On October 13th, I resolved to complete these 12 goals by the end of the year. I'm going to post a check-in at the end of each month, so here's my first! It's not for a whole month- just for a bit over two weeks- but here's what I've accomplished (and really not accomplished. Especially see #3.)

1. Go on a weekend roadtrip. Not yet!
2. Find every day ways to take better care of our immune systems.
We've been (sometimes, when we remember) taking Ester-C and have been eating more fruits and veggies. It's a good start.
3. Organize the closets in our house. Hah.
4. Do at least three creative (non-paid) photoshoots. We had one scheduled for this Saturday, but our model was ill. So sad!
5. Get our state sales taxes sorted out. We haven't gotten the papers back (or the bill for back taxes, ugh), but we did get everything sorted out on our end and sent all the paperwork off to the state auditor.
6. Read at least fifteen books.
In this last half of October, I read:
Vanish by Tess Gerritsen
Two or Three Things I Know For Sure by Dorothy Allison
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
And I'm halfway through Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
7. Go through my clothes and pare down what I own to what I need. I've been sort of haphazardly putting things in a pile to give away as I notice them, but I haven't done anything real in this area yet.
8. Make significant headway on paying off our credit cards. We've paid off 12% so far, which isn't too bad for two weeks.
9. Write ten letters to send the snail mail way. Thus far, I've written four letters: to Robin, Kaytee, Holly and Kellen.
10. Start walking again. Nope, not yet.
11. Switch banks from Bank of America to a regional bank. We haven't completely made the switch over to a new bank, but we did open new personal and business accounts at a local bank and are just waiting on our debit cards and checks to come in the mail before we close our BOA accounts for good. Yay!
12. Bake three new kinds of bread. I baked pumpkin muffins this weekend, but no bread yet.

I would say that numbers 2, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 11 are going pretty well, and the others will, I'm sure. This is fun!

This one, you guys. Seriously.


We bought this with some of our wedding money last year, and it's one of my favorite appliances ever. There's such a variety of ice cream, gelatos and sorbets you can make at home that aren't readily available at stores, at least in this area. Mint chocolate chip gelato? Check. Amaretto ice cream? Yum. Coconut sorbet? Yep. Dark chocolate frozen yogurt? Sure thing.

We have last year's version, and there is also a slightly newer version. Ice cream is Lindi's favorite food, so it's awesome to have a way to make our own flavors and try out different combinations. The best thing about this? It's fully automatic, and you don't have to use salt or ice. You just stick the bowl in the freezer overnight, and then you can make a quart and a half of whatever cold treat you want in about 20 minutes. We just fill it up, plug it in on the counter in the bathroom and close the door to block the noise. It's not too terribly loud (at least not compared to the ice-based machines we've had in the past) but all the same. It is super easy to clean, and everything we've ever made in it has been easy and delicious. Hooray!

Note: This is not a sponsored post, those are not affiliate links, and I was not paid or perked to talk about this ice cream maker. I just really like it. Because it's awesome. You should have one, too.

This is a difficult post to write.

It's been a hard week. A challenging, sad week. Last Friday we found out that the spouses of two of our friends had passed away- separately, and tragically. Our friends Johanna and Matt had just gotten married when Matt suddenly passed away. They don't know why yet, which makes it even more awful. They were only married for a week and a half. He died on her birthday.

Ashley, the wife of our friend Ben, was killed in a car accident. She called home to say she was going to stop at the grocery store on Thursday night before coming home, but she never arrived. They looked everywhere, but it wasn't until Friday morning that they found her car off a curvy part of the highway. They have a four year old son.

We went to Matt's visitation on Monday night up in Missouri, and it was heartwrenching. There were so many people there that the parking lot was packed and the line wound through the hallways of the funeral home. We waited in line for an hour, and at the beginning, people were talking to each other and hugging and laughing, but as time went on and we got into the viewing room, everyone was somber and quiet. We hugged Johanna, all three of us crying. What really got me was our college yearbook Johanna had put out, with the full-spread profile we'd done on Matt about his work with animal research. I though, oh god, we made this book together and now it's being used at a funeral, oh my god. Lindi and I took the photos of him. The day we did that, we spent all day with them out at the research farm, we had dinner with them, we watched him feed the bulls-- and now he's gone.

Matt and Ashley were both just 24. They are the sixth and seventh people around our age we know who have died in the last six months: two friends from college, Lindi's cousin, a close friend's best friend, the husband of a girl I went to high school with. This isn't normal, is it? It's a rash of bad luck, heartbreak, grief. I feel so awfully sad for Johanna and Ben and his son Logan and the rest of Matt and Ashley's families, and the families of the others who have passed away this year. How do you move past that? I know that eventually they will, because that's what we do-- we heal, and love again-- but watching this, I can't imagine how right now. It's hard, too, not being able to really do anything to help, but that's the way it is, isn't it? That's just the way it is.

