Nathalie's Notes

Remember Project 365?

Remember how enthusiastic I was about Project 365 (or Project Life as many call it)? I still am. Even though I am approximately 93 days behind. Instead of waiting to catch up on those 93 days I’m just jumping back in where I’m at, so here is Monday’s picture of the day and journaling – just a little taste of life around here. The kind of thing that would be easy to forget one day.

I was driving the boys home from one of our favorite parks, the Airplane Park (thank you Emily) and saw a little pond with a bunch of ducks on the edge of it. I was flooded with memories from my childhood I’d long forgotten: feeding ducks at Wright’s Park. Which made me remember my mom and dad’s restaurant Le Snack … which brought back all kinds of memories. Stuff I want to write down before I re-forget. But I suppose there’s something kind of cool about having these flashbacks of memories.

{December Daily – one}

 

 

December first …

the hardest part about picking my story for the day was narrowing it down to one, there were so many fun things today: my article ran in Metro Parent, we got our Christmas cards in the mail, we started decorating and started our advent calendars.

I think the story I’ll pick though is traditions.

Celebrating old favorites – Advent calendars! Every year my mom got us advent calendars with little chocolates in them. She sent Sam one for this year and I suspect this daily piece of chocolate will be one of Sam’s favorites, too. We also brought down our advent tree from Matt’s mom and put the first ornament on last night:

And creating new ones:

Christmas “peejamoz” (Pajamas). The boys got to open one present last night – Christmas pajamas and then I spent 20 minutes trying to get just one good picture. I think I’ll change my definition of a “good” picture!

 

{Notes to self: use the tags from pajamas on the page, try to get pic with boys in jams at window standing still, take picture of advent calendars before they're opened/decorated - end albumn with a picture of them opened and decorated. Make a list of filler pages for days I come up short on ideas/time/inspiration}

Requiescat in pace, Ujo

  

At first glance, I grew up in a small family. My parents, brother, me and a dog - usually a black poodle with a name ending in 'i.' When my parents emigrated from Slovakia in the early 70s, they left family behind in their communist-occupied homeland.

As is the case with many of us, but especially immigrants, you make your own family. Here's my chosen family, our fathers with their thick accents, our mothers who understand and love them, and us first-generation American children  ... and just a lot of love and memories.

I have a lot of wonderful memories of my wedding day but I have to tell you, that first picture, with all my aunts and cousins ... was the loudest ... and also one of my favorites. In that moment as we argued over the placement of the flag, it was clearer than ever that they are my people.

I love them all the way I imagine most of you love the families you grew up with. They are the aunts, uncles and cousins of my heart. One of them described it perfectly in an email this week:

"This is our true family; if not by blood, by love and lifetime." 

That is exactly how I feel, Sasha.

Some of these guys in the picture above grew up together in small Slovak town, Piestany. I've heart stories about their antics and trials my entire life and they are the truest of friends.

All this is to say, we lost one of the best this weekend, our Ujo Relo, Apu to his immediate family. May he rest in peace.

He is alive in my mind with his unique accent, different than my dad's but so familiar, with his stories, wisdom imparted through quotations, and if I squeeze my eyes closed I can all but smell the faint memory of pipe smoke at the edge of a playground and hear his laughter.

He leaves behind a beautiful family, who dances through their tears, hold each other tight and are surrounded by love ... I send my deepest condolences to them and look forward to wrapping them up for a real hug soon.

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you."

~Desmond Tutu

Salmon Marinade, Christmas past

   My sister-in-law e-mailed me yesterday for a recipe we once made together for Christmas dinner. It was when Matt and I lived in Garibaldi and my niece Riley was the only little one in the family. Pulling out the recipe card reminded me of how we stood in our very crowded kitchen trying to figure out the ratios to get the right balance ... oh, wait - maybe that was for the pasta recipe ... I'll have to dig that one out too.

I'm just a little confused why the only picture of anyone working in the kitchen is the one "photo op" of the guys. Anyway, Carrie, here it is!

from jeff & jo

6 cloves garlic - chopped (For years I did this by hand until a friend looked at me like I was insane and recommended I buy a garlic press. So it's more squeezed than chopped. Tomatoe, tomato.)

1 Tbsp. peeled, grated ginger

2 Tbsp. minced, fresh cilantro leaves

3 Tbsp. sugar

Mix together the above ingredients and set aside

Combine the following:

1/4 cup soy sauce

3 Tbsp. dry sherry

3 Tbsp. sesame oil (toasted sesame oil is also delicious)

1 tsp. coarse salt

1 tsp. pepper

Mix both together and pour over salmon. Marinate 2 hours. Unless you're not a planner in which case it'll be fine just poured right over the meat or fish. Or spooned right in your mouth.  

Notes: So who can afford salmon these days? This marinade is good on everything! I usually double the recipe because I'm kind of a more is better kind of girl. Also if I'm already getting my fingers all garlicky and gingery, might as well make it count.

