The Percolator

Today's Coffee: Counterculture - Iridescent - pour over

2016-01-02T12:47:00.000-05:00

Enough with the promises of "I'll do better this year." I'm not a great blogger. I'm not great at stopping and collecting pictures and uploading them and then trying to have something witty and cute to say about our lives. What I can say though is that when something huge happens in our lives, I do feel enough guilt that I will sit down and write a post. And so, without further ado - something huge has happened to the Russells...

We have moved back to South Carolina! Thomas is now organist at First Presbyterian Church in Columbia. This is very exciting because we are now much much closer to our families! It was hard to say goodbye to the friends we made in Nashville, but we will stay in touch. The Lord has been good to us, giving us much more than we could ever deserve and we will continue to glorify His name.

It is hard to know what to type about in a blog. I never want to share too much info about our family, but I do want our friends and family to stay informed on the interesting aspects of our life... so I could talk about what it's like to have 3 kids. That's pretty amazing. I mean, Thomas and I are super tired all the time, drink coffee like fanatics, and have harmonized all the songs that you could possibly sing to children. I could talk about deciding to homeschool W this academic year through preschool. Maybe some insight to our coffee obsession and how it has transformed into a morning ritual (lasting many too many minutes) that we now rely on. Resolutions? How I want to read more, be more diligent about daily violin practice, or my desire to just be better in general? My kids and how W is almost 5 (?!?) years old, M is 2, and T is almost 9 months. How I already miss those funny little stone walls that were everywhere in Nashville, but how excited I am that in Columbia, you can buy wine in grocery stores?

Well, all those things are true. But I can't talk about them. Because I'm not a great blogger and I don't know how to expound upon those things. So, with that said, here's a picture of the kids from Christmas Eve:

And a couple of pics from earlier this year:

So, there it is. Hopefully I'll blog more. Guess we just have to wait for more exciting things to happen...?

In Christ,

Julie

Today's Coffee: no coffee currently

2014-10-27T14:08:00.000-04:00

Kids hanging out in the office.

This post is mostly pictures again. I haven't updated this since May so some of these are several months old. In other news, I am 14 weeks pregnant. Yes, Russell #3 will be making her (or his?) appearance in late April. We are very excited, but this has been truly the worst first trimester ever. I lost 13lbs but am finally coming out of it now. Still cannot stand coffee or the smell of it, but hopefully that will change soon as well. So, the blog posts won't be telling you what I'm drinking in the morning. It's a terrible ginger/mint tea. Supposed to help, maybe it does, maybe not.

Enjoy the pics.

My men about to cook for me.

Swings!

She loves this elmo toy!

More swings at the zoo!

When I mow the lawn, I do it in shapes. This is a spiral. I started in the middle of the yard and from certain vantage points it looked like a crop circle. (too many x-files!)

I was watching a beach wedding at Folly. I also sang all the wedding-appropriate songs since they didn't have music.

Our narwhal we built at the beach.

harvest of green beans and carrots from our garden

she loves camping!

since I haven't updated this since May, I never showed everyone her July 4th outfit!

This green dish had a mirror in the bottom of it and she would slowly lean over and get closer to it until she had fully lowered her head in it.

This is the most recent pic. That's a zamboni behind them.

at the Devil's Kitchen

Our little advocate for handbell choir!

Puppet shows!

M is doing a lot of standing and even took her first steps last week. (not holding anything)


This is just a cool picture. These are some of the guys from Fisk stomping on bad trombone pipes!

Ok, that's it for now. The never ending laundry cycle is calling my name. I'll try to be better about posting!

Julie

Today's Coffee: 2 French Presses of Jamaica Blue Mountain

2014-05-05T11:00:00.000-04:00

Pictures again. Few words.

W loves playing with M-girl. She loves him too!

Right after M-girl rolled over for the... 9th time.

At a friend's wedding - a bridesmaid and a groomsman/organist

I love these short stumpy goats at the zoo. I really think we need one as a pet. Bad idea?

Easter.

W and T camped in our backyard last week. Here is W wrestling one of the sleeping pads.

Our garden! Carrots, cucumbers, green beans, tomatoes, and peppers!

W and I walking in to church to work/teach last week. He brought his helicopter.

W saved up his quarters (from doing jobs around the house/yard) so that he could go see the dinosaur exhibit at the zoo. Well, he ended up with the $3 necessary to buy his ticket and we made it... maybe 4 dinos in before we came to the ones that sprayed water at you. W lost it and jumped in my arms. He was terrified.

A happy little girl!

W next to our peonies!

Anyways, that's just a glimpse.

OH!

I forgot - check out our church's new ministry:

Covenant Conservatory

Check out what T and I are doing at Covenant Pres. We're pretty excited about it.

In Christ,

Julie

Today's Coffee: Fair Trade something or other

2014-04-03T10:58:00.000-04:00

Believe it or not, I don't have a lot of time anymore!

So, here's a few pictures of our household over the past several months.

(Sorry I'm not more consistent!)

my guys - with monkeys in the background

early on saturday morning before a best friend's wedding. I was so excited about my hair, that yes, I took a picture and sent it to friends as proof.

M-girl was baptized in March. Here she is wearing a dress that was made for her by a sweet friend, with W, and Poppi.

Sometimes, M-girl is not always photogenic. This is one such instance. :)

Tummy time isn't a lot of fun. But, we gotta do it. Needless to say, she fell asleep on her tummy not 10 minutes later.

Sometimes she is just so cute! Look at the romper. THIS picture captures M-girl perfectly.

Skirts. I don't like wearing them - but goodness - look at a skirt on a baby girl. PRESH!
(and chunky legs)
(my heart melts)

garden is started

Uncle Matt came and visited! W loves him so much. Even as I type this, W is reminding me how he and Uncle Matt threw rocks in the creek.

Our little family on the Duck River off the Natchez Trace.

Today's Coffee: Fair Trade Medium Roast

2014-02-11T14:46:00.000-05:00

Hurry! My children are napping!

Write a blog post!

Ok, here we are. M-girl is 2 months old. Super healthy, gaining weight, wakes up once a night (occasionally)(she slept til 5am 4 nights in a row, now we are back to waking up every 3 hours). She is just beautiful, and is smiling so much these days. W is great with her - a little rough, but he's trying to be helpful.

