Saturday, December 11, 2010

Offline

Some people have been asking me why I'm not writing blogs at the moment. Okay, my mom and my best friend have asked me, but to be fair, they make up the majority of my readership.

2010 has been rough. Not rough as in "the world is coming to an end and I'm having real problems" but more rough as in my physical and emotional health have been all over the place. I'm not very happy right now and my busy schedule doesn't help. The internet only makes things worse, particularly a lot of social networking, so if I'm not updating my status everyday or responding to messages, you might know why (but then, you'd have to read the blog to know this) because it sucks to enter those sites.

I may be back, and I may not. I have 5 years of great memories on this blog and I'm not really willing to erase those. But for now, I need to focus on what is positive in my day-to-day life (husband, family, etc.) and work on coming to terms with possibilities that I didn't think would ever occur in my life.

So farewell for now! I hope to be back as soon as possible.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Day 23: A Picture that Describes Your Life

photo credit: Futurama


I started to write a pretty serious and spiteful post about stress and all the emotional and physical pain it has caused me, particularly over the last year and a half. I think I'll refrain though because I have no clue who even reads this blog, and honestly, it's not worth airing my grievances in a public forum, although I think I'm doing it anyways in a more vague manner. I shall return shortly with my normal light-hearted blog entries.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Thursday, October 07, 2010

Day 21: A Picture That Makes You Think of Your Loved One

I guess this was technically our first date a good 13 years ago. I was 15 and he was 16. We didn't hit it off to say the least, but I guess we will always have this memento. I should add that I'm not creative enough to locate a picture that *reminds* me of my husband, and had to settle for the explicit. And our wedding anniversary is vastly approaching, so I guess I'm feeling a bit nostalgic.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Day 20: A Picture of Your Honeymoon Location

J and I were very fortunate to go to New Zealand for our honeymoon. Granted, it didn't take place until after over a year of marriage, but neither of us were really up for a Caribbean/Mexico honeymoon, which is where most couples our age go. So we had to sacrifice leaving right after our wedding (which would have been impossible anyways since I started a job a couple of months before the wedding) to save for something that meant more to us.

I am blessed to be married to somebody who shares my passion to see other places. I think traveling is something we will always strive to make time/money for, and if we ever have children, we will try to instill in them a love for seeing the world as well (hey, great educational opportunity as well!). Whether it's driving across the country to visit where we grew up or flying across the International Date Line, my husband and I have a lot of fun stories and experiences from our travels.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Day 19: A Picture of Your Dinner


Hamburgers on homemade buns, sweet potato oven fries, and a salad.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Day 18: A Picture of Your Room


These two pictures are of the small study nook in our master bedroom. We have a big comfy chair for reading/crafting/watching DVDs. There is enough room on the floor to complete a minor workout, which is essential in Colorado winters.

J built the shelves and arranged the books by color, excepting my Madeleine L'Engle and "Harry Potter" books (why yes, it is acceptable to have three versions of Deathly Hallows.)

The area is complete with a lot of artwork made my J. After three years of this area being unfinished, we finally have an area that we can relax in and unwind after a rough work day. If only I was a better photographer to get decent pictures of the room!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Day 17: A Picture of Your Latest Baking Project

A Chocolate Matcha Bundt Cake

Friday, August 13, 2010

Day 16: A picture of your latest yarn project

Alas, I can not reveal my current yarn doings because it is TOP SECRET! The only hint I can give the audience is that it is made by crocheting using an "i" hook.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Recovery Reads


I'm having a little procedure done tomorrow that is going to put me out of work for a week or so. I'm in the process of preparing the couch area for recovery with medications, remotes, heating pads, and of course, books. I think I definitely over-prepared the last category, but at least I will have a variety to read!

1. The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan-- This is a popular kids series and I'm interested in it because it incorporates the internet as well.

2. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery-- I somehow escaped childhood without reading this, so it's about time, I suppose!

3. The House at Riverton by Kate Morton-- I was recommended this book by multiple people, so I'm looking forward to this read!

4. Salt by Maurice Gee-- This is a teen novel by a New Zealander. I saw it reviewed on a webinar, and it sounded interesting.

5. The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens-- My current classic read in preparation for Dan Simmons' Drood

6. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers-- Non-literary Christian fiction is not my bag, but my fellow librarians and I are doing a genre study book club to better serve our patrons. This month's genre is "inspirational." Thus far, I am shocked by the content, but it's shocking enough to keep me far more interested than last month's "thriller" study.

7. Chicks Dig Time Lords-- This is a fun book of essays on my favorite science fiction series. A co-worker (and fellow fan) lent it to me for recovery.

