Top 5 Reads from 2015

It's 2016!!  Can you believe it?  I sure can't!

Lots of great things happened in 2015 for our family.  Our second child, William Baker, was born in January to kick off the year.  Blake started his specific nurse anesthesia clinical rotations and finished his formal classroom time.  Coralynn started preschool in the fall and LOVES it so much.  I became involved in a young mom's ministry at our church, MOMtourage, as the Assistant Director.  We also found out that we're expecting our 3RD CHILD!!!!!  God gives good gifts...am I right or what!? 

About halfway through 2015, I realized that I wasn't spending much time doing things that I love, so I began to make more time for reading.  I've always loved reading, but I wasn't sure how it'd fit in with life with small kids.  BUT...from June to December, I read 59 books!  Crazy, I know.  (We can talk later about how I find time to read with almost 3 kids, age 3 and under.)  So, I wanted to share you my top 5 books from this year (in no particular order)!

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese 

Admittedly, I almost abandoned this book, were it not for additional prompting from fellow GoodReads member and reader extraordinaire, Lindsey Paschal.  She said to give it 50 pages, and she was right on.  The first 50 pages of this book were slow, but I absolutely devoured it after that point and loved every minute of it.  

Some Girls: My Life in a Harem by Jillian Lauren

This book was completely and incredibly unbelievable!  Written by Jillian Lauren, she admits that very fact herself in episode #60 of The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey.  Jillian documents her life in a harem on the island of Borneo for the youngest brother of the Sultan of Brunei.  

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Before you write it off completely after reading the summary, I will say this book was altogether out of my normal genre, even out of my normal, everyday interest.  I would NEVER have picked this book on my own.  BUT...it came so highly recommended so I thought I'd give it shot.  I will tell you what, I RIPPED through it in a day and then passed it on to my husband.  He's a pretty slow reader, but he even finished it in 48 hours.  Some of the gaming references were a little over my head but that didn't take away from the overall story line or excitement of the characters and their experiences.

Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle
I rented this book from the library after watching the Netflix documentary, G-DOG, which is all about the author, a Jesuit priest who has committed his life to ministering to rivaling gangs in LA through providing jobs at Homeboy Industries.  His essays were down-to-earth and heartening and I loved reading about hard love and compassion that seems to effortlessly leak out of his life.  Such a good, uplifting read.

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
The Invention of Wings is a wonderfully written, historical fiction novel by the author of The Secret Life of Bees, which is one of my top books of all time.  Sue Monk Kidd did not disappoint this time around either.  Although reminiscent of The Secret Life of Bees (takes place in early 19th century Charleston), I loved this book from the beginning to the very end.

Honorable Mentions:
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
The Wife, the Maid and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

You can check out the rest of the books I read in 2015 here.  What were your top reads from 2015?

a nutshell

Summer is coming to a close (or has already), and I am welcoming fall to Cleveland with open arms. My favorite season --- jeans, scarves and booties!

Running wears them out!

First, I have to tell you. I'm training for my very first 10K! It's coming up on October 3rd in Columbus, and while I'm a little behind in my training schedule, I'm really looking forward to it.

My favorite part of the past several weeks of training has been our "family runs".  Every other night, right after we finish dinner, Blake and I "suit up", we put the kids in the strollers and run together as a family. Granted, Blake and I usually have headphones in listening to our own things. Coralynn is ALWAYS singing and waving to those we pass on the sidewalk, and Liam just quietly observes as the world passes him by. And, every so often, I hear her yell, "Good job, Mommy! You can DO IT!!!!" She's a great, personal cheerleader, and I'm glad to have her on my team.

I've been occupying my spare time (HA!) with several great books. Possibly more on that later. I ran out of podcasts from The Happy Hour by Jamie Ivey, to which I was binge-listening and was so disappointed to be done and have to wait for the newest episodes to be released each week. AHHHHH!!!! But, on many recommendations from friends and guests who Jamie had on The Happy Hour, I started Serial a week or so ago and am down to one last episode.  THAT is how addicting and intriguing it is. 

