Tea

So as you all know I'm a huge tea drinker. I thought I'd take this opportunity to show of some of the things I use to brew my tea!

These are my latest toys: a tiny little tea tasting set!  The little cup makes about four ounces at a time, which is perfect for brewing up a little tea at a time with the samples I bought after my birthday.  

How I use it: tea in the cup with the lid, let it brew, an invert into the tasting bowl to drain.

This adorable (albeit out of focus) little dude is my yixing pot.  I've been slowly seasoning him to use with oolong teas.  This one has a built in strainer, so I just dump tea leaves in the pot and add hot water.  Yixing is an unsealed clay so over time it absorbs the flavor of the tea.  

And this is my baby; cast iron.  I brew pretty much whatever I feel like in this pot.  It stays hot for ages and like the yixing, it eventually will be seasoned so each time I use it my tea tastes better.

And my hot water kettle.  My mom bought this for me for Christmas and it's wonderful.  Very pretty.

What kinds of tea do you prefer?

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Have you had a good day?  We've had a great one.

I cooked a turkey all by myself!  Well, Dan helped, a lot, but I mean I was directly involved in the cooking of the turkey, which has never happened before, as Thanksgiving was always either at my grandparents or at my auntie's house growing up, as far as I remember, or Mom did thanksgiving, and for the last several years, we've either been invited somewhere or been back with family.

So yeah, I cooked a turkey.  AND I made gravy.  Also a new experience, because Dan asked.  Turns out, gravy is ridiculously easy to make.  Dunno why it always seemed like it'd be such a process.

Other things I did today: I decorated the Christmas tree, which we put up at the beginning of the month.  I wrapped all the Christmas presents I currently have in my possession, which is everyone but the other half of Dan's gift.

Also, I drank a RIDICULOUS amount of tea. you'd think, working in a tea store, I'd get sick of the stuff, but nope.  I have a huge supply at home and I'm slowly drinking through it, to just the stuff I LOVE.  Which is still a lot, but not nearly as much as I have right now.  Organized my stash and it turns out I like Green teas the most?  So that's weird.

That right there is my newest addiction:  Chai Tea latte.  Totally tasty, just sweet enough to satisfy the sweettooth, but way better than eating, say, a brownie.  Or a whole pan of them.

Dan and I are watching through LOTR today.  Well, at least we are in theory.  I think we're gonna have to give up after The Two Towers, as it's nearly 10pm and we JUST started that one and I have a LONG shift tomorrow in the madness that is Black Friday.

Anyway, that was my thanksgiving; how was yours?

Things that have happened since the last time I blogged:

Halloween.

Thanksgiving:  we went to some other RTS student's house and did thanksgiving potluck style.  Also Bring-Your-Own-Chair style.

Leslie was promoted to Assistant manager at Teavana:  along with awesome pay raise.  Closely related to this was Leslie Quit Working at the Gap.

Christmas:  Dan and I spent christmas here, on our own.  We celebrated by wearing our pajamas all day.  also, neither one of us remember what we got the other.  So that's fun.  :)

New Years:  I didn't have to work and we possibly went to do something fun?  Somewhere I probably have pictures documenting all this stuff.

Valentine's day:  Again, I'm pretty sure we went to dinner...or something.

Leslie got promoted to GM at teavana...and that's pretty much where we are now.

Dan got an internship at a church in charlotte and also survived his first year of seminary.  only three to go!

So there you go.  Nine months, squashed into eight lines.

I'm not dead, I promise.

So...I should update this thing, I suppose.  I've clearly been a bad blogger lately.  So, to make up for it, I have lots of pictures!

We have been busy busy busy lately, between work and dan's school, and ALL the reading he has to do...i'm telling you, he reads more than I do, nowadays.

So, in pictures, here's what's happened since I last posted:

 Dan had a birthday!  And he got a funny sombrero, thanks to his sister...

 Also, we moved.  Again.  For the THIRD time in two years.  We are in North Carolina now, where Dan is attending seminary and working towards his M.Div.  Or however that's supposed to be abbreviated. :)

 I drove ALL THE WAY to North Carolina.  By myself. starting at FIVE AM.  Let's be honest...I'm not a morning person.  And also, its a SEVEN hour drive.  I got rather bored...

 Becca got married!  It was absolutely beautiful!  

 Dan and I got a recent picture of both of us, at the same time!  Since i'm USUALLY the one behind the camera, this doesn't happen very often.  And also I fail at that whole 'hold the camera as far away from you as possible to snap a pic' thing.  Which is hard to do with my nikon, anyway.

 Turns out, it takes a lot of creativity to make 1200 square feet of stuff fit into 600 square feet.  Who knew, right?  Basic math would NEVER tell you something like that...This is our living room, right after we finished unpacking the truck.

 And this is the kitchen.  And no, the gerbils don't actually live on the counter.  And I did remember to put the milk back in the fridge.  Otherwise, it still looks just like that.  Only without the dryer hose in the middle of the floor.

And the bedroom.  It looks huge, but that's only because it's not full of furniture yet.  We still have a decent amount of walking around room, though, which is nice.  and the desk fit, so i can banish dan in there when he has to study and I want to watch TV.  :)

Home

Dan and I are finally moved into our apartment!  most of our boxes are emptied and stuff is put away, which was a challenge with such a lack of storage space...but we made it all fit!  i've even got stuff up on the walls, which is a vast improvement over my last house, since i barely bothered to decorate that one at all.

