Chasing Waterfalls.

I feel like I am on the edge of something.

Something that combines all the things my heart loves.

I have lots to learn & seek the Lord on. 

I don't know what it is going to look like

but I must get in the water and see where

it takes me.....

Picture perfect

photo:vi.sualize.us

I just love this picture.

This is what I want my life to look like.

Have you thought about that? 

If you had to have just one picture of what you want your life to look like..what would it be?

I really know not much

I hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend. I had a great time as I was at a BBQ at the home of a fabulous chef. 

You better believe I asked as many questions as I could about food. I learned about:

onions, pasta water, olives, bourbon, grilling, ranges, orzo, pans and tomatos. 

He loved to share his insight with me and I had such a great time learning about those things. 

There is so much to learn in this little life. 

I feel that the deeper you go in any area of life, you quickly come to the realization that you really didn't know much in the first place. I love how on time and gentle the LORD is with that reminder. 

I have so much to learn. 

So thankful for HIS grace in this day. 

My yesterday

 Bailey and I went to visit her little cousin Aidan. What cuties.

Then we cooked some deliciousnees. 

And then we talked about life and how most little girls don't get to sit on the counter and eat their dinner.

Then I told her to make a model face. She has so much to learn in life. And that was my yesterday..kinda

When life gives you a wine rack....

 A few years back, my dear sis gave me this amazing wine rack for Christmas. I haven't used it in quite some time due to the lack of wine currently residing in my home. I do have one bottle:

So I went to the asian market yesterday and bout 7 of my favorite Kent mangos. I pulled out the wine rack and thought..

"6 slots...7 mangos"

So I put one in the fridge and my wine rack now serves as a mango rack. 

(note: cute kid playing on iphone while sitting on the counter is safe)

Think outside the box of mangos. Be creative. Happy weekend!!

Foodie

The month of February was dedicated to making Thai food. I can now add: panang curry, pad thai and pad prik king to my culinary resume. March is for Greece. This is called souvlaki or gyro. It is super easy! I made the tzatziki too.

My version of the recipe:

Souvlaki

1. Cut up some chicken, deseeded cucumber, tomato, red onion. 

2. Put some paprika, salt, pepper and oregano and evoo on the chicken, put it on a skewer and grill it

3. Make the tzatziki first:

Tzatziki

1. Grate a deseeded cucumber (it will hurt your hands)

2. Buy some really thick Greek yoghurt. (they spell it with an h)

3. Mix about 13oz of the Greek yoghurt with the grated cucumber and add some white vinegar, evoo, salt, pepper and about 2tbsp of chopped dill (buy the dill fresh. no powder)

4. Dip the extra pita in this deliciousness while you are waiting for the chicken. (make sure you save some for your actual meal. 

Back to the Souvlaki

4. Put some evoo on the pita and grill it but just for a bit. Don't you dry out the pita or try to put in a load of laundry real quick. You will burn it. I did. :( In that case, use what little isn't burnt and dip it in the tzatziki while you are waiting for the chicken.

5. After chicken is done, squeeze lemon over it and use the pita to slide it off the skewer.

6. Put a ton of the tzatziki on the pita first. Then do the chicken. 

7. Cover with chopped tomato, cucumber and red onion.

8. Make more

I kinda love cooking and eating. I love the process. Come over. Let's break (pita) bread. 

Sweet mornings

Bailey's Morning:

Momma's morning:

Bikram yoga dress code: wear as little as you want.

In a recent conversation,  a girl R. and I were talking about our dreams. I was telling her what my dream life looks like: running my home, taking care of my husband and my children, cooking everyday, modeling, doing my business, etc.  The man that was standing near us looks at me with crazy eyes and say, "That is not a dream. That's a JOB!" I said back to him, "Well, its MY dream!". And it is.

In other recent news, I should be getting a fancy phone soon, I think I am getting a cold again, a grilled cheese should always consists of fresh bread, muenster, rosemary, evoo and fresh cracked pepper, R. from Northside Social is doing cooking classes!!, I found a Bikram studio near my job and I will be going in the next week or so, Nordstrom's espresso roast coffee is actually good and I got 7 magazines in the mail yesterday. :)

Dinner

Take a bowl full of mush

buy these at the asian market and put a bit of mush in each one,

put them in a hot pan with a bit of oil and water

Dinner is served. 

Smoothie drop

After just pouring Bailey a glass of berry smoothie, she dropped it. So I got out my camera.

She dropped the Tom & Jerry glass on her foot. Her middle toe is slightly bruised.

So I made her lay her face in it (not really..I just got a good angle).

