"Are you making bacon and eggs?"

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A glance at what's been going on in our lives, 140 characters (plus a one-line intro) at a time:


Last weekend, Ian and I went to Houston for a taco tour the brought together foodies from Austin and Houston:

Proof of the awesomeness of the Austin Meets Houston Taco Tour now up on Relish Austin: http://tr.im/n9NQ 8:13 AM Jun 2nd

Celebrating two anniversaries:

Celebrating Relish Austin's first birthday with fettuccine alfredo and Canadian nachos: http://tr.im/mzkN 11:23 AM May 27th

Making Canadian nachos with @horriblebeauty to celebrate our 1st anniversary. :)9:54 PM May 25th

Relaxing on the river in New Braunfels with friends:

Spent day on Comal River in New Braunfels. Last time J was on there, he was 5 mos in utereo. He was a bonafide river rat today, minus beer. 5:13 PM May 24th

Reminiscing about one of my very first food story:

All this graduation business has reminded me of my very first food story for @themaneater at Mizzou: http://tr.im/m9sR 6:08 PM May 22nd

Hosting a hot dog taste test party with food blogger friends for a Statesman story:

The results of our hot dog taste test are in! You won't believe who won. Hebrew National fans, brace yourself: http://tr.im/lQ3z 8:40 AM May 20th

Our food blogging community has been having potlucks to share food and stories:

Relish Austin: Food blogger potluck, the sequel: http://tr.im/lGtk 1:37 PM May 18th

Speaking of the food bloggers, Edible Austin magazine published an article that featured me and these foodies:

New @edibleaustin hits stands on Mon. w/ @souppeddler article on Austin's rockin' food blogging community: http://bit.ly/m3rZS

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Some tweets about Julian, which I'm posting here so that one day I will hypothetically record them into a book or some other way to remember them and pass them down:

The downside of having gas stoves? Jules hears the ignition go *tick tick tick* and shouts from his room, "Are you making bacon and eggs?" 9:10 PM on Jun 3rd

Dinner of Loncito's Lamb meatballs and gnocchi rocked. Moz salad w/ garden basil, onion, tomato. I told you @horriblebeauty was a good cook. 7:16 PM Jun 2nd



Just more than a week after upgrading laptops, the kid has already destroyed my Gray Lady. Who needs keys anyway: http://tr.im/n9ER 7:57 AM Jun 2nd

Julian won't go to bed anymore w/out reading his favorite cookbook, "Baked," before bed. It must be the marshmallows. Or the chocolate cake. 9:18 PM Jun 1st

Like mother like son

Cameras have always fascinated Julian. He loves this little plastic one, which he used to replicate a shoot I did on my back porch last week for a story about how families can eat better on the road.

This is the photograph I made:


(As you can see he helped me by picking all the chocolates out of the trail mix.)




This is him recreating it:




I wish I could see what his images look like.

The sound of the sun

The audio isn't great, but give a listen to this Neko Case song, "I'm an Animal," off her newest album "Middle Cyclone." She's such a powerful singer and lyricist (words below). This album I particularly like, in fact, it's probably the best album I'm paid for since at least Modest Mouse's "We Were Dead Until the Ship Even Sank." Every song seeps into my ears and carries me to her Earthy paradise.



you could say it’s my instinct
yes, I still have one
there’s no time to second guess it
yes there are things that I’m still so afraid of
but my courage is roaring like the sound of the sun
cause it’s vain about its mane and will reveal them to no one
and I’m an animal, you’re an animal too
pick up that rock, drink from that lake
I do my best but I’m made of mistakes
yes, there are still things I’m still quite sure of
I love you this hour, this hour today
and heaven will smell like the airport
but I may never get there to prove it
so let’s not waste our time thinking how that ain’t fair
I’m an animal, you’re an animal too
you’re an animal too

One year down, many more to come

One year ago today, Ian and I faced each other at my uncle's house and, through the tears, try to explain our love both to each other and to our family and friends who'd gathered in a circle around us.

