What day is this?

When one thinks about living in the Midwest, the concept, "diversity," doesn't typically come to mind. If, however, you could have seen the live feed on my facebook page this morning, you might have disagreed. Of course, there was the typical "I hate my life because I'm a student" whining, the "Look at my awesome drunken pics from last night" silliness, and the weekly "TGIF- gimme a beer" anticipation.

Added to this mixture this morning was a sweet, savory blend of "Sittin' in a deer stand/1st shotgun season/Be vewy vewy quiet..." and "OMGGGGG Newwww Moooonnnnn!!! :)))"

These come from, typically, two very different crowds. I love 'em both.

Should make for an interesting weekend as more people get the see New Moon and post their reaction, and more people upload smiling pictures of themselves holding a dead deer. Happy 1st shotgun season/New Moon day to all!

St. Louis and Meeting The Pioneer Woman

My alarm sounded at 5:15am, but I was already awake. It was like Christmas morning, except that even Santa doesn't excite me that much. We hit the road around 7:30am and it rained all the way to the city.

We started at Saint Louis University, where Kyle and I met with people from the law school and the speech language pathology programs, respectively. Oh, my word was it fun! I found out some really unique opportunities I would have at SLU that aren't available at some other schools.

We then joined Aunt T, Uncle D, and Cousin Steph at the beautiful Four Seasons hotel where they were staying and had lunch. What a gorgeous place it was! It may have been the swankiest hotel I've ever seen.

After lunch everyone wanted to do a little shopping (I had a small chunk of change in gift cards to spend at Anthropologie) so we parted ways. Anthropologie brought their A-game. The store was decked for the holidays, but in a very subtle, Anthro way. Everything was beautiful. For the first time, I actually allowed myself to look seriously at their clothes. Never before had I done this for one simple reason: clothes from Anthro ain't cheap! Since I wasn't technically spending my own money, I went for it, and oh, what fun it was! I tried on many lovely things and had a difficult time choosing what I wanted. I walked away with two beautiful shirts that I hope to use and wear for a long time. I exclaimed to Kyle, "I feel so special!"

We headed back downtown to Christ Church Cathedral where Ree was speaking at 7pm. We got there three hours early.



We had second row seats, so it was worth it! We took pictures of everything while we waited.



Then Marlboro Man (aka Ladd, her husband) and her two youngest punks, Bryce and Todd, came storming in the room. They were as cute and wild as I imagined.



Right before it was time for her to speak, Cousin Steph went to the ladies room and on her way out ran into P-Dub! Oh, I was so jealous. Lucky.

But before long, Ree was standing in front of me. I mean, right in front of me. She was beautiful and tall and thin. Ignore all her "chubby" jokes. They're lies.



The evening began with question and answer, so I said, "Hi, Ree. Will you pretty please do your Ethel Merman for us?" People cheered. She blushed. Then she did it.



Then her boys tugged at her jacket, her hair, her microphone, and climbed the podium. It was awesome. They clearly adore her.



Then, quite sadly, the Q&A was over and it was time to get my book signed.



We stepped up, made some sweet small-talk, posed for a picture (taken by my sweet, ever-patient, ultimate trooper hubs) and I felt complete.



Marlboro Man gave us free t-shirts and sent us packing.



We said our goodbyes and started our drive home. Then we stopped at Chili's for dinner (not-so-exciting, but we had a gift card). Chili's is the place to do business, as in, the business of fawning over your husband and thanking him for joining you on this day that was, more or less, all about you.



As we were pulling in the driveway at home, Cousin Steph called and said, "You'll never believe who we just saw in the hotel gift shop!" It was Marlboro Man and the punks. They were staying at the Four Seasons. Lucky.

It was, without a doubt, one of the most fun days I've had in a long time!

Cooking with Chelsea and Ree

Tomorrow I meet Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman, and one of my heroes. What is it about her that everyone loves so much? She's the blogging it-girl. Is it her charm, authenticity, humor, talent? It's all of that and more.

If you've been reading my blog, or following me on Twitter or Facebook for any amount of time you've probably heard me singing her praises (listen carefully and you'll probably hear my husband singing along in the background). She inspires me to cook and enjoy cooking, to stop and look at the beauty around me by snapping a photo, and to keep plugging away at this little blog I love, never knowing what it might mean to someone else.

So, inspired by Julie & Julia, a love for Ree, and little encouragement from my beautiful cousin Stephanie (who's going to meet Ree with me tomorrow!), I'm going to start a little project. There are 61 recipes in The Pioneer Woman Cooks. In the next year, I am going to cook through all of them. I mean, if Julie Powell can make it through Julia Child's 524 French recipes in one year, I can make it through 61 country recipes, right?

Wait. Don't go anywhere.

You might be saying, "Chelsea, we've seen you start these 'projects' before, and you NEVER carry them through (i.e. Old Music Tuesday, all those multi-part series posts you began and never finished)."

Yep, you're right. I have very little stick-to-it-iveness. I blame it on television. And my mother for letting me quit summer softball in the 4th grade. Television and my mother. Thanks, Ma! (Just kidding, Ma!)

With all the seriousness I can muster, I'm excited to see where this goes. I have no expectations, except the hope that I might come out a better cook on the other side, and maybe I'll finally get Kyle to put on a few pounds. We need some balance in our relationship.

Oh, and Ree, if you ever read this, thanks for everything.

Love,
Chelsea

There's this family...

I love them.

They love me, too.

They let me take their pictures.

They know I love to take pictures.

They know I want to get better at taking pictures.

They are all beautiful.

I'm mean, they're ridiculously good-looking.

I love them.

Did I say that already?

It runs in the family.

The women in my family are notoriously good cooks. Both my grandmothers, my mom, my aunts, my cousins. I have big shoes to fill. I love to cook. I love good food (a little too much). I love the accolades that come my way when cooking something good for my family and friends. I love the subtle nurture that is inevitably tied to filling the bellies of the ones you love. It's a simple pleasure.

This summer I got to cook pies with my Grandma Johnson on the farm.

I love being on the farm.

It's warm and old and a little quirky.

Everyone knows Grandma Johnson (Grandma 'Nene to her grandchildren) makes the best pies. It was really nice to learn from her, but it was even nicer just to spend time with her.

I got to hear her tell stories about her childhood. She told me about the early years when she and my grandpa were married. She went with him while he served in the military. She stood by him through his dreams of owning a farm.

Nearly 6 decades, 5 children, 10 grandchildren, and 11 (and counting) great-grandchildren later, she is still standing by him.

We talked while we cooked. We learned about each others lives while we cooked. It was a beautiful thing. The pie was beautiful, too.

Get Ready.

Get set.

You're about to see a lot of pictures of a tree.

It's Kyle's favorite tree.

Not merely his favorite kind of tree, but his favorite tree on the planet.

Everyone should have a favorite tree. I do.

It's a Ginkgo.

It drops all its leaves in one day.

It was spectacular this weekend.

I took far too many pictures of this tree.

But it was such an obliging subject.

Rejoicing in Suffering

6 good reasons to rejoice in Christ when it's difficult:
1. We get to see God's goodness as he grips us in the fire.
2. Experiencing loss and grief makes you more attuned to the pain others carry.
3. Jesus suffered more than we can understand, but we can identify more with him when we suffer too.
4. Clinging to Christ out of desperation is a good thing. We should do this every day anyway. We are hopeless and desperate without him, after all.
5. The life of a Christian should be marked not by our love for God and each other in our prosperity, but by our love for God and each other in our suffering.
6. (You fill in the blank.)