Ain't He Somethin'?

He brought me flowers.


A huge bouquet of red carnations, brightening up my kitchen on these grey days.

I told Shannon back when we were dating a secret: most (most, not all, I know) girls would rather receive flowers from the grocery store frequently than flowers from a florist twice a year. I'm one of those girls. I hate to spend too much money on flowers because let's face it: they die. They don't last, and if anyone is going to spend $100 on something material, well, in my opinion, it should last more than a week. So Shannon has obliged me with lots and lots of reasonably priced bouquets of flowers over the years.

He's always on the quest for the perfect bouquet, it seems. He'll buy me roses and be disappointed when they die within a week, and buy me daisies or mums another time and be thrilled when they last. Yesterday's bouquet satisfied him completely: he keeps remarking that he "did better" this time than last time. "Well," I told him. "Carnations are a heartier flower. They aren't as fragile as roses or lilies. They last longer than those."

And seeing the understanding dawn over his face I knew one thing:

I'm going to be getting a lot of carnations in the future.

But you know what? I won't mind in the slightest. Flowers are flowers, and when they come from my guy as a surprise delivered to me while I'm up to my elbows in dinner prep or surrounded by every toy we own with a 14-month old running circles around me, they brighten up my day and bring a smile to my face, whether they cost him $5 or $100.

March

Some of you may have noticed that I didn't post any goals for this month. No, I didn't just forget to do it. February left me feeling a bit like a slacker...there were so many random things that I didn't get done that I had wanted to, and I don't think it was just because of having only 28 days in which to accomplish them instead of 30 or 31. We were just plain busy, or at least it seemed so at the time.

I've also seemed to get better at some of the goals that were reappearing monthly: making our bed every day, trying new recipes, and being purposeful in taking Lane outside are just a few of them. In short, I feel like the purpose of my making the goals in the first place has been fulfilled: I'm more organized and I prioritize my time better. Our home feels more 'put together' because I've gotten better at multitasking while Lane is awake (I can make the bed and fold/put up the laundry, as well as vacuum). Part of this I'm sure is because she's becoming more capable of entertaining herself, but I also feel like by just purposing to get it done I'm actually getting it done! I've been able to meal plan for a month at a time, spreading out our meals over the weeks so that I use leftover produce well, we eat vegetarian meals twice a week, and I make easier things on days we're busy and easier things on days we don't have class. And we've actually been going to bed earlier, which has been a huge help in my feeling rested and ready to conquer each new day. I'm still working on getting up earlier (help, help, HELP!) but I seem to have mastered at least getting a shower in before Lane gets up. That's helped my time management as well.

There are, of course, still things I'm working on. I welcome any and all suggestions as to how to get myself out of bed in the mornings. I'd really like to be getting up at 6:00. I just have the hardest time dragging myself out of bed in the mornings, though, no matter how much sleep I get. It just doesn't seem to matter. Anyone out there have any ideas to help me out? I have a friend who once told me that she used coffee as her "reward" for getting out of bed. Yeah...that doesn't work for me. I don't like coffee enough to get out of bed for it! Please offer me your insights into how to drag my lazy carcass out of bed in the mornings!

This month I've "given up" facebook. Yes, I still log on on Sundays to check my messages and to read a few status updates. I've gotten on a few times during the week for various reasons (needing to send someone a message whose email address I didn't have, wish someone a happy birthday, etc), but for the most part I've stayed away. I like that Shannon changed my password, so I have to get him to log me on. It helps keep me accountable to not logging on for "just a minute." I don't want to give up facebook for good...I like being able to keep up with my friends who don't blog or send emails. But I know I have a propensity (ooh, big word, huh?!) to waste time on there. So I'm considering trying out a new thing in April...maybe giving myself 20-30 minutes per day on there. I log in at 8:00 pm and out at 8:30. No matter what. Do you think it'll work? How do you keep yourself from wasting time on the internet?

So, this month I didn't set any big goals. I haven't been keeping track of how often I take Lane outside, make our bed, or offer Shannon a back massage (for those who are wondering why that made my goal list, Shannon has scoliosis and a massage, even just a 4-5 minute one, works wonders for his pain level and ability to sleep well). And I think I'm doing just fine at all of them. I may resume monthly goal-making in a few months, but since April and May are looking a tad bit crazy, I'm surely not going to make them for awhile. Instead I'm going to continue working on these current goals relating to organizing my time and my home better. And then I'll decide what to tackle next.

