Weekend

Friday.Erin, a couple cameras, a designated creative day.  A long walk thru Lakewood, thrift shops, a stop at my favorite park, Deep Ellum, more thrift shops.  Downtown, an adorable outdoor cafe, a stop at Starbucks to rest and sip San Pellegrinos.  Introducing Erin to the Dallas farmer's market, shots of the skyline at sunset (or 'golden time' as she calls it), and a perfect dinner at Kozy with Josh.

Saturday.  An early morning drive to Austin.  A picnic bag full of just made cashew butter and apples.  A thermos of hot tea.  And a first stop, Barton Creek Farmer's Market, immediately followed by a second, Sunset Valley Farmer's Market.  (have you noticed I have thing for farmer's markets yet??)

 A 6-pack of fresh-from-the-tap kombucha.  Gluten-free granola.  Raw cheese.  Several pounds of grass-fed ground bison.  Thick-sliced, pastured pork belly.  Fresh baked, gluten-free bread and almond cream brownies. Organic brussel sprouts.  A stop for hand-made tamales, black bean and goat cheese.  A gallon of milk...  Ah, yes... this is the life I so adore. 

An afternoon lounge in Zilker park, the Austin skyline its backdrop.  A long walk along the river.  Occasional stops to watch the rowers and kayakers.  Constantly dodging runners and bikers.  A new appreciation for active lifestyle friendly cities.  A second long walk thru downtown.  Exploring the flagship Whole Foods.  Browsing at Lululemon and REI.  Dinner at Koriente with an introduction to bubble tea, hummus rolls, and green tea ice cream.

Sunday.  A perfect brunch at Taco Deli, silent thank you to the farmer's market for the introduction, and a certainty that this will be a lasting and beautiful relationship.  Pondering how many Buddha's Brews we've had at this point. A beautiful, quiet hike down a dry riverbed.  An itch to get lost in the woods for a few hours...

 A long flat ledge for lounging in the sun.  Cuddling.  Laughing.  Staring blissfully into a perfect blue sky.  A random poem on a rock in the middle of the dry river...which of course I loved immediately.  

Red berries.  Always, everywhere, red berries...for me.  An hour-long wait for Franklin's brisket, just before their daily 'sold out' sign went up.  Another picnic at the park.  A nap on a blanket. A lovely drive home...

How did you spend your weekend??

Glimpses

A few glimpses of England, as last I saw her... 

Beautiful London.

I'm not sure I can express just how much I adore European markets.  I think it's something to do with the combination of being in a foreign place, exotic food, local artists and artisans, explosions of color, and treasure-hunting all in one place!  (Just typing those words quite literally makes my heart race...)

LOOK at that chandelier.  Oh my good gracious.  Antique crystal dangling from exposed brick?!  Be still my heart.  I want to drape rich, gorgeous fabric everywhere and LIVE beneath that chandelier.  Jenny (my adorable trainer, pictured here ambling beneath my to-die-for chandelier) described it as, "so perfectly unexpected."  I couldn't agree more.

Ohhh...I love it.  Urban and romantic.  Shabby chic.  On display in a European market.  It's absolute perfection.

Ok, moving on...if I can...  Ahem!  After several days in London we set off for Stratford-upon-Avon, the home of the beloved Shakespear.  This is the church he attended, was baptized in, and laid to rest.  Literally laid to rest...inside the church...like, stll there to this day beneath the tiles.  I just find that strange.  

And then there was the breathtaking Lake District where we toured the home and frozen (though still gorgeous) gardens of the renowned poet William Wordsworth.  I think we could have been good friends, Will and I.  I love how he viewed the world, how he viewed his art.  Can't you imagine him playing with words and phrases, writing sonnets and poems and so many pretty things while meandering thru these beautiful gardens??  Oh, I can for sure...

A shot of his home...lovely.

A short stop in York, and then a long return trip to London.  Being a guide means many hours of sitting in coffee shops and cafes.  Or on coaches watching endless stone fences and pastures of grazing sheep pass by.  Being an amble-thru-life-drinking-it-all-in-kind-of-girl, I think it's going to fit me just fine...

All Kinds of Celebrations

It's super late.  I've been packing for hours.  And I have to be up at the crack of dawn to catch a flight to London. But before I tell you about that little adventure...

Can I tell you what a wonderful holiday season Josh and I savored?!  Yes, let's!

It was truly blissful.  Full of long, cooked together and lingered-over meals with friends, trips to the country to visit my family, chatting endlessly with my mom in the kitchen while she stirred pots and pans and cast iron skillets.  (One of my favorite things ever.  The chatting.  Not the skillets.  Though I do love those, too.  How can you not love a cast iron skillet??)  We hosted a homemade soup night complete with a viewing of Elf, sat for hours around the fireplace with so many people we love, went to parties and weddings and a showing of Broadway's Grinch the Musical. (I actually cried, it was that good.  But, don't repeat that or anything...)  We celebrated Tommy and Linda moving in a few doors down, perfectly between us and Kyle, a dream realized for all of us.  We spent a week in Tennessee with Josh's family, filled with long catching-up chats, cooking savory breakfasts together, and catching snowflakes on our tongues.  We surprised Josh's little brother and sister with a Spring trip to Europe, a first for both of them, and then excitedly poured over photos and maps together for hours.  And we even somehow managed to haul a 30-pound slab of granite home on the plane (a gift from the parents), which a few days later took center stage as we hosted a close-as-you-can-get-to-authentic-Italian-wood-fired-pizza-party for friends to ring in the new year!  

It's been a beautiful season of celebrating.  Each other.  Covenant friends.  Family.  Food.  Life.  My heart is truly full.

And now, back to my leaving for London...  The short version is that this Spring I'll begin leading a few trips, primarily to Europe, with a wonderful company called Joshua Expeditions.  I'll be leading groups of teenagers on educational type tours with a Biblical base.  This particular trip happens to be British Literature tour through London, Stratford-upon-Avon, Manchester, The Lake District, etc.  Of course before I can lead, I have to train (thank God in heaven), and that's precisely what I'll be setting off to do in a few short hours...

So!  There's a little update for ya!  I have so many exciting things to share in the next few weeks, but in the meantime please pray I don't lose my extremities to frostbite.  Or get lost forever in some tiny English village where I wandered off to find cheese.  (Let's be honest, it's a real possibility.)