thankful list | December 2016

01. our new holiday-scented candles (Candelles' Blue Spruce is the BEST tree scent!).
02. Hulu, for getting me through a sick day.
03. Astrid, for staying close.
04. Ian, for taking care of me.
05. amazing homemade lasagna and great conversation with our upstairs neighbors.
06. our REUNION family.
07. a road trip, because it's been too long.
08. Christmas music.
09. The Nutcracker (and seeing my coworker rock as a professional bassoonist).
10. bananas.
11. an evening volunteering at Perkins.
12. pizza afterward with our community group.
13. Kelly, for her generous loan of maternity clothes.
14. Ali, for helping knock out a big crazy project at work.
15. a Skype call with our Dominican friends.
16. a burger and fries at Tasty Burger.
17. yoga.
18. a kick.
19. lunch at Chick-fil-A.
20. a trip to the Kohler Signature Store to help us make decisions on our bathroom reno.
21. Sundays at REUNION.
22. Super Cluckin' Sundays, which never disappoint.
23. Soapwalla pregnant belly oil, and Follain for carrying it.
24. a fun office holiday party.
25. a glimpse of our baby via the magic of ultrasound. #itsreallyhappening
26. date night at Stellina.
27. our amazing support network.
28. Shake Shack fries after getting my brows did (because fried potatoes taste SO GOOD right now).
29. a great DR partnership visioning meeting.
30. a slumber party
31. bumping into a good friend when I was down about the snow ruining my plan for the day.
32. our Christmas gift exchange.
33. Ian's deep thoughtfulness in getting me a Kindle.
34. Sweet Cheeks biscuits with honey butter, to go.
35. a neighborhood Christmas party.
36. an extra-fun office holiday party with the site group.
37. talking copyediting at the office.
38. a cooperative baby + a clean bill of health at ultrasound take two (with lots more images!).
39. a good dentist appointment (and getting to share our news with the dentist office!).
40. a quick and easy flight to Kansas City (despite the pain of the early hour).
41. an incredible coffee cake muffin at Second Best.
42. laughs over a great book.
43. some time to rest and relax at Nathan and Sara's place.
44. knocking out some Christmas errands in Manhattan.
45. great quality time with family on the farm.
46. Grandma's potato sausage, dinner rolls, spritz, and strawberry rhubarb pie.
47. not having to drive all the way to Dodge City.
48. chicken fried steak at Nelson's Landing (with Nathan and Sara!).
49. catching up with Jordan, Brittany, and Grace over hot beverages (it's been too long).
50. hanging out with Ian's family.
51. catching up with Britni, my oldest friend, who also happens to be pregnant right now.
52. seeing Ren and Emily (even if it was just for a hot minute).
53. catching a movie with Aunt Susan.
54. Varsity Donuts.
55. getting to see Alli, Austin, and the kids.
56. coffee with Megan.
57. dinner and dessert with Caleb and Kate.
58. Nathan and Sara being gracious about our late night arrival.
59. seeing Karen, Jeremy, and Emma, and talking babies + parenting.
60. a really cool hotel for our anniversary weekend. #lastonebeforeweneedababysitter
61. dinner with Vern and Mark.
62. catching up on The Great American Baking Show.
63. a gem of a breakfast joint to kick off our anniversary right.
64. an afternoon at the Nelson-Atkins (ask us about the toddler who ran into the glass maze wall).
65. an all-out anniversary dinner at the Rieger.
66. the bartender at the Rieger, who mixed up some incredible mocktails.
67. Ian, always, but especially for living with my crazy.
68. nine years of marriage—I wouldn't trade a minute of it.

