Making Room: Our Life in Sicily

hello blog and hello baby!

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 22:26:00 +0000

Well, surprise! I announced on Friday that I would be launching my new blog today, but little did I know I would also have a new baby by today! I wrote that blog post around 2pm on Friday, got a call at 4pm from my OB that I needed to be induced, and by 7:15 I was in the hospital watching Pitocin drip down an IV and into my arm. Our son was born about 4.5 hours later, healthy and hearty and crying oh so lustily!

Anyway, there is obviously so much more to say, but from now on I'm excited to announce that I'll be saying it on my new blog: BeccaGarber.com. I have lots of photos, the promised giveaway, and more details about our baby's birth and name to share later this week.

Please update your Google Reader with my new blog address and join me over at the new Making Room blog!

new blog launching on Monday!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 13:02:00 +0000

Completely unrelated photo of my sister Emily with little one-month-old Lena...
because I can't stop looking at baby photos these days!

Well, my friends, the day is almost here! As I mentioned in my Goals for 2013 blog post, I have been working hard to build a new website up on a self-hosted Wordpress site. Finally I think I'm ready to reveal this little baby of mine to the public eye... and have chosen Monday to be the day. Good news for you: the blog launch will also come with a wonderful, very Italian giveaway. Thank you for being such faithful, thoughtful readers! I'm so excited for this new step!

***

P.S. What about the other baby, you say, the baby in my belly? Sadly, no baby news! I'm 39 weeks and 2 days today. I hope there will be an announcement about a newborn in our arms very soon!

customized board books for your baby

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:55:00 +0000

I've been eying these customized photo books from Pinhole Press for awhile. Plug in photos of family and friends, press "order," and in no time flat you'll have a way to enjoy the faces of loved ones with your baby. Especially since we live in Sicily and Lena's entire extended family lives in Virginia, this seemed like a wonderful way to help her remember their names and faces.

However, as with most things in life that cost money, I just looked. I did not do.

And then what should my mother-in-law get Lena for Christmas but a customized photo book! It came from a company called Pint Size Productions. After browsing around, I really like Pint Size because it's much more customizable and they also offer many more book options. I'll be going to them with any future board book orders, I think.

Lena's Marmee (which sounds like "Mommy" when she says it these days) put together a beautiful book with all Lena's aunts and uncles from Elliott's side of the family. She loves it! Below is a little video I took of Elliott and Lena reading it together on the night she received the book. Makes me want to make one for my side of the family!

Have you ever made a customized photo book? Or a board book? What's your favorite online resource/company to use?

***

P.S. This is not a sponsored post.

The day when I am actually cool enough to have a sponsor, I might dance a little jig and post a video of that!

3 "holiday" desserts you should make year round

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:33:00 +0000

It really is a shame that some of the very best treats and sweets are intended for just one month of the year! The reality is, though, that many of these delicious goodies can be made for other occasions, especially for ones that involve red and white (like Valentine's Day, which is just around the corner). Here are a few suggestions from my holiday list of favorites...

... and then it's your turn! What are your favorite "holiday" desserts that you can (and do!) make even in the spring or heat of summer?

{pictured above}

Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies

Original recipe from my friend Joy. These cookies are amazing.

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
12 large candy canes or 6 oz. peppermints crushed into pieces (make sure not to crush too much or it will become powdery)
1 (12 oz.) bag white chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Add eggs and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla, beating until blended.

Combine flour, baking soda, cocoa, and salt in a small bowl; gradually add to butter mixture, beating just until blended.

Beat in candy canes and white chocolate chips just until combined.

Drop using a 2 tbsp. scoop onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake 10-14 minutes. I bake them 12 minutes.

Remove to wire racks and cool completely (about 15 minutes).

Mini Cheesecake Petit-Fours

Original recipe from paper{whites}.

Makes 24 petit-fours.

Ingredients

1 8-oz. 'brick' of cream cheese, at room temperature
1 egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
6 double squares of graham crackers, roughly broken up
1 can cherry pie filling

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line mini muffin tins with liners.
Place graham cracker pieces in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until they break down into fine crumbs. Melt butter in a medium-sized, microwave safe bowl and add the crumbs to the melted butter. Mix until well combined.
Using a 1/2 teaspoon, spoon the mixture into the lined muffin tins and use your fingers to press lightly to mold them into the bottom and sides of the tins to form a crust.
Mix the cream cheese with the sugar until silky smooth (get rid of all the lumps!). Add vanilla, and then the eggs, one at a time. Scrap down the sides of the bowl as you mix.
Using a teaspoon, spoon the cream cheese mixture into the muffin tins to about 2/3 full.
Bake for 10-12 minutes and cool in tins for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before refrigerating at least 2 hours. (Note: when you pull the petit-fours out of the oven, they'll look underdone, but they'll firm up as you let them cool.)
Immediately prior to serving, top each petit-four with a cherry.

Caramel Pecan Shortbread Pie Bars

Original recipe from ButterBaking.com

Makes 48 small squares, or 24 larger bars.

Ingredients

For the base

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 cups flour (+ 1–2 tbsp)

For the topping

2 cups of pecan halves, roasted
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup honey
2 tbsp cream
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F) and line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with baking paper.
To make the shortbread base:

Cream the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Add the flour and mix on a low speed until a crumbly mixture forms. If it is too sticky, add a couple more tablespoons of flour. It should be crumbly but stick together when pressed.
Press the shortbread into the base of the prepared baking pan. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes until the top is dry and slightly puffed.

While the crust is baking, make the topping.

In a medium saucepan, melt together the butter, brown sugar, honey, cream and salt over a medium heat.
Bring it to a simmer and let it bubble for about 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Mix in the pecans and vanilla.

