Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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september bliss list

I like this new tradition, this writing of a monthly Bliss List. Another thank you to the Hungry Yogis for their inspiration!

September 2017 was one for the record books in many ways. I recently shared the tip of one big, happy iceberg, and I cannot thank you enough for your outpouring of love and support, for everyone’s warm celebration of our family’s happy good news. It was a September highlight for sure, a highlight of an already beautiful and glimmering month of milestones and days well spent.

Let’s magnify the good stuff!

Pumpkin Spice Granola: This recipe will be on repeat all autumn. I first made it as part of a birthday care package for Jocelyn, and she and her boyfriend loved it. She said opening the container was like smelling home. (heart eyes) My friend Kellie made a version of it including cashews and pepitas. Yum!
 

 

Yoga! Early in the month, we spontaneously opened the farm for Full Moon Yoga on the deck, attended by a handful of our friends who had not yet met each other, which is always fun! Then one evening Meredith and I attended yoga in Oklahoma City, outdoors at the Myriad Gardens, which was beautiful. All of this led to Handsome and me together diving into a 30-day yoga challenge with Adriene. Every evening we roll out our mats up in the Apartment, try to convince the dogs to stay off of our mats, and practice together. It has become one of my favorite daily rituals. We are “finding what feels good,” ok?

Almost autumn. Oklahoma had a true Indian Summer, the kind of heat swell that catches you by surprise after a noticeable cool down. We got humid and sticky and all SPF-y for a few weeks. Then the rain came (again) and the temps dropped (again). As we finished September, the mornings were relatively crisp and cool. Blissful, especially for running.

The gardens are in transition, and just like every year, it is all so beautiful. I adore the slow decay, the gradual exchange of saturated color for dried sepia tones. I love collecting seed heads for next year and planning autumn color. All of it. We added more pallets to the veggie garden perimeter fence, and if you ask me it looks pretty fab. I have also been spending time collecting manure and flipping the 3-bin compost heap. This job always makes me weirdly giddy.

 

Jocelyn turned 22. Twenty-two, you guys!! We are so in love with her and so proud of her, in every way. Should I start a new blog where all I write about is how great my kids are? Ok.

Running and keeping an eye on marathon season: In September I started reading the Hansons Marathon Training book and have been nibbling away at pace tests as well gradually increasing weekly mileage. I feel so confident about building a strong base, staying injury free and healthy, happy, just overall balanced. That daily yoga ritual is helping tons. My long-term running goals are lofty (for me), but I am so happy with how September wrapped up: 169+ miles total, lots of cross training, mild weight loss (fat loss, leaner stronger legs), way better stamina, and slightly faster intervals. I just love it all and actually believe my goals are within reach. Watch for more running posts now that I’ve hit a stride!

We have two new kittens!! Have I told you? They are no longer feral, haha, not at all. They climb small trees, boss the dogs around, follow us all over the farm, know exactly where and what time to eat, and even like to be held for purring demonstrations. Handsome especially is quite smitten. I call them Root and Toot until further notice. 

Out and About This past month, all on one weekend, in fact, Handsome and I got dressed up and went to Oklahoma City for different and really fun food “gala” type events. We had such a good time, both times! We indulged in amazing food and drink, dancing with friends, and committed lots of pure silliness. I love getting away from the farm once in while and doing something completely different. 

My guy and his cars. This month I really have enjoyed watching my husband spend time in his shop again, working on cars and sorting through both creative and mechanical problems and ideas. It’s great to see him work on things that are central to his personality and not based on anyone else’s demands of him. He works so hard in life. xoxo

So many excellent meals. WOW. The following photo is of a pasta dish I enjoyed at an Italian restaurant in Del City, where had joined a group of folks from the Jedi OKC organization. This was basically a lemon-artichoke-capers-chicken-garlic plate of bliss. I think I had a dream about it a week or so later.

Thanksgiving plans are already in the works! We are so excited for the holidays this year. All of our coastal siblings and nephews are flying home, Genny is staying at the farm, and a big group of us plans to run a turkey trot together. Fun! 

Comfort and Connection. Since beginning to share some of our family’s story about alienation and reunion, so many people have reached out to tell me their own stories, friends and strangers alike. It saddens and comforts me all at once to see how widespread these heartaches are. It’s a weird, beautiful thing, to be connected to people over something like this.

