7 Quick Takes Friday

**1**

It's mommy and baby's first solo weekend!  Daddy is in San Diego at the National Youth Worker's Convention for the weekend, so we have 3 long days together just the two of us.  However, I think I've done a pretty good job of scheduling things for us to be doing each day to break up our time at home together.  Today our new friend Carli is going to join us and we're going to hit up Aidan's little gym for an hour of free play time (which he LOVES, so many fun new things to stimulate him, keep him moving, expose him to new movements and textures and toys, both Charles and I keep saying it's the best money we've spent on him so far!).  Saturday we get to go meet my dear friend Kelli in Santa Monica for a bit, I have not seen her in months, and I can't wait to get over to the coast and catch up!  Sunday I get to have a super amazing high school student over for lunch after church, which makes me so happy :)  So it should be a really good weekend!  Busy days, quiet evenings to read on my own after the little one is in bed for the night and a fresh pan of brownies on my counter for chocolate fixes throughout the weekend. 

**2**

So you all know I love Pinterest.  It's dangerous, but I love it.  Aside from browsing through fun ideas that pop up every day when I log in, getting holiday decorating and baking ideas, and browsing through themes for Aidan's first birthday party (he's having an "A is for Aidan" alphabet themed party by the way!) I've gone searching for some specific things and have loved what I've found.  Here's the round up of my latest Pinterest ideas that have made a huge difference in our home and routines.

This is my bulletin board to-do list.  Since my baby is such a short napper I have learned the hard way that when he goes down I need to be really focused if I want to get anything done.  But that wasn't happening, I was wasting time on Facebook and soon was at the point where I felt like there was quite a bit to do around the house each week, but I wasn't super motivated to do any of it, so I didn't.  Then we hit the weekend and the house was a wreck and I was overwhelmed.  So about two months ago I created a bulletin board to-do list, with each chore on a separate slip of paper (or paint chip in this case) and every Sunday evening I look over the tasks of the week and decide when it makes the most sense to do them based on our schedule.  They get pinned to the appropriate day, and if something changes later in the week, no big deal, I just re-pin it to another day.  This system has been awesome.  It's been two months now and I find it still helps me stay focused on the tasks for the day, plus I just like the pretty bright colors :)  What also is great is that when I find myself starting to get distracted by crumbs on the floor or whatever, I can say "just leave it, tomorrow is vacuuming day, you don't need to worry about it now" which is surprisingly freeing.

Right above my bulletin board is our family menu board, which I still use and love.  I love that I can glance at my kitchen wall and see what is for dinner and what my tasks of that day are.

So I have never minded doing laundry, but what I hate is spending time sorting the clothes first.  It seemed like such a waste of time!  So I found 3 laundry hampers with a removable lining (the lining is actually a laundry bag that comes out) and labeled each one "darks" "lights" and "linens."  Now, when I see that on Wednesday I'm washing a load of darks, I just pull the bag out of the hamper, carry it to our laundry room and it's done.  No more sorting for me!  (Plus carrying a laundry bag and a baby at the same time is WAY easier than carrying a laundry basket and baby at the same time!)

**3**
I was so excited for the fall TV line ups to start.  I'm not a huge TV person, in our house we watch the Today show in the morning and Aidan and I watch Ellen at 4, but other than that it's rarely on.  But I do have a few shows I adore that I've been missing over the summer--mainly Parenthood.  Is anyone else watching Parenthood this season?  Does anyone else cry at every episode??  It is an amazing show, the writers are doing a great job handling issues that every family faces--finances, breast cancer, special needs kids, adoption, and the work vs. home life balance to name a few.  I love this show.  My other new favorite this fall is Go On starring Matthew Perry.  It's funny, sweet, a new charming sit com in my opinion!  My other favorites, Smash and The Biggest Loser don't begin until January.

**4**
Have you checked out the blog How to Talk Evangelical by Addie Zierman?  If you haven't, you need to.  Her writing is amazing.  She's hand's down my new favorite.  Her latest post on Letting Go resonated with me in ways that words haven't in a long time.  Seriously friends, go check her out!

**5**
This is random but I have a new favorite lunch in case anyone needs inspiration.  I've been mixing up a can of light tuna like I would for a sandwich but then have been adding chopped fresh spinach, green onion, bell pepper and tomato and eating it wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla as a tuna wrap.  SO good, I crave them now.

**6**
Mi Madre comes next week!  They are in Iowa celebrating the big birthday weekend at the Backman house this weekend (my sister and both her daughters all have birthdays--the 13th, 15th and 17th of October) and then on Thursday she flies out here for a 4 day weekend.  We haven't had family visit us here since Aidan's baptism in June so I'm ready for some company!

**7**
I am pretending it's fall here in Southern California.  This week we had gorgeous fall weather and even some rain, and it's supposed to be in the 90s again next week.  This kills my northwest soul.  I want to see colors change on trees so badly!  But I can pretend.  So I bought pumpkin spiced chai tea from Trader Joes today and will be enjoying a cup while my child takes his afternoon nap.

7 Quick Takes Friday

I haven't done a 7 Quick Takes Post in awhile, but I have a bit of free time right now and not a ton of inspiration for anything more thought provoking than a general life update...so here you go!

**1**

Why do I have zero energy and inspiration this morning?  Because my husband and I were up every 30-45 minutes last night.  All night.  It was insane.  We think our poor little guy must not have been ready to go off his reflux meds (which we pulled him off this week) because he was exhibiting the same symptoms he did back in May when we put him on the meds...SUPER restless sleep, whimpering in his sleep, crying before burping etc.  SO...the pediatrician is getting a call today asking for another refill of his prescription, looks like he needs a few more months.  It's been two nights now of terrible sleep, I'm not sure how many more we can handle!  

**2**

It's Friday morning.  I love Fridays.  So so much.  We've started being really intentional about keeping Friday as a family sabbath day this fall, after it was months of my husband feeling like he needed to be working 7 days a week to get everything done that was on his plate.  It was killing him, killing our family, and making all of us cranky.  Turns out God instituted the Sabbath because it's a really GOOD thing!  We've fallen into a comfortable routine of me leaving the house first thing to spend a few precious hours alone in my coffee shop haven.  Daddy and baby get time together to play and nap.  In the afternoon we have gone on family adventures--we've been to explore the children's section of a book store, we've been to the Venice Beach Canals, we've been to Ventura so Daddy could surf and Aidan and I could go explore the town...it's been so fun to get out of the valley and go play together.  