thankful list | November 2016

01. a good discussion at my reflection and planning meeting (i.e. semi-annual review at work).
02. an amazing community group.
03. turning on the Cubs game in the 5th inning to see them leading in Game 6.
04. wearing my Cubs hat at work.
05. an epic Game 7.
06. the improvement in my baseball comprehension, which made the game even more fun/stressful.
07. a broken curse and a Cubs win. #partylikeits1908
08. my Cubs hat, the wearing of which undoubtedly lead to the win. #itsonlycrazyifitdoesntwork
09. hearing Ian's Wrigley/Cubs memories from growing up.
10. an early bedtime after all that late-night game watching.
11. Harry Caray calling the final out in game 7 thanks to the magic of technology (Ian cried).
12. a slow Friday at the office.
13. an office pizza party.
14. REUNION's first ever marriage retreat, which was amazing!
15. homemade cast-iron skillet pizza.
16. a great message at REUNION.
17. not missing Super Cluckin' Sunday sandwiches (the Improper Bostonian made the line long this month).
18. an afternoon of lounging and reading, because we needed it.
19. a copyediting opportunity at work.
20. our community group, because we really needed each other Tuesday night.
21. friendships at work.
22. a reminder from a friend that I can still work to bring God's love and hope here, now.
23. a much needed date night to talk through the last 24 hours and what it means for us.
24. a night babysitting three of our favorite little people.
25. a night of Exploding Kittens with one of my favorite neighbors (thanks, Erin!).
26. after lots of hard work, a cleaned up yard.
27. a great day at REUNION, with the message I needed to hear.
28. time with friends.
29. Ian, especially for being so good at food.
30. successfully making Grandma's dinner rolls.
31. discussing, with our community group, what it means to be a good neighbor.
32. the annual Sasaki Thanksgiving potluck.
33. Cutty's for breakfast.
34. a good appointment.
35. a good copyediting challenge at work.
36. a DR partnership summit/slumber party with good friends.
37. birthday brunch to celebrate our dear friend Emily.
38. seeing her reaction when Brett said they were spending the rest of the weekend in Puerto Rico.
39. a lazy Sunday.
40. a big pile of firewood to get us through the winter (thanks, Ian, for stacking!).
41. finally getting back to yoga.
42. starting the extra long weekend just a little early.
43. a night of dreaming about our next home projects.
44. Ian elevating pasta, red sauce, and ground beef.
45. a few new Christmas things, including two new stockings. #Astridneedsone #planningahead
46. an amazing Friendsgiving.
47. chatting bathroom renovation with the Foxes, who are professional DIYers.
48. decorating for Christmas.
49.  Elf.
50. a beautiful Christmas tree (from Russo's!).
51. our official announcement (special thanks to Sara for being our photographer!).
52. a visit from the Nichols.
53. a husband who takes care of me when I'm under the weather.
54. brunch with an old friend, and meeting a new one.
55. Nutella Fluff ice cream at Toscanini's.
56. a Home Depot trip to look at tile for the bathroom (thanks, Foxes!).
57. Lord of the Rings (the extended version, obvi #nerdalert).
58. a good day at the office.
59. catching up on bookkeeping.
60. progress on bathroom renovation plans: Ian is in his element.
61. that mac and cheese that Ian made.
62. countless congratulations and well wishes.
63. a surprise gift basket at the office (I have the best bosses).
64. Dr. Seuss.

We're thankful for a lot this year...

