Soup to Dutts

I turn 29 tomorrow. I really, really love my birthday. I still count down the days like I did when I was a kid. Even this year, while I'm fighting a nasty sinus infection and probably won't do much of anything tomorrow, I'm beside myself with anticipation. I just can't help myself. This year I'm feeling especially reflective. As I embark on the last year of my 20s, I've been thinking a lot about my 20th birthday. I was a junior at Clemson, and I spent the night in the library, working on a paper that was due the next morning. Truth be told, I didn't feel much like celebrating that particular birthday. I was not at all excited about turning 20. It seemed like I was surrounded by people who'd had all these amazing life experiences, and I hadn't done much of anything. At least that's what I told myself. Well, here I am, nine years older, and I still haven't learned how to snowboard. I've never been to Europe, or even to the West Coast.

You guys. It's November . I realize that I'm a little late to the party, since we're already two weeks in, but still! Where has this year gone?! Anyway, November also means that Offtime October is over. I have allowed myself to reenter the world of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. The only thing is...I kinda haven't wanted to. I've gotten back on most those sites, liked some of my friends' posts, and even made a few posts of my own, but most of the time I'm just not into it like I was before. You see, October was a very productive month for me, and I attribute much of that to not wasting time on social media. Here are just some of the things I did in October: started and finished reading two books, and made good progress on some others rearranged the furniture in the den (with tremendous help from my husband), a project I'd been wanting to tackle for months spent a lot more quality time with the Little Cute Girl, including watchi

I've decided to take a break from social media for the entire month of October. Until November 1, I will not check Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter. I may post from time to time when there's an update here on the blog, but other than that, nothing. I've removed the apps from my Nexus so I won't even be receiving notifications. Lately I've just become keenly aware of how much time I waste on social media. That's precious time that I could be spending on other things that are more important and more worthwhile. So, here are some things I hope to do with my newfound spare time this month... Get more steps. At the end of almost every day now, my Fitbit looks up at me with these sad, pitiful eyes. (No, really...I have the Flex model, which shows me my progress throughout the day by lighting up one dot for every 2,000 steps I've taken. Most days, I only have two little dots, and I think they look like sad, pitiful eyes.) I really want to get more acti

Around 9:30 on Monday morning, I started hearing a weird noise, kind of a high-pitched humming. My new-homeowner brain automatically assumed that it was something electrical, so I tried turning off the ceiling fan, but the noise was still there. The washer and dryer were also running, so I turned those off too...still there. I walked all around the house and determined that the noise was coming from somewhere in the living room. The only other thing I could think to check was the closet that houses our HVAC and water heater. I poked my head into the closet, but I couldn't really hear the noise from in there. The more I listened to it, the more I thought it sounded like it was coming from somewhere above my head. So I texted Tom saying, "There's a weird noise in the living room. I think it's coming from the attic." When Tom got home, he Googled it and tried a few different things, including switching off the circuit breaker for the living room, but nothing wor

Yes, I am from the South, but that might be the only time you'll ever hear me use the word "y'all." So...it's officially fall! According to the calendar, that is. The weather forecast would say otherwise; I think the high today was somewhere around 85. But whatever, I'm welcoming fall anyway, mostly with food and drink. I've already had a pumpkin spice latte and some pumpkin pie ice cream. I've made a batch of pumpkin spice muffins and some pumpkin white chocolate chip cookies. And there's not just pumpkin; I also made a pot of what I call "cheater chili" for dinner this evening. Chili is most definitely a fall/winter food! Super easy, super good...will post the recipe later this week. But besides eating and drinking to welcome fall, I've also been doing a little bit of fall decorating around the house, starting with... ...my favorite fall wreath! My mom got this wreath for us from a coworker who makes them, and

The Little Cute Girl has another cold. There are, of course, plenty of downsides to having a sick child. She and I missed church on Sunday morning. She has a complete meltdown every time I wipe her nose, which is quite often. Oh, and trying to get her to eat her vegetables is even more difficult than usual. However, I have discovered that there are also some niceties. I've been using the Nosefrida on the LCG a lot, and you know how I feel about that. She's also been taking some extra-long naps, which have allowed me to get a lot more than usual done around the house. But the best part? The snuggling. When she woke up on Sunday morning, I discovered that her diaper had leaked all over her pajamas and her sleep sack, so I threw them in the wash. I figured the sleep sack would be clean and dry in time for her nap, which she usually doesn't take until mid-afternoon. But at 11 AM, she was rubbing her eyes and acting lethargic. I then decided that it was going to be a two-na

1. Did anyone watch the Clemson-Louisville game on Thursday night? Tom and I were there! Some dear friends of ours have U of L season tickets, and they invited us to come cheer on the Tigers. I hope they didn't regret that decision after the Tigers beat the Cardinals, 20-17. Regardless of the outcome of the game, I think a good time was had by all. I'm kicking myself for not taking any pictures at the game, but here's a picture of my ticket, in case you don't believe that I was actually there... 2. I haven't had a decent night's sleep since last Tuesday or Wednesday. A lot of late nights combined with a lot on my mind. So if anything in this post doesn't make sense, blame it on that. 3. Autocorrect on my Nexus just tried to change "doesn't" to "clean." See, that would've been something that didn't make sense, but you couldn't have blamed that on my lack of sleep. Or maybe you could have, like I was so tired th

Phew, it has been a busy past few days! Ever since getting back from vacation, we've been running around like chickens with their heads cut off, but I couldn't let a certain anniversary pass without at least mentioning it. Monday marked 30 years since the debut of my all-time favorite show, The Golden Girls ! Who could've guessed that a show about four old ladies would become such a huge hit? Even now, The Golden Girls has a huge fan base, particularly among young people, interestingly enough. (Wait a minute...when I said "young people," I was thinking of people my age, but it just occurred to me that I may not qualify as a young person anymore. I mean, I'm almost as old as the show is. Well...just indulge me this time, will ya?) It's hard to pinpoint the exact time that I began to love The Golden Girls . I've always liked it, even when I was too young to understand some of the jokes; but I think my appreciation for it really took off sometime in h

We're in Charleston visiting my family this week, and I've made a very interesting discovery about the Little Cute Girl... She is fearless when it comes to water. We went to the beach on Wednesday, and she crawled right into the water and started splashing around. Then she crawled in a little deeper... And a little deeper... Eventually we had to grab her and pull her back; otherwise I think she would've kept going until she was submerged. Then yesterday, we went to Waterfront Park and let her play in the Pineapple Fountain. We put her on the first step, thinking she'd just sit there and splash (given our experience at the beach the day before, I have no idea why we would think that), but she leaned forward like she was just going to crawl further into the fountain. This resulted in a face-plant right in the water, which completely terrified me but barely fazed her at all. Tom pulled her out immediately, but then she tried to do it again! I never learned ho

I have to confess: There are some Christians whom I just flat-out don't like. It usually just boils down to having differences in our personalities (not actual sin issues that require me to call these people out), but the differences with some people are so pronounced that I sometimes can't even stand to be in the same room with them. If that makes me an imperfect Christian, so be it. News flash: There's no other kind. There's one particular person with whom I've really had a hard time lately. I've come to dread the thought of even being around them, much less having a conversation with them. Sometimes I see their name in my Facebook news feed, and my eye starts twitching. Yes, really. I was thinking about this person's most recent (perceived) transgression the other day while having my Quiet Time. I felt like my mind had been wrestling with the Holy Spirit over this for days; I knew that I was called to love this person, but my distaste for them had be

There is FOOTBALL on my television as we speak. Granted, it's the yuckola Gamecocks, but hey, I'll take whatever I can get. This offseason was insanely long. Or maybe it just felt that way to me. (Seems like my child is as excited about this as I am.) I love pro football too, but college football will always have a special place in my heart. It's just a different atmosphere. Some of my fondest college memories involve standing in the bleachers in Clemson Memorial Stadium on a chilly fall evening, cheering on the Tigers alongside my friends. Maybe this past offseason felt longer than usual because I didn't actually watch much football last year. Not only was I tending to a newborn, but we also didn't have cable last year. Well, this year, the little cute girl is on a somewhat regular schedule, and we have something called Sling TV, which is just a few select channels (like ESPN, ESPN2, and Food Network) for a low monthly fee. So, bring on the football!

Welp, remember that cold I mentioned my daughter having last week? She passed it on to Tom over the weekend, and now it's my turn. My throat feels like it's covered with fire ants, and my nose is like a leaky faucet. Man...when's that motherly immunity going to kick in? When I was growing up, my mom almost never got sick. Everyone else in the house could have been coughing up a lung or sneezing their brains out, and Mom wouldn't even get the sniffles. Actually, come to think of it, now that I'm a mom myself, I wonder if she really did get sick but just never told anyone. That's kinda what I've been trying to do... Speaking of my mom, I've been thinking about her a lot since yesterday, when I first started feeling cold symptoms. She always did so much to take care of me when I wasn't feeling well. I especially remember the food and drink she'd give me; there were certain things I could always count on eating and drinking whenever I was si

In honor of Tom's birthday, here's an A-to-Z list of things about him! Ambitious . He's not afraid to dream big and go after those dreams. Books. He loves to read and always has a long list of books in his reading queue. Cute. Well, he is. Disciplined. There is just no better word for someone who can juggle all of his responsibilities and do all of them as well as he does. The disciplined way in which he manages his time never ceases to amaze me. Eggs . I think he would agree that, between the two of us, I'm the cook in our home, but his scrambled eggs always turn out better than mine. Friend. He's a good friend to a lot of people, and he's still my best friend after all these years. Guinea pig. He's the fearless taste-tester of all of my crazy recipes. Hugs. He always gives me a hug when we wake up in the morning. And before he leaves for work. And after he gets home. And pretty much all the time. Integrity. H

Earlier this week, we took a family day trip up to Cincinnati! We desperately needed to replace our sofa, so we went to IKEA. Every time I go there, I'm amazed at the simple but clever design of their products. It's like, forehead-smacking, "that-makes-so-much-sense," "how-come-no-one's-ever-thought-of-that-before" clever. The Swedish, man. They're geniuses. And today I want to rave about another amazing product that hails from Sweden: the NoseFrida. Just before I left my office job to become a full-time mommy, I was showered with tons of baby gifts, including a NoseFrida from my coworker, Stephanie. She gave it to me with the disclaimer that the concept might sound kinda gross, but that I would love it. See, it's an infant nasal aspirator that's designed to be more effective and sanitary than a bulb syringe when it comes to clearing stuffy noses. As you can see from the picture on the box, the pointy end of the blue tube goes in

I've been on a bit of a lemon kick lately. I've been adding lemon essential oil to my drinking water, and yesterday I attempted to make lemon bars for the first time. I made them for my community group meeting which was later that evening, but the bars didn't get eaten because we all decided to meet up for dinner at Chick-fil-A instead. Knowing I wasn't going to get my lemon fix for the day in the way that I'd planned, I decided to finally try CFA's new frosted lemonade, a blend of their yummy lemonade and their also-yummy soft-serve (a.k.a. Icedream ® ). (image from  Chick-fil-A ) I've often thought that Icedream would be great mixed with some other beverage; it's a little more watery than other soft-serves, which made me think that it would blend more smoothly and make the finished product easier to drink. Well, I was right about that! It was fabulous, texture-wise...in other words, I didn't have to make a fish face to drink it through a