Introducing Clara Jayne

It was almost exactly 8 months ago to the day that Tom and I were awoken by a phone call, or three actually. It was Thanksgiving morning, and fairly early. Being that we ourselves are childless, and knowing we had a long day of cooking (and eating) ahead we had actually planned to sleep in on that national holiday. Silly us.

The first call was before 8am. It was from my parent's phone, and I figured they just were excited to say Happy Thanksgiving. So I ignored the call. No message was left.

Call two comes in about a half hour later, this one from my dad's cell phone. Of course, enough time had elapsed that I had successfully fallen back asleep. In my early morning sleepiness, I miss the call, and say to Tom, "It must not be THAT important if they aren't leaving a message."But at this point, it is hopeless. The dog is up, Tom is up, and it's looking inevitably like we will just have to give in and start the day. I had three pies to make anyhow.

We had begun planning out what to tackle first in terms of cooking the feast when the third call came in, not 10 minutes after the second. This one from my brother's cell phone. And this time I answer. We wish each other a happy Thanksgiving and I (probably somewhat grumpily) explain to my little brother that not all of us have 5 month old twins, so SOME of us like to sleep in on the holidays and what the heck is the deal? What is so important that you had to call three times before 9am. Andy demurs and proceeds to chit chat with me for a few minutes. The he tells me he did actually have one important question he wanted to ask me, how do I feel about being an aunt again?

Of course, I would love to be an aunt again, and that is exactly what happened last night. As I said, almost exactly 8 months since I was awoken early on Thanksgiving morning, we were fortunate to welcome sweet Clara Jayne to the world. Clara weighs 7lb 7oz, and my mother swears that her hair shows signs of curl.

Angel Baby Muffin

And while Miss Clara lives a full 10 hours away from me, I just happen to have a trip planned to meet her in exactly two weeks. Needless to say, I cannot wait! Not to mention the fact that I will also get to visit with her two adorable twin brothers.

Home Safely

Hello Friends! This is just a quick post to ensure you all we are back safely in the sweaty embrace of Austin. It's basically hotter than I ever thought it could be in June anywhere, and we are breaking new records every day. There is no point in even watching the weather- every seven day outlook that I have caught this week forecast triple digits as far they can see, with no rain predicted. It's great for the tomatoes and melons, but murder on our electric and water bills.

The brutal weather is just one more reason to look back fondly on our great trip to Chicago and St Louis last week! I intend to write a blow-by-blow review of our Alinea experience this weekend, but in the mean time, let me just say that the trip was an embarrassment of great food, amazing friends, and fun with family. We got to see both sets of parents, nearly all our siblings (we missed Sean and Lily SO MUCH!) and we got (almost enough) quality time with the nephews.

I will particularity cherish bath time with the twins (seriously, nothing is more fun, or more adorable, than bathing one-year old twins who LOVE the water). I am also looking back fondly on doing the Cha Cha Slide with my dad at wedding #2 (Tom refused, so like any good dad, Bob stepped in). There is also the funny story of how Tom took a last minute pinch hit and stepped in last minute to officiate wedding #1. To complete the baseball metaphor, he hit it out of the park, and was received with much love and appreciation by all at the reception that followed.

It was a whirlwind, and we did and saw so much that I am definitely still recovering. Needless to say, we are very much looking forward to the next visit to our Midwestern homes.

A Remembrance of a Midwestern Winter

Day: 509
High Temp: 69F

Tom and I returned to the Mint House on Sunday night high on the buzz of another wonderful Becker Christmas celebration. It was so good, in fact, that the heartwarming memories have even been enough to fend off my normal bout of post-family blues. Here's the highlight reel:

Mom's cookies and candies. She continues to outdo herself each year, making huge assortments of delicious cookies and candies in huge numbers. I may very well have ingested 2 dozen raspberry cream cheese truffles. And let's not forget the brownie cookies, the chocolate dipped macaroons and the peanut butter fudge.

Abundant Twin Nephew Lovin. The boys get cuter each time I see them. They are so lovely, and good-tempered. I particularly enjoyed the realization that they are both really ticklish on their backs and necks. The sounds they make are beyond adorable

Best Christmas Present Ever. I am blessed to have many amazing people in my life, who love me, and who I love right back. And while I got and gave many amazing homemade presents this year (honestly, they were so good that this might warrant a separate post) I was most enamored with my brand new Kindle! That thing is the best!

Puppy Love Overload. We drove this year, which means that Homer joined us in St Louis for the fun. Add to him the two adorable miniature beagles my parents recently adopted, and my brother's 3 dogs, and it was a very doggy Christmas. Although it can be a bit much, I secretly love every minute of it.