Julian, only 16 months old, was in my arms, and Ian, so handsome in his mustard pants and neatly trimmed hair, held my hand as we opened our mouths and let the words flow. Neither of us wrote vows, so we spoke from the heart.

365 days of marriage later, I'd bet a million dollars that the words would be different if we were doing it all over again.

Love -- and loving Ian -- is such an ever-changing, but ever-present constant. Every day it's different and rarely does it become easier to describe. (Sing it with me now: "Some say love, it is a river....")

It hasn't been easy, but today does feel worthy of a celebration. Being in a happy marriage is not a given, and all that we've experienced and all that we've grown is something to be proud of.


(And for all the wonderful new people who have come into my life in the past year, here's a link to more wedding goodness, including pictures of the pig we roasted, a story I'm never got around to writing for the paper. Hopefully that will change later this summer.)

Photos by Brian Diggs.

Another birthday without Troy

Happy birthday, Troy. I think of you every day, but especially today.

Today you would have turned 26. And we thought 20 was tough.

Well, it was, in its own way. Thankfully, there was music to help us through. I bring up music because Jane's Addiction and Perry Farrell, torn calf muscle and all, are playing in Austin tonight.

I'm not going. Here's something I didn't anticipate 26 would bring: Concerts just aren't the same. Remember when you called me when I was living in San Diego to see if I'd drive some weekday night to Kansas City to see 311? No one else would go. We went and loved it. I rarely even drive downtown for shows much less 2 hours for a band I only liked because you did, and this time it's actually legal for me to buy a beer.

But just because going to concerts isn't the same doesn't mean the music itself is any less powerful. That one line in "Jane Says" isn't any clearer, and the sting hasn't faded from Incubus' "I Miss You". Beth Orton's voice has only gotten sexier. "James" is as bittersweet now as it was then, just in an entirely different way.

Who knows where you would be or how you'd be celebrating this birthday. I'd probably have forgotten to send a card, but I know I'd have called you first thing. E-mail just wouldn't suffice. (I shudder to think what you would have thought of Twitter.)

It's hard to grow older and go through all these exciting things like tweezing Nerds out of Julian's nose and finally getting paid to be a storyteller and know that you only had 23 years.

But what a 23 years they were. I miss you.

(Update 5/12: I was wrong. Jane's Addiction is playing tonight instead of last night. Who else is playing a gig tonight in Austin? 311)

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(For those of you who didn't have the honor to know him, Troy Schnelle, fellow Southwest Missourian and University of Missouri graduate, was killed after being hit by a car on June 23, 2006.)

My favorite kids' song ever

Children's programming has really changed, even in the 27 months that Julian has been around. We don't get Yo Gabba Gabba because we don't have cable, but we watch the zany show online. There's this wacky guy in an orange suit and these cute, totally silly characters that run around acting out skits and singing songs. The show is as famous for its special guests; Jack Black was just a co-host recently, for example. Elijah Wood does a dance. Hipster bands come and play tunes, and none of them is as catchy and magical as The Roots' song "Lovely, Love my Family." Here are the lyrics, but you really should watch the video yourself. It will make your day, I promise.

All we need, all we need. All we need.
Spread the love around, yeah

Sometimes when I am sitting by myself
Those quiet moments when not with no one else
I’m mesmerized by all the many good things in my life
I think about the time when I was younger
And the older that I get the more that I feel wiser
With the love of friends and family
Get stronger and it carries me on through

So I say lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely
lovely lovely lovely love, love my family

So I say lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely
lovely lovely lovely love, love my family

So I say lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely
lovely lovely lovely love, love my family

Sometimes when I am waiting for the bus
The sun shines bright and I feel peace like nowhere else
I know I'm in good health and life keeps going, I keep moving, I’m alright
I go to school and educate my mind, and the way the world is spinning
makes me want to turn around and start all over, hit the reset and go back in time.

