trick or treating with a two year old

Does it get any better?

(One highlight, in case your two year old friends have all grown up …)

[October 31, 6:30pm]
Door Bell rings, resident answers.
Mom & Dad (to child): “What do you say?”
Child: “Thank you.”
[Candy dispersed.]
Mom & Dad (to child): “What do you say?”
Child: “Trick or Treat”

Kind chuckles … next bell.

i spent the past week on vacation, taken by the pa leaves …

And enjoying these beauties: Aisha (eye-ee-sha) and her mom (my dear friend) Erin.  It was a great trip, filled with lots of sleep, long walks, great friendship & conversation.  (I confess: I’m just a little depressed about the return.  It was that kind of good.)  Maybe our little KC-trees will find a reason to cheer me soon enough.

i’m going here tomorrow

Weston Red Barn Farm

Pirtle Winery

(Can’t wait.)

short-story long-er …

Did I mention my August travel took me to Chicago?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where I visited some of my dearest friends?

And also (oh, btw) rocked my brains out at Lollapalooza …

In Grant Park …

There was a lot to smile about.

m-i-a no mo’

Yes, it’s been awhile.

No, I wasn’t kidnapped.  No, I didn’t elope.  No, I haven’t fled the country to escape political rhetoric.  (Even if — I confess — I’ve been indulging in a bit of levity while wrestling with “the issues” and assessing this political campaign.)

Short-story long?

I moved (sort of) the last weekend of July, only to pack up again and travel for 10 days during the first part of August upon which, returning to KC (buried alive under a pile of work & correspondence) I proceeded to host out-of-town family for a long weekend of fun up until we joined together for travel to Des Moines (where I reunited with long-lost cousins), then returned back to KC (buried alive under a pile of work & correspondence) in order to launch (kind of) the start of (yet another) ministry year which meant working long hours and returning late in the evening to my (quasi) new home until a week ago when I hired two (very mediocre) men and a truck to (try to) help me move-in and damage personal belongings & valuables such that I was free to spend the next few days holed up in my (newly established) home organizing all my stuff in order to justify an entire “girls day out” with my (very pregnant) sis so we could have some fun together before (lo and behold) my beautiful (perfectly healthy, seemingly perfect) new nephew — Samuel David — arrived (nearly three weeks early!) onto the scene of this wide world such that all I could do was to dote and feel my heart swell until I remembered and (then) was forced to begin (again) the more menial (and, yes, necessary) task of arranging things in my home and life so as to create some semblance of order (in no particular order).  Order like knives in the kitchen.  Toilet paper in the bathroom.  Wireless on the router.  At which point, having all such matters utterly & totally resolved (yesterday evening), I decided it might be okay to start blogging again.

For those who may have found my long short-story less than compelling (or for those who just couldn’t stomach the whole thing): I conclude (in terrible literary-style) with (once again) the most important point …

Samuel David Majernik.  6 lbs.  1 oz.  Just after noon on September 2, 2008.

I’m back to “heart swelling” …

summer schedules (and such)

A lot of (planned & unplanned) busy-ness has kept my summer hopping along (and my blogsite a little lonelier than usual these days).  Even so, I’ve managed to keep up with one of my favorite summer past-times: movies in the theatre.  (For some reason, it’s a seasonal indulgence for me.) 

My pride won’t allow for a full confessional here (as I realized only after the fact that I’d chosen the strangest show to view “solo” in a nearby KC theatre recently).  Since I’m not making public a list of movies I’ve seen already … I figured the least I could do is go on-record saying: I can’t wait to watch Batman’s latest.  I’m also intrigued by the little I’ve heard about This Side of Heaven.  Both are on my hitlist.

then sometimes, we just like to sit down together for a piece of chocolate cake

the blueberries were just a start

(Eat your heart out Martha Stewart.)  I haven’t had a weekend this domestic in a long while.

In addition to trying my hand at a brand new recipe (i.e. Double-Berry Butter Cake with Vanilla Rum Custard or [the second option] Lemon Whip), I finally made a start at commemorating last summer’s beach trip (via photo-album).

I’ve only completed a fourth of the book, but I’m loving the album already!  Here are a few of my favorite pics:

congrats to mr. & mrs. foster

Two classier individuals there could not be.  (And to think they went and married one another?!  Uh-oh!)  No, seriously, my heart has been celebrating all nite long … gladdened that God has called these two to image His love and life to our watching world.

Honored to be a witness (and so thankful Kurt took that phone call … even during 24).

i laughed my fool-head off

A friend of mine invited me to Starlight’s The Drowsy Chaperone tonite. I don’t remember the last time I manufactured so many rounds of legitimate, gut-busting, giggles. (I could not stop myself!) I knew nothing of this Tony-award-winning-show going in; I positively loved it. If you can spring even $10 for the cheap seats (that’s where we sat), it’ll be worth every penny!

Here’s a teaser: