babies.

after 9 months and some days, both nicole and brittany had their babies! this holiday season has been full of excitement, all revolving around the new babies and of course, magnolia.

the cousins

mommas & their babies

lawson & harper

new parents: brittany & marcus

gigi & her grands

gigi & lawson, me & harper

magnolia's first bicycle

lately i've been contemplating the whole concept of babies. for 9 months you wait in anticipation for the baby to arrive and one day BAM, surprise! no turning back now. your life is never the same. it's not like a pet where you can give it a test run and see how well-trained it is. instead, you have no clue what kind of baby he/she will be. the whole process is so incredible to me. it's so neat to see how God has created such an intricate process. how he takes little aspects of 2 people and put's them in to a new human. and don't even get my started on the fact that it grows inside of us women. as i sit here staring at lawson & harper, all i can say is "amazing!"

thanksgiving.

thanksgiving is just around the corner and i couldn't be more excited. although france doesn't celebrate thanksgiving (french people couldn't possibly stuff themselves on delicious food until they can no longer move like us americans), they still have a translation for it: le jour d'Action de  Grâces which literally translates into "the day of the action of thanks". for some reason the french name for "thanksgiving" evokes a stronger sense of its meaning than the english word "thanksgiving". i think since it explicitly says "the action of thanks" it reminds me what the real meaning of the holiday is. i take granted so many things in my life that God has blessed me with. this year i have made it my goal to find something every day to be thankful for and to find a little bit of sunshine even on the cloudiest of days (nice metaphor i know, im proud of myself for that one too). this has really made me cherish every moment of every day and to enjoy the present time and not to stress about the future. so this year while im stuffing my face with sweet potato casserole, i will remember the real meaning of the holiday and give thanks to all of my loved ones and to God for all of his blessings. 


a few reasons why thanksgiving is hands-down my favorite holiday...


1) the day begins with the 8k turkey trot, which i will dominate my family again this year
2) squishing 40 family members into my house. even after years of this tradition i still forget half of their names and i always get mistaken as either the engaged or pregnant monroe daughter
3) food, food and more food. i love getting my second wind of eating. best dish: sweet potato casserole (mother teresa always has to make 3 different variations - one with pineapple, one with marshmellows and one with simply brown sugar and pecans). aunt lynne's strawberry pretzel salad is a close second. best dessert: pumpkin pie
4) football - watching it and playing it. 
5) christmas tree hunting. the day after thanksgiving we always pile in cars and trucks and drive up to boone to cut down our christmas trees, which is the only way to buy a tree.
6) thanksigiving officially begins the holiday season. the time after thanksgiving until christmas is full of christmas music, ugly christmas sweater parties and holiday decor...it couldn't get any better!

fall.

fall, my favorite season hands down. while currently sitting in my kitchen waiting on my cinnamon apple crisps to bake i'm reflecting on what a beautiful day it was today. this morning in church the pastor asked us to introduce ourselves to our neighbor and tell them why we love the fall. here are some of my reasons...

1) first and foremost, the colors. i love the changing of leaves. the vibrant yellows, reds and oranges. the mountain region of north carolina has the most beautiful colors during the fall, of course i'm biased.

2) the smell of a bonfire, by far my favorite smell. if only there were a bonfire scented candle... 

3) the festivities. corn mazes, apple picking, pumpkin carving...just to name a few.

4) the cool, crisp air.

5) pumpkins. pumpkin anything is one of my favorite flavors - pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, and the list goes on and on....

6) candy corn, although i prefer the pumpkins (go figure). i make myself wait until october 1 before i'm allowed to have any.

7) fall clothes. jackets, sweaters, boots and scarves (my weakness). 

8) and last but definitely not least, thanksgiving - the best holiday ever invented. 

cedar point.

cedar point, america's rollercoast. another item officially checked off my bucket list (soon to follow). we left wheaton saturday night at 5 and set out for sandusky, ohio (i still haven't figured out why anyone would choose such a place for the world's greatest theme park). we had planned to stay at a friend's lake cottage at lakeside, ohio. essentially this is a large christian camp community on lake erie which explains for some of the oddities we encountered. at 11:30pm we pull into the community to find the gate closed...with a pad lock and chain, not even an automatic lock. which means that every night and morning someone has to open the gate. the fact that no one can get in or out by this gate is also kinda creepy. so we drove around looking for another way to get in....3 closed gates later and 1 phone call to the gate keeper, we found the 1 open gate. when we get to our friend's cottage we were in for another treat. don't get me wrong, we are definitely grateful to have had a free place to stay the night, but it was definitely an experience. this cottage came straight from the 70s accompanied with various patterns of shag carpet and an oiling painting of Jesus. classy. the park didn't open the next day until noon so we got to sleep in and rest up for our big day. on our way out of lakeside we stopped at the local cafe and got coffee, hot chocolate and breakfast. just like the rest of the community, the cafe was adorned with interesting artwork and statues of greek gods...? then it was time for cedar point! after about 3 u-turns we were finally there! unfortunately it rain for the first 3 hours but that didn't dampen our spirits except for the fact that most of the roller coasters were closed due to the rain and high speed winds. after warming up on the smaller roller coasters, the good ones finally opened. right as we got on the  millennium force it started drizzling which is not a good combination with a roller coaster that goes 93 mph. regardless, it was awesome. i literally didn't stop laughing/screaming the whole time. i have been wanting to ride it for about 10 years when a family friend from michigan told me stories about the greatness of this ride. around 4 it completely stopped raining and it actually turned out to be a nice day. we rode more awesome rides including the world's tallest and fastest - top thrill dragster. basically this is just a giant horseshoe that last 16.8 seconds. in less than 4 seconds you go from 0 to 120 mph. the scariest part was the sudden take off and i didn't even have time to be scared because it was so fast. coming down the horseshoe my voice went out because we were going so fast. when we got off we were all so stunned and couldn't stop marveling over how great the ride was. 9 hours later we went on the last roller coaster which was perfect timing because i was starting to feel slightly dizzy. i can't think of a better place to have spent my last wheaton fall break.

