Espresso With John

Ok, so I know I said that I would blog about the products in my store and I know I promised way back to post about food I made with the organic blueberries that I picked. Well, I have decided not to post about either of those things right now. I will get around to both of those topics sooner or later. Right now I would rather blog about something else. John and I celebrated our four year anniversary on June 25th and I wanted to blog about something important to us.

Last summer, John and I took a trip to Aruba because we both needed a vacation. We had not taken a real vacation together, alone since our honeymoon in 2005. We felt it was time to get far away from North Carolina and enjoy a different way of life. John had never been to a place where the water is clear (or least blueish green). It had been since the 90's since I had been able to the Caribbean. So, we decided to take a trip to the Island of Aruba.

During our vacation, we went out to eat every night (we had no problem finding vegan/vegetarian fare). Afterward, we would get espresso and chat about the vacation and life in general. This was one of our favorite things during the trip. Before we were married, we used to spend time going out for coffee or sitting and chatting. We recognized that we do not do this anymore. I guess life just got in the way.

During one of our last nights in Aruba, we decided that we wanted to bring something back with us. We did not need souvenirs or local Aruban art, we decided that we would bring back the gift of having espresso together. To some, this may seem silly. To us, this was a rekindling of the beginning of our relationship.


We started off as friends and progressed to best friends. It was not until two (more like 2.5 years) later that we actually began dating. At the inception of our relationship/friendship, we spent many hours at the local hangout called Jackson's Java. It was close enough to campus that we could walk, if we needed too, but far enough that it felt like we getting away. We would study, play board games, meet friends, have debates, conversations, etc. We did this on a weekly basis, sometimes on a daily basis. When we could not make it to Jackson's Java, we would meet on campus at the Prospector or RDH (affectionately called "Rats Die Here" and "Rancid Dinning Hell").

You see, having coffee/espresso together was the basis of our relationship. We got to know each other over coffee and we maintained our relationship over coffee. It is a shame that we let it slip away over the years.

Since our return from Aruba, we have attempted to have espresso with some regularity. Sometimes we are successful and sometimes we fail. We often have very different schedules and it is not always easy to find time and energy to pull out the espresso machine. In at attempt to succeed, we always keep soy creamer and Whole Foods organic fair trade espresso beans on hand for an impromptu espresso session. We sometimes even add in an extra special treat by making or buying vegan cookies from Whole Foods. (When we make espresso at home, we steam soy creamer. I know, it is not traditional espresso. We like it though :)

It has been one year since we went to Aruba and I would like to make a mid-year resolution to do this more often. We are, after all, best friends and best friends should have espresso together.

My Helena Fix!

My brother recently sent me professional pictures of Helena in the mail. I need to get my hands on a scanner to post them. For now, I have some in my email that I have been meaning to post since April. It has been a busy couple of months with buying a house, moving, a death in the family, etc.

Enjoy her sweetness! I will post the new ones soon!

(My brother says she has grayish eyes)

(This is certainly an expression inspired by my brother)

Good Bye Aunt Lois, Part 2

I did not post a picture of my Aunt with my blog about her life and death. I found a couple of pictures of her to post. I will always remember her as she was the last time I saw her. Happy and full of life.

I love and miss you......always.

My Aunt Lois with her daughter, Sarah

She was talking in this picture. Something that runs in the family! LOL!

My Uncle Dan, Mom, Aunt Marcia, Ma, and Aunt Lois

How I will always remember her, laughing.

Good Bye Aunt Lois

It is often that I think of death, but not often that I like to speak of it (or in this case, write about it). Recently, my family was unfortunate enough to hear the news that my Aunt Lois was stricken with a cancerous, aggressive brain tumor. It took three weeks from the time we learned of the tumor until her death. The prognosis originally began hopeful and then quickly went downhill. We were told that she would have six months to a year to live and that turned into about two weeks.

I learned of her death on a Sunday afternoon and even though I had been preparing myself, for her passing it still felt like a shock. I had been praying for a miracle and had been having dreams that she recovered and lived a long life. It must have been my body telling me what I wanted to believe.

I know there was a specific plan for her and I know that there is a good reason why her life turned out the way it did. It was time for her to go, God was ready for her. That is sometimes hard to accept as a human and something I struggle with daily. It is always easy to say "God has a plan" and "God will take care of things," but it is hard to internalize when it hits home. I guess that all comes with the territory of being a spiritual human being devoted to God.

My heart goes out to my uncle and and kids (I use the term "kids" loosely as they are all 18 and above). I can not imagine the grief that they feel and how this will impact their lives. I keep reminding myself that there is a reason, a real reason why she was taken in her late 50's. I only hope that they can live with and accept this as well.

Tragedy is not new to my family as one of my other Aunt's died in her 40's, suddenly in 2003. She left behind a husband and four children. They were all under the age of 16. They have all seemed to adjust well to their new lives, but it was not without years of grief and mourning. All seven of them will be able to understand the loss of a parent at a young age. I am comforted by the thought that they all have each other. Now, I only hope they will use this to their advantage. This is my wish and prayer for them, that they grow closer because of the common experience of death.

The way I will cope with her death is to never allow the memory of my Aunt to fade. I will remember all of the happy times I shared with her. One of the things that stands out, and always has, was her laughter. She had a contagious and joyful laugh and I will always remember her humor.

