Little Bee

I left my workplace today and came home to an apartment with limited television channels and internet so opted to rest my mind with my ever-reliable and loving Kindle reader. I am reading a book called "Little Bee" right now for the book club we started in my office. It was my suggestion and won the most votes and it's a little tragedy in my life. It's incredibly powerful and very well-written and horribly sad. I left a day of what seemed like failures...failures to help a person find a way to get to work, to help a person find a way to get his son healthy, to help a person speak the same language as this new world he has found himself in...and now I am reading the story of a little refugee girl in England, detention centers and trauma and death. Somehow this is therapeutic to me-to read the reality of the people I am trying to help. That does not mean it makes the failures any more poetic or easier to face. I am new at my job and I speak no languages other than English. I have lived a blessed life, with all of its shadows and valleys. I have never seen a machete outside a collection or a museum and I have not known true jungles. Is it good for me to read this story? It is strange to feel that my connection to it is through a cubicle with a computer and two phones and greek yogurt and the minor annoyance of unexplainable fruit flies? I am connected to them but I do not think they are connected to me. The failures mean it is a constant struggle to ensure that they know I am on their side. That just because I avoid the glass doors when they are in the waiting room, that does not mean I do not care. That I will not help. I think they say thank you over and over just so that they can prove to you they are trying. That they can learn English. They say hello over and over too and it does not mean they are grateful. It does not mean that they understand your voice. Only that they can hear it. Their repeated hellos and thank yous are my failures. They are reminders that these people feel they must prove their worth to me. They are reminders that these people do not expect  to be viewed as having worth. That I have not adequately showed them this inexplicable love I have for them and their families. I am living to find a person the opportunity to push carts in a hot parking lot or sweep up stale french fries.

Wedding Web Links

Today my mother suggested I post all my wedding-related links in important locations, so I will be posting these on my blog as well as my wedding website for everyone. Please let me know if you have ANY questions! kw399@st-andrews.ac.uk

The only dumb question you could possibly ask would be whether or not I want you there. I do.

Love you all.

Our wedding website:
http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/pwp2/view/MemberPage.aspx?coupleId=6809985342513000

My Anthropologie Registry:
https://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/wishlist/wishlist.jsp?_DARGS=/anthro/wishlist/gift_list_search_results_vwr.jsp_A&_DAV=gl667739923&_dynSessConf=-1046173315746822482

Bed Bath and Beyond Registry:
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/regGiftRegistry.asp?wrn=-683409870&

Target Registry (beware...click on Whitworth with a capital W...I accidentally created another blank one)
http://www.target.com/registry/wedding/PZ4U2N8PBK10

Flower Market

A couple of weeks ago, my mom and I had the wonderful experience of going to the Fannin Flower Market in downtown Houston--a strip of independent flower wholesalers on Fannin. We even got to have some quality time with some of my favorite people, Ms. Tracey, Vanessa and precious Riley. We visited three different places and, while the heat and the language barrier slowed us down a little bit, it was a very successful experience!

A few of my favorites:

I loved hydrangeas, snapdragons, stock, hypericum, and other similar fillers, because the look I am going for is a more wild look than the traditional round or cathedral style bouquets. My biggest challenge I think, will be making the bouquet look Fall enough, rather than Springy. The relief was that I have spent all my time looking on websites to order flowers since we are doing all our own flowers. As it turns out, I won't have to do this. We will go to the flower market early in the morning on the week of the wedding and select our flowers to build with! I am very excited about working with the particular shoppe we found and the adventure of piecing the perfect flowers together. The owner was a wonderful character too,

All in all, it was a wonderfully unique cultural experience, a wedding planning success, and fun to see a part of Houston I had not experienced before. Thank the Lord for all the walk-in freezers. I cannot wait to see how the bouquets turn out!

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

It looks like we are finally going to get our save-the-dates out--hopefully in time for people to actually be able to save the date. We are using one of the photos taken by the wonderful Brooke Ogilvie in Abilene two weeks ago. I had an idea for the save-the-date photo: Branson and I on an old school scooter with a sign that said "Getting Married, November 13, 2010", dragging little cans along behind us. Branson just ran with it and did most of the work while I tried to beautify myself. He contacted a scooter store, Max's Honda and Kawasaki, here in town to let us use one of their scooters for the shoot-a Honda Metropolitan. He also went over my handwriting on the sign, so that it actually showed up, and made a string of Dr. Pepper cans and one Diet Dr. Pepper can to tie to the back of the scooter. It was insanely hot in the black asphalt parking lot we met Brooke in, set up the scooter and drove around. We made it through, but started out our photo shoot already dripping sweat and beet red. Fortunately, a great photo came out of it, so it was all worth the effort. Here it is:

This was another option, and the sign showed up better in it, but my bum did too....in an unnecessarily prominent way. Therefore, I decided against that display.

