Over and Out

In just a few hours we will be boarding a plane bound for Ethiopia. On our way we'll have a little stopover in DC to watch {via the tv at the boarding gate} as President Obama is sworn in. What a day! And, we woke up this morning to a thick blanket of snow covering everything.

Snow
Inaugaration
Trip to Ethiopia

One can only handle so much excitement in a day.

We're leaving this behind....

.....and heading on to 70 degree weather.

We'll be back in just over two weeks with loads of pictures and stories to share.

Until then.....

MLK Weekend in Boone

This weekend we had our annual MLK weekend in Boone with the Huegerichs and Myricks. It was wonderful {as always} for a multitude of reasons....

1. The Ham Shoppe- This is probably our most anticipated meal of the year {and yes, it's a sandwich}. We talk about their sundried tomato bread all year. Before you die, you need to go.


2. Mast General Store- Old Fashion Candy Barrels and bottles of cheer wine, it doesn't get much better than that.
3. A chilly hike in the mountains with friends that are just as crazy as {if not crazier} than us.

4. A long winter nap on possibly the most comfy couch.

5. An unending supply of entertainment including puzzles and games. Just for the record, the girls team won Trivial Pursuit (twice) and, contrary to popular belief, it was not pure luck.
Oh, and "Tess of the D'Ubervilles", yeah, that's an impossible charades pick. Try acting that one out.


6. Breakfast at Dan'l Boone Inn- Family-style country breakfast around a big table, the true southern experience.

{Happy Birthday Emilia!}

7. Walking in the falling snow to get to the cars parked at the bottom of the mountain. After growing up in Africa, snow still fascinates me every single time, i love it.

We've been coming up here for MLK since 2006. It is hands down one of the best weekends of our year. Last year we had all just gotten engaged and came up with our wedding binders and Martha Stewart wedding magazines in tow. This year we had no agenda, we just relaxed in newly wedded bliss:)

How incredibly blessed we are to have friends like this.

Countdown

two and a half

that is the number of days I have left of work before our whirlwind trip to Ethiopia!and 2 1/2 days till our Martin Luther King Weekend Reunion with the Myricks and Huegerichs in the beautiful mountains of Boone, NC!

ah, i can't wait!

Coffee

This morning I was making coffee at work and the smell of the fresh ground coffee {ok, so maybe it was a big industrial can on pre-ground coffee} made me almost pass out with excitement. That smell takes me right back to the streets of Ethiopia. If the breeze blew right, you could smell the fresh picked coffee berries being roasted on an open fire. I miss waking up to that. Now if the breeze blew wrong...well, Ethiopia has a whole range of rather unpleasant scents as well...but I won't go into that. I could have sat right there on the kitchen floor and breathed it in all day long. But instead of doing that, I am working- and trying to hid the fact that I am almost uncontainably excited about the fact next monday I will not be sitting at my desk, but getting ready to fly half way across the world....back to the smell of fresh roasted coffee.

Weekending

B and I have this whole weekend off work together, with absolutely no obligations.  This could possibly be the first of its kind since we've been married.  I'm not going to lie- I won't miss the crazy restaurant hours one bit when Ben retires from cheff-ing {hopefully it'll be soon, very soon}.

I'm still sick.  And I've had quite enough of it.  My voice has now almost completely disappeared.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we've been walking the beach...in Janurary...a little too often.  Or the fact that we snuck out to get ice cream...in Janurary... at night... with a cold.  Brilliant.  

   it may or may not have been half eaten by the time we got home:)

the cure for the common cold

A resolution kept

So one of my new years resolutions was to wake up early. Early enough to eat breakfast, read, sip on tea, have my quiet time, and not be rushed. I'm not an early riser by nature {I think that might be a teeny bit of an understatement}. But I've always liked the idea of mornings like that...so I gave it a try.
And I did it.

Even on tuesday, when I got up, took a shower, got ready, and promptly went back to bed and called in sick with my killer cold. My first sick day in months...and it was glorious.

