it's coming

This is my overall feeling today. I think I thought of it first as my birthday—an impending due date I'd given myself to have made some concrete, tangible progress—like that you could see—on that looming goal to "share/use my talents to help/benefit others" and possibly help our own financial negatives. (A creative exercise above—my contribution to the cause today.)

But it could also be the certain gift from my very kind and generous family. (The shipment notification email said it would arrive today!) Or, more profoundly, it could mean the bouncing baby boy in my belly that will be here in less than three months. He has somehow skipped out of my brain lately—despite lots of amusing "skipping" inside me. Maybe it is a subconscious detour I take around thinking about the next few months, because there is either too much or too little to think about being that plans are so uncertain. But today, I'm oh-so-aware, loving reading about babies coming and feeling nothing but excitement for what is to be our greatest "life adjustment" to date, or so they say.

It could also be summer. Yes, March is most decidedly a spring month no matter where you go—even in Utah where it still snows, but the equinox says it's spring, so you believe it. Here in NC, feeling a sweat inside and having to close the windows and turn on the noisy AC unit means that it feels more like summer though, and I'm sort of dreading it.

Summer, this year, also means a few sure its that are also coming:

• My brother's wedding!
• And so, our voyage back to the home state.
• And so, leaving this one-bedroom "loft on the flower farm," to put it romantically.
• And so, a move, with all the packing and gutting and deciding-what-to-keep or how-to-keep that a move entails.

Eek, I remember why I was choosing to live more ignorantly. Or at least focus on the next two things coming: the end of the boy's nap and the midwife appointment soon thereafter, which will be preceded by a campus drop-off where my boys can share a lunch together so that I can lay and listen to a mini-heartbeat without trying to figure out how the toddler should fit on the bed with me.

Lots of its coming; better get a move on.

a walk and a breakfast-for-lunch

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This is the story of a January 18, where the sun was so shining that hellebores were poking through the ground. This mid-January day called for a walk. A walk in sandals, because I'd just found them at the bottom of a bucket o' clothes. (The Jesus Sandals have their own story—about coming home to them on my top bunk when I lived in the Annex. Circa 2005? A surprise gift from Amy and Megan K!)

Cohen loved this walk, as usual. He was cute, as usual. I noticed and loved that all the yellow-and-silver fire hydrants are stamped with "American Darling." There were other things blooming.

And when we came home, the boy retired to his bathroom bed, and I enjoyed sunshine through the windows while I made some eggs and bacon that I'd been craving ever since reconnecting with flatmate Anna, of London 2005 times, now an accomplished foodie. (Yes, my serving is ginormous. I have no excuse other than I eat for two, and it was a late lunch.) My beverage was water with mango chunks in lieu of ice cubes. To quote my sister, it "wasthebestEVAR."

And the story ends with a mesmerizing steam in the sun that looked like a painting or a movie, but certainly not like real life. I dined happily ever after!

a sign of a winter

The glorious golden sun rising on the far trees is kind of stealing the show, but just believe me that there was indeed a thin slice of ice laying atop our backyard pond this day.

first night

Meet Creepy Green Hooded Person. We hand-picked him on our first visit to Paris Market in early 2011, with the idea of recreating the King Cake tradition introduced to us at the Malans' First Night Atlanta. 

We ditched the cake idea, and he instead hid inside Chocolate Pomegranate cookies.

(Ben's cookie, to be exact! Luck for the new year!)

Cohen went to sleep nicely. Ben made an amazing soup (some cabbage, potatoes, veggies and veggies and a whole lotta fresh thyme). We grated fresh fresh Parmesan on top, grabbed crusty rosemary bread slices from our new toaster and snuggled up with an Amazon Instant Video.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes was so enthralling that we missed the stroke of midnight, and so toasted with our Martinelli's knock-off around 12:12am of 0-twelve.

And that's how it all began.

things i been thinking

• Cohen is so fun when he calmly wakes from a deep sleep. He's just limp and cuddly and weary and curious. I kiss him on the cheeks when I lay him back in bed and he just stares back.
• HusBen works and schools. So much that he gets sick. And then he lays and reads sports and sports.
• Orecchiette is a pasta that looks like 19th century farm hats.
• I ♥ Mail! A perfect pillow to match our lime green couch from Deb. She embroidered "North Carolina" on it. What a memento! We also received a great big new carseat for the carseat-hater.

love a fair!