W turns 3 at the end of this month! What?! I know, right?

There are days I don't feel old enough to be driving, let alone have children. So, there's that.

It is still cold here. Not snowing or anything, but cold, and mostly gray. Today it is sunny. Still cold though.

This is what it reminds me of:

**There is a cuss word at 1'04"**

I've started going to hot yoga several days a week. Loving it so far. Especially when it is in the teens outside, nothing like crankin' it up in a room heated to 100F.

Keeping M-girl warm and cozy in her carseat!

Thomas went to a conference in January, and I decided to re-do our guest room. We never liked the color so W, M-girl, and I went to Home Depot and chose a new color 'Down Pour'. We (mostly me, but W 'helped') painted the walls...

And I hung beautiful dark purple curtains, hung these pictures that Seth took, hung some decorative mirrors and bought this lamp. Needless to say, we love it.

I love my little kids! Who am I kidding? - Wilson is such a big boy!

We are currently doing some potty training work. And yes, it's work.

It's hard work.

In other news, we are going to be playing in BACHanalia - a 6 hour long concert of everything by many choirs and instrumental groups - all things Bach. :)

Look at this smile! My heart melts!

I've challenged myself to read a new book each month, and January (thru March) are The Lord of the Rings. I finished The Fellowship on Feb. 1 and am now reading The Two Towers.
Uhm, amazing!
Tom Bombadil, am I right?

Well, that's all I can type right now. Children are out cold so I'm going to grab a cupcake and do some chores.

In Christ,

Julie

Today's Coffee: Moka Java from World Market

2014-01-06T11:56:00.000-05:00

Grinning through the pain, walking Mgirl around
the hospital.

Well, I've done it again. Lots has happened since the last blog and lots more is going to happen. The most obvious new change to our lives is that our precious little girl has joined us! She was born on Thanksgiving morning!

Russell family holding Mgirl before they left!

Long story short, she was an emergency c-section, due to being breech and transverse, and my water breaking that morning. She was perfect. We were so thankful, because even though we didn't want a c-section, the Lord was so merciful to us. One of the many blessings shown to us that day was in fact, the c-section. Of course, that wasn't quite what I wanted, but due to a couple very large tumors on both my ovaries, the Lord gave wisdom and he created the perfect circumstances for both of them to be removed after M was born, thus making it so that I would only have one surgery and not have to go back in March.

Such a little man after his haircut. Look like T? I think so!

Recovery has been quite frustrating to me. Most everyone that knows me, knows how hard it is for me to ask for help. I don't like doing it, and therefore - I just won't. So, not being able to lay down in bed without help, or walk (even for short distances) was very aggravating. The process has also been sanctifying. Relying on others for meals, or watch W, and the big one - not be able to conduct our Lessons and Carols Concert.
I'd planned since last Christmas for this program.
Selected all the pieces and scripture passages, worked out a script, arranged carols for the instrumental groups, coached the groups, worked on a processional, and just general logistics.
And it happened 8 days after M was born. I could barely walk, let alone stand for an hour, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to direct it.
What a blow to my professional ego.
I wanted to do it, I wanted to stand up there and conduct Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming. I wanted to whisper to the children that were nervous. I wanted to give thumbs up to each group and mouth 'awesome job!' after they sang and played. But, the Lord meant for me to sit and listen.
So… I did.
I sat next to M in her carseat and just attended the concert. (Of course, I had also created in the weeks before her birth an entire contingency plan if I couldn't be there).
I learned a lot sitting there. Of course, I learned much about the technical side - how the acoustics worked with where each choir was seated, certain consonants that need more intentional diction and enunciation. But I also saw the blessing of it all. Hearing the story of Jesus' birth - and really listening to the children of our church sing (and sing quite well, I might add!) about the hardships, and the journey to the manger. What a story.
Needless to say, I needed to sit and listen this year.
I needed to be reminded that our Savior and Risen King was born in Bethlehem, as a totally dependent baby boy - and that he was to grow up, only to die on a cross - - for me.
I needed that this year.

Baby M is amazing.
She was 8 lbs 5 oz at birth and at 2 weeks already up to 8 lbs 15 oz. She was 20 inches long and yes - her head was 14 3/4 inches (the exact same as W) (woot 95th percentile!)

5 weeks old with a bow on her head!

We sleep just about as well as you would expect. :) Mgirl is eating about every 3-4 hours and we can occasionally get a 5-6 hour stretch out of her. W has started waking up in the middle of the night to check on everybody and ask for juice. It's precious and terrible all at the same time.

Thomas precariously holding W to put star on top of our tree!

Merry Christmas!

Both kids were not ready for this pic... but I like it!

Christmas was extra special this year - we surprised everyone in Greenville by showing up at different Christmas events on Christmas day (they were all expecting us late afternoon the day after). We had been planning this for a long time and I can't believe we didn't let the cat out of the bag! It was such a great time with our families - we loved being in Greenville - and we got to worship at Second Pres again! We are so thankful for that rock-solid church and it's devotion to the preaching and teaching of God's word. It was wonderful to see old friends again and to worship alongside them.

Our VERY EARLY Christmas morning in the hotel… on the way to Greenville!

Our lives have been quite exciting the past month and a half, concerts, weddings, worship services, M's birth, Christmas, New Years, and a trip to Greenville… and it's going to get a little crazier with the start of the new semester. Lessons, choirs, strings, and preparing to open Covenant Conservatory in the summer/fall.
But, the Lord is gracious and steadfast in his love and strength. As we start this new year, we are striving to walk with the Lord more each day. I am personally striving to be open to asking for help when I need it. We are trusting that the Lord will take care of us as we persevere each day to being bold in our beliefs, and being prepared for the battle everyday that is presented before us. He is faithful.

In Christ,
Julie

Today's Coffee: Bali Blue Moon

2013-11-07T10:51:00.001-05:00

So, it's getting chilly.

Well, just chillier than it has been.

One of my least favorite things to do is wake up and go downstairs and start the coffee and breakfast. It's cold, it's dark outside, and our breakfasts are really boring.