**3**

I'm 2 weeks into my next year of life and I'm excited to say I'm on my 3rd book of the year already!  I guess it helps when the first two I picked to read were really great!  I started the year with 7, which I wrote about at length last week and then picked up a fun young adult/children's chapter book The Penderwicks of Gardham Street (a sequel to the book I read last year, The Penderwicks).  I just started our next book club book: Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon, and I'm not sure what I think so far...but I'm only on chapter 2 so I suppose I should reserve judgement for awhile!

**4**

We're two meetings into our MOPS year and I'm super excited about what's happening!  It's been an honor to be part of the leadership team this year, to get a front row seat for how God is moving already in the lives of the moms who have been joining us.  We have a ton of new moms attending, and I have loved meeting them and seeing how each of us are walking this parenting journey.  It's been a lot of work, probably more than I expected, but so so worth it!  It's been fun to actually feel like I'm able to participate in ministry again!

**5**

People keep laughing at how much I travel, even with a baby, and I was able to say for a stretch there (okay a 4 week stretch) that I did not have any plane tickets booked to anywhere for once in my life.  Well..not so much anymore!  On Halloween Aidan and I are flying back to the midwest to see my sister's new digs in Storm Lake, Iowa (with a stop over at my parents in Minneapolis).  I can't wait to be in a place where fall exists!  (Although by then it will be almost more wintery!)

**6**

My mom is coming to visit in two weeks, just to play with Aidan and I am SO excited.  No major projects or agendas or anything, just playtime with Grandma :)

**7**

So this was week one of my "7" commitment--to not spend money anywhere except at 7 pre-selected places.  Honestly, it was a piece of cake this week, but I imagine that within the next couple weeks it might get tougher.  It's been really really good though--any time an impulse came up I just said "that's not on your list of 7, you don't need to go buy XYZ, you can go home and make your own coffee or your own sandwich etc."  

7 Quick Takes Friday

It's Friday!!  Time for another 7 Quick Takes edition--lets be honest, with a cold filling my head and a baby who won't nap, this is all I have the energy for!

**1**

We have a new baby cousin!  My cousin and his wife had a beautiful little girl last night--Hadley Josephine--we can't wait to meet her!  It was some good news out of Colorado this morning in light of the tragic theater shooting last night.  

**2**

I just finished reading an incredible book.  If you haven't read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet please add this book to your list!!  It was phenomenal--I could not put it down.  It takes place in Seattle during WWII and centers around a Chinese boy who falls in love with a Japanese girl whose family is rounded up with all the rest of the Japanese and sent to an internment camp.  It was so so so well written, and took you back and forth between decades as you came to understand this boy's story.  

**3**

It's been so good to be here in Minnesota for the past 2 weeks.  We have one more week here before heading home, and I have been so grateful for this time.  It's been fun to see our little one experiencing things he doesn't at home--the sprinklers, eating outside, swinging on the porch swing, playing in the grass, and having a new house to explore.  I've also found it really really helpful to be around my parents for another reason--it's helped me take a step back and get a bigger perspective in some way.  As a first time mom I am so "in the trenches."  I am more concerned with moment to moment activities and events.  Being around more experienced parents has helped me think about things I never would have thought about.  I focus on getting Aidan fed.  They reminded me that part of the feeding process is helping him learn about food and learn how to feed himself.  And that involves getting messy, using his fingers, playing with the spoon, smacking his high chair tray and splattering things around.  He has had a BLAST this week playing with food, eating, making a mess, getting sticky--stuff I probably wouldn't immediately think of letting him do and he's learned a ton about textures and flavors.  

**4**

We've been having a garage sale at my parent's house these past two days.  It's been a bit of a quiet sale--apparently here in Minneapolis the custom is to do yard sales on Thursday and Friday instead of the weekends because everyone goes "up north" to their cabins on summer weekends.  I think we've decided to stay open on Saturday though and see what kind of traffic they get--it's been a little bit of a quiet sale.  Yesterday we had a bunch of traffic, today not so much.  I baked cupcakes and cookies to sell (because apparently that's what is usually the big seller at garage sales--baked goods) and no one wants to buy my goodies!  They are missing out, these are hands down the best cupcakes I have ever had in my entire life.  Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes with the most amazing frosting (also a chocolate/coffee flavor).  So so yummy.  My dad and I are going to end up eating all 2 dozen...

**5**

On Sunday we're going to go down to Rochester, MN (about an hour and a half away) to visit my dad's uncle and aunt.  I have always loved seeing Ernie and Joanne and I'm excited to introduce them to my little one.  They are a riot (Ernie is an auctioneer, which is just cool) and we're looking forward to seeing them!  Next week my mom has told me she's getting me a professional massage and hair cut (I got to go clothes shopping last week) so I will be headed back home nice and relaxed :)  (Well the flight home might un do all of that, but I'm still looking forward to the pampering!)

**6**

I love Minnesota.  I don't love humidity.  Yup, never have, never will.  It's hot here.  It's hot at home too, so I'm not sure that's much better.

**7**

It's summer, which means it is watermelon season, which makes me the happiest ever.  My parents eat a ton of it too, which means we've been going through a watermelon every couple days--eating it with every meal all day every day.  I can't get enough of it.  Neither can Aidan, he is in sticky watermelony heaven here at Papa's house!  

7 Quick Takes Friday!

It's Friday!  I know I don't have a normal job where I work 5 days a week outside the home, but let me assure you, stay at home moms still look forward to Friday just as much as all you outside the home workers!  There's something about knowing the pace of the next day will be different, the routine might change a bit, there's opportunity for something extra and fun to happen that causes me to be excited when Friday rolls around.  Even if my husband has to work over the weekend there is still something fun about Friday.  It also means it's time for another 7 Quick Takes--quick looks at life in our household these days.  So here goes....