8. All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot-- A co-worker of mine loves these nonfiction books about a small village vet in England. I am enjoying watching the series via streaming, so I'm looking forward to this book/

9. The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir-- Great nonfiction about an interesting period in British history

10. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel-- Also about the Tudors (specifically Thomas Cromwell), this book won the 2009 Booker prize.

I'm curious to see how much I get through... should be interesting!

Friday, August 06, 2010

Sunday, August 01, 2010

Day 14: A Picture of Your Favorite Flowers

I actually have four...


Hybrid Tea Roses


Poppies


Peonies



Dahlias

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Day 13: A Picture of Your Friends

My friends are scattered all over the country, from grad school to drum corps, to Georgia and Colorado, so there is no way I could get them all in one picture. However, I do feel that these lovely ladies would have made excellent friends, so why not post a picture of them?

Friday, July 30, 2010

Day 12: A Picture of Your Favorite Food to Make

Pie! Pictured is homemade pumpkin chiffon pie (we picked the white pumpkin that day and I went to town) with cinnamon whipped cream.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Day 11: A Picture of Your Dogs

Happy second birthday puppies! (June 16th)

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Day 10: A Picture of What You Like to Do

There are a lot of things I enjoy doing, so it was difficult to pick just one picture. Ever since our trip to New Zealand, J and I discovered that we love visiting gardens. By far our favorite thus far was the Hamilton Gardens on the north island. They were very expansive and included an amazing rose garden (I love hybrid tea roses). The most impressive parts of this garden though were the international mini gardens. The one pictured above was an Indian garden, but they also had Italian Renaissance, traditional English, contemporary American, Japanese, and Chinese gardens. Beautiful!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Day 09: A Picture of Your Lunch

Chicken salad made from leftover rotisserie chicken and homemade yogurt

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Day 08: A Picture of Yourself

RMNP (February 2007)

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Friday, July 16, 2010

Day 06: A Picture That Inspires You


So, I realize that this will be posted the same exact day as the "A Picture of Your Morning" post, but I don't post these every day like I should, and I need to catch up with my friends who are also doing this and are way ahead of me, even though I started before them.

I had a semi-difficult time with this one. Most of the things I need inspiration for are beyond my control. Inspiration won't help me achieve these goals. I do, however, inspire to keep a better household, which I often find difficult because the things I have no control over get in the way. My mom always managed to keep a nice household, whether she was at home with us or working a full time job. I haven't managed to find that balance yet, despite trying numerous organization and charting methods. If I keep up at this rate, I will never be able to handle children.

One person/industry who has inspired me for years is Martha. People can say what they want about her and her personal life, but she has been instrumental in making homemaking a successful industry. I realize that there are others, including people and icons that lived long before her, but Martha has inspired me the most. Her staff comes up with the best recipes. I am an avid baker, and in the past 6 or 7 years, I have only had ONE recipe fail me (lemon meringue pie), and it was probably my own fault for not working with the curd enough (and if you're wondering, I have successfully made lemon curd). Everything else has turned out wonderfully and the recipes themselves were far easier than I thought they would be. For years before I discovered this, this book was my main baking companion, and I still rely on many of the recipes today.

J and I found many fall and Christmas decorating ideas from her website (see picture). I can remember growing up how my mom didn't buy into the industry, mainly because my aunts went nuts over her, but sure enough, my mom would receive issues of Living monthly. To this day, it is the only magazine I receive at my house and I was just remarking last night how much I could do at my own home with her staff's ideas.

My mom and her sisters (you should see their homes) are my real homemaking inspirations, and this anecdote explains it all. A few years back, two of my aunts visited NYC just to go to a Martha workshop. When they finally had the chance to meet her, all one of my aunts could exclaim was "I love you!" She is a sound-minded lawyer and was almost rendered speechless by Martha. If that isn't inspiration, I don't know what is.

While my home isn't perfect, and is instead usually pretty messy, especially during the work week, a girl can dream. Martha's industry has been my inspiration in pursuit of the "good things" in my life and home.

Day 05: A Picture of Your Morning

Poppies in the garden!

J and I love the delicate look of poppies. The featherweight petals with the symmetrical centers (preferably dark). Our neighbors have these beautiful giant poppies in their backyard and we followed suit this year. However, we planted these more delicate varieties (California I think) by seed earlier in the year and weren't thinking that they would end up blooming. Since it is so windy here, the petals fall off very fast, but there are usually new blooms every morning to enjoy.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Day 04: A Picture of Where You Went Today

First, this post warrants more than one image. Second, these pictures were taken yesterday, not today. We were traveling and my connection cable was missing at the time.

