hey jude.

She Came in Through the Bathroom Window.

MegHuff — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:19:28 +0000

In actuality she came in through the bathroom heat register. A mouse that is. We’re not going to name her, because her story does not end well.

For about the past week to two weeks Prudence has been guarding the heat register in the bathroom. I pretty much ignored this craziness as I figured it was just the pipes that she was reacting to, the various noises that they make. Or a piece of dust that she was swatting at underneath. Ha. not so much.

About midnight or so last night I hear her playing with the door stop on the bathroom door. Thinking that this is all well and fine for her to do while I’m at work this is not a game she gets to play at bedtime, so I go to the bathroom with the intentions of picking her up and ending the little game. This is how the rest of the evening went:

Lights get turned on, and there’s Pru with a mouse under her paw. I freak, and jump in the tub. Pru starts purring and looks at me as if to say, “look what I did Mom!” I ever so calmly reply (yes out-loud, because I’m a little bit crazy and talk to my cat) , “We are so not putting that on the fridge.” Well so in her excitement of showing me what she had caught the not so dead yet mouse gets away and runs back behind the door and her game continues. After about 15 min of Pru swatting and batting at the poor thing, and me freaking out that its going to run away from her and hide somewhere she can get at and then I’ll have no idea if its still in my apartment or not, I decide its time for this to end. About that same time Pru manages to trap the thing under the bathroom rug and I take care of it from there. I cleaned up the mess and spent the next hour convincing myself it was OK to go back to sleep and I wouldn’t wake with mice in my bed (either alive or as presents from my dear huntress).

Needless to say Pru is quite pleased with herself. She’s still guarding the heat register so I’m going to pick up a couple traps tonight because we’ve all seen the Disney movies. Its never one mouse. gross.

A special thanks go out to our dear friends, Amanda and Penny Lane, in FL who kept us company via text during this ordeal.

Pru, the mighty Huntress.

Ya Ya.

MegHuff — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:10:38 +0000

Ok. So I have a blog. I admit it. I’m one of those people. But I love blogs. I love stumbling across beautiful photos or narrations of people lives. There is just something completely freeing about being an objective observer of the world. And since being a writer has never been a prerequisite for having a blog, why not share in the fun. Its an adventure in living, and adventures are best when shared.

I’ve recently come across a couple lists that I completely adore. Which I mean, probably isn’t saying much since I adore lists to begin with. There’s just something wonderful about them, the organization, the crossing things off. I love them. So here’s a list today. A list of all the things that make me happy, make me smile, bring me joy, in no particular order.

1. Jamba and Babka rolls, mini adventures and morning [_]D with Amanda.

2. The memories of the feeling of being home in a room surrounded in hunting wallpaper, and scrapbook desks, of three months of profound living, of ham pot-pie, and discovering Doris Day and falling deeper in love with the Rat Pack, of days spent scrapbooking and of a family that shares my name but not blood.

3. Marjorie McNeely Conservatory.

4. Books. getting completely caught up in a good story, fiction or non-fiction. I love them all. The library is my friend.

5. Being crafty.

6. Being in God’s creation, exploring the world He has given us.

7. Time with Prudence.

8. Apartment Therapy

9. Truly learning what it means to live on dreams and spaghettios, well dreams and subway anyway.

10. Photography. Capturing a moment, a whisper in time, seeing beauty in the ugly or ordinary.

11. Paco and Lefty adventures. There have been many. There will be many more. many.

12. Skype. Facebook. Blogs. Gmail chat. Aim. Anything that enables friends and family to stay in touch and in each others lives over the many miles that can separate them.

13. Spending time with my family. We’re crazy and function in our own special way, but I love them. They’re mine.

14. Sunshine. There’s just something so splendid about feeling the heat of the sun on your face.

15. Midwest seasons. They’re lovely. Sure the summer heat can get to be a bit much come August and by February you’re sick of Snow (and still have about 6 weeks left of it) but I can’t imagine living without them.

16. Watching God act in the lives of the people I love, of the kids I work with and the world I live in. He’s amazing. Really.

17. watching things grow.