We researched different options for the save-the-date formatting, such as ordering them pre-made from Walgreens like Christmas cards, having them developed like normal photos, or printing them out ourselves. I went with the last option because when you print the photos out on cardstock, it looked the most like a post card. So we spent tonight cutting the four photos out of each sheet and then I handwrote the message and addresses. We are only about 60 down, but that's about a quarter of the total! My message definitely evolved over the course of the writing, and actually turned out for the better. Those are a surprise, though, so I am not including them yet. I WILL include some of my inspirations for our invitation books, just in case any of you want to chip in on ideas. The invitation will tie in the book theme of the wedding and will be written/illustrated by me and Branson, but that leaves much to decide. Somehow, I want to blend these ideas:

I love the cameo look on the bottom example, from Hello Lucky.

I like the image on the left--this is from the incredible Rifle Design collection, which is handpainted and so adorable. I am also looking at Laura Hooper Calligraphy for map ideas.

http://www.lhcalligraphy.com/seating_charts/seating_charts_maplink.htm

Hopefully, Branson and I will be able to work together to get this done as soon as possible so that we can get them printed, bind them, package them, and address the envelope. For now, I am thrilled to be getting the save the dates out. Look for yours in the mail!

p.s. Just for a teaser, here is another photo from the engagement shoot, but now you've seen as much as me! We have to wait for the rest...

Scout's First Expedition

Scout is the name I have given my precious MINI Cooper, in honor of one of my literary heroes, Scout of To Kill a Mockingbird. I believe they have kindred spirits. This past Monday we took Scout to Austin, on our first road trip, so that I could meet the supervisor of my internship with the Hoshyar Foundation, Carla Petievich. It was my first time to take Scout on the highway, where only others had driven her before, and I was quite pleased with myself I must say. With one death experience, which I handled without completely freaking out and losing control, it was a very pleasant drive and gave me some much-needed confidence. This is good since I am leaving for Abilene tomorrow morning, driving Scout all by my lonesome. This blog post isn't really all about the car though--it is about my work with the Hoshyar Foundation. This is an incredible program and I have been so blessed to be given the opportunity to work with it.

I met Carla, my supervisor, at  the incredibly Magnolia Cafe on South Congress, since she let me pick the place and when I showed up, she bestowed the most touching gift upon me. It is an exquisite handmade rug, created by women in Afghanistan, as part of a project working toward self-sufficiency. The colors and design are just so rich and I could not believe my luck. I had already contemplated trying to convince one of my family members that it would  be the perfect wedding gift when I saw them on the Hoshyar site, and then Carla remembered how much I liked them and thought it would be a good thank you. This was just too generous to me, given how much I have to thank her for and the experiences that this work has already given me. That and the fact that she would NOT stand to let anyone else by lunch and I'm practically eternally indebted.

The rug is a Mishwani baluch kilim, from the region of Mishwani. I absolutely cannot wait to have it as prominent feature in my future home with Branson. I have always wanted to be a person with pieces from all over the world scattered around my house and this is a pretty wonderful start to that, even though I have not yet been to Afghanistan. I hope to get over to Pakistan with Carla as soon as she offers me the opportunity.

At this lunch, Carla introduced me to Zaid Hassan, a recent Government graduate of the University of Texas who is also applying to the IRC like me, recently in Pakistan. He actually grew up in Pakistan and Carla first met him when he was only 9 years old, but now his family has immigrated to Texas and his mother teaches Urdu at UT. This is the language of the region of Pakistan that Hoshyar works with and is something I desperately hope to learn some conversation bits to be able to communicate.

I have been working for the Hoshyar Foundation with a program called the Kawish Resource Center outside of Lahore, Pakistan, the second largest city in Pakistan and the heart of the cultural life of the country. My main contact at the KRC is young activist Asif Sardar who I am assisting in grant proposals to different charitable organizations. The language barrier has been somewhat daunting, so Carla thought to bring Zaid, who is the website guy, on to the team to assit in this barriar. My mom actually joined us for lunch when Carla found out she was in town too and insisted, so it was a fascinating conversation about the work of Hoshyar, the personal experiences of Carla and Zaid and our own goals in the next few months. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and two hours flew by. By the way, Magnolia Cafe's Chicken Salad is just fantastic, and my mom got the Artichoke Enchiladas special and I could not get enough of hers either. All in all, I am so excited about the addition to the KRC team and moving forward with that and have really been fortunate in this opportunity, to be so encouraged and supported by people like those at the Hoshyar Foundation. Now, Zaid and I are being paid for to attend an upcoming Grant Writing Workshop in Austin next week, which I think will be hugely beneficial. I love any reason to travel to Austin.