J and I stopped in Abilene, Kansas for the night on our way back to Colorado. Abilene is home to President Eisenhower, who just happens to be my second favorite president. We arrived way too late to see the library and museum, but we ended up being the only ones in the area, so we took advantage of this pretty spot in an otherwise fairly unimpressive town.

Eisenhower's home

J trying to be like Eisenhower



Victory Garden! I'm obsessed with victory gardens...


We're now back in Colorado and will resume the daily grind tomorrow. While I don't love the Georgia weather and economy, I certainly miss family and friends.

Saturday, July 03, 2010

Day 3: A Picture of What You Did Today

After an 8 hour day today and 15 hours in the car yesterday, we are now in Georgia for the week. This picture was taken in Topeka.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Some Revisions

To make this a bit more applicable to me, and since I don't care about cell phones or mp3 players, I'm going to change the schedule a bit. See below for the new and in my opinion, more exciting schedule.

Day 01 -- A picture of yourself
Day 02 – A picture of what you wore today

Day 03 – A picture of what you did today

Day 04 – A picture of where you went today
Day 05 – A picture of your morning

Day 06 – A picture that inspires you

Day 07 – A picture that makes you cry

Day 08 – A picture of yourself

Day 09 – A picture of what you had for lunch

Day 10 – A picture of what you like to do

Day 11 – A picture of your dogs
Day 12 – A picture of your favorite food
to make
Day 13 – A picture of your friends

Day 14 – A picture of your favorite flowers

Day 15 – A picture of yourself

Day 16 – A picture of your latest yarn project
Day 17 – A picture of your latest baking project
Day 18 – A picture of your room

Day 19 – A picture of your dinner

Day 20 – A picture of where you honeymooned

Day 21 – A picture that makes you think of your loved one

Day 22 – A picture of yourself

Day 23 – A picture that describes your life

Day 24 – A picture of what you did today

Day 25 – A picture that you edited

Day 26 – A picture that makes you angry

Day 27 – A picture of you more than 10 years ago

Day 28 – A picture of what your husband wore today

Day 29 – A picture of yourself

Day 30 – A picture of you and your best friend

Friday, June 25, 2010

Day 1: A Picture of Yourself

This was 2 summers ago at Ren Fest in Atlanta. I had way longer hair and was about 10lbs. lighter.

I'm Thinking of Doing This

In an effort to save my blog from my own personal woes, I'm going to give this schedule, that I found on a crafting blog of all things, a try. Feel free to follow the schedule on your own blog as well.

Day 01 -- A picture of yourself
Day 02 – A picture of what you wore today

Day 03 – A picture of what you did today

Day 04 – A picture of where you went today
Day 05 – A picture of your morning

Day 06 – A picture that inspires you

Day 07 – A picture that makes you cry

Day 08 – A picture of yourself

Day 09 – A picture of what you had for lunch

Day 10 – A picture of what you like to do

Day 11 – A picture of your favorite drink

Day 12 – A picture of your favorite food

Day 13 – A picture of your friends

Day 14 – A picture of your favorite teacher(s)

Day 15 – A picture of yourself

Day 16 – A picture of your dream cell phone

Day 17 – A picture of your mp3 player

Day 18 – A picture of your room

Day 19 – A picture of your favorite musical instrument(s)

Day 20 – A picture of where you want to honeymoon

Day 21 – A picture that makes you think of your loved one

Day 22 – A picture of yourself

Day 23 – A picture that describes your life

Day 24 – A picture of what you did today

Day 25 – A picture that you edited

Day 26 – A picture that makes you angry

Day 27 – A picture of you more than 10 years ago

Day 28 – A picture of what you wore today

Day 29 – A picture of yourself

Day 30 – A picture of you and your best friend

Thursday, June 10, 2010

June Garden

It has been pretty amazing to watch the garden progress from May to June. It is finally warm in my area. In fact, I've been wondering where spring went, because the mild temperatures seemed to skip over us. In fact, lately, my hair has been super frizzy from HUMIDITY, which is a rarity in these parts. It seems to be a good preparation for the family trip to Georgia coming up in a few weeks.

Anyways, the garden. I didn't get many pictures this time around. Many things have bloomed, but even more are just on the cusp of blooming. For example, we have raspberries forming on the raspberry bush, honeysuckles on the verge of blooming, stargazer lilies, peonies, day lilies, gladioli, spicy basil, etc. We have also planted a new rose bush (lavender--my favorite!) so we're giving the other two a chance to recover from the shock of being moved to accommodate the new one. J predicts the garden to be in full bloom by August, but I suspect we will be in working order by next month.