Pour the pecan caramel mixture over the hot shortbread base and spread out the pecans as evenly as possible.
Bake for about 12 – 15 minutes, until evenly bubbling all over.
Allow to cool completely before cutting.

girls' getaway to Taormina

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 14:43:00 +0000

Welcome back from MLK Day weekend, everyone! Hope you kicked back, relaxed, and enjoyed the weekend wherever you are. We laid very low here at home other than a couple of hikes into the valley and some evenings with friends. And we twiddled our thumbs and waited for this baby to come, but... he's staying put for now. Oh well!

I've been wanting to share these photos with you from now two weekends ago. It all started when I woke up on Saturday morning and saw an email from my friend Emily, who was on her way to Florence with her family and wanted advice about flying with a runny-nosed toddler.

I turned to Elliott and sighed, "We don't travel anymore! We used to go somewhere every few weeks but now we just stay at home. Which is fine with a baby due any day, but... I miss it."

"Well," replied my husband, with a twinkle in his eye, "what if I told you that you were going on a trip today? That your friends are whisking you away for a girls' weekend in Taormina? That you are going to spend the whole day shopping and eating in nice restaurants and getting a massage at a spa... and that you're staying overnight in a hotel there, too?"

Umm... whaaaat?!

But he wasn't kidding! My friend Bethany had secretly arranged to take her two pregnant friends--me and Becca Arthur--to Taormina for a little last getaway before both our babies are born. (Becca is due in May with her fourth child, a girl!) Bethany had arranged the whole agenda herself and would be picking me up in about 2 hours. Time to pack my bags!

We spent the whole day just as Elliott had promised: wandering around the beautiful Sicilian town of Taormina (which I have blogged about before here and here), eating delicious food, and browsing through stores that we would never enter with our rambunctious toddlers! It was a beautiful gift of a day with two dear friends.

We shopped for pottery in our favorite artist's studio.

Fruit made entirely out of marzipan! Better to look than to eat.

I love these hand-painted tiles for each profession! I am "la mamma," Elliott is "il veterinario."

Mini cannolo with pistachio cream.

Cool design idea: display your wine bottles on old roof tiles.

Sicilian ceramics.

Becca and me at lunch in a lovely little restaurant overlooking the water.

Later we ate granite at our favorite little shop. We chose mandarin and raspberry. So fresh and fruity!

The photos ceased after this as we left Taormina to drive to our hotel, where we relaxed that evening and all got amazing massages. Later we went out for dinner, but unfortunately at this point I was starting to feel ill. I had no idea why, but then around 1am I woke up and made a beeline for the bathroom to upchuck. Sadly for me, the stomach virus (which has been ravaging our whole community these past few weeks) appeared to have struck at the worst possible time! I took this photo from bed in our hotel room the next morning as I tried to keep a cup of tea down and read a book while Bethany and Becca enjoyed breakfast downstairs.

Bethany got a call from her husband that morning and learned that her own two boys were also losing their breakfast from the same bug! Oh well... it was home and into survival mode for our two houses for the next couple of days. An adventurous end to a relaxing weekend! Thankfully it didn't dampen the spirits or mar the memories for me.

Thank you so much, Bethany, for arranging such a fun weekend for us!

searching for bugs

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:45:00 +0000

Elliott has a four-day weekend starting today (hip hip hooray!), and so we decided to kick it off with a hike down into the valley below our house. Lena is lately obsessed with bugs, which you might remember from a recent post about our walk to the orange groves. Here's a little video that I took of her searching for bugs while Elliott and I relax on the picnic blanket with our books.

And yes, it's chilly here! Clear and cold, a perfect day for blogging by the fire with some hot chocolate after a beautiful hike. Of course I also have a huge pre-baby to-do list, so it won't be all relaxing around here this weekend!

What are your plans for the weekend?

itchy feet, baby kicks, and still waiting

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:38:00 +0000

Back in the day: 2-week-old Lena. *cue heart melting*

Well, based on some excitement this morning, we thought today might be the day that our little boy would be born!

But it wasn't. I'm still pregnant.

It all started last night when I yanked off my slippers and told Elliott, "My feet are so itchy. Why is that? So weird." That night the itching continued and even got worse. The soles of my feet and my hands both itched, at times so much that I couldn't sleep.

When we Googled these symptoms in the morning, we learned that they are related to cholestasis of pregnancy, a condition in which bile flow from the liver slows or stops. "Cholestasis of pregnancy," says the Mayo Clinic, "poses no long-term risk to the mother. Cholestasis of pregnancy can be dangerous for a developing baby, however. Early delivery is usually recommended."

Ummm... yikes!

And when I called my OB, she thought so too. We spent the morning at the hospital for a non-stress test, amniocentesis fluid level test, and several labs. The results of all of those so far show a happy, healthy, kickin' away baby who has plenty of resources in there to keep hanging out for awhile and no apparent distress. They sent us home, all smiles, and told us to come back if the itching got much worse.

So no baby today. And thank the Lord, frankly! When I got off the phone this morning and we knew we had to go in to the hospital (and might come back with a baby), I looked around the house and felt bubbling concern. I'm not ready to have a baby! There is still so much to do! I have to organize his clothes in his room, I have to put our files in order, I have to clean the kitchen. I still haven't packed my hospital bag or frozen a single meal!

"And," I said to Elliott. "It's January 17th! I don't want to have a baby on January 17th!"

"Why not?" Elliott said, unperturbed by the possible new birthdate of our baby. "Let's see, one-seventeen-thirteen... that adds up to 31. 31 flavors of ice cream. It would be a good birthday."

