sketch

Have you ever been to Sketch Burger, my Philly Friends? DJ and I were debating on where we should have dinner in Leotah's Place yesterday and decided on this joint. Our friend sitting nearby had never been, so I am going to tout its awesomeness.

First, it has great food, not just burgers.

Second, it has yummy deserts and ice cream. DJ and I have our favorite milkshake there: coconut & peanut butter!

Third, they have many vegan/vegetarian options. No really they do, even their treats!

Fourth, you get to decorate the place with your sketches. Here is mine from last year that is still on display by the drink fridge.

yes we came here for our anniversary

So needless to say, you should check this place out. End of plug.

August already?

This summer is flying by! July was a full month of school, vacation, friends, and a new job. Here's the details:

I am finishing up my first semester online for my Masters of Special Education at Saint Joseph's University. It has been wonderful getting back into academia. It feels like I have never left.

DJ and I camped at the wonderful little Reeds Gap State Park. We hiked, waded in the stream, napped in the hammock, and the best: cooked our favorite camping foods over the fire. We also went to the Remington Ryde Bluegrass Festival in Reedsville, PA. The whole vacation reminded us why we love our state and how much we miss the country.

We had friends over to our little apartment for dinner. DJ's friend from the port, Michael and his beautiful new wife Rachael visited. We had shepherd's pie with turkey sausage and strawberries for dessert. I even got out the good Blue Ridge pottery from Mrs Clapp and Siesta Ware mugs from Smartz. We had such encouraging conversations. I felt so blessed to have over.

tiny kitchen set up

At the end of July I was asked to fill in at Circle Thrift. Soon enough the position was extended and I will be there for a while. I love working there. Everyone should come by to see me and buy some awesome merch from CT!

I am excited for what August has in store. More updates to come.

coat rack

For years DJ and I have been using a standard coat rack. It is useful for so many things and seemed to keep things off of our floor. The problem?...we wanted to put a chair in our bedroom and didn't have the space. We were sad to get rid of the coat rack, but decided to use its parts to make a new one. I removed the hooks and mounted them directly to the wall. That was a fail. The screws were not long enough and just ripped out of the wall. So the search was on for something else. I was walking Chompsky the other day and found a dirty, discarded back of a chair and thought that it might work. I cleaned it up, mounted the hooks and presto, we got a new, up-cycled coat rack! I placed it behind the door utilize the space. Take a look...

bravery

I want to explain how wonderful my husband is...

We live in a building with 6 apartments and the one below us was vacant for about a month. Last week a guy moved in and that stirred up things a little bit. Mainly, two mice decided that they would move from the now occupied kitchen to our kitchen. We tightened ship and made sure that all of our food was in containers, but they did not get the hint. This is where the heroism comes in.  He and I both love and hate to use glue traps. They are the most effective way of catching, but do not kill the mice. DJ disposed of the glue trapped mice with bravery. I am thankful every day that I married this man, and this was just another reason to remind me of that fact. 


update: DJ disposed of another mouse today. Seriously, this man is wonderful. Thank you, DJ, for these three glorious years!

box set

Ever wonder how your beautiful vinyl box set was assembled? No, neither did I until I volunteered to help. Yesterday and today a bunch of friends lent a helping hand to mewithoutyou et. all to get their limited addition box sets together. I  folded posters, and stuffed 7 inch vinyl into their special sleeves. If you got one of these puppies you will not be disappointed! And plus they were assembled with love! Here are some of my crappy shots of the happy helpers.

End of the line...packing the extras and boxing them up.

The guys signing posters. 

tops just waiting to be reunited with their bottoms

The assembly line was more of a U shape.

One thing I gotta say is that I am so glad we had air conditioning! The Philly heat today is over 100 degrees! If you haven't heard their new album Ten Stories order it or get a listen on spotify.

birthday

Today I turned 26. I don't really like parties, and never have, so DJ and I had a low key birthday lunch at one of my favorite places: Zama. Its a sushi place, which is not usually on our rotation of places to go because sushi doesn't always fill us up.Today we got two veggie rolls, a super crunchy spicy tuna roll, the smoked salmon and fig roll, and the Philly cheese steak roll. All were so amazing! After, we went to a cafe that we have been meaning to check out: Pure Fare. The coffee was really smooth and the pistachio-dark chocolate bark was rich and certainly worth the price.

But before all of this, DJ came home with a great little gift...

Classy? Maybe not, but definitely thoughtful!