I will also remember the many times I spent the night at her house as a child. My fondest memories include summer cookouts at their backyard picnic table. I remember running through the backyard, playing with my cousins as she watched us play. I remember watching evening movies on the couch in our pj's complete with popcorn and iced tea. I remember the many times we sat around the kitchen or dining table enjoying a hot cup of tea engaged in conversation. My Aunt loved hot tea, black tea with milk and sugar. Everything was discussed or debated over a hot cup of tea. It was the way her day began and ended.

I remember the many family dinners she hosted. Sometimes on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Hushing everyone so that we could say the blessing over the food or calling my grandma (Ma) to stop doing stuff in the kitchen and to sit down and eat. Afterward we all had dessert and of course, tea. She kept coffee on hand for those of us that prefer coffee with dessert.

My earliest memory of her was when she brought my cousin Nathan, her first child, home from the hospital right after Christmas. I was three-years-old (almost four). I remember her changing him and she allowed me to watch and to help. I was so excited because it was the first baby I had spent time with and he was my cousin.

I have literally hundreds of memories of her and I promise to keep them and cherish them as a reminder of what a wonderful person she was. She inspired many during her teaching career as a high school remedial reading teacher and then as a grade school teacher. She also shared her spiritual values when she taught Sunday school She was a wonderful and loving mother, sister, wife, Aunt, and Godmother. If I could say anything to her right now, I would thank her for being a part of my life and tell her how much I love her.

Good bye Aunt Lois. You will always be in my heart.

Visiting With My Niece, Helena

My job includes travel in the US and sometimes Canada. Most people that do not travel think that traveling for work is great. I disagree. When traveling, I have to sleep in a foreign bed, am away from John, have to eat out every meal (and I prefer to cook to control the ingredients), am away from friends and family, miss social events, get out of the normal routines in life, etc. I do not see the greatness in it at all! I rarely get to see or do anything fun while traveling for work. It is way more of a hassle than it is great.

Depending on the location, I generally spend many hours in an airport and/or flying and am exhausted when I arrive to my destination. By the time I settle in, I am already behind on work and email and have to spend several hours catching up on things from the office. The meetings that I facilitate usually keep me busy throughout the whole day and I do not always have access to email during the meeting, thus putting me behind at work again. It is a vicious cycle and it is rare that I actually get to do anything fun or for myself. Still, nothing glamorous or great that I can identity.

However, in a recent trip to Fort Worth I felt compelled to take time to see my brother, his wife and my niece. I just could not be a half hour away from them and not see sweet Helena (and of course David and Rhea). One evening we met and went to dinner near the hotel where I was staying.

We had several hours to catch up and I was able to hold Helena. In the month I had been away from her, she had become more interactive. She now seemed engaged in eye contact and curious about the world. She even smiled if you used a kind voice or smiled at her. I was delighted to see her toothless, lovable smile and take in her sweet smell.

I am disappointed that it will be a while until I see her again. David, Rhea, and Helena are planning a trip to North Carolina, but I do not know when. Whenever it is, it will not be soon enough and for long enough. I wish there was a shorter distance between us so that we could play a more considerable role in her life and up bringing. I also wish for my parents to be closer to their only grandchild.

I just hope my brother will send us more pictures of Helena as she develops. As of now, we have only received several from him and it is not enough to satisfy our Helena fix. If you are reading this David, please send us pictures soon and often!

Newman Improved Grand Opening on Etsy.com

It is finally time for the grand opening of Newman Improved! My store design is finalized, loaded, and ready for customers. I have a handful of products that I have created and will begin posting blogs about the story of each product.

I decided to start a store on etsy.com because I like to create. The site promotes handmade products and has a lot of good finds. I have bought several birthday and Christmas gifts for family and friends. Each product has been made well and has made the recipient smile!

There are a lot of stores on etsy.com, but my thought was to create a store with all recycled, reused, and vegetarian (vegan) products. Every product in my store started out as something else. Some of the materials were scraps from other products and others have been repurposed into something completely different. So far, the only new materials that I have used have been string and paint (even some of the string and yarn was left over from other projects).

As a consumer, I feel guilty for purchasing new products. I have tried to shop more at thrift and consignment shops, keeping in mind that gently used cloths are still worthy of wear. The more new we buy, the more that will end up in our over-crowded landfills. One way to combat this dilemma is to take used items and turn them into something else, something new.

There is not any reason that a repurposed item cannot be thought about as new! It is new because it has a new use. The materials in the product may have been reused, but the idea and the end product are fresh. It is exciting to think that you are using something that someone else once owned in another form.

My plan is to blog about each of my products. I want to tell the story behind the itemand the materials that were used/reused. I cannot promise that the stories are exciting. What I can promise is that a lot of thought, concern, care, and love have gone into each of the products that I create.

Please visit Newman Improved and view my products. Email me, convo me (on etsy.com), or post a comment if you have any questions. I enjoy hearing from people who care about the environment, so do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for taking the time to read about my store and thank you for looking at my creations.

Blog and Etsy.com Store Design!

It has been a long time coming, but I finally have a design for my etsy.com store! The name of my store is Newman Improved and you can get to it by going to this link.

I have had products in my store for several months now, but have not had a store or blog design. With the help of my friend Diana, I have a design for my blog and store. Diana created many samples of banners for me incorporating cut out designs in colorful prints. They were all nicely done and it was difficult for me to decide what to choose. In the end, I decided to go with a black background with purse, pillow, and frame cut outs of several different paper designs.

Please visit my store to see my products. I have started slow, but hope to add more in the coming months. Please stay tuned to my blog to learn about the thoughts behind my store and the story behind the products that I have created.