It's Official!

After nearly two years (the amount of time you have to complete the program, by the way) I am officially...

A certified yoga teacher!

(You like how I changed my name to Stephanie Banana Republic?  You do, don't you.)

What?  You heard I've been teaching since March, 2011?

Well. 
There's that.

Summer Flying by in an Insta(Gram)

It happens every year.

Day one of summer:

 Rejoicing!  We have forEVER!

July 4: 

What??  It's the fourth of July?  We just finished school, like, yesterday.


Panic ensues. 

Mad amounts of ice cream are consumed. 
Leisurely swims begin to look like triatholon training. 
Bed times get later. 
The house gets messier. 
The firefly population decreases significantly in the backyard.  (Sorry, fireflys, they just get excited while holding you)
More ice cream.
Comments like "I'm tanner than you" are regularly heard.
The bike riding portion of the triatholon heats up.
The librarians begin to expect us daily.
Every flavor at the Caboose has now been sampled.  Mmmm.  Gelato.

Oh yes, and tons of Instagram pictures are being taken...

Weddings

Sox Games

Pedicures

Love

Florida Sunset

Sweet Beach Girl

Beach Photo Shoots

Cousin Time

Daddy Date Nights

 Fireworks

 Swimming

 Swimming

DQ

 Yoga

 Morning Devotion

 Dentist

 More swimming

 Ice Cream

Summer Joy

And we're just getting started...

It is Easy...

At 7:30 am while the house is quiet.

With a steaming cup of hot coffee in my hand.

Sunlight streaks through my curtains warming the chair I sit in.

And in my lap is Sanctuary.

I memorize a verse and take inspiration for the day.

And it is all seems so easy.

I see my day so clearly and I am so calm.

I am present.


I get it.


And then... I go downstairs.

And I become distracted.

I am finding distraction is what keeps me from living life well.  Fully well. 

It is a daily struggle, but I am up to the task. And will conquer.

Eucharisteo.

Tip Tuesday

When traveling home late at night, alone, it is widely regarded as a stupid decision to drive through what is known as a very dangerous neighborhood on a beautiful night. 

I am even one of those people who would regard that as stupid.

But when roads are closed and you just want to get home and you have a momentary mental blank spot on where the road you are choosing actually leads... you become stupid.

And then you wise up.  Real quick like.

And this is what that wising up looks like:


You look around and you feel your cheeks start to burn.

You say a bad word under your breath.

As you roll to the stoplight, of course it's red, you slink down real low in your seat barely peeking out over the steering wheel.

Your palms sweat.

You want to call your husband but are afraid to light up your face with the back light of the phone.

You pray out loud, "Lord please change the light, please change light, please change the light,"  as a low rider pulls up next to you.

Your eyes dart to the sides of the street where men are gathered. 

You actually think to yourself  "I really don't want to be raped or killed tonight." 

You exhale when the light finally changes.

You drive quickly, contemplating blowing every stop sign and light thereafter.

You give in and call your husband saying with quavering voice "Honey, I just want you to know where I am in case something happens."

You listen to your husband say a bad word.

And then you see the end of the scary neighborhood and you don't see anymore scary people lurking on sidewalks and street corners.

Relief.

Praise.

An apology for the bad word.

A little scolding from your husband when you get home.

And a hug, too.

Tip for today: don't be so hurried that you become stupid.

Homemade Maple Syrup

I don't eat a lot of syrup these days. Okay, I don't eat any syrup these days.
I tried sugar free but it doesn't taste good and quite frankly those labels scare me.

For my kids (John included) I make syrup. It's easy and I think it's more delicious then anything you'll find in the store. But then, I've been eating it since I was little. Just like my mom has been eating it since she was little. So, it sort of tastes like home.

And it's very very simple.

Maple Syrup
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
Maple extract
Vanilla extract

Add the sugar and water to a small sauce pan and bring to a boil stirring gently allowing all the sugar to dissolve.
Turn off the flame and allow the simple syrup to begin to cool.
Add in 2 tsp (more if you'd like it darker) each of maple and vanilla and stir to combine.
That's it. And you can easily make smaller batches.

But you won't want to because this will keep wonderfully well in your fridge.

I had a pretty little maple leaf bottle from a dear Aunt in Michigan (not Aunt-i) that looks lovely filled with homemade syrup.

Perfect for a Saturday morning filled with pancakes and sausage!

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Alright.  I made these because the people pinning this recipe were all:

"I LOVE brussel sprouts. 

Roasted brussel sprouts are DELICIOUS! 

Roasted brussel sprouts are going to save the world!"

Actually, no.  That's not true.  I made them because the recipe mentioned serving them with garlic aioli.  And that, my friends, is the only reason I made brussel sprouts.

And truthfully, that is the only reason I ate these brussel sprouts.

Because I discovered what I knew all along: 

Brussel sprouts will not save the world.  They aren't that good.

They do, however, serve as a good delivery vehicle for garlic aioli.

They also photograph really well.



Recipe adapted from Savoring Life with Anna Costa
Brussel Sprouts:
20 Brussel Sprouts, quartered
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 400
Line a baking sheet with parchment and toss the quartered brussel sprouts with the olive oil, salt and pepper until coated.
Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned

Garlic Aioli:
6 Tbs mayo
1/4 tsp finely minced garlic
1 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbs flat leaf parsley finely chopped (I used dried, it was fine)

Mix all your ingredients together and serve alongside your sprouts.

Happy aioli shoveling!

What is That?

Ever get that unsettled feeling? 

You start scanning.

Racing back through your mind...

"Okay.  Okay.  No.  Not that.  Okay.  Yup, I'm good there.  Huh.  What IS it?"

Sometimes I just feel so... so... submerged.

Yes.  That's it. 

Submerged.

I'm underneath all this stuff that keeps perpetually moving me forward.  And it leaves me so unsettled.  Almost with this mid-life crisis-y feel. 

Maybe it's the mundane.

Mundane.

The 'setting up the pins' to just knock them down again.  Sometimes as I stand there washing the millionth dish I'm like "Really?  Really?  They couldn't have put this in the dishwasher before I ran it?"  And then I tell myself "In the grand scheme of things this doesn't matter"  And then myself tells myself "Well, yeah, it kinda does because you could be sitting down at 9:30 at night instead of washing dish number 1 million and one."  And that's when the mundane strikes.  The "Ugh, I'm going to do this all again tomorrow."

And then I day dream. 

About opening an amazing little restaurant in Hawaii. 

Because really.  Shouldn't life be really LIVED.

(And shouldn't you be really tan while doing it?)

And sometimes that is the feeling.  The desire to do something radical.  To live life wide open.

Wide Open.

Unbridled, free, full throttle, passionate.


Who wants to live in Hawaii with me?