**1**

I have finally figured something out about my kiddo.  After much trial and error I have finally discovered that his ideal bedtime is 7:30.  I know this may not seem like an earth shattering revelation, but for me it's been huge.  He gets fussy every evening between 5:30 and 6--so I started trying to put him to bed during the 6:00 hour.  It would take forever.  It would involve an hour of nursing, rocking, bouncing, putting him down, thinking he was asleep and then having him get up 5 minutes later to start the whole process all over again.  I hated bedtime.  We had so much company and activity around here the past two weeks that he's been forced to stay up later, and what I've learned is that as long as there are people (besides me and Charles) to interact with or things to see other than the same toys he has been staring at all day, he's happy as a clam.  Fussy time doesn't exist.  So I'm now searching for ways to get him out of the house in the evenings to avoid being fussed at until I put him down at 7:30!  But honestly, this gives me a bit of my social life back.  I can now go to Food Truck Fridays with the youth or go to dinner with friends if we do a 5:30 meal.  He'll cooperate just fine.  Then at 7:15 or so, we swaddle him up, I nurse him for a bit, and he goes right down--last night for a 3 hour stretch!  Hallelujah!  

**2**

We had our first book club meeting on Monday!  I am so thrilled people actually are interested in this (10 of them showed up to discuss The Poisonwood Bible!).  There seems to be a good energy and excitement about gathering together to read great books and discuss them--and disagree about them, which was very fun!  I wanted it to be open to anyone and intergenerational and it was--we had a couple high school students all the way up to one of our senior citizens in the church--men and women--and everyone enjoyed sharing with one another.  Next month we're reading and discussing Molokai by Alan Brennert which I'm super excited to start reading.

**3**

Speaking of books...I'm almost finished with a book that I think will now be a baby shower gift for me (to select people--not everyone would appreciate this!)  Anne Lamott's Operating Instructions has made me laugh out loud and has filled my eyes with tears.  It's a journal of her son's first year of life, and oh my word does she describe life with a newborn so well!  I'll tell people not to read it until their baby is 5-6 months old and they will appreciate it so much more.  It's full of her colorful language (ie: don't read this if you're offended by 4 letter words), but it's also full of her raw faith and honesty that I find so refreshing. 

**4**

Thanks to Pinterest I've rediscovered my passion for healthy eating--and vegetables.  I feel like lately we've been eating much heavier food than normal--we've eaten out more, eaten fast food more, and eaten meals that only contain one item (like just lasagna, no salad or side dish).  Part of this is due to my baby who is a terrible napper.  But this week I started craving vegetables, and have made salads the main course for several meals.  Pinterest is FULL of delicious salads that are great right now with our summer produce--this spinach salad with chicken and avocado was dinner last night and lunch today--YUM!

**5**

I've also rediscovered an old addiction.  The West Wing.  I borrowed season 1 from friends and am loving watching as I do data entry every evening.  Aaron Sorkin is one of the best writers I have ever seen, hands down.

**6**

My little one has decided to ignore learning how to sit and has gone straight to standing--he's trying so hard to balance while holding onto our coffee table.  Oh Aidan.  Next Saturday he and I leave for 3 weeks in Minnesota with my parents--we'll see what he manages to get in to at their house!

**7**

We're off to a busy weekend--Food Trucks tonight, dinner with a friend in Pasadena tomorrow night, and Sunday afternoon/evening is the big welcome freshmen event for the high school youth group--a photo scavenger hunt at Universal City Walk and then a big dinner at Buca di Beppos.  I'm going to attempt to take the little one to all these things, so we'll see how we do!  Happy weekend everyone!

7 Quick Takes Friday!

Happy Friday everyone!  June is here, school is ending for many, the weather is heating up (at least around here!) and people are transitioning to summer schedules....as much as I don't love the heat it's kind of a fun change in the pace of life!  Here's what we have been up to these days.

**1**

Summer produce.  Oh my word, I can't think of anything I love more.  This past week I think I've eaten an entire watermelon by myself, four artichokes, and two boxes of raspberries.  Plus a couple of pluots my friend Jenn sent me--they were my new discovery of last summer and I couldn't get enough of them while I was pregnant.  I am waiting for the heirloom tomatoes and basil to arrive and create some amazing pasta dishes or bruschetta :)  

**2**

On Thursday our family starts arriving for Aidan's baptism weekend!  I think it's going to be a bit of a crazy long weekend but we're excited to see everyone!  My parents, grandparents, and sister's family arrive Thursday and Charles' family arrives Friday--it should be quite the crew!  Between now and then I'm trying to get as much data entry done for my new job as possible since something tells me I'm not going to get anything done while company is here!  So when my munchkin is sleeping I'm frantically entering stuff into a computer database, but it'll be worth it to have a few days to play with fun nieces and nephews.  When my mom was here a week or so ago we figured out the menu and grocery lists for the weekend so that's all taken care of, now I just need to clean my house up and grocery shop for everything (which will be Wednesday's project--hopefully when Daddy can watch the little one so I don't have to drag him through Costco!)

**3**

It's kind of crazy, after our family leaves Aidan and I are really only home for 2 more weeks and then the two of us are headed to Minnesota for most of the month of July.  Charles has two different camps to attend in July--a house boating trip with middle schoolers and a week at summer camp with the high school students, and those two weeks are separated by a week off in the middle.  Rather than fly back and forth a bunch or sit here for a week with no husband we decided it would just be easier to send me to the midwest for 3 weeks.  We'll miss seeing Charles when he's home for that week in between but he'll get a lot of work and planning for the fall done that week I hope!  Aidan and I are excited to go hang out relaxing in Minneapolis--both my parents will be working so I'll still be home with him alone many days, but it will be nice to have them around in the evenings and on the weekend to help me out a bit and to have some company.  Plus the hot dry valley heat of Northridge is miserable to me, so getting out of town for a bit this summer will be great!  

**4**

Our little babe is FINALLY starting to sleep a little better!  HALLELUJAH!!  It's been a slow process, and some days/nights are way better than others, but we are finally starting to get some 3-4 hour stretches out of him (usually one or two a night) which is amazing.  His new reflux med is working, not perfectly, but so much better than the first one we tried.  Sometimes he sleeps in his little bed and sometimes it's in bed with us (something I swore I'd never let my kid do but after talking to MANY friends realized that the most important thing right now is to get everyone sleep, it doesn't matter where that sleep is taking place).  It's been fun to see a bit of a natural schedule emerge out of him lately too.  Around 6:15 each evening he hits his wall and is a fussy mess, so we start bedtime and I nurse him and usually by 7 he's down in his little bed.  He'll sleep almost two hours and then eat again and then go down easily again for the next stretch.  He's been waking up in the morning at 7 AM like clock work--so he stays in sleep mode for 12 hours which is awesome.  By 8:15 each morning he's back down for his first little nap of the day and then we go from there--sometimes taking better naps than others, but at least we're seeing improvement with nighttime sleep which is a HUGE blessing!  

