Our house is full of apples

Apples, apples, and more apples abound in the Dean family abode here on Trinity's campus. We took a day trip to the fine, historic (self-proclaimed) town of Cedarburg, Wisconsin (also a "Wonder of Wisconsin" in 2008) to meet up with our crazy fun friend Megan (pictured in the tree!) and steal the fruit that some trees so laboriously grew over the season. Ha!

Though I always make fun of Aaron's rural-ness and make up silly things that he supposedly used to do when he grew up in western Pennsylvania (e.g. pick-up truck drag racing, play the banjo for his hogs), it was his first time to ever go to an orchard and pick apples. He had a great time, especially when he got to carry around our 20-pound bag of "sweet-pickin's" (his words).

At the end of the day, I celebrated my love for the internet sensation (and perhaps maybe even my best friend) Keyboard Cat by devoting five hours of my evening to carve my newly-bought "punkin" (again, Aaron's word).

So, what to do with all the apples? So far I've thought of: make three pies (all for me to eat), dip in cheese fondue and caramel (as of yesterday, done and done), add to oatmeal, um... wash and eat as normal, make applesauce, target practice a la William Tell (borrowing the intense compound bow that Aaron uses for hunting*, naturally), prepare as a dinner side, and bake into tasty cakes/muffins. Any other suggestions welcome.


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*a non-truth

It's like a day at the beach

Because it was a day at the beach!

It's no secret to those who read my blog that I like warm days in the middle of October. I believe I really drove that point home in my last post. We acted on these feelings this past Saturday by going on a journey to Zion, IL where Illinois Beach State Park is located. There we ate very tasty sandwiches, read books, and attempted to toss a frisbee like capable people.

Oh yeah, we also got our hairs cut! Hoorah! It was Aaron's first time at an official hair-cutting facility of any kind since he was a small child. He overcame his pre-cut anxieties and ended up being pleased with the results. Second hoorah! 

The lady who took care of my hair seemed really nervous for me the whole time--I gave her an exact description of how short to cut my hair and how to layer it. When I initially told her how much hair to chop, I'm pretty sure she gasped, and after every couple inches she would ask, "You sure you want it cut more?" After a few times of her asking this I finally just gave in, without really getting what I hoped for, for her own sake. Le sigh.


And, hey! I'm hosting my small group at our apartment next week! Excellent.


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Maddd shout-out's

Greetings! I want to take this time to give a big shout-out to my good friend warm-weather-in-the-middle-of-October. You make getting out of bed at 7:30 more bearable by shining the sun's scorching rays of promise in my eyes--the promise of bringing a warmth of 75 degrees Fahrenheit to my mid-autumn afternoon. I can roll down the car windows on my 2 minute work commute, and I can take the risk of wearing my 3/4-length-sleeved sweater to my job instead of a long-sleeved one.

Days like you affect everything in a positive way. The colors of the fall trees are more vibrant. You make the children's laughter seem oh so cheerful and not at all annoying as they play together outdoors, and you make the notes of the mystery mid-afternoon trumpet player (my downstairs neighbor?) practically dance in your gentle breeze. And, oh, such glorious Fridays you bring! A grasshopper landed on my shirt as I walked to the mailbox during my workday, and a little girl gave me a bracelet. Now that wouldn't happen on a dreary, fifty-degree day!


Warm October weather, I salute you! Don't be a stranger.


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Sick Day

This afternoon I'm feeling like all sorts of gross. I woke up around 7am feeling nauseated, acting involuntarily on that nausea, and remaining wide awake despite feeling sick. This of course resulted in my watching of numerous 30 Rock episodes and the French film Amelie while in bed. And Aaron, being the oh so wonderful husband that he is, went out this morning to purchase a two liter bottle of delicious Schweppes.

So since I am not feeling too inspired at the moment, I'm going to ask Aaron a series of questions so that you have an idea of his seminary experience so far:

Favorite class? Greek

Theological concept he hopes to explore further in depth? “I don't know... um... covenants, if I have to pick one, but... I don't know.”