 

Two years ... two baby boys ... time for new portrait

National Handwriting Day

It is crazy stupid what motivates me but last night I stayed up working until one a.m. because I wanted to be able to use my new calendar and track my work. I am stuck at outlining chapter six. I'm not sure if I'm stuck because I took a few days off to go to Walla Walla or if I'm really just stuck but either way I've got to figure it out and keep going because I want to be outlined through Chapter 13 by month's end. And you know I'll want to check off that little box on my January Goal Page!

Yesterday, according to my writer's calendar was "National Handwriting Day." Seeing that gave me a flashback to when I was at McCarver Elementary and learning cursive. My mom was in the hospital and Dad was trying to help us with our homework. It was a very frustrating night. Also, my dad did not make macaroni and cheese the Kraft way. Instead, he thought he was doing a good thing by making us a special dinner with baked mac and cheese. We did not appreciate his gourmet treatment and couldn't wait for Mom to get home. Not just 'cause of the cooking thing, though.

I had really sloppy handwriting. Or, I didn't care. Either way, Dad would check our homework before bed and if mine was really sloppy he'd tear it up and I'd be back to the drawing board. I guess it was worth it because I get compliments on my handwriting now. But damn.

for mami

You were meant to be my mother.

i wish i'd known then

that i would feel this way today.

maybe it would've been easier between us.

but maybe if it had, i wouldn't feel

so grateful for our relationship now.

i wish i could say we always got along.

i wish i could look back without regrets.

for all the times you drove to pick me up

when i couldn't sleep at the slumber party i was at.

for all the times you packed a healthy lunch

for the hours you spent arguing with me in

various dressing rooms teaching me taste and style

for the patience and consistency it took to teach me

the manners which give me confidence today to enter any situation

with grace and ease.

for the times you let me fail so i could learn

and for the times you stayed up late

to help me meet my goals.

for understanding when my heart was broken

and for promising it would heal.

for every time you turned down my bed

to welcome me home.

for the countless paperwork you did

to enroll me in camps, lessons and classes

and for driving me to the library

for teaching me to return my books on time.

for letting me go to grow into my own person

for loving me with all my hair colors

and also for paying to strip my hair

when i came to and saw goth was not a good look for me

for teaching me to be kind - to write thank you notes

and to ask for what i want - for teaching me

to give my time to help people - to smile at

strangers and to see beyond the surface of people

i know i will continue to realize more things

i learned from you for the rest of my life but

for now i want to thank you

for all that and more.

you were meant to be my mother

because there could be no other

who knows and loves me the way you do.

Christmas Past (part 3)

1989: Mazatlan - you have no idea how cool i felt in this outfit. And many happy memories of playing in the ocean in Mexico.

1990: Sunriver - another place full of happy  memories with the Borbeks, and especially Mel. This was the start of a particularly awkward phase as the mushroom do gave way to something far more hideous.

1991: Finding us on the slopes in the winter was pretty common. Especially on Sundays. I remember asking dad why it was okay to miss church in the winter. We were riding on the chairlift and he stretched his arms out and asked, "Can you imagine being closer to God than this?"

Christmas Past (part 2)

1984: Tacoma waterfront ... many memories of us walking, biking and eating at at the waterfront. Enjoying the view and the Tacoma Aroma.

1985: Cascades - Rainier probably. In our pseudo-twin outfits. Definitely represents my childhood. Also the mushroom hair cut was a staple.

1988: Cascades - are you getting the twin theme? We did a lot of hiking ... I'd forgotten about that.

Christmas Past

Every year I want to write a witty, newsy Christmas letter - and I swear one of these years I will (followed by a blog post in defense of the Christmas letter that so many folks think is cheesy and boring - I, for the record, LOVE to receive and read them). But instead, I'm scrambling at the last minute to get my cards out. In keeping with the Oravetz family tradition, I usually pick a picture representing a highlight from the year and send a photo card because I love, love, love getting those in the mail as well. This year, however, I am a total slacker - or nothing that interesting happened this year (?!) and at the last minute dug out a picture from six years ago and used that since it's one of my most favorite pictures of us, and then added a picture of Little Lucy because she is certainly a highlight! Going through the motions of putting the cards out, I realized how much a part of this time of year it is for me. So much so that even though I'm doing no tree, no decorating and no baking, the cards are still going out. They might be Happy New Years cards, but I'm still doing it. It's one way to say, even though we don't talk as much as we should, or see each other near enough, I love and care about you and am glad you're in our life.

Here's a little trip down Oravetz Family Memory Lane:

1980: Taken at the Tacoma Lawn Tennis Club - very representative of where we spent our summer days.

1981: Le Snack Cafe Espresso - our restaurant. Also very representative of where we spent a lot of our time. I do NOT know how my mom handled two little kids, a restaurant, a home and still put delicious meals on the table three times a day. My dad was working full-time as an anesthesiologist, on-call. Good times.