flash back to november 2006

I was in need of a couch. I was in a sad place in life. (relatively for me, I should say. clearly my level of sad doesn't even compare to many other horrible things going on in the world. but anyway...)

And my fabulous amazing friend, my dear Mary Alise, took me to Richmond. You can read about the full encounter here. It was during this trip that I bought my most favoritest-est-est shoes I own (see their cameo in my October is Awesome series?) and, even more importantly, found the couch of my dreams.

Okay, that miiiiight be a bit much. I mean, I know I sound doubtful in the post--but it was doubtful about spending the cash, not doubtful about the couch.

But now? Now, four years and four months later, that couch resides in our humble abode. Officially. We registered for it and asked for gift cards for our wedding. In July we actually went to sit on it when we visited Renee and Mike in Atlanta (and Jessica and Cody were there too!) and Matt fully gave the thumbs up.

We got swatches. We waited. And waited. And used our C&B registry coupon to lower the price of set couch when we finally ordered it in November.


And now? It's here! And it's Hazel approved, see? :)

I love love LOVE it. I was so worried I wouldn't like it in that space, but it is GORGEOUS there. I love how it's leggy. I love how you can see more of our adorably cute rug from the dining area and the kitchen. That really makes me happy.

And it is SO much better than our old couch. It's great that the fabric is darker, that it looks better in the room, that it's wider so we could even fit four people on it if we wanted, and, for me, the best part is that it means you can see our rug from the back side too! (excuse the turned up corner!)

Some time I will also have to show you our couch that we bought from Nicole and Dave--it's light blue microsuede and a sleeper and totally cute. It's in our "basement" along with two other couches that will soon be departing from our home--one is a 7+-year-old Ike@ Klipp@n loveseat that was used when I got it, and the other Michelle and I got for $85 from one of our neighbors many years ago.

They both did their job, but neither is in great shape and we have definitely gone from the hand-me-down/used/will-do-for-now look to a much better, more grown up look. Our house is starting to look like we are actual grownups. Hurrah! :)

Now I must decide--do I recover my accent chairs? Do I buy new ones? I think I need to start looking at fabrics. And I think I need to make some accent pillows!

operation: decide to eat mushrooms.

is, so far, marginally successful. as in, I have not yet decided that I won't ever eat them again.

on monday night I made myself a mushroom frittata. I only had red onions so I used those instead of white or yellow. and I also made myself some mushroom crostinis. I got to use the delicious cheese from the farmer's market (whose name I cannot currently recall) and it was pretty good.

I also tried a bite of the mushroom raw--and though the flavor and texture of a shiitake is far superior to whatever it is that comes on frozen pizzas, I've got to say I'm still not totally convinced. Let's just say I still won't be ordering anything "marsala" anytime soon. :)

BUT because I know mushrooms are very good for you, and your immune system, and because I think that they can save the world (hello, mushrooms for bioremediation--e.g. cleaning oil fields!), I am going to try again. And, to further commit myself to trying (even if it means cooking the mushrooms and breaking out ye old m@gic bullet and making them into a paste so the texture doesn't plague me so) I am going to grow my own.

I will be purchasing one of these bad boys. When we get a real house perhaps I will even incorporate some of these into my gardening. We shall see.

Any mushroom recipes y'all want to share?

"I'm gonna run right up this hill..."

"summer sky or winter chill." ~mindy gledhill

let's be clear--that running thing is a metaphor. I'm not going to actually be running. because, as you may know, I don't run unless there's a ball involved. or, I suppose, someone is chasing me. :)

anyhoo, my dear friend renee introduced me to this song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URR_4i5gIFU&feature=player_embedded and I love it.

so, let's do a "1.5 weeks after lent began" update.

the good: I've been very very good about avoiding the word "busy."

the bad: I haven't been so good about that whole exercising thing. I was SO GOOD for three consecutive days. but then I had a weekend with a fabulous bridal shower followed by a one year old's bday party followed by a St Patty's night out. And the next day I had three photoshoots. And the last thing I wanted to do was exercise.

and then? well, then I got lazy. I actually did exercise on St Patty's Day (don't judge!)--I think that dancing to 4 (or was it 5) wii dance song things totally counts. I broke a sweat and I was a little sore the next day. :)

And then we walked yesterday. So....that brings me to 5 times of exercising. We have, what, 34 days left. I need to exercise 25 of those 34 days. Looks like I'll be walking or visiting the gym when we're in Ohio and Florida!

on the positive side: I'm exercising tonight and I already have plans to go to the Power Yoga class at work during my lunch tomorrow. SO I will knock out two more days that way. :D

also, this weekend? me and Durham? yeah, we got hitched. You can see lots of pictures here but I've uploaded some of my faves below. Basically, this event involved local beer, food trucks and a commitment to the fabulous city in which I live--to take care of it, to say nice things about it, to elect responsible officials and hold them to their promises. Oh, and to shop locally when you can.