Along with all the great wishes that I have gotten through text, FB, and calls, it is shaping up to be a good B-day!

strawberry and rhubarb shortcake

I had a great day! I checked off most of the weekend tasks and also got in a trip to Greensgrow! There I bought so much fresh produce including a pint of strawberries and four stalks of rhubarb! I had to make something awesome! Exclamation points!

Now I do not really like pie crust and I like making it about as much. I looked in the vegetarian cookbook for a recipe for shortcake. I saw one make with walnuts, but I figured I would modify the recipe to what I already had. Here is what I came up with...

Shortcake:
1 cup of roasted pumpkin seeds, unsalted
1/4 cup of flax seeds
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
8 tbsp butter
1/4 cup (approx) coconut milk

Filling:
1 pint sliced strawberries
4-5 stalks of rhubarb, chopped
1/3 cup sugar

Special Tools:
Food Processor


I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. Then I combined the pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, sugar, and rosemary in the food processor and turned it on until it was ground to a cornmeal consistency. I then added the flour and baking powder and ran it again until mixed. I cut up my butter and added it to the mixture with the processor on and continued to process until the mixture started to come together. At this point I added the coconut milk while it was running until a ball started to form. I dumped the ball into a pie pan and pushed it into the sides. I tried to make the bottom thicker to hold the filling.

For the filling I slices up the super ripe strawberries and chopped the rhubarb. I combined them in a bowl with the sugar and stirred until the sugar started to dissolve.
I poured the filling into the pie pan and baked it for about 40-50 minutes. I could tell it was done by checking the rhubarb with a fork. When the fork was able to go through it without any resistance it was done! I let it rest for about 30 minutes before serving it.

And oh man was it good. I had been jonesing for a strawberry and rosemary desert for a while now (ever since I saw a desert pizza like this in Better Homes and Gardens) DJ and I ate it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I am sure my vegan friends could substitute any number of solid fats for the butter, so go crazy!

pinch pot

At Circle of Hope, we often create things together in solidarity, in worship, and in joyful expression.  This season is Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit filled the members of the early church. Here is how one member named Luke described it in the book of Acts:

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.


We created pinch pots two weeks ago out of clay. They were fired in a kiln and this week we placed a lit candle in them to give to another person. We were passing the flame onto someone else. I'd like to think that it represented how the early church received this gift and freely passed it to others so that everyone could have the Holy Spirit.


Here is the pinch pot that I received:

Sometimes I feel like the art that we do can be cheesy, but this spoke to me. I love how the point of this art direction was not to make something to take home for ourselves. The point was to make something with our hands to give away.

Trenton Ave Arts Fest and Kinetic Sculpture Derby

Today Chompsky and I went to the Trenton Ave Arts Fest and Kinetic Sculpture Derby! I was so excited that I almost forgot to take some snapshots. Here are a few highlights...

Such a beautiful day.
You can just see the Comcast building in the center of the photo.

Little Baby's Ice Cream!! So good!

So tempting! But we collect the brown glass ones.

The Kinetic Sculptures travel around the neighborhood and then drive through mud.

One of the sculptures. This one was blasting dance music.

Nice little three-seater.

Yards Brewing Company's mobile. I love the taps on the steering wheel!

A very tired Chompsky

Our spoils! T-shirt for me and a bandanna for DJ.

The weekend is off to a good start. Tomorrow, DJ and I are going to my nephew's first communion celebration. I am excited to see my family.

Trenton Ave here I come...

Excited about this today! Stay tuned for the haps!

free indeed

DJ and I found these beauties at Circle Thrift yesterday. They were in the free bin and covered in dirt. I think the previous owner was using them under potted plants. I cleaned them up and now they look great! I think they are Blue Ridge pottery plates, but I cannot be sure. If they are they are worth upwards of $5 a plate! Either way, it was a good find.

nice and clean...

hot dog truck

The Memphis Beer Garden is OPEN! DJ and I went on opening day on Saturday and yesterday. I had the Surf which is like a Vietnamese Hoagie but with a hot dog and my favorite the California Uber Alles (pictured below) which is like a California Roll with a beer battered hot dog!

my mouth waters just looking at it

CALIFORNIA UBER ALLES

Our healthy diet is definitely in trouble! Seriously if you are in Philly anytime this summer you should check this place out! 

interview season

It is that time of the year again. Interview season: from now until August.

I had a phone interview today and I think it when well. The next step is a demo lesson. I get to actually go into the classroom with students. It is so much easier to show how you will teach than to talk about it.

