Trick or Treat

Yesterday Zach and I learned, thanks to some of his colleagues, that trick or treating was not going to happen on October 31 here in Indiana, it was tonight! I can only imagine how confused I would have been when the doorbell started ringing if we had not been clued in to this local tradition! It seems that Indiana designates a Saturday close to Halloween and a time (6-8PM) for officially sanctioned trick or treating.

But thankfully we were prepared. We hear that people come from neighboring smaller towns for the candy action here, and I find that easy to believe after seeing quite a crowd come to my door tonight. I had fun passing out candy and saw some cute costumes. My favorite was the little girl, maybe three years old, wearing a chick costume, who was ready to step right over the threshold and come in! Her mom said she had been trying to invite herself into every house all night. So cute!

Where do we put the food?

We thought our dining set was going to arrive together sometime in November, but to our surprise we received our chairs a few days ago. After much unpacking, they are ready for use...if you're just looking for a place to sit. They will probably hang out in the living room until the table arrives.

Head for the Border

So far, pregnancy has not changed my food preferences in any dramatic ways (I still HATE pickles) but my sweet tooth has toned down a bit and instead I prefer salty, savory stuff. I think Zach is actually a little disappointed that I haven't been craving ice cream every night! Instead, for several weeks I have really been wanting Taco Bell! Sour cream, lots of cheese--perfect. Zach indulged me tonight with a dinner date of tacos and chalupas. Soooooo good! If we're not careful, that could become a habit!

Pennsylvania Fall

It rained for most of Tuesday and Wednesday, so today I was really anxious to get out of the house for a few minutes. I decided to walk around our neighborhood to admire the fall leaves, since they will be gone all too soon. Fall is truly beautiful in Pennsylvania! Here's a little of what I saw today.

Exciting Purchase

Zach and I have been living in a home of hand-me-down furniture for our entire marriage. Don't get me wrong--we are very thankful for all of it, as the alternative would have been sitting/eating/sleeping on the floor for the last five years. But still, you get to a point where you would really like to have some things that you picked out yourself. Having moved into our own home, we are definitely at that point.

Tonight we finally ordered a new dining room table, which we have been talking about for months. We've had our eyes on one from Crate & Barrel for quite a while, but after taping out the dimensions on our dining room floor we just weren't sure it was wide enough. But while we were in Los Angeles we took advantage of the opportunity to see it in person one more time and we decided that it was the right table for us. (What a blessing--Zach and I have very similar taste in furniture.) It is on backorder and probably won't arrive until late November, so we have to be patient for just a little longer, but by Christmas (and hopefully Thanksgiving) we will be eating at our beautiful new table!

If you want to see the table, go to crateandbarrel.com and search "Kipling." We bought the extension dining table and matching chairs. Hopefully in the future we'll be able to afford the hutch as well.

Los Angeles

Zach and I have returned from our long weekend in Los Angeles and it was a great trip. I hardly know where to start!

I think the most exciting part of the trip, at least for me, was telling all our friends there that I AM PREGNANT! I know most of my blog readers know that by now, but it is fun to finally put it in print on the blog. For the record, I am about twelve weeks along, due April 30.

Saturday afternoon I met my friend Melina for lunch. She was a fellow sixth grade math teacher at Le Conte. Melina caught me up on all the news from school. I don't miss teaching at all but I do miss the wonderful people I taught with. Besides the pleasure of her company, I really enjoyed my meal at California Pizza Kitchen! We just don't have a lot of dining options in Indiana, you know?

We had dinner with our friends Daniel and Aimee on Saturday night, along with their sons. It was just like no time had passed--they are wonderful friends and I miss seeing them as often as we could in LA. Zach and I got to meet the newest member of their family, Jonathan, who was born about a month after we moved. Zach got some Daddy-to-be practice holding him--aren't they both so cute?


Sunday morning we went to Grace Community Church. It was wonderful to see so many friends in one place and hear two powerful sermons. In true John MacArthur fashion, we heard Part 4 of a many-part sermon on the Second Coming of Christ!

