Category Archives: okieOLIO
big news deserves a party
i’ve been working on a little project lately, one that’s kept me busy — inside and out — for the past five months.
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WE’RE HAVING A BABY!! (the obvious has to be stated shouted.)
through nearly six years of marriage, God has brought lee & i through ups and downs and developed our relationship into a “us” that gets better all the time. we worked through our initial parental hesitations and i faced my personal struggles, and we left the rest up to Him. His timing is perfect, as usual.
it’s been fun to share the news with family and friends personally, and enjoy each individual reaction and celebration periodically over the last few months. the first trimester was a breeze, with little to no morning sickness and normal energy levels. lee and i have spent the first half of the second trimester waiting eagerly for the emergence of a real pregnant belly. finally, this week, it feels like my baby bulge became a bona fide baby bump!
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we’ve been so anxious to find out if we are having a boy or girl, because referring to our unborn child as “the baby” was getting old, and “it’ was banned from discussions about our little bean. (lee coined “himher” as our preferred pronoun). i was hoping for a boy, but completely happy with the thought of a little girl to grow up alongside her cousin caris.
when it came time to discover the gender of our offspring, we wanted to share the news with our family and closest friends in person, just as we had with revealing the existence of the new life. because gender reveal parties are so popular right now, i had no shortage of adorable inspiration via the internet and pinterest. it was fun to piece together bits i liked with my own ideas.
i went with a black & white theme to highlight the Big Question, and served snacks to satisfy a variety of food cravings (one symptom of pregnancy i have definitely experienced).
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“salty” popcorn, black & white candy, and “chewy” chocolate marshmallows
“sour” pickle olive cheese rolls, “crunchy” chips & black bean dip, and “sweet” oreos
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i love any excuse to gather with my favorite people, but this occasion felt extra-special. i’m so grateful that we have supportive family and friends who love to celebrate life’s milestones with us.
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although only one of us likes surprises ( 
), i talked lee into letting the Big Reveal come with festive flair among our loved ones rather than a simple statement from an unfamiliar ultrasound technician. he loves me.
my dad came with us to view the sonogram and collect the pertinent intel, and then prepped the party reveal. waiting was hard, but totally worth it, in my opinion.
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after reading aloud the creative variety of name suggestions and taking the old wives tales survey to determine the “likely” gender, the party decorations became the revealing apparatus. everyone had a string to pull and their own shower of confetti!
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IT’S A BOY! — IT’S A BOY! — IT’S A BOY! — IT’S A BOY! — IT’S A BOY!
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our little man is due to arrive in late october, and we can’t wait to meet him.
saturday summary – the full week
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this saturday has been so full that my weekly summary is bit late – after working in my hometown all week, my whole family rolled in for the weekend (17 of us from 3 different states) for a way-too-short visit (it always is). this evening i had a blast at megan’s book release party. it was wonderful to be among old friends and celebrate our new oklahoma author. i loved when she read a short passage – it was fun to hear an excerpt of the book in megan’s own voice.
i finally got around to trying this savory, veggie-filled egg muffins recipe. it was so simple and tasty, but they didn’t reheat as well as i’d hoped. kinda eliminated the idea of making them as an easy take-a-long breakfast option.
we celebrated my titu‘s 92nd birthday this week with almost all of her kids and grandkids present. she was thrilled with her birthday present: an new iPad! now she can skype with her family and browse our facebook pages and look photos we email to her and play sudoku… “ooh, everyone’s going to be jealous of me!” you have no idea, titu.
this thursday an event focused on foster care, the 8308 Conference, will be held at journey church in norman. 8308 is the number of children who were in OKDHS custody on january 1st of this year. the event is designed to help connect Oklahoma faith communities with resources and information to help members become involved with and aid children in the state’s foster care program. the conference is free and not just for church leaders — anyone interested in providing support to the foster care program in oklahoma can read more details here and register for the event here.
i love words, even the nonsense ones. the history of the longest nonsensical word was a pretty entertaining read.
this video of cain’s arcade has been making the rounds online, and i have to say, i think it is worth the 10 minutes to watch. what a clever little boy!
i can imagine it would be difficult to come up with creative ways to photograph your children after awhile. one dad is thinking way outside the frame with an assortment of imaginative photos of his daughters (with a little editing trickery, granted).
i have lots of goals for this coming week. wish me luck! i hope you have a productive week as well.
time capsule
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behind this bookcase in an upstairs bedroom of my parents’ house lies a secret time capsule of the first twenty years of my life. it’s home to cherished mementos from milestones of my youth, dating back to the cross-stitched announcement of my birth.
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memories here stretch from tutus to muddy caves, from pacifiers to awkward dates.