**5**

Last Friday I posted about our new Beco Baby Carrier that lets me wear Aidan on my front and still use my hands.  We have used it a TON this week and oh wow it has made a huge difference!  He hates his car seat, and since that's the part of the stroller he still has to sit in, well shopping and errands are tough.  He just sits in there and sweats and that makes him cranky and he loves to see what is going on which he can't do from his car seat.  Being able to carry him through stores and around church etc so he can see what's happening has been a huge help, and this carrier is SO comfortable and easy to use.  Highly recommend it if you're in the market for one!  His daddy even wore him around a church event last weekend for quite a bit!

**6**

I've rediscovered The West Wing this past week.  I need to watch something while I enter data for this new job, and so I threw on a dvd the other day.  I had forgotten how much I adore these characters and the amazing writing of this show--I'm looking to start at season 1 this summer and work my way through all 7 of them!  (I've still never seen anything beyond season 3!)

**7**

I've spent this week re-reading The Poisonwood Bible for our book club and am just over half way through.  I love this book.  So so much.  It makes me laugh, it makes me want to scream in frustration at the ignorance of one of the main characters, it is full of incredible imagery that makes one feel like they are walking through the Congo, and the characters are so fascinating to me.  I can't wait to discuss it with friends soon!

7 Quick Takes!

It's been a long time since I've sat down on a Friday morning to do a 7 Quick Takes post from our past week, but I have a few minutes this morning and thought I'd try :)  Here's the latest in the Kennedy family!

**1**

We ventured out last Sunday on our first major outing--we took Aidan up to Forest Home for a day of all church camp.  It was a weekend long camp, which my husband attended, but the little one and I only went for the day on Sunday.  He did really well!  Slept all the way there and back which is a gift because I was imagining 2 hours of a screaming child who hates his car seat.  Next year we are super excited to go for the whole weekend!  

**2**

I have a new favorite baby product that should be added to my previous post.  I didn't really have a good front carrier to carry the little one in--he HAS to be facing forward when being carried, he refuses to face backwards, and he's over 15 pounds now which gets heavy after awhile!  So a hands free carrier was in order.  But they aren't cheap and there are so many different brands I didn't know where to start.  I found a boutique here that sells a bunch and let me try them on and try Aidan in them, and my parents volunteered to buy one for me when I found the one I wanted.  SO, I am SUPER grateful for my new Beco Baby Carrier which is SO comfy and ridiculously easy to use.  You can wear baby on your front, on your back, and even on your hip--and they can face forward or face into you depending on their age and preference.  Love this new addition to our house!  Thanks mom and dad!!

**3**

I also have a new favorite book about babies and sleep.  Thanks to the amazing Christie Kiley I ordered the No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley and have LOVED it.  It's FULL of ideas on how to get baby to sleep better and create a personalized sleeping plan for your family without letting them cry and scream themselves to sleep.  Yes, it's more time intensive and parent intensive, it's a lot of work training them to sleep in a really gentle way, but as I've gotten to know our little dude, he's not going to respond well to the cry it out method.  Especially with his reflux issues and how that's caused him pain while he sleeps over the past few months I just can't bring myself to let his crib be a place of tears and discomfort.  So I was searching for something new and Christie gave me this suggestion that they used with their son.  I'm letting Aidan's new reflux meds that he started this week have a full week to see if they are working before really addressing any sleep training (if he's not comfortable physically it doesn't matter what I do to train him, he won't be sleeping!)  but over this next week I'm going to be working on creating our family's sleep training plan for him--and I love that her suggestions are so individualized for each family.  So, if you need a good super easy to read and very practical book about sleep this is a great one!!

**4**

I've gotten back into menu planning and cooking this month which has felt so good.  I made this super fun menu board for my kitchen (thank you pinterest for the idea!) and every week I fill in with a dry erase marker what we're having to eat that week and where the recipe is located so I can easily find it.  It's been awesome to look up and see what I'm doing on a given day and we've been enjoying several yummy dishes because of the extra planning!  Today I have beef stroganoff in the crock pot and a delicious black bean salad with lime dressing in the fridge for lunch :)

**5**

My amazing mom came back out to visit again last week even though she was just here two weeks ago, and for that I am SUPER grateful.  May has been a tough month, feeling like Aidan's reflux was never going to improve, his sleep was bad, and i felt like I was constantly being fussed at.  My husband is super helpful but works long hours so I felt a little isolated and alone and I think my mom could tell (maybe me calling her crying a lot cued her in??!) So she volunteered to come back for another 4 days and I was so grateful for the help.  Everyone will be back in 2 weeks from today for Aidan's baptism weekend!  Yay for family visiting!

**6**

Our book club is up and running!! Hooray!  We had a ton of interest and even a bunch of men wanted to join us so we decided to make it co-ed.  Our first selection for June is the Poisonwood Bible which I read 2 years ago and loved.  I was surprised only 1 other person in the group had read it, so everyone was more than happy to select it for our first book.  So I just started re-reading it and am reminded again how much I love the way Barbara Kingsolver paints pictures with words.  Starting the club means I needed to revamp my list of 31 books i wanted to read before I turn 31 in September, but that's okay.  And realistically I am not going to finish my list this year.  I have a LOT of books left to read before September 23 and I'm just not sure how possible this is going to be!

**7**

Tonight is date night, and our plans?  (this was my husband's idea) We're walking to get ice cream after dinner here at home and then both spending the evening reading The Poisonwood Bible (yup he's joining our book club too!)  I am kind of excited :)  Have a great weekend everyone!

Week 33--a 7 Quick Takes Edition

It's nearing the end of another week around here (and it's December! Yikes!) and I thought I'd take a few minutes in the quiet of this Friday morning to post a 7 Quick Takes-style update for ya.

**1**
Our munchkin is now about the size of a honeydew melon and is weighing in at about 4 pounds (the weight of a pineapple apparently). I'll be interested to see what he actually weighs when he's born and how accurate these baby sites are at predicting average weight! We definitely have a mover on our hands, he passes his kick count tests in a grand total of 5 minutes (you are supposed to give them an hour to see if they move 10 times within the hour. Aidan moves 10 times in 5 minutes. Usually more). I'm already making plans to enlist his cousin Lily to go be his running buddy to work off energy! Man they'll be a handful when they are together! I had a lady in Trader Joes yesterday stop me and ask when I was due, and when I said "next month, in mid January" she went a little nuts exclaiming that I was too tiny, I looked too good, and this must be my first because I am "the most adorable pregnant person ever!" in her mind. I don't know her name, but she might be my new favorite person on the planet. God bless the Trader Joes' shopper for making me feel like something other than a giant waddling mess!