Don't get me wrong - I'd love to eat buttermilk blueberry pancakes and bacon everyday, but alas, we don't have the time, energy, money for all that.

So, we decided to get a little creative. T told me about something along the lines of an overnight oatmeal. I immediately started pinteresting to find out more.

Ok, so an overnight crock-pot oatmeal. It sounded perfect.

The first attempt wasn't great. Or even good. I mean, we ate it every day til it was gone, but it just didn't quite.... it just wasn't good. So, I fiddled with the recipe a bit. And we have a winner.

Overnight Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal - Crockpot

Ingredients:

3 apples - sliced and cut into small chunks

1.5 cups milk

1.5 cups water

1 cup of steel cut oats

2ish tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter

.5 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons ground flaxseed meal

salt

dash of nutmeg

Directions:

Chop up apples and put in large pyrex measuring dish/cup.

Add all the ingredients on top of apples. Stir well.

Place pyrex dish in crockpot. Fill crockpot with water to near brim.

This is one of the reasons I can totally get on board and cook this way forever - because the clean-up is so easy. I love my crockpot and use it at least once a week, but I loathe cleaning it. This is so much easier.

Cover with aluminium foil - my dish is too high to use my crockpot lid, but after I cover the pyrex with foil, I still set the lid on top.

Set your crockpot on low for about 8 hours.

Go to sleep.

Wake up and be grumpy about having the make the coffee in the cold and dark morning.

Then remember that breakfast is already cooked!

Rejoice!

Scoop into bowls and eat well.

I just cover the pyrex and stick in fridge and eat for a few days after warming in the microwave (it doesn't take long to eat it all at my house, with my hungry boys!)

Why yes, I will eat you this morning!

You can top it with anything else yummy.

Milk, brown sugar, butter, dates, you name it.

Not sure how other fruits will fare, but I will tell you that my first attempt involved strawberries, but I think because they are 'mooshier' than apples, they broke down quite a bit in the crockpot.

I hope your mornings get better with this delicious oatmeal. :)

In Christ,

Julie

Today's Coffee: Trader Joe's Bali Blue Moon

2013-10-26T12:54:00.001-04:00

I'm usually not so good about posting blogs on an even remotely consistent basis.

I know this.

But here I am.

Well, I'm mainly able to do this because W is down for a nap and my dear sweet husband has a migraine, so I find myself with a few minutes to myself.

So, I'll tell you about our evening last night.

We finally got around to putting together M's room. Which is a good thing since we are only 5 weeks away from bringing her sweetness home!

Here's what it looked like before. Kind of our place to store everything and forget about it. For instance: I've been looking for a specific piece of music for weeks now, but couldn't find it. (As you might imagine, between T and myself, we have a lot of music in our house.) And it wasn't until Thursday I 'discovered' 2 unopened boxes, which had been stored in her room just full of violin music. Thankfully, I found the music I was looking for. But you get the idea.

This is technically better than the real before picture (which I forgot to take), as we had to find crib pieces :)

Another angle of the room.

First, we put together the crib.

We had W get involved as he was a bit confused with the whole process.

We had him go to his room and help pick out some blankets and stuffed animals that he might want to share with M. Needless to say, as soon as we were finished he wanted them back. But it was really cute for the first 5 minutes.

Crib all set up and ready for Baby M!

One of our dilemmas was that we don't ever ever ever want to paint again. And her room is a very lovely blue. After brainstorming different ideas on how to not paint her room, we decided to just paint her closet doors pink and put up some curtains to frame her changing table. I'm hoping that in the future I will be able to get my mom to paint a window scene under the curtains.

Crib is in place, and curtains are hung.

Another random thing about me: I love Starbucks' Caramel Apple Spice. It is one of two drinks that I buy there (the other, is the Caramel Macchiato). So, I love this season. Problem is: they are still really expensive. Crazy expensive. So, after some research, I found a copycat recipe.

apple juice

3 TBSP cinnamon dolce syrup (I made my own)

whip cream

caramel

The syrup was just 4 cinnamon sticks boiled in 1.5 cups of water, simmered for 15 minutes, then the sticks were thrown away. I then added 1 cup of brown sugar and stirred until melted. Boom. Cinnamon dolce syrup.

You just warm up a cup of apple juice, 3 TBSP of the syrup for 2 minutes. Then top with whip cream and drizzle caramel on top. As someone who buys a lot of these drinks from the Bucks, never again. This is so close to the original that I cannot see myself every spending a near $4 for it again.

Anyways, this happened when we all got a little tired of being around each other in the smallest room in our house. :)

Yum!

Unsure if it was going to be good or not.
It was.

After our delightful drink experiment, we headed back upstairs to put the finishing touches on M's room. I'm quite pleased, but I'm not sure if it's due to getting her room ready for her, or that I don't have to look the other way every time I walk by it as it was a constant reminder that we had not fully unpacked yet. Maybe some of both.

Yay for a cute nursery!

Other side, with a glimpse of the pink closet doors.

Baby M, we can't wait to meet you!

In Christ,

Julie

Today's Coffee: Pumpkin Spice and Tums

2013-10-24T10:05:00.000-04:00

Well, I had written out an outline of sorts to update the blog with, because a lot can happen in a month! But, I lost it. Also, my memory is pretty horrendous these days. I'll see what I can do here.

I've been sleeping on the couch for the past several weeks due to my heartburn. That's not been fun, but I'm starting to get used to it, and sleeping a bit better now. I'm currently 34 weeks pregnant and feeling every bit of 44 weeks. :)

Our little sweet pea gets the hiccups a lot. Many hours a day it seems that she has the hiccups and she loves getting wedged into very uncomfortable positions, so that mixed with the Braxton Hicks and the heartburn makes me miserable. But, then I see a mom carrying a baby around, and I am reminded that this is all worth it. W has been really sweet about it all too. Each night he kisses M goodnight and tells her he loves her.

W standing next to our lemon tree, that I grew from a seed from a lemon we used in a recipe!

Our fall garden: spinach, kale, broccoli, and carrots.