...but especially our newest pair of (tiny) TOMS shoes. #may2017

thankful list | October 2016

01. breakfast with Ian's family.
02. Varsity Donuts. #donutsmakepeoplehappy
03. Bluestem Bistro.
04. errands in Aggieville.
05. bumping into Phil and Ashley at ACME.
06. a fun and beautiful wedding. #thejureyisin
07. another incredible sister-in-law. I finally have sisters, plural. #mindblown
08. family time.
09. sibling selfies.
10. brunch to send off the happy couple.
11. catching the UCC ONE service at City Park.
12. a fun crazy family lunch.
13. dinner with my oldest friend and her amazing family... it's been too long.
14. catching up with Grandma Marilyn and Susan.
15. a stroll around campus.
16. running into Willie the Wildcat.
17. Nathan and Sara for driving us back to the airport.
18. our community group.
19. leadership community and vision-casting for the future of our church.
20. brunch at Dorado with the Kurlbaums.
21. catching Grey's soccer game.
22. apple cider donuts and pumpkin shopping with the Kurlbaums.
23. a long but successful morning handing out new brand swag.
24. after months of planning, and a crazy day of prep, a successful brand launch party.
25. Mei Mei. heart eyes forever. #scallionpancakes
26. the dinosaur that showed up to dance.
27. IKEA meatballs.
28. a really, really good day.
29. a Stellina date thanks to a gift card.
30. a Toscanini's run.
31. watching the Pats game with friends.
32. discovering the Bears vs. Babies game on Kickstarter.
33. an amazing mother-in-law. (happy birthday, Micki!)
34. progress on our bedroom (another door painted! the last 10% of a project is hard...).
35. seeing a recap of the Sasaki fashion show entry.
36. a rainy day date night at Shake Shack.
37. Ian for knocking out yard work and planting things with hopes of a more beautiful spring.
38. clean windows.
39. Orinoco with some of my favorite ladies.
40. catching up with the Drs. Hu.
41. a Halloween party, costumes not required.
42. the cute (tiny) costumes that did show up.

#thejureyisin, or, the day Anna got her second sister

Caleb and Kate haven't been a thing as long as Nathan and Sara, but I think they've known each other longer. Their story involves unrequited high school love and bad timing, which just turned out to be God making sure that when they finally took a chance on a relationship, it would really work. I was so excited when Caleb told me he proposed, and we wouldn't have missed celebrating their wedding with them for anything!

We got into KC Thursday evening and stayed with Nathan and Sara for the night (they took advantage of this time to make us start watching Stranger Things). The next morning, we headed to Manhattan, arriving with enough time to sneak in a bite to eat and a pit stop at Danenburg Jewelers for a ring cleaning before ending up at Houston Street Ballroom to help decorate for the reception (yes, the same venue where Ian and I had our wedding reception, and we definitely reminisced). Caleb and Kate had a vision, but they kept everything super chill, which was fantastic for all of us enlisted to help make it happen. We finished up with plenty of time to decorate the church before the rehearsal. We were pleasantly surprised to find our our friends Ben and Storm were providing the ceremony music, and had lots of fun catching up!

After the rehearsal, we headed to the Jardine complex (where Ian and I lived his last year of school, more memories), to the student-run restaurant that was hosting the rehearsal dinner. (This was followed by more episodes of Stranger Things at the hotel.)

The day of the wedding, we got up early, picked up breakfast at Varsity Donuts, and spent some time with Grandma Marilyn, Susan, and Dane and Micki (who were in town for the wedding). We're so thankful we were able to squeeze in some time with the Scherling family too!

After running some errands, we got ready and headed to the church. The wedding was beautiful and so personal! After family photos, we stopped at Chick-fil-a for a quick bite, and then headed to the reception. Arrow Coffee catered the desserts and drinks, and wow, was that food good! We had so much fun hanging out, dancing, and generally being silly (see selfies below). All in all it was an incredible evening, and my amazing sister count is up to two! CRAZY!





Sidenote: I realized too late that I took a grand total of seven photos. Caleb, I'm sorry that my sibling wedding photography mirrors the trajectory of what Mom did with our high school graduation floral arrangements. I love you. Promise.

Sunday, Caleb and Kate hosted a quick brunch and then headed off to Austin for their honeymoon!

We stuck around Manhattan for another day, spending more time with family, catching up with old friends (Britni, Joe, Spencer, so good to see you!), and lecturing at K-State... okay, the last one was just Ian. He's kind of a big deal. #soproud

Before we knew it, we were on our way back to Kansas City, and Nathan and Sara were driving us to the airport (after sharing their Netflix info so we could actually watch the last episode of Stranger Things... it's only fair since it's their fault we were addicted).

Caleb and Kate, we're so glad you found each other. Kate, welcome to the family! We love you both!