our back up plan if cedar point was closed

yayyy!

wicked twister

top thrill dragster

homecoming.

this past weekend was full of homecoming festivities - football game, powderpuff, and lots of families with little kids. it was so crazy seeing friends who graduated this past may and thinking that they are alumni. that's going to be me next year! it was so fun seeing all the past wheaties. paige and i upheld our french market tradition. every year on homecoming saturday we don't have volleyball and paige and i always go to the french  market early in the morning. we took pictures at the exact same tree as we did freshman year...so bittersweet. afterwards we went to egg'lectic for brunch with the ladies then the homecoming football game. it was so hot (as always, chicago has that one random week in october where it' in the 80s) but a great game to watch. then last night the boys in the chateau had a frat-themed party. ive never seen so many sperrys and visors...frat boy wannabees. all us girls decided that we definitely have to come back next year for homecoming and make a time capsule for 5 year predictions.

the tree.

pinterest.

i can't stop pinning.

Pinterest, it's my new obsession.

seniority rules.

i had my final volleyball date night last night. i would have to say it was probably the best one. for some reason, i was put in charge of basically everything...planning the scavenger hunt, sneakily asking one of the player's family to host us for dinner, assigning each class food items to bring and making sure everyone had fun. thankfully it was a success, or so i've been told. i assigned us seniors to baked goods, mainly because it gave me an excuse to bake for 30 people. i made trail mix from the october southern living which included golden grahams, peanuts, pretzels and peanut/plain m&ms with a brown sugar, butter and corn syrup coating. hands down amazing. i also made moT's famous banana nut bread. i was happy to see that all but 2 got eaten, or taken home (ahem, Nick Novosad). the night began with a photo scavenger hunt which us seniors dominated. then we went back to meghan grant's house for pizza, snacks and a bonfire. it was the perfect night for a bonfire and the evening went smoothly!

twinsies.

last night our house hosted the first dance party of the school year. it was a huge success and we've already had requests for another one. we cleared out our basement and opened up part of the laundry room, which turned into the VIP dance room, and set the DJ set up shop down there. surprisingly, the basement held quite a few people, especially since everyone stuck to paige's "one tile per person rule". to spice things up a bit, we made it a themed party - twins. our house made tees that said "she's my twin <--->" (an obvious last minute decision), the other girl's house dressed up as cheerleaders, and the default for most of the guys were matching jerseys. being wheaton and all, we were a little concerned that we would get noise complaints from the neighbors, even though our landlord who lives in our backyard hosts parties all the time. when the tiki torches are lit, we know its party time. but we made the night free of any calls or visits from cranky neighbors. an overall success.

hecklers.

yesterday a few friends and myself road tripped to platteville, wisconsin to watch the football team play uw-plateville. a town literally in the middle of corn fields. there aren't even highways to get you to this place, all back roads. which definitely makes for the best kind of road trip. a three hour drive quickly turned into a 4 hour drive because as women we have to stop every half hour for a restroom/coffee break or a photo opp in some quaint town along the way. jess, obsessed with her new-found love of instagram, took pictures of every possible person/place/thing on the trip. my personal fave was the picture morgan took of the rest of us at the wisconsin border sign from literally 100 yards away. good thing the zoom quality is so clear.it was definitely worth the trip. it turned out to be a great game and as predicted a huge thunder storm hit platteville as wheaton defeated the pioneers 23-14 (for all of you non-wheatoners, that was my attempt at a really lame joke to use our mascot as figuratively as possible). i felt like a proud parent watching one of my sons out there playin. i found myself cheerin and jumpin out of my seat like it was second nature.

home is where the heart is...

...and mine will always be in the south.

 "The South.... The place where... 1. Tea is sweet and accents are sweeter. 2. Summer starts in April. 3. Macaroni & Cheese is a vegetable. 4. Front porches are wide and words are long. 5. Pecan pie is a staple. 6. Y'all is the only proper noun. 7. Chicken is friend and biscuits come with gravy. 8. Everything is Darlin' 9. Someone's heart is always being blessed."


can i get an amen?!

