Making Lemonade When All I Really Want is a Spiced Pumpkin Latte

Maybe it is the fact that school has started, or the fact that so many people are commenting on the changing seasons. Maybe it is because we booked our plane tickets for Thanksgiving this week. For whatever reason, I am getting fall fever in a major way. Which is a shame because Austin really doesn't get fall. At least not in any traditional sense that this Midwestern girl will be satisfied with.

Fall is my favorite season. I love to bake and drink hot drinks. I love wearing blue jeans and sweaters. Boots and scarves are my favorite accessories.  It turns out, I live in a climate that prevents me from enjoying many of my favorite things until the holiday season is practically gone. It's sad.

I was looking through my Facebook pictures the other day and saw this:

Isn't he the cutest thing?!

That is a photo of my husband OUTSIDE in a t-shirt and sunglasses. I took this photo with my cell phone and uploaded it immediately to Facebook last year on December 11, 2010.

Given that and the fact that we haven't had a day that didn't hit triple digits in nearly three months, and I am starting to feel a little anxious. I want to crunch leaves as I walk down the sidewalk. I want to need to grab a sweater before heading out the door in the evenings to play with my dog. I want to bake a damn batch of cookies, or a pie, without forcing my AC into overdrive.

But, things are good here in Austin. Work is settling down, and I am settling in. I am volunteering with an awesome theatre group. I am nearing my one year anniversary being married to that guy above. Our dog is the sweetest creature on earth. I have a new niece who is the most beautiful thing. One of my bestest friends from college recently moved to Round Rock. I can eat at Torchy's anytime I want. I am on new medication that has changed my life. Yeah, so I am making lemonade out of this decidedly lemony climate.

And it does help to have a cute pair of shoes to take the place of my beloved boots. I will be making due just fine with my brand new, perfectly autumnal (and perfect for this climate) Gilded Herringbone Classic TOMS.

Isn't it the cutest thing?

Conspiring

I know it's been forever, and I have lots of stuff I want to say about my recent trip to DC, followed by my trip to meet Clara and hang with my twin nephews, but the truth is that I am having a hard time catching up. But I did want to take a moment to tell you all about Conspire Theatre, the awesome theatre company I have been volunteering for. Conspire works with incarcerated and marginalized women in Travis County to offer healing and empowerment through theatre and writing.

It is no secret to anyone that I have not been feeling exactly fulfilled at my day job, in fact, I have just come through a rather rough patch there. I had been thinking for a while that it might be good to just go out and find a place to work with on a volunteer basis, to help fill in what I feel is lacking at my current job. In a stroke of amazing timing, a friend from Theatre & Dance here at UT emailed me to see if I would be willing to sit down and talk with Conspire's founder about fundraising.  It seemed like a great fit, so I jumped at the opportunity.

It's probably not even been two months since that first meeting, but in that time the group has started strategic planning, and I am helping them along. It's a great group of people, and the work they are doing is really important. Theses ladies are changing people's lives. It is a wonderful thing.

And... we are in the middle of a fundraising campaign! The next big project for the company is to bring a class to the Maximum Security inmates at the Travis County Jail. We are also looking to incorporate as a 501 (C) 3 sometime soon. Oh, and there will soon be monthly workshops outside the jail for our program alums who have been released, as well as others in the community curious about our process. It all costs money, so...

... if you like me make a gift! Or if you like the idea of what Conspire is doing, make a gift! Or if you just realize that giving $10 to this company will do more good than buying two lattes this week, please click the little widget above and MAKE A GIFT! We are just $180 away from meeting our goal, and if we raise more, it will just give us greater opportunities to grow the company, reach more women, and just plain do more good. There's only 9 days left in the campaign. Do it. Click the widget. Make a gift!

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.

What I Learned (v7)

Hi friends! Life has been a bit hectic in the past few, and so I am playing catch up on the whole blog thing. Below you will find a slightly condensed version of What I Learned that covers some of the highlights of the past 2 weeks...

Out of town visitors are excellent! Tom's mom, Nancy, visited us a few weeks back, and we played tourists the whole time. We went to the LBJ Presidential Library, saw a movie at the Alamo Drafthouse and ate BBQ.  Nancy also had the chance to meet Homer for the first time (of course, she loved him!) It was so nice to have family around for a bit. And if I haven't mentioned it already, I truly have the best mother-in-law on earth. She is awesome.

Homer is a water dog... sort of. For the past 3 weekends, I have made a point to take Homer swimming.  This not only ensures we can stay outside playing for longer than 15 minutes (incase you haven't heard, it's hot out there!) but I also feel like it is good to build his confidence around water.  He does alright. He is scared to go into water that is deeper than he can stand in, but the longer we are playing, the more confident he gets. It helps that he loves nothing more than playing fetch, and a tennis ball thrown just out of reach is the perfect incentive to swim out into the deeper water.

Jennifer Holliday is a goddess. I have been stuck at home alone for many nights this summer while Tom has been traveling across the country for different writing opportunities. Thankfully, Netflix has the entire series of Ally McBeal on instant streaming. I know it is kind of embarrassing, but it's the perfect show to watch while he is gone. He has no interest in watching it with me, and it is so light and fluffy, that it can erase virtually all vestiges of a bad day at work. Plus, Jennifer Holliday has a guest starring/singing role in about a half dozen episodes in the early seasons.  I had watched Ally when it was on network TV, but at that time, had no idea who Jennifer Holliday was. This time around, I know and respect the power of "And I am Telling You I am Not Going." It makes watching the JH featured episodes that much more enjoyable.  PS- if you haven't heard Ms. Holliday sing the aforementioned song, do yourself a favor and listen here.