As of late last month, we were past the last frost and could plant annuals. In addition to countless petunias, freesia, and pansies (which can be perennials here apparently) we managed to fill this pot with three types of lantana, chocolate cosmos (they really smell like chocolate!), and various other plants. They've been battered by wind quite a bit so far, but things are finally dying down and hopefully they'll have a chance to grow.


The delphinium are going nuts this year. They've come back a richer color than they were growing last year, so it has been a pleasant surprise.


I honestly didn't think we'd be successful growing food from seed. I wanted to try one kind of crop this year as an experiment, and it worked a little too well. We've been eating arugula, baby lettuce, and red bib lettuce for a while now and currently have more than we can handle. I will definitely be experimenting more next year, although we just don't have the room to experiment too much. This picture is after I cut a ton the night before.



Finally, strawberries! Meadow ate our *only* strawberry last year. This year, we've done research on how to handle the runners, and luckily we didn't have to buy new plants. The plants are well protected from the doxies this year as well.

I'll be back with a July update. I can't wait to see how the garden progresses this month!

Sunday, May 09, 2010

Mega Picture Post!

I've been meaning to blog about our garden for a long time now. To be honest, there hasn't been much to blog about until recently. Our last frost date is May 15th and with projected highs in the 40s this coming week, it might be extended. We have been able to see progress with some perennials planted in the past couple of years, some bulbs, new perennials, and hardy lettuce/spinach in our very small back yard. We're even seeing things beginning to bloom in our front yard! Side note: I should let my husband, the photographer, take pictures from now on... please excuse my lack of skills with the camera!


Arugula and spinach


Chives are our only surviving herb from last year. We plan to plant some basil as well when the weather is warmer, but we don't plan on doing anything else. We cook a lot, but just didn't use the amount of fresh herbs that we thought we would last year when we bought a ton.


I loved this frog that we saw at a local nursery and my parents bought it for me when they last visited (and of course purchased one for themselves too). We filled ours with succulents purchased from the Denver Botanic Gardens spring plant sale.




For some reason, I hated phlox when I lived in Georgia, but think it blooms beautifully here (probably because it is the first thing to bloom). We have three different colors in our yard and I love seeing color in our yard even when there is snow on the ground.




This is a crappy picture, but this is a nice raised bed J made in place of a puppy sand box. There are all sorts of succulents, flowers, grasses, and one day there will be some beautiful sea holly.



This is the look at one side of the yard (why yes, we do indeed like mushrooms). There is a honeysuckle vine (not pictured), a peony bulb, a columbine plant, and a raspberry bush. And don't forget the dog who just loves to chew on wood chips...



Yet another wood chip-lovin dog... I am grateful for their sake that we don't get a lot of warm weather here. I would be panting like crazy with that coat!


This is delphinium row. We have three delphinium, (delphinia?) some plant with orange blossoms, a peony plant, (can't wait to see how it turns out!) and some gladioli bulbs popping.


Our rose bushes are coming back this year! One is doing well so far and the other is taking its sweet time. We paid an arm and a leg for these last year, so I have high hopes.


This corner of the yard comprises a clematis, some grasses, some red flowering thing that is really pretty late in the summer, emerging gladioli bulbs, emerging lily bulbs, and penstemon. I can't wait to see how these progress over the next month.

Strawberries, more spinach, and red bibb lettuce (one of these days)


We're really excited to see how the front yard progresses this year. We've planted some hosta bulbs and are seeing progress on many of the plants (almost all of their names are escaping me currently). Since our front yard is north-facing, it is taking things a lot longer to wake up, but we should see progress by the time June rolls in...


Last year we planted a ton of pansies and violas in widow boxes. Some of the seeds must have fallen below because a few have come back this year. I guess these guys can be perennials in Colorado if you're semi-lazy about your gardening!


J and I saw this plant yesterday in Denver and he was lamenting that we can never get ours to bloom. Lo and behold it is blooming this year after all.

I've also completed a few yarn projects!


This is my husband with the knit scarf I made him. It took forever, but I think I get the whole knit/purl thing.


This is my first big crochet project, an adult-sized granny square blanket for the house. I made the squares and found a joining method online. It is a very delicate blanket, which is not what I was intending, but I think it was fine for my first go.




Finally, I tried my hand at some dog sweaters! These were fun and easy, but I can't seem to get my real dogs to model them, so I had to get Pound Puppy to model for me.

Sorry I haven't been around much this year. I kind of vaguely referred to some stuff in an earlier post, but I will try to update more as my garden grows and I craft more.