Someday, we're going to have a garden. Right now it's a little difficult, as both the front and back of our townhouse look out onto a street or parking lot and we don't actually have any grassy space that is 'ours.' This summer, we did have a little potted garden-- flowers, sweet basil, spicy basil and thyme. Near the middle of the 40 day run where it was over 100 every day, though, all the plants sort of shriveled up and died. We were watering them all the time, but the heat just stomped all over them. Ah, well. At any rate, aren't these little garden markers adorable? We bought a metal stamping set recently, but haven't had much luck with it yet. These look lovely, though. See the tutorial here!

Eeps! I completely forgot to link to this yesterday, but if you want to check out a post of me talking about what I love about fall, head on over to Lissa's blog Me and Mr. C. It's part of a series of bloggers and artists, and I'm glad to be a part of it! (Plus, I REALLY love fall and probably would take any excuse to talk about why. Hah.)

We made candied almonds (using a recipe adapted from the ever-amazing Smitten Kitchen) and mixed them up with a few other ingredients to make a simple, delicious trail mix snack.

1/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water
1 pound raw almonds (you could probably use roasted almonds; it would just change the flavor a little)

1. Preheat the oven to 300.
2. Mix together the sugars, salt and cinnamon in a bowl, making sure you don't leave any lumps.
3. Beat egg white and water until frothy, and use the mixture to coat the almonds. Then sprinkle the sugar-and-spice mix over the nuts and toss until evenly coated.
4. Spread the nuts in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Remove from the oven, separating nuts as the cool.


Now you have two options: you can wait until the nuts cool completely to eat them and make your trail mix (yeah, right...) or you can throw caution to the wind and go for it. Which, of course, is exactly what we did.


To make the trail mix, add about 1 cup white chocolate chips and 1 cup dried cranberries to the nuts and stir. If the nuts are still warm, the chocolate will probably melt a little and cause the mixture to form little clumps as the chocolate cools. Personally, I thought that was pretty delightful, but to each their own!


One of the best things about this recipe is that it is pretty elastic. You can make pretty much any nut into a candied nut using that recipe, and mix pretty much anything with it. How about walnuts, raisins and cinnamon chips? Or pecans, dried blueberries and dark chocolate? Mm. It all sounds delicious.

What's in your favorite trail mix?

(Sorry for the music video fail this week- they're all not 'official videos' and just photo collages and such. Ah, well. The music is the important part anyway!) 
Lindi's music recommendations for the week: 1. Emm Gryner with Sara Quin: Top Speed

This isn't a very well-known song (hence the 'fake' video) but I really like it. Sara Quin is from Tegan & Sara, one of our favorite bands.

We had such a fun time taking photos of Ana last night and spent all evening processing. More to come soon!

SIGG water bottles (1 liter, $24.99, SIGG) are pretty wonderful, made of aluminum and BPA- and phthalate-free materials. I own a .6 liter bottle and a full liter bottle. They come in lots of fun designs. My main complaint about SIGGs are that they are hard to clean, and even though they sell special brushes to clean the inside of the bottles, it was always a pain to not be able to just wash it normally. However, these are great bottles- sturdy, pretty and good for carrying around.

Is it weird that this is all I was craving for dinner a few nights ago? It's similar to that potato-broccoli-cheese-egg dish we made a few months ago, but this is even simpler. I sauteed AN ENTIRE HEAD OF BROCCOLI with onions, garlic and herbs until the onions were soft and the broccoli was tender but still a little crunchy. I fried up two eggs to stick on top for protein, and it was amazing. I think it may be because we've been sick all week- something green and easy and simple sounded really good, and it was. (Other favorite sick-time foods: tea, buttered toast, rice pudding, veggie soup.)

What are your go-to foods when you're feeling under the weather?

Millions of Americans wear purple on Spirit Day as a sign of support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth and to speak out against bullying. Spirit Day was started in 2010 by teenager Brittany McMillan as a response to the young people who had taken their own lives. Observed annually on October 20, individuals, schools, organizations, corporations, media professionals and celebrities wear purple, which symbolizes spirit on the rainbow flag. Getting involved is easy -- participants are asked to simply "go purple" on October 20 as we work to create a world in which LGBT teens are celebrated and accepted for who they are.

Lindi wrote this essay before we graduated in May. I'm re-posting it in honor of today:

Most of the time, I am not a gay woman.

