Photo Project

This summer I took a photography class. The best thing about it was learning how my little point-and-shoot camera works. Was that worth $200? Probably not, but it was fun. During one of the classes we spent a beautiful Saturday morning at Brookside Gardens shooting pictures for three hours. Now I have about 100 pictures of flowers, plants, the sky, geese, turtles, pagodas, etc, etc.

Today I got it into my head that I needed to do something with the pictures, so I chose a couple of some daises. After a whole lot of cropping, changing them to black & white, and adjusting here and there, here's what I ended up with.








I've got some black picture frames of various sizes which I'll use to hang these up in a set. You like?

Fireworks

One of the best things about Independence Day is the fireworks. I love them. Last night, on Independence Day Eve, I discovered I could see a fireworks show from my bathroom window. I opened the window as wide as it would go, turned out the lights, took a seat (on the you know what) and enjoyed the show. Not the best fireworks experience, but fun none the less.

Here are some of my favorite fireworks memories:

1. Fireworks in Punxsutawney, PA at 7:00 am after Phil the Groundhog saw his shadow.

2. Backyard fireworks at my brother's house. After one unfortunate misfiring and the lawn catching fire, my niece started hyperventilating while the rest of nearly died laughing.

3. New Year's fireworks over the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.

4. New Year's fireworks over the Baltimore Harbor.

5. Fireworks at the University of Maryland with my family... multiple years.

6. Fireworks on the Mall... multiple years. The monuments make a stunning background.

7. Victory fireworks on the Mall after quick end to the Gulf War.

8. A bird's eye view of multiple firework shows somewhere in the Midwest when flying home from SLC on the Fourth of July.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!

Highlights from my San Antonio Trip

1. Seeing my ADORABLE niece and nephew, Sophie and Luke. Seriously, they are two of the cutest babies/toddlers I have ever seen. And here are a couple of pictures to prove just how wonderfully cute they are:

Little Luke

Sweet Sophie

2. I always enjoy checking out grocery stores when I'm traveling. I'm not sure why, because I really hate, hate, hate grocery shopping at home. My brother and sister-in-law shop at HEB in San Antonio and it is awesome. I bought my very first ShamWow there (which is lucky cause I just had to use it to mop up all the rain water on my bedroom floor after forgetting to shut the windows, oops.) It had fresh tortillas... I mean an actual woman sitting in the middle of the bakery section with a large tortilla maker, bagging them up for you to take home and make some kick-butt fish tacos. DELICIOUS! Also they had one of the best candy selections at the checkout, with lots of old school choices including my fav, Ring Pops. Check it out:

3. Going not once, but twice to SeaWorld. It's just 10 minutes from my bro's house. I mean, it's practically their community pool. The first time we went we all got in for free, thanks to Jere being a navy man. I totally cried when they had all the military folks stand to be acknowledged at Shamu's show. I also cried from laughing so hard watching Sophie watch the water acrobats in one of the other shows. She was screaming with delight.

Sophie has such an adventureous little spirit. She loves to go on the rides and has learned to throw her hands up in the air and scream at top of her lungs when going down the hills. Which leads me to number four:

4. According to Sophie, life is one big roller coaster ride. When riding in the backseat of the mini van, safely strapped into her carseat, she will throw up her hands and scream just like she's on an amusement park ride. When she's gone down a particularly long hill or turned a sharp curve she might add, "That's so fun." This especially delights my brother who likes to pretend he's a racecar driver. It totally validates his crazy driving.

5. Eating at Mi Tierra. Oh sooooo good. But mostly I love the ambience. I think it is the most colorful restaurant I have ever seen, with Christmas lights up all year round, flag streamers hanging from the ceiling, awesome murals, and much, much more. Here's Sophie trying out the Tortilla Soup, which is heaven-sent good.

And did I mention I loved hanging out with the kids, and I think they're cute?

The Wait is Over

For weeks now I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of May 20th. Counting down the days...3...2...1. And now it's here, and I am not disappointed. Today I picked up my first CSA box of the season. Every week thru October I will get fresh, locally grown fruits and veggies. And sometimes, like today, yummy treats such as granola.

Also in this week's CSA box were:

Spinach

Asparagus

Strawberries

Bibb Lettuce

Tomatoes

For dinner tonight I had grilled asparagus, a bibb lettuce salad with fresh tomatoes, and salmon. And tomorrow for breakfast I will be having cut strawberries with yogurt and granola. Yum!!

Alaska the Beautiful

Some of my favorite shots of Alaska... the last frontier.

My partners in exploration--Vanessa, Linette & Karen.

Birdhouses on the side of the road adding a little whimsy to the ruggedness.

Proof that that we had about 5 seconds of blue sky.

Imagine Godzilla climbing up the side of this mountain... that's what I was doing when we cruised by.

Endangered Stellar Sea Lions... I like the little guy climbing up to the top. Definitely a lone lion who doesn't care about fighting for a space with the rest of the pack at the bottom.

Life lessons from sea lions.

And spotting a pod of Orcas, proving once again that I have good whale carma. Although techically, killer whales aren't actually whales--they're the largest member of the dolphin family.

I learned that in Alaska.

Get it Right America

Small confession: I've been watching this season of American Idol on and off, and now I'm totally invested in the outcome.

Please, oh please America DO NOT PICK ADAM LAMBERT as your next American Idol. Seriously, I can't stand listening to his screeching voice when he goes into his "high range." He's way too theatric, and sometimes just a little bit creepy. Maybe he's hypnotized the judges or something, because I really can't explain how else they sing his praises week after week.