For those of you who haven't heard about Serial, it is a podcast that began in October 2014 and aired each Thursday through December based on a true story.  It's hosted by (and produced by) Sarah Koenig, who acts as an investigative journalist for a 15-year-old murder case that took place in Baltimore, MD. The show unfolds the story over the course of the season, right along with Sarah as she discovers and unearths surprising twists and turns. It's so interesting and maddening. The story draws you in and keeps you guessing and wavering and believing. I've been saving the last episode because it's so good I don't want it to end. There is a follow-up podcast, Undisclosed: The State Vs. Adnan Syed, that uncovers more evidence and information in the wake of Serial. And you better believe, it's next on my list. (Full Disclosure: There is some language and violent content.) You can go to serialpodcast.org to listen or use the Podcasts app on your phone.  

I cannot get enough of this granola. I've tried so many different granola recipes, and I think this is the one. It seems like each recipe I find, I end up having to double or triple the recipe to make enough to last us more than a day or two. This recipe is from the Cornerstone Inn Bed & Breakfast in downtown Nashville, Indiana.

It's perfectly crunchy, nutty and sweet. I love everything about it.

Combine in large bowl:

6 c. old-fashioned oats

2 c. coconut

1 c. pecans

1 c. sliced almonds

1 c. chopped walnuts

1 T. cinnamon

Blend in separate bowl:

1/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. honey

1 c. oil (I used olive oil)

1 T. vanilla

pinch of salt

Pour the liquid over the cereal and mix. Line a large cookie sheet with foil and grease with cooking spray. 

The recipe says to bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, or until the coconut is lightly toasted. I baked my granola for 24 minutes, stirring every 8 minutes, and it was PERFECT.  Make sure you keep a close eye on how your oven does the job!  The other ingredients may not look done.  Cool and store in an airtight container. I think it's best served over yogurt with some fruit! YUM!

There you have it. My last few weeks in a nutshell.

Where are you spending your time?

my FAVORITE things.

When I love something, I want to SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS!!!!!!! There is no end to my excitement and passion.  So, I bring you, my most recent favorite things in all of the land [that I would tell you all about several times exhaustively if we had coffee together so it's better that I write about them]...

JethroAndHenrietta - "hand-crafted stationary" designed by sister duo Jen & Danielle.  They make simple, typewritten postcards on recycled material that makes the best snail mail for the lost art of letter writing.  I have a handful of these in my Etsy cart right now, and I'm so excited to order them and mail them to my people.  I mailed my sister a postcard from JethroAndHenrietta and she thought that I made it (tricky, tricky) and she just LOVED it!

Art & Manufacture - Listen, Edith makes the most beautiful ceramic pieces all made in her signature bright cobalt blue.  I LOVE this mug for coffee in the morning and am going to buy it right away!  It's not your normal coffee mug with a handle, and I think that's what makes it wonderful!!!!

The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey - People!  This is my most favorite thing.  Podcasts aren't a new thing, I know...but they are to me!!!  I don't even remember how I stumbled upon The Happy Hour podcast, but I am SO GLAD I did.  I have binge-listened to EVERY episode whenever I can - on walks, while working out, before bed, while I'm cooking...you get the picture.  The Happy Hour is like listening in on the most inspiring, funny, thought-provoking, life-giving conversation between girlfriends.  Jamie hosts authors, podcasters, bloggers, entrepreneurs, her neighbors, even her husband in one episode!  Get on your iPhone right now and download an episode!  GO!  (Click on your Podcasts button and search "Jamie Ivey" and it'll pop right up.  Click "Subscribe" to get the most recent episodes downloaded automatically when they're added.)

Savor by Shauna Niequist - This is Shauna's (first name basis, people!) most recent book, a 365-day devotional.  I pre-ordered this before Liam was born and had forgotten about it, so when it arrived, I was so surprised.  It has the most beautiful cover and includes short devotionals for every day and recipes.  If you've read her previous book, Bread and Wine, you already know how wonderful the recipes are!  Shauna writes in a way that makes you feel like you're drinking coffee with a friend and talking about life.  Check out her other books, too - Cold Tangerines and Bittersweet.  You really won't regret it.

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes - For all you moms of toddlers, nannies, teachers, childcare workers out there...we have been reading this OVER and OVER and OVER again.  Coralynn LOVES Pete the Cat and all the books in this "series".  Here are the books and BONUS, there are links for free downloads of several books and their songs that will make your book-reading life SO easy!

