process, schmocess.

busy

Rachel — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 15:31:57 +0000

It’s been a while, huh? Well I’m just checking in to say though we are all doing well, it’s been a busy few months…
Essays and exams, babysitting, sleepovers, lessons and classes, holiday stuff, dog walking/training, spring move, and some more travelling. Not to mention being a full-time mom.

Savouring all the quiet moments.

home, for a moment..

Rachel — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:02:01 +0000

Strange to come home again after being away for 2 months. Everything is familiar, yet strange. Took some getting used to. But now that we’re just getting used to it, we’re off again, to the cabin for the rest of the month, for some much-needed down-time before the fall semester starts and life gets back on its chaotic track.

So, in the meantime, a very condensed photo essay of our time away:

here

Rachel — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 17:41:06 +0000

Well we’re here, and we’re loving it. This island is absolutely breathtaking. The food is incredible and the people are wonderfully friendly and accommodating. Chris works from about 8 until 1:30 when we all meet for a communal lunch, home for a nap, and then back to work from 4:30 to 7ish, get cleaned up and meet up again for a late dinner.
Izzy is having a wonderful time having the attention of so many adults and is learning a little more Greek everyday (we all are).
Every day has been laid back and lovely,whether we’re just sitting out in the traverna at the British School or taking walks to the fruit stand down the street, or playing with the kittens we’ve agreed to feed every morning in an olive grove just up the hill from our room.

Everyone (Chris and Izzy included) has gone grocery shopping, so I opted to do a little laundry in exchange for some computer time to myself. I hope to post some more pictures as soon as I can remember to load them onto the computer, but until then, I hope these do. Carl took these on a recent day trip to Myrtos-Pyrgos (where the pottery that Chris is working on comes from). (thanks Carl!)

three of a kind

Rachel — Sat, 28 May 2011 06:14:47 +0000

We’re off…

…and in matching boots no less.

Tomorrow afternoon we’ll all be flying to Greece (with a lovely full day layover in Paris) for 6 whole weeks. Though Chris will be working, (mostly pottery analysis) the kid and I will enjoy life in a new place for a little while. Instead of getting our groceries from the ValueMart across the street, it’ll be at the market in town. Instead of spending afternoons at “garbage park” we’ll get to play in the Edwardian gardens in the archaeological park.

This is the first time we’ve been on a big trip like this together. And since we haven’t had a honeymoon of sorts, I think this can count towards that too. Izzy is so excited to go, and to be on site with her Dad. She (and Chris and I) have been trying to learn a little bit of Greek in the last few weeks. I feel like Henry Jones Sr. whenever she says something, and I ask her to say it again in Greek.

Packing is finished, apartment is clean, laundry done, but I still feel like there’s something more to do, something we’ve forgotten. (I doubt that feeling will subside until we wake up on Crete). And fingers crossed I haven’t forgotten anything important.

spring egg hunt

Rachel — Sun, 01 May 2011 18:27:24 +0000

The kiddo and I spent a lovely week with the grandparents while poor Chris stayed home and slaved over his last big essay of the year.
With time spent between 3 houses, we baked bread, coloured eggs, searched them out in the backyard, dug in the dirt, had naps, got our feet dirty and enjoyed a bit of a break from the city.

Hope your long weekend was lovely as well!

weather and windily

Rachel — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 21:51:39 +0000

It’s been fairly balmy around here lately… until now. I can’t tell if it’s raining or snowing (whatever it is, it’s going sideways) It looks a right mess out there; windy and cold. So we’re hiding out (literally) in a table tent doing stickers and making balloon animals.

I’ve never been one to wish away a season, but I’m really starting to look forward to the spring and all the things it brings (and its lack of freezing rain). Hard to believe the equinox is only 2 weeks away, and with it comes my baby’s third birthday! (even harder to believe) Where does the time go?

*since I started writing this, it has turned into a full-fledged blizzard out there!*

for the love of coffee

Rachel — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 20:11:50 +0000

As a stay at home mom (and a stayer-up-way-past-my-bedtime-er), coffee is my very good friend, so needless to say, I was close to devastated three days ago when I broke not only our primary french press, but our back up too. With instant as our only option at home, I was driven to find a better (and less breakable) way.
Enter our shiny new addition:

I’m in love. I never knew I could love a coffee pot, but this one is oh so lovely. (And I can have a second cup 2 hours later and find it still hot within it’s double wall-ed ness).
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back for another cup.

sick day

Rachel — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 22:30:29 +0000

The munchkin has a bad cough so we’ve spent the day quarantined from the world. (Unfournate timing though as we had lunch plans with out-of-town friends we haven’t seen since October)

We made the best of it though, lots of reading, playdough and painting with watercolours.

She is now taking a nap (and at 5:15 means it’ll be a late night) so I took the opportunity to make her a little something to lounge in. If she sleeps long enough I may have the time to make myself one too.

snow day

Rachel — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 22:48:38 +0000

We were promised snow, and snow it did! All night and all day big fat frozen flakes fell from the sky and blanketed the city in white. Lovely.

Inside we:

coloured paper dolls (which I later stuck to magnet sheets, cut out and stuck on the fridge),

introduced her dolls to the cast of star wars,

and tried some hand sewing.

Then out into a winter wonderland to intercept Chris on his way home from class.

Lovely day indeed.

the big three-oh

Rachel — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 02:48:05 +0000

Well I had a birthday last week. It was a big one. I turned 30. Now, having a birthday in January doesn’t give me a lot of time to dwell on it, so it tends to come and go without too much notice. This year we celebrated with friends over a home-cooked meal and a bottle of wine while our girls wreaked havoc on their moving boxes in the next room.

It’s amazing how much has changed in the past 5 years (nonetheless 10!) … I’ll spare you all the gritty details of my past, but it elates me to say that I am now, the happiest I’ve been in my life. This year, Chris and I will be celebrating 5 years together (and close to 15 of serious crushing) and our munchkin’s 3rd birthday. Definitely good things too look forward to.

note: I feel I should clarify that I seemed to be the only one who forgot about my birthday. I received lots of calls and well wishing messages that day (and even a beautiful hand made cable knit beret in the mail).