More often, I am a woman in love and I think, overall, I have a pretty ordinary marriage. We fight over the dirty dishes and who’s going to wash them. We run errands and hope to find a close parking spot at the grocery store. We celebrate birthdays and holidays and try to figure out whose family we’re going to go see on Thanksgiving. We spend our Sunday evenings on the couch, trying to find something to watch that suits us both and we read voraciously together in bed. We go to bed early some nights and stay up too late on others. We cook dinner. We talk about our eight year plan, for a house and for children. We tell secrets and repeat stories of our childhood because we know our other half will still listen, even if they’ve heard it all before. We plan vacations. We know how the other likes their eggs and what they will and will not eat. We laugh. A lot.

We’ve learned to overlook the sideways glances of passerbys. Our step no longer falters when a stranger whistles at us or asks us to let him ‘join in’. At first, these little things were shocking. Why on earth would anyone want to stare at us? We have a pretty ordinary marriage. But the truth is, it’s still strange to some people, that two women can be in love; that they can be married and be, well… ordinary. We still stand out on the packed sidewalks of University and when we kiss in public people notice. People still stare and people still watch with wide, confused eyes, but we no longer see it. Our vision is blurred by conviction and, more importantly, love. I would never not hold her hand in public.

So often the notice we get on the street is negative, and we’ve learned so well how to block it out, that the bike which veered left on Thursday morning took me by surprise. It jolted to a stop on the sidewalk and the man leaned forward and put his foot down. “I just wanted to say thank you,” he said. “For being such positive role models.” He walked with us then and my heart started to beat quickly as I took in what he was saying. “I’m married. I’m straight. But I have a daughter, and if she grows up to be lesbian, we will support her and I’m glad there are positive role models like you in the world.” And I couldn’t breathe. I was so completely overwhelmed by what this stranger was saying that for a moment, I could just stare at him, wide eyed. I finally managed to utter thank you, and then again, thank you. And finally: your daughter is so lucky.

I think now about how different life would be for so many GLBT teens if they had parents like this man. I wonder how many GLBT teens would no longer contemplate suicide and how many of them would grow up knowing that they, too, could have a loving, functional, and fantastically ordinary relationship. I’ve always been confused by people who say there is some sort of ‘gay agenda.’ I’m pretty sure that my agenda is the same as most of my straight, married friends: be happy, argue less, and don’t forget to pick up milk at the grocery store. I have no plans to indoctrinate children. I have no desire to make everyone gay.

I want to hold hands with my wife. I want to support GLBT teens in realizing that they, too, can be happy. That, as Dan Savage says, it does get better. I want to raise children who know that they can be and love whoever they want. I want to meet strangers on the street who give me hope. I want to be proud of our community and I want to change minds. I want to show people that there is a community of support and I want love to be supported.

Love your children. Love them if they are good students, or fantastic artists, or bad at math. Love them if they are born short, or tall, or with a head of wild, black hair. Love them if they fail or if they succeed. Love them if they are gay or straight or transgendered. You are their parents and this is your job.

We took engagement photos of Erin and Andrew last week, and it was so much fun. We traipsed out into our new favorite meadow, then went to the Dickson St. Bookshop (which is a favorite place for all four of us!) and took photos in the fiction section, the travel section, the film section... it was such a blast. Plus, Erin and Andrew and 10000% adorable, and I can't WAIT for their wedding!

It is positively chilly outside! This morning I walked out the door, got in the car, turned on the windshield wipers to clear off the condensation... and realized it wasn't condensation at all. It was ICE. And of course, I couldn't find my ice scraper anywhere, so I ended up turning on the defrost and scraping the ice off with a towel and my hands. Oh dear. Luckily, it wasn't very thick. (Also, I slipped on the ice in the parking lot while digging through my trunk for the scraper. Le sigh.) Anyway, I made it to work (barely!) on time, so all was well.

This kind of weather makes me want wintery foods, though. Creamy soups, fresh bread, pumpkin pie, oatmeal. I found this fun list of different kinds of oatmeal a few days ago from A Beautiful Mess- isn't it cute? Mm, oatmeal. My favorite way to eat it is with a little bit of maple syrup and soy milk, or with some mixed berries stirred in. Also, we made baked pumpkin oatmeal last week, and it was delicious.

In the middle of the night one night last week, we both were craving breakfast food. Mm, breakfast. So delicious, and totally not just for the morning. This was adapted from an easy and delicious recipe we found on The Domestic Mama & The Village Cook. (Hers had bacon in them, but we didn't have any. Drats.) They are sort of like egg and potato muffins. Muffin thingies. Whatever, they're yummy.