put her down on the grass she burst into tears. So sad.

So let's hope for a better trip this time!  We're planning on staying overnight in the City so that should help.

* Feed the ducks at Loantaka Pond, one of my favorite places growing up. 

* Go to Alstede Farms in Chester.

* Do a lot of walking around the neighborhood and sitting in this grass, enjoying summer outside, as it should be.

Can't wait!  And I can't believe how wittle my Jersey girl was last summer.

Garden progress.

/

The backyard homestead is progressing.

We've got zucchini!


And tomatoes!

{Well, a few less tomatoes since a certain someone thinks it's funny to pluck off the green ones...}

And a tiny, funky-looking pepper that was so hot it made my husband do a little circle-dance in the kitchen after tasting it...

And loads of herbs, apparently.  Bouquet of fresh oregano, anyone?

Or how about some sage to brush your teeth?

It's true, you can brush your teeth with a sage leaf.  The Italians do it all the time!  Just rub the leaf all over your teeth and you'll see the grimy residue on the leaf, and your teeth will literally be squeaky clean.

So, that's hardly enough food to feed two people much less an entire village, but at least it's progress!

My Belle at 21 months.

/

My dear friend Erin Fletcher snapped these photos of our daughter a few weeks ago.  She had her finger in her mouth for most of the photos – BOO 2-year molars!  But as Erin said, "It's just the season she's in -- poor little teeth. So, you've got that documented now."  True!

Her sweet smile and precious spirit melt my heart.  I am one grateful mama.