Sunday night we went to dinner at an Armenian restaurant with our friend Noah. Again, an ethnic cuisine choice that we probably don't have within 50 miles of Indiana. As Noah promised, they had truly amazing hummus. I wish I had a picture of the enormous piles of meat we were served. So tasty!

Monday was a big day. Zach left very early to go to USC for his doctoral exams. He returned a few hours later with a big smile on his face. Just call him Dr. Collins now! As he repeated often throughout the day, this means no more studying and no more tests. For the first time in 21 years, he is not a student!

Monday afternoon I headed back up to Aimee's house in Santa Clarita. I thought I was just going to have lunch with a few friends. Here is what I found:


Between the time she found out I was pregnant Saturday night and Monday morning, Aimee planned a baby shower for me! Nine of my closest friends were able to come on short notice. I was absolutely overwhelmed by the love and generosity these women poured out on me. I have benefited so much already from their wisdom as mothers and it is comforting to know that they will be there for me in the future as I learn to be a mom.

Monday night was Zach's concert with Southwest Chamber Music. He played Kraft's Encounters II "beautifully,"according to both me and the music reviewer from the LA times! (Read the review online here.) The rest of the concert was not exactly my favorite kind of music (strange, contemporary percussion stuff)--Zach's piece was the most "normal" and if you've heard it you know that's really saying something! Zach recorded the piece Tuesday morning. He felt like the recording session went very well and we look forward to hearing the edited version, although it won't be released until next fall.

So that's our trip to LA, in slightly more than a nutshell. I wish we could go back every three months but I know it will probably be a while, especially with Baby Collins on the way. But everyone is welcome in Indiana anytime!

Back to LA!

Some of you already know this, but Zach and I are leaving this afternoon for four days in Los Angeles. Zach is taking his DMA oral exams Monday morning, performing with Southwest Chamber Music on Monday night, and recording with the same group Tuesday morning. I am just going to have fun! We are really looking forward to seeing old friends, attending Grace Community church, and enjoying the SoCal climate once again. Expect some updates and pics in the next few days.

Busy Morning

My friend Liz invited me over this morning to help her watch a crowd of kids. She normally watches two one-year-olds, her own son and another little girl. Today she was also watching two sisters who are three and one, so she thought another pair of hands might be useful. I had a fun day playing with all the kids but am a little worn out now. My days are usually so much quieter than this!

Sweet Sounds of the Tuba

Zach gave a recital Tuesday evening. It was both his last recital as a doctoral student and his first recital as an IUP faculty member. To our great surprise, at least 150 people attended, including lots of students. (Granted, music students are required to attend a certain number of performances, but it was still nice that they chose his.) Zach played wonderfully, and really impressed his freshmen tuba/euphonium students, who up until now had not had a chance to hear just how good he is. I am so proud to be married to this talented man!

The Hoodlebug Brass Quintet (the IUP brass faculty) played with Zach during several pieces.

Yummy Recipe

If you had asked me about my favorite food when I was nine or ten years old, I would have said cornbread. Seriously. Not pizza, ice cream, or chocolate, but cornbread. For years the only cornbread I made myself came from a Jiffy box, but in the past few years I've tried to find a homemade recipe I really like. Not so easy, I found. One was moist to the point of seeming soggy, another was not sweet enough. (I like sweet cornbread.) I think the recipe I tried yesterday will be a keeper, though, so I wanted to share it. It's moist enough to avoid excess crumbs and sweet enough to taste great even without butter. Best of all, this is a Cooking Light recipe so you can eat them guilt-free. Enjoy!

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup plain lowfat yogurt
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 tablespoons fat-free milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Combine yogurt, melted butter, milk, and egg in a small bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture, stirring just until moist.

Place 12 paper muffin cup liners in muffin cups . Divide the batter evenly among cups. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

I feel a bit bad that I haven't been posting much lately, but honestly--life just hasn't been that interesting! Zach has been super busy for months preparing for his DMA exams, so we just haven't done much as a couple. But the end is in sight at last! Zach will be taking his written exams this Friday and Sunday and then life will slow down a bit. I am so excited for him to be done!