We've been married three wonderful years today! We celebrated by visiting Micah's grandmother and then heading out for a night on the town while Mom Heiselt played with Simon. We went to Columbus and went ice skating and out to dinner. Neither of us have been ice skating very much so we were quite pleased that we didn't fall down and by the end I could skate and talk at the same time.
It was great to look back on our three married years and see how far we've come. Just before we were married we made a five year plan, which included a baby and a Master's degree, so we're doing pretty well and starting to think about our goals for the next five years.
The picture was taken in Hawaii when I was 8 months pregnant, fyi.
We flew out to Ohio today for Christmas. It was a bit of a roller coaster ride in the airport today. Long story short: We got to JFK super early, our flight looked like it was on time. It was supposed to take off at 1:40. At 1:30 they finally told us it was delayed an hour. I was upset, Micah went to get me food (we had an early breakfast and nothing to eat at the airport). While he was gone this couple with a baby came and sat down next to us. First thing the husband said when Micah came back: "Are you a graphic designer?" It turns out they had a design class together at BYU and tons of mutual friends. He and his wife and six-week-old had been stuck in JFK since yesterday because their flight to Maine was canceled (they were flying from Salt Lake and had a connection at JFK). It made our delay seem so trivial and it was so nice to have friends to talk to while we waited.
But then our flight got called, so we said goodbye, went to the gate, and were told that there was no room for us on the flight. Funny thing. Nobody told us we had bought standby tickets. We were obviously upset (and we will never fly Delta again if we can avoid it), but the lady who helped us at the ticket counter was great and made it really hard to be angry. Unfortunately, she couldn't really get us on the next flight, and it was only by a small miracle in which another couple decided to give up their seats to Columbus (they had found a direct flight to LA) right when we were just about to leave the ticket counter, so we got their seats. And we got to spend another hour with our new friends before we all flew away.
So all's well that ends well. And although it was a long day at JFK after a long night of packing and a long morning of getting the apartment cleaned, we're here in Ohio with family for Christmas, and that is what's important.
Oh, and since I've been meaning to blog this for a few days, I might as well do it now. My Journalism professor encouraged me to ask the Journalism department if there might be a space for me in the program starting next semester. So I asked and they said yes! I am very excited, especially because I no longer have to write a thesis and I will still be able to finish by next Christmas. We feel so blessed by the way things have worked out and so grateful for all of these opportunities we have.
The irony of going from "On Eating Well" to "Snack Time!" to "CookieFest 2007" is not lost on me. Perhaps it is a reflection of my ability to plan ahead for Christmas: I start planning thoughtful gifts and fun holiday activities in early November. Then three weeks before Christmas I realize that I haven't done anything towards fulfilling those plans and switch to something a little quicker and easier. Finally, a week before Christmas I realize I should have mailed things already and to heck with the careful planning, the best I can do is shove empty calories down people's throats and stifle the guilt I feel for not coming through on my original plan.
If we do nothing else, at least we can make hundreds of cookies in one weekend. This year the featured cookies are: springerle, chocolate-almond bonbons, chocolate sandwich cookies (with strawberry cream cheese filling), cranberry jumbles, snickerdoodle pinwheels, and peach linzer bars. For those who don't get to taste, feast your eyes.
12/20 addendum - Here are some more pictures of the process and such:
Yesterday I got an e-mail from one of my professors saying that a friend of his who has a consulting business needed some people for a focus group in the afternoon. It sounded like a great way to get a few extra dollars for Christmas, so I signed up.
The focus of the group was salty/savory snacks for time-starved adults, Hispanics (which is a severely "underserved" by the snack food industry), and mothers with kids under 12 years old. We each wrote down a snack idea for one of the groups, passed our papers around to different people who added to them or improved upon them, and pitched our ideas to the rest of the group. Then we broke into three groups and used the ideas we had come up with to create a snack idea (complete with cost, packaging options, distribution channel, etc.) for one of the focus populations.
Before we started pitching our ideas, the consultant told some stories about people and their snack food. One lady said she and her best friend used to skip their math class during their junior year of high school to go home and eat a whole bag of potato chips--a forbidden food in their houses. Another said she and her sister would make houses of saltine crackers in the shag carpet at their house, then let their dogs destroy them and have it all cleaned up by the time their mom got home. I'm trying to think of my favorite snack-time memories. I loved coming home from school and eating ramen or crackers with cheese before going on my paper route. And eating cereal around the kitchen table late at night with my siblings will be a memory I cherish for years to come, I'm sure. These days I look forward to the times when we have a few minutes after Simon goes to sleep to pop some popcorn on our stove and sit down and relax for a little while before we head to bed ourselves.
Speaking of victory dances, I finished my first semester of grad school today. Now that it is over, it doesn't feel like it was too bad, but I know, and Micah will confirm, that it didn't feel that way back in October. Right now I am giddy with relief. And with the fact that Simon is such a good dancer.