 

Bedtime freedom. You know what has been really fun and blissful this past month? Sleeping anywhere we want, ha! We have a huge and very comfortable master bedroom upstairs, at the south end of the house. And we usually sleep there. But recently we have so truly enjoyed the newly spacious Apartment, that on cool nights we open the windows and luxuriate in the guest bed. Also, for a third option? Sometimes we inflate a camping mattress on the concrete floor in our downstairs tv room and sleep with the pups. I mean, we are adults. Probably.

Ok friends, please feel free to share something blissful from your September! I would love to read about it. Life can be dark and difficult, and the news especially deepens our sadness; but magnifying the beautiful stuff helps.

“Take responsibility for your own happiness.”
~Adriene Mishler
XOXOXO

 

 

trying to stall time and some special things this week

My brain has this notion that if I plan just a few extra events to break up our routine and also take time to write about our day to day living, then time will slow down a bit. Is this true? I mean, is this a sound theory? Because life is so great; we are happily obsessed with 97.46% of its details, but lately the days are slipping by way too quickly.

If you have any authority or expertise in this department, I will bake or work in your garden in exchange for your help. Thanks in advance.

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Following a lovely Monday with my nieces, this past Wednesday was so much fun. Whether my time-slowing theory works or not, Wednesday was a carpe-diem victory in every way.

After some basic early chores and a 7-ish mile run in Choctaw, I showered, did a little sewing, then picked up my long-lost gardening buddy Maddie and her youngest brother for a visit at the farm! We spent all afternoon swimming, brushing horses, and eating watermelon. I loved every minute. She is so good with him, he clearly adores her, and watching them together made me super nostalgic for my own siblings.

“Gabe, are you having fun?” “Why wouldn’t I be? We have watermelon!”

Except I was horrible to my own sibs. Cruel pranks, meanness, cold shoulders, you name it. Except with Genny for some reason. And Philip. I was pretty nice to them. Mostly Angela and Joey were just fun to tease, okay?

Ask me sometime about the school bus trick, ha!

Back to Wednesday.

A quick dust up around the house, a change of clothes, and by early evening Handsome and I were on the road to the Lake Hefner area.

Our friends Mickey and Kellie had invited us for dinner, and we all had the best time. We have been at several larger parties with them but alone just the four of us only once before, and we always enjoy their company so much. Wednesday night was such a treat.

More than a treat. Our dinner date turned into a long, meandering, nourishing conversation that left us feeling like we had known each other all our lives.

And the food was sublime, of course. Mickey and Kellie are foodies of the highest order, and they spoiled us with beef tenderloin, bacon-sauteed Brussels sprouts, and roasted potatoes then sent us home with extra portions of dessert, which was made-from-scratch strawberry shortcake.

By the way, Mickey is the friend I mentioned recently who helped me improve my running form! He is maintaining a mind-blowing streak right now. Crazy cool. And I love listening to him and Handsome talk cars.

Kellie feeds my brain with talk about magnetic earthing, total-person wellness, her love of both the beach and Colorado and excellent food, yoga, and a recent foray into Orange-Theory. I haven’t personally tried this workout yet, but her reviews alone get me interested.

While in their home we enjoyed some reluctant and therefore precious greyhound affection:

She’s blending, she’s blending!

After that mid-week burst of socializing, time did slow a bit, lusciously. Thursday thrummed with the leftover energy of all that love exchanged. And writing about it since then has helped press it all into my skin, again.

You write to live life twice, after all.

Since then, routines are keeping us busy. Running all the miles, collecting eggs and admiring the Memorial Day chicks, playing endless games of fetch with Sir Klaussen, watering and exploring the gardens.

 

 

Life is good. Beyond good.

If I cannot slow time exactly, then I will be content to magnify the moments.

Thanks to our friends and family for helping to make our week special. We love you all!

“Kindred spirits are not so scare as I used to think.
It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”
~L.M. Montgomery,
Anne of Green Gables
XOXOXOXO

 

our weekend of diems that were fully carpe’d

Hello and happy Monday!! Handsome and I are still thrumming from a weekend packed with good stuff. The “carpe diem” lifestyle has been happening, and it suits us just fine.

