Zumba

I experience zumba a lot like I experience my spiritual life. When I'm there, in the moment, I delight. I engage mind body soul. I feel connected to God even. Like he's right there, dancing with me. But as soon as I'm out of the structure of someone leading me, I suddenly can't remember anything. I've been going to zumba classes for a couple months now, and it took a while, but I feel like I can follow along with the moves (as long as I can see the instructor). Ask me to show you some of those moves an hour later at home, and I'd have NOTHING. Just can't remember! SO like how it is when I spend some sweet time with God, worshiping, reading, learning. It is beautiful & I'm so engaged... But the moment I open my eyes and step back into "real life" of toddlers and laundry... I lose sight. Forget. Ask me even to recall... And I cant! I have to constantly revisit all I have learned from his heart. I am on the bus right now from Denver to the advanced captivating retreat in the Rockies. I have now read the book completely three times through. Every time, every chapter, I read the words of life. I am healed and freed. ...And then I forget. Get back to the duties and demands of life and lose sight of those oh-so-deep desires to rest in his heart of love. Start feeling like spending time with him becomes just one of those duties, instead of a delight - like it's an intrusion on my life of "getting stuff done". How ridiculous. Oh God, help me internalize! To learn your heart so deeply. To hear your voice and know you and follow you. And dance with you ;)

See you all next week! If u want to see a couple of (not-so-great-quality due to the moving bus) shots of the autumn aspens, go to my instagram (therustyartichoke)!

this week i thrifted...

jentine asked...

Saturday, goodwill: blue denim dress (what i unfortunately DIDN'T thrift this week was this amazing pair of cowboy boots i saw at the same time as this dress, which would have paired perfectly for a little fun, but i was having a hard time shelling out $12.99 for them... what was i thinking??? i regretted it the rest of the week, and even went back on monday to see if they were still there... they weren't.)

Monday, goodwill: black pants, polka dot shoes, short sleeved blue sweater

Tuesday, savers: two vintage (military?) coats – green & cream; blue jacket; jean jacket

all for a grand total of $60! 

more than i'd normally spend in such a short amount of time, and on so few pieces, and way too much for our budget right now, but these were things i could not resist. especially the vintage coats! aren’t they amazing?? three-quarter length sleeves, wool (i think… i didn’t think the green one was until i washed and dried it today. 60+ years of being well taken care of, and i have it for less than a day and shrink it! hence the orange lining showing below the hem…). 

the checker at savers was like “wow! do you think these are real??” um, yes… real, what? “ military! you can tell by the lining!” ok, if you say so… so do i look like a world war II officer? maybe someone with a better eye/more experience can tell me what decade they’re from? i just know it’s somewhere in the 30s-60s based on the union tag inside.

on another note, does anyone agree with me that a) i have the cutest kid in the world, and b) i need to cut his hair…?

beef pot pie

last week we had some delicious chicken pot pies from a little cookbook/magazine jason bought me: Cooking Light's Readers' Top-rated Recipes. we've tried a couple of recipes from it, and they have been wonderful! delicious, using pretty much normal ingredients (martha stewart's recipes, on the other hand,  are GORGEOUS, but they end up being kind of expensive to make, with all the unusual ingredients you have to buy just for that recipe, and sometimes i can't even find them at the grocery store). so, since we're trying to be more budget-conscious, i thought about what i could make with ingredients i already had instead of heading to the store to spend more money. i never make the same thing two weeks in a row (i guess i feel like it's too repetitive... for my family. i don't mind... so maybe i should find out if they do! i'd waste less fresh ingredients that way), and i had run out of chicken, so i thought "how about BEEF pot pie? used the same basic recipe, altered slightly to account for the beef-ness, and to our taste (the first time was a little bitter, and i thought it might have been the parsnips in the original recipe, so i replaced those with a sweeter alternative: carrots. beef pot pies

preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

boil 3 cups reduced-fat beef broth in large dutch oven. 

add vegetables - 1 cup each of 1/2 inch cubes of: potato, sweet potato, celery, carrots, and onion.

cover & simmer for 6 minutes, then add one pound of steak, cut into bite-size pieces. 

cook 5 minutes, then remove meat & vegetables with a slotted spoon. 

mix 2/3 cup flour with 1 1/2 cup milk in a bowl with a whisk. add to broth.

cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently. stir in meat & vegetables.

add 1 1/2 cups frozen green peas, thawed <--a step i forgot both times i made this; 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh thyme, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon pepper.

spoon into ramekins coated with cooking spray. recipe called for 8, but i actually only did 2 in individual ramekins - one each for me & my love - and the rest in a larger (identical) "ramekin"? 

top each with puff pastry dough, and bake for 16 minutes, or until pastry begins to brown.

and it seemed too boring to drink water, so i created a sparkling beverage out of: 

2/3 juice (pineapple orange banana - what joey calls "monana juice") and 1/3 sparkling water. 

garnish with an extra sprig of thyme, and enjoy!

ps. yes, these are the ramekins that i got the whole set of 6 + the large one for $4.50 at an estate sale - aren't they so fun!? makes me want to bake pots de creme, and other individual-sized recipes just so i can use them!

after two months

so it hasn't been perfect, with some ebbing and flowing in both my desire and choices to move toward health and wholeness. but oh so much closer than before. enjoying cooking healthy and lovely. jason keeps telling me i look "more toned" ;) and my soul just feels nearer to its own self as far as being who i truly am and am meant to be. two months into this blog, and i'm now at 190lbs even (7 down!). which seems pretty much right on to me. i'm not about starving myself or striving physically or emotionally to stick to some drastic external plan (though i do see good in discipline). just generally day to day leaning in closer to wholeness. to truth and rest and beauty. 