Our good friends got engaged recently and we hosted an Engagement Party for them! My mom would have been so proud! Here's just a couple of pics (I'll have more in a new post):

Beautiful flowers and yummy food! The cupcakes have toppers with famous literary couples and quotes from their love story.

This was the sign-in table. Decorated with books and pictures, a game where we had to guess who said what on facebook and a jar for their honeymoon fund!

So, I could just be hiding a pumpkin underneath there :)

Our family at the pumpkin patch!

Things are really coming together with our house and we are so ready for the feeling of 'moved in'. We had our new countertops installed recently. They look great! And Thomas got the sink installed. That was pretty cool.

W has lots of words and it's fun to talk to him now. Car rides are more interesting as motorcycles and tunnels are obviously reasons for great celebration. He usually wants us to follow the motorcycles as he says "Hurry Dan! Hurry Dan!" (He can't say his ending 'd' sound, so he calls T - Dan instead of Dad. It's cute.

Anyways, chores are calling my name. Please be praying as we are about 5.5 weeks away from meeting our sweet pea.

In Christ,

Julie

Today's Coffee: Yucky Store Brand (even the french press didn't help)

2013-09-14T14:24:00.002-04:00

Here we are. Saturday. Even though our list of 'things to accomplish before September comes to a close' is massive and nearing 40 items, I took a few moments to enjoy the autumn weather. It was beautiful. I don't know how to describe it - but it was the first time I've ever felt the way I did this morning. To be sitting outside, with a blanket, a cup of coffee, Yow (our stray cat), beautiful blue morning glories abloom, my rambunctious child and my lovely husband - in our yard! To have a house and a yard - so amazing. I feel like I could move mountains today.

I was brought back to reality when the sun came out. Oh yea - hi there humidity.

Other news: I didn't ever give a big announcement via blog - but yes! We are having a little precious amazing girl come early December. She's always moving and kicking all over the place, just like W. She also gets the hiccups. Often. Her room was painted baby blue and yellow from the previous owners (not really giving the 'sweet little thing' vibe we have been feeling with a gal - so we wanted to paint. But, I tell you, after painting 3 large rooms downstairs, we weren't really feeling the whole process again. To be honest, if I didn't paint again for years, I'd probably be ok (and I like painting). So, we brainstormed what we could do. Well, instead of changing the wall color, we decided to spruce up the closet and add curtains to the wall over her changing table. So, what you see here - is the only thing, and the first pink ever in my house, that was bought by us. :) And I'm pretty excited about it.

Also, somewhat crazy news: we got smartphones. Nothing fancy, but they do the internet thing. So, follow me on Instagram - chuck887.

Well, we just started taking care of our room:

and, as you can see - the wallpaper is less than... shall we say... HIDEOUS?!

So, thinking that I might cut corners (silly me!) I painted it. Didn't work well. So, we started pulling down the wallpaper (something I said I would NOT do until next summer), and we found a hole.

Well, after getting the paper down in that section, we have not only uncovered a hole (?!) but again, the world's ugliest paneling. ((So, I guess we gotta push back our housewarming party now)) - Wish us luck!

Anyways, we still love our house - just a lot of work. Here's W with our stray cat, Yow (that's what W calls him since he can't say Meow)

Thanks for reading about our crazy lives!

In Christ,

Julie

Today's Coffee: Vanilla Biscotti

2013-09-09T19:23:00.000-04:00

Well. Where have I been?

We've been busy. I feel like I always say that. Well, we have. For real.

Things are going well with the house. Our new artwork:

I followed a diy tutorial I found on pinterest. Not hard at all.

It was fairly easy: I went to imslp.org and printed off the music I wanted to use and took it to Staples and had them blow it up (it was 4 sheets) to 36x24. The lady behind the desk didn't need a lot of direction - she said people had been having her do it a lot lately! :) I purchased a canvas with a coupon from Michaels and mod podged it on. Then after it dried I brushed tea and coffee on it to 'age' it. Then another layer of mod podge and voila a great piece of wall art! Total cost:

Staples print-out : $3.59

Michaels canvas : $23.00

Mod podge : $4.00

Total : $30.59

This is the Biber sonata that Thomas and I played together at Oberlin this summer! We read from the manuscript, so it's fun to see it everyday!

Choirs and lessons have all started back. We are slowing getting our house in order. Here is our dining room:

We are so happy with how the floors, walls, and bench turned out!

Now just some lovely snapshots of our lives:

Oh yea - we are having a GIRL! This is me opening the first gift after we announced! Do I look nervous? ;)

W is feeding the goats at the zoo!

So, sometimes the laundry doesn't get done... and we end up having days where our little man looks fairly crazy. Today was one of those days. Also, note the stickers all up his arm. Overall - a typical Monday.

Well, I am 28 weeks pregnant today. I'm incredibly uncomfortable. The leg cramps, heartburn, and back pain haven't been fun - but because of some slight complications, I've had pain most days. I have to take it easy (what? how do you do that? how is that a 'thing' when you have a 2.5 year old?). So, that hasn't been fun - and I am so much slower this time around!

More to come later. I need a snack. And some water.

In Christ,

Julie

Today's Coffee: Mystic Monk Blend - yes, I drank a cup today!

2013-08-04T14:03:00.001-04:00

Just a few more pictures of our house evolving into a place that is actually live-able!

So far, I love everything and I'm trying not to rush the process of artwork/decor.

Such a big helper!

Front Room - painted and floors are looking great! Hmmm, the color of the walls in this pic show a strange green hue - that's not really there. I only chose colors with wonderful edible names... so, this room is Fudge Truffle.

W is reading as we unpack books.

Front room has furniture - yay - something other than hard chairs to sit in!

Front room - different angle.

Kitchen/Dining room. Almost ready to move the table in!

And that's where we are at here in this moment. I'm so thankful for all the help we received! Notice there aren't any pics of bedrooms... they all need some work - we've been focusing on the front 3 rooms, but we should be unpacking in the other rooms soon.

In Christ,

Julie

Today's Coffee: Earl Grey Supreme and Donuts!

2013-08-01T10:00:00.003-04:00

A quick overlook of the past 6 days in our new house!

Before: previous owner's decor: front room

Before: Previous owner's decor: front room

Before: Previous owner's decor: 'dining room' with carpet??!

