Kitchen

Our current kitchen has been a nice update from the itty bitty galley kitchen on Commonwealth. As I've mentioned several times, there is a window over the sink, plus a dishwasher, increased counter space, and...a washer and dryer. People always comment on the washer and dryer being in the kitchen and ask if it's weird, but I kind of like it. Our kitchen is a hub of productivity.

A couple weeks ago I decided to use some of my free time to rethink our meal plans once again. I think I have an ideal in my head that involves superb organization that will allow for maximum nutrition at minimal costs and without an extreme amount of time invested (at least, once the organization part has been accomplished). This time I took the approach of streamlining our most frequently used recipes, which allowed me to streamline our grocery lists, dividing them into bulk shopping and weekly shopping, and printing them out for fridge. We are going to try buying things like pizza dough, black beans, shredded cheese, tortillas, etc., in bulk since I tend to use them a lot. I also printed out calendars for each month to list out meal ideas. It was kind of fun, so even if it doesn't work out perfectly, at least I am learning as I go...and at least looking at the side of my fridge makes me feel organized and happy.

semester one

so tomorrow is the day to head back to school. it has been a wonderful month(!) off, where i have had plenty of time to

1. sleep sleep sleep sleep sleep
2. clean and rearrange our house, including a little kitchen update (to be seen in an upcoming post)
3. sleep?
4. cook meals. and granola. and marmalade.
5. spend time with family and friends
6. watch tv?
7. read books. including the hunger games series (definitely recommend), Dietrich Bonhoeffer's biography, Hipster Christianity, A visit from the Goon Squad, and half of Earthen Vessels, a book on why the body matters to our faith...written by Matt Anderson.

I am looking forward to getting back to a schedule starting tomorrow, although Corcoran classes meet once a week for 4 and a half hour long segments, so the schedule doesn't have much pattern to it. In honor of going back to school tomorrow, I thought I would do a quick post of five things i learned in the first semester of school:

1. To keep with current...themes in this post -- sleep while you can. For whatever reason (and I don't think this will have been the worst semester), it is much harder to estimate the amount of time that art projects will take verses english essays. I only pulled one all nighter in all of college...because really, I don't do my best work at night and I get sad when I can't go to bed. However, art work doesn't always require the same level of coherent thought as essay writing did, and other than the fact that impaired motor functions may cause you injure yourself when using an exacto blade at 4 in the morning, art projects and late nights get along quite well. This last semester, there were several weeks where I got an hour less sleep every wednesday night before my thursday morning studio classes. I have several friends who pulled numerous all nighters, and I remember hearing (to my dismay) one senior who noted (around november 1): "this is that part of the semester where you start pulling all nighters!" There were 6 weeks left.
It doesn't mean I like staying up until 3:30 any better, and I definitely will continue to schedule my work to achieve the opposite, but I have to reconcile myself to the fact that mid and late semester will probably always mean less and less sleep. sadly.
Also, what school has classes that go until 10:40 at night??? Apparently, this one. Don't the teachers know that my brain shuts off at 10:00?
2. On that note, it was a very smart move for starbucks to be located across the street from our campus in Georgetown. It was also very nice that I had monies in starbucks card from my birthday this summer, that somehow lasted the entire semester. It is also very nice that the starbucks employees are sympathetic, and sometimes charge us less, or give us pastries at the end of the night.
3. Learning new skills - painting, drawing in perspective, hand-rendering, cad mastery, revit, sketchup, and model-making (chiseling, sanding) - absorbed pretty much all of my energy first semester. Though I had opportunity to be creative, I didn't have much incentive as I was more preoccupied with how I would articulate an idea than with coming up with a good idea, worthy of articulation. This degree seems to be as much about developing industry-specific skills as it is about coming up with new ideas - and, somewhat (sometimes) frustratingly, mastery of the former precedes development of the latter.
4. Towards the end of my art history class, I discovered my enjoyment of some of the early modern architects - mies van der rohe, walter gropius, and corbusier. I am looking forward to continuing to learn about the masters, studying their work as I develop my own ideas.