Family Love. From Christmas day, to post holiday open houses, to movies and drinks at the local bar, I got the chance to see lots of family this year. I even had a chance to catch up with two of my favorite bloggers (my gorgeous cousins from A Foreign Land and The Book and Its Cover)

High School Reunion. Although we missed Mollie and Dan this year, I had a wonderful annual holiday reunion with two of my high school besties and their families, Jenna and Jenny. I got a chance to check out Jenna's growing belly (she is expecting a son in March) and to marvel over Jenny's two gorgeous and beyond smart kids, Noah and Lucy.

And if all that weren't enough, we squeezed in time to visit my favorite painting that the St Louis Art Museum, get coffee at the legendary Coffee Cartel, eat Obama's favorite pizza at Pi, see the new Cohen Bros. film True Grit, sleep late nearly every day, enjoy a fun New Years Eve dinner at Hacienda, drink lots of good beer and wine, and spend a crazy amount of time reading (on my new Kindle of course!)

I feel so blessed to be able to share such wonderful memories, and my incredible luck is not lost on me. Here's to a great end to 2010!

Weather Obsessed

Day: 494
High Temp: 66F

It is time that I fess up... I am OBSESSED with the weather here. It's not necessarily a positive or a negative thing. It is just so vastly different from what I grew accustomed to during my many years as a midwesterner. I cannot get over how strange it is. The fact that I must announce the day's high temperature at the start of every blog should only go towards proving my obsession. The subject is endlessly fascinating to me. And in an effort to prevent myself from musing about every day where the weather is unseasonable my my midwestern sensibilities, I am writing this little post.

So, it may interest you to know that it was 80 degrees yesterday.  Should you not totally understand the significance of this, I should also point out that yesterday was December 21- the first day of WINTER! We still have lettuce, beets and carrots in the garden. I wore a sleeveless dress, without stockings, to take Homer for a walk last night.

I am not sure I will ever get used to a warm winter, but I also have a hard time complaining too heartily about it. Besides, with Thanksgivings spent in the snowy Sierra's, and Christmas in the chilly midwest, I suppose I do get enough winter to meet my ingrained expectations.

And as I am not coming to terms with my obsession, I would also like to apologize to my siblings-in-law for the many times I made fun of and rolled my eyes at their enthusiasm and elation over even the smallest snowfall at the cabin. Too many years of heavily snowed-in winters made me jaded, and I had forgotten the magic of snow. I hope you will all forgive me.

Family Food Memories/Traditions

Day: 478
High Temp: 56F

With the recent frequent mentions of pies on my blog (and one more to come!) I was so excited to check out my cousin Molly's blog, A Foreign Land, this morning to see that she has recently posted a video paying homage to one of my absolute favorite family foods from back in the day: the smoked oyster. Molly's video blog can be found here. Please watch it, if only to see how adorable she is.

Every word of Molly's story of the smoked oyster tradition is true. And I am not too proud to admit that I would scarf pretty much as many of these as I could, often until my mom would yell at me to lay off. We always had these at extended family gatherings, but sometimes my mom and dad would buy some for us us. I remember eating them alone (on a toothpick), or on a cracker, with a fairly thick coating of cream cheese. To die for.

You may think that smoked oysters are an unlikely candidate for the favorite foods list of an eight year old, but I can guarantee you that these gems would have made my top ten back in the day. And now I can thank Molly for inspiring me to revisit this beloved family culinary memory. They are on the grocery list for next week for sure!

Any odd or not so odd family food traditions you want to share?

There's no basement at the Alamo!

Day: 442
High Temp: 84F

I mentioned in the garden blog that my parents came down to Austin just after our wedding to visit Tom and I, and bring us the load of wedding presents we had received in St Louis. We had a great time showing them some of our new favorite food spots (Hoover's and Juan in a Million were big hits), and they loved getting a chance to see Homer now that he is all grown up.

My parents were planning to stay until Tuesday morning, and as the weekend drew to a close, I started getting pressure from them to take a vacation day on Monday. The big plan was to drive down to San Antonio for the day. Bowing to the pressure, and at the mercy of my extremely flexible boss at UT, I was able to make Monday happen.

San Antonio really surprised me.  I had always heard how amazing the River Walk was, and how disappointing the Alamo was. Truth is, both were very different from what I expected.