**2**
My husband and I went to our first chidbirth class last night at the hospital (not the one we'll be delivering at, since I didn't know where we'd be delivering when I had to register for classes, but it's at least within the same "family" of hospitals). It'll be interesting to see what we learn in this class. I will say the instructor didn't present things in the most logical order last night, which I think led to some confused looks on people's faces. She did however load up a back pack with about 25 pounds of aquarium rocks to represent the different areas of weight gain women experience in pregnancy and made each of the dads try it on over their bellys. Then try to sit down, stand up and pick up a pen from the floor. That might have been worth the whole class :) By the end of the class one of the dudes said "wow, class was like working overtime, something I never want to do but am always glad I did!" We'll see how next week goes.

**3**
I debated a lot on even saying this publicly, because I know I am in a minority on this opinion, and I'm probably going to make some people mad, but I'm just going to come out and say it. I really didn't like Ina Mae Gaskin's book Guide to Childbirth. There. I said it. Wow that feels good to get off my chest. I realize it is the "go-to" book people recommend to pregnant women, and I realize it's been life changing, transformational, and has completely changed people's birth plans and expectations. And that's great for those of you who have loved this book and had such a positive experience with it. But it didn't do those things for me. It kind of had the opposite effect. I'm not saying I didn't come away from it with a few good nuggets of information, she has some wise things to say. But I will say that I found myself highly irritated throughout most of the book and here's why. The first half of the book are various women's stories of childbirth. They were interesting and engaging and this is where I gleaned some good helpful tips about childbirth being a very holistic process, about relaxation, about empowerment. The second half is more "didactic" where she covers different topics (pain management, relaxation, and I can't even remember what else). I realize she is a HUGE advocate for home births, no pain medication, little medical intervention etc. That's fine, those are fair perspectives to hold and thousands of women hold the same perspectives as she does. I'm not saying that's wrong, or if that's your choice then it's a bad one. But what I hated was that I felt like she was demonizing the medical community, hospital births, and any woman who does choose to enlist the help of pain killers, epidurals, or the like. The subliminal message I came away from this book with was "if you choose these things, you WILL have a horrible birth experience, your doctor will be an egotistical jerk who will never do anything in the best interest of you or your child, and you are a terrible mother putting yourself and your baby at risk if you ask for an epidural. You are somehow less of a woman because your body was made to do this naturally and if you can't, you're weak." No, she never comes right out and says those things, but that's the underlying message I heard throughout this entire book. My sister read this book after her first was born, but before her second. I asked her what she thought of it and she said "well, she is pretty full of herself isn't she? It's like the only appropriate place on the planet to give birth is the birthing center on her farm and if you choose a hospital you're an idiot who is guaranteed to end up with a c-section and a baby in the NICU." That's exactly how I felt. I realize some have had negative experiences with doctors or hospitals, and that's fair. I've had some myself. But to paint the entire medical community with broad brush strokes of being uncaring, institutionalized, egotistical individuals who just want to get you in and out of delivery as fast as possible is unfair, untrue, and really really offensive to me. My time of working in a hospital as a chaplain, working closely alongside doctors and nurses showed me just how deeply they do care, and work tirelessly to bring healing, relief, and comfort to patients. I have countless friends and family members who are doctors and nurses (including several labor and delivery nurses, a NICU specialist, and pediatric intensive care resident) who love their patients deeply and care immensely for their well being and the well being of their children. I found Ina Mae's tone and approach to speaking about doctors to be very disrespectful. She's absolutely right to voice her opinion, but it's not an opinion I can even come close to jumping on board with. I hesitated even saying anything on here about this book, because I know how beloved it is by many many people, but I just feel like the "other voice" in this dialogue, the voice that supports the medical community, isn't heard as much these days. So there you have it, my book review for the week--good tips, some helpful nuggets, but overall won't be drastically changing my life. And who knows, after this baby is born I may have a different perspective, and if so, I'll admit that on here.

**4**
On to something more fun :) I LOVE our new apartment and our new location. Love it. It's cozy, homey, in a fantastic location (I can walk to just about anything in 5-10 minutes), and is so close to the church my husband and great friend Jenn even walked over and came for lunch the other day. It'll be fantastic when Aidan is born, I can walk over and have lunch at the church with him to get out of the house, or Charles can come home a day or two a week to have lunch with us, or on a Sunday morning if he has to be at church for multiple hours and the baby needs to come home, I can easily walk him home to put him down for a nap without waiting around (since we only have the 1 car). My goal for today is to start figuring out where pictures are to be hung so we can finally get the last of the boxes unpacked from the nursery, that way next week I can start putting his room together, and figuring out what we need for him (like a crib...and putting together our changing table area etc).

**5**
Charles and I were talking last night about how incredibly different life feels here than it did for us in Seattle. Words cannot even begin to express how much lower our stress levels are, how much more peaceful our home feels, how enjoyable our evenings are (because we're not angry and stressed and processing how to deal with a very unhealthy leadership structure at a church all the time). Our schedule has filled up a little faster than I might have liked (mostly because it's December and there are all kinds of extra events) but even in the midst of that I don't feel angry and stressed about it, things feel enjoyable again. He walks out the door to walk to work in the morning with a smile on his face. I realized I am not an anxious and stressed basket case all day worrying about him and for him. I can be home making dinner and setting up our home without feeling so guilty and stressed that I'm not at the church helping him. Which makes me so much more relaxed and ready to engage with him when he comes home. We have energy to talk about other things besides the church. What a huge difference the right leadership structure and senior pastor can make for the lives of their employees! We are abundantly grateful to be here, and hope we get to be here long term.