18. The people in my life. Especially the women in my life who inspire me, the youth leaders growing up who encouraged me, the aunts, grandmas and family friends who taught me about life, love, friendship and faith, the friends who walk beside me, the sisters who share my heart and mi madre who has always been my lighthouse. I love you all.

….so many more things, but that’s it for now. I’m off to adventure in the world outside of the virtual. Happy Wednesday friends.

….edited

19. Making grand daydreams with friends of owning coffee shops or bookstores or photography studios or all of those. Of traveling to Europe and living in the country, or picking up everything and moving to one of the coasts for a year with a friend. Of dreaming. One day, hopefully soon, we’ll do it.

your mother should know.

MegHuff — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:20:56 +0000

I adore…reading, and books with characters you can’t help but love. I’m in the middle of one of those series now. It called the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Check out her website here: http://www.evanovich.com/novels/novel . Stephanie is a woman after my own heart. She’s the opposite of domesticated, she’s doing good if she can manage to feed herself and her pet hamster Rex at the end of the day. She lives in a no-thrills, one bedroom apartment. And she’s a walking disaster when it comes to staying out of trouble. Along with Stephanie you have her friend and part-time sidekick Lula, her crazy but lovable Grandma Mazur, and then there’s constant silent competition between Ranger-Stephanie’s bounty hunter mentor and Joe Morelli-Stephanie’s sometimes, on again off again boyfriend. I’m starting book 11 today after finishing 10 yesterday. I’m a little saddened by the fact that I’m only 5 novels and 3 novellas away from the last book in the series and then I’ll have to wait with the rest of the plum-crazy fans for the next book. I do have one disclaimer on these in that they can get a little racy at times. Probably if it were a movie it’d be PG13. Probably it wouldn’t be R.

So what books are you reading? What books do you love? Any suggestions for beating the end of a series depression that awaits me in a couple weeks?

When I get Home.

MegHuff — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:43:45 +0000

When I get home….I need to be crazy productive. I have no plans this weekend outside of the normal Sunday morning obligations. So why do I feel as though I have no weekend? I need to go into the office and work for a bit tomorrow morning. I want to get out and take photos. I want to go to the farmer’s market before its too cold to go anymore. I want to finish cleaning my apartment (just to have to do it again next week), I want to hang curtains and organize closets, I want to scrapbook and read, I want to clean up pots and start and harvest herbs. I want to cook and I want to bake. I want to watch movies and I want to sleep. There are so many things! Probably I should make a list. Prioritize for necessity and sanity. Probably I’ll just end up heading into the office in the morning and then reading the rest of the weekend. Probably, that’ll just be swell.

However, I do really want to get out and take some photos. I tried restarting my 365 project a couple weeks ago but dropped it when life got all sorts of crazy. I want to restart that this weekend. I want to find a routine for the week. One that doesn’t leave me feeling like I’m running from place to place. And for the sake of everything my mother ever taught me I have got to clean out my car.

Anyway, I’m off to make plans and lists and see what’s at the RedBox and I think I’m going to make chili tonight.

Also. Found this photo from the summer today. Thought I’d share.

A taste of honey.

MegHuff — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:30:23 +0000

You know those movies that just come out of no where and knock your socks off? The kind that not only has you laughing more sincerly than you have in months but the ones where you can relate to the characters too. Julie and Julia was that movie. I had wanted to see it but only because it looked funny and had Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in it, both actress that I adore. I was pleasantly surpised by the movie though. Here are a couple websites about the movie, well the first one is about the movie, the second one is the blog that the movie is based off of.

http://www.julieandjulia.com/

http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/2002/08/25.html

All you need is Love.

MegHuff — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:10:43 +0000

Here’s to Tara and Nick. And for that matter here’s to all the wonderful couples in my life. I am insanely blessed to have the friends I do and this weekend I got to celebrate the marriage of two of them to each other. The wedding was a lot of fun, the ceremony was beautiful, the reception was a blast and the whole things was incredible. I was in the wedding party so the majority of my shots were taken before the wedding, and before my camera was taken away and replaced by a rose. Here are a few of my favs though:

All the girls had red shoes.

