Author: Gina @ Oaxacaborn

Gina Munsey is a Mexico-born, Eastern Europe-raised missionary kid who ended up being a Californian by way of Florida outside of Nashville, Tennessee. She lives her days full of coffee and adventures while her 12-year-old learns Mandarin Chinese and Greek, her 3-year-old uses all the markers, and her artist-husband creates worlds from pixels and light. A blogger since the turn of the century (ouch!) she's an editor, co-op teacher, and writer who has only completed four chapters of her languishing manuscript. You can find Gina right here at oaxacaborn.com, or in the middle of [home]school surrounded by stacks and stacks of books.

We did it. We had Thanksgiving. Honestly, I don’t know how it happened. I’m tired just thinking about it.

Somehow, on Wednesday at 3pm, even though I was still sick, I found myself buckling Aveline into a grocery cart.

I definitely sounded like a chain-smoking blues singer, but I was determined that our little family’s first Thanksgiving wasn’t going to be lame.

(I’m very stubborn.)

The shelves were already looking really sad and empty, but I was able to track down the last of the essentials, like an extremely frozen turkey. And sage. And celery. And sweet potatoes. And cranberries. And a whole cart full of other ingredients. (P.S. I didn’t even go over our grocery budget. BOO-YA!)

When Josiah got home from work on Wednesday night, he found me in the living room watching a cheesy Christmas drama…chopping rutabaga, sweet potatoes, celery and onions. The make-ahead mashed potatoes were already done, and the sweet potato chunks were roasting in the oven.

I kept on cooking, and Josiah kept on washing dishes…what an amazing man! Aveline’s room is next to the kitchen, and all the cooking would have woken her up, so we let her stay up late. :-) Don’t you remember that about holidays when you were a kid? Staying up too late? Well, that, and getting up super early. ;-) Good thing all three of us were able to sleep in a bit on Thanksgiving morning.

And what a beautiful Thanksgiving it turned out to be! I thought I was going to be really hard because we weren’t near family. And I did miss our families — a lot — but my day with Josiah and Aveline was just all kinds of wonderful. The weather was beautiful enough to open the windows, and we had a long leisurely morning, watching the parade and drinking coffee and laughing. No coffee for Aveline, although she did eat an entire banana for breakfast. Oops.

And then in the afternoon, we all feasted on glorious food.

Oh, and you know Josiah is the only person in this house who eats turkey, right? Yes. Twelve pounds of turkey for one dude.

Guess who doesn’t have to make dinner for a long, long time?

Travel/Moving

Guest Post on Voye’m: On Thriving While Living/Traveling Elsewhere

November 22, 2011November 22, 2011 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

This morning, my dear friend Shanley is en route to Uganda. Actually, she’s been en route since Sunday night. The last update I got from her — in the wee smalls of Tuesday morning — she was breakfasting in a Belgian airport.

While she was working her way around the globe, I was busy writing up a guest post for her. You can hop on over to Voye’m to read my piece On Thriving While Living/Traveling Elsewhere .

[First image mine, taken in Nimes, France. Second image taken by my husband in Paris.]

Poetry & Words

A “more different” start to Thanksgiving week

November 21, 2011March 22, 2014 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

This is Thanksgiving week, the very first time in which the entire meal preparation falls to me…the very first time it’s just our little family for the holiday.

I was planning to take Monday — this week — by storm. I was planning to finish painting the letters on a handmade Happy Thanksgiving banner, package up another order and head to the post office, then drop off the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. Then I was planning to break down the Thanksgiving preparation list into today’s, tomorrow’s, and Wednesday’s tasks, figure out what other ingredients I still need to pick up from the grocery store, and start cooking. Visions of pumpkin pie, orange-cranberry sauce and roasted garlic mashed potatoes were dancing in my head.

Instead, I’m sitting here wrapped in a blanket, coughing and sniffling. The Thanksgiving banner just says “Happy”. Aveline is yelling in an ear-splitting manner while she gleefully beats a wooden spoon on a cooking pot. Maybe I can just toss some ingredients in her pot and hope for the best?

Aveline cooking Thanksgiving dinner

Life in Photos

Winter in Florida :: Aveline’s First Playground Experience

November 15, 2011March 22, 2014 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

I had so much fun taking Aveline to the playground for the very first time. And doesn’t our Florida winter look rough? Believe it or not, we are so.completely.over the hot, sticky weather and are pining away for cold air. (The long sleeves were just a formality because it’s November. We were actually sweating.)

Aveline peeking over the edge of the swings

Aveline on the swings

Aveline on the swings 2

Tiny Aveline in a very large swing

Aveline smiling on the playground swing

Aveline swinging - blue skies

Life in Photos

A Little Tour of a Corner of our Home

November 10, 2011March 22, 2014 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

Striped Curtains in Wind, Orange Paper Lantern, Orange Mirror
Since I finally finished sewing the third striped curtain, I thought I’d share the completed room. We only moved in at the end of February…it’s about time, right?