It is hard to tell but she is pointing to the smoothie covered ceiling. Her expression was cuter that the ceiling.

The Indian man

I love going to the asian market. Here is a convo from my last visit:

Scenario: I am trying to find this tea that my Nepali neighbors drink. I have many options. I grab what I think is the proper box and proceed to roam each and every isle until I find someone who I think is from the India region to confirm my soon to be purchase. Three isles later, I spot a man who has a red dot in between his eyes. My assumption...Indian.

Me: Excuse me sir, are you Indian?
Sir: (with quickie-mart accent) Yes I am.
Me: I was wondering if this was the kind of tea you guys drink. I have neighbors from Nepali and I want to make the tea yall drink with the cardamom and milk and sugar.
Sir: Oh yes. It is! This is the good one. How do you know it is? Because when you shake it (as he shakes the box next to his ear)- it makes noise. This means it's the good one. It is the leaf. If you get one and shake it and it makes no noise then its the powder. You don't want that one. It is not good. This is the good one. 
Me: So if you were to buy the tea then this is the one you would get? Do you get this kind?
Sir: Yes. You have to shake it though (shaking the box) and if it makes noise then it is the leaf. You got the right one.
Me: Thank you!
Sir: No problem.

I love the asian market.

Top 5

While at home today, I had the greatest idea ever for a job. So here is what I am going to do. I am going to go to culinary school and someone will pay for it and pay me and I will blog about my time there. Sound great? I mean, if there are people out there who get paid to stay in luxurious hotels in the most beautiful places in the world and if there are people who get paid to eat food and if there are people out there who get paid to travel, then why can't I get paid to go to school and write about it.
I thought it sounded like a great idea.

This past week (well, sunday-wed), I took a vacation. Let me tell you. It was fabulous. I was quiet. I ate a lot. I went to the movies by myself (I saw Eat, Pray and Love). I made some beautiful things. I wrote a LOT. I read 2 books. It was quite refreshing to say the least.  Although I was not able to come up with a solution to all of the worlds problems, I was able to figure a few things out. Well, maybe not even figure a few things out. What I was able to do was to narrow my "goals" down to a mere 5 areas. Five things that I know my future will consist of. Five things I am passionate about. Five things that get me pumped and five things that set my goals and drive apart from everyone else.   It is easy for myself to like way to many things. Sure I want to sew and paint and learn about photography and bikes and interior design and languages and music and sports and ya see where I get myself in trouble? I just enjoy too much. I would much rather master a few things. So, now I have that list.  I feel more focused. I am more focused.     I really don't know exactly what I am going to be doing for my "future" but I know it will consist of those five things.  And before you think I am getting off course with going to culinary school and blogging about it, know that food and writing are on the list of five.

Well, I have to go to work now. I am bummed because I would much rather sit here and write and learn. I hope you had a lovely day. I hope you learned something new and ate something delicious

P.S. I made oatmeal cookies today with craisians and cardamom. YUM!

coffee talk

Its another week of coffee talk. I just bought Olive Oil here. I don't think I have been this excited in a bit. Well, maybe since this morning when I realized that I am, for sure, going to see Sufjan Stevens in concert in Kansas City on Oct 17th!!!!!

The olive oil is beautiful. It is made in Italy. All of the wording is in Italian. That makes me happy. The front label says:

Rapitala

Olio

Vergine

DiOliva

I am guessing it just says extra virgin olive oil but. It looks much better in Italian. 

I am sitting at a seat that I usually do not sit at. The piece below is the art piece that I am sitting under. It is much better to look at than the lady with the USA flag that I usually sit under. But, you know what I realized just this second? If I sit under the minimally dressed woman with the flag and heels then I am able to see the piece of art pictured below. But sitting where I am now, I cannot see the art piece below. I can only see the minimally dressed woman with the flag and heels. So folks there you have it. Deep thoughts by myself. Better to sit in front of garbage to see beauty than to sit in front of beauty to see trash. Nope. It sounded better in my head. Anywhoo. Here is what I am sitting under:

I am sitting in the upstairs. There is one guy on his hp and Jose' who is rolling silverware at the bar. We just talked a bit bout what time I get off work and how late of a nite I am going to have. The guy on his hp is wearing an orange shirt and he has glasses and he is sitting more awkward that I have ever seen a human sit. He is sitting with his legs up in the chair but to the side so he is kinda sitting on them. I am not sure why. He looks so uncomfortable. I can also see downstairs a bit and I see 2 guys on the couch. They clearly don't know each other as they sit as closely to the opposing sides as possible. The man on the left has salt and pepper hair and looks Italian or Hispanic. He has an hp and is wearing argyle socks, ecru button down, grey slacks. he is wearing a gold band on his left pointer finger and drinking an iced latte. I would guess he was gay by the way he just sipped that latte. No straight man drinks like that. He is well groomed but...he has an hp and a book bag with a NIB tag on it. The other guy is young.  I would say 10 years younger. He is cool. He has a macbook pro. 13inch. He has an old leather bag which I might try to steal. He is wearing cool black boots with little buckles on the side, grey jeans, blue flannel and sipping a black coffee in a mug. He is wearing sunglasses inside and it is not that sunny outside. He has thick sideburns and a little beard. He is not as cool as he thinks but he has really good hair with lots of product. He just saw me staring at him. I must learn to be more discreet.
Well, the time is over and I must go make some money. I had an alright week. I stayed up till 4am watching a french film with Audrey Tatou. I am still ready for an adventure. I am still learning about life and people and relationships. Enjoy your day. Peace.

What do you want?

"The ambitions we have will become the stories we live. If you want to know what a person's story is about, just ask them what they want. If we don't want anything, we are living boring stories, and if we want a Roomba vacuum cleaner, we are living stupid stories. If it won't work in a story, it won't work in life."




"You know, a story is based on what people think is important, so when we live a story, we are telling the people around us what we think is important"


-miller.


So this is what I really wanted to blog about but didn't. I am using the font Helvetica. Has anyone else seen that documentary??? I.LOVE.DOCUMENTARIES.  I in fact, did not want to blog about the font, rather I wanted to blog about what I want. What I see. What I hope and desire for my life. 


The picture above speaks to what I picture my weekends to look like. I want my community of friends and family at my home. I want to break bread together often.  I want to be known by these people and I want to know them. I want to be a part of their stories and I want all of them to be characters in mine. I want to have quality food on my table. I want to know where that food came from and want to be a part of the process of growing it. I want my chairs not to match. I want to have worked hard to be able to afford to feed all of these people whom I love so dearly...which means I want my business to flourish. I want to show women how to walk in the beauty that they have been given, how to own that beauty and how not to pervert it through a booty short or showing way too much cleavage.  I want women to be excited about their wardrobe, knowing that each piece that hangs itself on that wooden hanger is a visual representation of who they are and where they are going in life.  I want these women know their worth. I want to continue to know my worth. I want to know what the Lord says about me. What HE feels about me. What HE speaks over me. I also want a man who is fully committed to that as well. Fully committed to the LORD and what HE says about him and us and our family.  I want us to enjoy the same things in life. To have fun. Lots and lots of fun. To go on adventures. I want our life to be an even bigger and better story than just my little story alone. I want him to believe in our life as a story. A story in which the LoRD has the pen and is daily writing us into something grand. Something huge. Something that we can't do on our own. Something so big that it sounds silly. Just like Noah. I want to give a lot of things away. I want to travel the world and know people everywhere. I want to be a really great cook and wife and mother. I want to have lots of people whom I write to. I want to write a book. I want to continue to be filled with a confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. I want to be completely filled with joy and peace. (Romans 15:13). 
This is what I wanted to blog about tonight. What do you want? 

Random ponderings #2.

Oh sleep. I just can't seem to do you right now. The ol' noggin is too full of dreams to take part in you.  I wish I could. I tried for an hour. You were so tempting too with your awesome duvet, down comforter, down pillows, king size/cherry wood/sleigh bed. I really do love you. What makes it even better is that there is a cute little baby somewhere underneath all of those covers keeping my spot warm while I blog and as soon as I am ready for you, I will move her aside and gently take the warm spot without her even knowing. Is that wrong. I think not. Maybe it is but I will do it anyways.  

I have been sick with a cold this week which has be NO fun. Bailey has done a great job of taking care of me though. The place is a wreck but who cares. She took care of her momma. I love her. I have one more busy weekend of work and then it is off to Kansas City MISSOURI for all you goof balls who don't know. Now you KNOW! I am really pumped about that trip. I am taking a road trip to STL with my bro's, going to a wedding, have 2 photoshoots and lots of folks to see in just one week. I am glad this trip is going to be a busy one. I feel like most of the time I am there I gain 5lbs and watch a lot of tv. This trip will be different. 

I am feeling like this is going to be another Random blog. It is.