I know this is a silly thing to say, but for some reason, I expected the River Walk to be like the Arno in Florence. I expected a large, dominant river, lined on each side by wide side walks lined with old buildings houseing cafes, shops and the like. Lots of space and airy, all anchored by a large, wild river. The truth is, the River Walk is more reminiscent of Venice (are you rolling your eyes yet?)  It is small, the river is fairly shallow and it is extremely engineered with perfect concrete walls along each bank.  Seriously, it's not more than 12 feet across, and the sidewalks are very narrow. The overall affect was more man-made, more like Disneyland, than I had expected. Don't get me wrong, it is a very charming place, and walking below street level next to the water in the shade of the big cypress and oak trees is certainly a nice break from the heat, but it just wasn't what I expected. That said, I am excited to take Tom back to San Antonio around Christmas time, when the abundant trees, bridges and walkways are reportedly covered in lights. Sounds like the perfect setting for an evening river cruise with my sweetie and a thermos of spiked hot cocoa!

While in San Antone we also saw the Alamo, which was kind of awesome. I had been told that it wasn't as cool, or as big as you might expect, and so with my expectations sufficiently lowered, I thought it was great. It doesn't really look like it did in Pee Wee's big Adventure, at least not on the inside, but that did not stop me from proclaiming, many times, "There's no basement at the Alamo!" Thankfully, this was very amusing to my parents. But seriously, it's a big old building, with gorgeous gardens behind the barrack walls. There are also some cool artifacts, like Davey Crockett's rifle.

I also want to note that I actually heard someone call this fair city "San Antone"in all seriousness while we were there. We took a trolley tour to see a few of the old missions and some of the neighborhoods around the city, and this boisterous and entertaining pair of old ladies was on the bus with us. When one of them rudely answered her cellphone during the narrated tour, she proceeded to shout to her caller, "No, we are in San Antone!" Thankfully, our tour guide shamed her by saying he had learned it was rude to talk while others were talking. She got the point and hung up pretty quickly.

PS- I do have some pictures from this trip, but they are stuck on the throw away cameras we were trying to use up post-wedding... May come back and update the post if any turned out once I get them developed.

So Much Has Happened

Day: 425
High Temp: 82F

Y'all! So much exciting stuff has happened since I last blogged! The highlights:
-Tom and I made home-made ginger ale
-I went to my first Cards game at the new Busch Stadium
-We got our first squash and green beans in the garden

Oh, yeah, and I TOTALLY GOT HITCHED!

It was a truly wonderful and amazing day filled with the love and support of our families and friends. There was plenty to drink, good food to eat, and so much dancing. And it was worth all the planning and hard work.

I promise to write more in the upcoming days, but for now I wanted to get that little bit of excitement off my chest.

~Mrs. Horan

What a Family Looks Like

Day: 356
High Temp: 102

I have been thinking so much about family, last names, home and marriage in the past few weeks. Tom and I are just about 2 months out from our own wedding day, and these things are just a constant point of conversation.

We are in a house now, which makes us feel more grown up, and like a family. I cannot explain why. But it does. And I cannot tell you how happy I am that we will come home after our wedding to this little house. Not an apartment, but a house. We don't own it, and it is highly likely that at some point (perhaps if/when we leave Austin) we will find ourselves again in an apartment. But for now, it's a house, and that feels like a real change.

We are also still debating the last name thing.  It's a conversation we have been having for many years now, and for the first time this week Tom told me he wants us to have the same last name. It's old-fashioned, but really sweet.  And it seems like with how far women and society have come in terms of feminism, us ladies don't need to hold on to our own last names to hold on to our identities. At least that is how I am starting to feel.  And as I sat there talking with Tom, looking at him as he said he wanted us to share a last name, I realized that this was one thing I was happy to do for him. So now I am settling into the idea that come October 9 I will no longer be known as Lindsey Becker. Crazy!

The whole inspiration for this little post was this most amazing portrait of a family that I came across today on Marvelous Kiddo by way of the fabulous Snippet & Ink. Talk about discovering what a family looks like!

So Much Catching Up...

Day: 264
High Temp: 94F

Hello friends.  I have been terribly delinquent in my blogging recently, and I can blame that mostly on the kicking into gear of my wedding planning efforts.  This Sunday will mark the anniversary of our engagement, and each day we get a little bit closer to the big party on October 9.  We are under the 6 month mark until the wedding, which means I am spending my lunch hours trying to stay ahead of the curve as far as booking vendors, planning decor, and creating schedules. It's crazy, and so much fun. But it hasn't left me time to blog! And so much has happened. Here is a brief run down of what you missed in the past few weeks:

FRIENDS
Good friends Adam Simon and Mackenzie Kyle visited for a few days at the end of April. They were driving cross country from Florida to LA, and made some time for us (and queso).  They surprised me by picking up my BFF Camilla in New Orleans, and bringing her along for the ride.  We were also luck to play foster home to Adam and Mack's adorable doggy Hannah while they were in town, as the hotel they booked was not dog-friendly. The highlight for me was the first night they were all in town, when we took both the dogs and ourselves to the unique Lustre Pearl (revisit my first visit to this esteemed and unique Austin local here) to drink beer and eat some of the best taco truck food in Austin. It was so wonderful to see them all, and the amazing high I was on being with old friends was only matched by the sadness of saying goodbye to them.  Good thing there was a....

