Oxford

Here are some photos Jason with his friend Jens while in Oxford. They were able to take some time during their intensive Pali course to see some sites.

I just finished The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and my love for it must be made known! But, I had one teeny problem while reading it: the book was borrowed so I couldn't write in it and highlight the many parts I enjoyed. This is another book that I'll have to get my own copy of.

I have officially finished work . I was teaching 4 dance classes a week which is NOT a lot but when you are approaching 8 months of pregnancy it can get pretty taxing physically. Happiness and joy, joy and happiness for no more classes. . . with no more work my love of vegan and vegetarian cooking has been reborn and I just made a loaf of kamut rice bread. When it's still hot, have a slice with vegan or regular butter and honey and oh, is it yummy! Jason and I use to get really creative with our breads and use combinations of garbanzo, soy, millet and other flours-- we even threw in whole millet sometimes for a hearty crunchy texture. The recipe is yeast-free and we usually adapted it to what we had in the house (eggs or flax meal, and honey, brown rice syrup or maple). Diverse flour is hard to come by here but they've started carrying some at an organic market we frequent and I'm all smiles and ready to get creative in the kitchen again.

The recipe we follow and adapt is Millet Rice Bread (I couldn't find the link online but I'll give it another look).

Here's another good recipe that I'm going to try. It's basically the same as the one we follow with an added variation. So, maybe it's an updated version of the one I was looking for.

Parties and Birthdays and bit more on crying. . .

I turned 31 two weeks ago. I feel like I should be forever 26 but such is not the case and I really enjoy who I am and what I'm becoming. I don't ever want to shy away from how old I am because that is a part of who I am. Each year I confront new experiences and think of old experiences in a new way. I enjoy this process.

I'm not a huge birthday party fan for myself. Like, please don't throw me a surprise party and if I have a party I'd love to share the lime light with someone else with a Birthday nearby.

When I was sixteen one of my high school friends, with the help of my mom, threw a surprise party for me at the T Bird dinner. The memory always makes me laugh. A while back I did a post about crying and Paula Abdul and the crying part comes into play in this story. The surprise was not so much of a surprise in the end and I think that's how most "surprise parties" go. So, while we were having our party, all seated at the table probably ordering food and talking party talk, there's this DJ man with crazy long legs, short shorts and blond curly mullet-ish hair doing his DJ thang. When he saw that it was my Birthday he tried to get me to come up and dance with him to YMCA. I was laughing but horribly embarrassed (also because he would come up and dance behind me as well). Anyway, while I was experiencing all of these emotions and laughing nervously I also started to cry. The crying wasn't very obvious but laughing and crying often go hand and hand with me. Luckily, my friend, who never minded the lampshade on her head, got up and danced with him saving me from further freak out. All eyes were on me as I outwardly dealt with these seemingly opposing emotions. We did have a good time but I think this story illustrates my early realization that I shy away from attention like that and that if I'm going to laugh really hard a cry might be on its way too. I'm so transparent.

But, I love Love LOVE doing parties for others . . . and I had a great Birthday. AND (here's the clincher), I even had a piccola party with family and some friends. . . and I survived the attention. . . it was great. Can you believe it? I think I'm growing up at 31.

My mom use to joke that Soren was our Little Lord Fauntleroy and Jason and I made a game out of how many ways we could say Fauntleroy. For example, we came up Fauntleroy, Fauntleroy and Fauntleroy--it's a pretty awesome game. You should try it sometime. . . we also talked about getting him a burgundy velvet suit for church. I think this coat my sister brought him is a close second.

This is Soren charging at his Dad when he realized he was taking pictures. After church it's ritual for Soren and his friends Issac and Penelope to run out to the grassy area and find berries, bears and whatever the latest is. They look for each other when the meeting is over and it's the highlight of their Sundays.

The photo reminds me of Sam from Lord of the Rings coming to save Frodo.

Deep Thoughts by Leif

Scene: Cammie talking to Bridget about their mom's travels before arriving in Scotland. All the kids are around.

Cammie comments, ". . .there are so many places to visit."

Leif replies, "and then there's that asteroid that's going to hit the earth."