Smoothies

I married a smoothie fanatic.

We started a Saturday morning breakfast tradition of smoothies and waffles. Yummy. Ben also likes smoothies for evening snacks. Sometimes we have them up to 4 times per week. After 9 months of marriage, I am starting to recognize the look in Ben's eyes when he needs a smoothie. Before long I predict that no words will be necessary; he will simply give me the look, and I will run in the direction of the blender!

Ever since our wedding, we have been hunting for the perfect basic smoothie recipe. We bought a recipe book called Best of the Best Smoothies at Cracker Barrel this summer, and we adapted its recipe for a Triple Strawberry Smoothie to meet all of our desires.

Here it is...Ben's Perfect Smoothie!

1 cup frozen fruit
I cup milk
1 heaping spoonful of jam
6 oz. yogurt
5 ice cubes

Combine ingredients in blender until smooth. Makes 2 12 oz. servings (or 1 big 24 oz. serving if you are a smoothie fanatic). You can use any kind of fruit and any flavor of jam or yogurt, though the original recipe recommends frozen strawberries, strawberry jam, and strawberry yogurt for an extraordinarily intense flavor experience.

Oh, and I have to add that I am becoming a smoothie lover, too.

Piano Recital

A few evenings ago, another piano teacher and I combined our small studios for a Christmas piano recital. It was a special time.

Yes, I am teaching piano again!

I could write volumes about my musical past, but the short story is that I took a one-year sabbatical from teaching piano (May 2011 to May 2012). It was a wonderful break for me. Piano had been my life up until that point. I had suffered some disappointments, though, that had tempted me to give up music.

Disappointments like...

Graduate school: My virtuosic Asian peers intimidated me, and I started having memory slips in performance for the first time.

My first year as a professional musician: I worked morning, afternoon, and evening at 3 different music jobs. I ended up teaching 54 students plus accompanying several others. My life was exhausting. And to put it bluntly, I had no life!

My second year as a professional musician: I dropped one of my 3 music jobs to save my sanity and then struggled to survive financially.

Rejection letters: I applied to a couple of doctoral programs in piano and was rejected. I discovered that I had been playing with an inverted hand position for all of these years and that it might take quite a bit of time and effort to correct it.

So, I did something radical...perhaps foolish. I quit my music jobs and moved home with my parents! I enrolled in some computer courses, thinking that I would train to be a secretary or something. I worked at minumum wage jobs to pay the bills.

And then...well, most of my friends know the rest of the story. God brought Prince Charming into my life right when I needed a hero! My year of sabbatical from piano ended up being my year of falling in love, planning my wedding, and tying the knot.

I love how God works.

And then I found a part-time job teaching piano at a local music school. And I took it. And I am realizing that maybe teaching piano is my destined career after all.

I have a new philosophy of teaching, though. Never will I encourage my students to strive to be better than everyone else. No matter how talented you are, there will always be people who are better than you. My goals are simply to encourage my students to be their own personal best and to share the joy of music.

And that is why I am now a strong believer in recitals. Competitions are good for some, but recitals are good for everybody!

I felt the joy a few evenings ago. I was proud of my 3 little students. For 2 of them, it was their very, very first recital. Even I played a Christmas carol, "O Holy Night." It may not have been the most technically impressive solo, but there was something special in it--a piece of my heart.

   



 

See our Christmas Lights

 

 

December is here, and Christmas is coming! Ben framed the outside of our house with some awesome Christmas lights. We took a few pictures, thinking about using one for a Christmas card. I have to admit that I may not like this picture enough to mail it to all of my relatives, but I like it enough to post it on my blog! Merry Christmas!  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish you a happy Thanksgiving from the Chandler/Barnett clan!

Birthday!

Today I turned 28.

I love birthdays. You could skip the party and the cake and the gifts, and I would still love birthdays. I think that I will still love birthdays when I turn the big 30 or the big 40 and find my first wrinkles and gray hairs. To me, what makes birthdays special is celebrating God's faithfulness. My favorite birthday tradition is writing a long entry in my diary about what I am grateful for from the past year and what I am hoping for in the coming year.

27 was an unforgetable year. It was the year that I said "I do" to my handsome, loving, and all-around amazing husband, Ben. Life was good as a single girl, but it is even better with my best friend beside me.

I am looking forward to seeing what 28 brings. Hopefully I will become a better wife and a better piano instructor and a better cook and a better Sunday School teacher, etc., etc., etc. It will be interesting to see what kinds of adventures God sends my way.

Even though my favorite part of birthdays is reflecting on my many blessings, I have to admit that I enjoy the other stuff, too! Ben surprised me with pizza at "Old Chicago" in Iowa City and ice skating at the Coralridge Mall.

 

 

And I love my birthday present from Ben--word magnets so that we can write love notes to each other every day on our kitchen wall!

Tomorrow the birthday festivities will continue at my parents' house. Tonight I will drift off to sleep, knowing that a homemade Italian cream cake is waiting for me!

Welcome to our Home

Cozy. Compact. Cute. Quirky. Yes, this is our house! Welcome to one of the most unique houses that you will ever find in eastern Iowa. My husband built it. Eventually he plans to build a bigger house on our property and turn this structure into a two-car garage, complete with a workshop and a guest apartment. Meanwhile, we love living here. To use a word that I learned recently, I think that our house is totally "splendiferous!"

 
This is a view of our side yard, where someday Ben will build the "real house." We have pine trees that frame most of our property.

Enter the front door and step inside our living room!

Ben built a bookshelf for me to store some of my books.

 

I like using the space for a few things besides books, too (like our special clock from Ben's grandmother, our "Sweet Honeysuckle" Yankee candle, and my favorite engagement photo with our feet on a railroad track).

 

 

 

I love my piano. Chopin used to perform on "Pleyel" pianos, you know. And I am blessed to have one! Hurray.

 

 

Walk through the hallway and come into the kitchen. On your way, notice the beautiful cards and photos from friends and family that we like to display on our wall.

 



 

Ben built our kitchen cabinets.

 

 

He built our kitchen table, too.

 



 

I firmly believe that every household needs a calendar. And not just any calendar...an attractive one. Haha.

 



 

I also firmly believe that every household needs a properly-working bathroom! Well, of course. And I forgot to mention that many features of our house are giant-friendly. From the tall cabinets to the high countertops to the handicapped toilet, my 6-foot-7-inch husband is very comfortable and my 5-foot-5 1/2-inch self has learned to adapt! 

 



 

Okay, you are almost done with the tour of our house. You just need to come upstairs and see the bedroom area! Even though the upstairs is one room, it is probably about the size of three bedrooms. In the north corner we have a guest bed with a gorgeous handmade quilt from our friend Amy.

 



 

In the south corner we have a computer desk, big enough for two people to sit down and surf the Internet simultaneously.

 

 

Finally, in the west corner we have our luxurious Tempur-Pedic California King bed. Congratulations, you have completed the virtual tour of our house! Now you just need to come and visit us in person! 

 

 

 

 

Cuddling by a Campfire

 

 

Last night Ben built a little fire in the firepit in our yard, just for the two of us. We roasted s'mores and sat around and talked. It was a great date. Yay!

Nothing Like a Warm Cup of Tea

 

As I have been recovering from a bad cold this week, my best friend has been a cup of tea. And not just any kind of tea: Tazo Orange Blossom Green Tea. Mmm...SO good. I worked at Starbucks for only seven months, but it was long enough to discover this delicious, nourishing drink and stock my kitchen cabinet full with it. Allow me to pamper your senses by listing its tantalizing ingredients: jasmine green tea, tangerine peel, goji berries, chamomile flowers, fennel seeds, licorice root, orange essence, tarragon, bergamot essence. Now, I have to admit that I don't know what half of those ingredients are, but don't they sound amazing? Ha. I do know that this tea has a heavenly taste and near-heavenly powers. I always feel peaceful and warm and fuzzy when I drink it. I drank two cups of it earlier today (in my favorite "Mrs." mug!), and I think that I just might brew another cup right now.  

Remembering Grandma



Yesterday my beautiful grandmother, Jeane McLravy, passed away. I praise the Lord that she is in heaven now and that He took her home as peacefully as possible, in her sleep. But it was still a shock. I had enjoyed a 10-minute phone conversation with her last Thursday. Little did I know that it would be our last conversation. I am looking forward to attending her funeral in Columbus, Ohio this weekend and celebrating her beautiful life with relatives.

Yes, when I think about her life, the word that always comes to mind is beautiful. Grandma was the most beautiful woman that I knew, inside and out. She had a beautiful face. She wore beautiful clothes. She decorated her house (and later, her apartment in the retirement community) so beautifully that it could have been featured in a magazine. I remember that I loved going to Grandma's house on Christmas Eve as a little girl. Her dining room table would be beautifully set with delicious homemade food and desserts for the extended family. As we sat in the living room and opened our Christmas presents, we oohed and aahed because Grandma gave the most beautiful gifts. As much as we all admired her outward beauty and style, though, her inward beauty was even more precious. Grandma was humble, self-sacrificing, kind, and gracious. She loved people, and she loved her Savior Jesus Christ. I am so honored to be her granddaughter and to have witnessed first-hand the spectacular beauty of her life.        

Greetings and Definitions

Hello! Welcome to my brand-new blog!

Merriam-Webster defines a diary as a record...kept daily or at frequent intervals....of personal activities, reflections, or feelings.

It defines rose-colored glasses as favorably disposed opinions....optimistic eyes.

With my blog entitled Diary of the Rose-Colored Glasses, I mean to share bits and pieces of my little world, as I see it through the lens of God's goodness and truth. The topics of future posts may be unpredictable, but you can anticipate a few subjects like these:

• reports of current life-happenings, everything from experimenting in the kitchen, teaching piano again after a long sabbatical, and huffing and puffing on 5k runs
• reviews of my favorite foods, movies, music, books, and people (especially my Prince Charming of a husband!)
• reflections on the Christian faith and biblical womanhood

I hope that blogging will motivate me to use my very nice digital camera more often! And I am looking forward to ending my relationship with Facebook and hopefully keeping up with friends and family in more personal ways!