Three Years
March 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment
On March 20, three years ago today, I said a final goodbye to my sweet Grandma Lorraine. I was living in San Diego and while I had spent many important days with her in the months leading up to March 20, there just wasn’t time to get up to Los Angeles.
But I still remember the day and the days that followed so vividly. I received a call around 10 a.m. from my mom. I knew in my heart it was the call. She told me to say whatever I wanted to my grandma and held the phone to her ear. I told her as much as I could choke out, all while huddled in the most private place I could find on such short notice in our office. I am confident she heard every word. Two hours later, while I mindlessly ate lunch with a few coworkers, I got the second call. The call.
I’ve written about my grandma quite a bit on Lex & Learn since then and am amazed at how much has happened since those days.
Last week I was reorganizing my jewelry and was so excited to come across one of her rings. She had no money, so I am sure it was from Target or something similar. But she loved her jewels regardless and I strung it on a plain gold chain along with a tiny ring from my childhood. I love the way they both feel against my chest. Like how her hand felt holding mine for 27 years.
Today is a tough day. There are countless memories where an empty hole isn’t fully healed. But it is that hole that reminds me to be more patient, more kind and more loving–her very best, impossible to ever fully live up to qualities.
We love and miss you grandma.
Happy Birthday Kona
March 7, 2012 By 1 Comment
Kona is two! Well, we aren’t quite sure of his exact birthday so we made an educated guess and picked March 7 because that is the same birthday as our twin nieces…it makes it easier to remember.
Oh yes, happy 3rd birthday to our sweet Caroline and Sophia today too!
In May we’ll have had Kona for two years and it has certainly flown by fast. He is the king of the house and some days I think we love him a little too much. Yes mom, he still gets up in bed for a quick snuggle every morning. And yes, I know that is a very bad habit. But you try saying no to those eyes!
I hope you enjoy a few pictures that I look back on constantly. It was definitely love at first site. (Sorry – these are all iPhone pics).
As you can see he has grown quite a bit from the day we brought him home. He is now holding steady at 82 lbs with the energy of a six month old lab and some confusion of whether or not he is a lap dog. Despite the barking, vet bills, skin problems, and digging, (and did I mention the barking?) he is our favorite little man.
Happy birthday, Kona man!
An Unexpected ‘Miss Her’ Moment
January 25, 2012 By 2 Comments
If you read my blog with any regularity you know that I miss my grandma Lorraine, a lot. March 20th will be three years since she left us following a somewhat brief but brave battle with lung cancer.
It’s mind blowing to think that much time has passed. My days returned to normal long ago…I guess that’s why they say life goes on.
But every so often, something unexpectedly slaps you across the face and the hurt and sadness comes rushing back. On Tuesday night it was in the form of a sentimental (but otherwise harmless) Honda commercial. From then on, any home decor or Wordless Wednesday blog post I tried to formulate just seemed fake.
The actress’ hair isn’t much different from how my grandma wore hers. Straight, short and very simple.I also think my grandma may have owned those exact pants.
Commercial link: http://youtu.be/tEnp8D321kw
That’s all I got…
Christmas Movie Traditions
November 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Christmas songs are playing in every store and holiday decorations are out (at other people’s houses). We are not decorating this year because we’ll likely spend Dec. 23 and Dec. 24 moving into our new house! I see no reason to empty boxes when I should spend every night filling them up instead.
Therefore, my obsession with Christmas movies will have to quell my desire for a tree and other merry decor. Elf and Love Actually are two of my favorites this time of year, but when it comes to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I have a very particular order in which I like to watch a few classics.
Christmas Eve is the night for It’s A Wonderful Life followed by How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original cartoon version). I like to watch both of these late in the evening, after church and dinner. The experience is enhanced with spiked egg nog. My grandmother was the one who introduced me to “adult” egg nog once I was old enjoy to partake in her favorite tradition of Christmas Eve. Rum, brandy, kaluha…it didn’t really matter. Any “spiking” would do as it kept her warm, cozy and happy as we relaxed from the evening’s feasting festivities. She also ate fruit cake while enjoying her egg nog but I’ll skip that tradition. I can’t stand that stuff!
On Christmas morning I like to watch Miracle on 34th Street (original, black and white version) after the gifts have been opened but before we take showers to go anywhere. Typically this is the second time I have watched the movie during the holiday season. We usually watch it earlier in December while decorating the tree.
It may seem silly to have such rigid holiday movie routine and I am of course open to switching things up this year, as it will be my very first Christmas not with my parents. Yep. It’s time to switch off and enjoy the festivities with Mike’s family. I am really looking forward to establishing some new traditions and cannot wait to watch our nieces open presents this year. They even seem to be grasping the Santa concept! I will miss my family immensely but know that it is going to be a very special holiday.
What holiday traditions do you look forward to most?
How do you cope with changes to your long-standing traditions?
Be Grateful
November 21, 2011 By 1 Comment
Tonight (Monday) I stepped outside of my comfort zone and took a yoga class from a teacher that is respected by the entire Colorado yoga community, and most likely well beyond that. Dawnelle Arthur is loved by everyone you meet at Qi. I am still a yoga novice and I worried that her class would be too intense–that everyone around me would be these insanely flexible yogis and I would be the weirdo in the back just trying to keep up.
How wrong I was. Yes, her class was extremely intense for 75 full minutes. I fell out of some poses and cursed how long we had to hold others. My muscles shook and the “I can’t” voice crept into my head more than once.
But at the beginning of class she asked us to summon what we’re grateful for most in life. She asked us to think of one person who has had a profound impact on our life, positive or negative. Dawnelle challenged us to invite in everything that we were feeling – light or dark – and use that in our practice.
