7 quick takes

 

                     

                                                               


Its been a while since the last time I posted with Jen, but there's been so many things on my mind lately, so I thought it might be a good week to ramble my thoughts on here.

1. Last night I said to mike, "the wifi hasn't been working very well today." Sophia chimes in, "maybe its because you used too much of it, mom." She likes to lay the mom guilt right on me. My four year old called me out. Going to work on being more hands free. 

2. i think i've officially initiated myself into hippiehood again by making hand dipped beeswax birthday candles this week. My freshmen year in college i attended the most tree hugging, volkswagan driving, peace love and rocking rolling university (go banana slugs!). But i hated it, and i vowed never ever to look back so i transferred to Franciscan University. But lately i've been catching myself do bizarre things like shopping for cosmetics at Whole Foods, reading articles about going 'no poo' (its not what you think :) ), and now candle making. whatever...just call it 'going green'.

3. i started attending barre exercise classes this week. i am incredible sore everywhere but i feel good! i'm more proud at the fact i'm keeping up with my new years resolution to exercise more. yay, me! Thank goodness for a friend telling me that shaking in class is normal because my legs were out of control. So embarrassing but i heard "shaking is good! it means your doing it right!"

4. i feel like this was a week of clarity for me. There were a lot of things that were made a lot more clear and bright to me. Its like many many lightbulbs turned on. It feels good to finally see a little more clearer on decisions and walk with the faith of God. I feel like I have fought with myself for so long on some very simple decisions. Have you ever done that before? Things are made so easy and clear but i intentionally make it harder on myself. Geez i'm so complicated sometimes. 

5. I just discovered decaf earl grey tea and its changed my week! Its bringing me back to the days when I used to study abroad in Austria and my roommates and I would have tea time. Pinkies up! 

6. I made the bomb Korean bo sam this week! Now that I live in an area that doesn't have many good Korean restaurants, it has forced me to learn and make more of it at home. When your kimchi stew starts tasting exactly like your mom's then you know you mastered it. :) 

7. I'm still blown away with the March for Life in San Francisco last weekend. There were over 60,000 people there! It was one of the best experiences of my life. I got choked up so many times and had to swallow down the tears because I was so emotionally overwhelmed with the support of all the pro-lifers. I have done side walk counseling at abortion clinics for many years and its always felt so lonely for me. There are really no words I can say to express the emotions I felt that day. A BIG thank you to the police and fire department of San Francisco for your support and standing on our side during our walk.


Have a wonderful weekend everyone!  

my word

You know how people talk about their "word" for the new year. Well, I have known what my "word" for 2014 was going to be for a while now. For months, I have felt it tug on my heart. To let go more, to have less...and to be simple. Simple is my word for this year. Be simple, simplify, simplicity...all variations of this word is to be mine this year. To ring true to it in every form. 

So little by little, I have been making small efforts as the new year was approaching. Buy less, be content with more. 

It hasn't been the easiest thing to do but it sure has been fulfilling in small ways. Its keeps me focused on the real and less on the temporary. 

To keep true to simplifying and simplicity, I decided not to buy any clothes this year. Yes I said it. I have all the clothes I need for every season, for every reason and for every occasion. I do not need anything more. 

You realize how little you need to live by. Why is that when you already have several clean shirts in your closet, you will continue to dig through baskets of laundry to wear that one shirt again? :) This will be my year of seeking simplicity and finding contentment in it. 

I plan to get rid of more things around the home too. We are actually planning on having a yard sale in the spring and I am SO excited! I have always wanted to have a yard sale and I finally live in a right neighborhood to host it. So, all you Sacramento locals...keep you ears and eyes opened for some good treasures to be sold. :) 

Lastly, these pictures were taken a few weeks ago when my good friend May was visiting. We found this awesome hiking trail near Mike's office and it was the most glorious weather outside. The best part of this hike was that we found a swing hanging from a tree at the end of our hike. Sophia couldn't believe her eyes and just had the best time swinging. We will definitely be going back. 

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Sophia: I have always sang to Sophia since she was in my womb, "you are my sunshine...my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray." This song holds so true to her personality and who she is. She really is a sunshine to us. 

Zaylee: I have always sang to her, "this little light of mine...I'm going to let her shine." She is our special light that radiates and shines in our family.  

snippets of happy

First of all, did you notice anything new? Yes, my blog is getting a small facelift. It still (obviously) needs a lot of work. I'm still trying to work out the technical stuff and I'm pretty much sucking at it. 

Second of all, I've done many different variations of the "happy post!" It really is one of my favorite things to blog about because my cell phone is filled with a lot of pictures that make me happy in the moment. Its nice to gather all those happy pictures together in one spot and do a post. Once its all done...its one big happy! So here are a few snippets of happy thats been making me happy! Ok, that was a lot of happy in one line. #sorrynotsorry 

^ Sorry for the grainy i phone pic (c/o of auntie May!) Sophia has been taking ice skating lessons for several weeks now and she LOVES it. ^

^ Mike babysat for a few hours and I came home to happy, hot cocoa sugared up, spilled on the shirt, messy home...but did i mention that everyone was happy. :) ^ 

^ one of very best friends and roommate in college came to visit! These girls loved spending every minute with their auntie may! ^ 

^ did i mention that i love her? She is sister from another mother :) And we had the very best visit to San Francisco together! ^

^ come on, how can a happy blog post not have a picture of a donut! Aren't these mini donuts adorable? They were hot, sugary, and perfectly fried! ^

^ She is my happy! Her smile radiates and its pretty dang contagious! ^

^ two peas in a pod. literally. :) ^

^ I have been to SF a dozen times but have never been on the Golden Gate bridge until recently. We drove through the bridge during the golden hour and it was magical. ^

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" A portrait of my children once a week, every week in 2014."