Thank you, honey.

So not today. A little more time to prepare. A little more time to look at the mess in my house instead of look down at a little bundle in my arms. A little more time to plug through a to-do list (which will be just as long when the baby comes anyway). A little more time to realize I am worrying about the wrong things and to thank God that this--the timing, our health, our baby boy's birthday--is all in His hands.

Did you feel ready when your baby arrived? Or were you overdue and more than ready?

these final days

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 14:38:00 +0000

I had my 38-week appointment today for our little babe. Hard to believe he could arrive any day! The news from my doctor is that he doesn't look that ready to come out yet (can't blame him) and so we've probably got another two weeks to wait here... at least. Maybe three weeks. Maybe four.

Or maybe he'll come tomorrow.

In the meantime, life as it is has taken on a whole new meaning for me. These days are limited. Change is on the horizon.

What will he be like? Quiet and chill? Anxious and colicky? A good eater? A good sleeper? Mothers tell you they are so excited for their new babies--and they are!--but they are also full of apprehension about what this unknown creature will be like. In some ways a mother already knows her unborn child better than anyone, for he came into existence and has grown inside of her for nine months. Yet in most ways everything about him is a complete mystery.

My response to the unknown has been to worry, which is foolish, I know. Worrying will do me no good! But my other response has been to slooooow down and take a deep breath and savor. Life right now is not perfect by any means, but it is good and it is full of beauty. I want to treasure these days up in my heart, locking them away to ponder over and remember forever.

Most of all I want to remember my quiet days at home with Lena. Our days are fairly routine here: awake by 7-ish, breakfast at 8-ish, goodbye to Daddy at 9-ish, nap at 10, lunch at 12, another nap at 2 or 3, and dinner prep starts at 5. In between we go on walks around the neighborhood or I push her stroller into town for groceries. We bake cookies for Daddy. We sit on the rug and play with her puzzles, her baby doll, her blocks, her paper and crayons. We read books before her morning nap, before her afternoon nap, and sometimes in between, too. She occasionally helps me with cleaning, like turning the vacuum switch on for me or dusting side-by-side. We practice words. We dance. We change diapers, we change clothes, we wash diapers, we wash dishes, all day long.

In this world, my daughter is my constant companion, my chatty little shadow, my ever-present friend. When she is napping and I am putting together a blog post and I see a picture of her, I actually miss her. And she's only been asleep for 30 minutes! And I need the break! But I look at her--her huge blue eyes, her curling brown hair, her petite little hands, her beautiful little body--and cannot believe she is our daughter, and how pretty and sweet she is, and that she exists in this world and loves us more than anyone and calls me, "Mama."

As some of you know or remember, I've felt a great deal of emotional conflict about being a stay-at-home mom. As a result, I am spending a lot of my spare time trying to develop talents so that I can work from home. Yet in this past year I have also fallen in love with this new job of staying at home with my child. I wake up each morning and look forward to the day. (And that is saying something when you consider other things that have happened in our lives this past year.)

With a new baby due any day, I feel a great deal of apprehension about the changes ahead. Apprehension... excitement... thankfulness... and just a bit of fear. And that is why I savor my life as a mother just as it is right now, savor our quiet and uneventful days together, savor today.

Dutch babies + pigtail buns

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:24:00 +0000

Saturday morning usually means piping hot whole wheat pancakes (< they're so good that I'm proud of them even though they're not from scratch!). Every now and then, though, it's fun to try something new. I had seen a recipe for Dutch babies on one of my favorite blogs and decided to give it a try. I went to work with a very cheerful assistant.

Moments later we sat down to Dutch babies dusted with powdered sugar and sprinkled with lemon. Although I did like them, I'm not sure I'd repeat the topping combination, because the flavor of egg was too strong for me. I might prefer them with pure maple syrup, like we eat on our pancakes, or... Nutella and bananas?

Because everything is better with Nutella. Can I get an amen?

Dutch Babies

serves two
adapted from Elephantine

Ingredients

2 room-temperature eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sifted all-purpose flour
a pinch of ground nutmeg
a pinch of salt
2 Tbsp butter
Toppings

lemon slices
powdered sugar for dusting
jam
maple syrup
Nutella!

Directions

Place an oven-proof skillet (mine is 10") into your oven and heat to 425˚F.
In a medium bowl, beat eggs with a whisk until light and frothy. Add milk and stir. Gradually whisk in flour, nutmeg and salt.
Remove skillet from oven. Melt butter in the hot skillet, rotating to coat. Pour the batter into the skillet and return skillet to oven.
Bake until puffed and lightly browned, about 12 minutes.
Remove promptly, slice into quarters and squeeze lemon slices over the pieces, then sprinkle with powdered sugar.

life lately

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:58:00 +0000

I haven't shared bits and pieces of our life for awhile as captured on Instagram. It's always so much fun to go back through the images and remember all those random memories I captured spur-of-the-moment! Here some snapshots of the ordinary and the lovely in our home:

Enjoying her beautiful alphabet magnets from her grandparents.

I love the ferns and cyclamen in the window boxes in this beautiful house

& post-bath tickles

Everyone in this house loves our new blocks (thank you, Anthony and Laura!)

& goofy girl

Modeling a sweater knit by her Aunt Eden and a bonnet knit by me

& lovely afternoon light over our town

Hours of fun with this reusable sticker pad

& admiring our finished Advent calendar: a tree full of birds

at a restaurant in town, the chef working the stone pizza oven always lets kids make their own pizza

& tired wreath on a worn door in our town

our neighborhood (Vecchia Matrice) wishes you happy holidays

& putting baby Jesus in his manger from our nativity set

I'm trying to use this purse as much as possible before I need to go back to a diaper bag in a few weeks...