**6**
For those who have been hearing the weather reports, we haven't completely blown away here, but it has definitely been windy! Nowhere near what poor Pasadena has encountered though! These are some photos of Fuller's campus posted yesterday on Facebook:

**7**
It's been so blustery around here that all I want to do is hide out and bake warm yummy things to counteract the wind outside. Yesterday I put a batch of chili in the Crock Pot (President Obama's family recipe actually, and it was SO good) and smelled the yumminess of garlic, onion, and spices all day, and then I baked up a batch of cheesy corn muffins from my Cooking Light cookbook which were incredible. They had garlic and chopped green onion in them, and apparently can be frozen. I think before this baby comes I'm going to make a big batch for the freezer because they will be an incredible side dish to any pot of winter stew, soup, chili, or pasta that my mom or I make while they're here. (And I'm all for freezer meals, things I can pull out and have ready to go!) This next week I'm breaking out our favorite comfort foods we haven't made in a couple months as we've been living with other people and traveling. On the list, pasta with pesto and shrimp, thai lettuce wraps, and a crock pot beef stew that will be warm and cozy if this wind continues!

Happy weekend everyone!

7 Quick Takes Friday

A look back over the past week...

**Saturday**
Garage Sale day 2! We spent another FULL day at the church working the garage sale, and when the sale closed down at 2 we experienced probably the most amazing part of it all...the clean up process. About 50 people were there helping and the ENTIRE church was cleaned and put back to normal in 2 hours. All the left over stuff was packed up, loaded onto good will trucks, tables and chairs were taken down, vacuums were run over all the floors, Sunday School furniture was put back, it truly was a sight to be seen! Gotta be honest though...not sad Garage Sale is over. It's about a 7 week process that began Charles' first week here, so we don't know West Side without the sale in our schedules. It will be nice to see what life is like without it taking up SO much time!

**Sunday**
Another LONG day at church. Charles taught high school Sunday School, worship lasted almost 2 hours, then we had a meeting with students who are interested in forming a praise band, then we raced home for my small group meeting with friends, then I had to run back to church for a 2 hour training session for the Alpha program that I'm helping with. Heading up to a contemplative worship service (Compline) at St. Mark's Cathedral at 9:30 that night was a much needed space of rest!

**Monday**
The final day of Chap's Family Ministry class, which means I now have exams and final projects to grade, but it also means we really do get Mondays off now, without me having to be in class every Monday for 3 hours. Monday night was probably the highlight of our week--we had dinner with the interim associate pastor and his wife at their lovely home. Words cannot even begin to express how grateful we are that they are part of this church staff, that they have a similar vision for ministry, and that they have promised to be a safe space for us to process. The gift of that brings tears to my eyes, we know we can trust them, we know they have a ton of experience, and we think they are an incredible couple.

**Tuesday**
So we might have been at dinner the night before until midnight...which means Tuesday I felt a little like a zombie. Charles took the Confirmation class to the Seattle Presbytery meeting, which was an eye opening experience for all of them I think! It was a big night for Presbytery, they were voting on whether or not to allow the ordination standards to be changed in our Book of Order to allow individuals who are practicing homosexuals to be ordained. The Seattle Presbytery voted to leave the Book of Order as it is now, although the vote was pretty close. We'll see what happens on the national level, my gut tells me it might pass, meaning the standards will be changed, but we won't know until June (I think General Assembly meets in June at least!)

**Wednesday**
I spent most of Wednesday in the church office helping get Charles' email database organized and put together, and then began work on the Good Friday service the youth are leading for their families. Wednesday night also began Alpha at West Side, and I'll be serving as a table host this spring for this 10 week program where people can come and explore the basics of the Christian faith.

**Thursday**
Back in the office all day! I finally finished up his database and kept working on our Good Friday service, in addition to having a great coffee conversation with a woman from the church who has been such a blessing to us!

**Friday**
I think today will find me at Costco getting side dishes for youth group tonight...it's Steak and Action Movie night! Bring your own meet to grill out and we'll be watching some type of action movie (hey we're trying to get high school boy's interested!). Tomorrow we get to play with friends, and after a long day at church Sunday (again probably til 6 PM) we're heading out of town! Woo hoo! We'll be over on the Washington Coast for our 2nd anniversary and we cannot WAIT to be away for a few days! Happy Friday everyone!

7 Quick Takes Friday

I'm in the church office this morning killing a little bit of time and thought I'd post this week's highlights.

**1**

Why am I at the church all day you might ask? Because it's time for the world's largest garage sale! Seriously, it's huge. For the past 6 weeks people have been dropping their "treasures" off here and church folks have been sorting them, cleaning them up, making sure they work etc. This past week the entire church has been taken over during set up, and this morning when the doors opened at 9 AM there was a line of people half way down the block. The event raises money for summer youth trips, and has kind of consumed our lives since we started this job. I'm not gonna lie, I'll be excited for it to be Saturday night, if for no other reason than I haven't had a meal with my husband in a week! Here are a few photos from the set up around here:

Some of our students setting up the DVD/movie area

Random kitchen appliance anyone?

Knick Knacks....random random stuff--much of it we didn't know what it was

The book room--I might have bought a few of these

The linen room

Clothes anyone?

Toy room

Accessories--hats, scarves, shoes, purses and ties

If you're like me, and hate clutter and random knick knacks, this event is kind of your worst nightmare. I finally had to take a job cashiering for the pre-sales instead of sorting the craft/holiday room--I was getting too twitchy and overwhelmed! The book room is pretty fun though :)

**2**

I think it was a good decision to give up facebook for Lent. My book pile is growing like crazy--some are on my list I made to read this year, and many more have been added thanks to the garage sale and impulse buying. I picked up Jodi Picoult's new one, Sing You Home at Costco yesterday, and my attempt is to read it before my coffee date with my best friend in about 2 weeks because she's already finished it and wants to talk about it. I'm about 1/4 of the way through Uncle Tom's Cabin which I am starting to really enjoy. I bought One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp and hope to read through that during Lent as part of my desire to find gratitude and joy in the moments in life. Then I browsed the garage sale book room and came home with a biography on Michelle Obama that I'm excited to read, along with 4 random fiction books: Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, The Abortionist's Daughter, the Friday Night Knitting Club, and Saving CeeCee Honeycutt. Anyone read any of these?

**3**

My experiment with freezer cooking turned out AWESOME! I am hooked. For instance, last night, we got home at 9, hadn't eaten dinner, and didn't want to go out to spend money. Never fear! In 15 minutes I had defrosted a tupperware of delicious minestrone soup, tossed some sweet potato fries in the oven, and voila! Dinner! This Minestrone soup is amazing, if you need a good recipe, try it!

**4**

I've received several emails this morning asking if our family who lives in Japan was in any way affected by the devastating earthquake and tsunami that happened last night. We got an email this morning from Charles' sister saying they are all just fine. The quake was in the north and they live in southern Japan. They definitely felt a lot of shaking, but there was no damage near them, praise God! We're thinking and praying for those families who have suffered loss of home, land, and life in this past 24 hours.

