A Recipe for Love

I've got love on the brain.

In just under a month, my man and I will be celebrating 25 years together. I've almost been with him longer than I was alive before him, but I turned 26 the month after we tied the knot, so I'm just shy of that milestone. It's been a wonderful, hard, beautiful, worth-it, unforgettable, hard, fun-filled, love-filled almost 25 years. I am blessed.

And the other day, I smiled when I ran across a sheet of paper that dates back to before the fateful day in August.

That piece of paper is a recipe. It's the recipe for the first thing Lou ever made for me.

We weren't dating at this point. But I think at least one of us was thinking about dating...

We were mostly getting together to play tennis. After tennis on this particular day, Lou had said he wanted to make lunch for me. I wasn't allowed in the kitchen while he put his creation together. When I was finally allowed in, there was this beautiful pasta salad in the middle of my plate - and ringing it on the top half of my plate was a slice of kiwi, then a strawberry, kiwi, strawberry, etc.

Oh. my. word.

My first thought was, "I'm never cooking for this guy."

It was fabulous, of course, as pretty much everything he makes is. And contrary to my initial thought that day, I've made this salad and a few other things a few times since then. I think it's funny that this recipe calls for 2 cups of roast beef. Lou would never pick this out nowadays. He's a protein guy, for sure, but not really a roast beef guy.

But he is, thankfully, still a Shelley guy. He's on my brain (and heart) and I'm on his.

He still cooks for me. I still cook for him. We cook lots of things up ;).

That's definitely a recipe for love.

InstaFriday - A Lot of Needs

I need prodding every so often. Deadlines. Inflexible ones. Like a plane I have get to catch.

On Monday, my husband and I leave for Rome, Italy. The trip serves a dual purpose. First, we are going to visit our sweet daughter, Hannah, who has been studying abroad since January 15.  She's been blogging about her experience here. And secondly, we are celebrating, albeit a little early, our anniversary. August 1, 2012, will mark 25 years of wedded bliss for me and my Lou.

So, I've had to get all my kids' ducks in a row for my sister-in-law and friends who will be staying with the kids while we are gone. This week, I finally finished filling out the menu for 2 weeks, and writing out their crazy schedule.

Still in process at this point

I also squeezed in some needed bread making this week. Lou loves my homemade bread. We are a bit out of control with it, even milling our own wheat. A few years ago, I heard a compelling presentation by the  Bread Beckers, and we've not looked back.

I  knead my dough for 7 minutes

But before you assume we are healthy all the time, the following picture was taken at a Friday night fish fry.  Sometimes I need something fried. My southern roots just run too deep. I enjoyed visiting with the dear Norma Bishop, whose footsteps I can only hope to follow in. I spent some of our time explaining Pinterest to her. I told her it could be addicting, a real time black hole. Her response? "I'm too busy for that." You go girl! You may not believe this, but she is in her early 90s.

My apologies to the two ladies we caught in the background

Saturday, the girls and I headed to Springfield for a little shopping and lunch. And, we needed to take some  fun pictures.

She's very embraceable

David was out of sight, but not out of mind.

When he played baseball, he needed these

This is the only time I'll have long legs. We said we needed this mirror.

While we were out shopping, I noticed that Elizabeth's beautiful blue phone now had a grey back.

"What happened to the back, Elizabeth?"

"My phone has a best friend."

"What?!?

"Doran and I traded backs because our phones are best friends."

(This gives new meaning to the phrase, "I've got your back.")

Need a couple of these globes

These cute little globes were hanging in the restaurant where the girls and I ate. I like.

I also like the fact that my oldest son, Luke, came home for the weekend. He didn't even need prodding.

This week, at Classical Conversations, the students' presentation was a "how to." One of Mary Grace's friends showed how to do a fishtail braid. Very cool.

I need to learn how to do this

I also smiled when I saw how Mary Grace illustrated the paper she wrote about the flag.

I'm sorry if this is overkill, but Mary Grace wrote this poem yesterday and finished it today, and it knocked my socks off. I need to share it too!

And finally, I appreciate what Jeannette over at Life Rearranged encouraged all of us InstaFriday participants to do this week.

Give back in a small, but concrete way. I need to be reminded to do that. It was a very simple thing - buy a few cans of food and donate them to someone, or some charitable organization this week. Life Rearranged averages 175 InstaFriday participants a week. If each of her participants donates 10 cans, you're talking 1,750 cans donated. It felt good to buy and give a little something. Thanks, Jeannette.

Well, I need to end this, and get busy tying up all the loose ends of preparing for our trip.

Hope you all get some needed rest this weekend!

Blessings!

The Perfect Meal Plan

When I was younger (below 40), and people explained their middle age spread away with the words slower metabolism, I inwardly scoffed, "Yeah right, you slug," and promptly took another bite of my 10 p.m. bowl of ice cream.

Pride goeth before a fall.

On the brink of 50, I now throw those same two words around and hastily show people my thyroid medicine to prove it. It's such an interesting phenomenon. I want to eat as much as I ever have, but find I can't. I get full more quickly, darn it.  So, you would think eating less would mean a person would lose weight. Nope. At least not this person - and it's all because of that pesky slower metabolism. More cheery news came out on this front in March, 2010, when the Journal of the American Medical Association released a study that said women in my age bracket needed to exercise an hour a day just to maintain their weight - and that's assuming they weren't overweight to begin with. I exercise and  enjoy exercising, but an hour a day? Good grief.

What's a middle-aged girl to do?

The help I needed has come from my doctor husband. He has attended a conference on the heart for many years in Kansas City. There he has heard cardiologist James O'Keefe speak on all issues related to heart health - our diet being a significant component. Dr. O'Keefe and his wife, Joan, a registered dietitian, have written what Lou considers the healthy lifestyle bible.

 He recommends it often in his practice. I have read most of it. Warning: It does have the following statement on page 26.

Also, never eat deep-fried foods or commercial baked goods.

Gulp. And that's not a deep-fried foods, or commercial baked goods gulp. But before that scares you away, remember that the book is also chock-full of the gazillion benefits to your body, your energy level, your mental alertness, when you eat like they recommend.

I remember quite a few principles from the book, but it was actually an article that Joan referred to on her twitter feed that has really helped me to practically eat a little better.  She refers to it as the perfect meal plan: It has no fancy title, just five words to guide your eating: Two colors and a protein.

For whatever reason, that has stuck with me. I don't do it all the time, for sure. But I find myself thinking that way before almost every meal - and actually following through a lot of the time. This summer, a typical breakfast for me, was an egg, a peach, and half an avocado (or banana, or tomato). So good. And I was full, but not in the overstuffed, I wish I hadn't eaten what I just ate way.

Yesterday at lunch, I had ham, some watermelon, and half an avocado. (Can you tell I like avocados?)

Obviously, I am not a food photographer, but this was yummy

 The great news in all this is, I have lost some of that middle age spread that's been creeping on. It may not be anything that noticeable to the world, but my clothes are fitting better. And, I feel better.

And oh, how I like to feel good. Have I sworn off the p. 26 prohibited foods mentioned above? Nope. I still love McDonald's french fries. I just love them fewer times than I used to in my younger years. I also have another confession to make. You know the healthy lunch pictured above? I certainly didn't follow it with a processed baked good -I knew this blog post was coming... but I did follow it with a homemade baked good (a horse of a different color altogether).

Homemade Peach Crisp

And you know what? Eating the perfect meal makes eating the perfect dessert pretty guilt free.

 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

                                                                                                    I Corinthians 10:31