My mom and I spent the rest of our time there at the mall looking for highschool reunion/Woodson wedding dresses and I had a blast dressing her up. She looked stunning in some of the outfits and I am so glad she's living a little, enough to go out on a limb and trust me on dresses she wouldn't necessarily pick for herself. It was a lot of fun. The best ending to my day was coming home to this though:

I don't know if you can tell but this was a package from my beloved Paige and Tom and included recipes from the both of them (Tom's are typed on a typewriter with some pretty interpretive artwork), letters from both of them that made me want to cry for Scotland even more than usual, and this fantastic photo of me and Branson in the castle right after the proposal, taken by Tom and developed into his bedroom/dark room. It made my day and I love them so much for it. I cannot wait to try the recipes. We were quite the little foodie crowd in that St. Andrews flat and I cannot just let it die.

All in all, it was a great day and I strongly encourage all of you to check out the work that I mentioned at:

hoshyar.org (Womens' and Girls' Literacy)

http://www.hoshyar.org/kilimania.php (Microfinance Rug Project)

http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/micro-finance-project-for-poor-women/team/ (As part of the endeavor toward women's empowerment, Hoshyar's Executive Director has started up a small carpet retail business. Most of the tribal weavers in Central and South Asia are, traditionally, women, and their labor represents a significant part of the rich cultural heritage of the area in which Hoshyar works. By buying and selling the work they produce, Hoshyar is able to recycle financial resources back into the communities that keep this beautiful tradition alive.)

It is possible to always do good and to continue to learn. Every day is an education lately.

Love,

Kate

Mothers be good to your daughters

This weekend we had the wonderful opportunity to get the two mothers and my Gramma, the matron of honor, together to go wedding dress shopping and do other wedding errands with Branson's mom, Mittie, in town. It was absolutely wonderful and such a great memory-making experience. I am very blessed to have these women in my life and by all the patience they show me in this process. Friday morning we got up and got going to the first of three boutiques we had set up appointments with--Weddings by Debbie in Katy, Texas. I was very impressed.

I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but the interior of this facility was luxuriously extravagant and it made the whole experience more luxurious as a result. This is not a dress I tried on...they just had me in a petticoat and wouldn't let me drink in any of the dresses so I had to walk back to the refreshments area in this lovely robe. This was probably a wise choice on their part. While I decided not to post any of the dresses I tried on so as to keep that side of things a complete surprise, there were plenty of other fun images to share.

Two of these are pictures of my favorite veil options that I will use as inspiration for my home-stitched veil. I liked the simple detail along the edges since I think it needed something without it being too much, because the dress is elaborate. The other picture is holding my engagement ring up to one of the dresses I tried on that I thought really captured the antique idea that inspired the ring. Miraculously enough, I tried on no more than four dresses before I found the perfect princess bride dress. They say you often go back to one of the firsts and I can see why that's true because the first dress you try on with you mom (s) and gramma there is just something very special. I actually really liked the first dress I tried on, which was very simple in that it was all a matte satin with the only beading being on a simple belt that tied around the high waist above a very full skirt. It was one of the dresses I had picked as a favorite before going into the store. My gramma had the gumption to say that my bridesmaids would outshine me if I wore it though, so we moved on, while keeping that one in mind. I think my dad would've loved that dress since it was an incredible price. My gramma picked out the second dress, which was actually a perfect dress for my personality--matte satin mermaid skirt with fun and unique rosettes in different places over the dress in the same color. All three of them actually gasped when I came out and I think it was unanimous that they liked it more than the first. It was very different and form flattering which was fun. I didn't really feel the second dress as flattering as it was- the same mermaid skirt look. Then I tried on the fourth dress and knew right away that I felt like a princess and could suddenly imagine myself walking down the aisle. It was magical, there were tears from the mothers, we hugged and were done. We bought the dress then and there to get a discount and the rest of our weekend was effectively freed up for everything else we wanted and needed to do. So after a treat of a lunch with Richie and baby Kanyen, we headed over to a scrapbooking store to get some invitation materials and then to Men's Wearhouse to look at ideas for the guys.