Music he enjoys listening to when studying? Mumford and Sons, the new instrumental Nine Inch Nails album

Favorite dinner I've prepared?? Honey Mustard Chicken, Chicken Mac and Cheese, Red Curry w/ Pineapples

Class he's looking forward to taking at Trinity? something w/ Dr. Carson

If money and class-taking were no objects, where he would want to go on his summer break? Scotland (when asked why, he responded, “I think I like castles...I mean, I want to like castles...”)

Upcoming movie release he is excited about? True Grit or Tron Legacy

Favorite theology book in his collection? Scripture Alone by R.C. Sproul

Favorite commercial? "The Geico commercials with the little piggy and the woodchucks" (though it used to be the Old Spice commercials)

Favorite part about living on campus? “the convenience for now, but later it will be the community”

Place he wants to visit in the Chicagoland area? Field Museum in Chicago

Who do you want to win all of the football games today? “the Steelers, the Bears, and my fantasy players”

I do hope you enjoyed learning about my dear spouse, Aaron--The student. The husband. The man. The legend.

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Well I'm takin' my time

I'm just a-bloggin' along...


Whew, it's been a little while. To sum up my week of blog-neglecting, life on campus and in Chicagoland has been utterly scrumtrulescent. Aaron and I visited Chi-town (since I guess that's what they call it?) to see brother-in-law Ben, we can now watch broadcast television in the comfort of our living room, and we had a particularly excellent breakfast-dinner this past Sunday. Out of everything though, I'm very pumped about two recent developments...

Through the Trinity Wives Fellowship I signed up to be an English conversation partner for any international wives/students who want to practice speaking the language. I did this through InterVarsity back in 2007 in China and had an awesome experience with it, so I'm really looking forward to this opportunity. We had an instructional seminar type of thing last Wednesday evening where I learned a few strategies on how to be a good language partner and where I met other people who were interested in the program. And I just now at this very second received the e-mail with my language partner's name and contact info! Yay!!! I can't wait to meet her!

So, Aaron and I think we may have found our new home church! For the last two weeks we have attended Northwest Bible Chapel in Chicago--it's a Plymouth Brethren assembly, which is the church tradition in which I grew up back in ol' Jersey. I'm not 100% positive that we'll be staying there for the long haul... but, especially since there's a strong chance that we will, it's so relieving and wonderful to belong to a church again. We gots to pray, pray, pray about it.


And to top everything off, my fantasy football team, the Dancin' Gary's, is currently #1 in its division! Huzzah!


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Warning: Here be bundt cake!

A few days ago Aaron thought it would be fun to invite one of his new seminary friends over for dinner, so last night we got to hang out with Jeremy and Elizabeth in our apartment!

(Artist rendering of September 17th's dinner. From left to right: Aaron, Jeremy, Elizabeth. Also--um--none of these people look like this, and our table isn't that tall. And we actually did provide food.)

It was an extra-awesome night in general because not only did we get to know some really great people, but it was also the debut of my bundt cake pan (thank you thank you Diana and Ben!!). Oh bundt, how I've missed you...

Dinner guests and bundt cake... I think this is the beginning of a beautiful trend!


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Tuesday's Big Question

What would my theme song be?


It's one of those big questions everyone finds themselves asking at some point in their life.


Someone asked me this about a year ago, and I didn't have any good answer for him then. I've since put the thought to rest but, as you can see, it has recently awakened and has been stirring within my soul. So, seeing that I've been struggling with this philosophical conundrum since yesterday-ish, I decided I'd venture a couple guesses and ask my husband for his opinion. For the record, this is definitely not* an excuse to post random songs for my own amusement. Definitely not.**



"United States of Whatever" by Liam Lynch... because [I think] I am pretty laid back... and as my nearest and dearest know, I too enjoy throwing dice in the alley. If by "throwing dice in the alley" you mean "eating lots of cookies". 



"I'm the Urban Spaceman" by The Bonzo Dog Band... since there's a chance I might be a figment (Fig Newton?) of your imagination! Oooh, twist!



And finally, this song from an old Juicy Fruit commercial. The lyrics don't so much capture the person I am as much as the overall essence of the song does--generally upbeat, cheesy, and created in the late '80s. 


Now it's your turn to play at home, friends and family--what would your theme song be?


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*"definitely not"="almost definitely"
**see above.