A Gfit for Baby Aurora

My Finnish sister had a baby girl about a month ago, so I've been putting together ideas for some things to send her! The Finnish government provides her with all the essentials already, so I'm just looking at fun stuff :) ! I've ordered this dress on sale from Ruche; it makes me think of Finland (probably due to the birds and design) and she will be able to grow into it and use it through her first year, and the Perchance the Cat blabla doll, as my sis Eevastiina is a cat lady and this one looks most like hers. She'd probably be grown out of the FEED newborn onesies by the time they would arrive in Finland, but I still love them (and the cause!).

dress/ apple/ cat doll/ headbands/ shoes/ onesies/ print

I've never had to buy baby gifts before...so, yeah. Kind of weird, but mostly fun!

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Washington, DC: Hunger in America Day 6

Day 6: Thursday May 23. Thursday morning, while everyone else went to Starbucks, I went down the street for some quiet time at Panera, and then we all went to Share Our Strength, home of the No Kid Hungry campaign (button on my right sidebar)! On the way in I got to briefly meet Billy Shore, the founder of the organization (exciting for a dork like myself; he was also featured in A Place at the Table, book and film). I love that Share Our Strength is very research-oriented, and I appreciate their approach of being involved in many different areas of solving food insecurity, through forming partnerships with businesses, government, and communities. The other grad students and I only stayed for the first presentation, as we were scheduled to attend an over-lunch event down the street and around the corner, at AEI (American Enterprise Institute). There we attended a panel discussion titled, Competing Visions of the Common Good: Rethinking Help for the Poor, with featured panelists Jim Wallis, CEO of Sojourners, author and theologian, and Representative Frank Wolf of Virginia, as well as the president of AEI, Arthur Brooks. The panelists spoke a lot about collaboration, talking a lot about how as a nation we have failed the vulnerable populations and moved toward extremes of wealth rather than working to end poverty, and the cynicism of Washington, among other things. The quote that stood out most to me from Wallis was, "you shouldn't reduce a deficit in a way that increases poverty."

^^the people persons paper people^^

On the way back to the church we stopped at a chocolate shop, and Doug (awesome THI staff/group leader/kid at heart...I realized I haven't introduced people) kindly bought us one each! I tried the lavender caramel I think it was; it was delicious. I really love lavender lately (I tried lavender ice cream earlier in the trip!).

In the evening we had a networking dinner event at the house of former House Member Jack Fields, with Baylor alumni working in the area. I was unfortunately not feeling well and distracted by some goings on, but I think it was a great opportunity and beneficial to many students. The guests in attendance were really interesting and we very much appreciated them coming out to meet with us!

Kyle was getting back home late that night (he'd been away for a month at a training in Louisiana), so to keep myself occupied (I wouldn't be sleeping anyway even if exhausted), I went with some of the undergrads to see a late showing of The Great Gatsby, in Chinatown right around the corner from our church. Only $10.50 with military discount (city theater prices, y'all)! It was fun to hang out as friends rather than students. :) 

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Wedding Photos

As it's on my summer to do list, I've finally gotten around to figuring out the whole wedding photo situation. Does it take everyone over a year to actually get around to ordering and displaying their wedding pictures? Because that's how long it seems to be taking me. But now, I'm ready, and it's happening. Here's what I'm thinking in terms of displaying the pictures!

I ordered two of these from ModCloth. I think it is a simple, clean, and stylish way to display a lot of photos, and as any of you married folks know, it's difficult deciding on just a few wedding photos to put up. I'm thinking of putting these side by side up above our couch in the living room, but the nifty thing is the photos could be exchanged and these could be used anywhere in the house and painted (I don't imagine we'll display 18 wedding photos for ever)! And, the price seems pretty good at $39 a piece.

I also found these frames from West Elm, and I absolutely love them. They are perfect with the gold and linen, but to order all the ones I want it would cost over 200$ (including shipping), so I'm holding off to see what is out there and look into doing a DIY replication of these. I've spray painted frames gold before (for the wedding!), so I may do that again for a cheaper alternative. 

We also have frames about here and there, and decor from the wedding that has transitioned to household display. I'm working on getting the house more decorated in general (taking advantage of army stuff not being everywhere), so I will surely show you what I get done by the end of the summer! :) 

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Saturday Cats

 ^^Hux^^

^^D^^

Happy weekend!

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Snacks V3

What I'm snacking on this week: Puffins peanut butter and chocolate cereal, spicy baked cauliflower.

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Blues on the Green

Wednesday evening a couple friends and I headed out to Blues on the Green at Zilker Park in Austin! It's a free concert hosted by KGSR, which Kyle and I call the Indie TV Commercial Channel (because all the songs that play in TV commercials are played on KGSR). Bob Schneider was performing, whom I know primarily from this song and folks talking about him on the radio (he's a local). There were so many people there, and dogs, and as always Austin is great for hipster-watching. We chilled on the grass and ate some foods, and while it took us forever to park, we made a very quick exit. Unfortunately we spent about as much time in the car (driving from Fort Hood) as we did at the event, but we're thinking next time we'll have to come to Austin in the afternoon and spend some quality time in the city. I really miss being in a city, where there's always cool things to do and people everywhere.

^^fresh watermelon juice!^^

^^Matt wandered off and returned much to our surprise with a tower of three funnel cakes. Combined we ate probably half to 3/4 of one. Poor performance.^^

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Summer is For: Frozen Yogurt

This would probably more accurate to my life choices be titled, "Frozen Yogurt is For: Any Time" or "Frozen Yogurt is For: All the Time," but we'll just stick with the original. 

^^CherryBerry in Bastrop; the sprinkles dispenser went a little crazy on me^^

^^Yo Dreams in Waco^^

^^U-Swirl in Waco; they had a Harry Potter butterbeer flavor!^^

I kind of always get the same thing. Gummy bears, fruit, sprinkles, and I usually get vanilla plus another flavor. What's in your frozen yogurt cup? 

- From the desk of Mrs. M