These are days...

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"These are days you'll remember.

Never before and never since, I promise, will the whole world be warm as this.

And as you feel it, you'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky.

It's true that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you.

These are days you'll remember.

When May is rushing over you with desire to be part of the miracles you see in

Every hour.

You'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky.

It's true that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you.

These are days.

These are the days you might fill with laughter until you break.

These days you might feel a shaft of light make its way across your face.

And when you do you'll know how it was meant to be.

See the signs and know their meaning.

It's true, you'll know how it was meant to be.

Hear the signs and know they're speaking to you, to you."

~ "These Are Days" by 10,000 Maniacs

Spring-ing.

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Things we're doing to savor Spring this year...

  • Walks everyday with the stroller and Moby wrap
  • Stopping to look up and see the blossoming trees
  • Pausing to pick dandelions
  • Eating sandwiches outside at the Farmstead
  • Pretending we're queens, and the playground is our kingdom
  • Driving with the windows down and our toes hanging out
  • Family time on the back deck with iced green tea
  • Giving our chipping home a facelift - repainting it a new fun color scheme - can't wait to share the end result!

Spring is like heaven here in Dallas, and we don't want to miss a thing.  What are you doing to savor spring in your neck of the woods?

Upstate New York adventure.

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Only 1.25 hours away from where I grew up in New Jersey is a land of green rolling hills, mountains, farmland as far as the eye can see, apple orchards, thick forests, and adorable small towns with great restaurants and cafés.  This year, we decided to spend 3 days in upstate New York and used the website HomeAway.com to book a private home surrounded by 40 acres of woods instead of a populated hotel.  We couldn't have been happier with the location!

First stop on our way upstate...Stone Barns outside of Tarrytown, NY - it's an impressive, sprawling center for food and agriculture that looks like the English countryside.  The land and buildings were donated by the Rockefellars.  When we arrived, we just strolled around for awhile freely - there are guided tours if you like, but you're free to just walk around and check things out on your own.  The wildflower garden was literally swarming with butterflies and bursting with bright red berries on the vines. 

We ate lunch at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, the café on site that sources their food from the pastures there at the agriculture center.  Those luscious local berries were used in that muffin you see below.  The whole meal was so simple and fresh.

Stone Barns as a whole was unbelievably beautiful.  I highly recommend a visit if you're ever in the area - and you can easily take a short train from NYC to Tarrytown then taxi over to the farm.  A great little half-day getaway.

Next stop...our rental house, The Woods Retreat, in a tiny hamlet called Accord, NY.  We ooh'd and ahh'd at the farmland we passed as we got closer and closer and then drew in our breath when we saw the driveway to our place...

It was literally our own isolated home in the woods, 5 miles off a main road, a country road at that.  All we could hear - literally - were birds and crickets and the wind rustling the trees.  Not the sound of a car for miles.

We saw the owner once when we got there so she could let us in, and that was the last we saw of her.  The kitchen was stocked with locally-roasted coffee, every type of pot, pan and utensil imaginable, and even some local ice cream in the freezer.  The entire house was built in a circular shape with an open sleeping loft/bedroom and bathroom up above...all hand-built by the owner's father from wood and stone.  Swoon.

The absolute best part was that we were surrounded practically 365 degrees by dense woods.  And all the windows had screens so we cranked them open and let the sounds of nature and the cool breeze flow through the house all day and night.  Coming from 110 degrees in Dallas, it was absolute heaven.

After exploring the house and grounds a bit, we headed to one of the picturesque local farm stands to get some fresh food to cook back at the house.

The rest of the weekend, we spent exploring the woods and surrounding towns.  A few of our favorites were funky New Paltz, NY and quaint Rhinebeck, NY.  I love the old buildings and the history of the northeast...

Lots of rainbows and hippie love in New Paltz

The Village Tea Room in New PaltzTerrapin Restaurant in Rhinebeck - inside an old church and home of one of the best meals I've ever had. The veggie burger was unreal, and that's hard to say about a veggie burger. Downtown Rhinebeck

Here are some of the places I recommend visiting if you're ever in the Hudson River Valley area...