We TOTALLY do all of those things already. But now it's official :) You commit to do so as long as you live in Durham (and, I imagine, as long as you hold Durham in your heart, which I'm sure I always will).

Fr@nk St@sio from The St@te of Things was there, and Jennifer and I got a picture. He's the one with the Bull horns. And when the marriage ceremony called for a ring? Yep, they put a bull ring on his nose! Ha! That's some Fullste@m beer you're seeing here AND the food truck with the eyes and top hat? Yep, that's my very favorite one, Kl@usie's pizza. I would drive for an hour to eat their pizza! MMMM! Also, please note Matt's funny note on Fullste@m's bar--"If we get divorced I get the ballpark." The "more cowbell" is also his doing. He makes me giggle.

anyway--the pictures. feast.your.eyes. :D

a few other highlights from the pictures--that's Jennifer and me doing the hokey pokey, and that's our dear friend Camper at Fullste@m. Thought Jen and I were quite sad that all of the first frost persimmon beer was gone (despite being mentioned TWICE on their chalkboard) he hooked us up with some red pepper hefeweizen (which was sold out for good before 8pm) and gave us a beer on the house, even. I told him he was a fantastic salesperson. Because he is. That man featured in the picture? Bought the same beer we had. And I bet he loved it, too.

and, on a totally-unrelated-but-still exciting note, tonight once I'm home and it's dinner time I'm doing something I've never done before--cooking with mushrooms. you might know that I'm the girl who says "I'll eat pretty much anything without mushrooms or mayonnaise." But today, I'm going to enjoy some local shiitake mushrooms. I am planning on having a frittata today and we'll have pasta with mushrooms another day this week. WHOA! watch out world, Carrie is eating mushrooms. voluntarily. :)

ps: yay for the longest post I've written in a loooooong while. and with pictures! (pats self on back)

I feel like I always give up something weird for Lent.

and by weird I really mean "unconventional." and no offense to you chocolate/wine/caffeine giver-uppers out there (because really? QUITE a commitment and sacrifice, imho), but it gave me great validation last year when my pastor's sermon was about how in an ideal world, he believes that the very most worthwhile lenten offering is something that's a part of a permanent lifestyle change for you.

and as the girl who has given up worrying, over-scheduling, the word "like," and my temper, and who has chosen to decrease her carbon footprint, this was music to my ears. I mean, it's not like I ever thought "what could I do differently for 40 days that might make a significant change in my life?" Instead I just thought "what's a source of frustration, or what could I improve upon, or what would make me happier?" And it's not like I have 100% or even 50% succeeded at these things.

but I've made a start. and that is all that matters to me.

so this year? this year is a double whammy because I think one will be kind of easy, but it's also really important to me.

I realize that there is a word that I hear EVERY day. Often, many times a day. And it makes me crazy. People use it to describe everything. How they are, what they've been up to, how their weekend was. That word, friends, is "busy." And I'm going to try not to use it anymore, or very seldom, anyway.

It's a word with negative connotations and it's keeping us from actually really conversing, and I just hate that. We just say "things have been busy" and move on. So, yeah. And with that, of course, comes changing things in my life so "busy" isn't such an appropriate description--but that's not an official part of it, just a tertiary goal.

The other thing is about exercise. Sometimes I am very good about this. Sometimes I am not. Which is fine. I'm a healthy weight, all of my stats are good (they recently checked) and all that jazz. And I generally eat very well and I've gotten much better about taking my vitamins.

Wen I have something like softball going on, I'm definitely good about exercising. The rest of the time it's harder. I mean, earlier this month I exercised five days in a row, skipped a day and then exercised two more. And then stopped.

So, my other is exercising. My goal is to exercise 30 times over lent. It might be spending time on the elliptical, it might be yoga, it might be walking the 1.5 mile path in our neighborhood one evening. Any of these count. But yes. 30 times before Easter, at a minimum. That's going to be a little challenging since I'm out of town for at least ten days between now and then--but hotels have gyms or have lighted places to walk. So. We'll see. I think I can, I think I can....


happy mardi gras everyone!

it seems all of the pictures I've taken recently have either been of food or my cats.

no seriously.

look: monday's dinner. it was AMAZING. I will share the recipe. mmmmm salmon.

wednesday's lunch.

sunday's brunch.

and hazel. in a basket.

I had this whole other post in my head, but as I'm heading to like four hours of meetings in five minutes (okay, two and a half hours of meetings) I'm'akeepingitshort.