At the beginning of our marriage, Tim and I moved to Seattle for a year so I could intern with the fabulous husband-wife photography team now known as We Are the Rhoads. It was the most incredible opportunity and was exactly where we were supposed to be that year. I’m grateful everyday for the photography/business/marriage/life/pursue-your-dreams wisdom Chris and Sarah shared with me throughout that year. I love looking back and seeing how other people’s stories have affected my own – where their lives intersected with mine, even if just for a short time. It’s incredible the ways we can grow and be challenged by seeing the way other people live their lives, run their businesses, whatever it might be.
That year in Seattle was a hard one for us in many ways. We were still figuring out what it meant to be married, to be college graduates, to do the whole job-search thing, to pay bills and rent and student loans, to live 3000 miles away from our families and everything familiar. Oh and let’s not forget the whole getting-up-for-4-am-shifts learning curve. That one was steep. While in Washington, we always knew it would be temporary – we thought we’d probably stay two or three years and then move back east to “settle” closer to family. I struggled with a weird sort of guilt when we moved after only a year – a teaching job back in NC calling us back east and back toward family.
We see now that we sorta kept to ourselves that year, too afraid to invest much in our church and too fearful and shy to invest deeply in our friendships, knowing we’d have to say goodbye soon. We laugh that most of the friends we made while in Seattle were actually from North Carolina. Go figure. Instead of reaching out, we clung to each other. I remember many early mornings with tears and exhaustion, feeling the guilt of not trying hard enough to invest in the here and the now, and the weariness of just trying to get by with crummy part-time jobs. Someone once told us that perhaps our season in Seattle was difficult for a reason. Perhaps we weren’t meant to stay there for very long, and that’s okay. That was an incredibly freeing thought – to realize that some things are just for a season (most are really), and it’s okay take what you’ve learned, move on, and let things go. Oh the freedom!
Even now we’re still figuring out what it means to invest in what feels like a temporary place. It’s hard when our ideas of where we think we “should” be don’t match up with what actually unfolds. But are we going to live in this in-between place, never fully grounded, never fully accepting that we are here, we are here now, and we are here for a reason? That would be an awfully sad existence. Perhaps today, together, we can find one small way to invest in our here and now. Perhaps that means calling your friend and asking them to dinner rather than just thinking about it. Maybe it’s reaching out to your co-worker and being curious about their story. Maybe it’s slowing down and writing that letter to your grandmother. It’s quite possible it means less Netflix and less Instagram, less of having our eyes on our phones, and more of having them on those around us instead.
A lady once described Seattle to me as a gray old man, with a long gray beard, grumbling away in his home on a gray rainy day. I laughed. And completely agreed with her. But I also had a saying – “when Seattle is beautiful, it is BEAUTIFUL,” and there’s no where else you’d rather be. When the sun is shining and you see mountains in both directions, when you smell the salty air, and feel the wind in your hair – there’s no where else you’d rather be. Really and truly. On that note, when you go to Seattle, go as a visitor – it’s always sunny when visitors come. Most every other day is a mysterious misty gray, a drab depressing gray, or a drizzly cozy sort of gray – and enjoying it is very much about what you choose to do with the gray (and whether or not you’re taking Vitamin D pills). Anyway, enough reminiscing about my love-hate relationship with Seattle. On to the food!
This recipe is an ode to one I first made while we lived in Seattle. We had one final dinner-party-hurrah before we moved, and this was the simplest thing I could think to make for our Seattle friends! It’s perfect for a cold winter day, or a dreary rainy Seattle one for that matter. Winter is still flirting with us here in North Carolina, and I’m sure we’ll have a few more chilly days before spring really makes an appearance. The wonderful thing about this recipe is that it takes just a few minutes of preparation and then you toss everything in the crockpot to get happy! You can even prep everything the night before, put it all in the bowl of your slow cooker and leave it in the fridge overnight. Just set it on low when you leave for work in the morning and you’ll have a delicious dinner waiting for you when you return! You can substitute ground turkey for a healthier option, or if you have leftover pork shoulder that’s also delicious in this recipe! I love to serve this with cheese, tortilla chips, lime, and cilantro, but you can enjoy it with saltines, or this bread goes really well with it too!
Simple Crockpot Chili
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 2 15 oz cans diced tomatoes with juice
- 2 15 oz cans red kidney beans drained and rinsed
- 1 15 oz can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 15 oz can corn drained
- 1 15 oz can tomato sauce or 1 small can tomato paste, and add 1-2 small cans water
- 2 Tbs chili powder
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 1/2 tsp cumin
- A pinch of black pepper
- A pinch of allspice
- Salt to taste
- 1-2 cans of water if you don't want your chili to be so thick
Instructions
- Brown ground beef over medium heat. Drain and add to slow cooker.
- Saute onions in the same pan until tender. Add to slow cooker.
- Add the rest of the ingredients. Stir to combine.
- Cook 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.
- Alternately, you can prep everything the night before, combine it all in your slow cooker pot, place it all in the fridge, and put it on to cook in the morning. I like to think this helps the flavors get happy overnight!
- Serve with your choice of tortilla chips, lime, cilantro, cheese, crackers, hot sauce (for those who like it spicier), or whatever makes you happy!
Notes