Wheaton Happenings

so much has already happened in the 3 weeks that i have been here. first, i absolutely love my classes (i had to get the nerdy comment out of the way). i only have 3 classes so i am cruising through so far. all of my profs are amazing and the classes are so interesting. i guess that means i was meant to be an education major..? volleyball has been awesome like always. i like being the oldest on the team..even though i still dont feel old enough. i pull the "seniority" card a lot - van rides, beds in hotel rooms, etc. i love all of the new players (as well as the returners). we just got back from hotlanta where we owned. we accomplished one of our goals of beating a national ranked team! it was awesome. i got to see my parents and nicole and maw maw and paw paw (we missed you breezy!)...teresa made tons of food like always - her famous banana nut bread and this new trail mix from southern living. like every volleyball team i have been on, we can eat just about anything and we have appetites larger than a football team. good thing we wear spandex, huh? needless to say we ate good all weekend long. i love both of our new assistant coaches...coach hindeman and coach smith...commonly referred to as hiney and ash but only when we are celebrating. i bought myself the new southern living magazine for the airplane...definitely worth the $5. i only have one more year to bring the south to wheaton.

on the road again.

back to wheaton and probably the last time i will be making the trip from charlotte to chicago. this time we have decided to make the best of this trip and enjoy our stops along the way. we got 2 hours away before we made our first stop. my mom has always wanted to go to flat rock, north carolina, a quaint mountain village, home to author carl sandburg. i love mountain towns so this was right up my alley. we perused antique shops and boutiques before we decided to eat at a local bbq shack. the aroma from the smokestack was too tempting to pass up. we shared some pulled pork bbq, collard greens, stewed okra and corn bread. de-lish.

before we left charlotte we consulted our southern living: off the eaten path to find some good eats along the way. we found one in louisville, kentucky called lynn's paradise cafe. it has been features on the food networks and my personal favorite, man vs. food. despite the fact that teresa about got us killed on the way there, it was a success. the decor was crazy. i felt like i was in alice and wonderland while on drugs, the pictures speak for themselves. this time we shared a grilled portobello mushroom wrap with onions rings and for dessert, a louisville favorite: derby pie a la mode. i give it two thumbs up. 

goodbye summer.

the end is almost here. i cannot believe just how fast this summer has gone by. i feel like i haven't been settled in one place for more than 6 weeks. home to france back home to good ol' lake lure back home and now off to chicago in 5 days. i'm still not fully ready to go back to wheaton. not because i am not ready to see all of my friends and start volleyball, but because i am not ready to start my senior year. once i start, it's practically over and then everyone starts asking the typical "so what are your plans for after graduation??" and do i have a clue??NO! ideas, yea, plenty of those. my newest one is going to pastry school since i will be owning my own french bakery one day (preferably in charleston, sc). le cordon bleu has a pastry school...international and in the states. so i have been looking at my different options for pastry school and whether i want to go back to france to take more classes or stay here? and of course, teaching english in france is still on the top of my list. ahh so many options! but i know that no matter what God has a plan for me and he will reveal it in time. so really there is no need to worry or stress. i am currently in the process of making one of my go-to summer dinners: grilled chicken, grilled zuchini and squash, and angel hair pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms. my next big dessert challenge is a variation of a mille-feuille (a french inspired pastry). however, rather than putting custard in between the pastry layers, i'm planning on making mousse au chocolat and using that as the filling and garnishing the top with white chocolate and strawberries. i'll let y'all know how that turns out :)

mousse au chocolat.

another food adventure today: mousse au chocolat! my host mom taught me how to make it and it is super easy and delicious!

ingredients:
1 200g chocolate dessert bar (i prefer dark chocolate)
6 eggs (separate yolk and egg whites)
1 pinch salt

step 1. break up chocolate into small chunks

step 2. melt chocolate

step 3. separate egg yolks and egg whites

step 4. add a pinch of salt to egg whites

step 5. beat egg whites until small cones form

step 6. combine egg yolks and melted chocolate

step 7. fold egg whites into chocolate mixture

step 8. refrigerate for 3 hours

optional add ins

I made three variations: dark chocolate, peanut butter and coconut almond

confiture de cerise.

this summer in france i learned to love many new foods including jam and cherries. each morning for breakfast i would eat these things called biscottes (which are basically little pieces of toast) and an assortment of jams. i would basically pile as much jam as i could onto one piece that's how much my new love for jams had sky rocketed. the second food i came to love were cherries. since i bought my lunch at the local produce market every day, i would to explore my options. at least twice a week i would buy a big bag of cherries to eat during class. today while i was shopping at the HT (Harris Teeter for all of you non-south easterners) i had a great way to fuse my two food loves together: cherry jam! lucky for me cherries were on sale this week. when i got home i googled different recipes and found one that looked easy and had pictures. unfortunately, i didn't have a de-pitter  so i got a little, well more than a little, messy. but after de-pitting all of the cherries, it was smooth sailing from there. i added lemon juice and sugar to the cherries and put them on the stove to simmer. super easy and super tasty! now tomorrow i can eat my cherry jam with some biscottes!

ingredients: cherries, lemon juice and sugar

la confiture de cerise!