Congratulations, Fisch!

Dannette, Fisch and I gathered to celebrate Fisch's wonderful accomplishment this week: completion of her MBA!!!  I am so proud of her and feel blessed to have played a role in helping her along the way.  Her hard work, excellent communication skills and cooperative team efforts certainly served her well.

We gathered at our old favorite Thai Siam on Eastlake.  If you've never been there, it is amazing!  The new location really makes a difference as well. 

Here we are with the proud graduate!

Check out this food!  Phud See Ewe and Basil Chicken.  Amazing!!!!

Not only is Fisch graduating, she's making a big move to follow her dream of living in the sunshine.  This is a huge loss for Seattle and I'll miss her more than words can say, but I am so proud of her and look forward to visiting her in her new location.  Thanks Dannnette and Fisch for many great Thai Siam memories, I look forward to reuniting there again some day :)

Another wonderful silent retreat

My first silent retreat was in 2008 and as the veterans say, they become addicting.  I went again in 2009, missed it in 2010 but went back again this year for some much needed silence and time for reflection.  I am so grateful for SU's mission and ministry office for coordinating and offering this to faculty and staff.  Read more about it and see my quote in the SU Spectator!

This year, at one of the talks I attended, I was particularly moved by this:

Patient Trust
by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. (1881-1955)

Above all, trust in the slow work of God

We are quite naturall impatient in everything

to reach the end without delay.

We should like to skip the intermediate stages.

We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.

And yet it is the law of all progress

that it is made by passing through some stages of instability --

and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you.

Your ideas mature gradually -- let them grow,

let them shape themselves, without undue haste.

Don't try to foce them on,

as though you could be today what time

(that is to say, grace and circumstances

acting on your own good will)

will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit

gradually forming within you will be.

Give Our Lord the benefit of believing

that his hand is leading you,

and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself

in suspense and incomplete.

A lovely reflection.
It's been a challenging year, to say the least.  But thank God for a retreat like this and the many blessings in life.  Of course, I took some pictures!  Enjoy:

This is my favorite indoor spot: the library.

I took many walks, shuffling through the leaves in my rainboots.

My usual path to the beach (down the 180 stairs) was closed due to a landslide, but there was another route which turned out to be ok.

I love this barn!

I enjoyed walking the new labyrinth:

I even took some time for artwork.  Wow, I am quite the artist, haha :)  This is of the view from my room, except I made up the blue skies...that certainly wasn't reality.

Mmmm, what a wonderful weekend.  Can't wait for next year.

Halloween

We invited Myles and Michelle over for pumpkin carving this year.  Fortunately, Becca was on call and joined the fun too.  She even cleaned out my pumpkin for me.  What a darling sister she is :)

Tyler takes this very seriously!

And the finished products with happy carvers!  

Tyler named his "Mac 'O Lantern".  That guy is so creative :)




This was Abby's first visit to our house and she made herself right at home.  What a sweetheart.  xoxo.

We had a neighborhood Halloween party on Sunday as well so the celebrations continued.  I dressed up as a cowgirl (creative isn't it?!), Tyler a judge, and our neighbor Garin...well, he was Garin. 

Hope you all had a happy and safe halloween.  It was hard for me to resist candy this year but I am happy to report that I only had a tiny box of nerds and a small handful of candy corns.  I should've splurged on a butterfinger because that's what I really wanted.  There's always next year!

fall and football

I really love this time of year!  Happy back to school, yay for the return of football, the color orange and crisp cool fall air.  Last Friday, we met up with Becca, Levi and Angie at Isaac's high school homecoming game to see him in action with the pep band.  Fun times!

Our half-time entertainment :)

Wait...where's Isaac?!

Go Vikings!  Great work pep band!

Big Man On Campus

Look who came to SU today to recruit our students :)
Yay!

And what a beautiful fall day it was!

Interesting article on food intolerance

This is fascinating stuff:  http://bodyecology.com/articles/understanding-food-intolerance

A fresh look!

Dear readers,
I decided it was time to update a few things on this here blog   :)
You'll see a festive new background, a fall themed blog image header (sorry the text is hard to read...I'll try to fix that)...
Also, I've updated my blog roll, added a gadget where you can subscribe via email if you'd like (for those of you who aren't in love with google reader).  Last but not least, you'll see a list of the sites where I find recipe inspiration. 
Happy Fall and have a great weekend!
L

beautiful day in the park

Our last day with the Eddys was filled wth great food and sunshine.  We had breakfast at the delicious Perry Street Cafe then wandered around the park.  Good times!  Just a few photos of our fun in the park.

Obviously this park is not just for kids!  :)