Mies' Project for a Brick Villa, never built

Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye, built 20 miles outside of Paris in the 1930s, demonstrating his five points of architecture (ribbon windows, raised first floor, rooftop gardens, asymmetrical exterior, free interior plan)

5. Some of the most interesting (and inspiring) moments of the semester were during our visiting voices lectures, where members of the professional community would come in and tell stories and share pictures of projects from their design firms. Seeing quality and beautiful work reminds me that this degree has application other than the fictitious house I designed for the fictitious family I came up with for my studio class. Though this semester I decided to pull back from studio classes to ground myself in more of the basics, I am excited to move on to other classes - to study commercial, institutional and hospitality design, to brainstorm for my thesis, to hopefully intern and learn more of the ins and outs of the profession...

So far, so good!

#12

I weeded our garden area and the dirt looks fresh, ready for some plants. We have six empty pots sitting on our doorstop, prepped for flowers. But we do not right now have the resources for plants. I am grateful for this, because it make you pray for things like free plants, and also because it makes you think things to yourself, like how clever of a crime it would be to go out at night with a shovel and steal all your neighbors' plants.

Turns out such a thing was a regular occurrence in Russia - whenever the government would plant flowers, everyone would come and steal them, because they had no money to buy flowers of their own. The government stopped planting flowers, which is sort of a sad resolution.

#7, 8, 9, 10, 11

(in Utah on our drive across the country)

A two month hiatus, but I am grateful for...

-How quiet our new apartment is, and that there are trees outside our living room window so it looks like we live in a park, and that there is a window above our kitchen sink just like I wanted, and that there are pink flowers on the tree outside our bathroom window which is a nice decorative touch I hadn't counted on.
-Living somewhere with a washer and dryer. Doing laundry has become a bit of an obsession.
-The furniture we were able to find to fill our space, all of it affordable and lovely. My favorite is the wingback chair I described here.
-The excitement of starting a new grad program, and how good I anticipate the program being.
-The fact that, in the midst of what feels like a million transitions, I have my husband, a constant friend with whom I can experience these adjustments, and who helps me to enjoy and laugh at this time. Also, he's pretty cute. I'm grateful for that.

Number of things that are new...

I am writing this post from our rust colored, blue flowered wingback chair. That is one of the new things. I love it.

It has been just over three weeks since we left California, 17 days since we arrived in Virginia, and 15 days since we moved into our apartment. We are blessed to say that our journey went off without a hitch, and that we have had so many of our needs and wants provided for us as we have been settling in.

We spent the first week without a car, which made settling in quite difficult, and made me begin to get desperate. The day before we ran out of food, not only did our smart car passes arrive, but we finally purchased a car. A cute 2010 Hyundai Sonata. This car has so far successfully transported one rather large bookshelf and several pieces of IKEA furniture -- all hanging out of the tied-down trunk. The chair we purchased certainly would not have fit in the car, but I happened to find it less than a mile from our place, and the next door neighbor happened to have a truck that she put the chair in to follow us to our home, and the rain waited until we got the chair inside before it let loose. I think these details are important to recount.

Tomorrow I start orientation, and we are celebrating by today making fresh ginger ice cream. We also took a nice walk to Theodore Roosevelt Island, and puttered around in Georgetown yesterday. We had to take advantage of the few days of summer not pressured by moving.

I am also somewhat alarmed to say that we had a visitor in our kitchen the other night who must have been one of Chester's distant cousins -- yes, a cockroach. There was some screaming, but the husband was calm and trapped him and we let him outside. Time to be vigilant in cleaning our kitchen and keeping foodstuffs sealed.

Things I miss about California: price of avocados, dry heat, open spaces
Things I like about Virginia: George Washington Parkway (trees, shade, the Potomac), the drive into Georgetown,  friends from San Diego who have moved here

Peace

Alex and I are moving across the country in T minus 17 days, and are in the midst of searching for an apartment and a job, selling our car and purchasing a new one, and preparing all of our possessions to be packed on to a Uhaul, which means that our house is in progressive states of disassembly. I cannot say that these last few days have been without their moments of panic or tears, but at the same time, I am confident that our God will provide for us what we need when we need it.

#5 - colorful china

#4 - Quiet

Life has been busy this week.  Between Alex working to launch a new business, sharing the car multiple days, a couple of visits with friends, meetings at work, and a failed early morning swimming adventure (turns out the pool was closed. Not what you want to find out after dragging yourself out of bed and having convinced yourself that it's a good idea to hurl your body into cold water...), we are tired. This morning as I was driving to work I heard a thumping noise, immediately recognized it as a flat tire, and so pulled over and awaited the arrival of AAA before heading on to work. I was just grateful that the tire had lasted my drive to and from Pasadena where I had visited a friend the night before.

