I don't even know where to start. We feel seriously ashamed at how disconnected we have been from our online community. Life has been really busy, that is for sure. I will say that it has all been personal pursuit "stuff" and truly enjoyable. The whole concept of work really gets in the way. As the title suggests, a whole new season has fallen into our lap, literally. I don't think that it officially hit me until mid-April when I was sitting on the front porch, enjoying the weather, looking at a cookbook I got for Christmas called Clean Food that is divided into seasons. I was looking for a recipe I had discovered in the winter section, when I realized that it wasn't winter anymore. Being as easily excited as I am, I found great pleasure in getting to look at a whole new season worth of recipes.
As the title suggests, we left you with our last blog ending our updates some time around late January. While we packed a lot into February and March, I am just going to give you the skinny. In February, Sam took me to see Wicked; the tickets were a Christmas present. Seeing Wicked was one of the things that made my bucket list; it is a pretty big deal to me. I read the book several years ago. I just love the story. I really love any story that victimizes a villain and completely changes the perspective of the story, evoking empathy for the alleged "bad guy." I reread the book before seeing musical, and while the actual musical was pretty radically different than the book, it was nevertheless pretty epic. Yes, epic. It is what all the cool kids are saying now. By cool kids I mean 9th graders.
February and March were also filled with a lot of feathers. As I think I mentioned in the previous blog, I have taken on overseeing costumes for the Seussical (the Dr. Seuss spring musical at my school). I made a lot of skirts and attatched a lot of boas to leotards and skirts in an attempt to make bird girl costumes. I got a sewing machine from my mom, and not using one since the only time I had ever used one circa age 10ish, assumed the "experienced" seamstress position. I also made tails out of boas,; one tail that is roughly 8 feet long for Gertrude. In the story she starts off with a tail that is very sad compared to all the other birds. Feeling very inadequate, she looks to pills to help her tail grow. However, she gets more than she wishes for, and her tail grows to such an enormous size that she can't fly anymore. So the tail I made starts off as a puny little gray twig, and with attachments, morphs into a billowing long tail with an assortment of blues. It really does echo our society's body and self image issues and the lengths people will go to in order to change the way their bodies look i.e. eating disorders and steroids. The feathers also flew into April, I actually just finished the bird girl costumes this past week. I was really glad to have something like this to work on during the snow days, but once the weather turned nice, I was ready to be outside. Turing those costumes in was a huge weight lifted(although feathers are rather light), however I am pretty sure I will have those feathers flying around my house to haunt me for months to come. See the musical May 21-22.
March was also filled with celebrations: my birthday and wine party. I turned a quarter of a century old this year. I know, that is ancient! There were several celebrations. We had a lunch at my parents where I had pies. I had a carrot cake made for me at school. And, on my actual birthday, Sam took me to The Lobster Trap, which was delicious. I had also requested Sister's McMullen cupcakes, but took a rain check due to the sugar overload I had the week before. Speaking of which...I still haven't gotten my cupcakes...hmmm. In March we attempted sushi making for the first time alongside Mark and Lindsay. We also had a wine party, which was great fun. A good crowd showed up, and everyone brought a bottle of wine to share. I think we tasted 9 bottles: 7 reds, 2 whites. There was also tasty snacks and pallet "cleansers." It really helped us reach toward our goal of 30 wine bottles, which Sam will need for his wine making kit. Does anyone know anything about getting wine barrels?
Along with all of the above, I am still in the process of getting my yoga certification. I had one weekend in February, two in March, and just finished up weekend 8 of 9. I only have one more weekend to go. I have to tell you, I have thoroughly enjoyed this program. I truly love practicing yoga. I am fortunate to have discovered this life transforming practice and all of its health benefits at such an early age. I have started teaching a Thursday class at Erwin, and I am hoping that a few other venues open up for me. At this point, I don't really know if I want to pursue it as a career, but it would definitely be a good supplement. I have found teaching it to be very validating. I have enjoyed learning so much about myself, nutrition, anatomy, Ayurveda, and holistic health in general. I have one more weekend until I am officially certified. I am glad to be done with my big research paper and to have turned my journal which documents my home practice since the program began. If anyone wants to do some yoga, let me know! I have a good yoga mix D.J. aka my husband. I feel very blessed and fortunate to have gotten to do something so fulfilling!