& got a little growing to do into the apron her Aunt Jess gave her

my big girl on a playground on base one morning after we took Daddy to work

stories and baby bumps in bed before naptime

& not sure what she thinks of Siena helping her color

first pair of big girl undies!

& her new favorite breakfast: Greek yogurt and Charlottesville Farmer's Market granola from Aunt Jess

sleepy kitty

& isn't she pretty when she smiles!

guest post: DIY bean bags on Imperfect Homemaking!

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 14:29:00 +0000

I'm so excited to announce my guest post on The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking! I've been reading Kelly's blog for awhile and love the easy-going style and helpful advice packed into every nook and cranny. It's a big honor to be sharing my own tutorial over there: how to whip up some bean bags.

Head on over and check out Imperfect Homemaking. I especially recommend her posts about 99 Ways to Simplify Life with Kids and her Homemaker's Cheat Sheet.

And then make some bean bags for your kids... or (if kids are still in your distant future) sew some up for an awesome game of cornhole!

New Year's Day in the orange groves

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 16:36:00 +0000

On New Year's Day we took a long hike down in the valley below our home. We were tired when we started out, discouraged from an argument, wearily determined to turn the tide for 2013. I hoped the blue-sky day and the outdoors would refresh our souls.

And, amazingly, that happened. I guess sometimes you don't know how soothing an afternoon will be to your soul. How quiet hours can reset you when you spend them lying in the grass and eating oranges... and talking or not talking... and just being still.

^ Lena has become especially attached to these shiny black beetles lately.

^ more bugs

^ 36 weeks pregnant, Lena's first orange of the day, and our town in the background on the cliff's edge

^ picking olives and clutching her prize

I love these photos because they capture a moment in our lives, a moment that will soon be past when our little boy arrives in just a few weeks. They also capture so much of what we enjoy right now, from the Sicilian oranges hanging from the branches to Lena's complete fascination with bugs to the hugeness of my belly to Lena's love to snuggle on top of us whenever we lie down.

They also capture my husband in so many ways as a father: the way he is completely at home in the outdoors, his playfulness with Lena, and the quiet way he encourages her to explore creation: to hold bugs, touch amazing plants, pick olives straight from the trees, and sit peacefully in the grass watching bees buzz from flower to flower.

Our lives are so complex. Yes, there is eager anticipation. Yes, there is crippling sorrow. And always there is deep, abiding joy.

links I love

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:33:00 +0000

Last week we took a hike down into the valley below our house and walked until we found the orange groves. We bit into oranges, collapsed into grasses, and spent several hours chasing bugs and photographing bees. Here's one photo from that day; I'll share more soon!

In the meantime, here are a few links I love:

Such a beautiful remix... with butter containers.

And then same song, different girls. Equally beautiful.

The best cinnamon rolls you'll ever have.

Cutest pregnant belly series ever... and set to music.

Seven sustainable fish.

New blog crush (and not just because she lives in a tiny apartment like we did as newlyweds).

Read this book if you like crafts and kids.

Hilarious article about 17 things your flight attendant won't tell you.

"Vow to do less, not more" as you make your New Year's resolutions.

Elliott can't wait to get one of these for Lena!

We ate here with some friends recently and it was amazing. I want to go back and stay for a few days when it's warmer.

A list of books every child should read.

Have you made any great finds online recently?

a tasty sip :: Pom & sparkling water

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:04:00 +0000

While searching for foodie inspiration for the vet clinic Christmas party at our house a few weeks ago, I came across this delicious signature cocktail. Inspired, I bought pomegranate juice and some Prosecco, and then I also bought sparkling water for the pregnant girl (ie. me).

I gave the combination a try at the party and was totally hooked! The sparkling water and tart juice are a refreshing combination. It's like drinking a fruit soda but with all-natural sugar.

Want to try? It's pretty simple...

Gather sparkling water and either Pom or another juice. I tried this Blueberry-Pomegranate juice because it was less expensive, but it's too sweet for me. I like the tangy kick of pure pomegranate juice! (The price of Ocean Spray, however, is sweeter than the price of Pom.)

Thankfully, sparkling water is cheap in Italy; I bought this sparkling water for about 40 cents a bottle.

Pour yourself some sparkling water and then splash in juice to your taste. I guesstimate that I add 2-3 tablespoons of juice.

And that's all there is to it. Kick back and rehydrate with this refreshing mocktail!

my goals for 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 09:57:00 +0000

completely unrelated photo from a hike we took recently as a family

I wrote my 2013 goals down one morning when I couldn't get back to sleep, and Elliott and I have been talking about them since then. He helped me make some of them more realistic and then encouraged me to add others, so... we'll see what's realistic in the end!

Love Elliott and Lena and our Baby Boy.

When I asked Elliott what his goals were for 2013, the first thing he said was, "Love you and Lena." This was humbling to me, as I was going to start with War and Peace. Reality check. Loving my best friend and my dear daughter (and my new son in just a few weeks!) is at the top of my list.

Finish War and Peace!

I got 1/3 of the way through it this year and then never went back to it. This year I will finish it!

Read at least 10 of these books.

On another book-related note, I went through lists online of "the books to read before you die" and "the best 100 novels" and came up with this list of ones I haven't read but have always wanted to. So my goal is to read at least 10 of these books:

100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Passage to India by E.M. Forester
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Confessions by St. Augustine
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Sell 50 handmade items either through craft fairs or through my Etsy shop.