Coupled with the busyness of this week is the fact that on Monday I gave a deposit to a graduate school, and so will be officially moving forward with a very new stage in life! All very exciting, and of course, causes me to jump into planning mode -- apartments, summer school, summer trips, weddings, parties, moving costs, and work transitions. Needless to say, thinking this far ahead, aside from not being entirely necessary, is also mentally exhausting.

So, at the end of a week like this one I am tired, have become easily irritated by others, and am distinctly aware of my inability to trust the God who loves me with the details of my life. BUT - I'm grateful for the rest I have this night. Alex is out with a friend and our house is quiet. I have a chance to read, to be and reflect. To watch silly shows. To lounge in my pajamas after a nice shower. Blessings in the form of quiet and being.

Easter (and #3)

Rainy day. Baked Oatmeal. Joyful church service. Family and friends to be with. And beautiful, sweet, red strawberries, sliced to be used in an Easter dessert (#3).

#2 - The roses blooming

...one in our backyard is about the size of my head. It catches me by surprise every time I see it.

#1 - Morning light

...shining through our dining room windows.

One hundred gifts

Ann Voskamp is a name you might not have heard before.  She is a farmer's wife who lives in Canada where she raises (and homeschools) her six children.  She is also the author of the book One Thousand Gifts, a book wherein she chronicles her journey towards living a full and joyful life, even when life is her life on the farm and will not (and should not) be anything more glamorous. She tells of her discovery that our gratitude for the many gifts God gives is key to our joy:  "Isn't it here? The wonder? Why do I spend so much of my living hours struggling to see it?..."

Ann begins to list out, until she reaches one thousand, the gifts she sees in daily life. I was impressed by her list, and impressed as I saw her joy and wonder grow while she captured even small glimpses of glory and beauty, including things that may seem silly, like the pile of freshly grated cheese on a pizza she was making --
"...Happy in all these things that God gives. Ridiculously happy over slips of cheese. That I am, and it's wild, and oh, I am the one who laughs. Me! Changed! Surprised by joy! 
Joy is the realist reality, the fullest life, and joy is always given, never grasped. God gives gifts and I give thanks and I unwrap the gift given: joy."

I could go on about this book, but suffice it to say it has inspired me to begin a list of my own: one hundred gifts. I am one who all too often thinks only of what I do not have, and grasps for it. I miss the receiving part and think of only how to provide for myself, and so I miss God's provision to me in the present, and so I do not recognize His love and I forfeit joy. When I stop grasping and instead pause and take note of what has been given, maybe I will see that it is enough. At least that is what Ann saw.

What better place to post a few of these things than my blog? Point-and-shoot camera in hand, here begins a new series...

things I'm grateful for.

-that our dear friends invited us over for dinner the night we returned from a week with family in san diego. in light of the sadness that comes after the end of cherished time with family,  God gave me a sort of buffer and reminded me that He has provided friends where we are now.
-that i did not get sick until the day after we returned from san diego.
-for my husband, sitting on the floor, with his headphones on listening to a french lesson and pronouncing random words and sentences aloud.
-for my new scarf.
-for the chance to get a massage tomorrow.

Oh November

Something about this month is beautiful.  I could say that about every month -- being out of school, each month is no longer peppered and pressured with deadlines, and I am learning a new character of the calendar.
November is an orange and blue-gray month.  Daylight savings brings brighter mornings and earlier evenings.  The first hours of the day verge on being cold; the afternoon sun is still warm.  Sunny southern California (hopefully) kisses summer goodbye.


November is a month for anticipating.  Thanksgiving, Christmas, time with family, the end of the calendar year.  These things come in quick succession, and once they begin sometimes reflection and preparation is no longer possible.  The first few weeks of November are maybe the last "normal" weeks of the year.


Tonight Alex and I went out for a pizza.  We walked from our apartment, in the cold air. Now we are back, I am wearing a wool sweater, and we are each enjoying a glass of Chianti.


Oh, November.  You and your occasionally sullen skies can visit anytime.

Life at the Elmore residence: a.k.a. Team Elmore

Currently, it's Saturday morning. A (that stands for Alex) is still sleeping, I have been up since the crack of dawn (actually, before dawn) because I had to work for a couple of hours this morning.  It is only 10:30, and I have already driven the town, drank some coffee, worked two hours, had my bangs trimmed, put away clean dishes, and made and eaten breakfast. What a Saturday.


