Happy October!

I can not believe October is only hours from being over. Especially when I realize this is the first post I've written this month. Sorry guys. No excuses. But I've chosen to spend almost all of my hardly-there free time to finish up and refine the kirtsy book. It's almost there. But in the midst of it all and in the meantime, we've had a pretty fantastic October around here. I give you some photographic proof.

With excellent birthday parties...
Photo by Jenny

So we had the Hurricane's party a month late.
Because of another Hurricane...Ike.
And because we wanted to celebrate in tandem with our good pal Grayson.
Another Photo by Jenny
Heck, all the Photos are by Jenny

And at Cousin Hannah's acrobatic par-tay.
And with lots of football...

And through a pumpkintastic Halloween...

And finally, with Elvis.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

And now for my very favorite...Photo by Anna Center, age 7

We're looking forward to what's ahead in November.

Happy Birthday Hurricane Harry!

Over the last week, we've been pretty focused on Hurricane Ike around here, but today it's all about Hurricane Harry.

Because today he is three.

If you ask him how old he is, he'll hold up one finger on each hand and yell "TWO!!" And if you tell him that 'no, actually you're three today', he will argue with you. Because he is right and you are wrong, and he doesn't want to be three, he wants to be two.

Because when he turns three, he has to get rid of the very last pacifier we still have that hasn't been lost.

So tonight when we tucked him to bed, the paci was gone. We were a bit nervous about that, and I actually wondered if we should put it off again... like I had when he turned 18 months old, and two years old, and you get the gist. But we thought we'd go ahead and try it anyway, and it resulted in maybe 20 seconds of whining.

But then he became very quiet, very quickly, and we were beyond proud of our exceptional progenitive prowess and mad parenting skillz. Until James stopped back in a about 15 minutes later and found him lying there in the dark playing Mario Brothers on my Nintendo DS Lite. Doing quite well at it, according to reports. Playing a video game on a level that I didn't even know existed.

He's two.

Or at least he was at the time.

Photo of a boy in his treasured Lightning McQueen pajamas, taken on Saturday by Karen, courtesy of Chookooloonks.

Bad haircut, courtesy of me.

Hurricane Ike Didn't Hit Central Texas

So. That's where we went. And that's where we're going to stay until things get a little better in Houston. For anyone who's been calling, emailing, twittering, or screaming at me for not updating Facebook, we're at my parents' house... they just happened to be in Nashville visiting my sister.

Last time, we stayed in Houston. We had to. I was in labor and delivery. Delivering.

But this time, we were out of here. We decided late Thursday to head toward Central Texas, and a drive that usually takes two-and-a-half to three hours, took almost six. Not good. Three hours into the drive, we were seriously thinking we were idiots to get on the road. But our house was built in 1920 with almost original paper-thin windows, and it's surrounded by giant trees. I just didn't want to "hunker down" in the middle-of-the-night hurricane with an almost three year old. Even more, I didn't want to be without power for days. Especially when we had a perfectly good spot to go.

So we went.

We're a bit worried about our place in Houston (this building is across the street from where we used to live)... word is, power and water are out... windows are out, and trees are down all over our neighborhood.

But here, we have sunshine, electricity, water, sangria, internet, and Wiggles videos. So we're set.I've been on the phone all morning with work...making phone calls and touching base with everyone. Looks like I'm the Austin office this week. And it sounds like a lot of people are heading this way. We're not the only ones who want power.

Things aren't great in Houston right now. People survived the storm just fine but weeks and weeks without power and water...that's a problem. ATM machines are down, grocery stores are closed, air conditioning isn't working (a huge deal in Houston), plumbing isn't working (yikes), and the long list goes on and on.

Part of me wishes I were there to help out... perhaps it's evacuation guilt.

But most of me is just really glad I'm here with my husband and son. With electricity and water to make coffee... just one of the perks of power. I'm sure there are a million of them that I'm not thinking of right now, perks that my friends in Houston are wishing for today. While we're here wishing the best for them and hoping for quick returns to normal for everyone along the Gulf Coast.

UPDATE: Above photo taken on our street from CosmoPolitician. Thanks for checking on our house, Monica!

*Harper Seed Farm photo from Cynical Pink's Flickr photostream

Ike is Pretty

So should we stock up w/ peanut butter and water?

Or should we get the heck out of dodge?

We can't decide.

Superhero Necklace Auction for Nie Nie

I'm not sure if you have heard about Stephanie and Christian from Nie Nie Dialogues. I started reading Stephanie's blog a while back after she guest blogged on my friend Gabrielle's site, and I love her quirky spirit, smart ideas, and fantastic sense of design. In fact, a few weeks ago, I was absolutely inspired by her "back to school breakfast" (Who does that?! Awesome!) and family theme for the year..."Be Prepared".


Her intuition was amazing. But no one could have prepared for what happened. A few days later, Stephanie and Christian were in a terrible plane crash. They both survived, but have very serious injuries.


This family needs our help. Stephanie needs our help. She was severely burned all over her body and has months of recovery ahead. It will be a painful, extensive, expensive healing process. And money is the last thing they need to worry about right now.

So some online friends are putting together an online auction to benefit Nie Nie and her family. There are 165+ items being auctioned off over the next few days.

Here's one.



Bid on a Superhero Necklace: Since Nie Nie and her family will all have to be superheros through this process, I thought it fitting to auction off Superhero Necklace (Winner's choice. Check them out! How will you choose?) by Andrea Scher. Legend has it that Andrea blesses each necklace. I think with this one we'll ask her to bless the winner and Nie Nie's family too. What a great reminder of the blessings we all have!

How to Bid: Leave a comment in the comment section below with your bid amount. Bid increments must be no less than $1.00. Auction will close Sunday, August 31, 2008 at 10pm Central Standard Time. The winner will submit payment to the Stephanie Nielson Fund Paypal Account and send the receipt to me to receive their prize.

Happy bidding! Go hug your family now.

XOXO,
Laura

Tilapia Tacos with Peach Relish. Delish.

We spent our last weekend of summer at the beach. Which was great. It also, as usual, motivated two things. Being in the sand and surf makes me want to:

1. Eat. a.) healthy and b.) fish.

2. Crave cilantro. I have no idea why this is. But it is, and it's on. And there was no way I was going to shut up about cilantro unless I just hit the kitchen and whipped up something that contained a lot of it. So. I did. And now I give you this kick arse little recipe I found in an old Cooking Light magazine:

Tilapia Tacos w/ Peach Relish

Salsa:

2 cups finely chopped peeled peach (about 2 medium)
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 garlic clove, minced

Remaining ingredients:
1/2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 pound tilapia, cut into 2-inch strips
Cooking spray
8 (6-inch) corn tortillas

To prepare salsa, combine first 8 ingredients in a medium bowl. Let stand 30 minutes at room temperature.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Combine panko, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a medium bowl. Add fish to bowl, tossing to coat. Place fish in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes or until desired degree of doneness, turning once.

Heat tortillas according to package directions. Divide fish and salsa evenly among tortillas.

The entire recipe was super easy. The chopping was the hardest part, and that's not exactly rocket science. I was able to grab all the ingredients from Super Target of all spots, except for the the tilapia (because I wanted fresh not frozen) and the panko. And both of those were totally worth dealing with the sociological case study that is Whole Foods.

All in all it was a total crowd pleaser. Since the crowd was only me and the husband, and I was really needing some cilantro. The Hurricane ate the baked tilapia straight up with ketchup. He seemed to dig that too.

Serve with: Blue Moon Belgian White Ale (with orange slices)

Soundtrack: Athlete, Beyond the Neighbourhood

Stop. Behold. Its Edouard. And Karen.

So everyone is freaking out, FREAKING OUT, about now. Preparing for the stormy storm with way too many vowels in its name.

Or maybe it's just the people on TV freaking out.

And the people at the store. On his way home from working out, James stopped by our neighborhood grocery to grab a few items. As he walked in, a woman walking out warned him, "It's a freaking mad house in there." And apparently she was right. People were going cra-zazy, grabbing water and prayer candles off the shelves like Noah.

So I'm hoping everyone is overreacting. And this bad boy is more like its cousin Rita. Only without the C-section.

Also, I went to check out chron.com, you know, just in case the TV and frozen foods isles lie. And look who I spotted under Mr. Edouard.
My girl Karen! Freaking front page! If you haven't yet, you should check out LensHouston, her very cool Chron photography roundup. My prediction: there are gonna be some interesting storm photos soon.

Here's to low water!