Study Italian

Complete this Italian workbook as well as the two volumes of Pimsleur Italian audio series that we have owned since... oh, since we got here 18 months ago... Both Elliott and I thought that these goals were very manageable and would also seriously improve my Italian.

Learn more about and practice the manual settings on my camera.

I have got to do this. Where to even begin? Where to set goals? But at least this is a start.

Launch my blog on a new website.

I hinted at this development in my last post. This time my blog will be self-hosted, which means I will own all my own content and have more control than Blogger allows. Elliott has been encouraging me to do this for awhile and I just need to buckle down and get the website up and running! I am eager to share this with you sometime in the next few weeks. Wish me luck, as setting up and designing a blog is not my forte.

Publish a piece of writing (fiction or non-fiction) in a non-blog setting.

I have no idea what this will look like yet, so that's why it's a very vague goal! But it's a step in the right direction to improve my writing.

And then I made a separate list of all the things I want/need to do around home before the baby comes! You know, things like...

Replace the burned-out lightbulbs in bathroom
Clear out guest room (which is covered in bags of baby clothing and organizational bins)
Replace the old shower curtain
Repair my jeans
Start a recipe binder
Get the car cleaned
Wash car seat cover and install the car seat in the car
~~Get new vacuum cleaner and sell/trash old ones~~ done!
Throw out unused/mismatched plastic containers in kitchen to make room for the new ones on their way from Amazon
Restack linens in the linen closet
And more... but I won't bore you!

Some of these things will take me 10 minutes or less but they must be done for my sanity. Since Lena is napping, I have 10 minutes right now. Gonna go work on that list!

What are your goals for 2013? Inspire me!

my 2012 goals in review

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 11:31:00 +0000

image from a guest post I did for The Book of Love

Thanks to publishing my 2012 goals on my blog last year, they were on my mind a lot this year. And how did they go? Let's review. I wanted to:

Sell 100 things in my Etsy store.

This actually kind of happened, thanks to the craft fair in December! I didn't really think I'd get anywhere near 100 items, but I at least got closer to it than I expected. I'll update with an exact tally soon (my paperwork is in the same room where Lena is napping!) because I want to know the final number myself.

Update: I sold 58 items total... most of them fingerless gloves. I am excited to see that number but I still fell short of my goal. I've revised the number from 100 items to 50 items for 2013 and would like to surpass it this time!

Study Italian for 30 min each day.

Oh this was a total flop. I think I actually sat down and cracked open books for about 30 minutes total this year. Never fear, this goal will be revised and updated for 2013.

Do Bible study each day with Elliott.

Bible study happened almost every day. Elliott and I are days away from finishing the Read Through the Bible Program for Slackers and Shirkers for the second time in our marriage and are ready to move on to another Bible reading program for awhile. We're thinking of using Tabletalk Magazine to guide our daily devotions together, but no decisions just yet.

Read a book a week for a total of 52 books this year.

OK, I'll be honest: I was very worried about whether or not I could accomplish this goal. For awhile there in July after Julia died I kind of stopped reading at all and so it seemed like there was no way I could finish it. However, a couple of quiet months at the end of the year allowed me to catch up, and as of Dec 31st I read 54 books this year! I am working on a post about my 5 favorites that I read in 2012. I'm going to fine-tune this goal for 2013, as I am definitely a big fan of setting book-reading goals now. Be my friend on GoodReads to keep up with your own reading and set a book goal for yourself!

Eat and grocery shop locally.

Yep, definitely ate and shopped locally in 2012, although this is mostly for fresh food (vegetables, fruits, and fish); I still do most of my non-perishable shopping at the commissary on base. I shop locally during my weekly market shopping trips and by visiting the old man's general store in our town's piazza. As for eating out, though, we eat most of our meals at home and only eat at restaurants perhaps once every two weeks or so. With another baby on the way, I think we won't be dining out very often this coming year either! That's okay; it's a stage of life.

Take some cooking classes and learn several Sicilian dishes.

I took a grand total of one cooking class last year and it was all about Thai food! Oh well. I have learned some more Sicilian dishes, though, mostly by word of mouth and observation. My hands-down favorite so far is Sicilian Blood Orange Salad.

Travel around Italy and Europe.

We did travel a lot around Italy and Europe! We visited:

Rome and the Balkans in January
Agrigento, Sicily, in February
France for a ski trip in March
Malta in April
Northern Italy, San Marino, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Lietchenstein on an epic road trip in May
Virginia in June
Crete in July
Naples, the Amalfi Coast, and then later the Dolomite Mountains in August
Noto, Sicily, and back to Virginia in September
Mt Etna in October
Cinque Terre in November
... and IKEA in December (because that place is a country all of its own)

Be a more compassionate wife to Elliott.

Well, this deserves an individual post, but one big thing I have learned is to actually listen to my husband. He often throws out suggestions like, "I wish you would try different styles in Lena's hair," or "I read this article about Greek islanders who live to be 100 and how they eat vegetarian food four times a week, fish twice a week, and meat once a week; could we do that?" A lot of times I'll hear these suggestions and say, "Hmm, that's a good idea. Maybe I'll do that." And then what happens? I forget he ever said it. One thing I tried to do this year was listen to what he said and then do it. It's revolutionary. And it makes for one very appreciative husband, too.

Teach and love Lena.

Teach and love Lena... that happened automatically because she needed to be taught and because she is so loveable! But I had a lot of fun this year watching her learn to walk, cooking with her every day, and now teaching her the alphabet.

Get better at this blogging thing!

Talk about subjective, right? But I have been encouraged by improvements in my blogging, both in my own knowledge of the online world and blog design as well as seeing a growing community of friends in the blogosphere. Next year holds some exciting improvements for this blog, the biggest of which I hope to be revealing this month!

