i'm headed home...

to the home of cracker barrel, chick-fil-a, and waffle house. the home of iguana grill, silver coin, and urban standard. the home of "ya'll" and sweet potato casserole with marshmallows!

and of course, to a home filled with family, friends, and alabama football!

oh, and it feels good to be done with quarter # 2 (only 5 more to go!).

finals...are sucking up all my time + energy.

But, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I can see it glisten in the distance. Soon that six week break will be all mine, and I will desperately try to enjoin it to the fullest.

Till then.

sunday winter wonderland.

On Tuesday it was sunny and warm and I was wearing a simple 3/4-length sweater. No need for layering, it was gorgeous fall weather.

But then...last night...the snow fell...and fell.

Once arriving at King Soopers (what a great name for a grocery store), I de-thawed with a peppermint mocha. I might have felt slightly guilty for giving into the sugar-laced, starbuck's expresso. But, how do you resist a drink topped with shaved chocolate? On a side note, when did they start doing this? Stepping up their game, I see.

Trip to the grocery store: successful!

happy birthday sarah margaret!

a little late, but I'm still sending happy wishes to her just the same.

this is Sarah Margaret.

this is her getting ready for my wedding! photo credit jshipley photography.

SM and I have been friends since we were 7! we played dollhouses, and library (is that normal for kids to play?), and we often waited tables (for imaginary people) and cooked (imaginary food) in the basement of SM's house in the upscale restaurant "Bud's." I even recollect that there were created menus involved (SM's always been the artsy type). Ahh, if only life were as fantastically boring as it was back then! Another tidbit of information, SM and I both adopted the double name, southern phenomenon when we went to college..it was the cool thing to do.

Sarah, you're an incredible person. Your charisma and intuitiveness are remarkable. You are both adventurous and grounded. I appreciate the way you view the world. It gives me a new perspective. You see beauty in the mundane and simplicity in the craziness. I hope as a friend your passion rubs off on me just a little bit.

Oh, and she likes to pick up "works in progress" on the side of the road.

You rock! And, I wish you the very best in this next year. I hope that through the unclarity and messiness of life itself, you will find a steady calm. I hope you find Birmingham to be a place that fits, if not just for the time being. I hope you grow and continue to experience the complexity of life all around you. I love you friend!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH MARGARET!

p.s., as I was writing this post I realized I'm way behind on a birthday tribute to another close friend..MK. more on that to come! I'm going to blame that one on grad school!

not quite.

So, on Sunday, Micah and I ran the Race for Fetal Hope. I talked about it earlier here. In order to participate in the National Half-Marathon in D.C., one must first have a qualifying score from another race. The 5k (3.1 miles) qualifying score is 31 minutes.

Here we are before the race. I have my excited, happy face on.

However, you can be thankful there is no after photo, because it was not a pretty picture.

We finished the race in 31 minutes and 40 seconds...40 seconds over what we needed. And I cried. Yep, I cried. I was so frustrated with myself, because I know Micah could have made the time by himself no problem. It was me who slowed us down. Yes, I could've taken comfort in that we were so close, but so close does not qualify. Nevertheless, we are going to try again (perhaps I'm just a glutton for punishment). So from now until December 6, I have some work cut out for me!

WICKED.

It was perfect.

A perfect break from school-life reality.

A perfect front row seat.

A perfect performance of Wicked!

...........................

Assigned reading would have to wait (or be forgotten). I have two major research papers to finish in little over two weeks. Graded assignments would have to be prioritized.

6:22 p.m.

I'm already hunkered down at the kitchen table for a glorious night of researching human trafficking, when he arrives home. I look up, but am more focused on the task at hand to notice the probable smirk that was spreading across his face.

6:23 p.m.

Carefully (perhaps hestitantly), these are set down in front of me.

6:24 p.m.

My mind registers the rectangular pieces of paper. He's beaming. I listen to him recount the story. There's love behind the standing in line, defeatedly being told the show is sold out. There's love in the nights he told me he was working late, but instead stood in the cool air hopeful that his name would be called. There's love behind his eagerness to tell me of the tickets choosing him moreso than him choosing them. It's fate.

7:12 p.m.

I change three times. I want to look like I'm going to the theatre. And I want to look good for him.

7:29 p.m.

The bus is on schedule. It weaves its way downtown.

7:50 p.m.

There's 10 minutes till curtain. There's not enough time, but he insists on toasting to the occasion. I get wine, he gets beer; each one wrapped in plastic, safety first.

7:52 p.m.

The tickets point us to a pair of seats. Orchestra section. First row. Number 5 and 6.

There's excitement in the overgrown room, along with a dragon and a map.

8:01 p.m.

I'm whisked away to a fantastical land. It is a land of magic and munchkins, of evil and good, of beautiful musical escapes and endless grey misunderstandings. I sat next to him, often stealing glances of true newlywed proportion. The costumes dazzled and the facial expressions were visible. The monkeys terrorized. The witches were friends.

It was perfect.

a conversation through text.

Micah: Do not eat lunch yet.

Me: Why?

Micah: Will text in 10.

Micah: I am here.

Hmm..I love me some chick-fil-a!

And, I love spontaneous lunch dates with Micah.

halloween shenanigans.

A couple years back, a volunteer brought witch finger cookies to CROC (where I used to work). They looked disgustingly scary! And I had the brief resolution to remember the recipe for a later date, but then I forgot about them. That is, I forgot about them until allrecipes (can you see a trend for where I get cooking ideas?) brought them to my attention once again. With a few changes, here is what I came up with.

Pretty gross, right?

Micah and I even tried to make a witch hand to go with the cookie display.

So, here's how it works.

Ingredients:

-1 cup butter, softened (I used unsalted)

-1 cup confectioners sugar

-1 egg

-1 teaspoon almond extract

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-2 and 2/3 cups flour

-1 teaspoon baking powder

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-Roughly 1 cup whole almonds

-green food coloring

-1 tube red decorating gel

Directions:

-Beat together butter, sugar, egg, almond, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.

-Combine flour, baking powder, and salt and gradually add to other ingredients.

-I added a few drops of green food coloring to make it more witchy.

-Refrigerator dough for 20-30 minutes.

-While the dough cooled, I blanched the almonds. To do so, I boiled water (just enough to cover the almonds). After the water came to a boil, drop in the almonds and take the pan off the heat. Let the almonds sit for 1 minute and then drain. Cool the almonds by running them under cold water. Spread almonds on a flat surface (you could even use a towel to soak up some of the remaining water). Then, rub/push the skin off the almond. This takes a little effort, but cheaper than buying blanched almonds.

-Preheat oven to 325. I ended up using a slightly lower temp (315). Lightly grease baking sheets.

-Remove dough from refrigerator in small amounts (so that it doesn't get too warm). I rolled the dough between open hands to make finger shape. Make sure to roll fairly small (think pinky finger width), because they will expand in the oven.

-Place one almond into the end of each cookie to give the appearance of a fingernail. You can also take a knife and make tiny slits for the knuckles. Also, I rolled a few small little balls and placed them on some of the fingers to look like warts.

-Cook for 20 minutes. I took mine out after 16 minutes (but I'm not sure if this is related to Denver's altitude or not). Just check them to make sure they do not burn.

-Once they cool a little, remove the almond, squeeze some red gel in its place, and replace the almond causing the gel to ooze out slightly.

-Dab a little red gel on the end of each finger to give the appearance of it being severed.

And BAM, you have witch finger cookies! And you can take them to a party and be the talk of the night!

Which is exactly what we did!

Happy first day of November!