Why I {still} need Africa.

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It's been almost 7 years since I set my feet on African soil.  It's been over 3 years since I poured my heart and soul into my job at Mocha Club.  I left Mocha Club peacefully in 2010 after having my daughter and have never regretted that decision, but I do still dearly love this organization and my former co-workers who are now friends.

In 2008, while I was working for Mocha Club, we launched the "I Need Africa" (INA) campaign. It was born out of a sleepless night in Africa when my former boss (and founder of Mocha Club & fashionABLE), Barrett Ward, journaled some thoughts at 5am in Ethiopia one morning.  His words sparked a campaign to share a message:

We find that the more we continue to give to Africa, the more we receive, and we want to continue to challenge the perception that Africa needs only our pity and charity, and instead seek to reveal the truth that its people have much to offer.

With the hunch that this might resonate with others who've had a similar experience, Mocha Club took that journal entry and launched the original INA campaign later that year, with hundreds of bloggers sharing how Africa has impacted so many of us in similar but unique ways. 

Now, almost 5 years later, the INA message remains at the heart of all that Mocha Club does, so they have just relaunched "I Need Africa 2.0" to bring it back to the forefront.


So, I thought it was time for me to revisit why I {still} need Africa:

  • Prior to traveling to Africa in 2006, I indeed bought into the lie that "circumstances define happiness."  My entire life was based on things going a certain way - MY way.  But have you ever seen someone with AIDS burst out dancing in a room, for no apparent reason? 
  • Truthfully, I need the reminder.  In the busyness of my daily life in Dallas, I don't want to forget the way time stood still there, the way face-to-face moments with people were the priority.  I don't want to forget little Margret Harriet and how she cuddled in my lap and proudly wore the word "Jesus" on her forehead.  I don't want to forget what it sounded like the first time I heard the orphans' voices ringing out, singing hymns at 4 in the morning.  I don't want to forget the laughter of children in the midst of a stinking garbage pile in Kibera.  I don't want to forget.
  • The INA phrase "possessions in my hands will never be as valuable as peace in my heart" is something I've found to be absolutely true.  And as simply as we live here in this big city obsessed with botox and plastic surgery and designer clothing, it's still easy to get swept into the desire for bigger and better, for improving our current lot in life rather than being content with what is.  But it just ends up empty.  The less we have, the more peaceful I feel.

The other fun part is that Mocha Club has introduced some new exclusive INA 2.0 products to go with the campaign - a tshirt and scarf that you can get by either 1) joining Mocha Club, 2) getting another friend to join if you're already a member, or 3) just buying them in the Mocha Club store.

Love the shirt!  Even fits preggos.

I also couldn't resist this beautiful peace necklace...

Check out the video.  And see how it inspires you. 

Whether or not you've been there, I think we all need Africa in one way or another.

Jersey summer: here we go again...

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On Friday morning, we head to New Jersey for almost the entire month of August.  Last year, I wasn't sure if it would be our last time to be able to do this, but we're blessed with the chance to embark on the journey again this year.  My husband has been working overtime at two jobs for awhile, and it's time for him to have a real break.  Luci Belle wakes up in the morning and after every nap asking, "Is it time to go to Mimi's house today?!"  We cannot wait to swim, swim, swim at the Madison Pool, visit the farmer's markets and drive through nearby towns in the countryside.  This year, Steven and I will also get an entire day in NYC all by ourselves which hasn't happened in years.  And our family of three will venture to the Hudson River Valley for a long weekend to stay at a private home in the woods.

On that note, I do have to be completely honest about something...I've had to face some ugly feelings about my body this summer, about how different it is already.  I feel so much bigger at this stage of pregnancy than I was last time.  I fear what people will think of me when they see how much my body has changed.  Blech.  It's a daily struggle to remind myself that the second pregnancy is different, and who cares what size I am because my most important job is growing a healthy baby.  And remember when I was so sick that I couldn't even leave the house for 2 months? 