Now we are job hunting, as neither one of us managed to transfer our jobs here, due to some extremely difficult people at the locations we were looking to transfer to.  However, I am sure something better will come our way.  God wants us here, and He will provide.  We just have to be patient and do our part. Which means filling out about a million applications.  Easier said then done, when internet hasn't been set up in our house yet.  Thankfully, the public library has wifi.

I will post pictures soon!  the internet speed is to slow to do it now.

Hello, Charlotte

Last weekend, Dan and I went down to Charlotte to try and find ourselves a place to live while he's in school.The trip took about six hours and since Dan was driving I had a lot of time to have fun with my camera.  and read.  and knit.  theoretically.  mostly, I took a ton of pictures.  Once we got away from DC/Alexandria the countryside was really pretty.

 Along the way, we had to stop because my car was making funny noises.  turned out to just be a loose piece of plastic on the undercarriage, which was good.  Also, the trip was REALLY hot because my car doesn't have working air conditioning, so we had to drive with the windows down or risk cooking from the inside out.  That wouldn't have been a good time, at all.

Besides looking at apartments, we had the chance to visit RTS and look around the campus.  The campus is fairly small, but it was really nice, as well.  We took a tour and spent a little time looking around on our own. It seemed that they have a lot going on for the students besides just classes, chances to fellowship and get to know and support each other.

Dan's really excited about starting school; and he should be.  He's going to be surrounded by other men who are as into studying theology and serving others as he is, which is exciting for him.

The school also seems to do a good job of making sure the wives of the students have places to fellowship and get to know each other, which is also going to be awesome for me.  Or so I've been told.  :)

I'm out of things to say, so here are a couple more pictures from our trip for you to enjoy.

When you go to DC you walk A LOT.

Dan and I went into DC today.  It was a PERFECT day; the weather was nice and there was a slight breeze which was perfect.  We started at the Library of Congress, then went to the National Archives; though I have no pictures from either of those because on top of having to go through somewhat crazy security, they don't allow ANY photography either.  However, both of them were REALLY cool and I got to see the Declaration of Independence.  That was exciting.  For me at least.  Dan was most excited about the Library of Congress.

 I love the clouds in this picture.  Dan thinks it's pretty awesome too.  Something about how the clouds make it look like something out of a fantasy.

 This, I believe, is the Federal Trade Commission building.  Or something.  I thought it was interesting.

 The Lincoln Memorial was REALLY crowded.  And also, they drained the reflecting pool because it's cracked or something.  AND the Washington Monument was closed off because it's ALSO cracked.  So apparently everything in DC is falling apart.

 The outside of the Lincoln Memorial.  See ALL those people sitting on the steps?  It was very crowded.

There is really nothing special about this photo.  I just like the way it flows. 

 Dan had a good time too.

And...our final traveling companion, Cedric the Gnome.  We walked A LOT today.  I got sunburned because apparently, sunscreen only works if you actually manage to apply it all over.  And if you're not me, because I burn through EVERYTHING.  It'd be funny if it didn't happen ALL the time.

Thrifting

So my mom and I went to a bunch of thrift stores the other day.  I found these.

 Pretty little soap dispensers.  They are super heavy glass and they have a really nice greenish tint to them.

and the dispensers are really cool looking too!  I think I might be in love.

Thrift stores are awesome.

Mini Vacation

Last weekend my sister in law graduated from college.  Dan and I used it as an opportunity to take a mini-vacation from....well....reality.  We had a good time, even though it was hot and the commencement speaker was kinda boring.  At least I thought he was.But anyway...

 We drove down Friday and spent the day with Dan's friend Jared.  He showed us around the
GIGANTIC church he works at.  We then spent the rest of the evening playing settlers of catan and eating delicious enchiladas.

 Graduation was HOT.  Not as hot as the year Dan graduated, but hot none the less.  I have funny looking sunburn marks on my legs because i was wearing leggings and ballet flats.  Despite that, and the above mentioned commencement speaker, it was a good time.

 Walking across the stage. she was really excited about it!  Thankfully, Liberty breaks up their actual graduations by schools because watching six thousand students walk across one stage would take approximately FOREVER.  This was much nice, and also indoors, which meant AIR CONDITIONING!  :)

Sarah and her grandparents.  It was a good weekend spent visiting with them.

I'm still here, i promise.

Hello, Blog world.  Long time, no talk!  Mostly on account of I work a lot, and by the time I get home, it's, like, after ten pm and all i want to do is pass out.

Not a whole lot super interesting going on around here.  I'm still working two jobs; Payless and old navy.  Dan is working part time as a cashier at Food Lion, and we are both excited about the extra income!

I'm still busy teaching myself various knitting techniques.  One of these days i'll get around to posting some of the stuff I've done.  Right now, i'm working out how lace works;  I love the idea of lighter weight stuff now that the weather's getting warmer and I won't be able to wear my awesome winter hats for much longer.  And attempting a sweater of some sort is still on my list as well....

Hmmmm....I haven't had much inclination to go out and shoot more pictures lately.  Hopefully, with the nice weather, that will change soon!  There are several places i still want to get photos of....

But I'll leave you with some photos....

 Shot outside at night, in the freezing cold.  A long exposure gives you the sense of movement in the clouds and silhouettes the tree against the moon.

 Early in the morning, also freezing cold.  Sunrise over the bay in Chesapeake beach, MD.

No blog post would be complete without a picture of my awesome husband, who willingly woke up and took me out EARLY in the morning so i could get pictures of the sunrise.