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my family lived in the same house from the time i was born until my senior year of high school. during my freshman year of college, my parents finally finished building a gorgeous dream house on 20 acres at the edge of town.
my younger brother and sister were still living at home, and each had their own room in the new house. while it seemed silly to build a room for me, i still wanted a space to call my own when i came “home” during breaks from college. (and a place to put all my stuff, let’s be honest.)
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so they decided to finish out a small, oddly-shaped storage area behind my sister’s bedroom, and designated it my “cubby.” i was thrilled. i requested the hidden door, and was so pleased when the builder created one just like i imagined.
i immediately determined there was no need for tasteful decoration in a secret cubby, and set about plastering the walls with all the pictures, plaques, and keepsakes that had been stashed in drawers and memory boxes in my old room. i nestled all the belongings i couldn’t part with into the wedged corner created by the angle of the roof, and set up my random trinkets on a small bookshelf.
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the map & calendar of my european travels hangs just as it did in my netherlands flat.
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the itty bitty foam couch unfolds into a pad just long enough for my short body, and i used to lie there staring at all my memories and grinning.
the cubby is not really secret, since almost everyone who has been been to the house has seen it, but it remains mostly untouched since i moved my stuff in, with the exception of adding souvenirs from my college years after i moved out of the sorority house. i love that all these things are on display where i can enjoy them any time i visit my family.
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but i know the cubby can’t remain this way forever. eventually i’ll have to claim my stuff and it will all go into boxes where it will take much more effort to browse and reminisce. as i look around at the tokens, big and small, that i’ve collected over the years, i can’t imagine parting with any of it, but know i will have to choose.
the photos here are the beginning of my digital documentation of these keepsakes, so i can store the memories on my computer instead of the attic. the hardest part will be giving up any of the numerous handmade and mod-podged (hello, 90s!) gifts from precious friends.
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prints from a photography class sit wedged behind a row of decoupaged crafts.
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i’ll rescue the personalized boxes because they have the important job of containing other important keepsakes, and i can save the huge mickey mouse i won when i was eight for my (eventual) children. the same goes for my favorite comfort snuggies from way back: benny the bear and pink blankie.
but what about the box of playbills (nearly 50) from every musical i’ve seen in nyc, london, and dallas? what about the stack of trail maps (about 25) from every ski resort i’ve visited? and the large box of letters received over a cumulative eight months at summer kamp? will i really be able to justify making space for these things? there certainly won’t be room for the (shh, don’t tell my husband) boxes of sweet tokens from old boyfriends, homemade rockets from working at flight camp, knickknacks from high school musicals, micky ears from disney world…can you tell i’m a bit of a sentimental packrat?
i’m just going to savor my tiny time machine while it lasts.
saturday summary – the weather week
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i was so hoping that this week would bring sunny skies so that i could take advantage of the mild spring temps to get in some good time tending to my garden while i’m in town (and before the intensity of the summer heat).
instead it has been overcast and rainy most of the week. (not that i don’t welcome the much-needed rain.) when the sun did peek out briefly, i instated a mandatory work-break and hurried outside to soak up the warm rays and work the softened soil in my veggie patch.
thankfully it was beautiful on the date set aside for the one day without shoes campaign – a challenge sponsored by TOMS shoes to raise awareness of the impact a pair of shoes can have on a child’s life. i saw lots of people in okc participating!
spring hasn’t officially arrived in oklahoma until you get the first slew of tornadoes. severe weather descended upon my neck of the woods for real as the weekend approached, and we’re under all kinds of warnings and watches for several days. twister season, commence! (stormy skies photo by joel limpic)
i’m extremely proud and excited for my good friend megan and the release of the book she co-authored: Spirit-Led Parenting: From Fear to Freedom in Baby’s First Year. next saturday there will be a book release party in her honor at studio midtown from 5-7 pm. even if you are not a parent or a Christian, i think you’ll love megan’s sincere approach to faith-based living and parenting. you are all invited to come meet megan, support an okie blogger and author, and buy an autographed book.
a few days ago i posted a blurb on the OLIOsnippits page about photographer joel robison’s series of images portraying the reading experience. book lovers, feast your eyes and imaginations.
i was thrilled when netflix’s streaming service started offering TED talks grouped by subject. now instead of playing old friends or seinfeld episodes in the background when i cook or clean, i soak these inspiring, fascinating, and ingenious short talks back to back. this video of from yves rossy, the “jetman” was particularly exciting to me, because i have always dreamed of flying high and free like a bird.
as someone who loves words precisely because each one is unique in it’s exact meaning and subtle connotations, this article on the thesauraus from lapham’s quarterly was an interesting read. i love the proposition that “there is no such thing as a synonym” while at the same time recognizing the value in an inventory of relationships between the senses of words.