It's good to have friends. I mentioned in the last WIL that one of my good friends from DePaul now lives in the area. I knew it would be great to have her around, but I think I underestimated just how much I miss my friends.  I have met and had fun with plenty of wonderful people here in Austin, and I count many of them as friends, but it takes time to get to a place of real comfort with any new friendship. For the past 2 years, Tom has been the only person here who could fill that role. I am so grateful to have Erica here now. Our friendship is easy. We have met (and love) each other's families. We know each others (sometimes embarrassing) past dating exploits. We have a past! It's just so nice to have her here.

DC, Here I Come!

In less than two weeks I board a plane to Washington, DC, and I CANNOT WAIT!! You see, my brilliant playwright husband has had a play accepted to the Kennedy Center/National New Play Network's annual MFA Playwrights Workshop, and I have decided to take advantage of the free hotel room to spend a few days exploring our capital.  Oh, and I want to see Tom's workshop too!

I will be in the District for 4 days, and will have a lot of time to myself as Tom does his artist thing at the Kennedy. I have already received lots of advice on what to do while in DC from locals, but am still looking for more great ideas.  Anyone have a favorite landmark, restaurant or museum that I just can't miss? Please leave your suggestions below. (Comments about how amazing Tom is are also welcome)

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Farewell

Two years ago when I moved to Texas, Friday Night Lights was just a blip on my pop-culture radar. I had never seen an episode, and while I actually really enjoy watching sports, I couldn't imagine getting hooked on a TV series whose main objective was to examine high school football in a small Texas town. But once we got to Austin, it seemed like everyone was watching and LOVING this show. So we went ahead and gave it a try. And you know what? It turns out the show isn't really about football at all. Oh, and it is also excellent.

We watched the previous four seasons quickly enough to catch up and watch season 5 as it has aired this summer. Tomorrow night NBC will show the series finale, and I have to admit, I am feeling a little sad. The show, as I mentioned above, really is about so much more than just football (although no one can doubt the show makes a strong case that football is the glue that holds together most small Texas towns).  What I really love about this show is that it is an honest and compelling portrayal of the working class in America. I also really love the Taylors. The marriage between Coach and Tami, which is really the central aspect of the show, is honest, loving and sweet.

And I will admit that there really is something special about watching it while living in Austin. There is a Mack Brown reference in the pilot episode that I can guarantee you would have been lost on me had I not already experienced my first UT football season. It's also fun to roll my eyes at how silly the show's earnest love of Texas is, because that is just such a real depiction of how people feel here. It is actually kind of hard to not buy into the whole romantic "Texas Forever" thing, especially if you have Tami Taylor as a role model.

So if you haven't seen it, watch it! And then when you come to visit me in Austin, we can take a FNL tour around the city, playing mini-golf at Peter Pan, drinking milk shakes in the parking lot of Frans, and learning to two step at the Broken Spoke.

It's Very Domestic Around Here...

Many of you will recall my jubilant posts from around this time last year when Tom and I found the Mint House. We were giddy with anticipation of a yard for homer, a guest room and lack of loud neighbors sharing walls or ceilings with us. We have also found that our little urban spread has provided us plenty of space to indulge the dormant "Little House on the Prairie" aspects of our personalities. For instance, we have been...

Gardening. I know this isn't news to most of you, but the garden plays a central role in our lives now. We must water it daily due to the lack of rain fall and scorching triple digit heat that has beset the region. There is also the weeding, the trellising and staking. But all that work is so worth it. We picked 3 eggplants last week, several handfuls of green beans and our first watermelon! Nothing is better than celebrating Independence Day with a watermelon from your own garden.

Composting. Tom and I fill our one-gallon counter top compost bin, and that gets dumped into our large composter outside on a weekly basis. Not only do we prevent a good deal of our food scraps from going into the landfill, but the amazing soil we produce goes straight back into the garden to feed our plants.

Canning and Preserving. The lack of rain, and amount of time and energy we spend on the garden has inspired us to try and make sure none of goods coming out of the garden go to waste.  While Tom is charged with making pesto and preserving our herbs, I have been canning nearly every weekend. The summer preserving started with a batch of spiced beets (which are so amazing on a salad with goat cheese that we are planning a special winter crop of beets so I can put up more jars.) I have also been trying my hand at pickling, with some escabeche-style spicy carrots and a batch of garlic dill cucumber pickles. Last weekend, with several pounds of ripe figs on the trees in our front yard, I took some time to cook up some fig, port and rosemary jam. The rosemary was also from the garden, of course. It tasted amazing, and is going to make a yummy addition to a future cheese tray. I think I will be doing some balsamic pickled figs in the weeks to come, and am contemplating pickled watermelon rind.

Cheese Making. Okay, we haven't actually done this yet, but last week I purchased the book Home Cheese Making, along with a starter cheese making kit. I am going to start with a basic mozzarella soon, but am hoping to experiment with other cheeses as I gain my confidence. You all wouldn't believe how easy cheese making actually is... at least that is what I am telling myself.