 some closeups

so, did you notice the cues that this is the monthly update? i mean, before you read all that above? ;) the shed, the shorts... (what am i gonna do when the temperatures start falling?? hadn't thought about that... good thing i live in southern california, and it pretty much never goes below 40! :)

so besides the aforementioned cutoff jean shorts, we have:

yellow floral top: cozy (maternity), ross

green vesty thing: ross

belt: thrifted (isn't it awesomely detailed??)

necklace: f21

and the best part, my new bracelet that just arrived via UPS: InPink (due to a gift card won on adored austin!)

sunday afternoon

how could i resist this green wall? we were just wandering around uptown whittier (as we tend to do on sundays after church), and i spied this loveliness. it was one of the (very few) days that i went out without a shower in the morning... i have that kind of thin, oily hair that just looks greasy day-after (instead of "perfect second day hair" i hear people claim ;) - so it's up ;) 

i love this yellow polka dot scarf. although, i'm pretty sure this is the first time i've worn it out around my neck, and i bought it long enough ago that i can't remember where (target?) but since it's fall now (in my own little private world, at least ;) 

a scarf was needed this day...

top: thrifted, leggings (which were apparently ripped and no one told me): ross, flip flops that i love: old navy (i smile every time i put them on :)

just realized this is the first outfit i've put on here that i made absolutely no part of it! but it was still creative, in just being put together. and i just want to say to those of you who believe you are "not creative", you are. that's all. you find delightful ways to get dressed in the morning, you problem solve throughout your day, you bring beauty and joy to people through your take on the world. and you reflect the Creator in all of that. speech over. ;)

we had lunch at Mimo's Cafe, which is such a fun place to hang - all the locals sitting outside in a little courtyard, super friendly - joey gets to talk to pretty much every table when we walk up (ok, really, he talks to everyone everywhere - i love how friendly my kid is!). and they have AMAZING mexican hot chocolate. i need to learn how to make that.

 jason and joey went exploring while i finished my mug of delicioso and found "the basement" - wow. such a cool little vintage clothes shop! i wanted to not only shop there, but work there, own it, and even live there! okay, i might be romanticizing it a bit. but it was fun. and then - joey's favorite part - we stopped at the candy shop :) after debating between "blue" (saltwater taffy) and "pink" (jelly bellys), he came out with a red gummy rat. and loved every bite. "mouse!!" ha. love that kid. not sure why he had such a hard time falling asleep for his nap afterwards... ;)

not bad for an impromptu iphone shoot :)

back to school... happy fall!!

 my heart is so gleeful from writing those words in the subject heading!! in the past 3 days, the temperatures have dropped 30 degrees, and it was RAINING when i got home from work this morning!! helloooooo, fall! ever my favorite season (despite naysayers telling me "california doesn't HAVE fall" - we have wind and rain and cooler temperatures and sweaters and falling leaves and chai tea and pumpkin spice lattes! sounds like fall to me!! :), jason and i went out and celebrated this lovely fall afternoon with aforementioned pumpkin spice lattes (ok, his was a frappe - which totally defeats the whole "feeling" of fall to me, but he still wants it to be summer, so i guess it make sense ;)

...98, 99, 100! ready or not! here i come! 

when i was editing these pictures yesterday, i found my soul just stirring up with excitement that it's finally coming! we took these shots on the playground at the school where my sister teaches, and not only did it remind me of the warm colors of fall, but the school campus itself brought back a flood of delightful back-to-school emotions, too! probably one of the reasons fall has been a perennial favorite (i always was a nerd)... but best of all was always... school supplies!! you know what i'm talking about!
 the smell of a freshly sharpened bouquet of pencils, elmer's glue, notebooks and paper (peechee folders? any 80s kids out there??). at this time of year, i suddenly find myself wanting to buy a new box of crayons, pencil cases for nonexistent school notebooks, ahhh.... we took a trip to office depot last week. i think we were there to look at a printer, but as soon as i walked in the door, i saw nothing but school supplies wall-to-wall! pennies and dimes could get me rulers and protractors and erasers and notebooks of first-grade composition paper! :) is it just me?

 you may recognize this jungle gym from this post about accidental art - i had to do a shoot here because of it ;)

 oh, yeah, and about what i'm wearing... this was a pretty creative one ;)
tank: american eagle, thrifted
skirt (or bottom half of shirt, however you want to look at it ;): mossimo, thrifted.
shorts: ross, years ago. pre baby. yes, it is being held together by an awesome trick my best friend told me about halfway through pregnancy... put an elastic hairband through the buttonhole, and take both ends & wrap it around the button - voila! you can still wear your regular, surely much cuter than maternity clothes all through your pregnancy - and beyond! - and not have to buy a whole new wardrobe! i probably should not admit all that. oh well - it's true! and i look forward to the day when i can button my shorts again ;) 
necklace & belt: forever 21 - $4.50 and $2.50 respectively! might have even gotten me over my extreme aversion to mall shopping ;)  hair flower: handmade by me that day right before going out :) 
flip-flops: old navy, also $2.50 - my regular daily fare (yes, even in fall - ok we don't really have fall here ;) love that i can buy them in as many colors as i want, and that i can dress them up by adding a couple of clip-on flowers - super cute awesomeness! 

 fall! can you feel it??!

thanks, kristi for letting us in, jason for taking the pictures, and both of you for putting up with me wanting to shoot all over campus! there are just too many cool spots! :)