Tara's cousin doing her hair

Bride's Shoes

Everything here on out was shot by Lauren:

Me and the bride!

And I lowered the curves to black out the spectators on this one.

First dance as man and wife.

Back in the USSR. {or St. Paul, whatev.}

MegHuff — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:33:34 +0000

Well we made it back. no major injuries. no lost kids. and I think a good time was had by all. The Mission trip was a great week away from the buzz of busyness that life had become. A good time to step back and see the amazing things God was doing in Kadoka and Wanblee, SD and in my life and the lives of those around me. We all made new friends, spent time serving others and laughed a lot. Here are a couple of my fav photos from the trip.

Here’s the link to my youth ministry blog for more highlights and photos from the trip: http://sslcyouth.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/and-were-back/

{Mighty to Save}

MegHuff — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 02:05:48 +0000

In just a few hours I will be heading out on a mission trip with 9 amazing senior high kids and a great volunteer to spend a week in South Dakota serving the community of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. While there we’re going to be doing various work projects as well as helping with a Day Camp that YouthWorks! runs during the summer months. It’ll be a great opportunity to connect with some of the senior high kids and for spiritual growth in all of us, not to mention the amazing chance we have to spread the amazing grace and love of Christ.

On a somewhat personal note I’m looking forward to a week away from phones and emails. A week to renew and recharge and refocus. I’m feeling burnt out lately and it seems like its just been one thing after another what with my computer dying and my car breaking down, etc. I am just in need of some serious Me and God time, and I’m hoping that this week will provide some of that. This song has been playing in my head a lot this week. I’m a big fan of the chorus and the last verse.

Alright, time to finish packing, double check that I have everything, do a few dishes and head to bed. Please keep us in your prayers this week. I’ll be sure to post an update and photos when we return! Blessings to all of you for a wonderful week!

Mighty to Save by Hillsong!

Everyone needs compassion
Love that’s never failing
Let mercy fall on me
Everyone needs forgiveness
The kindness of a Saviour
The hope of nations

Saviour
He can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save
Forever
Author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

So take me as You find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now I surrender

Shine Your light and let the whole world see
We’re singing
For the glory of the risen King
Jesus
shine you light and let the whole world see
were singing
for the glory of the risen king

Reminiscing.

MegHuff — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:11:19 +0000

Wednesday night a group of us got together for Harry Potter Night 2 {We’re on a mission to watch all 5 movies together before going to see the 6th movie on the 19th, I’m also trying to read HP 1-5 before then, I just got to four with a week to read both 4 and 5…yikes!} But it was also a chance to hang out with Mel before she headed back to Arizona next week. Here are a couple photos from Wednesday.

the boys spent most of the night behind their laptops.

Roomies.

Storytelling = lots of movement, hence the blurs.

All of us girls. :]

This is the last photo of the four of us together that I could find. It’s from December 2004. There are other photos of us with other people but I think this is the last one of just the four of us.

Blast to the Past.

“Don’t be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes is certain for those who are friends. ” ~Richard Bach.

“It was by chance that we met, by choice that we became friends.”

Do you want to know a Secret?

MegHuff — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:52:35 +0000

I have no idea what I’m doing. Gardening-wise anyway. {Life-wise too these days }. I cut some flowers off the basil and cilantro recently. And used some lemon basil to replace the mint in this recipe. {Can’t find a link for the recipe so i’ll post that later} But here’s a pic of the final result.

Stone Fruit Bowl Salad.

Also here are some updated photos of the Garden. It seems to be coming along nicely, there are banana peppers, green beans and tomatoes all growing. And Spinach and Kale should be ready for a cutting soon, not to mention all the herbs that keep trying to bolt. I’ve been thinking about getting a community garden plot next year in addition to the container garden.

Banana Peppers

Cherry Tomatoes.

Green Beans

Heartland Tomatoes

Radishes and two of the herb containers

Kale and Spinach

Lemon Balm-a new fav of mine!

Peppermint

Petunias and Vinca

Edible End

Sitting end of the Balcony

Back later with that recipe.