In a Typical Day Lane:

Eats her own breakfast and part of daddy's too.


Plays in the laundry.


Begs a mandarin off the guys working at the nearby bakkal. Eats it outside. Tries to share with the kitty cat.


Practices climbing into things.


Learns her shapes.


Goes to the park. Plays with dirt. Chases the birds.


Learns about sea animals.


Practices climbing in and out some more.


Works on identifying body parts.

Hello, Spring!

You know spring is officially here when you can afford to buy strawberries again!

A Package from Sarah

We got a package, we got a package!

My friend Sarah, whom I've known for almost ten years now, asked me awhile back if there was anything we needed because she wanted to send us a package. She lived in Spain for awhile so she knows the joy of getting packages from home! When she asked we didn't need anything at the time, so I asked her if we could wait and compile a list for later, to which she of course said ok!

Fast forward a couple of months: I burned some popcorn in one of the pots in our new apartment and wished beyond anything I had some SOS pads to scrub the burned bits out of the pot. A couple of my favorite sweaters were getting static-y, despite using fabric softener, and I longed for a dryer sheet to rub on the sweater to take the static away. One of my two tubes of Blistex was down to the plastic insert and I was having to use my fingernails to scrape it out. And I still don't like the Clean & Clear facewash that's available here and wished for St. Ive's.

So we sent Sarah our list.


And look what we got! Apricot scrub, vanilla pudding (to go with bananas and our last box of Nilla wafers), Reece's pieces, peanut M&M's, dryer sheets, SOS pads, Blistex, and a heart cookie cutter!

The Blistex has already replaced the old Blistex, which promptly got thrown into the trash. Our pots (well, the family whose home we're living in's pots) are now shiny clean again. I'm going to make sugar cookies and use the rest of the candy clay that's leftover from Lane's birthday cake to decorate them. And we're going to get to have banana pudding for dessert this week!

One of the things I loved the most about this package was the way things were packaged. You could totally tell that Sarah's lived overseas before, because everything was out of it's package if the packaging was cumbersome and put into ziplocs instead. She included everything we asked for and a couple of surprises as well! Thanks so, so much, Sarah (and Ian) for thinking of us and sending us all of our boring requests! We're so thankful for everything!

My Favorite Place in Istanbul

The past three days here have been absolutely gorgeous. Bright, sunny, and decently warm. It got up to 14° Celsius, or 57° Fahrenheit today. Wow! Yesterday I took Lane on an adventure: to find a large Migros that was rumored to have celery and wasn't too far away. We found the Migros (and celery, as well as chocolate Coffeemate creamer, 7-up, Pepperidge Farms cookies, Philadelphia cream cheese, and M&M's, although those last three things cost way more than we'd ever actually pay for them). But the big find, in my opinion, was a park. A large park with lots of grass, a running/biking trail, and a gorgeous view, all only a 22-minute walk (with toddler in tow!) from my front door.

It's my new favorite place in Istanbul.

When I rounded the corner, not sure exactly what I would find or where I would be, only knowing that I was looking for the sea and that the Migros was near it, I was shocked. Beyond shocked, actually.


This is what I saw. Or darn close, anyways. Do you see what I see? No high-rises across the way. No busy street with crazy Turkish drivers on it. No street vendors. No people.

It was the first time in eight months of living in a city of 18 million people that I didn't feel like I lived in a city of 18 million people.


Just to highlight my new camera's awesome zoom, check out this photo up there. Do you see the sailboats? No?


This photo was taken from the same spot.

So, after making a quick trip out there yesterday and discovering this haven, if you will, I decided that I had to take Shannon down there as well. We got to go on a date last night, and while dates nowadays aren't what they used to be, our two hour excursion to the sea and to Starbucks for coffee, chai, and dessert was awesome. It's so good to get out and to just walk around without having to worry about if Lane is cold, if her hat is covering her eyes, if she's thirsty, if she needs a cracker, and so on. Don't get me wrong, I love doing those things for her, but for my sanity it's nice to have time alone with my husband without her.


Mmm, Starbucks. We go to Starbucks way more often here than we ever did in America.

Then this morning when the sun was shining and the day was promising to be beautiful and Shannon needed to get some work done, I decided to take Lane back to the park on the sea and actually let her play this time (since I was on a quest for the Migros yesterday we didn't have time to play).


Teeter-tottering to a 13.5-month old.

She had a blast.


See the park? And the sea? They're like thisclose.