Before: Previous owner's decor: kitchen

Saturday: Get that carpet out of there! And that's when we realized why they had carpet, the floors were outrageously out of level. We are talking an inch difference throughout.

Saturday: get the wallpaper. That's when we realized that paint was peeling off - they had painted over plaster! This is all turning into more work than we originally thought!

So, we started leveling the floors the best we could. 1/4 in inlay, floor leveling compound and thick roofing paper to build it up in the appropriate sections. Oh yea, they had destroyed the hardwood floors. So sad. We were so excited to see original hardwoods - they had painted them brown in areas and gouged them.

Kitchen is now primed and being cut in with new paint color.

Maybe the hardwoods would be better in the front room? Nope. About an inch difference from one side of room to the other. And again with the brown paint and unnecessary gouges.

New floors finally going down! They look so great. Dining room is primed for new paint!

First coat almost up in kitchen.

Butterfly landed on my dad's arm.

Kitchen is fully painted... now if I had to place to put dishes! (There's not a pantry)

All our stuff is moved in. Dining room being cut in. Floors down and covered.

Floors being laid in front room.

W helped a lot!

Dining room painted! Built some shelves and stained them for the dishes to go on.

Bay window bench almost done!

Front room being painted this minute.

Well, that's where we are. Lots of work to do in the next 3 hours. My dad leaves today at noon. Thanks to him and Thomas' dad for all the help thus far. Also, all our great friends who showed up to help load and unload moving truck!

We are all so exhausted but so excited about moving into our house!

Thanks for all the prayers!

In Christ,

Julie

Earl Grey Supreme.... and Pop Tarts

2013-07-23T16:55:00.003-04:00

SO MUCH IS GOING ON.

We all feel a little crazy in the Russell House right now.

Last Monday, we went in for our 20 week ultrasound. Here is our little one:

We had the technician write down the gender on some paper and seal it in an envelop for us. We did the best we could, but we peeked! We are so excited for our little one and hope to be sharing that information soon. :) The baby is healthy and wonderful (can't you tell!?), but this pregnancy has been quite difficult thus far. This particular pregnancy has been quite painful and has severely limited what I'm able to do around the house. It's certainly not been fun - to be in pain, but also to be so uncomfortable in this Nashville heat. I'm so thankful that everything has gone as well as it has so far, and keep trusting in the Lord to carry me through all of it.

W and Daddy made pancakes!

I've been having a sweet tooth in the middle of the afternoon lately, and that resulted in me whipping up some vanilla buttercream frosting to dip pretzels in. It was amazing. :)

We are closing on our FIRST EVER house on Thursday.

Yes, in 2 days from now.

(Now you are starting to understand why our lives have been a bit hectic)

We cleaned out and packed our laundry room a few days ago and W decided to help by 'fixing' T's bike. It was precious.

W and I had a small photoshoot (I was proud of my outfit, mainly because it fit and matched - all at the same time!! -- please know, this is tough with maternity clothes... especially if you're me.)

20 weeks pregnant!

Now stick your tongue out!

"Pound it!"

"Say cheese!"

Needless to say, we need prayer as we a packing and praying that we are able to seal the deal on this house. I am fairly certain that my attitude will stink if this house falls through.

I especially need prayer as I am typically a 'planner and do-er' type person. With everything going on, I won't be able to do a lot for the move and small renovating our new house needs - and that is tough for me!

Anyways, this next picture I had to put, not because it's a great pic (I realize it's not), but because it is li-trally (Chris Trager) the best chicken pot pie I've ever had. It was amazing.

Just wanted to let you all know that. I'll put the recipe up soon.

Thanks for the sweet thoughts and prayers. Hope to have some good news in a few days!

In Christ,

Julie

Today's Coffee: Earl Grey Supreme

2013-07-13T15:50:00.000-04:00

I guess I could title the posts differently, since I don't drink coffee anymore - but I won't. :)

Our big project (as if we didn't have enough going on) was the build a sprinkler. We love spending time outside, but I've already started slowing down a little bit with Baby #2 - so it's harder for me to keep with W. We thought that a fun, big sprinkler would help me out on these hot days.

And for less than $17 - we're pretty sure it will!

First, we purchased:

-4- 10' 1/2 inch pvc pipe

-3- 1/2 inch pvc caps

-2- 1/2 inch pvc T's

-2- 1/2 inc pvc elbows

- pvc cement

- pvc male connection

- female hose adaptor

Next, we sawed 3 of the 10' pipes down to 5', and the fourth pipe in 2 1/2' pieces (for the legs)

We then drilled holes, quite sporadically, in the side and top pieces. Next, we hooked it all together and cemented the joints together. Then, we waited for the longest 15 minutes ever -- try envisioning a 2 1/2 year old waiting to see what such a contraption would do.

Ta Da! What fun!

Well, I never finished talking about Oberlin. It ended really well. I performed really well on the Biber recital. I think everything the teachers were saying to us about relaxing and breathing really sunk it. I've already found myself listening to music and thinking about performance/pedagogy differently since I've been back. Thomas and I have talked about learning some pieces and performing them together, and we hope to get more involved in the early music scene here in Nashville, as well as make it better!

My chamber ensemble for week 2. We performed Purcell's Pavane and Chacony in G Minor.

The last night we were there we went to a party at Catharina Meints' house. She has a spectacular abode - very modern and interesting architecture, but also a large collection of different gambas. Some are shown in the picture below. The house was beautiful and we spent most of the evening just wandering and inquiring about different aspects of the house. It really was crazy!

After Oberlin ended - we flew to Nashville, hopped in our car and drove down to Destin, Florida. I was hoping for this vacation that would consist of 4 or 5 hours a day, sitting in a beach chair, half sunken in the wet sand because I chose to put it too close to the surf, under an umbrella and read as many books as possible. Well, it rained 4 of the 6 days we were there. We had a ton of fun with my parents, but I would have enjoyed a bit more sunshine, and less torrential downpour.

18 weeks pregnant

W loves spaghetti!

And last of all: my garden! Here I am holding the first 2 cucumbers and 3 carrots we harvested! They tasted great too!

