I knew I married into a bi-racial family,

but I had no idea my husband was half African-American.

This is by far the funniest comment I've had on my blog.  Thank you, Anonymous, whoever you may be. Thank you.

"Your biracial daughter is beautiful. My daughter has hair like your daughters and my husband is biracial like your husband (half african american) and in order to control my daughters hair I have to use this stuff I get from target called blue magic. Gorgeous photos." 

From the Kitchen

We've been experimenting with cooking here in Savannah. Of course, I own about 17 cookbooks, and yet we've been finding most of our recipes on the internet. We still cook a lot out of the trusty Richie family cookbook, and many of those recipes have now been requested by our guests or the people who watch David eat leftovers at work.

In honor of branching out with food we actually ate a delicious steak dinner on our fine china. It was the first time I've cooked steak on my own, which feels like quite an accomplishment to me. David is usually a big help around the kitchen. It's become our tradition to plan meals, make grocery runs, and cook as a tag-team. Sometimes, though, he lets me follow a meal through from start to finish so I can claim it as my own. He learned his lesson after nearly yanking the spatula from my hand the first time I tried to cook him a meal back in Birmingham. Now that he has a kitchen and gets to cook some he is more willing to leave me in control of the spatula.

Sidebar: the picture of the twice-baked potatoes was taken with our lovely new (vintage) Nikon D70, compliments of David's mom since she has just updated to a 16 megapixel camera. Not only did she give us the camera and a lens, but I now have the ability to autofocus with the lenses I already have. The camera needs a little care, but I've learned that sharing a hobby with one's mother-in-law can be a wonderful thing!

We wanted to share one of our favorite new finds. It's a pretty simple mac and cheese. Instead of pre-cooking the pasta you just let it cook in simmering half-and-half. It's delicious. It's no crock-pot, but it's much faster! I leave out the onions, and we've gone against the suggestion to avoid pre-shredded cheese. It does get stringy, but it's still tasty.

Speaking of the B-word

Look at these cute little booties!

There were plenty more naked ones to be seen at the party last night, but I'm afraid the photos are not internet-appropriate.  Here are a few more shots of Benjamin and Katie's visit. I really, really don't know what I would have done without her here.  She was a lifesaver!

One of three baths Benjamin took yesterday...my kids had two each :)  Summer time = dirt.

A few party details and some out takes. More will follow on The Richie Four blog...

This was Beck's opinion of the cake and his party in general. He was much happier when we got him out of his chair and let him crawl around all by himself in the yard. Like father, like son.

Below is best family picture we got all night. Oh, our children. They make us laugh and pull our hair out at the same time. Beck was dazed because of the torture he underwent "eating" his cake. Vale was pouting and said that she had soap in her eyes? Whaaaa? So funny!

"What the hell just happened to me?"

"Seriously, yo. Not cool. And mom, would you mind holding me, er, differently? For real!?"

"Yeah, mom and dad, you're chipper. YOU got to drink a beer."

We love you guys and wish the rest of you were there!!

We're Really Excited About September

I think it's our turn to check in...

David had a bad cold last week, and now I'm right in the middle of it, but we managed to find a brief window on Saturday afternoon just as he was starting to feel better and just before I started feeling bad to hit the beach! Mom and Dad provided some valuable help in scouting out a good public beach on Hilton Head--they're actually hard to come by--so we got one of the 53 parking spaces at Folly Field Beach. David and I are so excited about the beach!

It's such a tease that we can go and spend time

at the beach,

the same beach where we'll be in

September, and yet it's still so many months away from the family vacation. David is especially excitedto see if all the stories are really true.

It's been uncomfortably hot in Savannah, but out on the beach from 3:00 to 6:00 was some of the most pleasant weather I've ever experienced. The sun was hot but the breeze was cold, landing us in a nice middle ground of comfort. We really have loved being so close to the beach. Tybee is 30 minutes from us, and Folly Field is just under an hour, but the extra 30 minutes are totally worth it! Another year here and I'll have turned into a beach person.

I have gotten to know Savannah pretty well working downtown. I walk all over the place (usually between 2 and 10 blocks just to park my car, another 4 blocks to eat lunch in the park, and 6 blocks for meetings once or twice a week). It is quickly becoming my town. After a month of training in several buildings, I am back at home at my desk in the building Dad posted a picture of. Today I was actually doing my job. I still don't know what people are talking about half the time, but I'm starting to catch on. It feels very nice to be at my first training-wheels-free job. As my job is finally settling down, David's job is reminding us that it doesn't know the meaning of settling down. He worked from 1-4 today and just left again for the night. He's working on a training exercise tomorrow night too, and then readjusting to his normal 10-hour work day. Every day is a new adventure around here.

This makes Happy happy.

And no, she hasn't been drinking.

A Few Odds and Ends from the Weekend

I love this picture. It's the inside of Claire's office. Yes that is a giant silver bug on the wall. I did not swing around to get a picture of the lime green staircase. When you combine the silver bug and the bright green staircase with the old red brick armory building that has giant black cannons out front you get a wonderful, eclectic place to work.



Now this next picture is taken from the beach back toward the land. The stand of trees is all that prevents you from seeing house we will be using in September. We cant' wait!!


A wonderful five days but we are home and settling in.

The Post Wedding Getaway Interrupted by the Bride and Groom

Our trip to Hilton Head was a post wedding getaway. Martha and I had a great time relaxing in a lovely home and at the part the beach near where we will be in September.
We also got to see David and Claire! Claire came over for the afternoon on Saturday and Mom and I went to Savannah on Sunday night. Claire picked place.

What a great evening. Claire picked a great spot. We got to see where she and David are living and where Claire works. We parked a few blocks away from dinner and had a lovely walk in downtown Savannah. This is where Claire will be working.

Here offices are in the old Armory in Savannah. Very Cool.
Claire and David are doing great, loving life in Savannah and were big fun for dinner and a walk.