A Few Links

We got the above wave print from Ikea. What you can't tell is that it is HUGE. About 79"x55". I kind of had to talk Aaron into it but I know it's going to make him so happy. He's...slightly obsessive about waves (a side effect of being born and raised in Hawaii, I'm sure) and he's going to love having this in our new living room. (I also really want the huge map)

Elaine shared this post about nudes in art from J. Kirk Richards, an LDS artist. Mormons can be so stinking puritanical about modesty that it can be detrimental to our appreciation of the human body as a work of God. I'm kind of thinking I need a nude painting for our house now. If you see a good one, send it my way (relatedly: what makes a nude a good nude?).

Please tell me you are already aware of the illustrated tweet of the day from Hello Giggles. Last week I spent 2 hours laying in bed during my kids' quiet time reading them on my phone. I arose feeling so very understood.

Illustrated tweeeeet!

My hair is getting super long. It's below my bra strap in the back. I am absurdly proud of this. It feels like an accomplishment I've been working toward for a long time and maybe there should be an award for it or something.

If you haven't read this post, entitled "The fart that (almost) altered my destiny" then please go read right this very moment. I was laughing so hard that I stopped making sound. And also, tears were streaming down my face. It was ugly, but the post is just. that. funny. 

News!

Yoga pants and 2 carts with 6 ceiling fans. And a kitchen sink. And a faucet. And a garbage disposal.

I had really intended to get back into the full swing of blogging in September but life has been throwing nonstop wrenches into my works. Not the least of which is the fact that we will be moving soon.

We submitted an offer on our rental house a couple months ago not even knowing if the owner was open to selling. And then he turned around and sold it to someone else (I can't really talk about this without going all CAPSLOCKDEATH on you so I'll skip the details).

Cue frantic scramble to find somewhere else to live. Don't want to talk about this either. More caps lock.

I am not being melodramatic when I tell you that it was a miracle in the literal sense of the word when we found our new house. God knows and loves me, guys. That's the only explanation for how this all worked out.

We closed on Friday. We finalized and ordered all our flooring on Saturday. Demo started yesterday.

Sadly, after they took out all the drywall we discovered this wall is structural. So, that's been fun trying to work around.

The house has a fantastic layout but it needs needs significant updating. I'll be doing some work myself but, fortunately, the budget allowed for some help in the labor department so we've got a wonderful team over there doing the really hard stuff. The house will look completely different when we're done- we'll be painting, replacing ALL the flooring, scraping popcorn ceilings, putting in new countertops, ripping out a really stupid wall (above), changing light fixtures and a ton of other little things. I'm overwhelmed and super excited at the same time.

Sadly, this will not be staying.

Odds are good it's going to go all radio silence over here again. If you want to come help paint cabinets or pull down wallpaper or dig trenches for a sprinkler system at the new house just follow the paint fumes and loud swearing. There I'll be.

Testing out every. single. roll of carpet.

Whole Foods Recipe: Asian Slaw with Ginger Peanut Dressing

I am not a salad person. Never have been. I can count on one hand (on three fingers, actually) the number of times I have ordered a salad as an entree at a restaurant. And I can probably count on two hands the number of times I've ordered a side salad. I just..really do not enjoy salads.

This has always been a point of annoyance for me, especially since we adopted a more whole foods lifestyle. I should be embracing the salads. They're healthy! Full of veggies! Fairly easy to prepare! And yet...gag.

When I saw this recipe on Pinterest I was drawn by all the colors (and the cilantro. Which I LOVE). I pinned it and thought, "Eh, worth a try." I served it as a side with our fav plate lunch BBQ chicken and some sticky rice. At the end of the meal I realized I had barely touched my chicken or rice and had eaten like 3 servings of this salad.

I think perhaps I've been eating the wrong salads.

The thing about this salad is that it makes a TON and cabbage doesn't hold up well in the dressing for too long. Unless you're making it for a baby shower or you have a large family that is really passionate about salad, I'd recommend mixing up the dressing separately, tossing all the veggies together in a bowl, and keeping the peanuts separate. Then just take what you need.

Also, to make it more of a meal, I've started buying a rotisserie chicken, shredding it up, and keeping it in a tupperware in the fridge. It's super quick and easy to grab a handful of salad, a few peanuts, a little chicken and toss with dressing. My lunch is ready to eat in 2 minutes. My kind of meal!

Find the full recipe with prettier non-iPhone pictures over here.