Did you make any goals for 2012? Do you feel like you accomplished them? Looks like my successes were about on par with my flops.

I'll be back tomorrow with my goals for 2013!

not ready to say goodbye yet

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 17:55:00 +0000

on a hike near our home in Sicily in early January 2012

I've attempted to write this post several times and it just isn't flowing out of me. "Goodbye 2012, you were great! Bring it on, 2013!" That is anything but what I feel right now. When you stare at your computer screen, attempting to write, and then end up sobbing in bed instead, you know there's no joy in your heart about sweeping out the old and welcoming the new.

How do you say goodbye to a year in which your baby sister died? How do you make yourself look forward? How do you celebrate what a new year could bring when this last year brought such sadness and loss?

The tears were mostly caused by looking back through old photos and videos. I was trying to find a photo from a year ago that I could use in my post, but this search led me to albums of images from the trip my family and I took to the Balkans last year. I found a video of Dec 31, 2011, when we were exploring Zagreb, Croatia. It was just a simple clip on my iPhone, but it included a scene--such an ordinary scene!--with Elliott and Julia standing side-by-side and taking pictures of my parents with Zagreb behind them. At the end of the video, Julia walked forward to show my parents the picture she'd just taken on my dad's phone. Everything about that moment was so ordinary, so familiar: the way she walked, the shape of her hands, the expression on her face as she glanced at me to see if I was done filming before she started talking. She was so real in those few seconds, so present, so alive.

I guess I haven't watched any videos of her since she died; maybe that's what shook me up so much. Or maybe I am so busy a lot of the time that I just don't think about it. Unexpected moments like this take me back to Square 1 of grief again.

And so... I don't know. Sometimes I think I'm still in the denial stage of grief. (Actually, what I really think is that you go through all the stages multiple times... probably for the rest of your life.) And so, on this New Year's Day, I hold many different emotions in my heart. Sadness as well as joy. Sorrow as well as hope. Disappointment as well as thankfulness. Anguish as well as peace.

I often go back and read this letter from my dad, which reminds me of truths I confess, truths about Julia, truths about life even when the night is very dark. Truths that give me joy, hope, thankfulness, and peace, even in the midst of sorrow.

This will be, I do hope, a beautiful year for our family. We will be welcoming a new baby in about 4 weeks! We will be making important decisions about Elliott's career, our life after Sicily, and the future for our family. I also have a lot of personal goals and hopes, which I'm eager to share with you soon. Even this blog will see some exciting changes. We have good reason to be hopeful, thankful, and faithful.

And yet... there is this fear that instead of respite from turmoil and sadness, I may in fact experience more turmoil and sadness, or worse. I wonder if I was just living in a happy bubble before Julia died and now I really know "the truth." The truth that most of life is sorrow, that the peaceful times are the exception, and that sadness and suffering is the rule. It's a rather bleak picture, but perhaps it's a more accurate way to view this life. What do you think?

practicing what I preach :: toy library

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 10:43:00 +0000

Old-time readers of my blog will know that I love the book Simplicity Parenting; I wrote a book review about it for the blog almost a year ago. In one section of the book the author suggests starting a toy library. Try putting out only a few toys at at time for your child to play with and then switching up the available toys every few weeks or so.

Well, I've been trying to incorporate this idea into my parenting for awhile now, and anyone will tell you that I've been less than faithful. However, on Christmas Eve night, as I crawled around the floor on my hands and knees tidying up Lena's toys (as I do every evening... and after every nap... and after we leave one room for another...), my husband shook his head and said, "What about that toy library, honey?"

I looked at the present Lena had just opened and the pile of presents to be opened ~~tomorrow~~ over the next several days and agreed with him. I dumped out her toy basket and removed everything except a relatively new alphabet puzzle and the gift she had just opened. Everything else went into her toy library bin. Many of the smaller items had to be organized into Ziploc bags.

(Do you see that white garbage bag under all these toys? That is full of infant toys, which I'll be breaking out at the end of January for our new baby! And so the toy multiplication continues....)

The blue bin went back up on her closet, to be taken down again in a couple weeks, when Christmas toys will be put away and old favorites will be pulled out again.

By the time I was finished (not even 15 minutes later), all that remained in her toy basket was the puzzle, a few balls, and her new baby doll and accessories. Oh, and the box the baby came in, which I think makes a nice little cradle. Simplicity parenting, right?!

Have you ever done something like this for your kids? Or would you like to when you have some? :-)

Christmas morning!

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 13:25:00 +0000

Puuuuuullll off that wrapping paper!

Oh Christmas morning in Sicily, I hope you are the start of our family Christmas tradition! It was a quiet, peaceful morning for the three of us as we opened a few gifts at a time (still haven't opened all of them!) and ate a big Christmas breakfast together. Although we kept our gift-giving very simple for each other, our family showered us with many thoughtful presents from afar, and their evident love for us made them seem not so far away. While we loved our Christmas as a little family here in Sicily, we would have given it up in a heartbeat to share our Christmas morning with them!

Later that day we changed out of our pajamas for a Christmas party with friends at Emily and Patrick's... and then of course as soon as we got home the pajamas went right back on and Elliott started a fire in the hearth. We finished the evening with Skype chats with our family.

One thing I couldn't forget all day: last year my family was here for Christmas. I tried to hold Christmas Past (which included my sister Julia) hand-in-hand with Christmas Present, carrying with me the blessings as well as the aches. There is so much to be thankful for this year, truly, and even more to look forward to both in this coming year and into the future.

Did you come up with any new rituals or celebrations this year that you hope become traditions? I'm not sure what I think of spreading out the gift opening over four days...! Have you ever done that?

