Hide and Seek with Nunzilla

Meet Nunzilla, the wind up toy.

Nunzilla has "sparked" a new game in the Womack household.

Marcus got this little toy as a gift when he was in high school and it has managed to stick around for a while.  When we put up some shelves in our living room, he thought Nunzilla would look nice perched on one of them.  I disagreed.

Thus, Hide and Seek with Nunzilla was born.  We take turns moving Nunzilla around the house and once the other finds it, they get to hide it somewhere.  So far, Nunzilla has been found in Marcus' closet and my dresser drawer.  Marcus seems to be having a little trouble finding Nunzilla's current hiding place, but I have full confidence he will stumble upon it eventually! :)

We're totally normal newlyweds, right?

Blog Action Day 2010

Today is Blog Action Day 2010.  Bloggers all over the world are dedicating their posts today to one world issue.  This year, the focus is WATER.


A little over a year ago, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to a tiny rural village in Kenya near the Tanzanian border.  I spent four weeks bringing Sky Ranch Summer Camp to kids in the area.  It was hands down the most wonderful experience of my life (aside from getting married- but can you really compare the two?)  Anyway, I fell in love with these people and when I got back, I knew I wanted to find a way to continue serving and loving these people.  Little did I know I would soon find a job that lets me do that every day.

If you read this blog, you probably know that I work for a non-profit organization called Blood:Water Mission. Our mission is to empower communities to work together against the HIV/AIDS and water crises in Africa.


Water- clean water- is a human right.  The fact that MILLIONS of people lack access to this basic necessity is an injustice.  Children can't go to school because they spend their days walking to the nearest water source (which really isn't near at all) to get water that usually isn't clean.  They drink the water and then contract diseases that are easily preventable and curable with clean water.  Their lives are cut short because they don't have water.  Can you imagine?  I can't.  Even when I was in Africa, the school we stayed at had two rain catchment tanks.  Water was never in short supply despite the record-breaking drought in Kenya. That school was one in a very small minority. 

I recently read a book called The Fabric of Faithfulness by Steven Garber.  In the introduction, he quotes the late Erik Erikson, a Harvard professor emeritus.


"In clinical work (as in economics and politics) crisis has increasingly taken on half of its meaning, the catastrophic half, while in medicine a crisis once meant a turning point for better or for worse, a crucial period in which a decisive turn one way or another is unavoidable."

We have a crisis here.  We have reached a turning point.  A decisive turn one way or another is unavoidable.  Let's decide to turn to the BETTER.  If you blog, join me in writing a post about water today.  Register your blog at Blog Action Day 2010.  Learn more about this issue.  Hear the facts, meet the people.  Do something big, do something small.  Make a difference.

Our House!

Marcus and I were so lucky to find a wonderful little rent house to call our first home. It's in an older neighborhood full of character and close to where I work (literally, about 6 blocks!)  While it is still very much a work in progress- especially the yards- we have really enjoyed "playing house."

Here are a few pictures for your perusal!

Our kitchen:

Our living room:

Savannah, this one's for you! You're in the top right picture. :)

Our (super tiny) bathroom:

More pictures of the bedrooms and office coming soon!!

When Life Throws You Scraps, Make a Quilt

Ok life hasn't thrown me too many scraps, but it has provided me with a wealth of t-shirts and it is about time I did something with them.

Tonight I went to my first quilting class!  I am learning to make a t-shirt quilt, ladies and gents.  Now, I must say that I'm thinking quilting will turn out to be a bit more expensive than I expected (there are so many necessary tools!), but I think it's worth it to have a de-cluttered dresser drawer and a unique keepsake!  First project is Kappa Delta t-shirts.  I have way too many of these, but they are just so cute and I can't bear the thought of giving them away.  Today I learned how to use a rotary cutter to make squares for my quilt and I also ironed on fusion to the backs of them to make them stiff and keep them from stretching.  Six down, several more to go!  I will spend the next month preparing all my shirts and next month I will go back for another class where I will plan out the placement of my squares and learn how to sew them together.  Hope to take pictures of my progress!

In other news, it is FALL, my favorite season of the year.  Nashville is so beautiful this time of year- the weather is actually cool and the leaves actually change colors!  And do I even have to tell you that fall also means college football?  Enough said. Thanks to my wonderful in-laws, I now have a great fall centerpiece and some adorable pumpkin placemats for our dining table.  Thanks to wedding gift cards, I also have a super yummy Yankee candle in Autumn Wreath.  If you haven't caught a whiff of it yet, do it now.

