We feel very settled in already, although we’ve only been here for about two and a half months. We have more art hung, things put out and arranged, more of our trinkets out and displayed than we ever did in our Seattle house. Something about this place just made us want to get settled in quickly. (Not to mention we’ve been kind of addicted to Apartment Therapy.)

Plus, our furniture and other things just feel right in this apartment. And we do, too.

Without further ado, the pictures…and there are a lot of pictures. Almost everything you’ll see in the photos has a meaning for us; either it was given to us by a friend, made ourselves, or we bought it for a specific reason. I’ll tell you about some of them as I share the photos.

Front door, stairs to the landing

Bookcase in the entry area, including a tea light lamp given to me by some dear friends, the Solex model we bought in France, and a letterpress "please remove your shoes" sign made by our friend Rosanna

Living room

Close-up of the shelf over the fireplace: mouse doorstop from our friends Marci and Caleb, and "The Big Little Book" that Brett's Great Aunt Ging gave him when he was a child

Close-up of the mantel: the boutinniere Brett wore in Joel and Rosanna's wedding, and the camera my grandpa carried with him when he flew as a pilot in WWII

Bookcase in the living room with Elanor's books and toys. I love how we still manage to have toys and things that show a chlid lives here without making our whole house look like Toys-R-Us threw up in it

Dining room, looking into the butler's pantry and then the kitchen

Reading nook in the butler's pantry

China cabinet in the butler's pantry - probably my favorite thing about our new house since I finally have a place for my Fiestaware!

Fiestaware, and other nice dishes and glasses

Kitchen counter evidence of my green-ness: composter and crunchy-granola hand and dish soap

Hallway, looking down to the bedrooms

Bathroom, with a big old tub that's long enough for even Brett to stretch out in

Maneki Neko, lucky cat, who sits in our hallway. Elanor loves him.

Our cozy, bright bedroom

Brett's pile of books that he's in the middle of reading on the dresser

Elanor's room, toys, books -- so fun

Elanor's colors

That’s it…we love it here. It really is home, and being here makes me happy.

More about this tomorrow…I’m wiped out and couldn’t construct a coherent entry. It’s been a really rough week in Elanor-land, and I’m just tired. But I promise I’ll elaborate (and post yesterday’s pictures) in the morning!

My love of books has been with me for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories have to do with reading, at first picture books, and later chapter books.

When my sister was born, my parents gave me a Sesame Street book called The Case of the Missing Duckie. I loved that book. The images in it still stick in my head even today…the part where Cookie Monster is frosting a cake (messily!) was my favorite page and I used to look at it for what seemed like hours.

When I was probably 5 or 6, I remember being extremely angry with my sister for something she’d done. So what did I do? I went to our room and shut myself in and just read and read until I felt better. (I specifically remember reading The Cat in the Hat that day.)

The first chapter book I ever read was Ramona the Brave, when I was in Mrs. Lowry’s first grade class. Oh, I loved that book. I loved Ramona’s spunk, and I loved that it was set in the town where I lived. I always wanted to go to Klickitat Street, but I never did. Maybe next time I’m in Portland I’ll do that — or maybe I’ll wait a few more years, until Elanor has read the Ramona books, too, and take her along.

My parents used to read to us: the Super Fudge books by Judy Blume, The Hobbit, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. (We still joke about the I-thought-you-saids.) My dad’s parents lived in Oklahoma, and we’d drive out there every couple of years. This was way, way pre-built-in-DVD-player days, so my parents would switch off driving and reading to us to help pass the time.

I loved the Emily books by L.M. Montgomery. The Mandie mystery books. (My friend Sarah Evans and I had a pact that we would keep reading the Mandie books until Mandie finally married Joe. This pact seemed VERY SERIOUS AND IMPORTANT to our, like, eight-year-old selves.) (I have no idea if Mandie finally married Joe.) (I should Google that.)

As I got older, I read everything I could get my hands on. I know my mom was often challenged by my desire to read things above my maturity level – Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume comes to mind. So I started reading Christian fiction. Some of it was really good, and some of it was really bad. I loved Janette Oke’s books during late elementary school. My friend Elise Bradley and I would act out the book Roses for Mama with our dolls, and the Canadian West series touched me deeply. I loved her books so much when I was little that I wrote to Janette Oke when I was in elementary school, and she wrote me back! My mom has the letter somewhere; I should get it from her.

