Easter thoughts + Instagram Dump (B.O.I. Week 11)

Happy Easter, my friends… how was your weekend? Restful, I hope. Ours was eventful, as you may have already caught wind of in yesterday’s post? Oy!  And I should also add that the giraffe was not the only shipment to arrive from Africa.  My house really is a zoo now…  I could charge admission just to visit.

Anyway, this morning we had a lovely brunch at my mom’s, where we enjoyed a feast of pancakes, eggs, sausage, melon, and coffee cake, alongside some good conversation and, of course, the cursory Easter peeps.  We paid our respects to Edd at the beautiful wooden urn that contains his ashes, and there was something strangely comforting about that.  His presence is still felt.  I couldn’t help but think back to my Easter post last year, and when I looked it up, the tears flowed.  That smile on Edd’s face!  Damn his staggering ability to be happy, right up through the end. It makes me feel deeply ashamed of my own pathetic ability to have a consistently shitty attitude.  For real.

Grace.  We talked a little today about how the grace with which Edd handled his disease was truly astounding, and though watching someone suffer like Edd did can certainly cause you to have some issues with your God and your faith, the grace… it’s hard to attribute it to anything but God working within him, despite the cancer. 

We also talked about how suffering has a purpose, and that’s to strip you of every single thing that’s not important, leaving only what is.  Of course, it’s still hard to embrace suffering—damn near impossible.  But it’s also near impossible to ignore the beauty I saw in the love and caring and stripped-down-ness of my mom and Edd’s relationship.

Just food for thought. 

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After a short sabbatical, I am back on board with Best of Instagram! Here’s a few recent pictures… (username jenniSOML on Instagram)

1. A new favorite dress from Ruche and a lovely bracelet by Miss Jenna!
2. My outfit for Easter today. Necklace by Stella & Dot.

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3. This tea is supposed to help my PMS.  We’ll see. (nailpolish here in “now you sea me”)
4. Beautiful tulips from the incredibly kind Kristin. :)

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5. Gracie and the water hose. More obsessed Gracie photos here.
6. Tuckered out. :)

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7. Spooning!
8. Keeping watch.

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9. I have named it Martin.
10. Never thought I’d see the day I put one of these in my office, but it actually looks pretty darn cool.

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11. Flowers clipped from the yard to keep me company while I work.
12. Cosmetics.

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13. My loves.
14. New favorite necklace courtesy of my blestie (blog bestie, not sure who coined that) Megan.  Its official name is the “Edinburgh,” but I have renamed it the “Edd-inburgh.”  :)  Tonight’s the last night to get a major discount in the Across The Pond shop, so get on that!

Add your links below, if you’d like!

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Happy Valentine’s! (+Walton’s, Austin)

Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all! Any big plans for tonight, or did you love birds out there celebrate over the weekend?  My husband will be with his mistress, law school, tonight. Sigh. 

Yesterday my mom and Edd met me for a quick lunch at Walton’s here in Austin, one of Sandra Bullock’s two restaurants in town.  I’ve been wanting to try it forever now, and I was so pleased to finally visit!  The food was delicious, and I felt like I was in a little NYC cafe.  I’ll most definitely be returning.  Nice work, Sandra! :)

heart shaped macaroon 

BFT (bacon, frisee, and tomato sandwich)

Edd enjoying his carrot cake cupcake

Walton’s, you get an A!

Also, thanks to those of you who’ve asked about Edd lately.  I owe you guys a post, it’s just something kind of difficult to write about right now. 

Tell someone you love them today!

Christmas 2011

Well, it’s that time of year again, folks.  The time where we all dump a zillion pictures from Christmas onto our blogs and/or Facebook.  I thought about breaking this into a couple posts, but I think you guys can handle it! ;)

We had a very nice holiday, filled with good food and the people we love.  Edd was home and is able to walk around a little bit now… it was a wonderful gift to have him here this Christmas. Hope you’re all enjoying your new toys and looking forward to the fabulous new year to come! I have this funny feeling about 2012… it’s gonna be a good one. :) 

For now, here’s a few pictures from our Christmas!

