on life, and settling in.

it's the most interesting feeling, having your own place.
if i must be honest, i love it.
it's fun. the details. the mundane. the every day.
they're our towels.

it's our kitchen sink.
our laundry to do.
(two loads desperately need to be done right now.)
our coffee maker that brewed fresh, hot, yummy coffee this morning.
our front porch.
(it could use a rocking chair or love seat of some kind...maybe craigslist will let something out of the woodwork again. hah.)

our couch.

our entertainment center that we put hard work and concentration and teamwork into, one night from 10:30pm to 2:30am.
our budget to sketch out and write up.
our rent to be paid (and what a great deal do we have!! so blessed.).
our dresser.

our mirrors and awesome leather chair that i found while rummaging with lady friends back in wisconsin. :)

our coffee mugs. (great gifts from awesome friends, used all the time, if you would believe that. ;))

our milk glass bud vase from my grammy who passed on in june 2011.

our at-home date nights late on sunday nights with a movie and caesar salad kit from wally's.
(p.s. i love you is one of those films that i watch 2 or 3 times a year and it gives me a whole new appreciation for life and loved ones. just because. these humans are so precious to me.)

friday and saturday night, while justin worked, i had rachel over for one night, and anna for the other night.

we talked and talked and watched a movie before sleep. the next morning, i made them coffee in my kitchen. poured them coffee into my collected (or gift-given) mugs. 
it's pretty fantastic to be able to have sisters over for a night of quality time and coffee in the morning.
i like it a lot. ;)

after-dinner walks out here in southern illinois are amazing.
no doubt about it.
i used to live in a small town, about 10k. i could see sunsets, but not like this. 
friday night i think it was, justin and i took a walk alone on the country road. all the way up to the stop sign like we always did over the past almost-2-years. we stopped and stared at the sunset. hugged and talked about how we couldn't remember the last time we'd done this together. the past how many months were too busy to randomly take a walk.
i believe after-dinner walks are some of the best things to have in your life. it's pondering time, whether you have good, lovely things to think and talk about, or hard, frustrating things.

and i can't believe,  that I'm your man,
and i get to kiss you baby just because i can.
whatever comes our way, ah we'll see it through...
[michael buble]

all in all, we're loving the challenge and joy that is marriage.
i'm just so glad we're in this crazy life journey together.
♥

cilantro lime rice with pork chops & salad.

one day, i was craving chipotle's cilantro lime rice.
so what did i do, since after all....i live an hour away from any chipotle?
i looked up a recipe for it online. a gazillion links came up.
i skimmed one, made it to a T with all the details right, and since then, i just play it by memory.
this is awesome stuff, and it contains butter.
so it's all good going from memory, if you know what i mean. ;)

borrowed image

i melt a few tablespoons of butter in the pot i want to cook my rice in, and get it sizzling.
i love sizzling butter.
then i add the rice --for my family eating tonight, i made a too-huge batch of 6 cups rice, 12 cups water..... :P but at least i now have stuff to put in burritos whenever we're short on ideas for lunch for the next few days! hah.
so you add the rice. stir it around on medium-high heat, and smell its yumminess.

then, i squeeze 2-5 limes. depending on how limey you want your rice. ;)
dump the juice in the rice-butter mixture. or squeeze it right in.
now really inhale that smell. ohmygosh.
after a few moments of letting that sit on the heat --stir it a little, haha-- pour in the amount of water you need for the proper ratio of rice to water that you need.
put a cover on it, and let it cook according to the directions for the type of rice you're using.

mince a decent sized bunch of cilantro, and after the rice is done cooking, stir it in.