So as I embark on many days ahead of squeezing into my maternity swimsuit, I need to state clearly in writing that I am not going to miss out on the best parts of summer.  These words serve as a great reminder...

"I'm going to live in the body God made me, not because it's perfect but because it's mine.  And I'm going to be thankful for health and for the ability to run and move and dance and swim.

And this is what I'm not going to do: I'm not going to hide.  I'm not going to bow out of things I love to do because I'm afraid people won't love me when they see my underbutt.

This is the promise I'm making: this summer, I'm not going to be ashamed of my body.  Or at the very least, I'm not going to let a lifetime of shame about my body get in the way of living in a rich, wild, grateful, wide-open way." ~ Shauna Niequist, Bread & Wine

Truthfully, I'm disappointed that I still feel shame about my body, especially while pregnant.  And it's got to stop.  Now.  There's a whole bunch of summer left, and I'm going to make the most of it.

Here are a few of my favorite moments from last summer in New Jersey...

Freedom afternoon.

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On Wednesday, I had two hours of freedom that soaked in so deeply, they might as well have been ten.  My hair was windblown, my nose sun-kissed, my soul rejuvenated and restored. 

Late afternoon every Wednesday, our daughter goes to play with our friends who speak to her only in Spanish.  During that time, I usually go to a yoga class, but this week my shoulder was really bothering me.  It was a breezy, warm, gorgeous spring day so instead, I decided to dust of my cruiser bike and take her for a whirl.

It always strikes me how long it takes me to adjust to being alone, to having "freedom" time now that I'm a mother.  I'm with our daughter so much that it's become the norm to rarely ever be alone.  But the more I do it, the easier it becomes to jump out of my mother skin for a little while and remind myself of who I am outside of being a mother - I'm Christine, lover of outdoors and bike rides and journaling and reading and quietness.

After dropping her off, I rode my bike to the nearby meadow, the perfect place to have a few minutes to myself.

Not another soul was there.  

I walked my bike over to the park bench under the shade trees and unloaded books and journals from my bike basket.  I bit into a green apple I'd brought along as a snack.  And I sat.  And listened. 

I read some lines in an old journal and added to my list of "1000 Gifts."

But mostly I just stopped for awhile and took time to connect with myself again. 

~ ~ ~

Soon afterwards, my husband was done with work so I rode back to our house and traded in my bike for his scooter.  With our helmets and sunglasses on, I held on loosely to his waist and we scooted a mile down the street to the Bishop Arts District for a mini-date to enjoy fresh, crunchy salads at Eno's.  The only seats available outside were two adirondack chairs by the street.  Perfect.  As we munched on such a fresh, healthy meal, I realized my bangs were caked to my face and I smelled like sweat, but I couldn't stop smiling.

All of this happened in just two hours total.  But it made all the difference in the world to reconnect with myself and the things I love. 

Yes, I'm a wife.  Yes, I'm a mother.  But mostly, I'm Christine.  And I can never lose that.

3 simple joys.

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I found this quote on my dear friend Jenni's blog this morning, and how it resonated with me:

We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn’t always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.
—Roger Ebert

On the days when I feel the least like I want to contribute joy, those are the ones when I absolutely must.

So here are some joys I want to share today...

A new book to inspire a tired mama who has run out of ideas...

Check out the blog The Artful Parent as well - great stuff!

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Finding my daughter this way in the back yard...

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An Easter egg hunt everyday...

It's one of the joys of keeping chickens, for sure!

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What are some simple joys you've experienced lately?

Spring discoveries.

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We've been soaking up every minute of spring around here.  This year, I seem to have noticed unique flowers popping up everywhere.  Maybe because toddlers walk at a snail's pace...ha!  Well I'm thankful for the slowness that helps me to stop and notice just how detailed God is in creation.

"Every spring is the only spring - a perpetual astonishment."
~ Ellis Peters