Adventures in Cooking

I'm pretty sure this has great potential to become a recurring theme on this blog.  No, I'm not trying to be the next Julie from "Julie and Julia." I won't attempt to cook my way through any cook book or cuisines of the world.  No, I am merely trying to stay alive.

You may or may not know that I'm not the greatest cook.  I LOVE food, but when I try to create a dish myself, something usually goes wrong.  And the mess I have to clean up later...don't even get me started.  I have mostly avoided extended time in the kitchen until now.  I want so badly to be a good wife and make good meals for my husband (meals that don't come out of a box).*  So far, not so good.

For this edition of Adventures in Cooking, I present to you: Pot Roast.

This past Sunday, I decided to use my mom's recipe and make a pot roast.  I was really excited to make a (mostly) healthy, home-cooked meal and I was fairly confident, because it was something I had made before.

The first step to cooking the roast is to season it and coat it with flour, then sear it in vegetable oil.  My mom suggested that I sear the roast in the same pot it simmers in, so as to not dirty up another dish.  I'm thinking, "Great idea, Mom! I'll do anything to avoid one more dirty dish!"

Here's a better suggestion:  If your pot roast is larger than normal, don't sear it in a deep pot!  It's not worth the five extra minutes it will take to clean skillet.

I thought I could handle the pot roast.  I got an extra large fork to turn the roast in the pot.  However, my extra large fork failed, and my pot roast plunged into the hot oil, resulting in hot oil on my face.  My first thought was that the oil got in my eye.  Marcus rushed me to the sink where I held my face under the cold, running water and cried.  The burns were not nearly as bad as I first feared.  There are small spots on my eyelid, nose and lip.  With lots of aloe, Neosporin, Advil and a big icepack, the pain eventually started to subside.

Marcus was so great to take care of me, calling my nurse friend and some family for help, and even finishing the roast.

Needless to say, we ate hot dogs for dinner.  They were delicious and pain-free. :) We had the roast the next day for lunch and it was also delicious!

I'm proud to say that this won't be my last pot roast.  Next time, I will conquer it and I will take great precautions in protecting my face (and I will use the extra pan. And I will buy a smaller roast.)  This will not be the last of my cooking endeavors, and I'm sure I'll have many more stories to tell.  I hope you enjoy!

*Disclaimer: I am fully aware that being a good cook is not all there is to being a good wife.  Marcus loves me despite my cooking mishaps.  Whew!

Summer Reading

When I was in high school, the LAST thing I wanted to do was the assigned summer reading for English class.  How can you give teenagers homework over summer vacation?!

But for the past couple of weeks, I have been craving a good book to read.  Marcus works at the library on campus, so I asked him to bring home a book, but since it is mostly a research library, they don't really have much of what I'm looking for.

So, tomorrow Marcus and I are going to the Nashville Public Library to get myself a library card.  I'm really excited about checking out some mindless fiction and would love any suggestions you may have.  What's the last good book you read? Or your favorite book you've read?  I don't have a lot of criteria, I just want it to be fiction and I don't want to think too hard. :)

Also on the agenda for the weekend: getting my dress altered for my sister's wedding, a baby shower, and buying a water hose so we can wash our cars, and finally taking pictures of our house!  Please tell me we are not boring newlyweds....

Excited for your recommendations...don't let me down!

Wedding Contest for My Friends

So, I started this blog and have had a hard time finding motivation for another post.  I will be posting pictures of our house soon, but in the mean time, want to ask you a favor (all 3 of you who might read this, ha!).  Two of my friends from college are finalists in a contest in which they can win a trip to California and $10,000 toward their dream wedding.  Please, if you have some time, vote for them and tell all your friends!  They are the only finalists from Texas, so I think that should be reason enough to vote for them, but besides that, they are really great people and they really deserve to win!

Just click on the link and enter your e-mail address to vote for JOHN and STEFANIE- you won't receive any mail from them other than one in which you confirm your vote.  You have until August 8th to vote and post the link on your blog, fb, etc! Thanks!!

http://www.mirassou.com/wedding/say-i-do/index.asp

Everybody's Doing It

So I'm jumping on the bandwagon.  It seems that almost all of our married friends have started a blog and I guess it's about time we did too.  Marcus and I got married in May, and are making our home in Nashville, TN.  Hopefully we can use this blog to share our adventures and daily life with you (whoever you is).  This whole blogging thing is very new to me- it might take a while to figure it all out, but bear with me!  Any suggestions and advice is welcome and appreciated.  Happy Reading!