now eat up! :D

~~~

...tonight i made it as a side to some pork-barbecue-spice rubbed pork chops that i grilled on the good old weber.

i do enjoy grilling. i get to try my skills out a few times every summer, with dad's advice either on the phone if he's at work, or helping prepare dinner. :)

gorgeous evening.

proof of spring coming to stay....soon! ;)

blue.

so, this one time i bought a button down.
from maurice's.
it felt amazing, was a different style that i normally delve into, and it was in my favorite color.
so of course i bought it. lol.

after maurice's, i walked to panera and sat down with a chai tea latte and an orange scone. mmmmm. then i drove mum home from our lovely run of errands, and here i am.

my throat feels funny. i need some tea. and a nap. :P

some good things.

this chocolate.
a gift from my love.

this coffee, freshly brewed just for this moment on this drowsy, quiet, overcast, fall afternoon.
the ring i bought for justin, about to head off to cali for an exchange. different size needed. it's an awesome ring. i can't wait for him to see it someday.

me, the other night --friday early a.m., 

photographing a birth my sister was the doula at :)

my hair is growing out! just a few more months and trims away from an even bob. :)

Source: whoorl.com via Beka on Pinterest

i like the idea of this 'do.
the length, the layers, the...haha...the wave.

letters.
in the special book of borrow-back-and-forth-between-visits to each other.

random kitchen time and conversations and teasing.
long walks wearing hoodies and holding hands.
talking, talking, more talking and laughing.
on a sidenote: long hugs, too.

Source: modcloth.com via Beka on Pinterest

these. cuteness.

Source: buycaptainamericacostume.net via Beka on Pinterest

considering how much i like the movie of captain america, one of our boys someday should get this. hahaha.

Source: us.dorothyperkins.com via Beka on Pinterest

hmmm...love the ruffle. yes. yes.

Source: prettyinterior.blogspot.ie via Beka on Pinterest

love the style of this.

thus ends this post of grand things......isn't this almost like old times blogging? ;)

poblano peppers.

i just tried take a nap; for 40 minutes; unsuccessfully. what with a decently late night last night, and swing dancing tonight along with getting home at nearly 1am . . . i kind of wanted to take part of the luxury.
anyhow. that didn't work.
maybe i got enough sleep last night or something.
and maybe i'm excited; tomorrow, justin's coming up for the weekend. :)
could be both. lol.
today we went to the farmer's market.
i got 5 poblano peppers, 2 eggplants, and two huge bunches of kale all for the grand total of $7.
heck. yeah.
and the lady who sold it all to us told us how she likes to prepare these wonderful, mild-to-medium heat peppers, which in the first place  i'd never heard of before. 
[i don't remember how much the chunk of gouda was, though....]

stuffed poblano peppers....i'm looking forward to making them.
when i do, shall post a picture and let you all know how it turned out.
i have plans for some yummy soups in this next week. ones i've never made before myself.
i can't wait. it's totally soup weather again. :)

do you like soup? what's your favorite??

oh my!

hi hi hi!

this is me and my younger brother. [he's a cute dork in this picture. heh.]
me and my freaking awesome family just got back from a week long vaca.
it was perfect weather then, and we came home to perfect weather.
on the cool side. breezy.
scarily like autumn, even though we shouldn't have autumn weather till late september. weeeeiiiirrrrddddd.
i'll take it though.
makes it even more natural [and not weird] to drink good, hot coffee. :) all the time. ;)

sarah and justin's littlest kiddo.

 

...cute things happened last saturday. the last 3 pictures are proof. ;)
you're welcome. :)
i'm not going to get much sleep in the next few days. not like vaca. sleeping by 10:30 pm, awake by 7....
life is changing. and it's good.

p.s. i almost never log into my blogger account because google screwed with my email not being able to be logged in at the same time as my google/blogger one. :P oy!!!! inconvenient much?!

chocolate and whipped cream = awesomeness.

so, the past few days i've been wanting french silk pie like nothing else.
i was thinking about it one day, and suddenly i couldn't stop thinking about it.
one of my favorite uncles brings french silk pie from baker's square to every christmas and easter; that's how it's become my favorite, and even been introduced into my life.
ah.
:)
before today, i had never gotten around to making it.
but this afternoon . . . mhmmm, i decided; after i cooked up the sweet/buttery carrots and had a pesto-chicken-lettuce wrap for dinner [with dad, anna, caleb and rach; along with some epic, hilarious conversation about the future] . . .

i made this crust from betty crocker:

for pastry:

1 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon shortening / or butter

2 to 3 tablespoons cold water

i made the filling from this recipe, by jenna at eat, live, run but a side note –i doubled it, because she makes it halfway full…i prefer full pies:

for filling:

2 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 stick butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