We are looking at putting Branson in a nice light gray suit with the standard white button up and a skinny black silk tie and his groomsmen in basic black tuxedos with the same white shirt and black tie--a sort of entourage look. Of course, we do have to see what the boys think about it. All in all it was a wonderful day and a wonderful weekend of looking at rehearsal dinner locations, making hostess gifts, and other bonding activities. I have a very good feeling about our support system for this wedding.

Love,

Kate

Pork Chops with Red Mushroom Cream Gravy

Ingredients:

4 lean pork chops (preferably organic), trimmed of fat
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon real butter
1 can mushroom soup
1/2 cup chopped purple onion
1/2 cup Red Wine
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
1/2 cup milk

Plum Mustard Garnish:

4 tablespoons hot honey mustard
8 tablespoons plum jam
1 tablespoon thyme

1. Mix to combine.

Serve with buttered asparagus and roasted corn on the cob.

1. Melt butter and olive oil in deep saucepan. Add seasoned (with salt, pepper and garlic powder) pork chops.
2. Slowly brown pork chops on both sides, about 10 minutes per side.

3. Remove pork chops from pan. Add onions and let cook about 2 minutes until soft. Pour in red wine, then scrape browned bits off the bottom of the pan into the sauce.

4. Let wine and onions simmer down for about 8 minutes, then add mushroom soup and milk, stirring to combine. Once the wine and onions have simmered down, the sauce should have reduced to look more like the photo below.

5. Place pork chops in gravy and cover. Let cook  for about 20 minutes, until pork chops have no pink left.

4. Serve with plum mustard garnish.

Buttered Monterey Jack Asparagus

1.After cleaning and trimming stalks,  roast the asparagus in glass pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil and 3 tablespoons butter. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cover in foil. Roast at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.
2.Grate Monterey Jack cheese. This is one of my favorite tools: the Royal Prestige grater, which grips the counter and has removable cup blades.

3. After 15 minutes, remove from oven and sprinkle with grated cheese, then let cook uncovered for 10 more minutes.

Additional Option: Pecan Italian Breadcrumbs to sprinkle over asparagus

I came up with this little mixture because we had some leftover Italian Loaf from my dad's birthday and I didn't want it to go to waste.

First, I tore up the loaf, then put it in open top foil, with som chopped pecans and toasted it at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, checking frequently. I removed it when it looked like this:

I then placed the whole mix into a heavy duty Ziploc bag and pounded it into a bread crumb texture.

You may use something like this to either sprinkle over the roasted asparagus or, if you have only cooked a part of a package of pork chops, to make breaded pork chops for tomorrow night!

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Carrot Cake 4.0

I found a recipe for a carrot cake for my dad's 50th birthday celebration, since it is one of his favorites. After reading the reviews for this cake, though, which I found on Allrecipes.com, I developed the newest generation in honor of the elderly generation of which my father is now a part. So here is the Kate Carrot Cake!

Cake
4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup apple sauce
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar (if using Splenda, make sure to check the measurement conversion on the Splenda packages)
3 teaspoons vanilla extract                                                                 

2 cups all-purpose flour                                                                                  

2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

3 cups grated carrots (grated like cheese rather than shredded bits, so that they do not release too much excess juice into the rest of the cake)

1 cup chopped pecans

Icing (best and easiest cream cheese icing I've had yet)
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 3 separate circular cake pans with butter then powder with flour (not too much of the bottom of the cake my burn a tad). Set out cream cheese and butter to soften with warmth.

2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, apple sauce, brown sugar, white sugar and 4 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pans, evenly divided amongst them.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Make sure to not let it overcook at all or it will dry out quite quickly, which ruins the lovely moistness that makes this cake so good. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans (Using a mixer for this may strain your mixer). Frost the completely cooled cake by frosting the top of each layer, then stacking the next, and after placing the top layer, use a spatula to spread the icing around the outside edges of the cake. Pat on palmfuls of crushed pecans over this outside circle of the iced cake, so that the sides are covered in pecan pieces. Remember that if the cakes are not laying evenly on one another, they will be much more difficult to ice correctly, so the rounded top of the bottom layers should be trimmed off so as to create a flatter foundation.

 
The final product!                                                    

There were only 12 of us and it didn't survive the night which I guess is a compliment. You can see all the layers in this picture.

Wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, I love honey.

