Cafe Du Martin

I only entitle this post as such because I’m a day late on wishing my dear husband a happy birthday on this here blog! Yesterday we were not only able to celebrate this great man’s birth but also celebrate all he has done in his journey of fatherhood thus far.

This guy. He’s a good one.

This is probably my favorite picture of my Mr. Martin on our wedding day. He isn’t the biggest fan of having his picture taken but I like to think that he was so happy that day that he didn’t mind all that much.

Yesterday was filled with a lot of normal and low expectations. I was pretty up front with my sweet husband about that facts that our house is still a mess from our recent travels and his presents were ordered only days in advance (and his father’s day card may have been made the day of…). But because he is one of the greatest and most patient people alive he was also upfront in telling me that it was all fine and that the day was exactly what he wanted.

I forget how lucky I am so often. I have a person in my life that has stood by me consistently since we first met in college. He has been a true friend to me in every sense of the word and has shown me what commitment really means. He is patient, loving, funny, and just the right amount of stubborn to challenge me on a daily basis. To top it all off, he is a really, really fantastic father. I remember when we first started dating and sharing our dreams and future hopes with each other. Being a dad was something he was always so sure of and something he wanted in life so badly. It is apparent that it wasn’t just his will to be a dad in the way he interacts with our daughter and talks about parenthood.

I really don’t think I could gush (or probably embarrass;) anymore.

Eric Martin, I hope you had the best day yesterday (coated in all of its lackluster glory) because as cliche as it sounds – you are the best, and you deserve it more than you know.

Helloooooooooooooo!

Oh goodness it’s been a while. Blogging has been on the back burner for a few weeks now as we have been powering through the first chunk of wedding festivities for this summer. My sister got married in Mexico last weekend and a few weeks before that we had a bridal shower + bachelorette combo weekend. So needless to say, we have been B U S Y ’round these parts. But now we are home and almost recovered from the marathon that was traveling to New Orleans with a toddler >> flights/connections to Mexico >> flight/connections/tropical storm delays BACK to New Orleans >> a flight smack dab during the middle of dinnertime back to Dallas. Throw in a couple of stomach bugs, leaving my baby for a trip for the first time, and maid of honor duties and I kind of feel like I need a week long sleep to recover from our vacation!

Anyways, I’ve been brainstorming quite a bit about some things lately and can’t wait to get back into the swing of things. I am giving myself the rest of this week to demolish the laundry mountain that is taking up residence in our bedroom right now and get back to our normal grind here and then I’m hoping to be back more frequently on the blog if not more consistently!

I’ll leave you with a few of my favorite snaps from our little Mexican fiesta. It was such a blissful week.

This past weekend was FULL. Fully of family, fun, and fond memories (I had to keep going, alliteration is the most addictive of literary elements, agreed?). My in-laws flew in from NOLA on Wednesday night to attend my brother-in-law’s graduation from my alma mater! It’s crazy to think that he is already finished with his undergraduate career. I distinctly remember helping him move into his freshman dorm room and getting used to him being in Dallas. Now he’s living here and has two bachelor’s degrees to boot! Between Miss M and my nephew the graduation ceremony was definitely entertaining. Thankfully it was before dinner, and not during dinner, so snacks and sippy cups were our go to entertainment and when those ran out there was infinite amounts of people watching to keep the littles occupied.

We spent the rest of the weekend just hanging out and spending time together as a family. We picnic-ed at our local park on Friday night and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset accompanied by cool breezes and baby giggles. Saturday we lunched on pizza in downtown Plano and visited the train museum that my dad has been working at for ages.

Saturday evening, we had the wedding some old college friends to attend! The bride was a freshman when I was a senior and we have been able to witness the relationship with her now husband grow over the past few years. They are the epitome of adorable and their wedding ceremony + reception were a blast. We also haven’t been out without a little one in tow in quite sometime so THAT was extra nice.

Happy Tuesday, y’all!

It was around this time last year that I decided to stay home with my little one instead of go back into my classroom as a third grade teacher. The years I spent teaching and learning in my classroom are ones that I hope to never forget and contain lessons I intend to pass on to my sweet girl in the years to come. While there were undoubtedly long, hard days I can honestly say that I loved working as a full time classroom teacher. There was always at least one moment in my day that brought me light and joy and confirmation in my career’s vocation.

This week was teacher appreciation day (or week for those districts that like to celebrate their teachers for more than one day – which I fully approve of:) and I always loved that teacher appreciation day/week usually coincided with mother’s day weekend because I always felt like a mother to my students. I was with them for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, and sometimes even longer if I needed them to stay for tutoring or after school events. By the end of the year my students and I would always develop this comfortable, familial rapport with each other. They knew about all of my daily, quirky habits like what days I would eat in my classroom and work through lunch, what names I would use in my word problems during math, my obsessive love for manatees, they even knew which afternoons I needed a diet coke. In turn, I learned about their funny little preferences and had the privilege of watching them grow and learn over the course of the school year. I was their school mom, and they were my 20 wild, crazy kiddos. The relationships that form in a classroom are just as in explicable as those with your family members. There is that sense of comfort and warmth and nurturing found in those walls and among those tiny desks.

