Seven Quick Takes: Mostly About ME

1.) Remember that doll we got Charlotte for Christmas, which she named Claire (her middle name) (so cute) (swoon etc)? Well, this is the part where I confess that the best part of having this doll around is that sometimes Charlotte needs help putting its PJs on and then I get to have to do it. You know. For Charlotte. *ahem*

(Hi I'm 34 and I still secretly like playing with dolls and I'm not even that sorry.)

2.) Mark and I got each other new back doors for Christmas, and no that's not a euphemism, they are actual back doors. (When you're a Bumgarner and you tell your family this is what you got for Christmas, it is a joke that never ends.) Anyway. They are installed now. And wonderful.

There is no longer an inches-wide gap of daylight and cold air coming through, and we no longer have to keep them locked just to keep them closed, and it's possible to enter and exit without rattling that whole side of the house. It's a huge win, is what I'm saying.

3.) We have been taking lots of walks on the greenway since it has been nice out, and Anneliese and Charlotte have new toys they want to ride a lot. They ride and chatter, and I listen to podcasts and holler occasionally so they don't get out of my sight, and it is very pleasant.

Living somewhere where you can take easy sunshine walks outside in January: RECOMMEND.

4.) Our church hosted an exhibit of some large prints from the St. John's Bible, which is a really gorgeous fascinating project -- an illuminated bible with gold-gilded illustrations and amazing calligraphy that took many years and a small forture and the queen's own calligrapher to make. The art is incredible. I volunteered to be a docent of sorts, and did some trainings with people, and some reading and guided meditations from it, and the whole event was very cool and lovely.

Next time I'm in Minnesota I'm driving up to St. John's Abbey and laying eyes on the real thing. Every time I look at these illuminations, I see something new. Really really fascinating to me. If you have access to a library that has these, even if you're not a Bible-y person, GO CHECK THEM OUT. They are amazing.

5.) Speaking of books and libraries, I think I have a new favorite book. That is... not a thing I say lightly. I think I have named two? maybe? three? two? books, ever, as my favorite. And this one is just astounding.

It's a beautiful story of an abandoned girl with a mess of a childhood, and what she is like as she enters adulthood and marriage and motherhood. It's about loss and hope and being known, and it is lovely and raw and oh, this book is just so beautiful.(It's the third in a trilogy; I liked but didn't love the others, but this one can stand alone as its own story.)

6.) Another Nathan came through town! ...Exactly five days after we said by to him in Minnesota after the New Year. Ha. Timing.

Anyway he was just here for a minute, passing through our town/airport on his way to an event at another of his former churches, but it was long enough to open Christmas presents with the kids and have a pre-birthday beer with Mark and me, and run some errands and pick out new glasses and have a coffee date. And now we have said bye to him for real, for many more months, which would be sad except that the saturation over the last month has been too great to be sad.

7.) I spent the night in a hotel room, alone, for no good reason, other than alone time is a precious ever-fleeting commodity for me, and we always joke that I should do it, and so I finally did. And it was glorious.

I took a winter walk to a dinner place, and I had a long fancy shower with fancy hair potions, I read for hours and hours, both books and some internetting, I drank wine and slept in a giant bed and did not set an alarm, and I went for a fancy coffee with a fancy view the next morning. I didn't worry about what time anything needed to happen, or what order I wanted to do things. It was freeing and fantastic. Some People were worried I would be bored or lonely or sad, but nope, it was uncomplicatedly fantastic. Intentionally indulgent and relaxing, and with the kind support and blessing, encouragement even, of my wonderful Marky who is legitimately glad for me to do something for myself, which totally makes me feel loved. Night in a hotel alone: ALSO RECOMMEND. (Next time I shall also book a spa treatment.)

Away

I am about to say something shocking.

(Well, shocking to those of you who knew me in college, anyway. And maybe a few more. I hope.)

Until this weekend, I hadn't been away from my children and husband in... wait for it... five years.

!!!

Since becoming a mommy, I have had time away with Mark, and time away with the kids, and time away with each kid, but no time away from all of them. I have been racking my brain (racking!) and I can't think of a single time. Not one night. In five years.

I KNOW.

Who am I?? Believe me, I didn't wait this long on purpose. It would have happened sooner if I had realized the enormity of the thing. But actually I didn't even realize it was happening when it was, until I was already flopped on the guest bed of some people I had met only moments before, my dear husband and children left behind on the other side of North Carolina. 

The whole away thing was a bit unintentional actually. Another Nathan has been asked to lead music for youth conferences at Montreat next summer (you have no idea how proud we are of him, or how richly blessed those kids will be to have him there. Seriously with the talent, that one) and in preparation, he wanted to get up there for a few worship services and talks this summer and refresh his memory on the lay of the (youth conference) land. And because I hear about this place all the time but had never been, and have been dying to meet his Asheville people and see where he used to live and work before he came our way, he was sweet enough to do his reconnaissance mission on a weekend when I could go too.

Which is I how I ended up as a stranger in that guest room across the state.

yay Montreat

So anyway, his Asheville people are wonderful people, his original North Carolina family (before there was a mess of Goettsch in his life). And Montreat is truly beautiful. I can see why so many people hold it so dear. The worship services were engaging and energetic, and the keynote talk we heard was pretty much stunning. I almost cried like four times. (You know almost means did right?) We got to indulge in Asheville's foodie culture -- I probably didn't eat some kind of pimento cheese every day, and definitely not at every meal. *ahem* And we also saw my college roomie Emily!

An easy weekend away, close enough yet far enough, alone enough without being lonely. Basically it was the perfect way to mark a milestone I didn't even know I was waiting on.

yay friends

Oh and here's a milestone I was anticipating: it was also the first time I left Charlotte overnight. They say this gets easier with each child, but for me it's gotten harder. With Nathan I did it at about seven months (when Daddy stayed in the hospital with him one night), with Anneliese I did it at about nine months (for Sarah's wedding), and now with Charlotte she's almost one. Weird? Anyway.

The long and the short of it is we all did just fine, and it was a lovely weekend. So, yeah. That's that.

Up Up and Away

So the original impetus for our trip to Asheville last week was this groupon that came available many many months back, for a flying lesson. Like, an airplane flying lesson. Which is something Mark has wanted to do for a long time. And since this one was first of all cheap, and second, located in a beautiful part of the state, over the blue ridge mountains, I jumped on it and hatched a plan for a little getaway.

And somehow I managed to keep it a surprise from Mark until the very last minute. I'd say he didn't even have enough time to get nervous, but yeah... he totally did.

Not that I'm judging. I was sort of blasé and unworried myself, until after lots of back-and-forthing (is it ok at this stage in pregnancy? if a passenger comes is it considered a scenic flight? are we following faa rules for scenic flights? if she just happens to be out there and hop in the plane will anyone care?) I found myself sitting in the back passenger seat, along for the ride on his lesson... and once that plane fired up, I was totally nervous too.

And by nervous I mean terrified. And by terrified I mean panicking. And by panicking I mean, moved the headset completely away from my face so that neither Mark or the instructor could hear my freakout. Yeah.

It's not that I didn't trust him. Okay, it's totally that I didn't trust him. He didn't know what he was doing! And he was about to take my unborn baby into the sky! And in case you missed it, he didn't know what he was doing! Also the fact that he steered the plane down the runway in a not-dissimilar fashion to an out-of-control wii mariokart driver* didn't instill a lot of confidence.

But.

Mark did fine. And he loved it. And we were all safe. And the instructor was right there and could easily take over the controls when he needed to. And once I got over the feeling that we were going to fall out of the sky at any time, and opened my eyes to look around, it really was beautiful up there.

We flew around Asheville and over the mountains and (most excitingly for Mark) (no I am not kidding), a power plant (or something). But man do I love the sight of those blue mountain ridges, it's so very homey and carolina-ey for me. Gorgeous.

Mark even landed the plane pretty much by himself, and did a great job. It ended up being a really fun little adventure for both of us (and baby Sprout!) and a very cool way to spend an afternoon.

And yes, I'm glad I went along for the ride. :)

For more pics of our Asheville flyover, click here for the photobucket album.

*Ahem. Another Nathan.

Asheville Getaway

Well, after almost a week of road-tripping through the western half of the state, we're all home and back to reality.  I am still sorting through the bajillion pictures I took while we were gone (no one's really surprised at that, right?) but here are a few from the first leg of our trip, the kid-free part in Asheville.

We dropped Nathan and Anneliese for back-to-back visits with my mom then my dad, and Mark and I took off for the mountains.  We stayed in a nice hotel in downtown Asheville, with great mountain views from our room.

And it took approximately four minutes for us to get down to business and do exactly what parents do in hotel rooms the second they're away from the kiddies: sleep.

(What did you think I was going to say?)

We had a lovely dinner date at the gorgeous Grove Park Inn.

Our table was amazing -- right by the window, surrounded by mountains, and we were there right when the sun was setting.  A romantic cliche come true.  Oh and the food was delicious and my date was cute and sweet and fun.  So, yeah.  Awesome date night.  :)

We slept late every morning, took naps every afternoon, ate when we wanted, explored downtown when we wanted, took long showers in our fancy hotel bathroom, and generally made a huge mess of our room without worrying what stuff needed to be off-limits to pups or babies.  It's the simple mindless things that make a getaway great, you know?

I can't even tell you how wonderful it was to have a few days away with just Mark.  With the house and the renovation (and the whole paying two mortgages thing), a big vacation just wasn't in the cards for this year.  So I'm especially glad we got to make this little trip work.

For a few more pics of our time in Asheville (including that beautiful shower), click here for the photobucket album.