Starting with Friday night, we filled the farm with a variety of friends and family to swim and watch “Deep Blue Sea” outside under the stars. It was Shark Week, after all. I love how all of our people mix beautifully with each other. Really nice. And that movie! One of our all time favorites. I had forgotten how many lines from it we quote on a regular basis. Especially from LL Cool J. Hilarious.

Deep Blue Sea, 1999
This is Maddie, me, and Kenzie, left to right, swimming with sharks. Probably. We had a lot of fun scaring each other and having underwater flip contests while the movie played across from the deck.

deck + futon mattress + blankets = movie cuddles under the stars

After many hours of that fun we left the kitchen messy (a rare indulgence), crashed hard, and slept until an unheard of 7 am Saturday morning. Haha, that’s quite late for us. We enjoyed our leisurely morning routines, fed the critters, then set out for a little drive through small towns and back roads. That adventure took us to Tecumseh, where we explored antique rooms and ate an early and memorable lunch at The Farmer’s Daughter. Delicious! I’d been hearing lots about this cafe and am happy to report that it’s even better than expected.

Look at this interior wall made from old, chippy doors! And a chalkboard menu!

My meal was a salmon salad with all the delicious trimmings and exactly one bob bon, pecan-coconut covered in chocolate. Perfect. My guy had ribs with exactly his favorite kind of macaroni and cheese. We were both pretty proud of our selections.

After that we drove more, looking for garage sales, but came home with limited treasure. I did snag a few potted plants from a greenhouse tucked away on the side of a state highway. Also a stack of hardback books for 27 cents total, but that purchase cost us about 20 minutes standing in line. Why?? Haha Still, happy to have the books.

Angel wing begonia, foxtail fern, and a purple heart. Easy and lush.
I’m excited to read the Pickens memoir, and those Michener epics make my mouth water.

 

Late Saturday night, after some swimming and playing with the animals, Handsome got brave and anted-up for yoga. The outdoor movie screen was still in place, so we used it to follow a Tara Stiles “relaxing” sequence, haha, but let’s just say it was a rage-filled half hour!! So much fun though. He cracks me up. We might try Adrienne next time, as she is much more mellow and low key.

Sunday mid-morning I laced up for 7 miles of pure bliss, an hour very well spent. My body is really getting comfortable again, and the weather was magical. I bumped into two sets of friends at the park where I ran, and those conversations were icing on the cake!

While I ran, Handsome worked on his Cadillac restoration. He’s undecided and enjoying the creative process, but for now the previously pink beauty is a sleek and sexy black. Her name is Marilyn.

We swam more and did a few other projects around the farm.

baby watermelons!

Late Sunday afternoon we threw on some clean clothes and drove to the city for something we rarely seek out unless we are in New Orleans: Live music!

Our friend Lynn has fallen madly in love with (and secretly married!!) an exceptionally talented musician whose band is all rockabilly, both vintage and original, which is straight up our musical alley.

The band is called “Jimmy Dale and the Beltline,” and if you ever get a chance to see them live, jump on it!! We had so much fun. I promise to tell you more about this unique couple soon. Besides being adorable and loving, they nurture a joint creative force that makes Oklahoma pretty special.

Whew! As I hit “publish” on these weekend memories, Handsome and I are still happily thrumming from it all. We are also coming down off some incredible Monday energy. You know that exhausted-but-accomplished feeling you earn after setting yourself up for a really excellent work week, and you probably want chicken and dumplins for dinner, and maybe a foot rub? That and more. So good.

Thanks for checking in, friends! See you tomorrow for Monday stories, a recipe, and more.

“I got a black car!”
~Jimmy Dale
XOXOXOXO

 

taco bueno giveaway plus some silliness of course

I don’t do many sponsored posts, but for Tex-Mex? Ummm… That’ll be a hard yes, por favor and gracias.

Taco Bueno has a new menu item available, and they are almost as excited for everyone to sample it as I was to do said sampling. Next to perfect coffee every morning, really sweet watermelon as often as possible during watermelon season, and homemade popcorn during movies, Tex-Mex is my favorite food. I mean… salads, really. But obviously there is so much overlap there! OB-viously.

