and on tuesday we're eating pot roast

i've found that i spend less money on groceries when i plan meals ahead of time. the times i don't plan, we stare at the pantry and try to think something up, make too many little trips to the grocery store, and buy lunch more (which gets pricey fast...those work lunches).
enter these beautiful magnetic pads:

i am way more organized.
i plan every saturday.
i don't wander from aisle to aisle, then have to go back to the baking aisle because chocolate chips were at the very bottom of my list.
love these.
{bonus: they match my kitchen}

ps. thanks for making me feel good about chopping some fringe in the front. i was having second thoughts. okay, i still have second thoughts. but it's fun, and hair grows.

While I am at it.....

My sister Jordan texted me the other day and asked me who the archbishop of Chicago was and where he was at that moment. She goes to BYU and it was Tuesday at 11:15am (MST) so I figured he was speaking at a BYU forum. During my senior year, a prominent religious figure who was not a member of the LDS church spoke at BYU and I really enjoyed it.

I listened to the BYU forum given by Cardinal Francis George while eating lunch today. I enjoyed his thoughts. Even more intriguing was to see the student body recite the Lord's Prayer. They showed a few shots of the audience while reciting the prayer. A few students had the look of "should I really be doing this". It was pretty funny.

Anyway, check THIS out if you have some time. Fascinating stuff.

Sportsmanship in Vancouver

I don't post on our blog very much but I got a kick out of the video on this link:
http://deadspin.com/5480239/russian-bobsledder-a-little-too-pleased-by-canadian-wipeout

i did it

in my quest to be zooey i did something drastic.
kidding. the front of my hair just really needed a change.
hello bangs!

restaurant week

it was restaurant week in chicago, meaning amazing food at a discount. yes please! we went to a brazilian steakhouse, brazzaz

watts, bryans, olsons, osborns, and lawlers
chance was too busy with the cheese balls for ridiculous things like taking group pictures

wiggly baby = blurry. but really, do little boys get any cuter than this?

nate was so embarrassed to take this picture, but i love it. thanks for being the art director hannah.

mmmm it was delicious. i love living here--even with the dirty gray snow and foggy gray skies right now--but it's times like these that i LOVE living here.
and i definitely need some more lessons on low light photography!

ode to whistler

the olympics are starting! all i can think of are two things: 1. remember two summers ago when nate and i were barely married, subletting in chicago, had no idea what we were doing, and planned our entire lives around michael phelps' swim schedule? 2. these olympics are in my tied-for-first (ahem, paris) favorite place in the world...whistler, british columbia, canada.

more than half of my best memories in life are in whistler. blue bird ski days with my family, tons and tons of new powder, taking off my ski boots after a super long day, nights in whistler village, spending hours in the pool, meeting up with friends, skiing the same run over and over with my cousins, relaxing at the condo, following my dad through the trees because he's pro at scouting out the best snow, movies, hot chocolate, and games every night. bliss.

this is how it mostly was.
friends, siblings, cousins, parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and whoever else met up with the group. circa 2004.

we are stoked for these olympics in such an awesome place. um, and jealous that my family is there. such is life. go america go!

"it takes courage to grow up and become who you really are"

e.e. cummings

yeah, it does. and it's hard sometimes.

today's conversation

J: you don't got no kids?
me: nope. none.
J: but who you gonna play with? you got nobody to play with you.
me: i know. that's why i play with you.
J: but you still got nobody to play with at your house.
me: but i'm married to nate, remember?
J: you gonna get married after you have kids?
me: nope. i'm already married.
J: but you don't have any kids yet silly!

apparently we have it all backwards. i mean, what were we thinking getting married when i hadn't given birth to a playmate for myself?

p.s. i'm pretty sure 3/4 of the preschoolers have no idea what married even means. they like to look at "that shiney white thing" on my hand though

just me

nate's been away on business all week. there's something about your husband being gone. i love to cook, but rarely cook for just myself. i always end up surviving on macaroni and cheese and frozen pizza. i'm usually a pretty clean pick-up-after-myself person, but when nate's gone, our bedroom looks like a disaster. then i hurry and clean up before he comes home. what is with that?

i'm sitting here in the quiet afternoon staring out at the gray cold. really gray and really cold.

i spent the morning reading steinbeck's east of eden. if steinbeck had a song, it would be "let go" by frou frou. he is unbelievably talented at painting beauty in the breakdown with words. i may teach preschool on the south side, but i still crave literature. i do not miss writing analysis papers though.

i was on a mission this afternoon to finish the picture collage in our entry way that i've been working on since we moved in. i've got this in mind for the crowning glory in the middle of the wall. after dealing with the most unfriendly, non-helpful idiot employee at fedex kinko's i decided to give it up and just go for a walk in the city. i re-fall in love with this city all the time.

i love this building and that there is a story behind it. we live in a quiet nook of chicago, but it was eerily quiet in the middle of downtown today. on top of the gray and cold, would you want to leave your cozy apartment if this sign greeted you outside?

yeah, i wouldn't either. but i did. after perusing my favorite spots on state street and walking back in the craziest wind, my whole face needed to be chapsticked.

it's okay, you don't have to tell me how pale i am. i know. one of the genetic perks of hailing from my awesome dad, who's turning the big 3-1 (plus 20 years) tomorrow!

great saturday. the husband returns tonight just in time for the super bowl.

idealism

i canNOT handle uneven, point-something numbers on the treadmill. yesterday i went running in the basement gym of our building. picture this: you, by yourself, in a basement with no windows. the lights are sensored, which means every 10 minutes all the lights in the room go off except the one above your head. yes, it does feel like a horror movie. so, every 10 minutes, you quickly run off your treadmill, do a lap around the room to kick the lights back on with motion, and hop back on. and it's a big room. while this is my normal routine, yesterday was packed. apparently some people are actually keeping their new year's resolutions. anyway, i can't run at 5.7. it has to be 5.5 or 6. i can't even walk at 3.2. has to be 3.5. i am such a type A personality.

down the street, a new corner of shops is being put in. once again, chicago, you thought up a stellar combination. here's the rundown: anthropologie, au bon pain, l'occitane en provence, sephora, and zara are on my favorites list. wouldn't it be nice to have everything in one place? here's what i would add:

and the rack too

if costco were there, you know nate would come shopping with me.

i've been finding way too many good things in their home section lately


and lastly, some awesome hole-in-the-wall thrift/antique store.

in my dreams.