Busy weekends mean busy blog posts. Simon went to his first party with a clown on Friday. And got his first balloon turtle. And started scooting commando-style across the floor for the first time. This all happened at the Students with Children closing social, a club I just joined a few weeks ago. I also found out that Simon is much better known around the Journalism department than I am. A lady who is in the J-school program had heard of Simon, but we had never met before in our lives. Funny, that.
Yesterday we preemptively spent our Christmas money (assuming we get some) and committed ourselves to another year or two of baby-wearing. Simon has been on the verge of being too heavy for the Bjorn for several months now, but we thought we would try to get more use out of it before we put it into storage. Our shoulders are enjoying our new Beco carrier. We also put my website together. There is still much to be done on it, but it's a start. Today was the blessed occasion beloved by Mormons everywhere: The Annual Primary Sacrament Program. This is when the adults get to sit back and watch the youngsters (ages 3-11) sing, give talks about gospel principles, and pick their noses while the Primary leaders try to maintain some semblance of order. Normally, the kids are given parts weeks before the program so they can memorize them. They have seating charts. They practice sitting and standing in unison. Well, not in our branch. No sir, we like to spice things up a bit. We never know who will be there, so why give out parts beforehand? The kids who practice standing and sitting probably won't show up, so why bother? And the lady who is leading the music (that would be me) doesn't know the songs anyway, so why not just have them read the posters? (Assuming they can read, of course.)
The primary president seemed to randomly pick from among the nine kids and had them read straight from the program. I was amazed at 1. How smoothly it went. 2. That it took exactly the right amount of time. 3. We had no discipline problems while the kids were sitting up front. But the best part was the closing prayer, given by one of the children. He never asks for anything. He only gives thanks. Today we were thankful for: animals, people, church, temples, houses, years, birthdays, Christmas, holidays, and food and water. In that order. There were more, but we can't remember them right now.
It was the kind of weekend where you crash in whatever position you land in. Like Simon did.
(In all honesty, it wasn't that tiring of a weekend. We just love that picture and wanted to use it.)
The nice police officer who took me and one of my classmates told me as he drove us through Brooklyn's 84th Precinct. I admit that knowing Mr. Ledger's address might have been more valuable to me before I met Micah. Perhaps some of the single young ladies who frequent the blog might be interested? I hear he's breaking up with his wife . . . .
Okay, so the purpose of going on a police ridealong was not so I could become a celebrity stalker. I am not exactly sure what the point of it was (it probably would have made more sense back when we were talking about covering the police beat), but that is not to say that I didn't enjoy it. I got to wear a bullet proof vest. I got to cruise around the streets of Brooklyn much faster than if I had been driving myself. I got to witness the crazy things that police officers get to deal with, like people accidentally driving down the court house steps. Oops!
No pictures, at least I didn't take any. The nice officer did take pictures, which he said were for their records, but I've a sneaking suspicion he wanted to show his friends. "You can't make this stuff up," he kept saying to himself. :) I believe him.
I never gave much thought to meal planning before I met Micah. My favorite food up to that point was ramen, which I prepared several different ways and ate several times a week. I added fruits and vegetable to my "meals" as well, usually in the form of a stick of celery or an apple. When Micah and I started dating we started to cook together. Ramen dropped from my diet pretty quickly once I realized how much I enjoyed preparing real food and since then we have tried to make as much of our food as we can.
Since we've been doing that I have become much more aware of the ingredients lists on packaged food. I wonder what companies add to make their bread so moist or their dressing so tasty and I'm often dismayed to find things like "high fructose corn syrup" or "modified food starch" on the list. It makes me feel like I am eating food that has been manufactured or processed rather than baked or cooked.
This has become an even greater concern to me as we have added Simon to our family and I am even more aware of what we are giving him to eat. I feel the burden of trying to keep my family healthy and to appreciate the food that Heavenly Father has given us. While we lived in Hawaii, it was sometimes difficult to buy very much fresh produce because it is so expensive.(Although I did have a friend who didn't mind paying $6 for 4 tomatoes because, as she said, "I'm worth it.") Produce is much more affordable on the mainland and I have been trying to get a variety of fresh produce every week and to continue to make as much of our food myself as I can.
As you probably have realized, I like to read the news. I am often drawn to the health section, and especially to stories about food. Yesterday I read this story about how groups are trying to come up with systems of how to tell consumers how healthy foods are. I don't know what to make of it. I want to believe that by doing my research and making as much of our food as possible, I can feel like I am in charge of what our family is eating. But it bothers me that eating well is becoming so confused. There are organic options and heart healthy options and Atkins and South Beach and whatever else. I still feel good about choosing "real" foods rather than "food products" and eating fresh and making our food.
But I'm wondering how others of you go about eating well. Do you have a salad with every meal? Do you ration desserts? Do you only eat organic? Do you raise chickens in your backyard? And why? Please tell me your philosophies.
We've been married three wonderful years today! We celebrated by visiting Micah's grandmother and then heading out for a night on the town while Mom Heiselt played with Simon. We went to Columbus and went ice skating and out to dinner. Neither of us have been ice skating very much so we were quite pleased that we didn't fall down and by the end I could skate and talk at the same time.