Oh baby love me
Oh spread the love around, yeah

So I say lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely
lovely lovely lovely love, love my family

So I say lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely
lovely lovely lovely love, love my family

So I say lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely
lovely lovely lovely love, love my family
Lyrics: Lovely, Love my Family, The Roots [end]

Beer coaster-flipper extraordinaire

I have a few hidden talents, and with this YouTube debut, my beer coaster-flipping abilities won't be hidden any longer.

This was at the Port Aransas Brewing Company last month. I successfully flipped a stack of 26 coasters, my personal best.

Look how much we've grown!

Welcome to summer. April and May are in many ways the best part of summer in Texas. By July, when the rest of the country will be experiencing the heat, humidity and garden growth that we are, it will be too hot to play naked outside.





Julian's longest friend, Ruby, came over last weekend, and they got to pick carrots out of the garden together. (Isn't it crazy how much they've grown? The photo of them as infants was on their first date, when they were both less than three months old.)


Good thing they didn't hit the flowers on the tomato plants. You can see more garden updates on Relish Austin, where I blog once a week about how my garden is growing, what produce we're eating, etc.



Work is fun right now because so much is happening. CSAs are in full swing, as are the farmers' markets. The Hill Country Wine and Food Festival was two weeks ago (which is where I got to try some really great wine, including this one from the Paso Robles region of California. Ian and I are driving the coast of California this summer, and I'm ready to pass up Napa and its swanky sisters for Paso, which is halfway between San Francisco and Santa Barbara.)

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Julian has been into drumming lately, following in the footsteps of his mommy. But I think he's already better at the drum set than me:

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A few photos from April, including more fun in the garden with Ruby, Julian eating a "miracle fruit" that I blogged about this week and one of Julian's first representational structures, a ship made out of his favorite blocks/connnector thingys.

When drooling on the couch beats blogging

For fun -- or more accurately, how to maintain this personal blog and still enjoy the small amount of free time I have -- how about I start posting what I did on the weekend instead of blog?

OK, that's not a sustainable long-term plan, but for today, that's what I'm going to do.

- Hung out with Aaron and Sarah, whose Ruby has the sweetest curls and kisses for Julian. They've known each other since in utero, a special bond that will never be replaced.

- Went out to Uncle Tom's house to see Becca and him. The first time in probably three or four months, the longest we've gone without seeing them since we've lived here.

- Took a nap! Yes, with the windows open this afternoon, I closed my eyes to the slow breath of an overcast spring day and drooled on the couch pillows. Just what I needed.

- Went to a coworker's bridal shower and had a drink and fantastic food with a friend I've made in the food world. We're contemplating a 48 Laws of Power book for women. If I am truly inspired, I might toy with it here. If y'all don't mind.

- Hand-wrote two notes to my remaining grandparents, two of whom just moved to be with my family in Aurora. No sense in talking the talk and not walking the walk. Snail mail has a place, and I'll be damned if it goes away with my generation.

- And, most importantly at this point in my feel-like-an-adult-and-not-just-a-working-mom path, read a book. Not all of one, but 50 pages in a few days feels like I just finished my first Harry Potter. (For all you non-moms who scoff and say you'll find time to read, just wait until they are bipedal.)

Thank you for your patience while I blog every day elsewhere and live my life not attached to a computer when I'm not.

Watching us grow

When I was first pregnant with Julian, I started posting monthly slideshows on my Wed site under the title "Watching Us Grow." At first that was just me and my growing belly, and now we're up to pictures of Julian dyeing eggs and climbing fences. I'm up to 190 posts on La Vie Dansante, which retells only a fraction of our lives from the past few years.

I'm thankful for this outlet, both as a task that groomed me to be a better food blogger and as a record for us so that we don't forget how much fun it is to live our lives.

That is all.
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Here are the February and March photo galleries (so much for staying on schedule, right?). Also, if you can't see the photos, you'll need to add me as a contact on Flickr.