Merry Russian Christmas!

Yes, our holidays keep on going! Yesterday was a Russian Christmas eve. My mom made a delicious traditional dinner with mane dish being crapes with all kinds of sweet and salty stuffings! It was yet another lovely warm dinner with family and friends, my mom is amazing at gathering people around her table!

An evening in the park

There is this one place that I am sure to take my children to some day many many times. It is simply breathtaking! It is full of old trees and lakes and ducks and peacocks. A couple of days ago I took my friend Mila there and we had some hot tea with scones, fed some ducks, sketched a little, and walked around. We got bullied by two geese but Mila saved our lives by finding a little branch to shoo them off. It was fun and relaxing! The steaming tea, the fresh cool air, the golden sun, the water, the birds, Mila's red hat and my wooly mittens - everything was just right! That place always makes me happy!

Big project complete

I had two big projects. One of them is mom's doily. She said she would like one and I took on a challenge a while back. Of course it had to be challenging, I picked a very intricate and detailed pattern, but it is finally done. Now she wants to make a pillow out of it, which I think will look lovely. In any case it was very pleasant to give her this little token of my love and gratitude and to give it just because, without any occasion.

Great book/ great blog

I recieved most of the books I was drooling over earlier this week. I looked through them, my favorite so far being The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule. She is right up my alley, talking about being creative with your children. She brought me to tears with her introduction talking about feeling a need to create when she got pregnant. Knitting a little sweater for her soon to come baby, made her feel present in the moment, meditating, getting ready, putting her love into something feasible for her future child. She described my feelings exactly. Although I am not even pregnant yet, for the past year, I have been channelling my desire to be a mom and creative flow into clothes, blankets, and toys for someone to enjoy some day and it helps me wait purposefully.
I was gulping her book in until I found out she also has a blog (of course!) called SouleMama, where the photos of her family, their beautiful house, their snowy winter, their trees, sheep, and chickens, made me want all those things I always dream about all over again!
Why is there never a book about someone raising a healthy family in Vegas, in the desert?.. That would be a great incuragment to me.

The love of slow mornings

One of the things I am definetely enjoying during this winter break is the slow mornings. Slow and lazy, which makes me feel guilty, but I remind myself that these twenty-something days are for that purpose - to be lazy and to gain strength for the last battle (my last semester in dental school). So there is always a cup of tea, blog reads, then I go back under warm blankets and read or crochet. I know I will be remembering these days with envy very soon. So I am enjoying them while they last.

Love Dare - Day 11

I know I skipped a week or so in this whole dare thing, but I am back into it and will keep going as consistent as I can.

Love Dare Day 11 - Love Cherishes
This chapter is one of those that I highly agree with and it really speaks to me. It talks about considering the person you married as part of your own body, like the Bible urges us to. If you broke your arm, you are not going to cut it off, because it is broken, but instead, do everything you can to make sure it heals. When you are married, your spouse becomes a part of you, when you are happy so are they, when they are hurt, so are you. The problem comes when we all come to a painful realization that the person we married is far from perfect. So why in this culture is the marriage treated like it is an object that you own, say a car - if you don't like it anymore, if it is broken, just replace it by a newer model? So many sources nowadays state that you should kick the broken one out of your life to open room for something better that awaits you down the road... Shouldn't broken marriage be carefully nursed back to health?
The book urges to not let the culture around you determine the worth of your marriage. Instead, your marriage should be a picture of love between two imperfect people who choose to love each other regardless.

I highlighted "with the smile" because I will do anything for my husband, but sometimes I strugle with doing it with a smile. If he asks me for a favor at an unconvinient time, or something I really dread doing, I tend to have a problem with just doing it. I want to do help him, but I have hard time hiding the fact that I am not happy about doing what I have to do to help him. It is work in progress...

Kitchen renovation progress (miniature)

Well, I did it. (You can see the before pictures and the plan here). Actually I did most of the work the first couple of days, but I was waiting for all the parts to come in to finish it. They came in yesterday, and today I put everything together. It is far from perfect, but I am delighted in the results! I used acrylic paint and a brush on most of the furniture, but the appliances were spray painted (I am in love with spray paint now! Lookout the world!) Now we just need to figure out how to cut the flooring without damaging the delicate little pieces, and the renovated kitchen can move in. The biggest part is still not started - wiring the house for electricity. But we take it one step at a time!
I received some lovely little bits and pieces along with the faucet, that was a gift from my brother - everything is so lovely! This house will truly be beautiful some day!

The photos are not the greatest quality, but I couldn't wait to share! I guess you get the idea, it is now white, black, and stainless steel. :) I will make sure I post photos of it once it is inside the house!