I chose to invite in feelings that I have been ignoring since Starbucks brought back the holiday cups and we put an offer on a house.
The feeling of, “I can’t believe we are about to go through another holiday season without my grandma.”
Throughout those 75 minutes I felt gratitude for her life and the lessons she left behind while powering through the most difficult of poses. Her smile and pride in everything I did was nearly palpable to me in the full expression of tree pose. Tears quietly streamed down my face and wet my yoga mat in the final Savasana because Amazing Grace was playing and I literally felt so much gratitude for having her love me so much.
This holiday season I am grateful for many, many things. My amazing husband, our families, the joy Kona brings us, the ability to stretch to buy our first home together, our health, and our hopes for our future. We are so blessed.
But today in that quiet escape of Savasana, I was immensely thankful that for a moment, just a split second, I had my grandma by my side and her love for me overflowing in my heart.
What, or who, are you grateful for today?
Sunday Brunch
October 26, 2011 By 1 Comment
Sunday brunch is such a wonderful concept. Essentially you get to sleep in, eat a filling and indulgent meal with friends or family around noon, hopefully enjoy a little alcohol, and for a moment forget about the upcoming responsibilities of Monday.
I. LOVE. BRUNCH.
This past Sunday Mike and I were excited for my parents to visit us in Denver for the day. They live in Los Angeles but come to Colorado as often as they can to stay at their condo in Breckenridge. Rather than meet them in the mountains this time, they agreed to spend the day at our house.
My mom’s only request? That we make waffles because she reads about all the cooking we do here on my blog. Little did she know that I was on a mission to prepare more than just waffles. Despite a few frustrating moments — I can get a little stressed in the kitchen when preparing multiple items — our homemade Sunday brunch was a success. Let’s just say that Mike was a huge help.
We served a citrus salad from our Giada at Home cookbook, creamy eggs with arugula pesto from The Newlyweds’ Cookbook and waffles using an Arrowhead Mills multigrain waffle mix. As a side note, we would have made our favorite homemade waffles recipe, but I thought that would really get my blood pressure going and I wanted to be in a good mood for everyone.
Citrus Salad
- 2 large oranges
- 2 grapefruits
- 1 large or 2 small fennel bulbs, trimmed and thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
- Salt and pepper
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
Peel and trim ends from oranges and grapefruits. Place a sieve over a medium bowl. Hold an orange over the bowl and using a pairing knife cut along the membrane on both sides. Let all of the trimmings fall into the sieve. Repeat with all citrus fruits. Squeeze the membranes over the bowl to extract as much juice as possible, reserving the juices. Place the peeled citrus and fennel in a serving bowl.
In a blender or the bowl of a small food processor (we used an immersion blender), blend together the oil, basil and three tablespoons of the reserved juice until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over the fruit and fennel. Add the chopped walnuts and toss until all the citrus is coated.
Arugula Pesto
- 2 oz. arugula
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
- 2 tablespoons blanched almonds, chopped
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Chop the arugula coarsely then transfer to a food processor. Add basil, almonds, oil, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Puree briefly to form a vivid green paste. Transfer to a bowl, stir in cheese, and spoon over your favorite scrambled eggs. Bonus–reserve leftover pesto and enjoy later in the week with freshly cooked whole wheat pasta.
What is your favorite dish to make for brunch at home?
Officially Mrs. Anderson
October 17, 2011 By 1 Comment
The United States of America and the state of Colorado now officially recognize me as Mrs. Anderson. My new social security card and driver’s license have arrived and I will admit that it is both a neat and weird feeling all at the same time.
I changed my work and personal email addresses not long after the wedding, and had new business cards made as well. So, I am fairly used to seeing and reading Alexis Anderson on paper.
But it is still a little strange to introduce myself that way and I stumbled on the phone this morning with Wells Fargo. I say “Anza-oh-wait-Anderson” a lot.
A friend recommended to me that I use the service MissNowMrs.com to help with the forms and processes. I found some value in it, but in hindsight the price was a bit steep when most information is readily available via a quick Google search. Plus, all the forms I filled out ahead of time for the social security office were tossed in the trash as the lady typed everything into an electronic form. I would however pay a premium to have someone go and wait in line for me at any and all government offices moving forward.
I am looking forward to a lifetime of only having to answer “o or e” when spelling my last name, rather than “no, that is z as in zebra” and “no, n as in Nancy…L-O-N as in Nancy -E” over and over again.
If you are married and opted to change your last name, how long did it take until it became second nature?
The Pumpkin Patch
October 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I took last week off for my first-ever staycation. It was amazing and depending on how vacation days pan out next year, I will be taking another one for sure. I ran errands that have been on my personal to-do list all summer, spent a few hours at the social security office and DMV to change my last name, and got to enjoy an entire Friday with my nieces and nephew.
Kelly and I took them to Anderson Farms in Niwot, Colo. The farm has animals for the kids to feed and tractor rides out into the pumpkin patch so they can literally pick pumpkins off the vine. As a L.A. girl I’ve never experienced this kind of pumpkin picking, and was probably more excited than the girls.
It was a gorgeous fall day and I feel extremely lucky to have been able to step away from reality for a few days and enjoy simple moments and some much needed R&R. Hope you enjoy the pictures!
Caroline and Sophia
Caroline and the giant pumpkins
Holding hands through the hay maze
Sophia finds her pumpkin
Caroline takes her pick
A very happy Auntie Lex
I did learn one thing that day. Kids are super tough to photograph! I took about 50 pictures but most are of the backs of their heads. They move too quickly and have absolutely no interest in the camera right now.
Have you ever been to a “real” pumpkin patch? What about staycations–have you ever taken one?