Now I sit at the computer, whose power cord is so finicky that when I breathe it comes disconnected, and panicking, I fiddle with it as the computer plunges towards its speedy demise. So I hover over this keyboard, afraid of typing too vigorously lest that little green light turn off.


The rest of the day should be filled with normal Saturday things -- a few errands for him, a bit of pilates for me, some requisite tidying and cleaning, maybe an episode or two of Friends.


This is what A and I are as a team -- doing life together by being in the same space and enjoying one another's company on this Saturday. Supporting each other in our separate tasks and different ambitions. Working together to ensure that chores get done so that we can live in a clean, functioning space, working so that we can move forward together into whatever is next. I know being a team in marriage works itself out differently in every stage of life. This is what it is for us now.

What's in a name?

As many of you know, about five years ago I changed my name.  For the first 18 years of my life my family and friends, teachers and coaches, coworkers and classmates called me Becca (or during first grade when I wanted to sound grown up, Rebecca).


The year before I made the switch, my childhood friend Amy was living with me.  As a sort of joke we called ourselves by our middle names - Liz (for Elizabeth) and Jane.  We documented our adventures of the year (and what adventures we had!) in a journal, always referring to ourselves as Liz and Jane.  But our fun only went so far --though we schemed that we would go by these names at our community college, both of us chickened out and did not 'correct' the teacher when she called our name during role the first day of class.


But then, going off to college, I had another chance -- a chance to do something utterly random, a chance to change my name and get away with it because there were few people at the school who knew me as "Becca".  I asked my brother if he thought I should do it, if I should go by my middle name, and he said "why not?"  That became my new mantra when asked why I changed my name.  There was no other intention behind it, nothing that made me want to stop being called Becca and start being called Jane (although my grandma's name was Jane and I think it is a lovely name).


The initial days were a little rocky.  My first attempt to introduce myself with my new name I said, "Hi, I'm.......Jane."  I'm sure it must have seemed odd for someone to hesitate to try to remember their name.  Later, just seconds after I had introduced myself to my now dear friend Kat, my Dad came around the corner and said, "Oh, so you've met Becca?"  I believe Kat just looked back and forth between me and my Dad until I explained myself.


Gradually, I became comfortable telling teachers and employers that "I go by my middle name," and my response time to my new name shortened until it seemed almost normal.  My brother and sister obstinately refused to call me Jane, and many non-college friends remained confused, despite my assuring them that they could still call me Becca.  Other friends, upon discovering my recent change, decided to combine the two names and call me "Becca Jane."  One friend decided that she would call me Jane when she wanted advice, and Becca when she wanted to have fun.


Now I have trouble responding when friends call me "Becca."  I momentarily think to myself "who's that?"  I feel oddly disconnected from the name that was close to me for some years, the name my parents gave me and that will still grace all my official transcripts and records since I made no legal change.  When my dance teacher neglected to hang on to her initial role sheet (with revisions from me), I did not correct her again.  Every time she calls me "Rebecca", I treasure it (after a 2 second lapse of trying to identify to whom she is referring).

Ten things I learned from my husband

1. How to not panic when writing a college essay. This involves not being afraid of the hard work, but also sending the paper off to loved ones for some editing. When you've hit a wall, stop working, get a cup of hot chocolate, and watch an episode of something on Hulu. (Also, when I (memorably) panicked sophomore year, he sat with me for two or so hours to help me rethink my argument. This we call "woo-ing").


2. How to be curious in a way that reading satisfies, and how to be glad when your husband decides that library books are as satisfying to his curiosity as those purchased on Amazon.


3. How weather works. No, really. These things are fascinating to me, and he has a good enough memory to recount all the details he learned in 7th grade science class. Once when we were driving up the coast, I asked him why the temperature was cooler outside then it had been earlier that week. He proceeded to tell me about moisture, humidity of the air, cold and hot fronts, wind directions...and then entertained my questions about earthquakes, tectonic plates, volcanoes, hurricanes, and tsunamis.


4. The history of Rome. and England. and Israel (the latter he has repeated to me time and time again, without frustration and only the occasional laughter at my inability to hold historical facts in my head for longer than 4 days).