I think about the day that my little one will walk up the steps and meet her Kindergarten teacher and the relationship that they will form over the course the academic year. All of the learning she will do and all of the hard work, dedication, and patience her teacher will endure over those long day and short months. I think about the trust and encouragement her teacher will need. I think about the hours her teacher will spend grading papers, sorting through books, and writing my daughter’s name on name tags. My appreciation for my former coworkers and friends has grown exponentially as I have started my family. While I am no longer working 12 hour days in the classroom, prepping science experiments and writing lesson plans and I am working on a much smaller, part-time scale I still think about what a great calling it is to be a teacher. To get to be even a small part of a child’s life is such an incredible thing. To all my teacher friends out there – happy teacher appreciation day! I hope your students and families have showered you with words and gifts of encouragement because you have more than earned it.

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” -Pericles

Happy Wednesday!

We didn’t have ANY plans this weekend! And guess what!? IT. WAS. GLORIOUS. The month of may brings with is weddings upon weddings, my brother-in-laws graduation, bridal showers & bachelorette parties…among our regularly scheduled family happenings. So needless today, we relished in this weekend and all it’s unplanned glory. I even took a nap on Sunday. That my friends is spontaneity at it’s finest.

Friday evening we ventured over to our new next door neighbors backyard and grilled + chatted + got to know our new friends! When we moved into our new house we were really nervous about neighbors and the neighborhood. We were really hoping to find a place for our young family to grow while meeting other young families and long-time residents alike. A few weeks ago we saw the “For Sale” sign vanish from the house next door and a new young family move in. The best part? I already knew the mom moving in because we see each other every morning at our mommy + baby bootcamp! Such a small, awesome world. We are so excited to have some friends next door to laugh and play with. Cheers to many more Friday night family grilling dates!

Saturday we ran some errands and planned an at-home date night. I was supposed to meet up with the lovely Amanda, but alas our mommy + beer date will have to be planned for another day because she came down with a bug – but honestly it worked out better for the day and we were able to spend some much needed family time together. Something Eric and I have been enjoying when we have a day like Saturday is making a trip to Central Market and planning a fancier dinner date after Madeline goes to bed. Doing this always takes me back to when we first started dating and cooking at home + movie nights were a staple date of ours. With the weather being so flipping wonderful we decided to grill up some beautiful rib-eye steak, portobello mushrooms, and artichokes. While we waited for the food to finish cooking we sipped on Mint Juleps in honor of the Kentucky Derby that was Saturday (even though neither of us are from Kentucky and I don’t think either of us have ever watched it…). It was a seriously A+ dinner and the best part was me not having to make much of it. 😉

Sunday was the normal grind of leftover weekend errands, band practice and mass in the afternoon. As I mentioned previously, I even snuck in a nap while M slept in the morning and it was the most unexpected + amazing thing in the world. Sundays! You’re the best!

I hope you’re Monday is kicking off your week to a fantastic start!

The temperatures are starting to rise as we welcome spring in the Dallas area and with warmer days I am less attracted to my standard hot black coffee in the morning. For the past few spring/summer seasons I have been brewing up a large batch of cold brew coffee to keep in our fridge and sip on when fatigue inevitably strikes. It’s nice to have the option on warm summer mornings or even in the afternoon during naptime when I usually hit a tired slump in my day and need the extra energy boost to make that time productive. I enjoy my iced coffee black or with a little half and half. I’m not into overly sweet or syrupy drinks unless they are from a coffee shop but I’m sure you could add a little vanilla simple syrup or honey to your beverage to sweeten it up a bit! I have added a little home made Kahlua (courtesy of an old teaching buddy) to my iced coffee during brunch and it was spot on.

Recipe: Classic Cold Brew Coffee

Ingredients/Tools

• 2 cups ground medium roast coffee (I use Costco’s breakfast blend – I steer away from flavored coffees because the flavor tends taste weird it steeps, that could just be my taste buds though!)
• 8 cups of water
• 2 large mixing bowls
• Chemex Coffee Maker + at least 2 filters (or any pour over/filtering system – this is just what we have)
• 1 cup measuring cup

Instructions

1. Put 1 cup of coffee grounds in each of your large mixing bowls. Pour 4 cups of water in each mixing bowl and stir water and grounds together, making sure that all of your grounds are completely soaked.
2. Cover bowls and let grounds steep for 6-8 hours.
3. After your coffee has steeped put your filter in the Chemex and pour coffee through the filter a cup at a time. I also you a small sieve on top of my filter to easily remove the bulk of the grounds while I am filtering the coffee. This is kind of overkill through and it’s really up to you and how many filters you want to use. I usually go through about 2-3 when I’m going through the entire process.
4. After I filter through all of the coffee I put it in a large spout container that goes in our fridge. I let it chill over night and then the next morning (and multiple mornings after) I enjoy! (:

See? Super simple! The waiting is the hardest part but I always make a large batch and it will keep in the fridge for about a month.

This is the container we use to store it in our fridge. Pretty sure I got it at Target last year for less than $5. Also, like our top shelf? Beer + coffee. Priorities, people!

I hope you are all having a wonderful well-caffeinated Monday! (: