It's a new year. A new semester is about to begin. And it's a new look for SLOWLY GROWING OLD TOGETHER. After much time away from my blog, I decided it needed a new look/feel and A LOT of focus. I've spent the past three and a half weeks of my winter vacation thinking a lot about focus; not just for my blog, but focus in my life, relationships, activities, and (maybe most importantly) future dissertation research.
The question that I continue to ask myself is: what does it mean to be healthy, wealthy, and wise?
HEALTH
Having recently turned 30 (or celebrated my 30th candycane festival, as Jill has named it) and having a bit of a health scare over the holidays, has forced me to think a lot about my physical health. Diet, exercise, sleep, seeking medical care when needed, and good products to keep away wrinkles and age spots are all important. But I also want a healthy marriage, healthy relationships with my friends, and a healthy community to live in and be apart of.
WEALTH
As a graduate student living off a student stipend, the word wealth is almost funny to say! However, I have been blessed with so much in terms of material goods and I am so grateful for the stipend and scholarship I receive. How do I steward what I have been given well? And not think that I need/deserve more? David and I took a Crown Ministries Financial Bible Study class last spring, which revolutionized the way we look, talk, and budget our money. We've made a budget for the new year and are eager to track our spending and stick to our budget.
But what I have and how much I make is not what makes wealthy...In addition to my money and stuff, I have a wealth of friends and family members who I love. I have a wealth of skills and abilities that I need to put to good use. I want to learn to steward all of these things (money, talents, abilities, relationships) well and be appreciative for all that I have been given.
WISE
As a PhD student, I'm taking in more information than I know what to do with, and I love it. Achieving my goal of getting into graduate school (again) and working towards my PhD has been life-changing. David says I'm blossoming, and I'm beginning to understand what he means. I love what I am studying and am eager to earn more. I want to make the most of my educational experience and become the best epidemiologist I can be. I also want to learn to be a better wife, friend, listener, marathon runner, and hostess, among other things. Wisdom isn't just taught at school.
And so, as I slowly grow old together with David, I hope to share with you my experiences, observations, and lessons learned as I attempt to uncover the true meaning of what it means for me to be healthy, wealthy, and wise.
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. ~Ferris Bueller
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Monday, December 17, 2007
FINALS
One down; two exams to go. And a research prospectus that is due tomorrow at 1pm (coincidentally, my exam tomorrow is also at 1pm).
Today's statistics:
1. One bad dream that I slept until 7:59am and missed all of the trains to Baltimore.
2. Two cups of coffee before 9am (dark: French Roast).
3. Three trips to the library bathroom before noon.
4. Four... number of times I went through my flash cards before my epidemiology final (and I think it paid off; the test went fairly well).
5. Five hours of sleep last night.
Today's statistics:
1. One bad dream that I slept until 7:59am and missed all of the trains to Baltimore.
2. Two cups of coffee before 9am (dark: French Roast).
3. Three trips to the library bathroom before noon.
4. Four... number of times I went through my flash cards before my epidemiology final (and I think it paid off; the test went fairly well).
5. Five hours of sleep last night.
Monday, December 10, 2007
LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT HOME OWNERSHIP
Sometimes we just have to experience things first-hand and then learn from our mistakes. This is what I learned this past week...
On Friday morning I returned home from a run to a house that smelled funny - a combination of smoke/fire and a high school chemistry lab. Noticing that one of the knobs to our gas stove was not exactly in the off position, I attributed the smell to our gas range. I preceded to make myself some tea and sat down in my sunroom with my epidemiology take-home exam. About an hour later, half of the electricity in my house went out (and in some areas of the house, we had a brown out) and my carbon monoxide detector went off. When the CO detector went off, I didn't know what it was at first, but I followed the sound upstairs.
LESSON #1 LEARNED: test home alarm systems when they are installed so you know what they are when they go off. This will be helpful in the event of an emergency.
When I walked into the room with the CO detector, I assumed that the power outage/problem was the reason for the alarm going off. I was wrong! The alarm was beeping and the normally green light had switched to red with a warning "move to fresh air". Not sure what to do next, I unplugged the detector (because it was so loud), found the cat, moved into the bedroom, opened all the windows, and called David. In a word, I panicked.
LESSON #2 LEARNED: Know what to do when house alarms go off or problems occur. Knowing who to call and how to respond is just as important as installing the CO detector. A family plan for how to respond is necessary.
LESSON #3 LEARNED: Husbands do not know everything. And no good can come from you calling them panicked.
As I was on the phone with David, the DC Fire Department pulled up in front of our house; blocking the street with their giant fire truck. I ran outside to find out what was going on... It turns out that one of my neighbors called the fire department because they, too, had a terrible smell in their house and they noticed that smoke was billowing out of a manhole in the middle of our street.
LESSON #4 LEARNED: The fire department, along with the police and EMS, are here to help. When something isn't right, it is better to be safe than sorry. Don't be afraid to call them even if you are unsure about what is going on. In my case, I should not have burning chemicals smell in my house. This is one of those times when calling the fire department is a good/prudent idea
The fire department suspected that there was an electrical burn under our street (all power lines in DC are below ground). To be sure, the firemen came through our house (twice) to investigate the smell and check for hot spots around our fuse box and outlets. Pepco, our local power company, showed up (quite casually, I might add) about an hour and a half later. It was determined that the fire was under the street. It took them more than nine hours to get the problem under control.
When I talked to Pepco about the fumes in my house and my CO alarm going off, I was assured that everything was safe because the Pepco employees don't need to wear protective gear and they work in the fumes every day... this coming from the guy who was smoking less than five feet from the manhole that had smoke coming out of it.
LESSON #5 LEARNED: It is better to have a cold house than a smelly house. I aired our house out for another 45 minutes and then left for the afternoon. When I returned we still did not have power (which means no heat), but the smell was almost gone.
On Friday morning I returned home from a run to a house that smelled funny - a combination of smoke/fire and a high school chemistry lab. Noticing that one of the knobs to our gas stove was not exactly in the off position, I attributed the smell to our gas range. I preceded to make myself some tea and sat down in my sunroom with my epidemiology take-home exam. About an hour later, half of the electricity in my house went out (and in some areas of the house, we had a brown out) and my carbon monoxide detector went off. When the CO detector went off, I didn't know what it was at first, but I followed the sound upstairs.
LESSON #1 LEARNED: test home alarm systems when they are installed so you know what they are when they go off. This will be helpful in the event of an emergency.
When I walked into the room with the CO detector, I assumed that the power outage/problem was the reason for the alarm going off. I was wrong! The alarm was beeping and the normally green light had switched to red with a warning "move to fresh air". Not sure what to do next, I unplugged the detector (because it was so loud), found the cat, moved into the bedroom, opened all the windows, and called David. In a word, I panicked.
LESSON #2 LEARNED: Know what to do when house alarms go off or problems occur. Knowing who to call and how to respond is just as important as installing the CO detector. A family plan for how to respond is necessary.
LESSON #3 LEARNED: Husbands do not know everything. And no good can come from you calling them panicked.
As I was on the phone with David, the DC Fire Department pulled up in front of our house; blocking the street with their giant fire truck. I ran outside to find out what was going on... It turns out that one of my neighbors called the fire department because they, too, had a terrible smell in their house and they noticed that smoke was billowing out of a manhole in the middle of our street.
LESSON #4 LEARNED: The fire department, along with the police and EMS, are here to help. When something isn't right, it is better to be safe than sorry. Don't be afraid to call them even if you are unsure about what is going on. In my case, I should not have burning chemicals smell in my house. This is one of those times when calling the fire department is a good/prudent idea
The fire department suspected that there was an electrical burn under our street (all power lines in DC are below ground). To be sure, the firemen came through our house (twice) to investigate the smell and check for hot spots around our fuse box and outlets. Pepco, our local power company, showed up (quite casually, I might add) about an hour and a half later. It was determined that the fire was under the street. It took them more than nine hours to get the problem under control.
When I talked to Pepco about the fumes in my house and my CO alarm going off, I was assured that everything was safe because the Pepco employees don't need to wear protective gear and they work in the fumes every day... this coming from the guy who was smoking less than five feet from the manhole that had smoke coming out of it.
LESSON #5 LEARNED: It is better to have a cold house than a smelly house. I aired our house out for another 45 minutes and then left for the afternoon. When I returned we still did not have power (which means no heat), but the smell was almost gone.
Friday, November 30, 2007
BUILDING TRADITIONS
It's been a little over a week since David and I hosted our first real Thanksgiving dinner. I say 'real' because we actually hosted Thanksgiving right before we got married, but we hosted in my basement apartment on Capitol Hill on a card-table my parents brought from Pittsburgh. This Thanksgiving was the first at our new home with our wonderful dining room table.
Since my courtship with David was such a whirlwind - 9 months of dating and 5 months being engaged - we didn't have time to establish many traditions before we got married. In the nearly two years that we've been married, we've put some thought into what traditions we want for our family. So far the traditions are few and far between. We celebrate Easter with a seafood dinner (have had three together so far), and Thursday nights are ALWAYS date night.
Several events took place during our Thanksgiving weekend that we'd like to keep as traditions... First, pizza is the ideal meal to have the night before Thanksgiving. It is easy to make, is unlike anything that will be eaten on Thanksgiving, leftovers can be wrapped in Al foil, and there will be someone in the house willing to have a slice for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning.
We also hope that spending time on the Mall over the holiday weekend becomes a tradition. We took my parents and grandmother for a walk around the Mall on Thanksgiving morning and enjoyed the spring-like 70 degree weather. We returned to the Mall on Friday, and it was COLD. We spent most of the afternoon in the natural history museum. The highlight of the museum was the 3-D movie Seamonsters. Here are a few pictures...(yes, that is my father hiding in the bushes!)
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As for Christmas traditions, we are planning to take Christmas cookies and candy to all of our neighbors. I'm also planning on taking some to the train conductors during finals week. I'm also hoping that we can spend an evening at the National Botanical Gardens. We went last year to see the Christmas decorations at night and it was wonderful. If we do it again this year, does that make it a family tradition?
Since my courtship with David was such a whirlwind - 9 months of dating and 5 months being engaged - we didn't have time to establish many traditions before we got married. In the nearly two years that we've been married, we've put some thought into what traditions we want for our family. So far the traditions are few and far between. We celebrate Easter with a seafood dinner (have had three together so far), and Thursday nights are ALWAYS date night.
Several events took place during our Thanksgiving weekend that we'd like to keep as traditions... First, pizza is the ideal meal to have the night before Thanksgiving. It is easy to make, is unlike anything that will be eaten on Thanksgiving, leftovers can be wrapped in Al foil, and there will be someone in the house willing to have a slice for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning.
We also hope that spending time on the Mall over the holiday weekend becomes a tradition. We took my parents and grandmother for a walk around the Mall on Thanksgiving morning and enjoyed the spring-like 70 degree weather. We returned to the Mall on Friday, and it was COLD. We spent most of the afternoon in the natural history museum. The highlight of the museum was the 3-D movie Seamonsters. Here are a few pictures...(yes, that is my father hiding in the bushes!)
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As for Christmas traditions, we are planning to take Christmas cookies and candy to all of our neighbors. I'm also planning on taking some to the train conductors during finals week. I'm also hoping that we can spend an evening at the National Botanical Gardens. We went last year to see the Christmas decorations at night and it was wonderful. If we do it again this year, does that make it a family tradition?
Monday, November 19, 2007
PHOTOS ONLINE
It only took me three months...I have finally organized the pictures from our trip to Taiwan. You can watch the slideshow here or visit my online photo album. There are a lot of food pictures. This is what happens when you are married to a 'foodie'. The food pictures fall into three main categories - Buddhist vegetarian (read: food that looks like meat, but is WHEAT), Taiwanese BBQ, and shrimp.
This past weekend I spent a lot of time studying. I had to complete an epidemiology take-home quiz on Saturday and then had to study for a statistics exam, which was this morning. Only one class left (epidemiology on Wednesday AM) before the Thanksgiving holiday. I'm really looking forward to four days without classes, and it will be fun having my parents and grandma in town for the holiday (hosting makes me feel very grown up!).
Tonight David and I are going to do our Thanksgiving dinner grocery shop (minus the seafood, which we won't get until Thursday). My parents and grandmother arrive on Wednesday. I'm planning to make homemade pizza (using Jill's crust recipe) on Wednesday. We'll have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday (minus the pumpkin pie because no one in my family seems to like it). We'll be having apple crisp instead (another recipe from Jill). Friday is my dad's birthday. David is putting together a menu for a celebratory birthday dinner and our friend, Harriet, is planning to join us for the evening.
Luckily I am feeling rather domestic right now (I'll use anything as an excuse to not study!)...
This past weekend I spent a lot of time studying. I had to complete an epidemiology take-home quiz on Saturday and then had to study for a statistics exam, which was this morning. Only one class left (epidemiology on Wednesday AM) before the Thanksgiving holiday. I'm really looking forward to four days without classes, and it will be fun having my parents and grandma in town for the holiday (hosting makes me feel very grown up!).
Tonight David and I are going to do our Thanksgiving dinner grocery shop (minus the seafood, which we won't get until Thursday). My parents and grandmother arrive on Wednesday. I'm planning to make homemade pizza (using Jill's crust recipe) on Wednesday. We'll have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday (minus the pumpkin pie because no one in my family seems to like it). We'll be having apple crisp instead (another recipe from Jill). Friday is my dad's birthday. David is putting together a menu for a celebratory birthday dinner and our friend, Harriet, is planning to join us for the evening.
Luckily I am feeling rather domestic right now (I'll use anything as an excuse to not study!)...
Sunday, November 11, 2007
GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN
Saturday evening Andrea, Angie, and I hosted a ladies dessert and game night at my house. We invited the past and present females who have led the youth group at our church and the moms of the youth. In all 12 ladies showed up - more moms than leaders - and we had such a fun time.
We started the evening off with hot drinks, chips, and several rounds of Catch-Phrase. We then took a break for ice-cream sundaes and more hot drinks before playing a round of "date, dump, or marry" and Phyllis' Bowl Game. I would like to point out that I don't actually own the "date, dump, or marry" game. We, being the crafty people that we are, put together our own list of men and played the game with that. The night was filled with a lot of laughter, which was so good for my soul. One of the highlights of the evening, for me, was hearing one of the moms ask when we were going to do this again. That is definitely a mark of good party.
I loved that I was able to host the event at our house. It is such a gift to share our space with others and to fill the whole home with laughter. Additionally, since we served ice-cream sundaes, I got to use my separated crystal dish for the hot fudge and caramel sauces.
My Grandma Smullin gave me this dish at my Pittsburgh wedding shower. With the gift came a note from my grandmother reminding me of her promise to me years ago that she would give me the dish (which I love) when I got married. Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to use the dish since my Pittsburgh shower (which was just about two years ago). It was so wonderful getting the dish out and then sharing the card from my grandmother with all the ladies at the party. Plus it the PERFECT for serving two sauces.
The dish, pictured here filled with homemade hot fudge sauce (also Grandma's recipe, which she kindly shared before I got married!) and caramel sauce, surrounded by brownies, ice-cream, strawberries and other sundae toppings. Yummy!!!! Angie is the one digging into the ice-cream in the background.
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In other news, I have one exam and a quiz before the Thanksgiving holiday. I'm so looking forward to the LONG weekend away from school. The end of November/beginning of December is going to be full of papers, quizzes, exams, and homework. I plan to work hard, but also make time to make Christmas cookies and candy, address Christmas cards, SHOP, enjoy the parties and other festivities, and celebrate my 30th birthday.
David and I are hosting Thanksgiving next week! My mom, dad, and grandmother are coming into town for the holiday. And we have some DC friends planning to join us, too. For all of you out there wondering about whether or not the vegetarians will be serving turkey, the answer is yes. We will be making a turkey breast and also serving some sort of shrimp dish (for those of us not planning to eat the turkey). And we'll be making a veggie-friendly gravy so that it can be enjoyed by all!
We started the evening off with hot drinks, chips, and several rounds of Catch-Phrase. We then took a break for ice-cream sundaes and more hot drinks before playing a round of "date, dump, or marry" and Phyllis' Bowl Game. I would like to point out that I don't actually own the "date, dump, or marry" game. We, being the crafty people that we are, put together our own list of men and played the game with that. The night was filled with a lot of laughter, which was so good for my soul. One of the highlights of the evening, for me, was hearing one of the moms ask when we were going to do this again. That is definitely a mark of good party.
I loved that I was able to host the event at our house. It is such a gift to share our space with others and to fill the whole home with laughter. Additionally, since we served ice-cream sundaes, I got to use my separated crystal dish for the hot fudge and caramel sauces.
My Grandma Smullin gave me this dish at my Pittsburgh wedding shower. With the gift came a note from my grandmother reminding me of her promise to me years ago that she would give me the dish (which I love) when I got married. Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to use the dish since my Pittsburgh shower (which was just about two years ago). It was so wonderful getting the dish out and then sharing the card from my grandmother with all the ladies at the party. Plus it the PERFECT for serving two sauces.The dish, pictured here filled with homemade hot fudge sauce (also Grandma's recipe, which she kindly shared before I got married!) and caramel sauce, surrounded by brownies, ice-cream, strawberries and other sundae toppings. Yummy!!!! Angie is the one digging into the ice-cream in the background.
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In other news, I have one exam and a quiz before the Thanksgiving holiday. I'm so looking forward to the LONG weekend away from school. The end of November/beginning of December is going to be full of papers, quizzes, exams, and homework. I plan to work hard, but also make time to make Christmas cookies and candy, address Christmas cards, SHOP, enjoy the parties and other festivities, and celebrate my 30th birthday.
David and I are hosting Thanksgiving next week! My mom, dad, and grandmother are coming into town for the holiday. And we have some DC friends planning to join us, too. For all of you out there wondering about whether or not the vegetarians will be serving turkey, the answer is yes. We will be making a turkey breast and also serving some sort of shrimp dish (for those of us not planning to eat the turkey). And we'll be making a veggie-friendly gravy so that it can be enjoyed by all!
Sunday, November 4, 2007
KEVIN, THESE ARE FOR YOU...
Pictures from my wedding - Bethann, Andrea, me, Mom, Becky, and Angie. Small people in front are Elizabeth and Rachel.
And here is A.B.B.A (Andrea, Becky L, Becky SD, and Angie) with Rachel T. and Janelle.
And here is A.B.B.A the morning Becky L left DC in May.
And this is my "cat cam"...
And here is A.B.B.A (Andrea, Becky L, Becky SD, and Angie) with Rachel T. and Janelle.
And here is A.B.B.A the morning Becky L left DC in May.
And this is my "cat cam"...
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