my favorite part of making this? 

eh....making the crust dough flat and spread out by my floury hands was really fun because i couldn't for the life of me find our rolling pin. :P 

and....the final stage of whipping the filling. oh my, that part is beautiful to watch. :) 

rach insisted on taking pictures of me . . . the person so psyched to make the dessert she was telling everyone about as something that 'you know where that goes...' because of the calories. lol.

though...i may have whipped the whipping cream just a wee bit past the perfection mark....

i have a feeling it'll taste fine. ;) juuuust fine. :) :)

see? good but not perfect. :)

who else loves french silk pie?

if it's not in your top favorite desserts, what is your list made up of??

oh hi strangers. here's some grassy pictures for ya...

so, june 5 i sat out on the front lawn and read. i do believe this was the day that i was reading james 2.

where's your favorite place to read?
mine are......the front lawn, in bed, on the back yard swing.....
i'm quite tempted to blog the next day's pictures in the folder: a thursday of swing dancing, obviously; but dinner with a blueberry muffin first.
a beautiful evening, right? heck yes. ;)

sap and sun and shadows and perfect weather. lol.

have i said lately how much i love the taste of coffee?
and the color of the sky no matter what season it is.
and the feeling of being able to sit under the shade of a mature maple on the most perfect day of the week so far.
my leather amplified bible in front of me on the grass, open to the book of james.
sunshine. layers and branches full of leaves glowing with it.
and the feel of getting up from grass you thought was dry, that feeling of everything being damp. lol.
like childhood. i don't sit on the grass very much anymore.
bugs. chairs are better. the ground is . . . not as convenient.
just . . . i don't do it much.
but ah, the feeling of this afternoon . . .
crazy beautiful weather, the gift of coffee ;), a breeze whispering over pages [like james 2], and laughing over all sorts of random stuff that comes up when i'm talking to justin on the phone. discussing some verses that stunned me. like this one. and why or why not people talk about it, preach on it.
i rambled about something odd that if i told it to anyone else, they would give me that look. the one that says heh, beka....you're crazy. just kiiiiinda weird....
and i am.
but i'm just thankful that some people [ahem, very few, very rare] accept and even appreciate --gasp! even love?-- the fact that i am . . . me. 
i just feel so lucky it's him.
some days really suck to be long distance. actually, all days do. and as time goes on and we get closer, talk about and open up about different stuff and dream all over the place with hopes and logic combined, it really hurts some days to be apart. to have only the phone and sometimes, once in a while, skype to connect us between the one weekend a month-ish that works out to see each other in person.
[take yesterday for example. a perfectly good day. everything was going great. no huge drama or anything. but inside? inside i could. not. stop. missing. him. i'm not usually so melancholy at every turn as i was yesterday. so.....i'm super thankful for today. a lot more free, positive mood. still miss him, but it's not horrible at the moment. lol.]

then again . . . there are some days, you're just so thankful for the utter blessing of someone who truly loves you, and takes you on your good, bad, weird, freak-out, lazy, fantastic, and horrible days. and vice versa. [obviously, i'm no where near perfect:P]
and that's when you find yourself laughing at jokes and teases as you ignore the fact that there are bugs in the grass all around you and there are a lot of things yet to fall into place in this time before that blessed day, but still . . . you just know that it'll all be perfectly wonderful in the end. [reminds me of that joy set before you scripture. so much hope, even though we may go through so many trials on the way to it!]
really tough at times, but then that's life.
and the tough times will be okay because we'll be together and God is always with us. and He knows all that's in store. how we're going to draw closer to Him through it all, as our lives are washed with His grace.
through the valleys and the storms.
through dashed hopes and fulfilled hopes.
through conflict and peace and every.single.bit.of.it.

 ~~~

wow. a post without pictures.
yes. i survived and posted without pictures.
so.....here we go. i need to figure out what i want to do about that storage issue. thanks to all you who put in their two cents of how you do it! :)

muffins. oh my.

so . . . my sister works as a hostess [and part-time baker] at a fine dining restaurant.
she worked this morning, because as it turns out, tons of people loved the idea of taking their mumsies out to brunch for mother's day. ;)
she brought home a few things . . .
such as lemon poppyseed muffins, and blueberry muffins.
divine.
so i poured myself a cup of coffee and may or may not have had two of each kind.
they're my top two favorite kinds of muffins.
only wish i could've shared. ;)

hope you all had a beautiful mother's day, loving on your/a mother, being one, or something awesome like that. :)