WEDDING
Tom's little sister Erin got married the last weekend of April.  It was a whirl-wind trip for us to the Bay Area, with no time for wine tastings, or leisurely strolls through San Fran. We did, however, get to hug many of our favorite people, dance till we dropped, and celebrate a beautiful day with two people we love very much. Oh, and did I mention the Pyramid beer? That is one Horan wedding down, and two to go in 2010...

NEW TEXANS
The weekend we were camping we got word that the amazing Zach Gonzalez-Landis has decided to come to UT next year for grad school.  Even better news that that, he is bring his fabulous and hilarious lady Adrienne Dellinger with him.  YES! More friend reinforcements are on their way!

BABIES
No, not me.  If you are an avid reader of DMWL (which I am sure you all are) you should know from this post that Andy and my SIL Megan are expecting twins. Megan is due in early July, but was told, because they are multiples, to expect to deliver early. Unfortunately, after a very long drive to their new home in Springfield, Mo over the weekend, Megan went into pre-term labor.  She has been in and out of hospital for the past few days, and now it looks as though she may be there to stay.  The boys are at 31 weeks, which gives them an excellent chance of survival and a very low risk of complications, but we are all really hoping they stay put for at least another 4-5 weeks. Please send all of your positive thoughts (and cards, emails, cookie trays, etc) their way!

In other news, Tom and I are planning to go "tubin" this weekend.  A very hill-country past time, "tubin" is simply floating, but in inner-tubes.  Each person gets their own tube, and you also get an extra tube, with a bottom, to fill with ice and put your beer in. Then you lash all your tubes together and float en-masse at a snails pace while drinking beer down a river somewhere in the middle of Texas.

Happier Holidays

Day: 134
High Temp: 29F (in St. Louis)

Don't Mess With Lindsey has been on an extended hiatus as Tom and I have been home in St. Louis to celebrate the holidays with our families. It has been an eventful week so far, with the chance to enjoy the company of many friends and family members who we rarely see. Homer took his first 12 hours car ride (not his favorite thing in the world) and he has also been enjoying that white stuff that tends to fall from the sky this time of year in the Midwest.

We have, indeed, had a small amount of snow here in St. Louis, including a dusting on Christmas morning. This allowed Tom to experience his first-ever white Christmas. He now can appreciate what all the hype is about. It is actually snowing again right now, with about an inch or two expected. It makes sitting inside very cozy.

Tom and I gave and received well this year, with many really neat homemade presents exchanged. Among my favorite we gave were mixed CD's inspired by the new music we have come to love since arriving in Austin, hand embroidered tea towels (visit Austin artist Jenny Hart's website here for some of the cool patterns I used) and homemade compost bins. We also made two types of jam (cranberry maple butter and cranberry orange marmalade.) The people who love us were also ridiculously generous and creative in their gift giving this season.

And my whole family received an early Christmas surprise when brother Andy and his wife Megan went for their first ultrasound last Wednesday morning. I knew something was up when instead of heading to work as she should have, my mom came back home with Andy and Megan following the appointment. We all crowded around the ultrasound print outs, and were all really excited to see the following shocking image:


















For those without a trained eye, there are indeed two little heads in this picture. We have twins on the way! They are fraternal (you can see the border between their individual placentas) which means they will not be identical. Here are a few more highlights from the visit!

Twin A: profile shot

















Twin B: front facing

Thanksgiving

FaDay: 100
High Temp: 73F (Don't hate me, but it is gorgeous here!)
Status: Unemployed (and possibly soon to be receiving unemployment benefits!!!)

Sometimes I hesitate to even tell people about what my Thanksgiving is like, afraid of the overwhelming jealousy that it will cause. This year, however, there are so many of you loyally reading this silly blog that I have decided to try and describe just what the Horan Thanksgiving is all about.

First off, I have to say that spending my Thanksgiving with the Horans comes at a great cost, namely missing the holiday with my own family. Even though this will be my 6th Thanksgiving with the Horan clan, I still get a little twinge of sadness mixed in with my excitement when we book the plane tickets, knowing it is one more year I wont be with my family. I miss Aunt Sally's cranberries, my mom's sweet potato casserole, and the many pies my dad makes. I miss making the pies too, as many years I was sous for Chef Bob. And I miss the black Friday ladies lunch on the Hill (girls, have a slice of tiramisu and think of me).