What are some of your favorite things???

Begin Again...

Do I even dare start writing again!?  Many, many things have changed since I last posted in February 2013!!  A lot of life lived!

We welcomed our daughter, Coralynn Neva, to the world on May 18, 2013 in Indianapolis.  Shortly, thereafter, Blake began applying for graduate school, and we traveled several places for his interviews.

We found out in January 2014 that we would be moving from Indianapolis, IN to Cleveland, Ohio for him to being schooling at Case Western Reserve University to become a certified registered nurse anesthetist.

On May 1, we were surprised to learn that Baby Hawk #2 was on the way!!!!

At the end of May, we packed up our home in Indianapolis, said "goodbye" to our friends, church and our home of 3 years and moved to Cleveland, just in time for Blake to start school on June 2!

Slowly, but surely, Cleveland is becoming our new home.

Our pace of life, routines and daily habits have changed and morphed to fit into Blake's school and clinical schedule.  I have adjusted to being a stay-at-home mom/household manager, and Blake has class and/or clinical at The Cleveland Clinic every day.  As soon as we get used to his schedule, it changes.  Such is the life of a medical professional, I've learned!

2014 has been a year of adjustments and really learning to trust the Lord and know that his plans are best.  He has provided in so many ways, beyond what we ever could have imagined!  We are so looking forward to what He has for us this coming year!

There are so many things to look forward to.  We are returning to Indiana to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family.  Blake's family will be visiting us in Cleveland over the Christmas holiday.  And, our SON is due January 6!

Though we are counting down the months that remain in the CRNA program for Blake, we are doing our best to live intentionally in this season of life.  There are many transitions ahead for us, but we draw peace from the fact that our God is good.  He is faithful.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.


Hosea 6:3  Oh, that we might know the Lord!  Let us press on to know him.  He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.

nash-vegas baby!

Blake and I are spending our much-needed vacation in Nasvhille, TN this weekend.  We traveled on Friday and are leaving to go back to Indianapolis tomorrow.  It's a baby-moon of sorts, I guess you could say.

I was a little worried about our trip at first...

When we checked in at the hotel, had to wait in line for 20 minutes and everyone else in line was drinking (at 3 pm) and carrying on.  It seemed like some sort of twisted, overnight, high school reunion.  Once we got our room keys and were on our way through the maize of drunk people in the lobby, I dropped his iPad on the floor of the lobby, where it crashed to the floor, slid several feet and the cover promptly fell off.  It didn't turn on after that.

That didn't really start our vacation out on the right foot...it was an expensive foot, but definitely not right.

Once we got to our room on the 9th floor, our keys didn't work, so I quietly (and submissively) rode the elevator back down to the lobby to get new keys.

Needless to say, we had a moment of testing...where we both had to choose our attitudes toward each other.  Luckily, we both chose correctly.

After we recharged in our hotel and rid ourselves of the sickness of a broken iPad, we met our friends, Andrew & Joy Patton for dinner.  We had a wonderful dinner, catching up, dinner AND dessert, hearing about their lives and updating them on ours.



Since Friday night, we've had a ton of fun together!  We toured the Country Music Hall of Fame and visited the famous, historic RCA Studio B.

I sat at the piano in Studio B, which is claimed to be Elvis' favorite piano and also where he recorded How Great Thou Art.

We walked up and down the streets of downtown Nashville.  Of course, we hit up Broadway Street.  And ate the best BBQ of our lives at Jack's. (No need to be dramatic about it.)




We have spent all day in two different coffee shops, Casablanca Coffee and The Well, studying, reading and writing.  We had gourmet Mexican at Cantina Laredo in The Gulch.  And I am anxiously anticipating an Italian feast for dinner tonight (and so is the baby).