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Welcome to the best post ever. So many photos, you might as well have been walkin' the State Fairgrounds with us! And, this is new: I'm actually blogging about something that happened recently. Not a year ago. But yesterday. Buena Jairo!

We ate: honey sticks, deep fried Oreos, Pepper-battered Bloomin' Onion, cinnamon sugar funnel cake, red velvet funnel cake, fresh lime fizz, and a Philly steak & cheese. Everything was worth it except for that last item. Blegh. Next year I will try the turkey legs and the deep fried KoolAid. (No, I don't know how that works.) I will never try the Krispy Kreme burger.

We saw: bee colonies up close, little cotton and sunflower plants, twisted sweet potatoes, $25,000 steers, 282-pound watermelons, ferris wheels—not to be confused with carousels, miniature autumn villages, and an un-advertised Santa in a banana stand (to which Ben quickly remarked, "well, now we know his day job").

Not gonna lie, Cohen was the best of all—a charmer, even in the chilly wind without his pacifier (forgot) or his normal stroller (forgot). Things like this are so much funner (it's a word) with kids! We were happy to be there with Hazel and Avery for that same reason. The Mac and Cheese bowl teacups would not have made the blog without them! (Kurt, Becky and Jordan were fabulous company too.)

halloweening

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Last year I remember feeling, "Wait, it's November? We didn't even so much as get a pumpkin!" This year, the pumpkin made it to the porch before October 1st! Call me silly, but it feels like a victory. Also, we typically scramble online to find a spooky movie on Halloween night to celebrate somehow. By then, we have a hard time finding something—and when we do—we aren't too impressed. This year, in October's first week, we watched a genuine creeper. We can officially recommend The Others, starring Nicole Kidman. You can watch it instantly on Netflix, or rent it on iTunes for $3. (Perfect if you don't think about Halloween until Halloween, like we used to do.)

Also, last year, around this time, we were enjoying a jaunt up to the New York City. This year, to remember it, Ben brought home some Mallomars to try. They claim (on the box) that it's a New York City thing because over 70% of their sales "are generated in the shadow of the Big Apple." Who knows. I'm not a big mallow fan apart from s'mores, but these grew on me. I think they'll become an October tradition—since they are only on the shelves from October to April due to their melting properties. So, there is your random fact for the day.

autumn times begin like this

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At least this is what it looks like "on the farm." We got a cold front this weekend and it felt gooooooooood. I am ready to be done with summer. I usually dread summer's end, but maybe I'm actually learning not to dwell in the past. Yeah, that's it. Either way, I am feeling fresh with the crisp in the air.

The last two images show involve koi-catching. I came home from a morning run to the grocery store and noticed the bright orange fish were all gathered and close to the surface (barley visible in the first photo). I went back out for a closer look but instead stayed at a distance because there were men in the water with nets, bags, and buckets.

"I learned a long time ago, you can't chase fish; ya gotta outsmart 'em."

(Say that in your best southern man accent.)

Still loving this little farm apartment. Even if it is so small that I can't talk on the phone inside if Cohen's napping.

PS: If you want to know more about that little man in our life, please refer to his tweets. Yes, Cohen's tweets. They are conveniently updated for you on the left column here if you don't want to bring yourself to visit yet another social network. I promise it's the best way to know the latest with CJK. (You can see and watch the latest too, as all photos and videos are updated via Twitter as well).

we're on the (teeny bopper) map

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We came home from Utah to find we'd missed a party in our 'hometown.' Garner's own Scotty McCreery is 2011's American Idol! (Interesting fact: just now when I Googled that link, I typed "American," and American Idol was the first suggestion, ahead of American Red Cross, American Express & American Airlines). I keep thinking I will go to Hulu and watch American Idol for the first time, but I have yet to do it. Yay for Garner! (PS: I took all of these photos just on our beaten path—from our house to I-40, I saw several others after this in and around other neighborhoods. I love it.)