I packed some crackers, a banana, some water, diapers and wipes, and threw her in the Ergo and embarked on an hour and half of Lane-centered fun (well, except for the 22-minute walk there and the 24-minute walk home). Swings. Dogs. Teeter totters. Cats. And slides. Oh, she loved the slides. (Unfortunately I don't have any pictures since it was just me and her and I can't help her down the slide and take her photo at the same time. Those will have to come later.)


Swinging. Incidentally this was Lane's first time in a swing since she's been really in control of her body. I think it was much more fun for her now than in the past!

By the time that we got home at close to noon, Lane was exhausted and hungry. I was exhausted and hungry. But I felt refreshed. Sun on our backs and wind in our faces without hundreds of other people thisclose to you really does do a body good. It does a soul good. And I think if I can have just a couple more days of it, I might be able to handle more bitter cold and snow (like we had earlier this week) if it's going to come.


If you complete the circle on the walking path you do eventually begin to "feel" like you're in a big city again. Ahh, but being midway through the path is glorious!

I love how God gives us just what we need when we need it. I grew up on the water: our house was about a 3/4-mile walk from the beach. Not a tropical beach, mind you, but the beach nonetheless, with majestic mountains on the other side. Everywhere I've lived except for Alaska has been landlocked, or if the specific state or country wasn't, the beach was still a long ways away. It hasn't mattered to me that Istanbul is right on the water because the only parts of the water I'd seen had massive amounts of buildings on the other side and reeked of fish because of all the restaurants lining the water.

Today I got a taste of home in the sun reflecting off the water with no 20-story buildings on the other side of it. I think we'll be frequenting that park a lot.


And just because she's cute. (Yes, I am a doting mother.)

The Basilica Cistern

This past weekend we got to play tourists again. We had a few spare hours, and there are quite a few "touristy" things here that we haven't done yet. We're hoping to do a lot of them when Shannon's parents come to visit next month, but as anyone with a baby or toddler knows, playing the tourist is not always fun with baby/toddler in tow. So we like to only do one or two things at a time, most of the time, since it's more tolerable for all of us that way.

Saturday we went to see the Basilica Cistern. It's a large, underground cistern that was built in the 6th century. A basilica used to sit above it (hence the name), but was destroyed in a fire. The Basilica Cistern is the largest of hundreds of cisterns underneath Istanbul. It used to provide water for the Great Palace of Constantinople and Topkapı Palace, among other buildings.


The English portion of the sign just outside the entrance.

The Basilica Cistern is just a short walk from either the Hagia Sophia/Blue Mosque area or from Topkapı Palace. It's nearly right in between them.


Columns.

There are 336 marble columns, 12 rows of 28. The whole effect is rather neat, as it's dark and damp, and the lighting of the cistern is a bit eerie. Water drips from the ceiling overhead as you walk through the cistern, and carp swim in the 2-3 feet of water in the bottom.


Mmm, carp. Did you know that in Poland the carp is considered the king of fishes? It's like the equivalent of salmon or Mahi-Mahi in America. They eat it for Christmas dinner. Strange, huh?

There is one column in the cistern that is covered in "Peacock eyes" and tears. Ancient texts suggest that the tears pay tribute to the hundreds of slaves who died during the construction of the cistern.


The "Peacock-eyed" column.

There are also two Medusa heads in the cisterns which are the bases for two of the columns. It's said that they were probably relocated to the cistern from other Roman buildings, but nobody knows for sure. One is upside-down and the other is sideways, and while once again, nobody is sure why, they were probably put that way on purpose, and it probably had to do with structural integrity of the cistern.


Upside-down Medusa head.

Most of us have heard the legend about Medusa. She had hair of snakes and everyone who looked at her would turn to stone. There's more to the legend, or Greek myth, but of course there are conflicting stories so there's no telling which myth is correct (ha, what a contradiction!). Anyhow, what I found interesting was that because of her "ability" to turn anyone who looked at her to stone, images of Medusa (and the two other Gorgons) were often used to protect great buildings.


Sideways Medusa head.

All in all, the Basilica Cistern was pretty neat. I've heard that it's awesome to visit in the summer, because it's naturally cool and provides a great break from the heat. At only 10 lira for admission, I'd recommend visiting. It would take a maximum of 30 minutes to leisurely look at everything. Be forewarned that if you have a young child in tow, the railings are spaced far apart (2-3 feet apart, at least. Definitely far enough apart that a child could fall in) and the floor is slippery.