I read a Christan young adult series called the Jennifer books. I was captivated by one of the books, wherein Jennifer’s family moves from one state to another. The author’s description of the newness of a new place, the way it feels to get used to sleeping in a new room, to how to find the grocery store, to becoming accustomed to seeing your things a new house — all of that has stuck with me and I’ve thought of it often during our many moves throughout the years.

I made one of my dear friends (actually, the one through whom I found out about Happy Week!) in the church library. Annie and I would meet up in the library, where Mrs. … Oh, no, I can’t remember her name! What was it?! Now I’m going to have to call my mom and ask her. Annie, you know who I’m thinking of. Do you remember? Mrs…augh! It’s on the tip of my tongue. As soon as I hit publish it’s gonna come to mind. Anyway, the church library lady would introduce us to new books, and she took Annie and me under her wing. We’d meet there between services in Junior High and into High School and compare books, talk, and giggle together.

While I was in college, I didn’t have much time to read for pleasure, although that was when I discovered my love for Lord of the Rings. My mom had tried to get me to read it for years but I had never wanted to before. Then, one day in college, my roommate Claire was reading it and she left The Fellowship of the Ring sitting around. I picked it up and I was hooked; I couldn’t put it down. Since then, I’ve read it probably at least eight times in full, and have read portions of it at least three times beyond that.

My time working full-time in Seattle before we had Elanor was full of books. I don’t even remember what I read; I just know that with my 45-minute-long bus commute, I would average three books a week. I read everything I could get my hands on at the library. I read some non-fiction during this era, specifically about food: The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, Anthony Bourdain’s books, Ruth Reichl’s books, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.

Since I quit my job almost a year ago to stay home with Elanor, I don’t get to read a whole lot. Maybe one or two books a month. I miss reading, desperately. I miss getting lost in a really great story. I miss spending hours in bed, reading in my pajamas until 2 p.m. on the weekend because I just have to finish one more chapter.

I know; I know. It’s a stage of life. I’ll be able to read again someday. But sometimes I just ache to curl up with a good book, one that doesn’t talk about toddler sleep habits or nursing or…yeah.

That brings me to my point. Before we moved, my mom brought me three boxes from her garage, boxes full of books. My books. Oh, looking through those boxes was like rediscovering my old friends! Better yet, I’ve been able to carve out some time to sit and re-read some of my favorites lately: The Case of the Missing Duckie, my scribbled-in copies of The Cat in the Hat and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, the Emily books, the Cherry Ames books, and some random, one-off books that captivated me when I was a girl. They still do captivate me, and I’m so glad I still like them. So many things from childhood are not as wonderful as we remember them to be, but these books have not lost their thrill for me.

I’m so happy to have these treasures here so that I can re-visit my childhood and, someday soon, share them with Elanor. I hope there will be a day not too many years from now when we both just want to curl up on the couch with a good book. Books in general make me happy, but seeing these books and having them in my home to re-read and to someday share with Elanor makes me really happy.

Elanor and Brett. Oh, they make me so happy. Being with them, hanging out with them, having them as my family. Need I say more?

Today, it’s this:

That’s everything I bought at the Farmers’ Market on Sunday. Amazing!

Fresh produce, flowers, food…it all makes me happy. And sharing the experience with my sweet girl on a sunny Sunday morning — well, so much the happier. (Not pictured: the amazing apple turnover we got from the French bakery that had a stand at the market, which we ate in about 27 seconds flat while buying the newly-picked first crop Gravenstien apples and the bunch of cosmos.)

I think it may have helped bump me up out of my cooking rut. I’ve got a menu planned for the week (two nights down, three to go) that I’m actually excited about, thanks to these amazing things I bought yesterday.

I really appreciate all your suggestions. I’d love the recipes all of you mentioned, so if you can, send them my way. And I really appreciate all the ideas. I haaaaate being in a cooking rut; hopefully it’s broken now for a while.

To keep me accountable, I’ll share my meal plan. It’s nothing super fancy. The only new-to-me recipe is the potato salad. The rest are tried and true favorites, but I guess that’s a good way to start. Only one night of pasta, and no taco/burrito meal, which is pretty amazing as that’s one of our primary fallback items.

Sunday: Lentilles de Puy, salad, bread.

Monday: Pesto, new potatoes and green beans, salad, bread

Tuesday: Vegetable Dinner: corn on the cob, green beans, roasted brussels sprouts, salad

Wednesday: Sesame Lentil Stir-Fry

Thursday: Garlicky Potato Salad with Greens, salad

I’ll let everyone know how it goes!