Today I changed our blog's name to Barley and Figs, because of a scripture I read during church this morning. It just happened to be the context for a scripture used in the lesson, and after initially catching my eye, it then gripped me. And so this is my prayer, for mine and Branson's life together, and all the lives that have and will blessed ours.

"6 Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him. 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills". ~Deuteronomy 8:6-9

I pray that we will never forget the Lord, and that right now in this state of limbo, jobless and homeless and planning a wedding, that we will trust in the Lord and believe in the land of olive oil and honey.  On our way home from Abilene to Houston this past weekend, my sister and I stopped at a Chick-Fil-A in Temple to grab a bite to eat for dinner. When we got back in the car and she noticed me dabbing honey on my nuggets, she told me she thought I just carried around packets of honey with me. She wasn't surprised by this thought. Obviously, Chick-Fil-A provided the honey, but it made me think. Perhaps I should start carrying these packets around because what a handy luxury to have on the ready.

When I Look in My Closet, There's a Rainbow Deposit

We road-tripped it to Dallas today to go to the Priscilla of Boston boutique for Bailey to try on dresses and get measured--me, Bailey, Sarah, and yes, Branson. I didn't even have to ask him to come! I think he is really getting into the swing of this. I kicked off the day with brunch at ANN THAI, the best food in Abilene, with one of my very best friends, Katie Buckel. Nobody bears up my heart and brings me joy quite like her and I am so grateful. I am getting spoiled because I get lunch tomorrow with my other Katie, formerly Morrison, neo-Newton, and have thoroughly enjoyed the windows of opportunity to catch up, especially since Buckel might go off to Cali and Newton is moving to Oregon this weekend!

Anyhow, back to the Dallas trip. We successfully found Bailey's dress, which was surprisingly not one of the ones she had selected online at all, although it was the crinkle chiffon. It's different because its side drape creates an almost geometric look and I know my shape wouldn't have pulled it off like her by any means. She looked stunning. I will note here that beware of going to the Priscilla of Boston store if they know you are sending your measurements to the Houston boutique, or any other, because the drastic difference between our wonderful treatment in Houston and the disregard in Dallas, was very noticeable and disappointing.

It was a successful venture nevertheless, although I wish we could've somehow convinced them that Yoryu Satin dresses should be made available in French Blue. Sarah was Bailey's little dress assistant and Branson faithfully offered up his comments. I love going into these stores if for no other reason than to look at all the wedding dresses (and I have a distinct urge to climb in amongst them on their hangers and rest there in between the masses of matte silk and satin) but its doubly entertaining with the groom around.

 

  

Sarah did a wonderful job of stepping in for the less than attendant "attendants" and helped pin Bailey in, who obviously looked gorgeous in every dress.

 I love seeking out my own personal likes and dislikes, or more fittingly, my likes and hates. For example, I liked these hairpieces...

...and hated whatever these were. I did like the display though.

I also realized how fortunate I am to (fingers crossed) have my mother's dress to wear. Otherwise, I would never be able to choose from the absolutely beautiful rows and rows of satin and silk.

We then had a fantastic meal at Breadwinners in Uptown--my favorite Dallas restaurant. Our waiter was quirky but our smoked gouda fondue and the buttermilk pan fried chicken with asparagus that I shared with my sister were delicious. Branson and Bailey's uncle Ron met up with us and we went to his house afterward to watch the Rocker so didn't get home until about 2:20 a.m. It was a wonderful combination of road mixes, dresses, food and Rainn Wilson. We also saw some of the Dallas estates and I think it compelled Branson to pursue a career more immediately. I, on the other hand, was particularly compelled by this establishment:

The question of the day after this bridesmaid dress trip and our (me, Bailey and Sarah's) recent deliberations is: Can we find a shade of red shoes that will look good with the French Blue color that the bridesmaids are wearing (on the left, but all of ours will be floor length), the Thyme color that my sister, the Maid of Honor, is wearing (far right), and the Peridot color that my Gramma, the Matron of Honor is wearing (middle), since I want red incorporated in the color scheme of the wedding to tie in my Dorothy shoes that I am searching for (and would appreciate any assistance in)? Daniel 2: 31-33 speaks of a terrible image, with feet of part iron and part clay. This did not work with the image's gold head and silver arms obviously, which I think goes to show, in a scriptural sense, just how important the feet are, and how the feet are dressed is. Therefore, the shoes are essential and it would be bordering on blasphemous to pay less than avid attention to them. Input in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Until soon,

Kate