Black, White, Red and Orange Bedroom

Keep Calm, Milo Berries, Noferin, Matryoshka

The dried milo berries are from our wedding. Our centerpieces — large hurricane lamps — contained tiny bouquets of milo berries sticking out of black sand. The berries were also scattered around at the end of the aisle, instead of flower petals. Headbands Oaxacaborn on Etsy, Aveline's First Stocking

Aveline’s first little stocking, and a few of the headbands in my shop. I’m SO looking forward to Aveline’s first Christmas!

Baby/Toddler Food, How To

3 Simple Baby Foods You Can Easily Make at Home in 2 Minutes or Less

November 9, 2011 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

Before I start, I feel like I need to say up front that my intention isn’t to ignite a firestorm on the topic of babyled weaning (BLW) vs purées. I’m not preaching purées over BLW. We personally have used a combined approach. If you read my prior post in this series, you’ll realize that my point in writing this baby food series is to encourage mama to feed baby using foods already in the grocery budget, rather than using purchased “baby” foods. Obviously, if you’re practicing BLW you already know this. :-)

Avocado - Baby Foods You Can Make on Your Own in Less than 2 Minutes

Here are a few alternatives to packaged baby food, each of which takes only a minute or two to prepare.

Avocados

This is an incredibly nutritious food, and is an excellent choice for baby’s first food. (Yes, as baby’s first food! Contrary to common belief, babies don’t need to eat white rice cereal. White rice has very little nutritional value, and (hey, it’s a fact) contributes to constipation.)
Avocados contain healthy fats, which are essential for the development of baby’s brain and central nervous system. They are also a good source of vitamin K, B6, and folate.

As far as preparation, you really can’t get any easier than avocados. Wash, peel, and mash some up with a fork. Or, if baby is feeding herself, you can cut ripe avocado into little pieces. Easy peasy!

Canned Pumpkin/Winter Squash

Purchase plain canned pumpkin in the baking aisle. It’s the same pumpkin they use to make jarred baby food, except without the additives. And, it’s a fraction of the cost. Win!

Of course, it doesn’t have to be canned. If you have the time and desire, you can halve, deseed, and oven roast your own winter squashes. Prepared this way, it can also work as (a messy) finger food.

Nutritionally, winter squashes are a good source of both vitamins C and A, which are excellent for the immune system. It’s also very easy on baby’s digestion! (I like to stick to pumpkin and squashes rather than sweet potatoes or yams, because the latter are much higher in sugar.)

Quinoa Flakes

Quinoa’s recent surge in popularity is for a good reason. This unique food — actually a seed, not a grain — contains all nine amino acids and is, on its own, a complete protein.

Quinoa flakes are extremely easy to prepare, since you just add water and cook for 90 seconds. You can mix cooked quinoa cereal in with any other food to add protein to baby’s meal.

Don’t be scared off by the relatively pricey cost of quinoa flakes (~$5/box). A single box goes a very, very long way when you’re just using it to feed baby; one has literally lasted us for months.

Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list. As this series on baby/toddler food progresses, I’ll talk more about practical ways to feed baby with the same ingredients you’re using to cook the family’s dinner.

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Handmade, Life in Photos, Little Style

My camera would have captured stillness, quiet wind

November 7, 2011March 22, 2014 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

Aveline 2 - with mustard yellow handmade hat and jellycat bunny

Aveline - with mustard yellow handmade hat and jellycat bunny

I didn’t carry my camera with me everywhere, this weekend. But if I did, the photos would have captured Aveline giggling as she reached out her hands to her papa, and then to me, and then to her papa again, delighted that she figured out how to be passed quickly between us.

They would have captured the wrinkled up expression on her face as she tasted a French fry.

They would have captured the deep boom of drums during a Japanese cultural performance we just happened to stumble upon during an afternoon walk.

And then, they would have captured stillness.

Quiet wind.

Early sunset and the ensuing wintry darkness which wrapped around the house like an old, familiar friend.

Monday's Pretty Things

Monday’s Pretty Things :: November Colors

November 7, 2011 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

Lord of the Rings Travel Posters (via Steve Thomas)

Don’t you wish the Shire was real?

Babiekins Magazine, Issue 7, Pages 178-188

I love the vest and necklace — both by Ouef — on the wee model on the left! Aveline needs a vest, yes? Let me get my crochet hook…

Vegan Chickpea Patty Recipe (via Ohdeardrea)

Drea’s recipes are so good. Aveline and I have been devouring her ratatouille lately. These patties look delicious; I plan on making them right away. Now maybe if my brother tasted these, he’d stop referring to garbanzo beans as “one of those edible things in nature we should just ignore.”

Embroidered Quilted Silk Bracelet (via Bozena Wojtaszek on Etsy)

Such a beautiful bracelet, handmade in Poland.

Vintage Embroidered Pillow (via Sukan on Etsy)

If you want to get lost in a gorgeous treasure trove of textile goodness, browse the Sukan shop. I mean, there are 44 pages of amazing textiles like the pillow above! Pretty incredible. And a pretty fantastic place to do some procrastinating! ;-)