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life{in}grace

live with more presence, passion, & purpose

Edie Wadsworth

A bonafide Volunteer!

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marcusgraduation
Marcus graduated from UT this week with a degree in communications.   He is gifted in so many ways and has a bright future ahead.   We are so proud of him and thankful for his presence in our lives.   He is just downright funny and has his dad’s irresistible charm.   He has THE perfect radio voice and is an admitted superfan for the Chicago Cubs.   He knows every episode of Seinfeld by heart along with every obscure sports fact you ever wanted to know.   He plays hockey and LOVES good food and sriracha.   He is his father’s son in every way.

We love you Marcus.   And we are full of gratitude for the joy you bring to all who know you.

good news/bad news

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The good news is: I finally finished my asymmetric plate wall in my dining room. My dear sister, who was here for Mother’s Day, even approved. And she’s not usually a fan of anything asymmetric.
platewall
The bad news is: I fear I may be channeling Mrs. Roper from 3’s Company. I’ve taken ‘house dress’ to a whole new level.
mrsroper

My Dual Personality

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My life has become a dichotomy of old house, new house.

At the new house:

The girls and I have been making tissue flowers and sugar and salt scrubs for Mother’s Day.   The ladies in my extended family are coming over for high tea on Saturday.    And I’m making this frangelico cake (I love Ruthanne)  and I’m eating a ginormous piece of it.   And because you are just like me and I know you’ll ask, the labels for the scrubs are available here for printing.

Stevie and I have date night every night on our back deck for a little star gazing.  There’s a cool app on his iPad that gives you a real time replica of the night sky.  You hold the iPad up to the sky and the smarty pants thing knows which direction you’re holding it and gives you an accurate picture of where the stars and constellations are!!!  It’s the coolest thing ever.     Right now, the brightest star in the sky,  Sirius,  is perfectly situated due West just above the horizon.   It’s my new favorite star.
mothersday

At the old house:

My life has become one giant yard sale.    My car looks like a yard sale and my purse definitely looks like a yard sale.

Don’t hate me but I’m having my final moving sale at the old house this Friday from 8-12.

Why would I torture myself in such fashion?   Because I love a good yard sale.   And yesterday, when my sainted mother was turning my basement into a virtual K-Mart and I was tripping around in broken flip flops,  I ‘bought’ some flip flops from my own yard sale.  Yes, in fact, I did.    So, y’all better hurry and buy the rest of this stuff, ’cause I love it all.   And there’s a TON of Christmas stuff for sale this time.   A TON!   Except everytime I walk through, I remove some other cute item that I just can’t live without.

And here is part of the beautiful patio furniture that I bought with my yard sale money last time.   So comfy, perfect for sipping coffee or knitting or snuggling sleepy children or star gazing with your dreamy husband.  And it’s from Lowe’s.  I looked everywhere and ended up buying this from Lowe’s.   I love it.    And I take back all the times I called them

S-Lowe’s.

My old house.   This Friday.   8-12.    Be there and buy lots of stuff.
whatiboughtwithmyyardsalemoney

TMI?

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I’m blogging today over at Melissa’s place. I’m talking about motherhood and vulnerability.   Oddly enough, in my real life, I’m getting my first mammogram.   I will soon be the expert in vulnerable now won’t I?   Doctors make the worst patients but after your urgent pleading (Darby) I’ve also scheduled my yearly preventive health exam.

In other health related news, I started a new high protein (NO CARBS, NO SUGAR, NO DIET SODA) diet 2 weeks ago.  I was feeling awful all the time.   Can anyone say “too many major life changes in one year?”   I don’t metabolize sugar correctly and if I start on carbs early in the day, I’m on a bouncy ball all day with cravings and emotions and the like.   I was VERY skeptical.  I have the willpower of  Winnie the Poo.   But for some reason, this has worked for me.  It’s called the Ideal Protein Diet and you can only get it through a physician.  You only stay on the very strict portion (phase 1) for a few weeks.  I’ve lost almost 7 pounds and 5 inches and really feel better.  I didn’t go to the doctor seeking a diet.  I went because I felt run down and stressed and tired all the time.  It’s not a miracle diet but it works for me because I’m a carb-addict.    Funny thing is, when I was in medical practice, I specialized in helping people make lifestyle changes;   losing weight, smoking cessation, stress reduction and all sorts of behavior modification.   And now I’m  in need of a little lifestyle tweaking myself.   There’s no shame in that.   We all need help sometimes.    It’s okay to be vulnerable.

People often ask me why I never talk about health on this blog.  I was trained very traditionally in an MD program but found myself much more intrigued by alternative approaches to wellness and prevention.   I firmly believe that what we put in our bodies is most often responsible for our health outcome.   If I ever go back into medicine, I’ll likely retrain to do alternative medicine.    So, I don’t talk about traditional medicine because there’s only s portion of it I believe in.   And I don’t talk about alternative medicine because I haven’t properly educated myself in it and so much of it is so darn new age.    I guess I’m in a holding pattern so until I get it all figured out, I’ll continue to talk about my children, my faith, my favorite books, and my butter-laden recipes.

Now, head on over to Melissa’s where there will be no mention of protein or mammograms or butter.

Kitchen Dilemma

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I’m sitting on my new deck watching the geese and egrets fly by and the lake water ripple, drinking a wonderful cup of coffee as I type this.   I still haven’t shaken the feeling that I’m on vacation—in Hilton Head—with no definite endpoint for my return ‘home’.   The only downside to living your entire life like your on vacation is that I seem to have lost my skills for meal planning.   Dinner sneaks up on me—-because really, who wants to spend their vacation at the grocery store?   And take out in this town is a poor choice for long term eating.  Which brings me to my kitchen.

My new kitchen is all ordered and will likely be installed in 2-3 weeks.  I ordered four cabinet doors before I settled on a color.  After almost ordering 3 different cabinet colors, two different door styles and 2 different counter tops, I finally settled on one color, one door style, and one countertop.  I know, boring right?   I’ll just have to add spice in other ways.    I wanted clean lines and simplicity because of the openness of the floor plan.  Besides my IKEA farm sink,  I think I’m most excited about my 48″ Dacor stove and hood.  {Honey, I promise I’ll cook more when I get my stove}.  I had several inspiration kitchens but the one I leaned most heavily on was this one in April’s issue of Southern living. My cabinet color is very similar and my countertops are white quartz.  I also took plenty of inspiration from Erica’s kitchens in Coastal Living but eventually decided against the blue island that I was sure I wanted.  I’m still deciding between the small 1 inch iridescent tile and regular subway tile for the backsplash.    I settled on open cabinetry for the back wall on either side of the hood even though I sacrificed some wall cabinets for open shelves that will likely span across the windows too.
kitchendilemna
My main dilemma at this point is that I really want to paint the few walls in the kitchen a different color than the living room.  (a much lighter whitish color that would be too light for the living room).    As you can see, that will be somewhat difficult to do without coming up with a creative way to transition.    I’ve thought of a framed chalk board— to be used for menu writing.  I’ve also  wondered if putting drapes on that window and hanging the rod to the ceiling which would obscure a marked paint transition.    And I know the railing is still bothering you but for now, stay on task and let’s discuss this pesky transition.  What would you do?
And why, you ask, do I still feel like I’m in Hilton Head?
I don’t know if it’s the plethora of sunsets I get to enjoy…..

yetanotherbeautifulsunset
or the plethora of beautiful plants in my yard. My azaleas are in full bloom and are simply gorgeous. Now if I could only get my cooking mojo back…..
azaleas
p.s. those rocks are a jumbled mess because I keep running over them with my ginormous SUV. I think I need a vacation car.