Hello there! Sorry for the long silence; the holiday season was for us, as I’m sure it was for many of you, a very busy time. Besides working tons (we both work retail or retail-affiliated jobs) and preparing Christmas gifts, we also had a few days to visit with my brother and sister-in-law and a week-long visit with Gil’s family in Missouri, both of which were lovely.

In the two weeks since we returned from that trip, we have both been trying to settle into healthier routines and work towards some of the goals we had been putting off. One of my main goals has been getting our little apartment and various aspects of our lives organized, so that I can spend my time on the things I really want to be doing without feeling constantly overwhelmed. I dove headfirst into this project and am still in the thick of it; I plan to tell you more about it and some of the solutions I’ve come up with soon.

Another goal we are both concerned with is eating nutritiously and conscientiously. To that end, Gil has been asking me for months to try the Paleo Diet, which he has been on quite happily for the last year or so. The diet cuts out sugar (other than in fruit), grains, legumes, and dairy. Robb Wolf explains it in detail, so if you want more I suggest browsing his site.

Long story short: I agreed to go Paleo (a.k.a. give up my beloved bread and cheese) for 30 days, beginning January 6th. I do believe that I dreamt about eating bread, cake, or cookies every night between January 6th and January 10th. Clearly, I was/am addicted. Or the Paleo diet is completely wrong and grains contain nutrients we all need that my body is clamoring for. Can you tell I am confused about what to eat these days?

I can say that I almost immediately felt a pronounced up-tick in my energy level. My first several days back at work I was amazed that I never reached the level of unbearable fatigue I was used to experiencing. Since then, I have had a few “down” days (probably days in which I didn’t eat enough, period), but mostly I have had the same steady energy level. This is, obviously, an unqualified “plus” to this diet.

Another good thing about trying this diet (although it often feels like a bad thing when I am short on time or just want something fast) is that it is forcing me to be more creative about my food. When you are limited to pretty much meat, eggs, fish, vegetables, and fruit, all of your old standby meals fly out the window (or at least mine did)–sandwiches, quesadillas, pasta, pizza, burritos… even rice bowls! None of them are “allowed” on the Paleo diet. So in order to not get bored, I have had to think outside the box of food I’m used to eating.

Here is an example. In the last few days, I had been enjoying warming up some frozen berries and eating them with coconut milk for breakfast. I knew I wanted to somehow add an egg or two to this meal to get some good protein in there, but for some reason fried and scrambled eggs have become unappetizing to me. Last night as I was falling asleep I had a brainstorm: what if I made the egg into a thin crepe that I could top with the berries and coconut milk?

So today, I tried it.

I beat one egg and about a tablespoon of coconut milk together.

I poured this thin layer of crepe-batter into a greased, non-stick skillet and cooked it for just a minute or two on one side and an even shorter time on the other. Until it looked, you know, “crepe-like.” (Technical term.)

At the same time, I warmed up my berries.

Finally, I plated the crepe, topped it with the berries, drizzled it liberally with coconut milk and finished it off with some dried coconut on top. Yum yum yum!

I am not ashamed to admit that I ate two of these this morning. Never have two eggs been more painlessly eaten.

Anyway, I’m sure many of you have better techniques for making crepes, and I’d love to hear them in the comments if you do, but I am nonetheless proud to have successfully created something delicious (and Paleo!) to eat for breakfast. Of course… I can’t eat the same thing every day, so… I guess I’ll need to put my creativity to work again on finding another Paleo breakfast I love. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Gil and I have had few visitors to our little apartment since we got married—partly because we are so busy with work and school, and partly because everyone else we know seems to be too. (Such is life, right?)

But yesterday we had a couple of visitors who made our day much brighter. First, one of our good friends (also a classmate of Gil’s) came over to have breakfast and play Monopoly Deal with us. (Gil and I got this card game last year, and it’s been a tradition for us to play it with this particular friend of ours ever since.) I don’t have any pictures from his visit, but it was wonderful to have him over and spend time with him.

A little later, another friend came over to check out a little writing desk I was selling. (She ended up buying it. Yay! I love when furniture I love goes to a good home.) AND she brought her six-month-old son, who got just about as much attention from all of us as he could handle.

He and Gil are buds:

And here’s the little guy with his beautiful mama:

Needless to say, it was a good day. Here’s hoping we have the opportunity to visit with these and other friends much more in the future.

In the month since I last wrote, I have:

• Completed my thesis.
• Defended said thesis successfully.
• Graduated from Gutenberg College.
• Been given a (very lovely) wedding shower.
• Moved Gil into the apartment where we’ll both live after the wedding.
• Attended to a seemingly endless number of details in preparation for the wedding / moving / life after college.
• Watched a dear friend get married on the beach (last weekend) and made preparations to be in another dear friend’s wedding (this weekend).