(( grilled chicken rice bowl/ salad FOR THE WIN ))

Anyway, growing up in Oklahoma and traveling a lot to Texas has made my life pleasantly nourished by excellent Tex-Mex. I crave it constantly. Taco Bueno is my favorite fast-casual place to satisfy that craving, too.

So the nice folks at Taco Bueno sent me a generous gift card to try their new menu item. For our sampling fun I knew exactly who to invite: Brad & Mer, our Taco Tuesday power couple. We love being friends with them for lots of reasons, including the facts that they LOVE to eat and they LOVE to laugh and they LOVE to dress up for all sorts of fun occasions. A couple of years ago they showed up to a Cinco de Mayo double-dinner-date wearing the best costumes ever. Brad donned the biggest straw sombrero I have ever seen (outside of a birthday song attack), and Mer, well… See for yourself. I did not even have to ask her if she would wear the Taco again. It was just an understood.

On to the food! Taco Bueno already has a pretty legit fast-casual menu. Years ago I could inhale the “B.O.B..” which stood for “big ol’ burrito.” More recently my favorite menu item has been the grilled chicken taco salad bowl (it includes black beans and cilantro rice). When we eat in rather than take out, I thoroughly enjoy their salsa and relish bar. It almost always includes fresh pico de gallo, which is my jam. Pile it on!

The new menu item is big and designed to feed either a small crowd or one perpetually hungry runner (with possible crumbs left for her husband and costume-wearing buddies). It’s called the “Wholotta Box” and it is no joke.

What you get for just $10:

  • 2 large side orders of rice (moist!)
  • 2 large side orders of refried beans (made fresh in the store)
  • 4 bags of fresh tortilla chips with SUCH great salsa
  • Your choice of a mix of 12 items, tacos and/ or burritos

The four of us opted to mix it up between tacos and burritos, plus I ordered that salad you see above (so good!), we added an order of queso, and I think there were a few small items added on, too. We had way too much food. Everyone ate plenty and enjoyed every bite. We settled in at one of those long, high tables and laughed and laughed for about an hour.

A good time was had by all, and we left with food to spare. My husband kept saying, “All of this was only ten bucks?” The Wholatta Box is, indeed, only $10. That’s a pretty great deal, friends. I feel like mentioning that we noticed several people leaving the restaurant with their own Wholatta Boxes to go, and how nice it seemed to have all that food packaged neatly in pizza-style cardboard boxes. Great for carrying home, you know? Ours was served just as neatly but in Styrofoam boxes for eating in.

As if our fun with Brad and Mer wasn’t enough, Taco Bueno wants you to go try something delicious, too! Enter to win a $25 gift card then go feast.

I have no doubt that your delicious visit to Taco Bueno will be made even better by great service like what we enjoyed from Heather, the young woman pictured above. She was patient with our antics, friendly to the max, and even posed for photos at our childish insistence. When our order was ready, she called out “TACO!” and everyone laughed.

I mean, WE laughed. The other guests in the dining room who just wanted some food, man, looked around nervously. We heard someone stage-whisper, “That’s a real live taco!” Follow that train of thought at your own peril.

So enter to win a gift card! Comment below, and just for fun tell me your favorite Tex-Mex food. I will choose a winner at random on Tuesday, May 30th. TACO TUESDAY!

I hope you go try the Wholotta Box. Bonus points if you wear a taco costume like my friend does, literally every chance she gets.

XOXOXOXO

 

 

friday 5 at the farm: snapshots of this week

Hello, happy first Friday of the brand new year! This weekend on which we are about thrust ourselves is already much appreciated. And waking up to a thick, glittering snow quilt certainly makes the single digit temps more bearable. As soon as the sun comes up, Klaus and I will be outside, making tracks and checking on animals, breaking ice and having fun. Maybe we’ll see how adept his big paws are at building snow men? At least he should be able to swish a pretty great looking snow angel. If that happens, I’ll post it to Instagram for sure.

To kickoff Friday 5 at the Farm for 2016, here are five photos from this past week. They are just snapshots languishing on my cell phone but actually represent some great memories.