Sophia: my dreamer, my traveler, my adventure lover.

Zaylee: looks like a teenager in this photos. She's growing up. 

the little things in life.

Happy Monday friends! Although Monday's are always the hardest days to wake up to, I feel so refreshed this morning and ready to take on another week. To be quite honest, I have not felt like myself for the last 5 weeks and I just found out Friday that I had a double ear infection! I saw two different doctors and was put on wrong medications for a wrong diagnosis and finally, finally... I am starting to feel better. Let me tell you, living with muffled congested hearing is the worst. But, I can hear again now and its been wonderful. Its the little things in our life, especially our health that sometimes we can take for granted. 

Besides the ear infections, another big thing we did this weekend was start the beginning stages of building a garden in our yard! We made it through building half of our garden bed before the sun went down yesterday and I can't wait to finish it. I have dreamed of having my own garden for a long long time and we are finally doing it. I'm not all sure what to do and pretty nervous nothing will grow, but it feels good to check things off a bucket list. I felt so inspired yesterday that I even suggested we get some chickens. We are going to wait on that idea, for now. :) 

Anyways, I am wishing you all a happy and healthy week. I will be potty training my 20 month old starting today tomorrow! I absolutely hate hate potty training. Thankfully my oldest caught on pretty quickly and there were hardly any accidents, but I just don't like it. Wish me luck. Say a little prayer that very very little accidents will happen. I just hate cleaning up accidents, especially the numbero dos ones...but i guess who really does. :/ 

Okay, venting done. Bye! 

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Sophia: only four year olds can wear three different shades of pink and still look wonderful. 

Zaylee: when you are 21 months old its hard to look at the bigger picture, therefore most paintings look like this: all colors blended in one spot of the paper. I remember Sophia doing the same at that age. 

* I decided to take myself and husband out of this series. 

"A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2014"

Farm to table: Pizza my heart!

One of the perks of living close to farms in this city is having a box of fresh seasonal produce delivered to your door weekly. To be quite honest, I don't always know what's in season when I go to the grocery store and I usually end up buying the same bag of grapes and carrots that I'm used to restocking every week. So when I started receiving my first box, I found half of the contents in the box intimidating. First of all I didn't even know what some of it was (hello, kiwi berries!) and then most importantly...i didn't know what to do with them. After a few rounds on Pinterest, I found that the possibility is endless! I find it exciting now to see how my produce has changed from the Fall season to now Winter and also watch my adventurous children wanting to try it all. 

So this week, I was given red potatoes and leeks...and I turned them into a delicious Potato Leek Pizza! I found this delicious recipe from the Pioneer Woman. I love that woman. Everything she makes looks drool worthy. 

 I modified the recipe a little bit. I obviously used red potatoes instead of Yukon Gold and used turkey bacon because thats all I had in the fridge. Although it was still good, I would still recommend the good ol' fatty bacon for next time. 

^^ Disclaimer: those are not my chubby dark arms rolling the pin ;) ^^

Voila'! Enjoy! 

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"A portrait of my family once a week, every week, in 2014."

I'm so excited about this new series that I plan on doing this new year. I plan on getting one picture of each of us and posting it each week. Looking forward to seeing how much the girls will grow week by week and also watch myself (and husband) age this year ;) 

Sorry for the grainy iphone pictures.. 

Husband: He found the biggest bottle of beer at the store. 

Me: Don't ever ever ever cheat on your hair stylist. Otherwise you will end up cutting your hair 3 times in one week to try to fix it.

Sophia: This girl has been counting down for new years since the day after Christmas just to put on her Hanbok.

Zaylee: First year of wearing hanbok and bowing to her grandparents. She did a great job and loved receiving money. She couldn't take her eyes or hands off the money. :) 

2 0 1 4 !!!

^^ Zaylee couldn't stop looking at the money she received from grandma after her new years bow ^^

^^ sorry for the poor grainy iphone pic. Zaylee was giving me a fake smile in this pic.  ^^

Happy New Years everyone!!! I can't believe that we are in 2014! As I get older the years seem to go by faster and faster. 2013 was an incredible year for us. I am so so thankful for so much and I look forward to the new memories I (and my family) will make in 2014. 

As for new years resolutions...I do have a few. I love making new years resolutions each year. I look forward to it. When I was younger I was always gifted a new journal for Christmas and I couldn't wait to start writing in it the first of the year. Every year, I still have that same excitement in my heart... to open a fresh empty journal to start writing. To fill it with new things to come.

So here are my new resolutions for 2014:

1. Exercise! I probably say this every year but I don't do it. This year I am doing it. One thing I am proud of in 2013 was learning to eat right. But, I still feel sluggish because I am out of shape. I'm tired of feeling tired and so this year I'm going to change that. I'm turning 30 this year and I want to work at being in the best shape of my life. 

2. Live and be more simple! No explanation needed. 

3. Love more wildly! Going to work more on loving and living out my faith more wildly. This category also goes for my husband and children.

I also have a few other small things and bigger projects that I am hoping to accomplish this year...all very exciting and exhausting to think about. :) 

Do you make resolutions?? If so, what are some of yours? 

As for this blog, I am hoping to keep up with it this year. Thank you for reading and I can't wait to share another year of our little love feast with you!