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Morning with mom and Edd… (just before all of Edd’s family got there… we missed most of the excitement! [but got first dibs on the amazing breakfast!])

 most delicious monkey bread in the world

 yummy breakfast casserole my mom makes every Christmas

 opening presents

 peeps!!! yessssss.

two special men in my life

   pretty mama

 

Afternoon with Matthew’s side of the family…

sweetest MIL :)

sweetest SIL :)

  good lookin’ family eh?

 fall finally arrived in TX

   Pierre le cat

  amazing.

love her!!

How was your Christmas?  Did you get any extra-meaningful gifts?

A Christmas tradition

When I was a little girl I used to wake up in the wee hours of every Christmas morning and sneak out to the living room to open up my stocking.  My parents knew I did it, and they were fine with it as long as it was after 2 or 3 AM.

Oddly, to date this is one of my very favorite Christmas memories.  I would wake up automatically in the night and feel that jolt of excitement in my stomach when I realized it was Christmas morning—I’d check the time, and if it was an acceptable hour, I’d pad out of my bedroom to find the Christmas tree still lit and heaps of presents piled beneath it. Santa had come! And there my stocking would be—stuffed to overflowing right next to my sister’s.  Sometimes my sister and I would even end up out of bed at the same time (she would usually wake up in the night too), or other times I would see the contents of her stocking spilled out on the floor and I’d know she’d already been there.

Most of the time I’d be alone, though, there in the dark stillness of the morning and the glow of the tree, and that was how I preferred it.  I would slowly empty my stocking, delighting in the wonderfulness of each little treat it held.  Then I’d spread out the contents around me, maybe eating a Christmas Peep or munching on some chocolate.  I’d count the presents to make sure my sister and I had an acceptably similar amount (you know you did it too…), and then I would just sit there for a while, trying to soak in the magic of that quiet morning before anyone else was awake.  I knew the house would later smell of cinnamon rolls and thick cut, frying bacon, and those beautifully wrapped gifts would soon reveal their mysterious contents, but my favorite part of Christmas was always those quiet moments when I sat all alone beneath that fragrant tree, anticipating the morning to come.

And now, whenever I sit in the glow of my Christmas tree, I think of those moments, and how they were the best of every Christmas, and how I’d love to pass along that tradition to my children one day. 

So that is what I wish for every one of you, this year: an appreciation for the quiet moments; the ability to be alone sometimes, and to be happy in your own company; the patience to wait for the good that will come; and that feeling of magic you experience as a child but never really have to lose.

Wishing you a beautiful weekend… I’ll be back at it next week!

PS – If you didn’t catch it the other day, I’m now on Instagram!  I’ll be posting plenty of pictures over the weekend, so look me up if you’re interested! Username jennistoryoml. :)

Wrapapalooza 2011

 ignore the hair.

Hello again, and welcome to what I’m calling “Wrapapalooza 2011.”  As mentioned before, wrapping presents is pretty much my favorite thing to do, and I may or may not have something of a wrapping paper fetish.  I just can’t help myself. 

So you can pretty much count on a Wrapapalooza post every Christmas for the rest of my life (yes, I plan to be blogging while elderly)—I love to document the fun in pictures so I can go back and enjoy them for many years to come! 

Ok, enough talk.  Here are some shots from the past couple days!

         

:)

Christmas Home

(this song is beautiful, albeit somewhat depressing)

Happy Monday morning!  The countdown to Christmas is on, and I thought I’d kick off this week with some pictures of our decorations!  I never exactly finished this year… there are certain things (like the mantle) that I was never quite happy with and intended to change, but I’ve decided to accept things as they are and remember that there’s always next year. :)

Hope you enjoy!

 

          

And at night…

      

Thanks for stopping by our home!  Hope you’re all able to finish up Christmas preparations early this week and have the opportunity to slow down.  I’m off to finish up a bit of shopping and then wrap presents—which just so happens to be my FAVORITE THING TO DO.  Bring it on! :)

Have a wonderful Monday!