Christmas Eve brunch at our home

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 15:19:00 +0000

Buncha munchkins, aren't they?!

We have a huge farmhouse table in our kitchen, a wonderful bonus that came with our house here in Sicily. I love to fill it up with guests as often as seems feasible; the table is just so empty (and such a good collector of odds and ends!) when there are just three of us eating at it all the time.

For Christmas Eve, we invited our dear friends the Arthurs and a family we don't know as well to come over for brunch. All of us contributed family traditions to the Christmas meal: Monte Cristo bake from Jaime, sausage and egg casserole from Becca, and these cinnamon rolls from me. With fruit skewers, fresh bacon, juices, hot wassail, and big cups of coffee, we feasted!

All the kids clearly loved being together from that first cup of juice to the last minute of The Muppet Christmas Carol (which they are waiting for in the photo above). Meanwhile we adults spent hours around the table, nibbling on just one more delicious bite and exchanging life stories, travel wisdom, and how to acquire Polish pottery for the best price (Jaime and I are great lovers of this pottery!).

The truth is that if we were living back in the States, all of us would probably have spent Christmas Eve and/or Christmas Day at our parents' homes. This long and leisurely brunch make "home" seem not so far away, which I think is always true whenever you make someone your favorite dish, join hands with them in prayer, and linger long at their table.

Were you away from family this Christmas? What did you do to make it memorable? With one more Christmas ahead of us here in Sicily away from family, I'm eager to hear suggestions!

our book tree + Christmas cheer!

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 13:38:00 +0000

our book tree!

now with presents... all we need is Christmas morning

Merry Christmas, dear readers! I've been wanting to share our holiday decor with you for awhile, but... well, until a few days ago we didn't have a tree at all, so that would have been a bit of a bust. The other afternoon, though, I had an extra hour and decided to surprise Elliott when he came home with another book tree. We made our first one last year and loved it, as there is no better tree for budget-conscious nerds like us. (It also completely eliminates the "are we fake tree people or real tree people??" debate.) This year our tree is elevated out of the reach of little hands on my craft table, and it has made that dark corner of the living room come alive.

(By the way, I scored the cute vintage mitten wrapping paper and the retro stripe paper from IKEA earlier this week. So pretty!)

And, of course, there are the other holiday decorations for our home, like garlands on the bannisters and bows on the door (although I loved our red ones last year even more than these glittery gold bows). I also love displaying my grandmother's gift to us: a tiny little tree from Switzerland with its precious wooden ornaments.

I will tell you that I had another tree first. It was quite beautiful and creative, and I was pleased today when Martha Stewart's Organizing Tip of the Day email had the same idea. I took two medium-sized tree branches, spray-painted them gold, and put them in a glass vase. I then carefully hung all our beautiful handmade ornaments (again, thank you, Grammie, for your gift of a handmade ornament every year of my life!) on the branches as well as two beautiful glass ball ornaments that Elliott and I had purchased soon after we got married.

Unfortunately it was a little top heavy, I guess. It fell over. The casualty? One of those newlywed glass ornaments smashed into a million pieces! I dismantled the tree and took the branches out to the trash heap. Sorry, honey, I have a long way to go before I'm Martha!

IKEA thru Instagram

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 11:05:00 +0000

Around here it seems like people make their IKEA shopping lists over the course of a month or two before braving the store to stock up. My friend Becca and I were in that boat, needing storage bins, holiday wrapping paper, potted ivy plants, plastic kids' dishes, etc. Earlier this week we joined forces and took off for the endless, winding halls of IKEA, kids in tow.

You know you love IKEA when your kids start playing with amazing toys

as soon as they walk through the door.

On the right: Lucas prepares a meal for Lena as she patiently waits.

(Of course in reality this scene lasted for about 0.4 seconds, or however long it takes my phone to snap a picture.)

Ah, the toy section, where both parents and kids can spend ever so long.

The ice cream machine in the cafeteria is a huge highlight of the trip.

Anticipation... and joy!

(And the perfect t-shirt.)

Beautiful Christmas decorations, IKEA. You win.

There's a happy face!

(I actually don't think she's ever had her own ice cone before... and she would not share with her mama.)

And there's a tired one.

Time to roll out.

N.B. My husband thought I should inform you that this is not a sponsored post by IKEA or Instagram.
#inmydreams

pregnancy survival guide

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 13:00:00 +0000

This pregnancy has been a different ball game than my pregnancy with Lena. Let me paint a picture for you of how my third trimester was last time:

Husband is deployed
My foot is broken
I cannot work because of said broken foot (I am an ICU nurse)
I am stuck inside in January, and February, and March
I am very miserable

Honestly I don't know how those last few months of my pregnancy with Lena even happened. They are a blur now. Thanks to good friends and a wonderful church and living near my family, I was very well cared for, but I was very, very glad when those months were over and I had a beautiful baby in my arms!

This pregnancy has been sooo different. I have a husband at home to take care of me and worry over me. (He took care of me and worried over me last time, too, but from Egypt, so it was ~~a little~~ completely different.) I don't have any broken bones... yet. I work hard, but my job description has changed to include mothering a toddler, running a home in a foreign country, and managing my knitting and sewing venture. I am not stuck inside, but I do spend a lot of my time inside, and that will explain a lot of the things on my list!

Here are a few things I've loved this pregnancy:

1. Cute jeans. I love my jeans, which were a gift from my mom and have helped me feel stylish throughout both my pregnancies. These jeans are a cut above Old Navy brand but not as pricey as Citizens or Sevens. (Save that splurging for the many, many months of your life when you're not pregnant!)