I hope you will forgive my silence. It was not my intention to be gone for so long–but then, it never is. Of course, at this point this blog is mostly for me–and for the few people who I know read it. So for you, you loyal few, and me, I wish I could come back now with a satisfying wrap-up of my time at Gutenberg and a preview of what’s to come; but frankly, I have neither the time nor the energy.

The best I can tell you is that when (if) my life settles down a little, I will be back. Writing is something I’ve discovered I can’t go very long without, and so I suspect blogging will not be either. But there are things in life that demand my attention away from the internet, and I am happy to give it to them. Especially since I am marrying one of them. I’m sure you understand.

As you may have noticed, I have also made a few changes to the design around here. It was time for a change; it has been for quite a while. If you happened to stop by on the afternoon I was working on this, you’ll know that I conducted these changes “live,” bit-by-bit. In fact, I still don’t think I am entirely done. This blog, like my life and each of ours, shall remain a work in progress.

Well, hello. It’s been a while.

I would apologize, except that my silence was mostly intentional. I guess the simplest way to explain it is that I needed to be living life and not posting about it.

I came very close to deleting this blog altogether several times within the last year; and, who knows, I still may. My return here is a trial run. I’ve realized that I still have words and images crawling around in my head, that, although they may not ultimately benefit anyone else, need to find an avenue of expression for my own sanity. I want to see if this blog can continue to be that avenue.

In order for this to happen, I think that Lylium will be undergoing a tone shift—or perhaps merely continuing the one it has been undergoing for some time. Here’s what I would expect to see here from now on, if I were you: 1) Photos without explanation, 2) Cryptic musings (some new, some old) on life that may not make sense to anyone but me, and 3) Pictures of whatever other creative endeavors I might cook up (hint, hint). Also expect: some combination of the above three, or something else entirely. You’ve been warned.

What you shouldn’t expect to find here is a newsletter-type update on my life. If you know me in real life and you’d like details about what’s going on with me these days, drop me a line or call me and we can chat. I’d love to hear what’s going on with you as well.

But, to start things off, I’m going to violate what I just said and give you a nut-shelly update on my life, just because it’s been so long. Lately, life has had lots of:

These books.

I’m beginning my senior year at Gutenberg College this fall, so Kierkegaard and Camus have become (or ought to have become) my constant companions as I prepare to write my senior thesis. (I’m comparing them on “despair,” and The Sickness Unto Death and The Myth of Sisyphus are my two primary texts.)

This boy.

His name is Gil. He goes to Gutenberg. He’s tall, deep, and, like most people, completely un-sum-uppable.

The usual.

• Blessings (that sometimes feel like a warm towel and sometimes like a cold shower).
• Days when I don’t see the point.
• Days when I do.
• Family and friends who challenge me and continue to be more gracious than I could have imagined.

Okay. That’s all you get. From here on out all of my posts will be completely indirect and incomprehensible.

… Or, you know, maybe not. I suppose we’ll just have to see.

Hello, friends. Once again, I’ve been neglecting you; there’s something about Gutenberg that uses every last drop of my writing-thinking-philosophizing brain… I’ve come up dry every time I’ve tried to draw something out for this blog.

But although I may be short on words, I am not short on pictures; in fact, I have two photo-related pieces of news I would like to share with you:

One: This is primarily for people who know me in real life, but I’ll share with all. Gutenberg is hosting its annual Student Art Show next weekend (on the 8th), and if all goes according to plan I will have some lovely 8×12 photographic prints for sale in that show. I have not yet decided how much they will be (any suggestions?).

These are the four photos I will be showing:

Anyway, I just wanted to let anyone who might be interested in owning an Erin Julian original know that this is their chance. (Of course, you are perfectly welcome to purchase prints of my photos from me at any time, but this will be an especially convenient and fun opportunity to do so. )

Two: As you know if you have contacted me about a wedding or portrait session in the last month or two, I have not been doing a particularly good job of juggling my photography business and the demands that going to school (and just living life) have placed upon me. I apologize deeply to those who have had to wait so long for replies to their emails; but I am very hopeful that this time of delayed responses is at an end. My dear friend Kari (She’s in this photo; I will have to post a better one of her soon) has offered to help me out with some aspects of my business.

So, if you were to email Erin Julian Photography sometime in the near future, you will most likely receive a reply from Kari, who is a delight to work with and talk to. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to have her joining me. (By the way, any inquiries regarding Erin Julian Photography should now be directed to info[at]erinjulianphotography[dot]com rather than to my personal address.)

And on that note, Erin Julian Photography’s website has undergone a few changes itself; it is now much simpler, and I believe, more elegant; I would love it if each and every one of you went and checked out the new slideshow featured there.

That’s all for now! I hope you have all been having a lovely February, and that your March is splendid as well. Talk to you soon.