reading books aloud

a day in the life, photos, thoughts, words

I started reading Mary Poppins by PL Travers outloud to Clara each night. A chapter a night, we’re now on chapter 3. [As you can see, I use paint samples for my bookmarks. I think this is my favorite one – I love mustardy yellow- but I had misplaced it and only found it when I reread the book I had left it in. This is also a new mug of mine – one of my favorites. From awesome store World Market. And you can’t tell, but in the mug is Abuelita’s hot chocolate.]

But just this afternoon I started another book, which so far seems like it would be a really good read-aloud book too. The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge.

How can you keep sentences like this to yourself? “Wiggins meanwhile pursued with his tongue the taste of the long-since-digested dinner that still lingered among his whiskers.” That right there almost makes me want to grow a beard. Haha, not.

And another gem: “And it was bitterly cold and they had been travelling for what seemed like a century, and still there seemed no sign of their ever getting there.”

As I told Clara, I read it out loud in my head.

…

tea.

a day in the life, words

i like to drink tea when i come in to the office. i drink at least two cups a day, which is probably not the healthiest habit. to depend on the caffeine of black tea. but, oh well.

i went up to c + e to get a teabag of english breakfast from rachael, and then proceeded to make tea in the break room near there. so i pour the hot water (that break room happens to have the fastest water) and you know, am going to put milk and sugar in. no sugar packets. okay, i’ll use the can of sugar, even though it’s not as easy to measure. no spoons. well scratch that, how can i measure how much sugar i use if there’s no spoons? i go down to the upstairs south breakroom, and put in my two sugar packets. stirring it? well, i have to use a knife. no spoons there either, just a note in the drawer asking for them to put more spoons and less knives and forks. milk? there’s a partial jug of milk; at least there’s not none. [i don’t think doing double negatives like that is gramatically correct. oh well.]

but now i sit at my desk in web marketing, drinking my very nice cup of tea. thankfully every cup of tea doesn’t have this much drama attached to it.

and this is why i’m glad that the coffee angels (who are also ninjas) clean and restock the breakrooms each wednesday.

today

a day in the life, thoughts, words

This year I’ve started taking a photo every day and posting it on a blog. Here: eliciamoose2011.wordpress.com. So, enjoy looking. 10 days so far.

And also, a few lists for today.

Sad things:

-when you reach for your cup of tea but it’s empty because you drank it all already

-when you finish the last book of a really good series

-when you can’t find a black pen

Newly discovered things:

-Port Blue by Adam Young

Really good things:

-soup on a cold day

– staying warm when it’s cold out

-french braided hair staying up with only bobby pins

Christmas

a day in the life, photos, words

^ My sisters and I bring Mom and Dad breakfast in the morning. Tea, coffee, muffins.

^ the Christmas tree.

^ This is the candy cane lady. She’s been in the family for as long as I can remember, but she’s been around for a more than that too – her base says 1954.

^ I made this apple pie. And for your information, Betty Crocker makes a better pie crust than Nourishing traditions or those girls from the pie shop in Brooklyn. (whose recipes I’ve used previously.)

^ My super cool camera lens mug from Photojojo.

^ Melissa in all her new winter wear, looking like she stepped out of an Anthropologie ad. [handmade boots + gloves, and scarf and forever 21 headband.]

^ Dad held Riette alot. She’s adorable.

^ A big delicious dinner. It made for delicious leftovers too.

^ At the very end of the evening we went to see Christmas lights. I fell asleep on the drive home.

…

new mexico

photos, stories, thoughts, words

we are driving a rental van this trip, which is rather strange. but there’s this sweet storage space in the floor that Melissa calls the Jew hiding place. On the day we drove to Albuquerque, we ate lunch at Rosa’s Cafe in Amarillo which has been tradition for the last couple years.

^this was our view much of the time.

^the trees actually do turn colors here. it’s beautiful.

^ and yes, in corrales there are signs for horses.

^ the sandia mountains are beautiful.

^ new mexico definitely has cooler and prettier license plates than texas. the normal ones are yellow, but these turquoise centennial ones are nice.

^ we spent the day with my cousin Esther and made these lovely earl grey tea cakes. recipe here.

and even though i have to keep chapstick in my pocket at all times because of the desert climate, being here is worth it.

but still, i feel like texas is my home. that’s where God has called us.

…

this weekend

a day in the life, photos, stories, thoughts, words

…was GFA’s Friday night prayer meeting (which you can now watch online on Tuesdays, and the first Friday of every month! www.gfa.org/prayer)

Good times.

And also good food.

And also taking a family picture. [The way we kept smiling was tickling each other while the self timer counted down.]

Melissa surprised us and came home for the weekend. She cooked us good food, and kept us laughing, and also some of the family went garage saling, which always seems to happen when she’s home.

…

a story of God’s provision

stories, thoughts, words

As many of you know, lately I have been wanting to buy a DSLR camera. Ideally I would get one before we went to New Mexico and before a friend’s wedding, so basically before November.

First, my friends Casey and Eric had the idea to do a raffle to raise money for me buying a camera, with the prize being me doing a photoshoot for someone. It seemed like a great idea and was working out, until we found out that doing a raffle as an individual in Texas was… illegal. So, that door closed.

Second, I started pursuing looking on Craigslist for used cameras, planning to buy one of what I have in savings. God opened doors there – it seemed like it was working out to go that path. I had contacted one guy, in Mansfield who was selling a Nikon D80 and and 18-55mm lens, for $600. But it wasn’t working out smoothly to meet with him, and then, that evening I looked on Craigslist again, because Casey had encouraged me not to get my heart set on one specific camera. And, there was another D80 listed, with an 18-135mm lens, for $100 less! Dad called the guy (who was named Ernie… I thought he would be an old man) and it turned out that he had only had the camera for a few months and then got a D90, and that (this is the best part) he was a worship pastor! We met him after church at his church (also in Mansfield… it seems like I’m fated to buy cameras from people in Mansfield) and now I own a camera!

It’s like Amy’s story of how she got a job… God just dropped the opportunity in her lap, and it turned out to be the perfect one.

Praise the Lord. That’s all I can say.

photos from early fall

photos, words

^ a sunrise

^ one of my favorite things are the morning glories that grow through our fence into the alley

^ this was when we dropped off melissa to go to school at DBU. she really does love it there, she’s just squinting because its bright and i was taking a long time to take the photo.

^ morning glories. really, my family is more successful growing flowers than vegetables.

…

evening downtown

a day in the life, photographic journeys, photos, stories, thoughts, words

This evening some of us girls went to downtown Carrollton, for a ladies chocolate walk they were having. Basically walk around the square, go in all the fun shops, and eat the chocolate samples.

^ really sweet balls of thread at the antique store

^ this picture pretty much sums up clara’s infatuation with owls.

^ a cameo

^ through the viewfinder of a cool toy camera

^ us five girls

^ Summur with the big bag she liked

^ Melissa at Vintage Martini in a big fur coat

^…and me in this ridiculous coat, in which Clara thought I looked like a magician

…

back from india

photographic journeys, photos, stories, thoughts, words

As many of you know, I went to India for two weeks this summer at the end of July. There is so much I could say about it, but it was a spectacular and fabulous and amazing and wonderful and fun trip. I am so glad I was able to go, and to experience another culture. We visited Delhi, Udaipur in Rajasthan, Mumbai, and Kerala.