**5**

Now it's 8 hours after I started this post. I ended up on my feet all day working the garage sale. I'm wiped...but need to go buy food for the boy's lock in they are doing tonight to "guard the garage sale stuff" overnight. Thus, I only have the brainpower for these 5 "quick takes." More next week when we've recovered!

7 Quick Takes Friday

Greetings, friends! Another week has come and gone...here's what has been goin'on in the Kennedy household this week.

**1**

There just might be a teensy bit of light at the end of the chaotic job transition tunnel. I'm hopeful anyways. My dear husband actually got to sleep Sunday night for 11 straight hours, he got to be home all day Monday, and Tuesday night was able to be home for dinner and all evening as well. Tomorrow we have nothing on the calendar all day, which feels like a delightful treat.

**2**

Valentines Day wasn't the most romantic around here, but we did accomplish something we'd been needing to do for awhile now...ladies and gentlemen, we now have a budget!

It took a LONG time, but we finally have a budget to work with and have an idea of where our money should be going each month. Honestly, this is my first time really attempting to create/work within a budget and I'm kind of excited for the challenge, to see how we do. So while I wouldn't say it was the most romantic thing to do on Valentines Day it does feel great to have that in place. Our 2nd wedding anniversary is next month...it will not be involving spreadsheets and calculators...

**3**

Part of the budgeting process was figuring out how much we use in a given year of things like shampoo, toilet paper, tooth paste, laundry detergent, cleaning products etc. I was given the task of figuring this out, and then doing a Costco trip to stock up on hopefully all the non-perishables we will need for the year. I am sure I miscalculated at some point, and it took forever, but I actually think we did a pretty decent job! Between Target and Costco I think we have on hand most of what we'll need until 2012 as far as non-perishables go, and I even came in under budget which means when we do run out of something because I didn't figure right we are able to go restock if needed. You should see the spreadsheet I used, it is covered in numbers/math/and price comparisons between Costco and stores like Target. I'm pretty dang proud of myself.

**4**

One of the first things I'm learning about budgeting (which will cause most of you to say "duh!") is that sometimes you have to make choices, and sometimes that means going without something you're used to. The choice I made (partly for environmental reasons and partly for budgeting reasons) is to go paperless in our kitchen. Instead of buying a giant package of paper napkins, we're using the 10 cloth napkins we already owned each night. Instead of buying paper towels this year, I bought a pack of 10 microfiber towels that work great so far for cleaning up spills, using as wash cloths on dishes, catching crumbs etc. Instead of disposable sponges (which are expensive! and not all that sanitary so I'm told) we're using the wash cloths I bought for cleaning dishes (which actually are causing me to use less soap than the sponge did...). We'll see how this goes. I do feel better knowing I'm not throwing away gobs of paper each month, but we'll see how practical this ends up being in the long run.

**5**

The middle school lock in last weekend was definitely an experience! We had 45 6th-8th graders at the church with us all night, and about 6 brave leaders who spent the night. We had a great time playing games, Charles gave a wonderful brief message about finding our identity as God's beloved child, we put on Despicable Me (a GREAT movie if you haven't seen it!) about 11:30 and for the most part they were all asleep by 1:30. Since I'm mostly familiar with high school ministry I learned a few new things about middle schoolers. First being that with high school students no matter when you try to wake them up, it's too early. With middle schoolers, it doesn't matter when you put them to bed, they will be wide awake bouncing off the walls at 7 AM. Which is especially unfortunate when they were supposed to be sleeping until 8:30. It was fun, but I think I still gravitate more towards high school students, I think it's just how I'm wired. Charles on the other hand loves middle schoolers, which I think is a special gift.

**6**

Last weekend I was asked to teach one of the adult education classes on Sunday morning for our associate pastor who was out of town. It was a little nerve wracking as I had only attended this class once, wasn't exactly sure what I was supposed to be covering, and couldn't remember most of the names of the 75+ people in the class. But I survived, had fun, received good feedback, and am looking forward to another attempt here at some point.

**7**

Most of you know how much I loved the book The Good and Beautiful God that I read this past year. This year my friends in Seattle and I are starting to go through the second book in the series called The Good and Beautiful Life. It's based on the Sermon on the Mount and so far is really good--I'd recommend it if you are in need of something new to jump start your devotional life. What I especially love about his books is that each chapter has a "Soul Training" exercise, a spiritual discipline for the week to put into practice what he was writing about. But what is especially unique is that not all the disciplines are "traditional" but rather are things like "sleep for 8 hours each night," or "play" or "read the Gospel of John." Yup, I'm a fan of his work, let me know if you have read these books and what you thought of them!

7 Quick Takes Friday--or everything you never cared about

Hi friends! Happy Valentine's Day weekend! Here is the latest and greatest from Seattle!

**1**
I love my little house keeping binder. I really do. I'm telling you, it has made a world of difference for me in a couple ways. I used to save house cleaning for one full day. Those days were exhausting--I'd end up doing 5 loads of laundry, and cleaning absolutely everything in one day, and the place would look awesome for about 2 hours. When company would come over for a meal, I'd spend that whole day frantically trying to make it look presentable, plus cook and grocery shop. And it was always stressful. I don't really want to live like that anymore. I like things to be picked up, and now, thanks to a weekly plan (that of course will change here and there as life happens, it's not set in stone, it's just a guideline!), I don't have to feel overwhelmed by a list of chores. I've spent about an hour (sometimes a bit more depending on the chores) each morning on that day's task, and then I'm done (errands day of course takes longer!). Yup, I'm a fan.

**2**
I think the other major difference I've noticed since having an intentional space to write things down in is how I feel physically and how I am taking care of my body. Because I'm writing it down, I am actually drinking 8 glasses of water a day. I am remembering to take both my vitamins and my calcium. I am drinking 2 glasses of milk a day (I know, some of you think this is unhealthy...I don't, I enjoy non-fat milk and have never had any adverse side effects from drinking dairy). But the biggest thing is in what I'm eating throughout a day. I commented to my husband last night how different I felt, and I think it's because I'm intentionally eating so much produce, filling it in with lean proteins and some whole wheat bread/crackers. When I am hungry I think about what colored food I haven't had yet today and go for that (okay the key is keeping a bunch of produce on hand for this to work!). In the last few days I've had more spinach, kale, and sweet potatoes than probably in the last year, and it has been awesome. My stomach feels happier, less heavy, and well...Oprah and Dr. Oz aren't kidding about the other benefits of eating so much natural foods and fibers!