next week i’ll be working in my hometown all week and my titu is thrilled to have me occupy “my chair” beside her for several evenings in a row. at the end of the week more family will be coming to town and we’ll get a chance to celebrate her 92nd birthday! i hope you all get some good family time this week, as well!
saturday summary – the malfunction week
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not to complain (really–nobody likes when i get whiny), but this week has been characterized by technical difficulties. every digital device that i rely on in my daily life decided to cry mutiny this week, so it feels like i spent the majority of my days on the phone with technical support…or on hold.
but other than my electronic frustrations, the week held some really fun moments, too. i stayed an extra day in colorado to take in the mad scene known on snowy slopes everywhere as “gaper day“ (april fools’ day). i’ve just missed it many times before, and was convinced by my brother’s great photos that i needed to see it in person. i was not disappointed.
i was anxious to really give my garden some attention once i got back into town, but every day has been dreary, overcast, and rainy. i’m still taking advantage of the cooler temps and softer soil to rid the last of the weeds and start a few new veggies, but it’s more fun to tend a sunny garden. at least i can count on a few plants coming back strong without much help from me, like my beautiful strawberries and the tall onion chives. i was even surprised by some healthy red chard resurfacing while i was gone.
my days held several business and personal meetings, all of which brought good things. enjoying a belated birthday lunch with robyn was the highlight.
the one digital development that did go right this week was the release of the instagr.am app for android! i have been waiting for this for what seems like forever. now i have more incentive to participate in fatmumslim’s photo a day challenge for april! frustration with the inferiority of the flickr app made me unsure that i would continue participate once march’s list was complete, but now i’ll take any excuse to use my shiny new app!
as a grammar junkie, i got a kick out of a couple of articles on the word “whom” and if it should die or be revived. from criticizing the correctness of twitter’s “who to follow” to graphing the prevalence of whom in recent books, it seems to be something grammar police are fired up about. my philosophy on grammar and vocabulary definitely falls more under “descriptive” than “prescriptive.” i believe we should absolutely teach and promote correct usage, but if the evolution of language creates a new norm, i think that should be recognized as valid communication.
if you have a bit of extra time, these five classic creative challenges compiled by the99percent are entertaining and revealing. test yourself and gain some insight on your creative strengths.
i hope you all have a wonderful and meaningful Easter tomorrow. i’ve truly been encouraged by the Artist Bible reading plan for Holy Week on youversion. if you haven’t had a chance to check out The Artist Bible, do it today!
saturday summary – the mountains week
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my week in colorado has not been your typical mid-march visit. last year at this time the snow was still dumping by the foot. this year you could comfortably wear a light hoodie at the top of the peak.
with the in-town temps reaching the 60s in the afternoons, i was happy to head across the street and take advantage of a favorite summertime activity — a jog along the lake trail. i kept the distance short and the pace slow so as not to burst my lungs sucking in the thin mountain air, but the clear skies and glassy frozen water were too beautiful not to enjoy close-up.
i’ve become so addicted to snowboarding that i only strapped on my skis one day this trip…the only time the whole season, come to think of it. this is a semi-shocking development for this hard-core skiing fan, but i think having a boarding instructor as my host may have something to do with it.
palm sunday is tomorrow, which signifies the beginning of holy week, or “passion week,” leading up to easter sunday. a new project called The Artist Bible is launching with the first installments coinciding with holy week. TAB is “a living response to the Living Word,” and a collaboration of oklahoma city artists have contributed the first artistic responses to Scripture to be included in the project. look for the release on the youversion Bible app and follow @theartistbible on twitter to keep up with new contributions to the project.
i got a good giggle out of this article about the world’s leading laugh scientist from mental floss. i love to laugh, obviously, and i’m afraid too much information from the field of laugh science would ruin the magic for me. but this short piece with observations on tickling, history of a laughing epidemic, and data on laughter as medicine was fun and interesting.
earlier in the week i posted a video of ballet dancers moving in slow motion on the OLIOsnippets page. if you missed it, you must take a few minutes to watch it now. the extraordinary power and grace of their movements is highlighted by the slo-mo and an awesome radiohead remix.
visually-pleasing surroundings are important in creating the desired atmosphere of a space. you want your bedroom to be peaceful, your living room to be inviting, and your office to be inspiring. i’m always trying to make the space where i work more creatively motivating, so i was eager to browse through this gallery of 60 walls that aren’t boring from office snapshots. while the walls featured there could certainly inspire, few are easily re-produced and some just seem distracting. but boring? no.
i head home tomorrow, after i get in one more day of riding the slopes. if the sun hasn’t already melted all the snow away, that is.
