Archive | weekend

grandparents come to visit!

October 24, 2011 at 5:59 pm

We were treated with a very brief and very sweet visit from Mom and Dad Garber this Saturday and Sunday. They were in Austin for the launch of the fabulous new home goods store called Treehouse. Mom showed me some photos of Treehouse and it’s phenomenal! The store offers everything that Lowes or Home Depot offer except Treehouse’s products are all environmentally friendly. The theologically-thoughtful founders undertook an incredible amount of product review and collection before the launch of this beautiful store. Elliott and I want to go to Austin to visit it ourselves, even though we have no home to build or improve here!

Lena’s grandparents arrived on Saturday afternoon and eagerly greeted their granddaughter. She took one long hard look at her Grampa and burst into tears. Stranger anxiety has set in full force. However, the following photos reveal that she found them irresistible despite her initial concerns.

Mom and Dad Garber were eager to see our beloved River Walk, so we soon set out that evening. We walked through and out of our beautiful King William neighborhood first:

And then walked down the river towards downtown:

We saw wedding portraits being taken along the river. That gorgeous cypress and the bridge make a beautiful backdrop!

Later than evening Lena got to know her dear Grampa better as he snuggled her after her bath and read her a bedtime story.

Right after we put Lena to bed, our friends Lewis and Bekah arrived for dinner. We ate, talked, and laughed late into the night. Elliott and I are so grateful for their friendship during these months in San Antonio! It’s not often that the Army forces you to live temporarily in the same town as some of your best friends.

The next morning Lena got all gussied up for church and I caught her Grampa taking pictures of her again, so I took some of them! Lena already will pose very nicely for someone with an iPhone, mostly because she is fascinated by it and would really like to get her hands on it.

We dressed her up in a darling little outfit and shoes that Elliott’s friends John and Georgia sent to Lena soon after she was born. I love those chubby thighs…

After church at Redeemer we took another walk along the River Walk, this time heading south along the quieter portions of the river and then looping back through the King William neighborhood. We finished with authentic San Antonio cuisine at Tito’s before Mom and Dad had to head home to Virginia.

Thank you for your visit, Grampa and Marmee! We loved having you here.

This was our first chance to host overnight guests in our apartment in San Antonio, but we’ll have more guests in the upcoming weeks. Anyone else want to come visit while we’re here? We’ll treat you to Sunday morning pancakes, walks along the river, and snuggles with a darling little baby!

2 :: in family, Lena, Texas, weekend

grandparents come to visit!

October 24, 2011 at 4:59 pm

Mom and Dad Garber were eager to see our beloved River Walk, so we soon set out that evening. We walked through and out of our beautiful King William neighborhood first:

And then walked down the river towards downtown:

We saw wedding portraits being taken along the river. That gorgeous cypress and the bridge make a beautiful backdrop!

Later than evening Lena got to know her dear Grampa better as he snuggled her after her bath and read her a bedtime story.

We dressed her up in a darling little outfit and shoes that Elliott’s friends John and Georgia sent to Lena soon after she was born. I love those chubby thighs…

Thank you for your visit, Grampa and Marmee! We loved having you here.

2 :: in family, Lena, Texas, weekend

our Saturday morning

October 19, 2011 at 2:59 am

It’s becoming a tradition in our house to walk to the Pearl Farmer’s Market every Saturday morning. The temperatures still rise into the 90s almost every afternoon here in San Antonio, and so it’s motivating to get on our way while the day is still new.

This past Saturday, though, we were distracted by the annual King William neighborhood garage sale. We’re staying in the King William Historic District while in San Antonio and, although of course the last thing we need to do is acquire more stuff, we had to check it out.

It wasn’t that great, though; our neighbors kept all their good stuff. Oh well, we didn’t need anything anyway! We took off down the River Walk towards the farmer’s market about 2 miles away.

Remember the previously-featured amazing overpass with the fish sculptures (that light up at night!) “swimming” underneath? One of the river tour boats came around the bend as we passed by.

Finally we reached the market, where we enjoyed playing on the grass again!

As we explored the farmer’s market, we discovered the annual San Antonio Herb Market. We loved growing our own herbs on our kitchen windowsill in our Capitol Hill studio. If we had a little more time in San Antonio (only one more month here as of tomorrow!) we’d buy our own herb pots to grow here. Instead, Elliott is about to start growing mushrooms in the closet; his mushroom growing kit arrived from Amazon today. More about that cultivation later!

We bought some more locally grown okra at the market, as we’re becoming fans of roasted okra. After browsing other market stalls and the wonderful bookshop, we headed for home. The picture below was taken as we walked back into the beautiful King William neighborhood. Sometimes it reminds me of Capitol Hill… maybe it’s all the trees? No rowhouses here, though!

Here’s our favorite recipe for roasted okra, taken from AllRecipes.com:

Roasted Okra

Ingredients

18 fresh okra pods, sliced 1/3 inch thick
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste
2 teaspoons black pepper, or to taste

Directions

Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
Arrange the okra slices in one layer on a foil lined cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

0 :: in eat this, family, Texas, weekend

our Saturday morning

October 19, 2011 at 1:59 am

It wasn’t that great, though; our neighbors kept all their good stuff. Oh well, we didn’t need anything anyway! We took off down the River Walk towards the farmer’s market about 2 miles away.

Remember the previously-featured amazing overpass with the fish sculptures (that light up at night!) “swimming” underneath? One of the river tour boats came around the bend as we passed by.

Finally we reached the market, where we enjoyed playing on the grass again!

Here’s our favorite recipe for roasted okra, taken from AllRecipes.com:

Roasted Okra

Ingredients

18 fresh okra pods, sliced 1/3 inch thick
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste
2 teaspoons black pepper, or to taste

Directions

Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
Arrange the okra slices in one layer on a foil lined cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

0 :: in eat this, family, Texas, weekend

the mountain house!

October 14, 2011 at 5:29 pm

When you go to the same university as your spouse, you are guaranteed to share a love of many things. Elliott and I both attended the University of Virginia, and we hold dear reading in the Gardens, hiking in the Blue Ridge mountains, worshiping at RUF and Trinity, living on 14th Street our fourth year, studying in the stacks of Alderman, and even nervously streaking the Lawn.

The joy sharing life like this is that you often get to know the same people through connections like your university. When Elliott and I began to date and compare lists of friends, we discovered we had some in common. It’s not often that we get to spend a lot of time with these friends anymore, especially now that we’re in Italy/Texas.

However, this weekend we felt lucky to have a chance to relax and enjoy the friendship of some fellow UVA friends in the beautiful Blue Ridge.

We drove down to Charlottesville on Sunday afternoon, arriving just in time to watch the sunset from the ridge. From that lovely spot we caught up over meals, hikes, and dirty dishes. On Sunday night we roasted s’mores over the first fire of the fall.

Mari and John practiced holding a baby for when they have one of their own.

Lena and I discovered the flowers outside the house before we headed off on a hike up to Humpback Rock.

I haven’t been up here in four years when I climbed it with a group of 4th year girlfriends. So much has changed since then in my life! Much as I loved that hike four years ago, and much as I loved life at UVA, I’d never go back. I love these two people too much!