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#1. Engagement Party! A couple of months ago, our friends Tami and Jason flew to Italy for a romantic getaway. While there, Jason surprised Tami with a wedding proposal! They were in Venice, on a traditional gondola, and he was nervous and not even sure she’d say yes. They are madly in love of course, but marriage had not been on the table, so to say the least she really was shocked. I loved watching them as they recounted that memory. It is one of the best, most romantic stories I have ever heard, and it’s real.

Handsome and I were happy to attend their recent engagement party and are so happy for them! This photo is blurry, but can you see the giant decorative “diamond rings” hanging from the light fixture? The party was a lot of fun, the hostess so sweet and gracious. We met lots of new friends and had a great time. Nothing quite like marinating in an atmosphere of love and romance.

I do sort of regret not eating one of these magical looking cupcakes.

f5-engagement-cupcakes-c

#2. A Man & his Dog & my Lost Redbud The photo below is my strong, hard-working guy and his faithful assistant working at our bonfire pit. The tree stump there by the metal birdcage was a mostly rotted Redbud tree, which we chopped down and burned just as year changed. We made this task a bit ceremonious, which helped because I was sad to lose this beautiful thing. I love Redbuds in general (our state tree), but this particular one just kept hanging on, year after year. It was where I had hung that cotton wedding chandelier, it was an anchor for a string of twinkle lights, and even in its decline it bloomed profusely every spring. It was just special, and I was sad to see it go.

You might also like to know that anytime Handsome is working outside or (especially!) when he is using our black pickup truck, Klaus wants… no, NEEDS… to participate. This big dog knows the words “truck” and “chores” and has no fear as long as his Daddy is in the lead. It makes me deeply happy to watch them together.

f5-handsome-bonfire-work-c

#3. Exhausted Lusty Pup Who Thinks He is Still Tiny Following our traditional first bonfire of the year with friends, Klaus was completely spent. Some of our friends had brought their dog to the party, a pup named Champ, and he and Klaus became fast friends, sort of. They spent several hours in feverish chasing and wrestling, nervous dominance/romantic attempts, and a pitiful, whining separation when the chaos became too much for us humans. Anyway. Late that evening after the farm was empty of beloved fire-watchers and marshmallow roasters, Klaus pinned me on this couch. He laid exactly on my shoulder and belly, stretched out along my legs, and passed out cold. He snored contentedly. I was helpless and in heaven.

f5-klaus-shoulder-nap-c

#4. Afternoon Sunlight Magic & the View from my Kitchen I adore this exact vantage, from which I see so many things I love, at this time of day especially. It’s right around the moments the sun begins to surrender, when it slants across from the south and hits a disco ball perched on our dining room table. Everything glows and sparkles for a little while. Klaus is usually asleep now, because he’s been playing so hard and doing his dog chores (very important stuff). I am showered (finally) and cooking dinner. Chances are good that my guy is about to text that he’s coming home. Afternoon is blending into evening at the farm, and when it’s too cold to walk outside and see the sunset, this is a beautiful consolation.

f5-kitchen-view-sparkly-afternoons-c

#5. Greek Meal I Cannot Stop Craving. This past Monday evening after a surprisingly difficult and truly exhilarating aerial yoga class with friends, we all stopped at a nearby Greek restaurant for a nice, late supper. So European of us, right? I was quite hungry, having made a point to arrive at the “silks” on a perfectly empty stomach. You guys, this meal was amazing. I ordered it expecting that a traditional Greek garden salad (with olives, feta, cucumbers, etcetera) would be topped with grilled chicken strips. What a treat to instead see it crowned with this big scoop of saffron chicken salad! It also had some kind of tangy, creamy sauce I forgot to identify, and every detail of it was so good. The small, warm pita triangles and layer of fresh, cold tabbouleh. Yyeesss. More of this please. If I do sign up for weekly aerial yoga classes, this salad could make regular appearances in my life.

f5-greek-salad-c

 

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Okay, thanks so much for touching base at the digital Lazy W! We are making slow but steady progress on new market gardening projects, so stay tuned for details on that. I am beyond excited.

A new Marathon Monday post is coming too, about the benefits of training for a race but not running it.

Happy, cozy, loving weekend to you! Enjoy the snow, Oklahoma! Carpe the diems.

“Exhaust the little moment. Soon it dies.
And be it gash or gold it will not come 
Again in this identical disguise.”
~Gwendolyn Brooks
XOXOXOXO