And I am excited to declare, that next time we come to Nashville, I will return with my very own cowboy boots.  They have made it onto my birthday list.  :)

I love spending time with Blake, and his company never gets old.  What a time we've had...and it's not over yet!

pinterest recipe copy cat

today was a pinterest day.  we have some friends who recently had their second child.  i love feeding people and i love danielle and simon and their two girls, so i am taking them dinner saturday night. 

it's pretty easy to cook for myself because if it totally flops, we can just grab something quick.  if you are taking a meal to someone, you don't exactly want it to be a disaster.  so i turned to the one resource that i have come to depend on for tons of no-fail recipes -- pinterest.com.

on the menu -- mini meatloaf and smashed potatoes with cream cheese.  and for dessert, chocolate filled strawberries -- to be clear, NOT chocolate COVERED strawberries.  I'm not one for following recipes, but the rough ratio is an 11.5 oz bag of chocolate chips to 15-20 large strawberries.  I used milk chocolate this time, but I want to try dark chocolate next time.  here's how i did it:

first, i scooped out the middle of the strawberries.  when i first saw this idea on pinterest, i didn't like the thought of wasting the whole inside of the strawberry.  i used a little paring knife.  stick the end into the strawberry by the stem at a 45 degree angle.  keeping the tip of the knife in the middle of the strawberry as you cut around the stem.  when you pull out the top, the inside will be removed.  you won't have waste at all.


next, i washed the strawberries.  i rinsed out the inside and outside and let them dry on a paper towel upside down.  (aren't those strawberries just gems?!)

while the strawberries were drying out a bit, i began melting the chocolate.  the original recipe that i read said to use the microwave to melt the chocolate.  i melted the chocolate in a regular saucepan on the stove instead.  

melting the chocolate is my most challenging part of this process...because it requires enduring patience.  if you heat the chocolate too quickly, it becomes dry and chalky.  so melt slowly...
if it starts to look dry, add a small scoop of lard or some butter.  this will help smooth it out and makes the chocolate look shiny.

now, here's the controversy -- some people use egg cartons to hold the strawberries upright, but apparently you are at risk for contamination from people's dirty hands and salmonella poisoning.  i used mini muffin tins that i had laying around because i don't keep empty egg cartons.  you could also use tiny dixie cups.

put them in the fridge for about 10 minutes so the chocolate hardens a bit.  then ENJOY!!

on mother's day...

I wanted to celebrate Mother's Day this year.  No, I mean, I wanted to be celebrated as a Mother this year.

But instead...I eavesdropped.
(On a non-related note, my sisters could tell you stories of my professional eavesdropping they have observed.  If you'd like a good laugh, talk to them.)


Yes, you read correctly.  Eavesdropping vs. Mother's Day.

My husband, Blake, and I took road trip this past weekend to South Carolina to visit some of our very dear friends.  It was a great trip, by the way.

We had dinner Saturday night at a pizza place and were seated outside.  Soon after we got our food, I noticed a nearby table where a family of five was sitting.  It was a couple and their three, tween-age boys.  As I took a bite of my delicious, flatbread pizza, I mentioned, quietly observing, "Wow, three boys!  Wouldn't that be something?!"

I turned my attention back to the conversation at hand.  We talked, laughed and then quieted, as to focus on our grub.

A few minutes later, the same table caught my eye.  The father and sons raised their glasses of Diet Coke, sweet tea or Mountain Dew for a toast.  I didn't hear how the toast was initiated, but my heart melted when I heard what came out of their "cheers!"

Each of the three tweens were completely engrossed in the toast, as the father said, "To the BEST Mom in the world!"  The boys shook their heads in agreement, and the family toasted their mother and wife.

When I heard this, I looked at my girlfriend, who was sitting beside me and had been observing the same scene, unbeknownst to me.  We both burst into tears, quickly wiped them away with our napkins and giggled at each other for being so sentimental to a stranger's celebration.

I wondered why my reaction was so emotional.  But I quickly realized how much I want to be celebrated as a Mother.  I desire and long to be celebrated as a Mother.  But more than that, I long to raise children that love the Lord and love others well.

Jesus met me in that moment and reminded me that I AM celebrated.  Mother or not, I celebrate the woman you are.  I celebrates the woman that you are becoming.  Lean into me.  Let me take you to places where I can change who you are.  Let me write stories in your life that will create you into a better character than you would be if it was easy.

I AM celebrated.  And God is the same God regardless of who I am.  He is creating, molding, pruning and growing me into who he wants me to be, so that I might reveal His glory in all that I do...Mother or not.

To those of you who are Mother's...Happy Mother's Day, a couple days late.  May you continue to grow more into the woman, wife, daughter, sister, MOTHER, that God has created you to be.  Love well and live passionately.