Hopefully it will all end well and I will be employed by the start of the new school year!

masters

I got great news today. I am accepted into the Masters of Special Education program at Saint Joseph's University. The process felt so drawn out, but I think it was because it was out of my hands. I am excited and scared and nervous and I don't know what. I am mostly worried about what else: money. I am hoping that I will get enough financial aid and not have to take out too many loans. I am however looking forward to getting back into an academic rigor.

our new burger place.. vegans & vegetarians beware

DJ and I have a problem. We love burgers. When we go to a new place that is supposed to have a good one, we must have it. For instance, we went to Kraftwork in Fishtown. This place had a huge tap list and a burger with duck fat and bacon jam (sorry vegan/vegetarian friends.) The burger was the best in the city...

...and then they screwed it all up. The burger is now sans duck fat and on a ciabatta roll (NOOOOO!). So DJ and I went in search of our new favorite burger place.

Our usual hangout place, Memphis Taproom, has a great burger. However, the temperature inconsistence and limit of toppings have tired us. The burger at Prohibition Taproom is great as well, but lacking. The burger at Sketch is messy goodness on a roll with rockin fries, but alas no tap. Our search continued.

Then we tried the burger at The Belgian Cafe. We have found a winner.

Their burger is moist, cooked to perfection, and comes with one of a list of amazing topping combinations. Bonus: their award winning fries. Seriously. They come with an aioli sauce that makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Second bonus: Monk's Flemmish Sour on tap all the time. Since this cafe is owned by Monk's I can be certain that they will have my favorite beer every time I need a burger fix. Probably the only downside is that it is in Fairmount. "Why the downside," you ask? PARKING! If you want to go there any time after 6, good luck finding a spot. I say go early and walk the beautiful streets while you work off your buzz.

Spring is here

So now it is Spring. Lent is going on, but it is on the upswing. I am excited for break and Easter. In celebration of that DJ and I turned the raised bed in our back yard. We planted red lettuce, mustard greens, dill, fennel, swiss chard, and pansies. I felt so alive to be outside all day.

No pictures of the garden yet, but here is a picture of Noam Chompsky.

teaching and puppy

I got a teaching job, but I can't bring myself to say that I am a teacher yet. I guess that will come with experience.

With all these changes, why not another one right? That is my reasoning behind our puppy search. I feel like it is time for us and I have convinced DJ! I never realized, however, how hard it was to adopt from a shelter. I have to sign a huge form probably longer than a college application. Then there are house visits and screenings. What happened to -we have a dog that you must take or we will euthanize it? Yeah, I know that this is a big commitment and they want you to be sure, but for me it is a deterrent.

snowed in

I am not quite snowed in, but I like that mentality. You feel like you can do so much with the time, or just have time to chill. This snow storm DJ and I did the former. We went to cell leader training, ate lunch at El Cafeito, traded out a broken futon for a borrowed one, and went over to Lois and Jesse Keenan's house for some dinner and fun. All together, an awesome day!

love jesus style

I took off Saturday from work many weeks ago to prepare for the arrival of my in-laws and for a cell leader training for Circle of Hope. I forgot about it until yesterday so it was nice to not go to Applebees. I spent the morning loving and learning to love

The topic was on healthy sexuality focusing on Luke 17:11-19 when Jesus heals 10 lepers and 1 came back to acknowledge him as God. Four points were made: Jesus made the connection, He pitied the lepers and reached out to connect with them; 1 out of 10 ain't bad, its okay that the result wasn't 100% and you cannot expect it to be; Jesus lived the commitment, he didn't look for the opportunity to heal he just did it; and its okay to expect praise, love is a grace exchange.

Love is so much more than sex, although the world burns it down to that. We use our sexuality to connect with people in the intimate sense. Because I am married, I look to my relationship with my husband as an example of how I relate sexually. I can see healthy and unhealthy instances, but overall I am really happy where we are right now. I hope that we will continue to grow in our intimate relationship and love the way Jesus loved.

new

Things are new. This blog is new for instance. I have had old ones but going back to them just doesn't seem right for some reason because so much has changed. Right new stuff...

I am a newly wed as of June 27th. June bride. I live in a new(ish) city. I have lived in Philadelphia for a year. I live in a new house with my new husband and new housemates. I have the same job though but hope for a new one.

My life seems to revolve around the new thing. I have had this discussion with many friends (many of whom are new) When will the desire for the next new thing be satisfied. How long will I be okay with this step until I have to move onto the next. I have already shared the desire to get a new job. Is that to merely better myself or because these jobs are mundane? Too many questions for the first post. More getting to know me I guess.