pizza for "old" people

I will happily admit that Rae and I conduct our lives like elderly people. Haha! We are up by 6am, home and settled in for cooking dinner by 6pm, and in bed by 10pm. And we love it! We get out when we can, but cooking at home has helped us save so much $$ when we needed to do so in the past few weeks and now we've become accustomed to our evenings in together.
Since I'm not the cook Rae whips up all our meals, first plan then execution. So the other night we did pizza...probably my favorite and most fun meal we do!

"dusty" flour floor

yummmm!

morning sun

Today I am out of class. I got up with Rae at 6:30, as usual, and have enjoyed this morning too much to waste any time by going back to sleep. Here's to a new day!  A day for life and renewal, creativity and reflection. A day just for me.

You have a lovely day, too!

thanks giving

I won't be shy about it - I have the best life.
I have the best love, my person who supports me and cheers me on every day. Not one second has passed since we met that I have doubted where we stand, where I stand in Rae's life, or how I am adored. Not one second. My life-journey-partner-lover-friend. I am home here.
I have the best friends. Most of them are old friends, ones that stay with you through all your craziness. Each playing their own part, adding certain things to certain parts of life. Friends who reemerged after years of silence, college friends, walk-on-break-at-the-job-we-hate friends, friends you meet through other friends, friends who moved away in body only. My life would be so different if even one of them was not a part of me.
I have the best family. My parents love me and I've never doubted it. My brothers haven't disowned me after all those years of taunting and torture, on the contrary, they love me.

There are plenty of things I could say that I still want, as I'm human, but living with "want" is not how I will choose to conduct my days. I have more than I need, more than I could ask for. The word "thankful" barely covers it. The best part being that I recognize and feel this fullness every day.

urban farming

I begin this entry with a long, calming sigh. This morning Rae and I went to help out at the CommonWealth Urban Farm again. We found out about this local garden being nurtured in the backyards of houses very near ours in Oklahoma City just a few weeks ago and were eager to help.

{A quick back story/redirection of this little blog space: I began this blog a couple years ago with the intent of keeping it as a "get to know me" section of my photo & design website. And as it goes I seemed to post more "life" statements than business. Which I'm fine with. But thus far this little blog space has been a random collection of all the random things I am/love/do/enjoy. Which is also fine if you enjoy keeping up with it. I would like to be a bit more directed in my writings about where my life is going, but we'll see what happens.}

My life (and, in turn, this blog) consists of my loves: photography, cosmetology school, growth, gardening and all things earth and quiet reflection. Then of course Rae, family and friends, being most important. My 2011 year began with my independence. Moving away from the life I had in Stillwater, starting over at "home" in my grandparents' house, formulating and creating a life that was wholly mine. I began building this picture of how I wanted to live, and started right away. I continued my recycling, began gardening, drank more tea, let my soul spread out on the land that I was tending.
My vision has been to live a sustainable life. This has been growing for years, but as I moved into a house with a yard the desire for such multiplied. A desire to farm, garden, respect, appreciate and tend the earth to harvest my needs. Support local everything - art, food, music, business. My hair career will go anywhere with me, and allow me the time to garden, photograph whatever I fancy, and have a family. I want to carry my baby on my back as I harvest our food. Raise a conscious and informed child, without robbing them of the due innocence of that time. I long to nurture and care for my family, our pets, our land, and everyone I encounter. I felt everything in me that was resting for so long now flourishing with produce (hence, my carrot tattoo.) My soil was feeling ready.
Then I met Rae, who had the same vision I did, a shared vision for life. It was recognized between us so quickly and organically. And so we continue this journey together.

Our current life consists of this:
-recycling, reducing our output of waste, and reusing what we can
-purchasing all food products locally and/or organically (or retrieved from the dumpster, if possible)
-purchasing other daily needs with conscious effort to support local and small business.
-keep a low consumer profile (i.e. we try hard not to buy things we don't need or have room for, being minimalist in possessions)
-learning to garden, compost, and harvest
-planning our family (yep, not just us and the cats....)
-paying off debt and saving money for the future

So CommonWealth garden is our new Saturday morning thing. I worked at the pub last night until 2am so when 8am rolled around and bushy-tailed Rae was ready to garden I put on quite a pitiful show of whining and moaning. But I got up and had my coffee. And by the time we were moving wood piles to make room for another compost pile I was deliriously happy to be outside instead of in bed. To be learning and growing and preparing for our future.

 starting another compost pile

 the carbon (brush) to cover the nitrogen (rotten fruits, veggies & other green items)

 winterizing the beds

 rotten produce from a local grocery - its still so gorgeous!

 sifting to get all the compost

spoils we brought home from the donated "trash" produce

<3

fallen leaves

oh my. time. life. how things change and stay the same. the cold air and fallen leaves are reminding me of where i was last year at this time. in another city, with another job, another partner, another life. i was moving forward and could feel the current changing, just couldn't see around the bend yet. i had no idea i would land here. i hadn't even imagined being in hair school, waiting tables on the weekend, reserving my photography for myself, or planning a family.
i look back now, remembering my apartment in Stillwater, the separation and change from the life i had been living for seven years. a new start. and starting with such shakiness. the fears, the tears, all the things i held on to, they flood back with this fall air. the crappy bar i would hang out at just to be near someone. the drives i would take, the music i was finding solace in. i remember these suddenly and then just as quickly feel how it all has passed.  like fallen leaves, these emotional memories, they're no longer attached to your soul. soon enough they'll be swept away in the wind, recycled by the earth into something usable.

i love this season for so many reasons, and this is just another one. here's to change, growth, renewal!

v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n

*long sighhhhh*
back from vacation. rae planned a trip (a master trip planner too, i might add). i was treated to 3 nights of camping and a night at an amazing spa, all in Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico. it was the best trip - ever - !!!!!  nature, a bota box of malbec, cold nights, warm days, spa treatments and my best friend. 4 nights, 5 days. perfection.

 Ten Thousand Waves

 we couldn't resist bringing home some cottonwood