So, since I was home, and B was off too {a rare occurrence} we spent the afternoon nestled in our little kitchen cooking and baking away, with intermediate gaps of lounging on the couch and watching movies in the middle of the day and drinking lots of tea. Just what the doctor ordered.

Kristen came over for dinner and I wanted to impress her with my newly acquired bread baking skills.  I made a big round of rosemary olive oil bread. 

{and maybe I impressed myself a little too}

Paired with Ben's mushroom parmesan risotto and roasted pork...mmm.  It was delish.

Last night, we walked the edge of america {yup, that's what they call Folly beach}, looked out over the ocean and got super excited about the fact that in 10 days, we will be hopping that pond and making our way to ETHIOPIA!

from the archives:)

Sometimes, when I have those moments....

when I wonder...

what the heck we're doing with our lives

where we're going

and why we're living here... in charleston

I see this on my way to work...

and I breathe easy....

"For in Him we live and move and have our being." 

{Acts 17:28}

the end

of Christmas break...

Right now I am savoring my last few precious hours of vacation.  Come tomorrow morning, I will no longer be able to sleep in, relax, and take it easy like I have the last 2 weeks...nope, I'll be back in my windowless office- working.  Oh boy. 

Like a mean joke, the last few days have been spent nursing a killer cold.  My first one of the new year.  Joy.  And my nurse has had to work all weekend.  Jerk.  Justing kidding, i love you.

  

Friday B and I embarked on a journey....a journey to make bread from scratch.  We purchased yeast {figured that was crucial} and picked a recipe-Rustic Italian {sounds easy enough}.  And went to work.

Several hours, and a big mess later, the delicious smell of fresh baked bread wafted through the air, and two big buns popped out of the oven.  And you know what?  It wasn't that hard.  I think I uncovered a new passion- I apparently really like baking bread.  And that smell, it takes me straight back to our kitchen in Ethiopia, sitting on the counter waiting for Genet's homemade bread to come out of the oven.  Oh the anticipation of that first buttery bite... that first bite was always the best.  

The Proof

So I think one of my New Year "ideas" is to make a batch of soup and a new kind of bread on Sundays.  That way Sunday evening, we can sit back and savor the evening before the craziness of the week takes over.  Yeah, I think I like that idea.  

{Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.}

Proverbs 30:7-9

good bye two thousand and eight.

Out with the old and in with the new.

Tonight over dinner we were reminiscing about the best {and worst} of 2008.

This year we...

• got MARRIED
• quit a job {her}, got two more {him & her}
• moved into our first home together
• honeymooned:)
• planned a black tie gala {her}
• hosted friends and family
• celebrated birthdays
• traveled to Boone, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Mexico, Raleigh, Shackleford, and DC
• ate oysters
• camped on an uninhabited island
• celebrated two Christmases
• cooked delicious meals {him}
• watched our best friends get married

In Japan they have Bonekai parties, or "forget-the-year parties", but i think 2008 is one that I would like to remember.

We rang in the new year with an oyster roast at the Smith's in Edisto.

Nothing like fresh oysters, good beer, and a chilly ocean breeze to welcome the new year

Janie and Ben attacking the slimy little suckers

mmm.mmm.good

Watching the ball drop, huddled by the heater at the Marina

Happy New Year!

{2009}

Today Ben and I didn't have to go into work- so we celebrated by sleeping in and taking it easy. This included:
A chilly walk on the beach

if you look closely you can see my new bangs:)

Coffee and Scrabble at Starbucks
A trip to pick up some dinner inspiration from William Sonoma
And a d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s new years day dinner created by B

Steak with a red wine reduction and mushrooms, grilled potatoes, a spinach salad, and a good Chilean wine {courtesy of Mama and Papa Harding}

and of course we used our lucky, trunk-pointing-up elephant napkin rings to inspire good luck throughout '09

and right now B is cleaning up the kitchen as I sit here and write this- looks like it's turning out to be a lucky year for me already:)

Happy New Year!