2. Knitting. You all know I love it! This season I have been so content to sit and knit in the evenings or occasionally even while Lena is playing during the day. The slide and click of my knitting needles is relaxing, and so is the feeling of productivity as I create beautiful things. Image via here.

3. Oranges! They are in season in Sicily and they are delicious. Lena and I eat multiple oranges a day. She is learning to peel mandarin oranges all by herself. I love to watch her quietly as she furrows her brow in concentration and delicately peels off the skin. Image via here.

4. Warm, caffeine-free drinks. I am sipping this Mighty Leaf tea right now. I tasted this brand for the first time in a spa before a pregnancy massage two years ago and have been hooked ever since. During these cold days I also love my decaff coffee every morning (with plenty of cream and sugar) and often enjoy a mug of spiced cider in the evenings. I make my own (recipe here!), store the jug in the fridge, and heat up a cupful whenever I'm ready for a warm treat.

5. IKEA stacking toy. I bought it on a whim at IKEA a few months ago and it has amused Lena for hours. I had no idea she would love it so much, but wow... I am so grateful! It's teaching her important motor skills on the living room rug while I run around getting dinner ready. Now we're giving her this toy for Christmas... partly because all the reviews say it kept their kids entertained for so long!

6. Slippers. Our Italian house is cold during the winter and the floors are the coldest part of all. You literally cannot walk on them in socks because the chill seeps right through socks and into your bones. My sister Emily and sister-in-law Jess (who are best buds... how cool is that?) bought me these slippers last year and I literally wear them for about 8 hours every. single. day. Thank you, girls, you really nailed that Christmas present.

7. Knee-high, flat-heeled leather boots. I bought a pair (not these, but they sure are gorgeous) a few years ago and wear them with dresses all winter long. Especially when you are pregnant, any dress will seem awfully short when your big belly hikes up the skirt in front! Knee-high boots add a little coverage, look so cute with a dress, and will be a staple from the first hint of fall till the green leaves pop out on the trees again.

8. This book has its quirks, as does the whole Bradley method, but I am so grateful for this manifesto for natural childbirth. I gave birth to Lena using this method and had a great experience, and so natural childbirth is my goal with this bambino too. I'll be re-reading a lot of my old materials in January in order to prep for labor, delivery, and the post-partum period... which is coming up so soon!

A few things not pictured:

Zantac. I have awful reflux this time around; it just feels like my stomach doesn't even have room for a snack sometimes. Popping one of these tiny over-the-counter pills kills the reflux in 30 minutes and makes me a much happier girl.
Nap time. Lena is still taking two naps a day most days and how I love them. Time to knit, read, blog, clean, bake, prep for dinner, or just sit still for a little while and pet the cat.
Body pillow. Elliott bought me this pillow during my last pregnancy and I just got it out of storage last week. I'm so glad I did; it makes sleeping at night so much more comfy! Thank you again, Elliott.

Any suggestions for things you or your loved ones enjoyed during pregnancy? I'm all ears!

holding them close.

noreply@blogger.com (Becca) — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 09:52:00 +0000

I have been moved to tears more than once over this past weekend after the events in Connecticut. I didn't use to be this way, but then I had Lena and lost my sister, and now it only takes a few words of a news article or interview to cause my eyes to well up with tears.

There just aren't any guarantees in this life, are there? You choose a small town in a state known for its decorum and law-abiding citizens. You settle down, have your long-awaited children, send them to a lovely elementary school, welcome them home each day. And then one morning you find yourself standing in the parking lot, watching children run out of the school, weeping, and you wait and you wait and you wait and your child never comes out.

Or you fall asleep on a quiet July Saturday night in Sicily, sleep through your sister driving down the highway, sleep through your sister overcorrecting, sleep through your sister hitting a tree, wake up to a phone call from your dad, and phone calls should never come at 4am. Never.

I read A Wrinkle in Time yesterday and my heart swelled with the family reunion at the end of the book:

Sandy suddenly yelled, "Father!"

Mr. Murry was running across the lawn, Mrs. Murry running toward him, and they were in each other's arms, and then there was a tremendous happy jumble of arms and legs and hugging, the older Murrys and Meg and Charles Wallace and the twins, and Calvin grinning by them until Meg reached out and pulled him in and Mrs. Murry gave him a special hug all of his own. They were talking and laughing all at once, where they were strartled by a crash, and Fortinbras, who could bear being left out of the happiness not one second longer, catapulted his sleek black body right through the screened door to the kitchen. He dashed across the lawn to join in the joy, and almost knocked them all over with the exuberance of his greeting.

Through the achings and the longings of this life, through the griefs and the sorrows, I am holding out in hope and awaiting with eagerness a reunion like this in Heaven, when Booie will come running across the Jordan and we'll all be together again, reaching for each other and falling down and laughing in the shallow water, reunited for all eternity in joy and peace, where there are no more tears and there is no more night, and all the light comes from Jesus.

Making Room: Our Life in Sicily

hello blog and hello baby!

new blog launching on Monday!!!

customized board books for your baby

3 "holiday" desserts you should make year round

girls' getaway to Taormina

searching for bugs

itchy feet, baby kicks, and still waiting

these final days

Dutch babies + pigtail buns

life lately

guest post: DIY bean bags on Imperfect Homemaking!

New Year's Day in the orange groves

links I love

a tasty sip :: Pom & sparkling water

top 5 books I read in 2012

my goals for 2013

my 2012 goals in review

not ready to say goodbye yet

practicing what I preach :: toy library

Christmas morning!

Christmas Eve brunch at our home

our book tree + Christmas cheer!

IKEA thru Instagram

pregnancy survival guide

holding them close.