Speaking of fulfilling. It is garden season. Sam loves gardening. I will let him give his spiel about all of that. But I am just glad that my tummy will be so fulfilled and satisfied in the upcoming months :)
Sam's Spiel:
Oh, so I have to ensure that Kellie's tummy is fulfilled and satisfied with fresh fruits and veggies? No pressure or anything. To tell what I've been doing, I'll have a nice little Q and A session.
Question 1: What are you planting?
Well, a vegetable garden of course. Right? Wrong. I think we all know that a tomato is actually a fruit, but did you know that eggplants, peppers, beans, peas, squash, and I'm not sure but I think zucchini and cucumbers, are technically fruits? This is because the seeds are inside a pulp. So I guess I'm planting a fruit garden. (Kellie question: What is a kiwi and why are strawberry seeds on the outside AND what is up with the pit of a peach?)
Question 2: Where are you planting?
Since we live on .0000071 acres of land, and .0000023 of that is taken up by a house, and the other half is...well, I don't want to get into that right now, but the moral of the story is, I'm keeping a small garden for a few tomatoes, peppers, onions, basil, etc., here. However, Kellie's parents have graciously plowed a MASSIVE area for me to work my mojo. Or should I say, "sow my poblano." (Poblano is a pepper, known as an ancho if dried, delicious if stuffed. Oh yeah, I'm gonna stuff it.) I have been working over there several times a week to make some raised beds, and let me just say, it's tough work, but I "dig" it. But seriously folks, it's huge. I'll send you a picture sometime, or you can take the Super Summer Summers' Garden Tour for only $19.99. Tour includes: shovel your own raised bed, carry water to the garden and water some plants, break up some red clay dirt clods, make your very own tomato cage, oh, and my personal favorite activity: try to start the tiller built in 1908. (Kellie comment: aka a horse and plow?)
Question 3: What else can you say about gardening?
Well, probably a lot. I just love when I'm in the middle of hoein' a row, and I can lean on my hoe and look up at the mountains. It's just magic. I think I would like to be a professional gardener. Or, at the very least, time travel back to the days of Davy Crockett and live in a self-sufficient cabin way up a holler. I'd be just fine with that. That's basically my goal: being Davy Crockett....or self-sufficient. O,r I would like to live in the Alamo. So what else can I say about gardening? Well, i don't know, but I think it's "growing" on me.
Question 4: Will you please let Kellie type now?
Yes.
So, now that Sam is finished sewing his seed...a few other highlights. I co-hosted a wedding shower and a baby shower. My friend Rachel had her baby almost 2 weeks ago and picked the name I suggested :) Emma. Last weekend we had the wedding shower for Mathew and Becca. I think the count is down to a little over a month? My mom also retired. She and my dad traveled up north to visit my brother Tim and my multiplying nieces. We also went on a vacation with Sam's parents over our very short spring break. We went to Savannah. I am pretty sure there will be a Savannah picture blog tour with comments ala Sam since he is the history buff and read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Hopefully that will get posted soon. I will say all of the stars are aligning to bring up a pretty busy May: Yoga graduation, Seussical, a wedding, Mark's graduation, and just dealing with daily things like work(but who wants to talk about that). Spring fever is here. My first poppy has popped, and my flowers are blooming, so I am longing for summer time. Just imagine, the summer time will bring an abundance of food, good times, and blogs.
I mean, we really just touched the tip of the iceburg. We didn't even get to talk about our crazy cats or our vacation...
Until next time....
Namaste
P.S. Sam is trying to grow avocado trees also.