I have been watching the futbol matches like they are going out of style. I have a HUGE respect for the game and just love how the world can come together for a few weeks. I love that I can go up to any decent male and ask if they watched the game and they say yes. And I actually know what they are talking about because I too watched the game. And yes, I did say decent male. It is great for my job and it feels good to be a bit knowledgeableI have never typed the word knowledgeable but it looks different than what i pictured and there are much more letter than i expected about the most popular sport in the world. Its about time bre. It is just because being a Thomas you kinda do wrestling, football, track or baseball or all the above. I didn't really know soccer was a sport. I like to call it futbol. I sound more cultured that way and then I always get the respond, "where are you from"  and then I get to reply with "Missouri" and then I get that confused look. It is SO worth that look. Then I get, "No. what nationality are you". Then I reply with, "my dad is black and my mother is white". Then i get that look again. Then I smile, knowing that those exact things were going to happen. 

I have a really sweet friend G. who brought me food today. And it was good food. Thank you G. Thanks for hanging out a bit. 

A guy told me tonite that he doesn't like girls who have short hair. You know what.......dude....I have been trying to think of a come back that wasn't TOO rude but just mean enough to get you...so, I am still thinkin. Wait...Not a fan of dudes with bum socks. There. I hope I got you.

I really don't know how women can go around with chipped fingernails and toes. I just really don't get it. It looks so bad and only takes minutes to correct and not a lot of money. I want to walk around DC one day with a bucket of cotton balls and a Camelbak of polish remover and do some healing. 

Yes ladies, if you put polish on your nails and you have a job or do anything, you will probably have to touch up your nails on a weekly basis. Maybe even a few times a week. But...it is so worth it. Its like this...if you can't tip, don't go out to eat. If you can't keep your nail polish on, then don't put it on. Was that harsh? Did i get my point across?

I want some Gates BBQ. Beef on bun. And some Jackstacks. I love how people out here on the east coast talk about BBQ, like they know. And they will argue that Carolina has the best and Memphis. blah blah. KC. All day. 

I am thinking a lot about Norge. I will go to that country one day. Maybe next year? As a gift to myself after I am officially single again. Yeah. Sounds like a great idea to me. Oh, Norge is Norway. The Kingdom of Norway. It just sounds cool. Where do you live? the US. Where do you live? The Kingdom of Norway. Okay. Much cooler. ps. the shot below is Norge. 

I am really trying to embrace summer. It isn't AS terrible as I predicted. I have embraced the shorts and swimming suit. Still would rather wear clothes but I am dealing with it. I still hate that hot feeling but it is fun to take Bailey to the pool and drink a really cold drink and eat more ice cream and crank some Dave in the car. 

Who has actually made it this far in the late nite ponderings of me? I wonder about who reads this blog. It always makes me laugh and/or smile when I find out someone really does read it. I really don't know if you read this unless you clicked on the FOLLOW button and even then I am not sure. So click the FOLLOW button if you haven't so I know who knows all these random details of my life. 

I really hate when people curse all the time. Like that guy who drops the F bomb after every other word. He could get to the point much faster if he left those out. It just sounds stupid after a while. Like he is stuttering. There are only 2 F bombs that I agree with in song. #1 is by far Damien Rice in the song "Rootless Tree". I have never heard that word sound so beautiful. And #2 is Lil Wayne in his lovely yet direct song titled, "F today". That song came in handy a few times this year. Just so honest. So pure. 

I think that is all I have for tonite. I am still not sleepy, I still feel sick and my eyes are still itchy and burning. I might go eat some sort of carb and have some water. Goodnite. I hope you are well. 

Vodka Tonic

What a gross drink. 

Our Restaurant

So my friend G. and I were talking about the restaurant we would open. It would maybe look kinda like this: 

Maybe not. But I like how the bar stools are not all matching. Our dishes would be like this:

just a mix and match. Yeah. nothing would be the same. All plates different, all cups different. We would go out and pick all of the plates we loved. All the cups we loved. All the forks and knives and spoons that we loved and of course the mugs would be.....AMAZING.

I would want this on the wall:

And lots of art. We would want an old cool building.... We would have a small menu and local, organically grown food. The beer would be amazing. and the coffee beans perfect. I would make pizza and we would have a garden on the roof or out back. We would make our own olive oil...:) im pushing it. It would be a place of coffee and food and community and quality. Yeah. Here...Guess I will add it onto my master 'To Do" list.
-Go to Greece
-Summer in Southeast Asia
-write a book
-get certified in yoga
-plant a garden
-spend a long time in Hawaii
-use the public bus
-taste moonshine
-visit the South
-have a baby
-get a wax. ouch
-get a tattoo
-get another tattoo
-and another one
-open a restaurant