5. Food fact number 1: Sometimes, simple tastes are better - like vanilla ice cream. and bacon. Me, I would want to mix these flavors together. Experiment. Alex prefers them independent from one another and at the appropriate times of day. (Not that he doesn’t sometimes eat ice cream for breakfast).


6. Food fact number 2: Sometimes, simple tastes are not better. One day at the school cafeteria, Alex suggested we exchange preparing breakfast for each other. In an attempt to introduce me to a new creative concoction (since he knows I like these sorts of experiments), Alex brought me a nice bowl of sticky oatmeal and cantaloupe. These foods, while nice on their own, are quite bland when slopped together. I did not eat the oatmeal. (Poor guy). But I did laugh at him and think him cute. (Poor guy).


7. How to be moderate.


8. Patience... partly from his tendency to run a little late, but more from his example (See #1, 3, 4).


9. Kindness. Gentleness.


10. Life isn’t perfect - you can still have joy. Joy doesn't come despite imperfection, it comes alongside imperfection, because joy is unrelated to our perfection or imperfection. Joy is about the grace of God in our lives, therefore take joy in the Lord in the midst of an imperfect life (this one I am still learning).

For the love of fall.

Yesterday was the first semi-chilly, drizzly day in Los Angeles. This means that it was 68 degrees, and I saw students all over campus wearing knee high boots, leggings and baggy sweaters. Two things in this life I cannot get over -- 1. the fashion sense of a college student, and 2. the quickness of those living in extreme climates to don clothing suited to the weather that is opposite to their typical weather experience (example: the propensity of a midwesterner to wear flip-flops as soon as the weather turns 50 degrees ). When I went to Oxford, I participated in both of these phenomena - so eager to wear cozy clothing once in a non-southern california enviornment, I also was encouraged by (a) my college fashion sense, and (b) my interpretation of the "funkiness" of british style, so that I readily layered sweater upon long-sleeved shirt upon scarf upon tights upon skirts, all varying in pattern and color, without hesitation or remorse.


Today, though my fashion sense is slightly more cultured (or so I like to think), I felt inclined to put on my new brown leather boots and pull the tweed skirt from the back of my closet. I still can't resist the pull all southern californians feel to "celebrate" the colder weather with attire that feels a bit out of place when the morning fog burns off and it turns out to be 80 degrees that afternoon.


But I don't care.


_____________


Lovely and romantic: two words that come to mind when I think of fall -- the daylight escapes a little bit earlier. Yesterday on my drive home from work the trees and fields in parks were golden-green, rather than the more light-saturated kelly green of summer evenings.


The colors of fall are rich and beautiful, turquoise and crimson and plum and forest green. The popular textures of fabric (wool, tweed, corduroy) are warm and cozy.


So many of the activities that take place in the fall hold memories from past years. Whereas the months of spring and early summer pass without many "annual" events (aside from Easter and Memorial Day), fall is the time for going back to school, for crisp apples, for halloween parties, fall sports, warm soups, the joy of an hour more sleep when we "Fall back" for Daylight savings -- all the while the days are shortening as we head into Thanksgiving, Christmas and "winter." (sorry, L.A., I just can't take that word seriously around you).
Yes, fall is precursor to the dive into winter, which will lead to the next spring and the warm, long days of summer again. Perhaps it is the cycle of seasons that allows each to be beautiful. We can acknowledge and perhaps appreciate the bitterness of winter because we are looking forward to the thawing of spring.


I do think all seasons have their own glories. But to me, fall recalls beauty of a type I forgot existed. Each time autumn comes it catches me off guard; I am surprised  by its beauty and wonder at it and relish it.

A few things worth living for

The other week, a co-worker mentioned to me that he had developed two rules which he hoped to keep during his life:


1. Never drink bad coffee.
2. Never listen to bad music.


According to him, there is no excuse for allowing a poor sample of a good thing to lessen one's enjoyment of it. A poor version of a good thing might even make the thing bad. We have been given plenty of delicious coffee and quality music (thanks be to God)! Do not settle. Do not compromise. Life's too short to half-heartedly partake of its pleasures.