**3**
One of the books I am currently reading is one I picked up about a month ago with a Barnes and Noble gift card I had one day. The title caught my attention. It's called "Get Energy!" by Denise Austin, and it grabbed me because that's what I always feel like my life lacks. I've never been a super high energy person, I've always wanted to be, but I'm just not. However, lately I've been feeling even more lethargic, desperately wanting cups of afternoon coffee, and just not feeling very awake. I started reading this quick and easy read and love what she has to say already. Nothing she suggests takes very much time, it's all really basic, like stretching for 5 minutes at 3 different points during the day to get the blood moving and deep breathing happening again. She reminds us how important it is to eat a good breakfast to refuel our brains and bodies in the morning...which is always one of my downfalls--I'm a coffee girl in the morning and then will normally be ravenous about 10:30 and eat random stuff just to fill myself up. Denise's impassioned case for breakfast has caused me to change my mind and I've started my days this week by eating whole wheat toast with peanut butter, and some type of fruit with my coffee. Yup, I can honestly say it definitely makes a difference! If you find yourself sluggish throughout the day, grab her book, I promise it will help!

**4**
This week was also my baptism into church involvement :) I was asked last Sunday to fill in this Sunday for one of the adult education classes that I've now attended oh, once. So I'm frantically researching Ephesians 3, my assigned chapter (the class is working their way through Ephesians), and praying that I can put together a 45 minute lecture by Sunday morning. I gotta be honest, straight lecture is not at all how I enjoy teaching, but I have been told this is the style of adult education around here. I've been asked to do a 10 week class this Spring and can do pretty much anything I want...there's no way I can lecture for 45 minutes straight on anything for 10 weeks...and I am not sure anyone should want to listen to me do that! So we'll see what I end up coming with...

**5**
Tonight is the middle school lock in, which means its the first night we'll be spending at the church (out of what I am sure will be MANY over the years!) Wish us luck...

**6**
My friend Kimberlee recently invited people to join her in attempting to write down 100 things they are thankful for this week. I've been joining her in this, and making a list in my journal, and it's been a great experience, to think about things large and small that we have to be grateful for.

**7**
You know how I mentioned awhile ago that an acquaintance from our church in California was competing on Oprah's new network for the chance to host her own TV show? Well Kristina is in the top 5! Episodes are posted on Oprah's website in case you don't have cable (like we don't). She's doing great, I honestly think she's the strongest candidate and I'm hoping she continues to do well!

7 Quick Takes Friday-- First Seattle Edition!

**1**
Yesterday I had the opportunity to enjoy some of the most delicious food I've had in quite awhile. For lunch I went to pick my friend Missy up from a Dr. appointment and a block away was this new cafe. It didn't even have a sign on the building, just a little one out front pointing into the cafe. If you're in the Seattle area, you HAVE to try the Ridge Back Cafe on 65th in the Ballard area. Oh. My. Word. Best random walk in place I've ever been. We shared a salad made of spinach, carmelized red onions, avocado and goat cheese with a pear vinaigrette and a wrap that was crazy healthy and unbelievably tasty. They filled a grilled whole wheat tortilla with black beans, sweet potato, spinach, onion, red peppers, a bit of cheese, and other amazing veggies. We were in heaven. They also serve Stumptown Coffee and Espresso which we also partook of. Seriously, go there. Last night Charles was at the church til 9 (I'm thinking this is our new normal, with youth events 4 nights a week...) so I made a meal that looked delicious to me. I found this recipe on Cooking Light.com and oh man was it healthy and incredible. Orzo, feta, artichoke hearts, red onion, (I also added red pepper and cucumber), sun dried tomatoes...it was amazing. Hooray for healthy food--after a lot of eating out my body was super excited about the fresh veggies!

**2**
For the first time in a very long time I am living in a space that is SO quiet. Our house actually has insulation in it (what a concept...one that California apartment builders should take into consideration...), so actually sitting down and attempting to be quiet before God seems do able. Yesterday I curled up in our oversized swivel chair for quite awhile and let myself journal, broke out my gratitude journal which had somehow disappeared from my life in the chaos of moving, and kept reading in a devotional book I am almost finished with. It was so needed, and while quiet times are always something I've struggled with (read more about that here), I am finding myself re-excited about falling back more into a routine of connecting with God.

**3**
Something else I'm realizing even with Charles only being in his job for about 10 days now, is how important it is going to be to constantly be praying for him, for this ministry, for wisdom and guidance. Ministry is a tough job, anyone who wants to disagree with that hasn't seen how exhausted my husband has been every night coming home at 9 after a full day. Learning to pray intentionally for him, for the students he's serving, for his volunteers etc is going to be one of the main disciplines I want to develop. Prayer has always been tough for me, I can admit that, but I'm seeing after only two weeks, that prayer is truly the only thing that can sustain ministers long term. If anyone has a basic book on prayer they'd recommend, or tips for how to further develop a personal prayer life, I'd love to hear about them.

**4**
Look who came out to say hi this week!! It's funny, but here in Seattle the mountains almost take on a personality--and when they appear, it is crazy what it does for people's moods. We LOVE our mountains around here and in the whole time I lived her previously I never never tired of seeing their peaks appear. Thank you Lord for this beauty!

**5**

Tonight is our official welcome party at the church which we are very excited about :) We're having pizza with the high schoolers before hand, and then dessert with the whole congregation. I know they've been asking us trivia questions about us, are having us bring an ipod playlist of our favorite songs, and I'm not sure what else they have planned, but we're so grateful for the warm welcome we've received and for the effort the search committee is making to introduce us to everyone!

**6**
Comcast is here hooking up our TV, our internet is up and running, and our furniture comes tomorrow--we're almost fully in business around here! We ended up getting a new TV for our living room that turned out to have some amazing features that we didn't even really know we were getting. It automatically hooks into our wireless internet so we can watch our Netflix on the TV without hooking up a computer to it. It's pretty sweet, and we're not really that big of TV people.

**7**
At the recommendation of many people we've started watching season 1 of Friday Night Lights. Apparently it's one of the best depictions of teen life and culture around, so we'll have to see what we think. Any other fans out there?