And this picture is my haul from the farmer's market today. I love the farmer's market. So much. I'm excited to be making Chocolate Strawberry Pavlova and Chocolate Blackberry Pavlova for small group tomorrow night. The blackberries are huge! And 2 different types of kale: Scottish Blue and Russian Kale. We are planning on whipping up some green smoothies for these hot summer mornings.

Overall, the summer has been pretty great! I go in for my 20 week ultrasound on Monday. We are not planning on finding out if our little one is a boy or girl, but just in case we can't stand it, we will have the technician write it down and stick it in an envelop... in case we want to have a gender reveal party. Also, things are moving in a good direction with our house. Lord willing, we will close on July 25. Prayers appreciated!

In Christ,

Julie

Today's Coffee: Irish Breakfast Tea (and an Arnold Palmer after lunch)

2013-06-26T18:38:00.002-04:00

The pictures above and below are from Chalk Walk. They passed out chalk and the whole community got involved with their art! The one below won overall. It was so neat to see everyone being artistic - although barely any music students (if any) got involved -- we have a lot on our plate already!

So, it's been a long 10 days so far. After hearing the faculty concert on Friday night - can I just say that they are all amazing? They play so elegantly, and yet, there is a raw factor to the sound (with the gut strings and all). I have learned so much these past few days. For the first time, in a long time, (maybe ever?) I feel that I am finally doing something that I really really love. I'm hoping that I've found my musical niche. It's been a strange feeling - even as I play in masterclass and am critiqued crazily over my bow stroke or phrasing, I enjoy it. It doesn't bother me, because I want so much to get better. It's an interesting feeling. I still get insanely nervous before performing, but I'm starting to feel really confident in what I'm doing and let the instrument work for me. But I digress - the faculty concert was amazing! Just the exposure to composers that I'm not familiar with : Schmelzer, Bonocini, Ariosti, Schenck and others - there is so much gorgeous and amazing music out there!

Saturday was our first student recital. I think it went well. It was under 4 hours long - so, it was shorter than expected. :) Some of the groups were phenomenal!

Then Sunday arrived, and T got here. It's so nice to have him here - not just because I now don't have to play with a stranger as my harpsichordist - but I missed him so much! And don't even get me started on W - he's such a trooper as he is now hanging out with the Wilson Family.

I performed in masterclass on Tuesday, the Biber Sonata 12. I learned a lot - that basically, I play a little too refined and could just throw the bow around more. I'm doing a lot of thinking and applying about intonation. Each scale is different. And leading tones... not so much. All the #s should be played a little flatter, and all the flats a little sharper. We always talk about the character of the key that we are playing in. The composer chose the key for a reason, and so we always discuss what that feeling is and how we can portray that accurately through the music. There have been so many bow circles this week as well. I always warm-up by just doing bow circles on the up bow and down bow. It's tedious work (did I mention I love it though?!) but it really helps! Also, in modern violin, we are taught to control the sound via bow, right arm, vibrato, etc. But now we are focusing a lot on not controlling the sound, but letting the instrument speak. It's a lot harder than it sounds. Oh goodness, and not being tense. I don't know why it's not talked (like... seriously talked about and worked on daily) about in masterclass/lessons/orchestra. Musicians are so tense, and that hinders the sound as well. There are several techniques you can do, but the best (and yet, very hard to do) is to play with your mouth open. If our mouths are closed, we tend not to breathe as much (which is bad) and so we constrict muscles in our face, neck, shoulders and arms.

(You're probably bored with what I've been learning, right? It's hard to tell because I am excited about it all!)

My violin and a gamba, resting. :)

Anyways, I perform the Biber Sonata tomorrow for the whole BPI crew. I'm nervous, but I feel like I've done the best I can in the 7 days I've had the music. On Friday, the student orchestra will play some Muffat, then Saturday we will all perform our ensembles. I'm now playing in a group of 3 violins, cello and harpsichord. We are playing Purcell's Pavane and Chacony in g minor. We will also perform with our dance class. We will have live musicians as we perform several of the dances we have learned.

I miss W so much! This is how you do summer!

And then, we fly back to Nashville, only to get in our car and drive to Florida for most needed vacation of my life. Being 17 weeks pregnant in a dorm room in 90 degree (YES - IT REALLY IS THAT HOT HERE!) weather and doing 12 hour days of Baroque music calls for some serious laying on the beach time.

Gambas and viols and violins for sale.

I miss this little guy so much! Such great hair!

Today's Coffee: Irish Breakfast Tea

2013-06-20T21:42:00.001-04:00

I'm doing it.

I'm here and I'm following a dream I've had since I was 13 and saw Andrew Manze play.

What on earth am I talking about?

Baroque Violin

I am currently at Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute. This is big for me. Sometimes I would worry that I wasn't getting to do enough music and I would feel 'stuck'. Don't get me wrong - I love staying home with W and teaching, but without getting to play great music, it was easy to get discouraged. So, go back a year ago - I started taking lessons. This was a fairly hefty step for our family as it would be an added expense (lessons, a bow, eventually a violin and now a summer festival) and we weren't quite sure how we would handle it financially - but we were always provided for.

So, anyways, I'm here. I'm immersed in it. I haven't heard a 440 A in 5 days and 415 is starting to sound really normal! I thought, since this is a fairly niche musical community that I would talk briefly about my day and what I get to do.

I start off by practicing or visiting the library just checking out different editions of music. Then I head to violin technique class where we go over basic technique (holding, shifting, bowing) as it's all quite different from modern violin. Then we have an hour and a half masterclass where our two main teachers (Marilyn McDonald and Marc Destrube) listen to us perform and critique our playing. After lunch there is a lecture, or faculty recital - but today started our series of Biber's Mystery Sonatas. Now, I should explain, these bad boys are tough. There's a reason they aren't performed a whole lot - well, a few reasons, but one is that they are tricky. Another is that out of the 16, only 2 are tuned to the traditional G-D-A-E tuning. The rest - could be anything. Well, the violin students are learning and performing them. All 16. On the first day they wanted us to pick one to play. Lots of students came prepared... I came more or less with an understanding of the music, but not really anything under my fingers. So, I randomly picked 12. Didn't know what it was called or how it was tuned, or if it was one of the crazy hard ones. Once I grabbed the music from the library, I was scared to see that all 4 strings were re-tuned and that the bottom string (G) had to be tuned up a 4th! I had to borrow an instrument since I obviously wouldn't be able to re-tune my violin every hour or so. Well, I broke the G as soon as I tried tuning it up, so the next day I asked for a D instead to tune down. While Biber would have wanted me to tune the G up to have that added tension (it will sound different than a D tuned down), we all agreed that it would be safer with the D.