Kris Allen, on the other hand, now he's my Idol. Tonight he sang an acoustic version of Kanye West's Heartless. I love that song when Kanye sings it, but I loved it even more when Kris sang it. He's kind of a cross between Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson. And did I mention that he's HOT.

I feel like I'm 13 again!!



Update: He won! Kris Allen won! I'm so proud. Even more so for having contributed my one little vote.

Cherry Blossoms

DC in springtime is BEAUTIFUL. This morning I headed downtown to the Tidal Basin to see the cherry blossoms. Recent rains and a night of strong wind gusts, put them a little past their peak. But they were still absolutely gorgeous to me. The combination of a brilliantly blue cloudless sky (a rarity in DC), the stunning DC monuments, and the puffy pink blossoms made me so happy.

A Piece of Heaven in Reno

This past week I was in Reno, Nevada for work. Have you ever been to Reno? Ughh... the downtown area is a wasteland of casinos, ginormous neon signs, shady looking characters, and hotels built circa 1960 that boast of air conditioning and color TV. Color TV, really? That's the best you got?

Well, my coworker had the foresight to book rooms for us in a Residence Inn far, far away from downtown Reno. In the burbs of Reno. Pretty much the same as any other suburb in America... Best Buy, DSW, a mall with Macy's and Dairy Queen.

Yep, pretty much the usual, with one major exception -- THE BEST WHOLE FOODS EVER! I love my neigborhood Whole Foods, and frequent it a least a couple of times a week. But I swear as I entered the Reno Whole Foods I wanted to pack my house up, move across the country, and rent an apartment right next store to the Whole Foods. Why was it so amazing you ask? Well, let me tell you. 1) it was huge, at least twice the size of my Whole Foods; 2) the prepared foods section had the most delicious looking pizzas sold by the slice; 3) there was a dozen of soups to chose from at the soup bar... yum! And the most amazing, bestest thing in the Reno Whole Foods was a make your own trail mix bar. Huge flakes of cocunut, all kinds of nuts, dried fruit including papaya, chocolate, of course, and my favorite--banana chips. Why, oh why didn't I ditch my clothes and fill my suitcase with trail mix?

Who would have thought? A little piece of Whole Foods Heaven in Reno, Nevada.

DC Snow Days

People laugh at DC because we don't handle the snow well. Two inches of snow is enough to send the masses to the grocery store in search of milk, bread and toilet paper as if we won't be able to dig out for weeks. Schools close, sometimes at the mere mention of acculmating snow. Traffic is horendous cause nobody knows how to drive in it. Natives defend ourselves by saying, it's a different kind of snow--wetter and icier. Whatever!

I say, let them laugh! I LOVE SNOW DAYS. I love the anticipation. I love watching the weather report over and over, hoping each time for record snow fall. I love the way snow looks when it's falling and how it looks on the trees. Even though I rarely actually get the day off anymore (oh to be a school teacher) I still wake up in the moring, look out the window, and turn the radio on to listen for all the closings, praying with all my heart that the federal government has closed for the day. The second best thing to the whole day off is a two hour delay. It means a little more sleep. As long as you roll into work by 11ish, it's all good. You can basically wear whatever you want to work--sneakers, jeans, your warmest, most comfortable sweaters. I mean what if you had to push your car out of the ditch... you need to dress accordingly. And when you finally make it into work, you spend the first half hour or so sharing harrowing stories of everyone's commutes to work.

I love all of it. However, here's a special note for Mother Nature: I love snow days more when they happen in December, or January, or even February. How about we save March for signs of spring?

Doesn't my apartment building look cute in the snow?

Dreams Come True

Flying down to Orlando and meeting up with Jere and his family at Disney World was unexpected and oh so much fun. I loved seeing Sophie and Luke again (and of course Michelle and Jere too). Little Luke was a perfect angel. He's got the cutest smile ever, and he loves to show it off!

Sophie?? Well, not so much an angel.

There are some lessons that are just so hard to learn when you're two years old. Like you can't just walk under the rope barricades and waltz up to the front door of Cinderella's castle. And sometimes you have to wait in line before you can ride on Snow White's Scary Adventure and not dodge in between the legs of complete strangers as your aunt tries desperately to grab you while not invading other's personal space. And don't forget that you can't always have Tigger join you at the breakfast table when he has 50 other tables to visit first. Yes, these are very hard lessons when you're two.

And speaking of Tigger, here's Sophie trying to share her scrambled eggs with her new best friend.

Turns out Tigger is not only fun to eat breakfast with, he also makes a fantastic pillow for a very tired little girl.


Thanks Disney World for making our dreams come true!!

Procrastination

You know it's bad when in an effort to avoid writing a paper for school I have chosen, instead, to create my very own blog. Really, I'll do anything to put off homework. When playing an icebreaker at a recent work meeting I was asked what motivates me. My friend next to me said his motivation was his fiance. Ahhh..., that's so sweet. What did I say? Deadlines. I wish I was the kind of person who got up in the morning, made a super healthy breakfast, headed to the gym, and then came home and wrote her paper. But because I know I don't actually have to finish it until later this evening I have watched TV... one show on the actual TV and one show on the computer, ate cheerios for breakfast (not exactly unhealthy, but I didn't have to make it), worked on an iTunes playlist, and started a blog.

Well I have stopped procrastinating when it comes to blog writing. Because I have another year of school in front of me I am certain there will be plenty of opportunities to procrastinate doing homework while I work on my blog. Nice.