In lieu of this realization, I thought I might develop my own list of rules, rendered necessary by the phrase "Life's too short...":


1. Life's too short to speed through it. I start with this rule because it is hard -- especially for someone who likes toget-things-done-as-quickly-as-possible-so-I-can-relax. No, bad plan. This tends to be a frustrating orientation. Sure, there are times when my tasks are minimal and offer no enjoyment, so I can speed through them to something I enjoy more. Most of the time, though, I need to either be able to enjoy the tasks at hand, or be willing to let them go undone if doing them will prevent me from participating in the more substantive moments of life. So, yes, I will make efforts to enjoy doing dishes and take pleasure in restoring order to our apartment. But if it has been a long day and the priority is to "wind down," then the house does not have to be in perfect order for me to sit with a cup of tea and a book for thirty minutes. And it is better to leave my bed unmade and my blow-drier on the counter so I can spend a few minutes in quiet each morning. Lingering over dinner-table conversation verses headed off to accomplish the next "to-do" - also worthwhile. Moral of the story? Slow down. Enjoy.


2. Life's too short to eat boring desserts. Desserts, in my opinion, should be creative in their flavor combinations, have quality ingredients and (on special occasions) have quirky presentation. Not that I won't go for a simple piece of chocolate or a scoop of vanilla ice cream occasionally, but really, how much more do I love pear and salted caramel ice cream or lavender dark chocolate. [One point of no compromise is hot chocolate - it really must be made with fresh, steaming milk and melted chocolate (plus a dash of vanilla and  sprinkle of nutmeg). Boiling water and cocoa powder? No. Never. Why would I replace this creamy, delicious beverage with a thin, watery cup of chocolate flavored sugar? Do you see my point?)


3. Life's too short to blow-dry my hair (Note: I do do this because I am a working woman. But if it were up to me, I would not waste 15 precious minutes of my day getting my hair to a place that it would eventually reach ALL ON ITS OWN).


I know there are many factors that contribute to a life well-lived and enjoyed, but these are three that I think valuable. What about you? What life rules would you establish to make each day (or at least moments of each day) spectacular?

College grad --> adult?

It's a funny thing, being 23. Today at lunch my coworkers were describing the "20's" as the volatile period of your life, and I can't help but agree. Your twenties are the years during which you are constantly making decisions and shifting your plans as you evaluate and reevaluate the direction of your life. You are finishing college and (hopefully) starting your first "real" job, which requires lower levels of accountability than were needed to write your Senior Thesis, but solicits strong bonds of dependence since it is with this job that you will pay for rent, insurance, a car, cell phone bills, the internet, repairs, and maybe save enough to buy a $3.00 cup of coffee from Starbucks twice a month. At the same time, you have no idea what you're doing with your life, there's a 90% chance that what you currently spend your day laboring at has nothing to do with your college major, you are likely still in debt from said (seemingly) impractical college degree, and at best, you're living just above the poverty line. You are grateful to be able to purchase simple groceries and "two-buck chuck" to wine-and-dine yourself as you manage your small apartment and apply to graduate schools or research your "dream job" on the poor old laptop that lasted your three-hundred trips hauling it to and from the library but is not going to last much longer.


(Here ends a fairly realistic account of the sad state of life the average humanities major encounters post-graduation).


This is not to say that your twenties are without their perks. There is certainly less responsibility as you likely do not have children (or at least do not have teenagers), have less to file for in taxes, do not have mortgage payments, and hopefully have your health. It is fantastic to be able to take advantage of your spare time and energy to be with friends, go exploring, discover new likes and read new books (especially with your college-conditioned reading skills). In fact, having lesser responsibility and fewer years of 9-5 work wearing down on us, we might just see each day and weekend as an opportunity for adventure (again, save the financial constraints).


It isn't time to settle down yet. I asked Alex the other day how many years from now he would like to have started his career, and he said "six." That puts him at 29. That gives him (and me), six years to re-evaluate what we want to do with our lives, to research grad schools, apply, get-in, work; to research our dream jobs and apply to the entry level positions of those industries. Six years to learn about taxes and IRA accounts, to learn about politics and the corporate ladder. Also, six more years to live adventurously, to explore local areas with our free(er) weekends, to sleep in on Saturdays, to have our friends over on weeknights just to watch TV shows together, and work 9-5 rather than 9-7 or 9-8. It's not that we expect or intend to have everything figured out by then, it is just that this feels like the time for a large dose of both learning and adventure.


So here we are. 23. Not yet adults, definitely no longer teenagers. Six more years 'til we are just about 30. Then does real life begin?