Broken G

Anyways,

So today was the first recital of half of the sonatas. Really great players and the music is phenomenal. After the recital we all have our ensembles. I am playing 2 different pieces. One by Monteverdi (scored for harpsichord, gamba, 2 violins, and 2 sopranos) and one by Delalande (scored for harpsichord, gamba, 2 violins, 1 bass and 2 sopranos). It's so amazing working with all the different coaches and the instrumentalists and singers. After ensemble we head over to Baroque Dance class. We've learned all the major dance styles (from the German influence) Gavotte, Bouree, Sarabande, Loure, Courante, and we'll take a look at Chaconne and Passacaglia tomorrow. What a crazy workout! It's so interesting to know the steps behind the dances - it's meant to help us be better performers of the dance styles. Then we grab dinner and then head back for orchestra. We've been reading through all sorts of music (Muffat, Lully, Purcell, Corelli, Handel, etc.).

Needless to say, I have enjoyed every minute. It's been a great experience so far. Saturday we will all perform our ensembles and next Thursday I will be performing (with Thomas on harpsichord with me!) the Sonata 12. The violin is tuned in a C Major chord. (Is that how a ukulele is tuned?) Check it out:

Thomas will be joining me up here on Sunday while W gets to spend quality time with the grandparents. I miss my little man so much - but I know he's having a great time with the Russells.

In other news: the baby is kicking. So, I have little #2 to keep me company while my boys are all several states away. Also, the house is continually moving forward, so prayers appreciated for that! I've got to go to bed - we go for about 12 hours straight and this momma is tired!

In Christ,

Julie

Today's Coffee: Ice Water and a Krispy Kreme Doughnut

2013-06-08T20:25:00.000-04:00

We've kept busy the past week or so! We are under contract for a new house. We are praying that this house will work our for us as our lease in our current rental is up at the end of July. The Russell Family visited last weekend and we had a blast!

W is now in a big boy bed! It used to be his Papa's!

Uncle Eth is the best

Family picnic - eyes being open was optional? :)

Boy, W and I sure love our pickles!

A great pic of Uncle Matthew and W!

We went to a local park today and had a great time listening to a studio of bluegrass students play and tap dance, catch crawdads in the creek, and dance with ribbons!

We had a great time - and I kept feeling as if I was going to see Leslie Knope somewhere telling Jerry and Tom what to do next. Well, now I have some chicken bbq packets on the grill - in foil with broccoli and pinto beans (it's amazing!) and I'm going to see if I can convince T to slice into a watermelon for me tonight.

Also, if you have thoughts/tips/advice on how to get a 2 year and 3 month year old to sit (or even act like he's paying attention) during family worship, let me know. We're trying to get him to sit through a hymn that we sing (usually just 1 or 2 verses), a Bible story, then prayer - and it's really tough! But, we persevere and do it each night - I'm just wondering what others do and what worked for them.

In Christ,

Julie

Today's Coffee: Pomegranate Juice

2013-05-29T09:57:00.000-04:00

13 weeks and 2 days.

Already seems like 5 months. Oh well. I've been eating a lot of jalapenos lately. A crazy amount. Heard the heartbeat again yesterday and all is well. W likes to kiss the baby whenever he sees my belly - so that's precious.

Playing with a caterpillar.

Lots has been going on. The house fell through. It couldn't appraise high enough. We were upset at first, but quickly realized that this may be a blessing in disguise. And, we've already put another offer on a different house that is much closer to where we work! They countered with a different closing date, and we accepted! So there is still hope that we will have somewhere to move to before the end of July.

For Memorial Day, we went to the lake with some good friends of ours from church. It was the perfect day. Well, almost perfect. W did not want to get in the water at all. He really seemed to get scared. We thought that was strange since he's always been a little daredevil. But, he really like going on boat rides!

Now, W is watching some Curious George while I clean up the house. We are excited for this weekend as the Russell family is coming to help us not-move :)

In Christ,

Julie

Today's Coffee: I've stopped drinking it because....

2013-04-30T18:22:00.000-04:00

I'm pregnant!

Yes, Russell Baby #2 is expected to make his/her appearance in early December.

So, I've stopped drinking coffee because I honestly cannot stand the smell or taste right now.

It's been a tough 9 weeks thus far, but we wanted to announce it so that more people can enjoy this time as well as pray with and for us.

It's been a very long day as we spent several hours at the doctors and then we taught lessons and tonight is our students' recital. I'm incredibly tired as I didn't sleep well last night (or any night for the past 5 weeks). It's going to be a loooong summer. Also, we close on our house on May 30.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Everything is in the Lord's hands and I've learned more today about trusting Him than in the past month.

Here's our little baby - -

It's a little hard to tell, but that is one CUTE baby!

Wilson got to hang out with super friends and a bounce house while T and I were at the doc's.
He loved it.

In Christ,

Julie

Today's Coffee: Still not feelin' it...

2013-04-29T18:53:00.002-04:00

A short n' sweet blog post.

The plants are growing really well. I'm so excited about eating out of the garden this summer!

So, you've probably seen (if you are pinterest) that pin about growing lemon trees, because their leaves smell good? Well, I used a lemon for something and decided to try that. Uhm.... hard to do. Out of all the lemon seeds I planted (about 5 weeks ago!) only one has sprouted, and it sprouted about 4 days ago. So, here's to hoping that it continues to grow!

Grow lemon seed, grow!

Tonight for dinner I am making something found of pinterest as well. You've also probably seen it:

I'm making it from memory... 375 for 1 hour? I covered it with foil?
Hope it tastes good, because it smells great so far.
Green beans, chicken, potatoes. Butter and Italian Seasoning dressing mix on top.