The trade off is that Tom and I get to spend Christmas in St. Louis. And if you have to miss your own family's fete, you should definitely beg for an invitation to this one.

My first several Horan Thanksgivings were spent at a cute cabin near the Mount Shasta National Forest in far northern California. When our cabin benefactor decided to sell his fabulous vacation home, we spent a year at Nan's (Tom's mom's) house in the Bay Area, vowing to find a new location. That new location came in the most unexpected ways, with the entrance of Dr. Kim into the Horan family mix. He was brave (crazy?) enough to let the group borrow his beautiful ski cabin, and so last year we moved the trip to Truckee, CA (located just a stones throw from the north shore of Lake Tahoe). And we did so well that he has agreed to let us come back!

No matter where the festivities occur, the general goal of the holiday weekend remains the same, utter relaxation. We all travel to be there, and we all stay together. That means no one has to drive home after the pie course, and you don't have to get dressed to go watch the football game with your family either. Indeed, it is common to find a majority of the family in pajamas well into the afternoon, until someone suggests a hike, or a trip to town to pick up some forgotten ingredients for the evenings meal. Enthusiastic and rambunctious card games are liable to break out at any time, and there is always a fire in the fireplace. There are games, crafts, naps, puzzles and frequent visits to the hot tub on the back deck (have you ever been in a hot tub when it is snowing? It's the best!). There is also lots of food (and wine).

The Thanksgiving meal is the ultimate in tradition, and as new family members join, it has been fun to see what they add to the mix. I am not sure what the Horans were doing for pies and cranberries before I arrived... The pie recipes are my father's of course, built upon the pie crust that my Great Grandmother used. This year, I will do 3 different types, apple, raspberry cream and chocolate (two chocolates, actually). And someone else may even make a pumpkin one.

Tom and I leave Austin first thing tomorrow morning, and will be settled at the cabin by early afternoon. I plan to spend most of my time reading , cooking, eating, drinking, crocheting and embroidering Christmas presents and puzzling. I will make professional work out of lounging about and enjoying the mountain air. I will relish putting on my boots, and my big, down sleeping bag jacket and stomping in the already plentiful snow. I will talk wedding planning with my soon-to-be sister Erin, who is also getting married in 2010. I will forget that I am unemployed. I will catch up with my California family, and miss my family in St. Louis, Chicago and Madrid. I will joyously welcome the official start of the Christmas season, even if that means that all that is left of the big Thanksgiving meal is sandwiched between bread on Sean's and Colin's plates.

I hope you all have celebrations to look forward to as well. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Big News

Day: 87
High Temp: 78F
Status: Unemployed

So a few blogs ago I included a teaser about some very happy news that I had recently received. I have been given the go-ahead from the primarily involved parties, and am happy to let the world (or my dozen or so readers) know that come this July 2010 I will be an aunt! That is right, little brother Andy and his wife Megan are expecting a baby.

For those of you really in the know, you may also have heard that just about a week before the news of the pregnancy, we were informed that Andy and Megan's international adoption papers were accepted by the authorities of Ethiopia. Yes, that is right, not one, but two babies on the way... technically at least. It will be at least another year (or two) before Andy and Megan can travel to Ethiopia for the adoption, but two babies! Add that to the 3 dogs, and you have one very full house.

I am so thrilled for the two of them, and maybe most of all for my parents. Truth is, Bob and Mona have been ready for grandkids for a while now, and this definitly takes the pressure off of Tom and I, at least for the time being. And, I will be an Aunt again!!! (I have been honorary aunt to my friend Jenny's two beautiful babies (okay not babies anymore) all their lives, so I have lots of practice.)

So, yeah, when my wedding day rolls around next October, there will be a baby! Oh, and credit to Dan Nies, who after reading the teaser in the previous post emailed me to register his correct guess that Andy was having a baby. And a hearty laugh to all my crazy friends who, for a brief moment, were thinking I was the one with the bun in the oven.

Hiatus

I just wanted to let everyone that my grandmother passed away on Saturday night, and I have been in St. Louis for the past few days helping with arrangements and preparing for the funeral. Give this turn of events, I wont likely have regular access to the internet, and won't be able to update you all about the mundane goings on in Austin, TX.

For those in town, the visitation will be held at Schrader's funeral home on Manchester Road on Tuesday from 4pm - 8pm. She will be buried the following day at Jefferson Barracks Nat. Cemetery. If you need more information, feel free to contact me or my parents.