And, for your dose of 'I wonder what Wilson has been doing... he's such a cutie... does he ever do anything bad?'

LIPSTICK EVERYWHERE!

For those that don't know... this is EXACTLY what I used to do when I was a kid!

He smiled for this one. Ha.

In Christ,

Julie

Violin Students

2013-04-23T17:17:00.001-04:00

This post is for a few of my violin students. I'll remove it after next Tuesday.

Sometimes I put 'helps' on youtube, but I know how sketchy youtube can be sometimes with their ads - so I wanted you all to have a safer option.
Here is Holy, Holy, Holy with me counting off for you:

Today's Coffee: It's Too Hot for Coffee

2013-04-17T12:46:00.000-04:00

Hello baby vegetable sprout-lings!

Mid-April.

I'm starting all the plants in trans-plant-able pots because we hope to be moving soon. My dream is that we can get a garden dug in the ground and get these guys transplanted May 30. We'll see how that plan goes. I'm growing:

Bloody Butcher Heirloom Tomatoes

Blaze of Glory Hot Peppers

Short 'n Sweet Carrots

Sweet Peppers

Broccoli Raab

Cucumbers

Cauliflower

Blueberries? (the plant isn't looking so good right now)

I'm also practicing away for the BPI coming up in June. One of my audition pieces is Telemann's Fantasia No. 9 in b-minor for solo violin. Here's a great youtube video of my favorite baroque violinist Andrew Manze playing it:

The theme for this year's Baroque Institute is:

"In the Valley of the Danube"

Special Project: Biber's Mystery Sonatas

After I complete the 2 weeks there of recitals, chamber groups, master classes, lessons, baroque dance classes (?!? so excited!), beginning viol classes, and so much more we then get to take a trip to Destin, Florida for this

Dry Dock - a cozy and rustic beach house

With direct view and access to the gulf ocean waves, this is what I dream about. :)

Here's a pic of W that is just too cute as well:

In Christ,

Julie

Today's Coffee: Colombian Blend

2013-04-01T09:58:00.001-04:00

Somehow it is now April. I don't know how it happened, but it did. Things have been buzzing along here in the Russell house as we gave the recital, celebrated W's second birthday that evening, prepared and had glorious Palm Sunday services, and helped get together lots of music for the Easter services yesterday. Not to mention

We are currently buying a house!

Yes, all that is left is the appraisal and then, Lord willing, closing on May 30th.

It has been a long process, but we finally found a house we really love, and amazingly, in our price range. The Lord certainly taught us a lot about patience (something I'm not very good at). So, to say things have been busy is a bit of an understatement.

In our efforts to eat healthier, we have been filling our week with paleo meals. Some have been home-runs and others... not so much. But something that has been a great snack (and it seems that everyone likes) - Kale Chips. We've made them several times now, and the best was last time at our small group - even children loved them! That's right - want to eat more kale? Bake 'em.

Rinse and dry your kale. Then in big(ish) chops, chop it up. I cut out the stalks first.

Toss it in a bowl with about a tablespoon of olive oil.

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper and lay the kale out in a single layer. Also, randomly snag a picture with a cutie smiling in the background. Sprinkle a bit of sea salt on top. Pop in the pre-heated oven at 300 degrees for about 20 minutes.

And voila! A crunchy, crisp, salty treat!

So, we've enjoyed the paleo diet. We both feel better through-out the day and we've noticed that we don't have that 'afternoon-get-me-a-cup-of-coffee-or-I-can't-make-it' feeling.

W has also been pretty cute lately. So, here are some great pics of him!

"I LOVE THE SLIDE!"

And what could be better than a hockey sweatshirt, checkered cape, sitting on a wagon with a frog and waving a flag around???

Superman playing the piano!

And, he here is - he fell asleep on the rocking horse in nursery yesterday!

Thanks for reading! Hope to have good news about the house in a few days or so!

In Christ,

Julie

Today's Coffee: Trader Joe's Sumatra

2013-02-22T11:18:00.001-05:00

Well, I did it.

I deactivated my facebook account yesterday morning. Uhm, it took multiple steps and pages. Also, my internet cut out just as I clicked the confirm button. Did facebook know I was leaving? (That's a joke)

Today I want to write about 2 things:

1. A recital coming up in March

-and-

2. Corned Beef and Cabbage

Here's the first.

The poster is pretty self explanatory, but I'll talk about it for a moment anyways.

Covenant Presbyterian Church has many stained glass windows. T has decided to perform a series of recitals where he plays pieces that meditate on each window. This first recital will cover the Biblical covenants and the Trinity rose window. You can read about each individual window here:

Covenant Presbyterian Church - Sanctuary

I would encourage anyone in the area to come and listen to some wonderful music (some of which has never been recorded before - to our knowledge - ). The recital is at 5:00pm and not later because we didn't want it to be dark and therefore not be able to see the windows themselves. These particular windows are on the left side of the sanctuary, so you may want to sit on the right side.

And #2: Corned Beef and Cabbage

This is one of my favorite meals. Thank you Dad for making this for us when we were kids.

Here is my 'recipe'

Chop up onions and carrots and potatoes.
I don't know how many you want, I want the whole bottom lined.
Add 4 cups of water.

Lay your beef on top.
Pour a bottle of beer over it.
I used Guinness because it was in our fridge. I don't know if I would use anything too hoppy.

Remember that little packet of flavor-goodness that came packed in the with corned beef? I hope you found it and didn't drop it in with the beef...
Anyways, sprinkle that on top.
Set on Low for 8 hours.
The smell... is amazing. All day your house will smell amazing.

After about 8 hours, knife the cabbage into thick wedges. I have to cut a little smaller to get it all to fit.
Then, let it cook on Low for 1.5 hours.
Then, serve with malt vinegar.
I have no after pics... we ate it too quickly!

How do you make your corned beef and cabbage? I'm always looking for new ways to make it even better.

Now for the obligatory pics of a cutie pie:

This was W's outfit yesterday. Hard to believe he's going to be 2 on Monday!

This morning he discovered he could stretch his t-shirt over his knees and look silly.

In Christ,

Julie